Chapter 20 Antony
Chapter Twenty
Antony
Death would be easier than this.
I crouch at the precipice of the black mountain ridge near the tunnel where I hurt Thyra.
In the distance, hordes of vampyrs swarm across the southernmost mountains.
They haven’t come near me, and that’s just as well.
With every beat of my newly blooded heart, I fight the savage rage building while I force myself not to go after Thyra.
Azul looms over me, his fierce, red eyes unblinking in the heavy darkness, his talons ready to cleave me to pieces. Impale me again if I even twitch northward.
It’s been hours since he let me up off the rock after stabbing me and pinning me against the stone. Long, dark hours since I stopped pummeling my fists into a bloody mess.
“Don’t let me go to her, Azul.” Over and over, I’ve repeated this command, ragged breaths burning my chest. “I’ll only hurt her again.”
I’m no less monstrous than I was before.
More so now that I’ve shed my heavy armor and freed my fangs. More and more, my thirst builds and soon I’ll have to make a choice: stay in the bloodlands and starve, or leave and…
And fucking what?
Brave the light and face who I really am now?
I was the Iron King.
Now I’m king of nothing.
My youngest brother, Hadrian, knows I’m a vampyr. He made it clear he planned to claim the throne and, with his power to control iron dust, no Iron Fae will stand against him. Not even his mother, my stepmother, Galla Vividari, who played cruel games with my life.
At least I’m assured that my sister, Cassia, is safe. She escaped into the mountains on the Iron Kingdom’s eastern border with her soulmate, Rohan, and I’m certain that whatever news about me might find its way to her, she’ll make smart decisions.
As for my other brother, Victor, he’s a survivor. Like Cassia, he’s adept at maneuvering within whatever boundaries are placed around him.
Even if I left the bloodlands, I can’t return to the Starlit Court. Hadrian will kill me on sight. Fill my mouth with iron dust and burn me from the inside out.
Assuming iron dust alone could kill me.
I don’t plan on finding out anytime soon.
Once again, I twitch northward.
Azul ruffles his wings, making himself appear bigger than he already is, a guard against my impulses.
Rubbing my heart with the heel of my palm, I attempt to ease the sensation of being pulled toward Thyra. An endless pull.
I once told her that if she wanted my help, she had to ask for it. Fuck that. I would never make her ask again. I’d anticipate her needs and provide for her before she even has to utter a word—
I’m wrenched back to myself when Azul shrieks at me, raking his talons across the stone, sparking fire, and I realize that once again, I’ve begun levitating into the air, turning northward.
Fucking fuck!
Dropping back to the mountain ridge, I crouch low and wrap both hands around the jagged cliff’s edge, balancing precariously, trying to connect with the stone. The air. Gravity. Any fucking thing.
Dark anchors.
I need an anchor.
Or maybe a fight. I narrow my eyes at the distant vampyrs, wishing they’d come closer.
For years, pain kept me focused. The constant burn of iron in my heart kept me sane. Thyra’s blood has freed me from my reliance on that iron blade. I don’t need it anymore. But damn, I wish I could thump my chest and deliver a shot of the agony I deserve.
What thread of hope do I have when redemption is beyond me, and the life I threatened, Thyra’s life, became the binding that kept my broken pieces from spiraling apart?
Exhaling a snarl, I rid myself of the entire notion of hope.
Thyra was my hope, and now she’s gone.
I have darkness now.
Darkness and violence.
Once again studying the vampyrs, I consider more carefully the way they’re grouping themselves.
Even with my strong eyesight, I can’t see details beyond a mile away, and because of the undulating mountain ridges, it’s impossible from this angle to see what lies behind the southernmost hills. Or within the valleys between them.
Even so, it’s clear the majority of vampyrs are perched in flocks across the tops of the black ridges, but, oddly, they’re keeping to the west of those mountains.
Why?
As I strain to make out details, a group closest to the east rises into the air and flocks even farther west, as if…
Something’s driving them there.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as I make out a glimmer of…
What is that?
Tilting my head, I adjust my focus, this time to the air closer to my body, discerning a glistening ripple wafting toward me.
Some sort of heat wave?
Behind me, the remaining chunks of ice drip-drip for another second before they melt in a rush of water.
“Azul?” My back stiffens. “What the fuck is—?”
Heat blasts across me, stripping the skin from my chest and punching me into the rocks.