Chapter 9 #2
Daire sends a wave of pheromones washing over me, and it settles my jangled nerves.
“War isn’t like they tell it in the tales and the songs like it’s somehow glorious, honorable, beautiful.
There is no bloody beauty in war. Only screaming, blood, terror, and pain.
Only the living turned to ash. I fought because I had no choice.
But I’ve come to see that Aurelius thinks he has no choice as well.
Is Sin the same? But the problem is that peace doesn’t mean the same to any of us.
To the dragons, it means order. They control an empire, where they evangelize peace through control.
To me, peace is freedom. I would have my kingdom back to rule as I please.
To Sin…that’s what we must find out, aye? ”
I stare down at the beautiful vampire in the bed.
Lanlin’s long black hair trails around him like shadowed tendrils. His careful makeup is smudged. Like this, I can see that he really is only the same age as me.
Plus, as much as he looks like a Shadow Devil, he isn’t.
This Alpha can take on an army single-handedly…but he can also faint.
The unexpected vulnerability draws a protectiveness from my Omega side that takes me by surprise.
Daire leans to whisper into my ear, “If that bastard Maximinus had trusted me to take off my mask, then this would be the best opportunity to capture Lanlin.”
I don’t know that I’ve growled, until I’ve jumped onto the bed and I’m sprawled almost on top of Lanlin, shielding him.
Daire quirks his brow in surprise. “That’s one vote for nay then?”
I nod, hurriedly.
I blush.
Daire looks delighted. “Brilliant. Because how could I do that to such a brutal killer? Did you see how Sin fought? He was amazing. I want him to teach me.”
I gape at Daire’s excited expression.
Well, that wasn’t my reason for wanting Lanlin to become pack, but I’ll take it.
Suddenly, this close to Lanlin’s head, I realize that he’s radiating heat.
Shocked, I turn and rest the back of my hand against his forehead. “He has a fever.”
I wish that I had more healer skills but I’m a better thief and spy.
Instantly, Daire’s expression becomes serious. He twists around, darting from one side of the chamber to the other and stroking his fingers over the surfaces.
Do fae have worse night vision than wolves? I’ll have to make sure to help Daire.
He ducks to a cedarwood desk that stands to the side of the room. It is messy with parchments, which are bright with hieroglyphics.
Some of them appear to be ancient hieroglyph magic.
There are so many parchments that they spill off onto the floor in a papery sea.
My expression brightens.
Is Lanlin a scholar? Interested in ancient magic like Daire and I are? Or is this simply work for his court that he is forced into doing like Aurelius is?
I’ll sneak a look later.
Perhaps, being a spy won’t be so hard.
Lanlin isn’t as tidy as Aurelius, and by the looks of the state of both the desk and this room, doesn’t have a maid, servant, or a pet to clean for him.
What kind of king is he? What did Daire mean by outcast?
Daire feels across the desk to seize a bronze bowl of water at the back with a grin of triumph. He pulls the bowl to this chest, along with a small linen cloth that rests next to it. Then he dives back to the bed.
I wriggle to lie on one side of Lanlin, feeling his heat even through the blanket.
It’s strange that this is the first time I am in bed with my future husband. I thought that I would be terrified but instead, I am calmly tending to his injuries.
Daire sits cross-legged on the other side, dipping the cloth into the water. He leans over and swipes it first across my wounded chin.
I hiss in shock.
Daire kisses my cheek. “I wish that I had been the one to defend you, love.”
“How could you have, Sweet Dove?” I tease. “You’re merely a soft, defenseless courtesan.”
He grimaces, wringing out the cloth in the cold water again.
“I may have given myself away with my ravens in the heat of the battle. Saving you was the most important thing. My ravens are enjoying exploring the new palace for now and will report back to me with anything that they find.” Daire keeps his voice casual, but I know him too well to be tricked.
“You didn’t know about the ambush, aye?”
I frown. “I could ask you the same thing. Did Maximinus plan it?”
“If he did, then the bastard didn’t tell me.” Daire lays the cloth on Lanlin’s forehead. “Our bat Alpha is too bloody hot.”
Lanlin is shivering now.
I drag the blanket more firmly around him. Daire settles down on the other side of the bed.
Daire’s lavender eyes shine brightly in the dark. “Why don’t you catch some sleep, my Spark? I swore to serve you, and it doesn’t matter how far we travel, I always will. I’ll stay awake in case…”
I furrow my brow. “What?”
Finally, the exhaustion and shock of everything that has happened not only throughout tonight but over the last few weeks is catching up on me.
My eyes are heavy. My mind is fuzzy.
I turn my head to take a breath of the incense smelling sheets; they smell of Lanlin.
I am lying in a royal vampire’s nest.
“In case our darkness here needs me, aye?” Daire’s voice is quiet in the luxurious chamber.
“I remember what it was like after the destruction of my sacred grove and the death of everybody who I loved. I was alone and covered in ash…” He shakes his wing, and ash falls like seared blossoms onto the bed.
I pale; this must remind him of how he looked when he was stuck for all that time in the cage, being dragged in a triumphal procession to Bael and never allowed to clean the ash from his feathers.
“Until you came to see me, bearing stolen food like the mischievous answer to my prayers, I’d been surrounded by nothing but the guards, who took turns beating me black and blue, and my own howling grief.
But the guilt was worse. No one deserves to be left alone with any of that, and no one inside this palace is falling over themselves to check that Sin is all right. ”
“I have always been alone, my dear.” Lanlin’s eyes are open and glancing between Daire and me.
Shit, how long has he been awake? Did he hear anything that gave us away?
Daire’s lips thin.
When Daire lightly adjusts the cloth on Lanlin’s head, Lanlin flinches away like Daire has struck him.
“You have a fever,” Daire explains. “We’re back in your palace. Your brilliant big cats led us here.”
“I see.” Lanlin’s eyes are glassy and unfocused.
I don’t think that he does understand. He looks lost to his fever still.
He’s putting on a front though.
Alphas, huh?
Daire and I exchange a glance.
“Are you in pain?” I venture, soothing my pheromones over him. “Is there a healer who we should fetch?”
I startle with a yelp, however, when Lanlin twists to the side, latching his fanged mouth over my wrist, and by chance, my snowflake bond mark.
“Fuck,” I hiss.
Daire’s eyes darken with rage, although he shivers too because he must be able to feel the imprint of the vampire’s teeth through our bond.
“No biting without consent, fang.” Daire grabs Lanlin by the scruff of the neck like he’s a kitten and not a monster.
“Don’t touch him,” I say, hurriedly.
Reluctantly, Daire subsides but remains with his hand hovering close to Lanlin’s throat.
My cheeks are flushed.
I don’t need to admit how much Lanlin’s gentle bite is making me wet with slick. I know that Daire can smell it by his knowing smile.
The bite is more like the vampire equivalent of nuzzling because Lanlin is merely latched onto my wrist over my pulsing artery; he is lightly licking but isn’t breaking the skin.
At last, Lanlin looks up at me with dazed but devoted eyes, which glow in the shadows of the bed chamber.
Finally, I understand: This is Lanlin being close to feral.
He’s acting on instinct.
Every time one of us has tried to touch him, he has flinched. So, I don’t reach out to stroke his cheek as I am aching to.
Instead, I say, “Thanks for saving me.”
Lanlin blinks up at me like he doesn’t know what I’m talking about.
Then he gives my wrist a final lick, before drawing back just far enough to mutter, “Your taste makes my fangs stop hurting, my dear Omega. Am I asleep? I would dream that we were together. Sometimes, I was certain that I would see you, even when I was awake. I longed and searched for you for years.”
“Like you did in Bael.” Daire’s voice is carefully neutral.
“I was lost…feral…screaming into the cruel Void for the other half of my soul…”
“He’s delirious,” I point out.
“Am I, dearheart?” Suddenly, Lanlin sounds frighteningly lucid.
Was he playing us all along? He reaches to trail the iron tip of his finger just in front of the cut on my chin.
“May you accept my apologies that I failed to protect you. I swear on my fangs that I won’t tomorrow when I introduce you to the Blood Court, which will be more dangerous than anything you have yet faced. ”