Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Royal Vampire Nest, Blood Kingdom
Daire
“Bloody beautiful.” I lean down to study my Omega’s gorgeous, freckled face, wondering at how deeply she can sleep even in the middle of an enemy court.
I haven’t slept properly from the moment that I was captured in Rune Forest. Every time I close my eyes, I see dragons circling against the moon wreathed moon, Ciara blasted by the flames, then her ash and wisps of shadow scattered onto the nighttime breeze.
I imagine that I smell the stink of seared feathers and flesh.
My shame.
My destruction.
My fall.
I guess that it’s lucky because I mustn’t let my guard down anyway.
I haven’t been safe from that moment, first as a prisoner of the dragons and now, wearing a disguise to capture the Shadow Vampire King himself.
Lanlin more or less tore off his own half-brother’s cock and balls for daring to use his magic on Freya.
What in the name of the Shadow Devils would he do to me?
The Shadow Queen Slayer?
I sigh, leaning down to take a deep breath of my Spark’s calming rose scent.
We’re both sleeping naked.
There is nowhere I would rather be, no matter the danger.
Tremors caused by the pain from iron poisoning run down my wings. Now that I am alone, I allow myself to grimace.
I glance around at the world, which is blurred to a mix of colors like smeared paint around me.
The Bloods move more quietly than dragons do. It is harder to keep up with where they are without my full vision. On the other hand, however, their palace is filled with powerful aromas, along with a constant background hum of music, which makes up for it.
I adjust the nest, which I built out of blankets, more firmly around Freya.
I lean down to sniff the blankets — they smell of intoxicating incense.
They smell of Lanlin.
Typical of my savage wolf to feel safe in the Shadow Vampire King’s nest.
Yet how far can I trust this Alpha with Freya? He has saved our lives and risked his kingdom for her.
He has shown the same devotion that I feel but haven’t been able to offer.
My chest is tight.
I want to offer Freya the fucking world. Sit her on the throne in the Winter Court. Dance with her between the sacred ash trees with blossoms crowning our union, before we rut under the endless stars. Then build the farm for her, which she always dreamed about, beside the frozen waterfalls.
But I can’t.
I can’t even promise that she will have any future with me.
And that fucking wrecks me.
I clench my jaw.
“If I told you that I was going blind, dying, and was controlled by Maximinus, would you reject me?” My throat is dry.
“Would you still want me in your pack? I’ve been desperate to tell you but…
I can’t risk not spending my final weeks with you.
I need to…just in case I don’t… Do you have any idea that every day I am with you is more precious than a lifetime without you?
I’m trying to work out a scheme that will get us out of this.
I’ve always had one, right from the bloody start, for my own kingdom.
My time is running out, however, and if you knew what was happening to me, then you’d probably do something impulsive like trying to save me.
And sometimes, pawns need to be sacrificed to save the kings and queens. ”
My eyes burn.
Freya snorts a snore, snuffling into the bedding.
Despite myself, I laugh.
I brush a strand of Freya’s hair behind her ear.
“And you swear that you don’t snore, love.
Sin was bloody glorious yesterday, aye? Terrifying and dark like Hadrian.
” I give a sharp grin. “I have to respect his monstrous side. I wish that he could see how powerful I am too. Then he’d know that I also have fangs.
It’s exhausting putting on this simpering act all the time.
Sometimes, an Unseelie also needs to bite… ”
Suddenly, I realize that Freya is blinking sleepily up at me.
“Bite?” She yawns.
“Thanks for the invitation. Maybe later.”
Freya’s yawn widens, and she stretches.
“Morning.” She leans up to kiss me. I savor it, luxuriating in the lazy dance of our tongues.
Finally, she pulls back with a teasing nip on my lower lip, as if to say that she can bite as well.
I know that, and it’s something I love about my Omega.
“Evening? Or is it…? What time is it? This nighttime court is confusing me. Everything is confusing here.”
I settle on my side next to her, curling a lock of her hair between my fingers.
I hum my agreement. “You can tell by the light harp, lutes, and trumpet music, which is still winding from the main rooms of the Blue Lotus Palace, that it’s still night.
They do like their wild parties. Fae are all about loving each other in every way, but even I learned some new tricks when I watched them earlier.
And that had nothing to do with spying; these parties are public with free-flowing mead, wine, and blood.
They’re spiritual for them like worship.
The priestesses of the Scarlet Temple were leading them. ”
Freya struggles out of the sheets, narrowing her eyes. “You went out earlier? By yourself?”
“A courtesan needs to stay up to date with their skills.” I don’t admit that I couldn’t sleep.
Plus, after Lanlin’s possessive display that showed anyone who touched his mates would end up torn apart by demonic lions, I thought that it was safe enough.
I was right.
The Bloods shied away, as if risking brushing against me — leaving their scent on me — would mean that they would also be savaged.
Is that what it means to be marked as the Blood Lover of Lanlin Sin?
I glance at the demonic lions’ empty bed.
Shadow and Devil are as missing from the chamber as Lanlin is.
“The point is, love,” I tap my ear, “you survive by learning the routines, traditions, and rhythms of a place. Here the music subtly changes at dawn. The drums and clappers stop.”
“Why?”
“Because the dancing does. Time for all good little fangs to go to bed.”
“So, no one in this court then.”
“Aye, we’re in a court of monsters. Ours has been out all night…probably with his kittens…and isn’t back yet.”
“Don’t call him that.” Freya sits up, sharply dragging me up as well.
“What?” I blink.
“Monster.” Freya’s expression is so serious that it catches me by surprise.
I tilt my head, considering her. “What is he then?”
“Ours,” she replies with breathtaking simplicity. “Pack.”
“I hate to break this to you, but what he is…? Is Aurelius’ enemy.
The type of hatred between those two idiots could destroy realms. It has done.
And Sin…if he knew who I was…he’d kill me, slowly.
He may be yours, but I am not his. Aurelius isn’t.
How could we work as a pack? I love that you want to protect everyone, but I don’t need a prophecy to see that this is going to lead to at least one of us bleeding out. The question is which one of us.”
Freya grips me harshly by the chin. “I won’t let any of you bleed. I swear on the moon, I won’t lose a single one of you now that I have found you.”
I swallow the lump in my throat.
My tongue feels heavy in my mouth.
Should I tell her about the iron poisoning?
I can’t hurt her like that.
“Okay,” I whisper.
Freya’s gaze hardens, and she still refuses to let me look away. “What did you mean, when you were under the compulsion and you said that you were a fae who had lived too long?”
May the Shadow Devils choke Horus, I knew that would come back to bite me in the arse.
My Spark is smart.
“Now I’m glad I saw that fanged arsehole weeping into the arms of one of the priestesses about how his knot would probably never work again,” I grumble. “Horus was limping and being pampered by the Omegas who looked to be in mourning that their favorite mage toy was broken.”
“Shame Shadow didn’t kill him.”
I arch my brow. “Savage.”
“Couldn’t you tell that Horus appeared to be nothing but a playboy but in fact, was the most dangerous person in the court?
He’s going to have a serious vendetta against us now.
Those crocodile siblings and their mom scared Lanlin in a way that even the other freaky Omegas and Betas didn’t.
Plus, as much as they may suck, why did Lanlin tell us that he had no family? ”
“They must be bad, if he hates them enough to not even claim them as family, when he has no one else.”
“Or maybe,” Freya suggests, softly, “they don’t normally claim him as family. Maybe they only put on that performance because it was in public.” She grabs me by the curls and tugs me closer. “And don’t think that you’ve distracted me from the fae who has lived too long comment.”
Our breaths mist, mingling and becoming one.
My mask feels like a protection. But Freya can still see into my eyes, and I am flayed.
“I’ve seen my family,” I reply, quietly, in a way that I couldn’t to anyone but Freya, “court, friends, brothers and sisters in the featherglass, and my own kingdom burn to ash. I should have died with them. I should be ash.”
Understanding bleeds into Freya’s eyes.
She kisses me, tender and raw with emotion.
I let her to stop myself from spilling out more of the truth.
Then she drops her grip on my hair and chin and holds my hand instead.
“You don’t think I understand that? I grew up as a ghost in my own court.
A court that mourned a vampire massacre that only I survived.
I was weighed down with guilt every day for surviving…
for keeping on living…while the baby princess didn’t, to whom everyone lit candles and prayed to the Shadow Gods at the barrows.
Except, I was her all along. I still don’t know how to fucking deal with that.
I’ve spent so long wondering…why me? Why did I survive? What does fate want from me?”
“We’re two survivors of blood and ash.” My eyes gleam. I curl my wings around Freya. “Fuck fate. We’re not ghosts. We’ll live now for ourselves.”