Test of Tyrants (Veilblood Academy #2)

Chapter 1 Izzy

IZZY

I hated fainting. It made me feel weak, like some delicate damsel in distress, which I wasn’t.

I’d fainted twice in the past. Once when I’d been a child and I’d learned my foster mother, Beatrice Moonie had died.

Then again, after my first shift at the bar.

I’d been out of work for a while and hadn’t eaten much in days, then I’d worked myself to the bone that night, fainting at the end of my shift.

And now…

Well, to be fair, it had been a difficult few days. I’d arrived in a strange new world, with magic and dragons and demons and angels. I’d been beaten and bullied by an insane princess, while stretching myself to my limits trying to understand and learn magic.

In the last two days, my room had been incinerated, I’d had my first threesome, I’d brought an angel back from the brink of death, had a rather stunning quickie with that angel, then fallen out with the two guys I’d had the threesome with, because of that quickie with the angel.

Then… as if that hadn’t been enough of a roller-coaster of emotions, Saldrea — the aforementioned insane princess — had found me, roughed me up, and ripped away some binding magic, which I’d had all my life, forcibly changing my form.

At which point a dragon I’d thought wanted to kill me, helped me escape and I’d gone into hiding.

And to top it all off, it turned out I was a true princess, and my real name was Isolde.

So yeah, I may have been a teensy-weensy bit overwhelmed and had good reason for blacking out.

“Izzy?” Myel sounded worried. His voice drifted to me.

It wasn’t the first time he’d said my name, but this one sounded closer.

I became aware of lying in someone’s arms. Given the sense of ease and comfort filling me, I guessed it was Myel’s.

The two of us had been magically bonded, our souls linked and our bodies craving each other — yes, sexually — practically all the time.

The upside was, when I was close to him, I got the best high, serene and relaxed.

Someone else was holding my hand, and from that connection came an influx of warmth, like summer’s heat with a hint of humidity and the faint smell of rain after a storm.

That would be Vyns. He too was connected to me, but in spirit.

I had no clue how that link worked. It was still relatively new.

Yet the soothing warmth he sent me helped me recover.

I sighed heavily as I came to.

Time to face the music.

I blinked my eyes open. I was indeed in Myel’s arms, looking up at his beautiful pale face. Vyns knelt next to us.

Three others stood nearby.

Rook was tall, dark, and sexy, with eyes like smoldering embers and flame-red hair.

The two of us had a complicated relationship, if you could even call it that.

We had sex, and as an incubus he’d rocked my world more than once, but he was also the reason I’d been brought to this strange world.

I’d thought we’d mostly reconciled that betrayal of his, and were maybe friends?

I didn’t know anymore, he’d been distant when we’d last spoke, and even now, he stood farthest away, arms crossed over his chest, looking a little worried, but mostly confused and put out.

Then there was the dragon — I still didn’t know his name — who’d served princess Saldrea right up until a few minutes ago.

I had no clue if I could even trust him but he had helped me get away from the princess and her goons, taking attacks meant for me.

Then, he’d bowed before me offering me his allegiance.

If that didn’t deserve a what-the-fuck, I didn’t know what did.

He’d also been naked, having shifted into a dragon and back, but now he was covered with a bed sheet.

And when I say covered, I mean it was wrapped around his waist, revealing his thick torso, beefy chest, and heavy arms, all of which were covered in a lot of scars.

Nobody in this world had it easy it seemed, not even dragons.

Waves of silvery hair framed a hard-featured face with eyes of glowing gold under a strong brow and the perfect scruff of a beard on a square jaw.

He wasn’t quite as handsome as he could be, though, not with that nasty, weeping wound marring the left side of his face, which looked painful as hell. If I had to guess, that would be Saldrea’s handy work.

The sheet around the dragon’s waist was from the bed belonging to the last man in the room, because this was his room. He was new, older. Myel had brought us to him. He’d been the one to tell me my name.

Isolde.

Fucking hell.

Isolde? Really? Could you get more archaic and out of date? I mean, sure I was glad I wasn’t an Isabella, I’d never been fond of that name, but still…

“Hey,” I said weakly, attempting a smile for everyone.

Myel smiled softly, relief flooding his features. “Hey.” Myel was all my teen goth-girl fantasies made manifest. He had thick black hair falling over his face, sable eyes filled with soulful angst, and a tall, lean body covered in scars, because this world treated shifters like shit.

I sat up slowly, my head still spinning, brain a little fuzzy. Though whatever Vyns was doing with his spirit was quickly dispelling that fog.

Ah… Vyns, my literal angel: beautiful, built, blond and blue perfection, like a Hemsworth, but with stunning white and gold wings!

“So…” I drew out the word. “Someone want to explain… everything?”

Several people began talking at once, Myel and the dragon and the old man.

Yeah, that wasn’t going to work for me.

“Stop!” I yelled. The effort made my head throb, and I had to close my eyes and take a few deep breaths to get back to a non-pained state.

First thing’s first.

I pointed at the dragon. “What’s your name?” I couldn’t keep referring to him as the dragon.

“Koarthandris, Your Highness. Most people call me Koar.”

That was simple enough.

I shifted my pointing hand to the old man. “What’s your name and who are you?”

“Safir, Your Majesty,” he said with a deep bow. “I am a tiger shifter, who served your parents and have been working for some time to bring you to the throne.”

There was a lot packed into that sentence.

My parents? He knew my parents! That was huge!

And he’d been working for some time to bring me to the throne? Like… how long? As much as my curiosity clawed at me to ask more about my parents, I had to know…

“How long…?” I asked, jaw tight, voice strained. “How long have you known all this? How long have you kept me in the dark about who I am?” It came out as a growl. To say I was upset was a vast understatement. Had this man known who I was my whole life and never bothered to find me and tell me?

“Told you she’d be pissed,” Myel muttered under his breath.

Oh, I was, and at Myel too. He’d known who I was as well. But for now, my wrath was focused on the old man: Safir.

“Your whole life,” he said, voice soft, breathy. He knelt, head bowed. “I am sorry, Your Majesty. I… I failed you in so many ways. I should have protected you as a child, should have raised you… but I… lost you.”

Lost me?

What the fuck?

How do you lose a child?

I mean, I’d heard of parents losing their kids in crowded places, but still…!

“It’s a long story,’ Safir hedged, perhaps sensing my mounting fury.

“I think we have a few minutes!” I growled.

Safir sighed. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“And stop calling me that!” I snapped. “My name is Izzy!” Okay, fine, actually my name was Isolde, but I wasn’t ready to accept that yet.

Myel helped me up and got me to a chair. I sat heavily as Myel and Vyns hovered nearby. Koar and Rook leaned on the walls. The dragon seemed wary, glancing about, worried. The incubus looked bored, head back against the wall, looking at the ceiling.

Safir sat on his bed.

“Should I start at the beginning?” he asked.

“That’s usually the best place,” I fumed, still worked up.

He nodded.

“I served your father,” he said, voice even, looking away, gaze distant. “Well, my father served your father first, but I took on my father’s duties when he passed.”

Again… everyone in this world seemed to have a master, working for someone. It irked me to no end. If I was a princess, I’d do my damnedest to make sure everyone in this world was free and didn’t have to serve anyone!

“By then, we were all in the human realm. Your parents had been banished from our realm because of your parents’ love. An elf and a nymph… together… Your grandmother did all she could to shelter them, but when they insisted on getting married, she had to exile them.”

Had to?

Wouldn’t my grandmother have been the queen? Women ruled this world, not men — which was nice — but if so, why couldn’t the queen have changed the laws if she didn’t like them?

Fuck, this world was messed up! Exiled because of love? Sheesh!

“I was not your protector immediately, but… when assassins came for your parents—?”

“Assassins?” I cut in. “Human assassins?”

“No, Your Maj— Isolde… Izzy.” Safir stumbled over the words. I didn’t quite understand why it was so hard for him to say my name. “Assassins from this realm, sent by Valnea most likely, though I’ve never been able to confirm that fact.”

Valnea was the current queen regent and Saldrea’s mother. Viciousness ran in their family, it seemed.

“Why?” I burst out. “They were already exiled! Why send assassins?”

“Because even as exiles they were a threat to Valnea’s power. She couldn’t leave any true royal alive. If your mother had chosen to renounce her husband and reclaim the throne…” Safir shrugged.

I simmered with rage, but I didn’t know who I was most angry at: Safir, Valnea, this whole damned world! With no outlet, I let my fury boil, which made it hard to concentrate on Safir’s story.

I tried more deep breaths.

Didn’t help.

Safir went on, “When the assassins came, your parents tried to fight them off. Your mother was incredibly strong with earth magic and tore through dozens of them… but more came. So, your parents gave you over into my custody. I was charged with getting you to safety. And I did.”

Safir sighed heavily. “And that’s when… I chose…

poorly. I felt duty bound to return and protect my master, your father, and your mother as well.

” His head fell, ashamed. “Once I’d found a safe place to hide you…

I returned to your parents to help them, but by the time I got back, they…

had… perished. I immediately returned to where I’d left you… but you… were gone.”

Wait… “How old was I?”

I’d been first adopted when I was two. Though no one had been sure of my exact age since I’d had no records.

“A few weeks past your second birthday.”

“You left a two-year-old alone?” I scolded him, in shock. I’d known enough two-year-olds to know you can’t just leave them. They walked well enough and rarely had enough sense to stay in one place: too curious and absent-minded for their own good.

“It was… a mistake.” And the instant he said it he knew those words had also been… a mistake.

“A mistake!” I erupted, standing. “Your little mistake… ruined my whole life!” I shouted.

I shouldn’t raise my voice. We were supposed to be hiding, but I couldn’t help it.

“Don’t you have some shifter sense which could have found me?

” Everyone here seemed to be able to smell the weirdest things.

As a tiger… couldn’t he have tracked me down somehow? “What happened?”

“I don’t know, Your Majest— Izzy.” Safir was clearly flustered.

At any other time the word majestizzy would have made me laugh, but not today.

“I followed your scent, but whoever found you must have put you in a car or something, since your trail just… stopped. After that, I searched for years… but I could never find you. I suspect your mother did more than bind you into human form but also made it difficult for people to track you.”

My mother had put that binding on me? The one Saldrea had undone? The one which had kept me looking human for most of my life? When in truth… I’d been something else entirely.

God! There was so much I didn’t know… and this man did.

And he could have explained it all to me years ago, if he hadn’t left a two-year-old alone!

I couldn’t even look at him. One glance and I’d see red and explode. I focused on my hands, balled into fists, as I sat back down, still fuming, furious. My body vibrated with a righteous rage.

Myel knelt next to me, holding my hand. And it said something about the extent of my anger that the contact barely soothed me.

“And how much did you know?” I accused my bonded.

“Not the details, but I’ve known you were royalty for some time. I argued that we should tell you, but Safir overruled me.”

“And you can’t think for yourself? Make your own choices?”

My words hit home. Myel flinched. A part of me cheered in victory that I’d won that little fight, but another part felt his shame and self-loathing and impotence.

He averted his gaze, looking down.

Fuck. I’d kicked a puppy.

“Sorry,” I said, though even to my own ears I didn’t sound apologetic. “I’m a little enraged right now. I don’t know what your situation was. Thank you… for wanting to tell me?” It didn’t sound like a good apology, but Myel looked up with a sad smile and nodded.

God, this man… always so damned understanding. That puppy-dog analogy was really on point. I’d kicked him and he’d come bounding back, loyal to a fault.

I sighed heavily, but it did nothing to relieve my fury, nor the frenetic tension bouncing around like some crazed rubber ball inside me.

“Anyone else have any surprises they want to spring on me?” I asked with an edge to my voice. “Might as well do it now so I don’t have to get angry again later.”

“If Saldrea finds out about any of this, she’ll kill you,” Koar rumbled, voice hushed.

Yeah, because that’s what I needed to hear right now.

Fuck!

Well, let’s add that to the pile of deadly shit I’d stepped in when I’d come to this world.