41. Nyx
NYX
The last thing I should’ve been thinking about with a blade at my jugular was a woman. But she was all my mind could focus on. All I could see. All I could smell.
I wanted to touch her.
I wanted to throw her over my shoulder and carry her back to my kingdom, where I could keep her safe.
And I wanted to kill her.
Because I didn’t want a tether to another soul. Never again.
“Stop.” Her voice rang out, even as it shook, the syllable tinkling like a bell or music. “Please…stop. Both of you.”
“Did you say fated?” Kian demanded, shock carving itself into his expression.
My gaze flicked to him for a single second. “Yes,” I growled.
When the fated mark burned itself into my neck yesterday, fury had rocketed through me. But along with it came need. An undeniable demand to find my mate. To mark them. Claim them.
When the rider from Firelight arrived with the message about a new fated, that fury had become an all-consuming rage. My fated in the hands of my enemy? Never.
Now here, I wanted to slaughter the three of them with one hand behind my back, consequences be damned. But then, my fated said, “Please.”
How in the name of the gods had I become powerless at the mere utterance of please? I’d never cowered to begging. Not even when I held someone’s life in my hands. I heard please and severed someone’s head.
But here I was…faltering. Because of her.
The knowledge only made me want to kill her more. My fangs pressed against my gums, so eager for her blood.
But still she stood there…begging. Her silver-blond hair fell from a loosening braid, her cheeks ruddy and so full of life. And those eyes. Haunted eyes. Gray and hypnotic. Scared. But still, she asked for something.
“Why?” I demanded.
“Because I don’t want either of you hurt.”
That voice. Fuck me. I wanted to hear it over and over. Needed her to never stop talking.
“And I don’t know why.” Her words rose as she seemingly tried to understand what was happening. “Kian was my best friend growing up, so that makes sense. But I don’t even know you. And you honestly seem super rage-y. But I still don’t want you hurt. Why?”
“Because you’re mine, and I’m yours.” I spoke the words with finality. Because even if I didn’t want her to be, she. Was. Mine.
Rhys strode forward, eyes ablaze. “Show your mark.”
“Fuck off,” I spat.
“How about I send you to hades instead?” he snarled.
I shifted, readying myself to battle them both.
“No!” the girl cried as she broke away from Paxton.
Rhys reached for her, trying to stop her, but damn it if she didn’t dodge the grasp and throw herself between the three of us.
“No.” Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath.
“Just no.” Her gaze landed on my neck, and her lips parted. “It’s the same.”
My whole body came alive. It was as if my blood was singing just for her. Because in a land of nearly no light, she was destined to be my sun and moon.
The girl’s fingers tugged up her tunic’s sleeve, revealing a mark on the inside of her wrist. An intricate flower covered in ice. The same mark that was on my neck.
“Now, you see,” I ground out. “So she’ll be coming with me.”
Rhys held out a hand as I moved to grab the girl. “Your senses are slipping.”
Anger flickered to life as I opened my mouth to fry him on the spot, but then he tilted his head. Just enough to reveal something on his neck—a different flower, this one drowning in sparks.
“No.” The word slipped free without permission.
“Over here, too, buddy,” Kian muttered as he stowed his blade and revealed yet another bloom floating on his neck, this one surrounded by stars.
My gaze snapped to the girl. She sent me a wobbly smile and pulled her tunic to the side. A flower in the stars. Then she pulled the shirt to the other side. An ember flower. “Hi.”
“Three?” My gaze moved to Rhys. He was nearly as old as I was, and we’d been at odds for centuries. But I also knew he wouldn’t lie. Not about this.
He met my gaze in a grim stare. “Four.”
I nearly lost my footing. “Impossible.”
The girl held up her other wrist, revealing a bloom with roots encompassing it.
Blood roared in my ears. Four fated. What was this girl?
“Who are you?” I demanded.
“I’m Rae,” she said simply.
“Damn right, you are.” Kian kissed her temple, and I had the sudden urge to remove all his limbs from his body.
“Luminary?” I asked, scenting her. That alone would’ve had our world shattering. But four fated?
“Their future Queen,” Rhys muttered drolly.
Spitting hail began flying from the sky.
“Gods, shut that shit down,” Kian complained. “Do you have no self-control?”
I didn’t. Not when this particular one-two punch of information had just been leveled at me. Still, I closed my eyes for a moment. Normally, I wouldn’t have given my enemies the opportunity, but in these particular circumstances, death might’ve been a mercy.
Sucking in air, I called back my ice. Swallowing down my rage and fear, I stilled the storm. And when I opened my eyes, it was to find the girl staring at me agape.
“Y-y-you controlled the ice,” she stammered.
My teeth gnashed. “Yes.”
“I… Holy creepin’ cacti.”
“What did she just say?” I clipped.
She shook her head, making more hair fall from her braid. “I’m sorry. That’s just…freaking wild.”
I let out a low, rumbling growl. “I ask again. What. Is. She?”
“Excuse me.” The girl flicked my shoulder. “I’m not a what. I’m a who. And I already told you. My name is Rae.”
Rhys sighed. “We don’t know what she is. But she’s obviously powerful.”
“The flicking really gave her away,” I muttered.
“Hey,” Rae bit out. “You don’t want to piss me off. Because when you do, I start to glow.”
Everything in me went on alert. “Glow?”
“She sparks like one of those human fireworks,” Kian explained.
I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Who’s the fourth?” I demanded, my mind finally landing on something I could grab hold of.
“We don’t know,” Kian began but looked at Rhys.
The Firelight King nodded slightly as if agreeing with some silent thought. “If we are the first three, we have to consider that the fourth is also a King.”
I let loose a stream of curses.
Rae’s gaze bounced between the three of us. “What? What aren’t you saying?”
Kian winced. “There’s a fourth Nocturnae King.”
“The Feral King,” Rhys said with no emotion in his voice at all.
I hated that people called me the Cruel King—except when it came in handy for intimidation. But with Torrin, King of the House of the Blood Moon, his nickname was fitting.
Rae’s gray eyes went wide. “Feral?”
Rhys jerked his head in a nod. “His people worship him because he saved them from a demon attack. But in the process, he lost his humanity. Anyone who comes into contact with him now is far more likely to die than live. Rumor says he lives alone in his abandoned castle. Subjects leave food at the wall, but no one will risk seeing him.”
Rae stared at Rhys as if he had five heads. “A final feral fated. Awesome.”