Page 4 of A Book of Royals and Deities

Maeve growls in warning, and fire spits out of her mouth onto the ground between us. She is huge, and I think she could take down Odemis and Daegan in a fight. Daegan knows it too, as he looks between us and frowns. I smile. “I’m not as weak as you thought I was. Come for me and see what happens. When Maeve is done with your dragon, I will kill you myself, Sun king. We aren’t friends and you literally burnt any part of me that once cared about you, so fucking try it.”

Daegan looks at me like he has never met me before. Good.

Maeve feels proud, or maybe I’m imagining feeling her emotions. “His dragon is weak in light of mine. I am a queen to those of old dragon blood. Tell the Sun king if he takes one step towards you, then I’m going to make sure the Sun Dynasty dies with him and all of them burn.”

The venom in her voice is nothing like the soft way she spoke to me before. I clear my throat. “Maeve claims to be a queen of the dragons, and she warns that you shouldn’t go anywhere near me, or all of the Sun Dynasty burns.”

He grits his teeth. “How did you claim her?”

“She’s mine.” I smile at his frustration.

“The Twilight Dynasty had the biggest dragons, and yours is the only one left. Yes, they were royalty among the dragons.” I feel Maeve’s pain like it’s my own. Something terrible happened to the other Twilight dragons, and my eyes fill with tears.I am feeling her emotions. I reach out and put my hand on her leg, needing to comfort her somehow. She looks at me for a second, only a second, because she wants to keep her eye on Daegan, andher purple eyes tell me everything. She has suffered like I have. “It will be a shame to end her, but I will have every single dragon in my army attack her at the same time to get to you. A hundred dragons against one? We will win.”

The ground shakes as a new dragon lands to our right, distracting us both, and a chill dances down my spine. Ziven. The Moon king and my enemy who kissed me and wrecked my heart. Ziven is sitting on his dragon, in all black armour that curves around every tught mnulcar of his thick body, and a silver cloak falling from his shoulders to his waist that matches the silver earrings in his one ear. His black locks are windswept, and yet he still looks perfect.

My heart pounds faster as his eyes meet mine, and I can’t see anything but anger in the silver depths of his striking eyes. I have to look away, and the new dragon is a good distraction. His dragon is all pure black crystal that shines silver, with rows of black teeth in its massive mouth, matching the black spikes down its back and on its tail. It’s bulkier than both Odemis and Maeve, and he is close to the same size as Odemis—huge—and familiar as its fiery eyes turn to me. I know this dragon, even if it was covered in rock the last time we saw each other. He came and saved me in the Decidere.

My eyes are pulled up, locking with Ziven’s, and all the air leaves my lungs at the fury I see there. He runs his eyes over me before smoothly sliding down his dragon’s leg. Daegan has climbed off his dragon too, and he walks over to Ziven with his back to me. “As a king, surely you see what I did was for the best. If we take her together, our people can still be?—”

Ziven punches him hard enough that I hear a crack, and blood splatters across Ziven’s face, into his dark hair, and Ziven’s fury glows in his eyes. Their dragons roar as Daegan stumbles back afew steps. Ziven is on him, punching him again and again, until Daegan falls in a bloody lump in a puddle of mud. “You fucking fool! You’ve only known her for a short time, and you’re going to riskeverythingfor her?”

Moonlight acts like shadows as it tightens around Daegan in the puddle, who is glowing with sunlight to try to escape. It’s hard to look at either of them. Ziven reaches for Daegan and grabs his arm, snapping the bone in two. I don’t think I’ll forget the sound of the break and how it feels like any alliance between the dynasties snaps right along with it. Daegan’s scream is loud enough for the deities to hear. I should feel good that he is being hurt, but all I feel is sickness rising in my throat. Ziven grabs Daegan around his throat and lifts him like a bloody doll. Blood coats Ziven’s hands, and Daegan’s light hair is smothered in it.

Ziven finally speaks and each chipped word is full of hate. Rage. So much rage. “I warned you at the ball, if you touched her, you’d die. I fucking warned you and you still went after what ismine.”

Mine.

Daegan claws at Ziven’s hand as he chokes. Ziven isn’t done. He might kill him and I’m not sure I want to stop it. “Then you scared Hettie and hurt her. She’s your fucking niece, and you used her as a distraction. They both belong to my dynasty, and I am going to enjoy murdering you for going anywhere near them.”

Hettie? What did he do to her?I know Ziven isn’t joking about killing Daegan, but as I look to the sky of dragons and hear the fires they are beginning, I know he can’t kill him. “Ziven.” I barely say his name, and when he looks at me, right into my eyes, all I see is two people: the man I love even when I didn’t want to and the man who lied to me. “We’ve got enough problems withthe mansion open and Nightwell city within the barrier of magic. That is a city full of vampyres and fae slaves who need to be saved. They will be attacking soon.” I step forward and Ziven’s burning scent wraps around me. “He is pathetic, but he is the king of the Sun Dynasty in a time of war. I want nothing more than to watch you kill him, but not right now. Let him go.”

Ziven doesn’t move and I carry on. “They’re going to come and attack us no matter what. They’re fast and quick, trained and have weapons. The vampyres are the real enemy here.” My eyes drift to Daegan, who is pathetically wheezing. “He is the Sun king, and he tried to kill me, but I’m telling you to let him go. If that isn’t enough to convince you how much of a threat the vampyres are, then nothing will and just kill him.”

He releases his grip on Daegan’s neck, but Ziven doesn’t release him from the moonlight, the shadows of pure silver wrapped tightly around Daegan’s body that are cutting deep lashes on his arms, legs and chest. Daegan doesn’t scream, but he is shaking with pain. Ziven’s voice is cold and empty. “You can thank Story for saving your pathetic life.” He waits. “Now.”

“Th-hank y-ou.” Daegan manages to spit out, but there is disgust in his voice that no one could miss.

“Careful,” Ziven’s murmur echoes in the forest. He may have whispered the word, but the full force of the Moon Dynasty king echoed within it. “You’re speaking to my woman and the future queen of the Moon Dynasty. I suggest you begin expressing your gratitude withyour majestyand then respectfully go from there with your apology.”

I blink in surprise at Ziven’s claim on me.

Daegan gulps and looks at me. “Your majesty?—”

He is cut off as Ziven wraps silver shadows around his throat. “I sensed sarcasm and now I’m done giving you a chance to even speak to her. You’re dead.”

“Ziven!” I shout at him. “For fuck’s sake, he got the message. He’s pathetic. Just let him go.”

Ziven’s jaw tightens as he looks at me, and the shadows flicker away. He doesn’t look back at Daegan, like if he does, he won’t be able to stop himself from killing him. “Get on your dragon, Sun king, and get to the skies. You’re a king rider. We can talk about the rest when the vampyres have burnt.” Daegan is smart enough to climb to his shaky feet, and he practically runs to his dragon before taking to the skies.

I finally relax a little now he is gone. Relax as much as I ever can around Ziven.

Ziven walks right to me, all male arrogance that I’m used to from the Moon king. I back away when he is close. He frowns but he stops, looking at the space I made between us like it’s on fire. “I was a blood slave to the vampyre crown prince and abused by him for years. I thought when I ran and found freedom, even in that mansion, I was done with royals abusing me, but then…then the Sun king tried to kill me because I’d finally let myself fall for you!” My shout is half sob, half roar. I don’t keep the rage in my voice from ripping him apart. I can’t even see his face through my tears.

“Why do this to me, Ziven? Why not just tell me the truth? Daegan said that the rest of them were bound by the book. Catherine, everyone, theycouldn’ttell me. But he said that you could! You called me a traitor; you made me your enemy and then hated me. You also kissed me; you also danced with me and trained me. You also made me laugh and feel safer than I everfelt in my life. Why not just tell me the truth?” I shove my hands into his chest, and he lets me shove him back a few steps. Tears fill my eyes until I can’t see, I can’t think, I can’t breathe. He lets me hit his chest over and over until my fists hurt. Until my face is wet with tears and I just want to scream. I want to scream and scream until one of us falls. “You let me fucking love you! Was it all part of the plan, to get free of the trap? Did none of it meananythingto you!” I smack his chest one more time and stop. My hands are shaking as I suck in cold air. “You just claimed I was yours. If that is true, why did you leave me with him?” My chest heaves as I finally meet his eyes. His silver eyes are smothered in pain, shattered, broken and cracking as we stare at each other. Like two lovers in a star-crossed path. “DidImean anything to you?”

I’m not strong enough to stop him from closing the space between us. He presses his forehead against mine, and he breathes with me until it’s no longer like sucking in air to feel alive. Until his touch calms me, and I hate him more for it. “I hate you.”

“Story, you mean everything to me, and I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.” He kisses me and my body comes alive for him, ignoring my screaming mind, burning for him like he isn’t our enemy at all. He kisses me like that can be the answer to everything. Only when I’m breathless and taste him on my tongue like a drug does he place his hands on my waist. “I owe you a long explanation, but I need you to trust me just one more time. I needyou, Story. I need you to stay by the mansion with your dragon and protect Hettie. Protect those in there who cannot fight and do not have riders. Our history is in that mansion, and vampyres cannot be let in to destroy it all.”

---