Chapter 2
Chapter Two
King Ziven
Page Two. My family wish for a rebellion in the name of the gods, but I only see my small baby in my arms. A rebellion would undoubtedly cost her…or free her.
“ W ake up.” I look up to see Ruelle leaning over me, her hands glowing in the brightness of magic as she continues to heal me. For a delusional moment, I don’t see Ruelle but Story. Her long red hair flowing around her slender shoulders, the glare of her bright green eyes as she argued with me and ended up in my arms, my lips on hers. Branding her as mine. Protecting her as mine, too. The limited time we had together and how it went too quickly—and ended with her hating me. Killing Kyrell was a mercy. A promise I made…but it cost me too much. It cost my Storm, and I fucked up royally. In every way that mattered.
Recently, I let myself think of a future with her. A house I’d build for her, with a massive library for her to collect books from all over the world as we travelled and I showed her everything she never got to see. I want to see her happy, well-travelled and living a life she deserved. I wanted to be by her side for all of it, riding our dragons together…but that future is as shattered as this world.
“I nearly thought you died on me, and I’d be forever known as the shit healer who couldn’t save the legendary Moon king.” She hits my arm, she sobs slightly. Ruelle is the role model I never once deserved. “You scared me, you silly boy.” She’s breathless with every word. “You can talk, Ziven. I’ve been alone with your half-dead body for long enough.”
“Ruelle…thank you,” I groan, noting the fact my body feels bruised and battered, but I’m not dead. As long as I’m breathing, I’m finding Story. I’m helping her. I ease myself up against a rock, glancing around the cave. The dragon’s eyes watch us from the shadows. Her dragon isn’t far, and I doubt her dragon is the only one here watching. My dragon. Brythan. I close my eyes for a moment, praying to the deities to care for him and let us see each other again in the afterlife. His last words will haunt me to the day I die.
“I will not, King Ziven, but you will. I chose you because you are strong. You are strong and you are good. I chose you because you will make any decision to save your people. The next dragon that chooses you will see that in time. You are the last king of the Moon Dynasty, and it has been my honour to serve.”
I focus on the present because my past is full of death, and if I linger there too long, I won’t find a way out. Ruelle is covered in ash from her head to toes, and her clothes are burnt in many places, but I can’t see if she is hurt. “Are you injured?”
“No.” She shifts back against the wall. “Just tired. You were gravely injured after your dragon fell from the skies.” She grunts, and I know the stubborn woman is lying about being hurt. Age has only made Ruelle more stubborn. “You passed out with your dragon not long after the fall. You were lucky I was close. A blessing from the deities in the sky, and I’m glad I was there to stop those disgusting creatures from finding you.” She swallows hard. “They haven’t found this place. It seems to be protected from them, but the mansion…” She shakes her head and picks up her walking stick, dragging it to her lap. “They burnt it down. It’s still burning even now.”
It’s gone. It was a trap for me and my people, but it was a home, too. A safe place for thousands. “Our people?”
She can only shrug her shoulders.
“Story. I can sense her out there.” I pause, struggling to find words. “I need to get?—”
Ruelle interrupts me, something she rarely does. “But I saw him, that vampyre—taking her. Through the eyes of my dragon, I saw it in the sky. He has her.”
Cold fury flickers through my chest…and fear. He will hurt her, he has done in the past, and long ago I made a promise to her that I’d protect her. I love every inch of that woman, and I can’t let that vampyre touch a hair on her head. “I have to go.”
“And where do you think you’re going without a dragon, boy?” Ruelle’s voice is sharp as I stand. “I didn’t raise you to be a stupid king who risks everything.”
“You raised me to protect my people. To protect Hettie.” My eyes snap to Ruelle. “Tell me Hettie’s still alive,” I ask. When she nods, I narrow my eyes, refocusing. “Story. Story is my mate, my entire reason for living, and I won’t let her die with that sick fucking vampyre.”
“Story…” Ruelle’s face softens. “If anyone can escape and survive, it will be her. If she were here now, would she want you to risk your life and likely die in an attempt to save her without a dragon…or do something to protect your surviving people, the fae who are holding on by nothing but faith.”
“She did everything to escape him. He can’t have her back. He’ll kill her. He’ll hurt her.” My voice drops to a whisper as I feel sick at the thought. “He’ll do worse than killing her.”
“Ziven.” She grabs my arm. “I know that. But you need a new dragon.” She pulls a necklace from around her neck and holds it out to me, a vial of ash hanging in the air between us. “While I was waiting for you to wake up, between my healing… It’s been over—what—two days now. No, that’s not right.” She hesitates as she counts. “It’s been over a week since the attack.”
“A week?” My stomach drops. “A fucking week. A week he’s had his hands on her. A week where he could be hurting her. Again. A fucking week.”
I collapse to my knees, running my hands over my face. “I failed her. I failed everyone.” My voice cracks. “I can feel her in my heart, in my fucking soul, and I would walk to the ends of the earth for her. If that is my last moments, then so be it.” I don’t look at Ruelle anymore.
She steps closer, tired and weary, and places the necklace around my neck. “The ashes of your dragon, here, next to your heart. You’ll do something extraordinary and I’ll guide you, Ziven. Like I always have done. Come with me.” I follow her through the caves until we get to a place that has always made my blood feel cold. Right in the centre of a domed cave is a pit, dug into the ground with a red ring drawn around the edges. Brythan isn’t warning me not to go near it this time. My mother’s warnings of this place echo in my mind. The home of the legendary shadow dragons, who have never been ridden by anyone and aren’t alive. They are beings of shadow and nothing else.
Ruelle stops when we are standing by the edge. “When you were born, I had a vision of you here, and I told you to jump. I didn’t know if it was real, and then one day, I was speaking with your mother. She knew you would have a mate in the Twilight Dynasty, and only mates of the Twilight Dynasty would stand a chance in there. Even I believe the deities are leading us, trying to help us find a way, and they want you to go here. Visions are gifts to us, and magic…it is exceptional, but we know it comes at a price.” She touches my arm, her touch cold even through my burnt leather shirt. “I made sure you trained, you fought and learnt to be wise. I knew this day was coming for me, and it has been…it has been such a privilege to be your family, Ziven.”
A roar echoes from the depths, and my eyes tug to the pit. I can’t look away. It’s calling to me. “You need to jump in here,” she coaxes. “This is how you save them all. This is how you save your mate and make her your queen.”
“I will die in there.” I can’t explain how I know, but a deep feeling tells me as much.
She smiles faintly at me. “Yes, but this isn’t about dying…it is about so much more. We need to believe in magic and fate and destiny. Our deities must be freed. We need a king—not of the Moon Dynasty, or the Sun Dynasty, or the fae, or the Twilight Dynasty, or any of the old names. No, we need a King of the Dragons. There’s never been one.”
The king of the dragons is a myth, an old fairy tale my father once told me about. He explained how there was once a god, so powerful because the dragons made him that way, and he saved our world so the fae could live in peace. It’s not real.
“Every title is made up by someone. Make yours a myth, Ziven. You want your mate alive? Your niece? Your people? All of them need a king of legends, because otherwise, the vampyre king will rule. You need to be stronger than anyone who’s come before you. You need to be stronger than the dragons.” A halo of red glows around her for a moment, but I blink and it’s gone.
“My dragon’s dead,” I whisper.
“Your first dragon, yes,” she softly whispers. “And I’m sorry, Brythan was an amazing dragon, but he knew his time had come. You will fly together again one day.” She looks me in the eye and cups my face. “I look forward to seeing what you become, and I am always with you.”
She disappears as quick as a gust of wind, leaving me alone in the cave. My heart pounds as I stare at the space where she was, and I look in the distance, seeing a body lying at the foot of a dragon. Ruelle’s dragon. “No!” I don’t know how it was possible she was here, but it was a gift. She wanted to save me and say goodbye, to lead me here. I look up at the top of the cave, imagining the stars. Goodbye, Ruelle. I wrap my hand around the necklace and think of Story—her long red hair, her beautiful curvy body, and her smile that makes me feel alive. I remember how she transformed from a woman who turned up at the mansion, broken—literally broken down to her soul and covered in enough scars to show her battles.
I thought no one could come back from that.
I wanted her to. Desperately. I thought I could push and push and push until she came back from the brink. Fuck, she did, and I fell in love with her. She came back fiery and brilliant. Extraordinary.
If I want to be hers forever, and her mine, then it’s time to do something extraordinary, too. I need to be more.
Without another thought, I dive straight into the pit, doing something my ancestors warned every single rider never to do.
As I fall into the darkness, I hear the blast of wings in the air. “You’re going to die down here, King Ziven.”