1. Dryston
Chapter 1
Dryston
15 years later
Orc Haven, Orc Realm, Nemus
A bloodcurdling scream rent the air, seeping through the wooden floors and halting the music in the tavern. Dryston shot to his feet, wings spreading out defensively, and his sister, Enid, grabbed him by the wrist, tugging him to the chair again.
“It’s not your baby,” she said in the same tone used for toddlers. “Sit down.”
Dryston shot her a glare, crossing his arms, tapping his foot and looking at the stairwell of The Tipsy Tavern. Aife had already kicked him out of Melina’s room for “meddling,” as she called it. Then he’d been banished from going above the second floor because he’d kept poking his head in to make sure it was going just fine.
“The last time I heard a noise like that, a man was dying on a battlefield,” he said, chewing the inside of his cheek.
Melina was human, birthing a half-demon baby. He wasn’t certain how easy the delivery would go, and he’d been more nervous than even Kaemon was—the father and his brother. Dryston had retrieved the best healers from Elf Glen and had them waiting around for the last two weeks to help with the delivery.
But what if it wasn’t enough?
Images flashed in his mind of the day his parents died over ten years ago. Whispers haunted him, taunting that if he’d been quicker, a little more prepared, paid attention better, then perhaps things would have been different. Kaemon wouldn’t have been captured and their parents wouldn’t have died.
“You haven’t been around many pregnancies, have you?” Avenay, Enid’s mate, asked, raising her brows.
“Is that normal?” Dryston asked incredulously.
Enid and Avenay nodded.
“Delivering a baby is no joke, Dryston,” Enid said.
He rolled his eyes. “I’m aware of that. I just didn’t think it would sound like she was dying the entire time.”
Mandel, his second-in-command for the royal guard, chuckled as he stood from the table. “I’ll get you more to drink, since you’re as wound up as if it were your own baby and mate.”
Dryston stood, deciding that moving would clear his head and help the buzz of energy that skittered through his veins. “I’ll come with you.”
They walked to the counter next to another demon, Kalen, and Dryston leaned against it, rubbing his forehead. The elven healers had insisted that death during birth had become uncommon with the techniques and spells they’d developed, but Dryston didn’t know of any half-human, half-demon babies born in recent memory.
Melina was part of his family and colony now. He couldn’t imagine the devastation that would occur if anything happened to her.
The doors opened, letting in the chill, the bite clawing up Dryston’s bare arms. He turned to see a group of orcs, nymphs, and goblins entering, arms laden with gifts for Melina and the baby. Quilted blankets and small clothes, baskets of preserved food that would help heal her after the birth, and a variety of what looked like salves and other odds and ends.
The goblin behind the counter climbed up on it and shouted loud enough to split through the noisy room, “Gifts over in the corner!”
He pointed to a table off to the side that was already overflowing. Melina had been in Orc Haven for a little over a year, but she and Kaemon had quickly become an integral part of the community. Melina had started her own tailoring business that took off with surprising speed, and he’d seen how she would take the scraps to fashion clothes for the people who couldn’t afford her services. They were fine pieces, and she knew how to make them so they could be adjusted if someone grew or shrank.
Lily, another demon in his command, slid into the bar seat next to him, leaning forward. “You look stressed,” she said, voice sultry as she looked up at him through her lashes.
“Melina is making sounds akin to being flayed alive. I don’t understand how everyone isn’t stressed,” he grumbled.
Lily gave a breathy laugh, leaning forward more, her hand coming to his forearm and tracing lazy circles there. Her advances had become more pronounced in the last year, reaching a fever pitch since they were in Orc Haven—since he returned from his trip to Evolis three months prior. With both of his younger siblings mated already, it wasn’t uncommon for him to become the target of interest. It now felt inevitable that he would find his mate as well. And he was the current Lord of Shadows, a prestigious title that anyone would be happy to latch on to.
Which made his chest tighten in irritation. He was the youngest lord in recent memory. Usually, the Lord of Shadows was chosen well after they had found their mate and settled down. He had taken over after his father died. When he returned home, his magic was the strongest, and the realm was still unstable since the Cruel Lord’s reign, and everyone wanted the son of Kian and Emilia to take over. So he’d spent the last eleven years trying to be worthy of the title.
And dodging people who saw only his power.
Lily stood and leaned on his arm, looking up at him, portraying her gentleness and weakness. It was common mating behavior. With demons, it was always a dance of submission and dominance, and as the lord of the realm, he was seen as dominant. And he was dominant. But something about their feigned helplessness saddled him with anxiety, made his gut coil and his desire diminish ruthlessly.
He’d tried to reason it out many times. He should enjoy the dominance and control. But what he was being offered now was not something he wanted.
“Lily,” he barked, and she stepped back, going rigid as a soldier. “I’m listening to Melina scream her guts out, trying to have my brother’s child. Let me be.”
Her pale cheeks flushed, and she nodded her head, walking away.
Mandel’s gaze slid to him. “You know, I always wondered why you didn’t bother finding a mate, but maybe it’s better for everyone that you haven’t. When you treat people like that.”
Dryston glowered at him, and Mandel raised his brow in challenge as he took a sip of his beer. Mandel was Enid’s oldest friend and like a little brother to him—but that meant the demon was far too comfortable with Dryston, sometimes overstepping by giving him advice he didn’t care to hear.
“You have your pick of any male or female of The Darkened City as your mate, and you refuse all of them,” Kalen said, judgment clear in his voice.
Dryston exchanged a quick glance with Mandel. Kalen had always been a bit of a stick in the mud. He had a keen idea of how things should be and how they should go, and if they didn’t, then he was frustrated. Even if it didn’t concern him. He’d harassed Dryston for years about settling down with someone. He was the Lord of Shadows, so the mate bond was likely to fall into place easily with any pick of a submissive partner, if he’d just let it.
But it hadn’t yet. It never had.
“You have people throwing themselves at you. Can’t you take a chance on one and see if a mate bond forms?” Kalen asked.
Dryston rolled his eyes and looked at Mandel for support.
Mandel shrugged, then nodded his head toward Enid and Avenay. “Both of your siblings have found their mates.”
“And neither of them found them in the Shadow Realm. So what’s the point in trying to force something?” Dryston was still trying to figure that out. It wasn’t completely unheard of, maybe it was coincidence or the right combination of situation and finally being open to it, but it made him wonder if that was why he’d never found his mate.
Mandel looked like he was about to speak again when they were interrupted by Jorah’s booming voice saying, “The baby is here!”
The tavern erupted in shouts of joy. The orcs present began to sing an old song, their voices low and rumbling, reverent and steady, as they bestowed the blessing of Yeolah.
Not a soul who met Melina didn’t love her, and it was evident by the sheer number of people who had stuck around in the tavern when they heard her labor had started. Her water had broken while she was serving, and she’d gone quickly into labor.
Twelve hours ago.
Still, the people had stayed; the goblin taking over serving, many others taking over the cooking so Aife and Jorah could assist the birth.
Dryston battled through the crowd, meeting Enid and Avenay at the stairs. They followed Jorah up, and Kaemon poked his head out of the room, beaming from ear to ear.
“Is Melina okay?” Dryston asked.
Kaemon laughed, nodding his head. “She is. And so is the baby.”
“Let them come in,” Melina said softly.
Kaemon looked back into the room. “You need to rest.”
“I don’t think Dryston will rest until he sees with his own eyes we’re fine.”
Enid tipped back her head and laughed, and he just drew in a weary breath, following them upstairs to the loft.
Melina lay on the bed, her hair plastered in sweat against her face, eyes tired. In her arms was a small babe with a mass of black fuzz on its head and the tiniest little wings, dusted brown.
The sight hit Dryston like a hammer. So this was what a miracle was. He didn’t care if the others thought it was commonplace and he was overreacting. Twelve hours of labor and they were fine and here was a little baby. A brand-new life. He swallowed the sudden and mysterious lump in his throat.
“It’s a girl,” Kaemon said, pride in his voice, on his face, practically flowing off him.
“What’s her name?” Avenay asked.
“We haven’t decided,” Kaemon replied, chuckling.
“I was convinced it was a boy because of how I carried her,” Melina said, looking at her mate as he gazed back with love. “But I think we should name her Emilia.”
“Oh,” Enid said softly, her eyes lining with tears, and Dryston had to choke back the emotion rising in his throat again.
Their mother’s name.
“It’s perfect,” Kaemon replied.
Dryston stood on the porch, smoking his pipe while everyone was still celebrating. Kaemon had come down briefly to share his good news and had been patted on the back and given drinks until he was able to sneak back to Melina. Enid came out and leaned against the railing with him.
“I still can’t believe it,” she whispered.
Kaemon being alive. Kaemon having a mate and now a child. Ten years of thinking he was dead and only recently discovering he’d been living in Nemus this whole time. Dryston had known it for five months now and every day with his brother felt like a dream.
“I can’t, either.”
The full moon crested high above them, and he looked up at it, giving thanks to the twin moon goddesses for the birth. For all of it.
“They can’t stay here,” he said, looking in at the people celebrating.
Enid pursed her lips but nodded. “The baby looks more like a demon than a human.”
Dryston drew in a drag of smoke, then blew it out. “The Hunters won’t just try to take the baby.”
He’d heard rumors of half-human, half-demon babies that were born without wings and horns, taken, and “cleansed.” He didn’t know what that involved, but he assumed nothing good. But one with wings and surely horns to follow? They would kill it.
“Give her a few months, then we can take her back to The Darkened City,” Enid said.
She’d come back for the birth, leaving their city in the hands of their next-in-command and bringing gryphons back for Melina to ride. They had only briefly mentioned it to Kaemon, since he and Melina both had a life here, with friends and work, but seeing the wings on the child meant that they would have to act quicker than he’d anticipated.
“You’re coming back with us, right?” Enid asked.
He shook his head. “I need you to be interim lord for a few more months. I’m so close to gaining an audience with the orc lord, but the birth has offset my timing.”
He had secured an alliance with the elven ruler, King Leeth, and the orcs in general didn’t tolerate foreigners being attacked in their realm, but he wanted to secure a solid trade deal here. The demons had a terrible reputation the world over because of what the Cruel Lord had done, and Dryston had put so much energy into trying to change that. Gaining these two alliances could be the tipping point. And increasing exports and trade would only help his people more.
“You’re keeping the royal guard, though?” Enid slid her gaze to him. “You have to be careful here, too.”
Dryston sighed, rubbing the spot between his eyes. “I know. Kalen and Maria will stay, but the others need to escort all of you safely back. I also don’t want too strong of a demon presence here. The elves gave us guards and I don’t want to set the humans too on edge.”
Even if he hoped he had an ally there now.
Onora.
She’d traveled with them and saved his life in Evolis. He’d be a fool to think there was any warm regard between them, but a Hunter saving a demon was unheard of. He hoped that she’d gone home and told the others that he wasn’t like the Cruel Lord, that they could have alliances in the future. Maybe there was hope of humans and demons living in peace with one another, and maybe that had started with Melina, and would continue with Onora.