Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Diamond Ballroom, Blood Kingdom
Lanlin
Lies feed my royal House of Sin, as much as blood. I have known this since I was the monster prince who was betrayed by his mother and torn apart from his good twin. Yet tonight, when finally I am no longer alone at the Night of the Shades, I am the one who is lying.
I am hiding from my nest mates that this ball isn’t simply to remember our long dead but is also my living funeral.
Tonight, I grieve my own death because I refuse to choose to sacrifice Freya on the Blood Moon.
Yet on my fangs, I don’t wish my wolf or fae to mourn but to celebrate with me. Every moment that we spend together is precious.
The happiest and best moments of my life.
I may be the last vampire king but I am not the freak, outcast, unloved king any longer.
My heart and soul shall always fly with them, even if my body cannot.
“The hall’s walls are encrusted with diamonds.
How much is just one of those worth?” Freya peeks through the high entrance door into Diamond Hall.
The haunting melodies of reed pipes and harps spill from inside, along with tempting smells of rich, roasted meat, and blood wine.
“They’re the size of my fist. They’re like stars.
I mean, I’m not thinking of stealing one or anything. ”
“You’re a magpie,” Dove mutters, wrapping his wing around her shoulder.
“Like you, you mean?” Freya’s eyes are wide. “The diamonds are beautiful.”
“Not as beautiful as you, my dear,” I reply, delighting in her involuntary blush and purr.
It thrills me to see my nest mates wearing the matching robes that I gave them.
They match my own robe in glittering obsidian black.
Even more thrilling are the diamonds that I wove through their hair and twin bat circlets set on their heads, which mark them out as my King and Queen. I placed them there with my own — bare — hands.
I believed both their thanks and kisses.
I didn’t understand the intense look from Dove, when I placed the crown on his head, nor the tears that glistened in his eyes.
Yet it hurts that they believe in my earnestness.
They trust me.
I wish to give them my Crown, kingdom, the realms.
I am trying my best.
After all, I plan to die for them.
Yet all I truly want is to live for them.
When I stalk forward, Shadow and Devil prowl behind me. Their fur glistens under the torchlight in the corridor. I brushed it earlier for hours with lotus oil in honor of the shades, until it glowed.
I place my hand on Dove’s shoulder. “Diamond Hall was built by my grandparents on the blood of your race. Often those things that look the prettiest have the highest cost.”
Dove twirls to me; his expression is unreadable. “How’s that then, bat?”
“Fae prisoners were used, while shackled in iron, to mine for these diamonds, deeper and deeper into the dark. It was dangerous work, and many died. I can only apologize on behalf of my ancestors—”
“Is that all you can do though?” Dove’s eyes gleam.
“Couldn’t you tear down this ballroom? Return the diamonds to the fae?
Oh, wait, they were conquered by the dragons, aye?
So, couldn’t all you have done been to join up with the fae against the bloody tyrant dragons and brought them down together? ”
Shocked, I meet Dove’s blazing gaze.
Dressed in matching robes to mine, with a crown on his head, he looks every inch an Alpha king. I am proud of him standing next to my Omega.
Yet guilt curls in my stomach. It is not an emotion that I am used to.
How can I explain that I have never held the power in this realm? That I have never been in a position to make that kind of decision?
“Have you forgotten,” I remove my hand from his shoulder, stiffly, “that your King also murdered my mother?”
“Killed,” Dove corrects, “on the battlefield.”
We glare at each other for a long moment.
Dove is iron poisoned and living with sight loss. Yet he has stood courageously by Freya, his Blood Lover friend, and me as well.
In turn, I helped him mask his challenges from Freya, especially in our glorious hunt through the desert when Freya freed her wild side.
Do our secrets matter? Our pasts?
I am buzzing because of his blood, which flows through me like an elixir of life.
With all his winged mysteries, Dove is mine. My fangs belong in his throat.
Freya grabs both our hands. “We’re pack now.
What happened generations ago can’t be more important than our future, right?
Can your mom be brought back from the dead?
Can any of those who we have lost be? But we can survive — wolf, fae, and vampire — and show that there is a way to live together that doesn’t end in… ”
“Blood?” I bare my fangs. “Dearheart, the spirits are pressing on me more than normal because it is the Night of the Shades. I failed White Lotus and all my family and ancestors in the tombs. Tonight, I must show my respects. How about we honor the dead but without grievances? It means more to me than you can understand not to mourn my lost alone for the first time. Will you honor yours as well?”
“Fae dead at a vampire’s ball?” Dove asks, pensively.
“All dead, the same,” I answer, firmly.
“Then I have more to mourn than you could imagine.”
“So do I.” Freya turns to the fae, nuzzling against his neck.
Her eyes glisten with tears.
Immediately, Dove floods her with calming pheromones. “May their souls have swiftly met their ancestors in the moon.”
My chest becomes tight.
I wish that I knew how to comfort anyone as smoothly as he does.
Why do I hate seeing my nest mates like this?
Why do I wish that I could sink my claws into their minds and drag out the secrets of their pasts as easily as I can flay a body?
But it’s too late.
Tomorrow, I will both marry and die, love and leave them. Tonight, I grieve mostly the death of my future that I can never have.
This masked ball, however, is my opportunity to make sure that the Blood Court see Dove and Freya as their King and Queen, whether puppets or not, to establish their position after my death.
If I must sacrifice myself to save the world, then I won’t also sacrifice my mates.
I lower my head, closing my eyes.
Laz, I hope that you are alive, but if you are in the heavens, then at least you are at peace. You didn’t have to throw yourself into the Void. You were always too good for that. I wish I could believe that tomorrow I would join you. But I am damned. Laz, the other half of my soul, I miss you.
“Hey,” Freya squeezes my hand, “are you okay?”
I snap my eyes open. “The dead sneak up on you sometimes.”
“Aye, they do.” Dove’s expression gentles. “But we’re alive. How about we prove that to this court of yours?”
“I have another gift first. This is a masked ball, after all.” I clap my hands.
A Beta Blood servant, who is wearing the bat emblem of the House of Sin on her uniform, scurries along the corridor and passes me a large box.
She ducks her head, before sliding away back into the shadows.
The box glistens like midnight. On each side I have drawn hieroglyphs for the moon and the sun, united.
Dove and Freya are the sunshine in my dark world.
The bone white ribbons that fall around the box are tied in elaborate bows.
I turn back to Freya, offering her the box. “My Omega, it is tradition on the Night of the Shades to gift your Omega something special.”
Freya brightens, reaching for the box, but Daire stills her hand.
“This isn’t that severed head you keep going on about, aye?” Dove quirks his brow.
I blink. “Why would I take the time to box it?”
“Lazy. You could at least drop it into a gift basket.”
“I believe that you may be the psycho.”
Dove laughs; I find that it is a sound I enjoy. “Let’s see what you bought our Omega before we decide that.”
My expression tightens.
This relationship is new to me, and it will be the only time that I experience it.
I must get this right.
Dove strokes over the ribbons with a happy hum.
Freya undoes the ribbons, plucking off the box’s top. Then she gasps, pulling out the mask that lies on the top. She holds it up. The light catches on the glittering black and gold masquerade mask that swirls like bat wings.
“It is antique,” I explain. “It has belonged to every ruler of the House of Sin to wear on the Night of the Shades.”
Freya gives me a small smile, before passing me the box and reaching up on tiptoes to press the half mask to my face.
I have imagined this moment my entire life.
Dreamed it.
I hold my breath.
Then Freya moves behind me, gently tying the black ribbon behind me to hold it on.
My voice is tight. “The other mask I had made the moment that I knew my new Omega was from Fang Kingdom.”
I pull the decorative, golden wolf half mask from the box, before dropping the box to the floor.
“I love it. Thank you, my darkness.” Freya stands, waiting for me to put the mask on her.
I slide it onto her beautiful face, tracing along her cheekbones and freckles as I do. Then I tie the gold ribbons to hold on the wolf mask, making sure not to catch it on her red hair.
I press a kiss to the top of her head.
Freya spins to Dove, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Now we’re all in masks. Like it?”
“My wolf.” Dove rests his silver mask against her golden one. Then his gaze slides to mine. “My bat.”
My cheeks heat. “My Dove, shall we?”
I gesture toward the open door.
To my surprise, Dove’s shoulders slump. “I suppose as both courtesan and Blood Lover, I’m supposed to put on some kind of performance at this thing, aye? It was like that in the Shadow Court. You know, dance, sing, or show off how god-like I am…?”
I wrinkle my nose in distaste. “Why would I expect that? You are wearing the circlet on your head of the House of Sin. You are to be King. Damn all the way to the Void how those dragons treated you. Here you are the guest of honor. Let me treat you like one.”
Dove opens and shuts his mouth, as if he doesn’t know how to respond.