Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Borderlands, Blood Kingdom
Freya
Jostled on the back of the demonic lion, I curl my arms more firmly around Daire’s waist. I rest my cheek against his downy, white wings. Beneath my legs, the flanks of the fearsome demonic lion burn like the flames of hell.
I tremble.
I am being carried into the Bloods’ kingdom for the first time in my life, and it’s on the back of a creature that looks like it would rather savage me.
As an Omega in the Fang Kingdom, I wasn’t even allowed to ride a horse.
I wish that King Ulf could see me now.
Is this an honor?
Ahead of me, the beautiful Shadow Vampire King rides straight-backed on his own demonic lion, leading our procession.
A portal had appeared, dragging Lanlin, Daire, and me out of the Silver Banquet Hall and into the desert Borderlands
All my life, I dreamed of escaping my life of scrubbing floors and peeling potatoes, while being tripped down steps and slapped by the elites. I wished for adventure and the magic of the fae.
For King Daire.
I have what I’ve always wanted, right?
Then why do I think that this is a case of the old wolf saying: When the Shadow Gods give you what you pray for, they are laughing at you?
I glance around myself, fascinated by this new kingdom.
The stars are unnaturally bright in the sky, but the moon is sickly and thin.
Daire’s ravens are silhouetted like feathered bats amongst the real colony of bats, which have swooped around them as guards, ever since we appeared through the portal.
I don’t know if the bats are protecting the ravens or holding them prisoner.
But then, I have the same fucking question about the squad of Shadow Vampires who met us in the Borderlands.
I glance at the light, flexible chariot, which is being pulled by two horses next to Daire and me. It is built out of bent wood, which is lashed together with rawhide strips. The horses’ manes have been woven with the black bat emblems of Sin’s army, the Eternals.
Inside the chariot, one soldier holds the reins, while another elegantly stands as an archer in a pleated skirt and chest bands. The archer is carrying a long bow as possessively as if it’s his baby. A leather quiver of reed arrows is slung across his back. The arrows appear to be tipped with bone.
The wheels of the chariot kick up clouds of sand.
My eyes water.
The Eternals who march on the other side of Daire and me wear the same emblem on their leather caps. Their bronze scale armor is small and overlapping, sewn to a vest and painted black. Weaving through the pale desert, they look like scarab beetles swarming over bones.
They clink softly — an army of insects.
I swallow.
Now I understand how intimidating it would be to face an entire Eternal army like this led by a savage King riding a giant, demonic lion.
I shiver, as a cool breeze ripples over the sand dunes. They are devoid of life, apart from shrines, which light our path with wavering flames and curling smoke.
The air shimmers with the sweet resinous scent of the shrine lamps, which is turned bitter by the tang of the sand.
I nuzzle my nose into Daire’s feathers, taking deep breaths of his familiar sunshine aroma.
“Keep doing that…” Daire leans forward, tightening his hold on the demonic lion’s majestic mane, “and you’re going to make me come in my pants…again.”
The sergeant, a grizzled Shadow Vampire with only one fang, who has been marching alongside us, shoots Daire a disgusted look and falls back.
I chuckle, licking Daire’s wing in reward.
I know that he wanted to gain us some privacy to talk.
Of course, I have already made him come once on the journey by…innocently…nuzzling his feathers relentlessly for an hour.
A bored Omega is a dangerous Omega.
“Why do you get to ride up front and stroke the pretty mane?” I kiss the back of Daire’s head to enjoy the way that his wings tremor.
The lion, who I now know is called Shadow, snarls and tosses her head, as if she can understand me.
She gives off Alpha vibes but maybe she’s an Omega and enjoys being praised…?
“You mean, why do I get to hang on for dear life and risk being eaten?” Daire replies. “Because the most experienced rider should always go at the front. On the holy fae, is this our romantic riding on one horse moment, except we’re on one demonic lion?”
I frown. “Experienced? How many demonic lions have you ridden before?”
Daire tilts his head like he needs to think hard.
“Zero, but Sin said that I’d charmed Shadow.
” He preens, ruffling his feathers. “And he said that Shadow has never been charmed by anyone. In fact, she has never let anyone even touch her before. To be fair, I didn’t love being pinned to the floor and sniffed first though. ”
I pull a face. “I thought that you were a lion snack, until she licked you…and I realized that she was being friendly and not testing whether to eat you.”
“I am lickable.”
I lick the back of Daire’s ear to prove him right, and he moans. “Lanlin seemed shocked. It’s hard to tell with how inscrutable he is, but I’m going for shocked that we had this type of bond to his animals and maybe happy too.”
“Aye, these bloody gorgeous monsters are special to him. It felt like his family giving their blessing to his wedding.”
My chest is tight.
Why does that feel like a stab to the heart?
Because this isn’t a real wedding.
It isn’t a true bond, right?
Or can I make it into one, somehow?
Yet does every moment that I become close to a vampire dishonor my massacred parents? Every moment that I choose my new fated mate over avenging them?
I snuggle closer to my soulmate, needing the safety of his wintry oak and sunshine scent, which is familiar even if his hair and wing color aren’t.
All week, while I trained in the Spy Guild, I needed this.
At night, while I was separated from my Raven King, I stroked and kissed over the snowflake bond mark.
I sensed his mounting desire and pleasure, as I teased my own clit, until I could feel in the bond that we both came with the same explosive ecstasy.
I can’t think about my Golden Dragon King right now. It is too painful.
I work my hand lower, until I slip underneath Daire’s long robe. His crotch is still covered by a scrap of silk that I can’t wait to explore.
No one can see what we are doing.
Daire’s face is hidden by the mask, and my movements are shielded by his clothes.
It turns me on, however, that Daire must remain still and quiet, as I work over him with the firm strokes that I’ve come to learn he loves.
“Is this okay?” My excitement is heightened by knowing that we are surrounded by our enemies.
“Cruel.” Daire’s voice is strained. “Also, don’t stop.”
“Never.” I rest my head against Daire’s silky hair, speeding up my tormenting touches. “I’ve already made you come once. This is a long journey though. You can manage twice more.”
“Pitiless, love.” But he pushes into my touch and not away. Then he turns his head, and I am startled by how steady his voice is. “This is also the perfect time to plot.”
“Now? While my hand is on your…?”
Daire smirks. “It’s how I think best.”
I capture his plush lips. “Tell me about this mask.”
Daire pulls back from me with a frown. “Bloody cursed thing. Maximinus put it on me. It’s the shackles that we need to…
you know? It won’t come off until the night of the Blood Moon.
I hate that I’m wearing this, when I had to take off my bronze and emerald ring, which is all I have left of my da, in case someone recognized it. ”
“But that ring means the world to you. Where did you leave it?”
“Aurelius promised to wear it for me. He swore that he’d keep it safe.
But should I trust anything that comes out of that dragon’s mouth?
” When Daire’s voice drops to a whisper, and his urgency increases, my heart rate spikes.
“How can I clip the wings of another king, breaking his Crown, as mine has been? I don’t want to do this…
I really fucking don’t. Give me some time to work out how we all get out of this, aye?
Until then, this is the plan. At the Blood Moon, Sin intends to make the marriage official.
He will drink from both of us, before he bonds with you through this frenzied rutting ritual, which will bind his magic to you.
It’s the time that he’ll be at his weakest and most vulnerable. And that’s when we’ll…”
Attack.
Capture him.
Drag him back as a prisoner to his greatest enemy, Aurelius.
It is when we will betray our new Golden fated mate — the words echo in the silence between Daire and me.
Yet this is meant to be my revenge. It’s the only way to save Aurelius and all the realms.
Isn’t it?
But surely, there is another way.
I open my mouth to say…something…when Daire hushes me, turning his head from side to side.
“We’re being watched.” He scans the rolling desert dunes. “And not by the guards. There are other Shadow Vampires out there, following us. I can smell them.”
Hurriedly, I pull my hand away from Daire’s hard cock. I twist to stare out into the dark night. Then I stiffen with fear as I catch sudden movement beside the shrines and glowing eyes.
I huddle closer to Daire, who sings softly to me in his ancient fae tongue.
I know that he is distracting me.
The song is calming but haunting like a frozen waterfall; I wish that I understood it. Yet even though I don’t, each softly tinkling word slithers down my spine and sinks into my soul.
Fae are the best singers in the world, apart from the Shadow Elves. What would it have been like to hear Daire singing with his featherglass? To have heard the songs of the Winter Court?
My skin goosebumps. My breathing speeds up.
Joy and love and awe vibrate through me.
I feel safe in the soaring beauty of his song, transported to the sacred forest of his youth, before it was burned to ash.
Before his family, friends, and kingdom became nothing but feathers and bones.
Before he became the masked Dove.