Page 20 of A Story of Mates and Temptation

“The young must be protected at all costs,” he replies in my mind. The walls are like mirrors, the stone so smooth, and I wonder if dragons used fire to melt the rock like this, to make it so reflective. Roars echo in the air, and the ground shakes as dragons spill out of the tunnels, coming right for us. The crate door slams onto the ground, but the children don’t come out and neither does Niko. They are waiting for me. Shadows explode in the air, in the ground, like grey whispers of clouds that follow the command of their king. Niko is dragged out and held in the air, struggling with his mouth bound in shadows too. King Ziven walks towards us, his hands resting in his pockets and a calm yet confused look as he finds me.

“You bring our enemy to us, Catherine?” he demands. King Ziven scares me, and I am shaking as I slide down my dragon to the ground. “Stop!” I beg, running up to King Ziven, close to where Niko is being held in the air. “Wait, please don’t kill him and listen to me. I know I’m not from the Moon Dynasty, but youknow I’m Story’s friend, and I’d never bring anyone here that could hurt her. Please.”

“Give me one good reason other than blind trust, Catherine,” Ziven demands.

“He’s my mate,” I answer, because it’s the very best of reasons why he can’t kill him and why we can trust him.

Story rushes over and throws herself at me, hugging me so tightly it almost hurts, and I squeeze her right back. “Did you just say you have a mate?” She steps back and looks up at him, her eyes widening, and she takes several steps closer to Ziven, who wordlessly wraps an arm around her waist. “He’s a vampyre prince, and I know him. We met once.”

“All the reason to kill him,” Ziven cooly suggests, and my heart nearly stops. No. Dragons fly around us with snarls and roars that rattle the ground, but the world stills for me as Ziven’s shadows tighten on Niko, and he screams in pain.

“Please, listen to me.” I drop to my knees. “Please, he is not a villain.”

King Daegan steps out of the crowd and walks to me. He offers me his hand. I take it, rising to my feet. “You don’t bow to the Moon; you are one of my people and so is the vampyre now. I claim him, Ziven, let him the fuck go. Catherine is one of your mate’s friends, and she has never not shown loyalty to our kind.” He nods at me. “You ask me every single day to listen in those meetings. Well, maybe you should take your own advice right now.”

King Ziven and King Daegan stare each other down, and I look at Story, pleading with her to trust me. She nods, even as paleas she looks, and whispers to Ziven something I can’t hear. He drops Niko like a rock.

I run to him, touching his face as he rises to his feet and takes my hand. King Ziven’s voice is chipped. “One warning, vampyre—make a move against anyone here, and you’re dead.”

“Noted for the future,” he coughs out, and his clothes are torn from the shadows. I stay at his side. “But for the record, Catherine is right. I’m only here to make an alliance with you, and I brought a peace offering that was no small feat and cost many lives, none taken by me.” He waves his hand behind him at the basket, and I leave him to head up to it.

“You can come out,” I gently coax, leaning in and holding out my hand. “These are your people. Fae. You’ll be safe here. I’m sure they have food and places to get warm.”

A little girl comes out first. She looks thin and too scared in a grey cloak. She has shiny, almost black hair, and she takes my hand. I lead them out one by one. All their little faces silence everyone—even the dragons flying around.

Story speaks first. “Where in the name of the deities did you get these children from, and are they well?”

“They’re from the breeding district, and they are well, just hungry and cold. We ran out of food yesterday, but we have tried to keep them all fed.” I look around at them all. “Niko kept them safe, took a sword to the stomach for them and nearly died. He sacrificed for the fae and has done many times before this. I’m asking you to listen.”

Despite clearly being outnumbered, and I suspect nervous, he stands straight to address them all. “I’m part of the building rebellion of both vampyre and fae alike. I got word that theirparents had desperately tried to save them and hid them away, but they needed a guardian. I did everything I could, fought for them, protected them. Catherine found me in the forest when I was nearly dead from those efforts, and all I could think of was that if I didn’t live, I wouldn’t be able to help these children.” More of the children are coming out, some holding crying, weak babies. “Catherine and I were brought together by fate, by the legendary stories of entwined mates, and I will help you win the war. You’ll need my help to take down my father and brother and my other siblings, too, who will side with him.”

Story walks away from Ziven to pick up a baby from a young girl who is struggling to stand. “We need healers and help. Catherine, do you have a headcount? Can you and Niko identify each of these children if we send them out with these fae?” After I confirm that we can, she calls out, “Everyone take a child with them to help!” The crowd of fae moves with her, and we stand watching until all the children are gone with the fae, including the baby Story was holding. She comes over, looking around at the awkward group of us. The two kings are in quiet discussions, with Etena watching Niko closely, like if he moves wrong, she will attack him. Calix is a few feet away with Avaluna, who is holding a dark-haired baby, and he grins at me before walking off with her to hand the baby away.

“Do you have the book?” Story asks me, and both the kings turn to watch as I nod.

Ziven wraps his arm around Story. “We have agreed he can stay as long as he swears into one of our dynasty with blood, and we will head to the hall to continue this conversation.”

Niko steps up to Daegan. “I want to join the Sun Dynasty, the dynasty of my mate, and serve you.” He bows his head.

King Daegan watches for a second. “For the children. Push up your sleeve.” He does as he is told, and Daegan places his hand on his arm. “By the sun, by the deities, you will join the light until your death.”

“Repeat it,” I whisper, and he does. When Daegan removes his hand, there on his arm is a sun marking that matches the one I have.

Daegan pats his shoulder. “Welcome, and let’s win this war.”

Story stays close to me on the walk through the town, and I try to take in everything I can on the way. The people really love the colour green. The building is one of the few that is built with grey stone, and the walls look higher than the others, with big wooden doors at the front. We go in with the kings and Story, but Etena stays to guard the door.

“Do you trust him?” Story directly asks me when we have all sat down. “You’re my best friend and we have fought together, and I trust you. Even if you sit there and tell me a royal vampyre is trustworthy for more reasons than your feelings or bond. Do you trust this vampyre?”

I answer her directly because what she doesn’t say is that this vampyre is the brother of her tormentor, her old master, and there must be so many memories for her when she looks at him. “Yes. He is my mate, and nothing he’s done so far has done anything but help me and the fae. He feeds from animals. He’s never once tried to bite me, and he must have been part of the rebellion to save this many children. The children told me their parents knew that a good vampyre was coming to save them—they knew to trust this vampyre. I don’t think that many parents would have made that mistake. They trust him with their children. I feel like I can trust him, too.”

“And what happened to their parents?” King Daegan questions rather bluntly. “One day these babies and young children will ask, and I want to be able to tell them the truth.”

“Slaughtered by vampyres after getting them out. There was meant to be more children, but…” Niko drifts off. “I only found these, and any others…I pray to anyone in the skies for their safety. The breeding camps were burnt down. All of them.” A bitter silence enters the room. “I did meet you once, Story Dehana,” he speaks to her. “And did I have a blood slave? A favourite, or did you see me carting around a poor fae blood slave?”

She shakes her head. “No. But that doesn’t mean you couldn’t have found one.”

“No, I never had one.” He is firm. “I always fed from animals and made a point of only feeding in front of my family when they demanded it. I would try my very best to make sure that they weren’t in pain when I did feed on them, and I would drug their food with pain relief remedies. I don’t enjoy pain. Not every vampyre born does. Some of us do not want this life or the hunt for fae blood. There is a whole rebellion of vampyres out there who will turn against my family the minute they are given the chance and I call for the rebellion to start.”

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