Tempting Destiny

by Sela Croft

  I was with Draven, what I’d wanted all along. I cherished the hours I’d spent with him, getting to know him better, and loving him. But it was clear that our reunion might be temporary, that all we had could be taken away in the blink of an eye.

  My stay in his realm was tenuous, as enemies abounded. The stakes were high—my love was in peril along with his kingdom. And the outcome affected the world beyond that, even the human realm above. To be together, I had to ensure that Draven won. Yet I feared that he’d sacrifice too much to protect me.

  I couldn’t allow him to become distracted. “You must do what you have to without putting me first,” I said, and looked at him.

  Draven’s blue eyes were dark, his expression disturbed. “You are part of this now. I cannot keep you out of it.”

  “You must do the right thing. Under the circumstances, you cannot hold back,” I said, hoping he’d listen.

  Draven placed his palm on my cheek. “I’ve fought for the freedom of my realm for so long. And now you are immersed in the dark battle. It’s the one thing I wished to avoid.”

  “I have no regrets,” I said, and placed my hand over his. “We are together, and we’re stronger that way. You shouldn’t fear having me by your side, or doubt that I’m up to the task.”

  I wrapped my arms around Draven’s waist and leaned against his solid chest. Every second with him was a treasure, but I needed to face that it might not last. “If I’m to do my part,” I said, looking up, “you’ll need to tell me all that you can. How did this horrible war begin? What’s it all about?”

  “King Alban will defend his legacy, so will snuff out the rebellion at all costs,” Draven said. “He adheres to the old ways. He’s furious about my progressive ideas, that I would conceive of or tolerate the immortality of those the king considers undeserving.”

  I listened with rapt attention, needing to understand.

  “Lumea means light, and is the home of immortals,” Draven said. “But that light is being snuffed out. The king is in the service of death. He seeks it, leaving destruction in his wake.”

  “Yes, that’s what I’ve learned of King Alban.” I waited, anxious to know more.

  “Alban is intolerant and ruthless, but justifies it,” Draven said. “He’s the head of the royal family. He will scheme and kill to protect tradition.” He paused. “It’s everything he represents. The war is about more than just greed and lust for power.”

  “What is it about, then?”

  “Alban fancies himself a god. He holds immortality in the palm of his hand.” Draven frowned. “He is of ancient vampire blood and is one of the eldest among us. His powers are great, and that power has gone to his head. He is relentless about controlling the kingdom…even eternity.”

  “That sounds crazy.”

  “The king holds tight to the reins on immortality, so finds the Guardians blasphemous.” Draven raked a hand through his hair. “Yet his ways have resulted in untold suffering, fighting, and bloodshed.”

  Draven looked into my eyes. “Too many lives have been lost, too many loved ones taken. I cannot allow evil to overcome. I’ve sworn allegiance to the Guardians and vowed to protect immortality.”

  “What about Silvain and the Dark Fighters?” I said. “He is against the king too. Won’t he join you to fight against the monarchy?”

  Draven shook his head. “You don’t know Silvain’s vanity, or what fuels the hate between us.”

  I put my hand on his arm. “Tell me, then.”

  “It won’t matter,” Draven said. “If we don’t defeat Alban, the rest won’t make a difference.”

  Tendrils of fear wove up my spine. I envisioned Alban as victorious, and it was a vision of unending gloom, filled with sadness and death. The dearth of light was utterly frightening. I conceived of a king without a conscience, who had no mercy in his heart, and believed one’s spirit had no worth.

  I shared what Selene had told me about the black palace and the evil she’d witnessed. “With such demonic magic on his side, can Alban be defeated? Can your Guardians win over such a powerful force?”

  Draven didn’t answer at first. He gazed at the stars, as if looking for solutions. “I don’t honestly know. Alban didn’t used to be…this bad.”

  “In what way?”

  “Alban used to have a ghost of a soul left, and a flicker of rationality.” Draven sank to the ground and wrapped his arms around bent knees. “But now his heart is a black hole, and he has no soul left.”

  I sat in front of him, trying to imagine a more lucid king, one who might be persuaded to see reason.

  “The king knows about you.”

  The pained look in Draven’s eyes stabbed at my heart. “How do you know that? And why does it concern you?” I asked.

  “Alban drains the vitality of his victims through blood loss. As he drains the very life from them, he sucks all their knowledge out, too.” Draven’s jaw tightened. “If you spoke to Selene, then you know that the king captured a human from my region.”

  “And that man no doubt knew of my presence,” I said. “My arrival has been no secret.”

  Draven gazed at me, as if I might realize the impact of that.

  “Why are you afraid of the king finding out that I’m here?”

  Draven stood and paced at the edge of the cliff. I looked up at him, waiting for an answer. I searched my mind but failed to think of a reason the king would single me out.

  “The king does not want me to gain strength,” Draven said. “He wants to weaken me.” He took a breath. “It was foretold that I would find my soul mate, a woman who would play a role in the future.”

  I rose from the ground and took Draven’s hands. The prophecy I’d long ago put aside came to mind, and I remembered the lines I’d memorized as a youth. She will see him as her other half, as he will see her as his.

  “I do see you as my other half,” I said. “And I’m honored, if you see me as yours.”

  “Yes, my love,” Draven said, seemingly not surprised that I knew of the prophecy. “But King Alban wishes to break me, so will reject any prophecy about the strength of our unity. He wants me to see things his way, and to agree to support the ancient traditions.”

  I stared at him, sensing there was more.

  “Long ago, the king demanded that I take over the realm and sought to coerce me into the role of the future king, his heir. I refused…and that alienated him. Alban’s fury over that rejection knows no bounds.”

  “Why is that?”

  Draven’s gaze locked with mine. “Because…I’m his son.”

  I was stunned at the revelation and all its implications. Draven had told me before that he was born of evil, but I’d failed to believe him. I hadn’t imagined that he was death’s descendent.

  “I am Alban’s only son. He still holds to the conviction that he can force me to succeed him.” Draven looked at me, and I perceived that he feared I viewed him differently, saw him with new eyes.

  “My father expects me to acquiesce to his demands, to rule in his place, and to support the aims of the monarchy.” Draven stiffened. “And if I will not, if I continue to refuse…he will kill me…along with all the rest.”

  CHAPTER 35 – DRAVEN

  While I waited for a response to my revelation, the waves crashed against the cliff and the dark sky loomed above. Mirela looked at me. Her knowing expression showed that she was no longer naïve in the ways of my kingdom. She knew of the war, the darkness, the futility of it all.

  And Mirela knew about me. I’d just confessed that I was King Alban’s son, the thought sickening my stomach. My love realized what I’d tried to tell her all along: at my core, I was evil. That was inescapable. Death’s servant was my father. The evil that flowed in my veins couldn’t be denied.

  It was far too late to do the right thing. I’d failed to keep Mirela away from the darkness, and worse, had made her a part of it. As a vampire, she wouldn’t be leaving, so her future rested on the outcome of the war as much a
s mine.

  I fought against my father, the monster who had spawned me. Yet it was evil fighting evil. My true nature would betray me. With my dark soul, how could I hope to achieve my aims for the kingdom? How could I protect Mirela from death’s minions, or even from my own transgressions?

  “You’re wrong,” Mirela said, startling me back to reality.

  “I have not lied.” I stared into the intensity of her gaze. “I am truly the king’s son.”

  “I don’t mean about that.” Mirela didn’t waver. “I meant that you aren’t an evil, soulless creature like your father.”

  “I thought you couldn’t read the mind of a vampire.”

  “I don’t have to,” Mirela said. “I can see it in your eyes, sense it in your expression. You cannot hide how you feel…not from me.”

  “Then you must know that what I say is true.” My heart seized at the thought of Mirela thinking that I was a devil. Yet I dared not mislead her for fear of the consequences. “If you perceived my thoughts, then you know it all. I cannot deny my heritage.”

  “You’re blind to what’s in your heart,” Mirela said. “You might believe that the blood in your veins tells the story, but I don’t. There is more to know about you. The future will reveal that.”

  “Now you sound like Calina. Are you prone to visions as well?”

  “I don’t have to be.” Mirela’s look threw me off balance. “I can see for myself.”

  I took care not to challenge her on that point. If she saw something in the future that could aid my cause, all the better. I failed to see whatever qualities she conceived were within me. But if such existed, it could only help.

  Mirela frowned. “But I’m upset by your lack of honesty with me.”

  “I have revealed the worst, so how can you claim that I’ve been deceitful?”

  “You are the king’s son, the prince of the kingdom.” Mirela’s expression turned dark. “Yet you didn’t think to share that with me. You kept that from me, and I demand to know why. Is it that you don’t trust me?”

  “You don’t understand.”

  Mirela looked puzzled. “Explain it to me, then.”

  I stood at the edge of the cliff and looked at the ocean. Mirela stood by my side, but would she continue to do so if she knew my sordid history? As my silence extended, the tension between us grew.

  “I will not shrink from your past,” Mirela said. “Or from the future.” She took a breath. “But I must know. I won’t be excluded. That’s the one thing I cannot tolerate.”

  I turned away from Mirela, then made a decision and faced her. “It is not a pretty tale,” I said. “Alban fathered me, and that cannot be changed. But I am not the prince. I relinquished the title when I refused a role in the current monarchy.”

  “You haven’t told me,” Mirela said. “Were you born as a vampire?”

  “I was…human.” The loss of that side of me had affected me greatly, for more reasons that I could tell her.

  “What happened to your mother?”

  “My mother was a human woman named Odeya. She delivered my sister, Calina. A year later, I was born.” As I relived the loss, a knot formed in my gut. “But I didn’t know my mother. She died in childbirth.”

  Mirela’s tears didn’t make me feel any better. “I’m so sorry.” She bit her lower lip. “Were you turned into a vampire then?”

  “Not right away,” I said. “When I reached the age of twenty-four, and Calina was twenty-five, our father transformed us into his image. After drinking his blood, I became a vampire, my human condition vanquished.”

  “Alban recognized you as his heirs, though.”

  “Only to suit his own purposes,” I said. “The king has no concern for either of us, or our needs. He needed a successor, that’s all.”

  Mirela took my hand. “I’m trying to imagine you raised by Alban. Was he a father to you at all?”

  “Not as you might imagine,” I said. “He made sure that my sister and I perfected our abilities. Passing on his ancient blood was a source of pride; it’s what matters to him—and it’s why he won’t release me.”

  “Can’t you reason with the king?” Mirela said. “He is your father. Surely, he won’t shut you out.”

  I shook my head. “It’s not possible. I’ve tried, believe me.” It was too much to explain. I couldn’t expect Mirela to understand. “As a young boy, I fought against his strict adherence to the old ways and tried to make him take a more progressive view.”

  “What was the result?”

  Memories of my father’s parenting techniques, and a bleak and terror-filled youth, haunted me. “Alban is one of the ancient ones. He holds to tradition and cannot be reasoned with.” I looked into Mirela’s eyes. “There is no choice but to fight him.”

  War raged, and the kingdom was in upheaval. But one thing was in my favor. It seemed that I hadn’t alienated Mirela. She’d accepted what I’d told her without shunning me. Whether she might change her mind later, I couldn’t say.

  With the wind whipping about us, I held Mirela in my arms, as if it might be the last time. Her kiss was sweet, her touch as gentle as it had been. When I looked into her eyes, I found only love, not the revulsion I deserved.

  I brushed her dark hair away from her face, then kissed her again. “I would prefer to stay with you,” I said. “But we must go in. There is much to attend to, and I dare not shirk my responsibilities.”

  Together, we returned to the castle city, finding it as we’d left it. At least I was assured that Mirela was safe, as long as she stayed within the fortified walls. “I have meetings to attend to. I’ll leave you in my sister’s company while I’m gone.”

  Calina wasn’t around, so I went to the library. At the castle, that was her favorite room. Yet when I stepped inside, my sister wasn’t there—but the witch was.

  Selene turned to look. “Ah, I see you’ve returned.”

  The witch’s red hair flamed in the candle light, and her navy-blue eyes bored into me. My sister had accepted her as a friend, but I didn’t feel entirely comfortable in her presence. Possibly, it was her magic. It seemed that she knew more than she said. Or that she could wield powers that vampires didn’t possess.

  Mirela took a seat beside one of the bookshelves, without any reaction to Selene’s presence.

  “Do you know where my sister is?”

  “She’s feeding,” Selene said. “But she’s been gone for a while, so I expect her back soon.”

  “And you have nothing better to do than to wait for her?”

  Selene laughed. “I have many things to do. At the moment, before you interrupted me, I was perfecting one of my spells.”

  Her sarcasm wasn’t lost on me. But then, that was Selene. “Since you are intent on hanging around,” I said, “I assume my sister shared her vision with you.”

  “As a matter of fact, she did,” Selene said. “It’s all very gloomy.”

  I strode to the desk and perched on the edge. “I don’t suppose you have any insight that might be useful. I’ve heard you have a crystal ball, so I hope you put it to use.”

  “The crystal ball…that’s what interests you?” Selene said. “I have other magic, you know. Staring into a globe is the most basic of skills. Probably, even you could do it.”

  “Your insults grow old,” I said. “Have you no view into the future that you’d care to share?”

  Selene studied me, her thoughts a mystery. “That seething rage inside you will not work to your advantage. It might cloud your judgment. And we are all counting on you.”

  “Which means that you know little more than Calina does. She’s predicted Alban’s royal troops flowing over the hills toward us. But she doesn’t say when, or what the outcome will be. If you’re the powerful witch you claim to be, I think you’d be more helpful.”

  “I don’t predict the future,” Selene said. “I deal in magic, not fate.”

  Mirela cupped a flower in the vase by her side. She leaned over the table to smel
l it. Then she caressed one of its leaves between her fingers. Her expression changed, and she seemed oblivious to my conversation with the witch.

  But Selene looked away from me, then focused on Mirela. I knew of my love’s skills, beyond her vampirism. She’d shared her oneness with nature and had demonstrated her talent for me. Her empathy with all that surrounded her was a unique ability.

  I recalled that witches had the same power. My sister had told me that Selene lived in a magic forest and communed with nature. She could interact with animals, plants, even rocks and earth. It appeared that she’d recognized Mirela’s talent.

  “What are you doing?” Selene stood, then went over to the flower.

  Mirela looked up. “The flower is lovely, wouldn’t you agree?”

  Selene narrowed her eyes. “How did you learn to do that?”

  “Do what?”

  When Mirela didn’t speak about her skill, the witch merely stared at her. “I’ve seen few do that.” She paused. “What else can you do?”

  Before Mirela could answer, my sister entered, looking healthy and well fed. “Hello…I didn’t expect to find you here.”

  “I won’t be here for long,” I said, “but I didn’t want to leave Mirela alone.”

  “Selene was here,” my sister said.

  I held back from saying that I’d been reluctant to leave Mirela solely in her care. I had no reason for doubts, but I didn’t know the witch that well. Trust had to be earned. I didn’t have faith in Selene like my sister seemed to.

  “I’ll be fine now,” Mirela said. “I don’t wish to delay your meetings.”

  “I’m going to my home,” Calina said. “It will be good for Mirela to come along and see more of the city.”

  I didn’t see any harm in that. My sister’s residence was small and cozy, compared to the palace. Mirela would like it, and I had no objection to her spending time with Calina.

  Selene headed toward the door. “I must be off now.” She looked at me. “It’s been fun chatting, but I have things to attend to.”