Chapter 2
Acheron
"Why can I not find her?" I growled in frustration; the rough timbre of my voice vibrated off the walls in my throne room. "She's eighteen. Surely she should have been revealed to me by now?"
"My King." Hammon hesitantly stepped forward, his arms outstretched as he pleaded for understanding.
"This is certainly uncharted waters for all of us.
We've contacted our brothers in all seven Territories, and they agreed that her presence should have been announced in the girl's eighteenth year. We need time to research more—"
"It's been two years since she turned eighteen!" I roared, launching my goblet at the wall. Crimson liquid splashed against the gray stone, dribbling slowly down.
"You should have devoted those years to finding firm answers. I have no time for hypotheses. Not when she's out there…unprotected."
I swallowed thickly, my mind twisting away from fostering the unthinkable.
The longer we were separated, the harder it was for my mind not to conjure up the most harrowing scenarios.
Fear clouded me at the thought of my precious fated mate somewhere in the world—exposed. My gut clenched at the foreign emotion.
Her very existence was a miracle, not only for me but for the very core of the Vampire species. At the same time, if the BloodKin discovered that a Vampire King had a bond-mate, they would not hesitate in hunting her down to be tortured for leverage or slaughtered on sight.
The full effect of our mating bond would not ignite until her eighteenth birthday, when her presence would be revealed to me. Compared to my three hundred plus years, a mere eighteen was a drop in a bucket…a blink of an eye.
But when her eighteenth year came and went, there was simply…nothing. No physical or mental pull, no thoughts revealed to me…no strange Being landing on my doorstep to identify herself as my Queen.
That meant she was either another Being or…
"Tell us again of the vision you had. Perhaps we have missed a clue," Henk offered.
I rubbed my forehead in frustration. "As I have told you, I did not get a look at her face."
It had been two years and one month since she'd turned eighteen, yet I drew on her vision constantly, enamored by the small snapshot I had of her.
I'd also hoped that a new clue would somehow materialize—something familiar or discernible so I would have a starting point for tracing her.
But nothing new ever came to me. Still, I closed my eyes, bringing up the vision that appeared to me the night she turned eighteen.
Silky black hair down to her waist. It shimmered and shook as she slowly walked along an unseen footpath, her head down.
That angered me.
As my Queen, she would hold her head high. Heads would bow to her. I would bow to her.
A movement stole her attention, causing her head to turn slightly, showcasing her side profile.
The delicate curve of her jaw was an arresting sight.
Her hair blew around her shoulders, briefly obscuring her features from view.
Her slender hand lifted, moving the curtain of silk away from her face. Her body turned toward me…
And then nothing.
The vision faded just as suddenly as it arrived.
"Everything around her was muted." As if someone scrubbed the scenery with a blurred filter. "There was no way for me to track where she is or who she is."
The only certainty I had was how strong our bond felt. I could sense her emotions through my vision, her character piercing our invisible cord.
Strength.
Resilience.
Kindness.
Courage.
Loneliness.
Sadness.
Displacement.
I desperately tried to hold on to our link, but the band stretched and snapped once the vision faded. All semblance of attachment I had with her disappeared along with it.
"She needs me." I clenched my fists, my heart heavy with the deep despondency I sensed from her. "I need her."
She calmed my soul. My brief moment with her soothed my restlessness like a balm over my wounds.
I had been undead for almost four hundred years, yet I had never felt like I was missing something. I could choose a mate if I wished; plenty of my kind did. The likelihood of having a bond-mate was extremely rare, so it wasn't uncommon for us to eventually settle down after a few centuries.
I saw no reason to. I had power, money, and an unlimited supply of beings to pleasure me at my whim. I had access to the sweetest blood, both Vampire and the rare, willing human.
But now that I knew she was out there, my soul was restless only for her. It ached to have her in my arms. No one else would do. Nothing else would satisfy.
"The fact that she has not revealed herself…we have to consider that she is an Other Being," Hammon delicately suggested.
I curled my lip in distaste. Yes, unfortunately, I had started to suspect that, perhaps, my bond-mate was not part of my species. That certainly made things complicated, but it answered the question as to why we could not mind-link to find each other.
Other Beings tended to stick to their own kind. There was a small handful we tolerated and then there were others who had been our sworn enemies for centuries.
Werewolves, we detested. They also smelled like wet dogs half the time. Faes…there was still some bad blood there—literally. They tasted like ash; a deterrent they used against us. And Witches…forget about it.
Of course, if she were any one of those creatures or something else entirely, I would not care. I'd grit my teeth and smile at the High Witch of her Coven while trying not to sneeze at the overpowering stench of potion. As long as I had my Queen by my side, I would be more than satisfied.
Styro stepped forward. "Forgive us, my King. The circumstances are unprecedented. We haven't had a bonded royal pairing since King Artemis and Queen Sarai, and a lot of their records were destroyed with their deaths."
I breathed deeply as my heart started a steady, fast beat.
It took me a while to get used to the organ.
I could feel every drum, every sound vibrate through my body.
When the elation of finding out that I had a bond-mate faded, my mood quickly soured at needing to control the extra sensory input of a beating heart.
Now, it soothed me. When I had quiet moments to myself, I would lay my hand across the beating organ, marveling at its existence—at her existence. It beat for her. Only for her.
I must find her.
And Styro touched on another reason why.
King Artemis and Queen Sarai of Ameros Territory were the only known royal bonded-mate pairing.
They perished together with their offspring a little more than five hundred years ago.
It was widely known that the BloodKin were responsible—a rebel faction that formed after the Treaty of ManKind was signed by all Territory Kings, banning the uncivilized murder of humans for blood.
King Artemis spearheaded the Treaty, but a few Vampires broke away, incensed that their barbaric acts were made illegal. Despite the changing world around them, they were determined to keep the old ways.
When they were betrayed, the King and Queen were found beheaded, and their children burned to ash. In a final act of mockery, their hearts had been ripped out and laid beside their bodies. It was a shock, considering how powerful a mated royal pair were.
That was why I needed to find her.
"We have our council meetings next year in Llarmo Territory. Let us approach the Kings again. Perhaps King Damon of Ameros will have further information regarding King Artemis and Queen Sarai. Something of their pairing that may help us find her."
"I will speak with him myself," I ordered. If I wanted something done right, I had to do it myself.
Hopefully, my beautiful mate would be in my arms this time next year.