Page 5 of A Book of Royals and Deities

“I still hate you, but I love Hettie, and if you’re going to fight the vampyres, then I will stay with Maeve for her sake.” I nod once and make space between us. I can only think straight when he isn’t holding me.

Ziven searches my eyes, but in his, I see the same stubborn conviction I usually see. The same frustrating, gorgeous and powerful king that I kissed only hours ago in a ballroom under the stars. “I mean what I said. You’re mine and I am going to beg, plead and do anything to prove to you that you’re mine. I’m yours. I won’t let Daegan touch you again.” He heads to his dragon and pats the leg of the huge black beast. “Brythan, we ride for war!”

I know I need an explanation, but the idea of the vampyres getting anywhere near Hettie terrifies me. I turn and attempt to climb onto my dragon in a stupid torn dress, pulling her scales until I get onto her back with my entire body shaking with nerves. There is almost a seat shape on her back between two crystal spikes, and I settle into it, wrapping my arms around the spike in front of me. “We protect the mansion tonight. Tomorrow, we leave for good. I can’t stay here. Daegan will try to kill me, and Ziven, he has my heart, but he doesn’t deserve it. I’m done.”

If I do stay, Ziven will tear my heart apart more than he already has. If I made the barrier, maybe I can leave through it. I have to try. I promised Kyrell I would choose me, I would fight for my future and live. This isn’t living, not anymore. Maeve’s fierce voice fills my mind. “I fly wherever my rider commands.” She jumps off the forest floor and straight into the smoky skies as I scream from the shock of the air smacking into me, just as the bells of war echo from Nightwell city.

Chapter Three

Page Three?—

My name is lost to time because of the books.

They were once good, but they are now filled with dark magic.

Be warned.

Maeve flies up above the mansion, and I quickly learn my lack of experience in dragon riding means I’m going to fall off. I lock my body in, tugging on every muscle I have to try and hold onto her as the sheer force of her flight slams into me. She glides around the tips of the towers of the mansion, before gliding in a circle around the clouds above. My breath catches in my throat as I see the thousands of stars around me and how easily it looks like I’m sitting in them. I was a girl who read books about the stars, and now I’m the girl flying through them. I wish I could have told myself this was my future, back when I felt so hopeless. That I’d claim a dragon and fly in the skies. That I’dface my enemies, and I’d survive them. I survived, just like Kyrell always claimed I would.

An echo of a scream, one so far away but carried by the wind, has me turning to face the Nightwell city in the distance. It’s nestled on the edge of the forest, but it’s easy to see, even in the dark. It’s burning. The vampyres right along with the city they once ruled. The barrier of magic that Daegan mentioned is a mile or so outside of the city and glittering white. Sickness rises in my throat as I imagine what is going on in the city and how bad it must be. I can just make out the burning structures and the roars of thousands of dragons that I have just unleashed onto this world as they swarm and dive with mouths of fire.

A part of me wonders if they deserve it…the vampyres who have never stopped taking from fae. Including me. They took and took, destroyed and conquered every part of my body until it belonged completely to the vampyre who owned me. Hundreds of thousands of fae in that city would tell the same tale as me, and they would cheer for the dragons who will be burning the vampyres for their freedom.

But I think of Professor Aleksander Wollke for a second and remember the kind vampyre who showed me nothing but love. He cared for me, protected me, and never once treated me like I was his slave. I know if he could have chosen, he would have never had me as a blood slave but as a daughter and given me the world. Can an entire race be cast into the fire for the mistakes of the majority?

I’m glad Ziven told me to stay here. This isn’t a choice I want to make. My hands tighten on the scales of Maeve, my dragon, as we watch the thick forests outside the mansion for any sign of vampyres. I wonder if Maeve went against the vampyres with Atilia on her back or if she never got to fight them because shewas stuck in stone in that mansion. I lean down, closing my eyes and trying to speak to her in my mind instead of out loud. “You should make a ring of fire around the mansion to protect it. The vampyres are fast, but they won’t run through fire. It burns them.”

“Dragon fire burns any race,” she responds, diving, and the wind whips hard against my face. I shiver from the cold air, wishing I wasn’t wearing a dress with blood soaked into it and nothing else. “And any move I make is with your command, Story. It is we should make a ring of fire. We are as one when we ride.”

Something warm floats around in my chest at the sheer belief she has in me. She reminds me of Kyrell but with the fierce protectiveness I once saw from Ziven. I stroke her scales as she flattens out into a smooth glide. Maeve tips her head back before pure red fire, hotter and brighter than any fire I’ve ever seen, pours out of her mouth. It crashes onto the ground where it stays alive, burning like it might forever. Maeve moves fast, making a ring for a mile around the mansion with thick flames lighting up the night and casting away any shadows.

Fae watch from the mansion door, staring up at me, and I try to push down the insecurity that their stares create. I don’t want anyone looking up to me. I feel the heat against my skin as a shivery feeling drifts over me and down my spine. I know that feeling—I could never forget it. Vampyres are here. The vampyres, in red guard clothing, pour out of the forest. Several are stupid enough to try to run straight into the dragon fire, and they end up screaming on the ground before disintegrating into ash. The smarter ones look up at the sky and to us.

I can’t see their faces under the red armour, but anger flows through me until I feel like I’m shaking with it. “Burn them.” My dragon swoops low on my command, catching two vampyres inher mouth with a mouth of fire. I wince at their screams, looking away as she eats them, and they are soon gone. A vicious snarl echoes out of Maeve as she lands on top of the mansion and spreads her red wings out wide. There isn’t a better feeling in the world than riding a dragon, and I feel more powerful than I ever have done. I can see why rulers get addicted to power…to death.

The fire in the distant city is growing fast, and I can hear screams echoing from it that freeze my heart. Ziven. He is strong and his dragon looked as fierce as he is. He will be okay; it’s the vampyres who should be frightened of them. Most of them have lived in a world where they are on top of the food chain and no one was ever a threat to them. The food chain just changed, and dragon-riding fae are on top. The dragons are free, and this world will burn under them.

I spot a dragon coming from the fire and smoke in the far distance, fast and swift. They fly better and more trained than I can yet. Maeve braces herself to jump into the sky before she relaxes when the dragon is closer. “It is a Moon Dynasty dragon. You are safe.”

I’m not sure what to make of the fact she seems to trust Ziven—far more than I currently do. I’m not sure if I hate him or want him. Maybe with us, it will always be a mix of those two, and the chaos in between is where we live.

I don’t recognise the dragon, but they all seem to have changed from the rocky dragons I was used to seeing. It’s almost like grey crystal in colouring, and inside its wings looks like grey smoke swirling around, with sharp tips on the edges of its wings. The dragon is much smaller than Maeve, but he or she is fast. The dragon flies around us before slamming into one of the towers, curling around it before lowering its head so I can see its rider. Calix.

The Moon Dynasty dragon rider is someone I could have called a friend, but I’m not sure what to make of him now. He didn’t exactly betray me when he couldn’t tell me anything because of the book’s magic. It comes down to the book and Daegan, and Ziven too. Calix is in black armour that matches Ziven’s from earlier, and he is covered in ash and blood. It’s enough blood that I worry it’s coming from him, but there doesn’t seem to be an injury on him. His eyes are nothing but panicked. “You’re wearing a dress in a war, Story?”

“Not by choice,” I shout back over the howl of the wind. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you with Ziven?”

He shakes his head. “I came for you.” I frown.Me?“You need to go and stop Ziven before he does something he regrets. He isn’t thinking straight. The city fell quickly because there was a building rebellion in the city by the powerborn fae, and the lessborn fae joined them. They locked out the vampyres on the streets, killed those they couldn’t get outside, and Daegan sent his army to burn all vampyres. Most of the fae have escaped to the forest but not all of them. There are thousands locked in the city and thousands of vampyre women and children too. Ziven is too far gone to see reason. He will listen to you.”

The wind blows my messy hair around my shoulders, the red mixing with the colour of my dragon as my heart pounds. “You’re his best friend and second in command. Why do you think he’ll listen to me, of all people?”

“We both know everything he does now is for you.” Calix points to the city. “Get to the city and stop him. He…Ziven needs you. I’m begging you, Story. I know you must feel betrayed by us all, especially him, but Ziven is in love with you. We all knew you were in love with him for months, and if he wanted you dead, he could have done it himself at any point. He didn’t; instead, heprotected you. He fucked up and he can explain it all, but please, if you still care, stop him doing something that will haunt him forever.”

I can’t face the truth in his words right now, but I can face the Moon king.

“Fly.” I lean down, clutching her scales tightly as she listens and jumps into the sky with so much force I nearly sail straight off her into the clouds. I can barely breathe over my racing heart as she flies fast, up into the clouds but towards the city. We go past dragons who move out of the way for her, and many turn to watch Maeve. Maybe she is a queen to them.

Maeve flies faster than I’ve felt her fly before, and when she dives, my stomach fills with butterflies and I nearly scream. I feel like I’m going to fall right off her as I hold on, praying to the deities that it’s not too late to stop Ziven. The silver moon shines down on us, a full moon that bleeds high in the sky and feels like an omen of death as I get my first look at Nightwell city when we break through the clouds.

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