Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
KOLVAR
My heart still hadn’t settled from the fear that had it hammering in my chest wildly upon finding Kyella gone from my room.
Staring at her as her mouth opened in awe and the sun sparkled against her eyes, I realized they were practically glowing like the brightest gold coins I’d ever seen.
Her exceptionally stunning eyes had caught my attention from the start, but they absolutely hadn’t been this vivid before.
My brows furrowed in confusion over the enigma this woman was.
She craved blood like a vampyre, but she didn’t have fangs like one, and she drank my blood with no adverse reaction.
That was unheard of for a vampyre. We would get extremely sick from one of our own kind’s blood.
But if she were a human, she would undoubtedly have been controlled by Malakai through the abilities our blood gives us once ingested by a human.
Emotionally and physically, we were able to warp what it was they wanted.
Thankfully compulsion was outlawed in our lands.
Elijah snuck a look over at her, and I saw the interest that sparked in his eyes as she stared at our home, our ship sailing closer to port. But the second she turned her head towards him, Elijah snapped his head the other way, and I saw a cold mask slip back over him.
Letting out a heavy sigh, I approached him as Dakath and Kyella began to talk about our home and its customs. She was completely riveted by the conversation, and I had accepted I couldn’t hog her attention any longer.
It was clear she was feeling better, but I would still stay close in case her hunger surged.
The fact that she drank my blood would stay our secret for as long as she wanted. To be honest, I loved it. I felt needed and valued by her and loved having the opportunity to prove she could trust me.
But with the looks Dakath and Elijah gave her, the way our natural defenses surged in response to her safety, I knew that I couldn’t live in this little bubble with her forever.
But I would always treasure the way her sleepy gaze lit up when she took me in after waking up from a nap, though I wasn’t sure if it was because I was the one providing her blood or if she felt affection for me already.
“So,” I said, leaning against the smooth wooden railing on the starboard side near Elijah.
Flicking my eyes down at his face, I smirked when I saw the way his jaw clenched at my one word greeting.
He was trying so hard to keep his usual calm, collected, honorable demeanor intact, but it was clear Kyella was tearing up that carefully constructed persona.
The best part was she had no idea how much she was impacting the stoic vampyre.
Few would even notice the small changes in him. Dakath and I had spent enough time with him since our turning, though, that the subtle inflections of his tone and a tight jaw were more than enough to give him away.
“Don’t,” he rebutted, already knowing where I was going with this. Kyella had obviously been the topic of our conversation since beginning our voyage home. A journey that had thankfully been free of storms, making it an easy two-day trip.
“Don’t what?” I asked innocently.
His green eyes glittered with frustration in the sun, but as he turned them on me, I had to laugh at the challenge lurking in their depths. “Don’t play dumb, Kolvar. It isn’t becoming of a Lord in the direct service of our ruler.”
At that, I barked out a laugh. “Yeah, and what are you doing, Elijah? Because you sure as hell aren’t being honest with us or yourself. It’s going to eat you away if you continue to try to bury it.”
Turning his cheek to me once more, he muttered in an adamant low tone, “I don’t know why the two of you insist that something’s changed within me. My focus is solely on my duty to our ruler and our empire. That hasn’t changed and will always remain.”
Leaning down on my forearms, I clasped my hands together and kept my voice quiet, not wanting to embarrass our older comrade. “You know it isn’t against the law to feel emotions for her?”
While I wasn’t the youngest, Dakath being the baby at 148 years old, I knew Elijah had never been one to let people in.
He’d been 107 when I’d been turned and met him, forcing my friendship on him.
Before that, in the nearly forty years he’d been a vampyre, he’d never had anyone he considered a friend or family.
While many told me not to bother with the aloof and off-putting vampyre during our training years, I hadn’t listened—rather the opposite.
No, I found myself wanting to befriend the man, even if it had been a tedious process.
Eventually though, he had let me in, and forty-five years later he let Dakath in as well.
Still, there was a deep sadness within Elijah, and even after over a century and a half, I’d never quite been able to pinpoint how to remove that cloud that followed him.
Instead, I had done my best to lighten the weight of the world he seemed to carry on his shoulders, and in the rare moments I got a smile or laugh from him, my soul had felt at peace.
Family was everything to me, and after watching my human family pass in their old age, all I had left were these two men that I considered my brothers.
I would die for them and would spend each day refusing to give up on bringing joy to their lives.
And now I felt the same for Kyella. A part of me just knew, with every fiber of my being, that she was the missing piece we all needed.
The element of our life that had been absent until now—until I had met her gaze across the throne room and everything in my universe had shifted.
“But it may yet be against the law to harbor four fugitives from their empire, possibly starting a war for her return to Malakai,” Elijah finally relented, letting his head hang down, watching the waves break around us.
Surprise flitted through me. “Is that what’s concerning you? How our ruler will react to bringing them with us?”
Our ruler was benevolent and kind, so I couldn’t see that being a potential scenario. But Elijah held himself to this impossible standard that not even our ruler expected of him. It was why he was their right-hand man.
“She was the Emperor’s personal blood slave, and his actions at that party,” he spat, grinding his teeth together before continuing, “proved that she is something significant to him. He wanted her defeated and cowering, but she refused.”
I detected quite a bit of admiration from him in that statement. He respected the fact that she hadn’t allowed herself to be broken by her time in that castle.
“There has to be something special about her,” he muttered while sneaking a look at her. “Why else would the Emperor go through all that trouble instead of killing her and finding a new Thrall?”
Taking a deep inhale and blowing it out, I kept my own knowledge of how unique she was to myself. I wouldn’t break the fragile trust that Kyella had in me.
Glancing over, I saw Dakath holding her hand casually as he pointed at different landmarks we were passing as we closed in on our specified dock.
Her black hair was blowing back behind her, highlighting her stunning face and the beautiful, curious expression that covered it.
Kyella was somehow so dainty-looking, yet she possessed an inner strength that radiated from her without trying.
The smile that lit her face had my own lips tugging up.
Also, when the hell had Dakath started going around making people smile?
Don’t get me wrong, I liked the bastard but he wasn’t the type to tell jokes.
That was normally my specialty. Hell, he was usually far quieter and reserved than he was around Kyella.
Much like Elijah, it was a change that was very noticeable after spending so many years together.
It looked good on him and made my heart swell with happiness, seeing him begin to come out of his shell after struggling so much with his grief over his past.
Straightening up as we prepared to disembark, I ran a hand roughly over my jaw and fixed Elijah with a knowing look. “Well, it’s clear that there is something special enough about her to draw all three of our interests so quickly.”
As he opened his mouth to rebut that claim, I held my hand up. “Stop. If you want to continue to lie to yourself, that’s fine, but don’t do that with me. I won’t entertain it, and I have a feeling our spitfire isn’t going to like it either.”
Because there was a fire simmering within Kyella, and I had a sneaking suspicion it would challenge Elijah more than anyone prior in his life had.
Leaving him grumbling to himself, I walked over to our beauty.
Yes, I had already claimed her as ours. In my head, I couldn’t see the outcome of this situation going any other way.
Unless for some reason she decided she didn’t want to see us anymore…
That had the potential to break me. At the same time, after everything she had been through, I would respect it.
Even if it killed me.
As she heard my footsteps approaching, she turned to look up at me, which was quite a distance to crane her head. Her cheeks were pink, almost like she was embarrassed, and I cocked a brow in question. “What happened?”
Dakath and Elijah hopped off the deck to assist with docking our ship and tying off the ropes.
Her eyes flickered to Elijah’s back and then back up to me as she nibbled on her lip.
“I, uh…might have heard your conversation with him just now.” Kyella’s eyes widened at the truth that spilled from her lips, and she held her hands up defensively.
“But I swear it wasn’t on purpose! When I woke up, I realized that all of my senses have heightened. ”
I stared at her for a moment, unsure what to make of her words. What she was saying shouldn’t have been in the realm of possible—humans didn’t have that type of hearing. It was like Kyella had transitioned into a vampyre without actually dying.
Blinking rapidly, I tried to recover quickly from my shock as she stared at me in fear, like I would be mad.
That wouldn’t do.
Placing both of my hands on her small shoulders, I rubbed her soft skin and reassured her.
“Hey, just breathe. I promise it’s okay.
I’m not mad, darling. As vampyres, we are quite used to not having much privacy—enhanced hearing doesn’t allow for it.
In regards to your heightened senses”—I tried to sound as confident as possible, needing to ease the tension running through her—“try to not freak out about it. We’ll figure all of this out together. ”
She blinked up at me. “All of us?”
The vulnerability in those three words nearly brought me to my knees. Kyella didn’t want us to abandon her. She wanted Dakath, Elijah, and I around.
Without a second thought, I swept her up into my arms and buried my face in her neck. I inhaled her sweet scent, knowing that its memory was seared into my consciousness forever.
“All of us,” I swore.
Her arms wrapped around my neck, squeezing me back. “Even Elijah?”
My chest rumbled. “Even the grumpy old vampyre,” I promised.
There was no way he was letting her go. He may use his ‘duty’ and the need to protect her as a guise to be around her, but even without them, he wasn’t going anywhere.
“Let’s go, lovebirds,” Tristan chirped sarcastically as he passed by us with his family’s meager belongings.
Kyella wiggled out of my arms and pointed a finger at him. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about that little push,” she warned.
Although I could tell she was joking, amusement filling her face with a spark of life I loved, I didn’t like the words. Had he pushed her? That was unacceptable in any way or situation, no matter the reason.
I hadn’t realized I was growling and baring my fangs until Tristan did it back to me and her small hand was hitting my chest as she pleaded with me through my haze. “Kolvar, stop. It’s okay. He didn’t hurt me.”
Forcing myself to take deep, calming breaths, I closed my eyes and let her last words roll around my mind on repeat.
He didn’t hurt me.
He didn’t hurt me.
He didn’t hurt me.
When I opened them again, Tristan was off the ship with his family, waiting next to Dakath and Elijah, who were shooting me concerned looks.
Tipping my head down, I enveloped her small hands with my own. “I’m sorry, darling. I hope I didn’t scare you. I can’t handle the idea of you being hurt by anyone. No matter how insignificant it may feel to you.”
“You didn’t scare me,” she answered as her beautiful eyes searched my face. “I honestly love that you care so much for my well-being.”
Tears pooled in her eyes, and she hurried to pull her hands away and wipe her eyes as she walked by towards the door leading down to our rooms. She called over her shoulder, her voice filling the air in a sweet tune, “I need to grab my bag, just a moment!”
Waiting for her to return, I looked over at Tristan once more. He had a stance of defense as he stood in front of his wife and daughter on the dock. Rina peeked around his leg and stared at me with those big gray eyes that melted my heart into a puddle.
“Sorry, Tristan,” I called out, feeling bad but not embarrassed for my protective nature. “I lost myself there for a moment. I promise that’s not like me.”
He mumbled something that carried on the wind to me, and I could’ve sworn he said, “It’s crazy what love will do to you.”