Page 22 of A Book of Royals and Deities

“Liar. You enjoyed it.” Ziven cocks his head to the side. “I see through you, Sun king. Every single one of you is rotten, and rot spreads to everything you touch. You still hurt Hettie. And you still fucking tried to kill Story. I warned you. I warned you in that corridor that she is mine and not to go anywhere near her at the price of war. In the ballroom, I told you to not fucking touch her and that it was over. That I was going to tell her the truth and we could work together for a solution. You agreed with me and yet you still used Hettie as a distraction and then went after her.” He shoves his hand into Daegan’s chest and Daegan stumbles back. “What the fuck did you think would happen when you killed my entwined mate? I’d thank you?”

Ziven is furious, literally shaking with anger as he continues to unleash his rage. “You wanted a war, and you never would have gotten one if she hadn’t survived, because I would have killed you all. The only reason you are still standing is because of her. You should be on your knees, begging for her forgiveness, and you’re not. You’re here, being you and assuming the world owes you a debt. Sometimes I think you’re actually insane enough to push me because you want to die.”

Daegan doesn’t say a word, but hurt flashes across his eyes. Ziven doesn’t care and I honestly don’t either. Moonlight seems to trickle in from outside even in the dead of day. It might not be Ziven’s time to be the most powerful he can be, but it certainly doesn’t stop him. “We both lost everything once, and I won’t let you doom us again. What Atilia did was because of you and you fucking well know it?—”

Physically exhausted from training, I lean against the bookcase on the wall, only to fall right back as the floor swirls around and I stumble into a new room. A secret room. The walls are all weathered stone, and it’s cold. Cold enough I know I’m somehownot in the Sun Dynasty apartments, but in a place that is quite different. It smells like damp earth, and there is a darkness to the room that makes me think I am underground. I spin to touch the bookcase, but I find a stone wall and no door. No bookcase in sight. There’s a magic similar to the barrier outside wrapped around the room, and I know right away I’m not alone.

Slowly, I turn and face the feeling of someone or something watching me. Right on the pillar in the centre of the room is a book. I love books; I love reading and escaping into a world I can never fully see any other place than in my mind, but this book makes me want to scream and run away. It feels wrong, on every single level, and I can’t shake the feeling as I stare at it.

A strange foreign voice speaks right into my head. Loud, direct and terrifying. “I’ve waited for you, Story Dehana. While the Moon and Sun were distracted, I wanted your time. The Moon never lets you far from his sight or protection.”

The voice in my head is female, but it sounds old, like ancient, like it’s from another world. My feet are moving on their own as I walk straight up to the book, and even when I’m screaming in my head not to do it, my hands don’t stop as I open the book right in front of me. Glowing, almost translucent tree branches stretch out of the book and slam straight into my arms, into my chest, but it doesn’t hurt. The translucent, beautiful branches are red, like a burning star, and I stare in amazement as they sink into my body and spin around the room. Roses of the deepest black and the brightest yellow bloom off them, but the thorns are a dark orange. “Close your eyes.”

I don’t have control over my body, and my eyes slam shut. Suddenly I’m not in the cold room, but instead, I’m standing in front of a gigantic red tree that has roots sunk into lava that pools around the ground. The tree is so tall, so tall that I barelysee even the tips of it that hide in the thick grey clouds. The bark itself bleeds something like red tears, and the leaves look like Maeve’s wings. “I will bring you here when you need guidance. You have two entwined mates, and they’re fighting right now to get to you, so we do not have much time. The fate of the people is in your hands, but you will die soon.”

My blood runs cold. “Die? Two mates?” I shake my head.

She laughs like it’s a funny matter when it’s really fucking not. “Death is not final and you have a habit of rebirth at the right times. Many will die before I am united with my sister.”

“The other book?” I question, wondering if that’s who she means. I never thought of a book being alive and talking until now, but here we are.

“You are linked to both the Sun and the Moon, but I come from your homeland. Your blood comes from the Twilight Dynasty of my lands, and you will take me back.”

I highly doubt it. “Why did you call me here? Just to scare me with promises of death?”

“Because we are linked forever. Part of your soul is in my pages, Story. I will have your soul by the end.”

“You will not,” I instantly reply. Sharp pain cracks down my spine like whips, and I cry out, falling to my knees in the lava. It flows around me.

“You do not tell me what I see. I am time, I am dragons, I am magic, and I made you. We will work together.” I’m tempted to sayor else, but she keeps speaking. “Bring me to the other book and connect us as one.”

“And why would I do that?” I’m arguing with a book. A magic book, but this doesn’t make me seem less mad.

“That is how you break the spell around the barrier. I fear it will be broken long before then and my sister stolen.” She pauses and carries on. “Only when we are together will the fae win. Otherwise, I see futures of endless death lords.”

“Vampyres?” I question, my fingers touching my stomach on instinct. Touching the scars I have.

She doesn’t say yes to that, but I assume that’s who she meant. “The Sun king, your entwined mate, he is within my trap and he will do anything I ask. Do you know there’s a curse put on this book? Every time someone opens it, a sickness like no other comes out and claims lives to keep me powerful. Every time my sickness touches, it destroys. If you do not bring me my sister when she comes here, I will kill more with his help.” My blood seems to freeze. “One of your mates is weak, the other can not touch me.”

I have a million questions, but I can’t voice them. Not without speaking to Ziven and Daegan. “What is the prophecy? What were the words exactly that were used to bind the barrier? And how do I break it?”

“Bring my sister to me.” I am pushed straight out of the book, and it hurts everywhere the branches were, like invisible scars. I fall backwards, the surrounding temperature changing as quickly as the smell of damp earth fades into smoke. My eyes widen as I look down at the flames licking my boots. Daegan grabs my arms, pulls me straight out of the fireplace, and I stumble into his chest. “The book has never asked to see anyone but me. You lived here for months and it never bothered you. Why? How?!” He frowns, but this close up…he looks broken andsick. Etena was right, the book is doing something to him. I’m ripped out of his arms, straight into Ziven’s, and he cups my face. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” My heart’s racing as I tug myself out of Ziven’s touch, but I don’t leave his side. “You’re one of my entwined mates, and you tried to kill me.”

The world seems to wait. Daegan looks right at me and lies. “The book can’t be trusted, and that is false.”

It’s not and we both know it. It explains why I trusted him when I’ve barely trusted anyone in my life before. Why I felt so at home when I was near him, and why I wanted to spend time with him. It’s not the same connection I have to Ziven, not anything of love, but the base is there. The link between us is there. “Does it lie about the sickness?”

Every emotion on his face tells me the truth. Guilt. Shock. Disgust. I shake my head and look up at my other mate. “Did you know about him being my mate?”

“I suspected,” he answers, and I clamp my teeth down before tugging my hand from Ziven’s. I walk away from them both and straight towards the dragons. I need Maeve.

Chapter Thirteen

Page Thirteen—I found a way to pray to the deity of Twilight.

It will take my soul, but I give it willingly and wish for only one gift.

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