Chapter 6 #2
Yet Daire still looks elegant and aloof, despite kneeling before his enemies and being wrapped in thin, revealing satins and silks that cling to his skin like feathers.
The white robe, which is as pale as his wings and hair, falls off his shoulders, revealing his scars, as well as the freshly carved welts from the academy whipping.
Daire’s white curls have been artfully piled on the top of his head with silver dove feathers woven through them.
His wings are folded back, but his hands are clenched on his lap.
They are burned by delicate iron bracelets that are shaped like flying dragons.
The bracelets look like they are for decoration but in truth, are cruel magic suppressors.
They also make a symbolic statement about his prisoner status, as if it wasn’t clear enough.
When Daire raises his head, however, I let out a gasp.
His face is covered in a mask.
The mask is beautiful but eerie, silver like two dove wings. The mask is decorative with the feathers etched out of the links of chains.
Daire’s otherworldly lavender gaze burns into mine.
I throw myself to kneel next to him, grasping his cold hand.
I rub my thumb underneath the iron bracelet in distress, trying to stop the iron from burning my soulmate’s blackened skin.
“Love,” Daire whispers, leaning into my touch.
Aurelius doesn’t look down but he tightens his hold in Daire’s hair, wrenching him away from me.
The light gleams off Aurelius’ heavy, gold ring.
Then Aurelius drops his hand more gently onto my head.
I battle not to show how much I want to both bite and lick his hand, the conflicting emotions confusing even me.
Dove and I must look harmless, abused, and vulnerable.
Just as Wraith insisted.
I have no doubt that Lucius, the smartest of the Golden family, is behind the theatrics of this evening. It feels like a play with everyone and everything perfectly taking their role to present the right impression to Lanlin.
To trick and manipulate him.
How could a Blood not feel protective and possessively attracted toward both his Omega and a captive of his enemy who are not being treasured? In fact, who are being treated like trash, when Shadow Vampires worship and cherish their bonded Omegas?
No wonder everybody here is looking terrified. Lanlin is coming to finally take back his Omega, and when he sees me displayed like this, he will want to tear out the throats of everyone here.
I hope that Aurelius knows what he’s doing.
I can’t resist nuzzling my cheek against his leg. It may be my last chance to show him any tenderness.
Aurelius stiffens. Then he gently strokes a strand of hair behind my ear, while never looking down at me.
Daire squeezes my hand, mouthing, “I love you.”
Suddenly, the heavy main doors burst open.
I jump. My pulse pounds in my ears.
Lanlin is here.
Terrifying shadows like incense infused smoke roll into the banquet hall, blinding the moon.
I choke.
The shadows spill like blood split from an artery through the entire hall and up the walls, before coating the windows. I peer through the shadows, uneasily.
My heart is in my mouth.
Where is the Shadow Vampire King?
Unexpectedly, a lion’s roar echoes through the hall, loud enough to rattle the windows. Then its twin, a low-pitched bellow that makes me tremble.
The hair rises on the back of my neck.
When I cringe back, Daire wraps his wings around me. He wrenches his curls out of Aurelius’ hold to shuffle in front of me.
Then two sets of flaming red eyes appear through the shadows.
Gasps and screams spread through the hall.
When two demonic lions slink forward, my breath is stolen.
They are wicked, horrifying, and majestic.
At least the size of horses, the demonic lions are muscular and woven out of shadows and blood.
Shadows curl from them like black tendrils.
It makes my skin crawl. I tremble.
The demonic lions’ magic feels wrong, as if it doesn’t come from the Shadow Realms but instead, a different realm that is even more ancient and powerful.
Primal.
When they shake their heads, their glorious manes tumble around them like disintegrating ash. Then they wrinkle their noses, sniffing.
“Oh, fuck a troll,” I whisper.
They’re looking for me.
The lions’ glowing eyes zero in on me, they wrinkle their large noses, then they tip back their heads and roar in tandem.
Instantly, with an unnatural speed, another figure joins the lions through the shadows, resting his hand on their flanks in thanks.
The shadows recede from around him, revealing Lanlin Sin, the Shadow Vampire King.
Standing between two monstrous demonic lions, he should look small.
Safe.
Except, he doesn’t.
Wreathed in shadows and an incense scent that already has me in a daze, is the monster of my nightmares.
Also, the most impossibly beautiful person I have ever seen.
As if the lions are the only bodyguards that he needs to appear in the center of an enemy court, King Lanlin Sin stalks down the middle of the room toward Aurelius.
Yet his wine-red gaze never leaves me.
This is my beautiful monster…?
The nightmare who has haunted me from the moment I was born?
The son of the enemy who killed my family? The vampire who has stalked my dreams for three years?
Spellbound, I almost stand to talk to him, but Daire keeps a firm hold on me, yanking me back to my knees.
The Blood’s lips quirk, as if he knows the impact he had on me.
His dominant pheromones become stronger.
Then Lanlin’s gaze slides over the way that Daire and I are kneeling and the iron bracelets that are burning Daire’s pale wrists, before rage flashes in his eyes.
His lips pull back to reveal long fangs.
Mesmerized, I can’t look away from him.
All the times that I have dreamed of Lanlin, I have still not been able to dream of someone like him.
He stands alone in a court of his enemies — the Golden Dragon, Maximinus, War, Wraith, and an entire dragon shifter army — and yet still feels like the most dangerous person here.
Powerful magic shimmers around him.
Lanlin is startling looking. Tall, lean, and willowy.
He is dressed in a black, pleated robe that glitters like he has torn it from the night sky but is also woven with violet ribbons.
The same ribbons are wound through his silky black hair that hangs to his waist. His kilt is threaded with gold, and his robe is parted down the middle to reveal his olive-skinned chest.
He is wearing a striking obsidian beetle pendant.
Lanlin uncomfortably reminds me of the vampire who Aurelius burned in this hall on the memorial feast for Tarquin’s deathday. Beyond their looks, however, the two vampires are nothing alike, in the way that Aurelius isn’t the same as Hadrian.
Lanlin wears beautiful glittering black gloves that are tipped with sharp, iron claws. Two ornate bronze daggers are strapped at his waist, which makes my palms itch to steal them.
His crown is composed of two batwings around a diamond moon.
Lanlin’s large eyes are Khol smudged and smeared with heavy gold and lapis lazuli dramatic eyeshadow, which makes them appear calculating and cat-like.
Diamonds glisten in his hair like stars, while moths flutter around him like the moon.
Lanlin is decadent, dangerous, bestial…beautiful.
“If you think to kill or capture me,” Lanlin says in a voice that is darkly seductive and makes me shiver, “then I will slaughter all of you, apart from my Omega and new Blood Lover, and bathe in your blood.”
“Is that any way to start our peace negotiations?” Aurelius’ eyes gleam dangerously.
“You read the letter and the terms of the deal. No need to act tough with your little kitties here. You always did need animals to back you up. We both know how much agony your fangs must be in now that you’re this close to your blood bond. ”
Does Aurelius have a death wish taunting Lanlin like this?
Lanlin prowls past his demonic lions, approaching the couch. Does he know that he is licking his tongue over his fangs?
Is Aurelius right? Is Lanlin in pain?
Courteously, Lanlin bows in front of me to my shock. “My dearheart, shall we?”
I startle.
Dearheart?
These vampires move fast. He’s already onto pet names.
All the blood rushes to my face.
Having this powerful vampire’s focus on me is overwhelming.
I nod. “Yeah, dear…darkness.”
Daire smothers his chuckle against my shoulder.
To my surprise, Lanlin looks more flustered than I am, pulling back.
Aurelius leans forward, as if he truly is on a throne. “Not so fast. I want an end to this war, as much as you do. Just go through in public with my one — single — demand, and you will leave safely with your Omega and this fae Blood Lover to sweeten the deal.”
Lanlin narrows his eyes. “Barbaric.”
Aurelius’ cruel mouth twists; he looks as cold as gold. “That would be you, when your fangs were in my brother’s throat. Finally, bend the knee.”
Is he serious?
Is he going to humiliate the other king like that?
Maximinus’ eyes glitter maliciously, as he smirks.
I don’t miss that he’s making Aurelius do all the talking, but for once, I don’t think that Aurelius is being made to do anything.
Aurelius is enjoying this — savoring it.
Lanlin tilts up his chin. “May the Shadow Devils destroy your lineage, your kingdom, your—”
“Kneel,” Aurelius roars, shoving himself to his feet.
The two kings stand glowering at each other.
“Always the obsession with kneeling,” Daire mutters.
The demonic lions shake their manes, padding closer to Lanlin in defense of him.
Lanlin waves his hands, and the moths flutter away.
Aurelius points at the freezing marble. “Kneel before me, Lan.”
The Lan is a deliberate insult; he’s refusing to even address him as a king.
Fury flames through Lanlin’s eyes.
But then, he drops to his knees elegantly like it’s easy and not something that he has been fighting for years to avoid.
The other dragons laugh nervously. Some of them jeer. Maximinus smiles, smugly.
My heart speeds up.
I nuzzle closer to Daire, taking calming breaths of his pheromones. Why do I care that Aurelius is treating my other Alpha like this?
They’re enemies.
I am about to bring down this Shadow Vampire’s kingdom, world, and life. So, why does it matter to me that he’s kneeling?
Except, somehow it does.
Aurelius looks down on Lanlin, who appears quietly composed on his knees, as if it’s a position that he’s well familiar with despite being a king. “All those years, all this fighting, to avoid submitting to the Draca Kingdom. And now, look at you. You’re kneeling for me.”
To my shock, Lanlin raises his head, meeting my gaze with breathtaking earnestness. “I’m not kneeling for you. You’re an irrelevance, Relius. I’m kneeling for my Omega.”
My Omega.
He’s kneeling for me…
The enormity of what Lanlin is giving up to be with me hits me. It knocks the breath from me.
I can’t avoid it, now that I can see Lanlin’s devotion.
What it means.
There are three of us on our knees in this room.
Daire, Lanlin, and me.
Not Aurelius.
Not a single dragon shifter.
Are these empire builders truly the villains? Could they ever have been the good guys?
Uncomfortable, I duck my head.
We may all have our own schemes, but suddenly, it connects me to this new Alpha in a new way that I wasn’t expecting.
The dragons simply want me to betray Lanlin and bring him back as a captive. After Aurelius’ display of what having even a small amount of power over the Blood looks like, I know that it would destroy me to do that.
Yet how can I balance keeping all three of these Alphas safe? And not die myself?
Aurelius growls. “A fucking irrelevance, Lan?”
He leans over Lanlin, as if he means to grab him by the neck.
The demonic lions roar a warning.
“Don’t touch me.” Lanlin sounds panicked for the first time.
Aurelius pulls back, placing his hands smartly behind his back.
His expression shutters but he looks down on Lanlin like he’s a bug. “You need to learn more humility. I am your Emperor now. Prostrate yourself.”
Daire hisses under his breath, “Bloody bastard.”
By the way that Lanlin glances in Daire’s direction in interest, I wonder whether he’s heard.
He doesn’t protest, however, instead sensuously bending forward. His muscles ripple through his robe, as he slips his arms along the floor until he is prostrating himself in front of his enemy.
Aurelius’ eyes dance with a darkness that I have never seen before. Except, has he only hidden it from me?
His mouth quirks up in amusement. “Lower.”
I feel sick.
Lanlin’s iron tipped gloves scrape across the floor, gouging claw marks. He presses his forehead to the floor. His long hair trails around him in waves.
When Aurelius lifts his foot, as if to stomp it down on the Blood’s neck, I rear back in shock. “Don’t.”
Lanlin sits back to kneel on his heels so fast that he is nothing but a blur.
“Are you keeping any of my people in your dungeons?” Lanlin narrows his eyes at Aurelius, as imperious all of a sudden as the dragon king and as if he hasn’t just prostrated himself in front of him.
“I will perform any more tricks that you wish like the animal you clearly believe me to be, if you release them.”
For the first time, Aurelius looks thrown. “Prisoners? Why would I?”
I notice the way that Maximinus has deliberately taken a step back.
Adrenaline spikes through me, when I remember the prisoner who looked like Lanlin: The one who Maximinus brought into this hall where Lanlin is now, gagged and bound, to be burned alive to honor Tarquin on his deathday memorial.
Who was he to Lanlin?
Lanlin’s gaze flicks to Daire, before to my surprise softening. “Because you keep gods as pets.”
“Gods?” Daire quirks his brow at Aurelius. “Hear that? I like him more than you already, boss.”
“And I don’t like you at all,” Aurelius deadpans. “I hope that he fucking breaks you, fae fucker.”
The ferocity…cruelty…of his words slaps me as hard as it does Daire, who pales.
He looks stricken.
I know that it’s part of the act.
Has this all been a performance? Or has only part of it been fake?
It certainly provokes Lanlin into action.
He surges like smoke and shadows to his feet. “You will not address my new Blood Lover. Now, I have knelt. I have listened to as much as I will endure from a dragon. I am taking my fae and my new bride.”
When he turns to Daire, his gaze darkens. “Follow.”
Daire launches himself to his feet. His pretty white wings spread wide, as if he is one of Lanlin’s moths in the dark, which are now circling the demonic lions.
Then Lanlin beckons to me with his clawed hand.
“My Queen.” His voice is soft and sultry.
I slowly push myself up.
“Spark,” Aurelius whispers like he can’t stop himself, as I step past him.
This time, however, it is me ignoring him.
Mesmerized, I step toward the Shadow Vampire King, my future groom, and am swallowed by his shadows.