“I won’t.”
We stepped through the portal with excitement running through our veins. It was almost time.
Hilton Head, South Carolina,
United States of America
Atlantic Coast
I WHISTLED QUIETLY. “YES, THAT IS A YACHT, BEL.”
“Told you.” He smirked in pleasure, his eyes traveling left and right over his stunning white and blue baby. “We need to board so the captain can do his work.”
I followed behind him and strolled up the gangway. “How many employees do you have on here?”
“Fifteen.”
“They aren’t coming with us when we get to S’Kir, are they?”
“No. They’ll stay onboard.” Bel glanced to the side, where a vampire waved. With a gentle nod of his head, Bel greeted him as we stepped onboard. “Captain, how are you?”
“I’m wonderful. However, I am highly confused by the orders you sent. I am supposed to go out of port, and then just…go wherever I please?”
The king nodded his head, the sun glistening on his hair. “This is the part I did not tell you. At one part of the journey, the way you will know you are there is the mist. The heaviest mist you’ve ever seen. You need to stop then and anchor down.
“Queen Gwynnore and I will take the tender to shore from there. You and the crew will stay onboard. We may be gone days, weeks, or months. You did get all of the supplies I told you to order, correct?”
The captain nodded his head. “We did. May I ask where you will be for so long?”
Bel smiled so big his molars showed. “We’re going to S’Kir.”
His eyes widened. “Are you sure—”
“Absolutely. And I expect you to use your discretion when speaking about our destination. Yes?”
“Of course.” The captain ducked his head into a bow, but his eyes were still enormous on his face. “When would you like to leave?”
Instant. “Ten minutes ago.”
“Understood.” The captain pivoted and went through a sliding door, disappearing from sight.
I lifted my brows with a playful smile on my face. “I want to go to the very front of the boat and stay there. I want to see this magical island from the first second the mist arrives.”
“Then you shall have it.”
Bel took my hand and led me straight to the bow of the boat. A hot tub and massive seats with blue cushions decorated the space.
He said, “Pick wherever you want.”
I dropped my backpack on the ground…and raced for the tip of the boat and stood there. If my life was turning to the bizarre, I was going to embrace it—for today, anyway.
Bel walked at a sedate pace until he stood next to me. He gripped the railing and lifted his gaze to the ocean. He whispered, “We’re so close.”
“And we’ll get there.” I bumped my hip gently against his. “You have two Original amulets in your pockets. It’ll happen, Bel.”
He simply nodded, though. His hands gripped the railing tighter, his distress showing in his whitening knuckles.
I sniffed in his direction. “Bel, there’s a foul stench coming from your backpack.”
“It’s the brat’s head. The sun’s baking it.”
I stared at his profile. “Why did you bring it?”
“I made a promise. I intend to keep it.”
I turned my head to look at the ocean along with him. “All right. I’ll deal with the smell—for now.”
He snickered softly. “It’s not that bad yet.”
“Yet is the keyword.”
“True enough.”
We stood in silence until the yacht started to move.
All it did was move a meter in the water…
And the mist came.
I sucked in a harsh breath. “Holy shit.”
That. Was. Quick.
And very much unexpected, my heart hammering.
Bel started laughing, full of hilarity and glee, and threw his arms out wide. “You missed me, didn’t you, you beautiful bitch?”
The mist swirled around us…affectionately.
I took a step closer to my lover—smashing my side against his. “I was all about embracing the bizarre thirty minutes ago, but now, I’m not so sure. That was very fast. And the mist likes you. And you’re talking to it. And there’s a big magical island right in front of me. I think I might need a moment.”
Bel grabbed my left hand and started dragging me across the bridge. “We’re going to watch them put the tender down. I want to leave as soon as it’s in the water.”
“What? The loving mist won’t do it for them?”
My lover snickered, grabbed my backpack from the ground with his free hand, and shoved it against my chest. “Are you ready, Gwen? Are you ready to step foot on sand that hasn’t been stepped on in three thousand years?”
He was very excited.
I cleared my throat, plastered a smile on my face, and stated calmly, “That is actually intriguing. I’m thrilled.”
Bel snorted. “You’re scared shitless. But, that’s okay. One step at a time, and we’ll make it through this.”
“One step at a time?”
He nodded regally. “One step at a time.”
* * *
Thunder boomed in the night sky as I took my first steps onto the sands of S’Kir, my boots sinking down into the soft white sand. With ominous clouds swirling overhead, I murmured in awe, “This is amazing.”
“It is,” Bel whispered.
Our eyes scoured the beach with the tender safely tied to a bleached white tree trunk jutting out of the sand.
A few crushed clamshells dotted the seashore, and a random, scraggly palm tree leaned to the side ten feet away. Dune grass peeked up indiscriminately from the sands, and dry seaweed lay where it had been spat out by the ocean.
In the distance, cliffs rose high into the air, the gray-blue stone of the plain granite cliff frightening and alien with its jagged peaks. The drip of water from damp caverns was loud to my sensitive hearing, the beach eerily silent everywhere else.
I sucked in a breath, and asked, “Where do we go?”
“Straight forward. Until we see the Gate.”
“All right.” I grabbed his hand, holding tight. I lifted my chin up and marched straight forward with him. “Bel?”
“Yes?”
“I’m proud of you. For never giving up.”
Air rushed out of him in a shuddering breath.
“You should be proud of yourself, too,” I added.
Bel squeezed my hand tight. “Thank you, little one.”
“You’re welcome.”
The mist floated off the water and followed us, occasionally wrapping around us to give us…a hug.
I shuddered. “My apologies if this offends, but the mist is a little creepy.”
Bel’s laughter filled the silence. “It’s just saying it cares. Don’t be afraid of it.”
“I won’t…until it decides it doesn’t like me and grabs my ankle and drags me back to the ocean to drown me. Then I’ll be afraid of it.”
My lover snorted. “It’ll be okay, Gwen.”
I sniffed. “We’ll see.”
The mist did its hugging again. Ugh.
Eventually, I squinted and pointed. “I think I see it.”
“I do, too,” Bel stated darkly.
“It’s closed. Is it supposed to be closed?”
“No, it’s not. I imagine that’s why I’ve never been able to find this place in all my time searching. When the brat stole the Original amulets, he fucked everything up. Including life here, it seems.”
Sand kicked up under my boots as we walked faster. I questioned, “Will you be able to open the Gate?”
“I hope so. With the help of both Original amulets.” He cleared his throat roughly. “I don’t know what we’re going to find on the other side.”
I hummed. “Glad you brought the head then?”
“Fuck yes, I am.” He sighed heavily, staring at the
Gate with hardened determination.
“We’re getting closer.” I squeezed his hand. “It’s almost time.”
THE FLAMES SMOLDERED THROUGHOUT THE CITY, releasing great billowing clouds of smoke into the sky. The sun was darker here, and I could smell death on everything. It had taken us just a half a day to get to the city by train, and only Bebbenel stayed behind at the temple. Roran was displeased with that. He assigned two lieutenants to help the guard and spoke to the captain of the ships in the harbor.
While Roran had been speaking to the lieutenants, Lunella leaned between Aiko and I and whispered, “Bebbenel is a coward and not interested in military protection at all. None of us trusts him. And it’s Roran’s right to have his temple defended properly.”
Now, seeing what remained of the city, I could see he had every right to be worried. A coward would not be able to defend the temple. Bebbenel would hide and let our world crumble around him.
“They came from the south?” Aiko pointed to the worst of the destruction.
“Yes,” Tymon said. “We didn’t have any warning at all. That we were able to save most of the north and the west was a testament to our people’s determination.”
“They touched nothing on the way north to here,” Maurielle added. Her hand had not stopped clutching Sona’s since their reunion at the train.
What had happened that it felt like a reunion?
“Then they must have scouts,” Aiko reasoned. “If they destroyed the south and then touched nothing in between, they sent a scout.”
Sona shook her head. “We’ve been watching.”
“Speed,” I said.
Aiko nodded. “We can run faster than the eye can track. It does expend a lot of energy, though.”
Tymon held up a thoughtful finger. “Then we need to look for bodies that have been drained of blood, don’t we?”
“That will give us a trail,” Roran said. “How do we stop them?”
Aiko and I glanced at each other and chorused, “Lead.”
“What?” Staviz asked, unfolding his arms.
“Lead,” I repeated. “Lead does not answer to magic, at all. Every damn lock in the Stronghold was made with galena, lead. So if we lay lead lines or patches—”
“—the vampires should trip.” Aiko finished.
“We just have to make them wide enough to ensure there’s no way to avoid stepping on them.” Tymon bobbed his head sagely.
Grinning, I continued to hash out the idea. “There’s an old galena mine in the Cerulean Mountains, and Amarti-Upon-Sea isn’t that far. We can get Dorian…”
His absence hit me hard at that moment.
“We can leave Dorian to rot in the dungeons.”
I spun and found Rilen striding toward the group, and his eyes met mine. He headed straight for me and without preamble, shoved his hand into my hair at the back of my neck and covered my mouth with his.
As expected—delightfully expected—he tasted so much like his twin brother. I melted into him, enjoying his hard kiss.
“Saviors and martyrs, you taste good,” he whispered.
I laughed against his lips. “Missed you too.”
“I hope you let Roran keep his blue balls?”
“Teabag? Of course.”
Rilen laughed, and I suspected it was the first time in weeks that he had. “We’ll take care of all that later, Mistress Breaker.”
“We will.”
He took my hand and backed up one step. “We will be going after Master Dorian. As I understand it, we have an idea to protect the towns that doesn’t involve weapons we don’t have and can’t spare?”
“Lead, Master Rilen,” Aiko said. He smiled. “If you wish to make it a real trap, I have ideas.”
“What sort of ideas?” Staviz asked.
“Deadly ones.”
Tymon pointed to the twins. “You two will assist with the trials of how wide the patch must be. Mistress Sona, Mistress Maurielle, will you see to whatever Lord Aiko needs to protect our cities?” They both nodded. “Lunella, will you take Vitas to the galena mines?”
“I would recommend we not send the half-mad master to the mines,” I said. “Galena drives a person to insanity. Vitas is having enough trouble, isn’t he?”
Lunella let out a sigh. “Yes, but getting him away from this” —she pointed to the ruins— “would be a good thing.”
“Let’s all get into the tents,” Staviz said. “We’re all targets out here, and I want to pick Lord Aiko’s brain about all this.”
Putting a hand on his arm, I stopped him. “Cap—I mean General, I want to see what’s happened here since I’ve been gone.”
“Master Rilen?” Staviz asked. “Would you? We’ll still need you back here to go over what we’ve plucked from Lord Aiko’s brain, and set up a plan to… do…”
“Whatever it is we need to do,” Tymon said.
Rilen gave a short nod, and as the masters all walked to the tent, he led me to the stables, with Roran trailing us.
Roran cleared his throat. “Are you still mad at me, brother?”
“Can you not tell?” His words were clipped.
“I can’t. Because you’ve closed yourself off from me. And you damn well know that.”
We walked into the stable and stopped. Rilen waited for his twin to catch up and stared at him.
“That’s right. I have. Because you seem to think that this is a game.”
“Since when?” Roran’s words were quiet. “I tried to stop Dorian from going over there.”
“Why? You don’t seem to understand what he is.”
“Old and crotchety and lacks insight when it comes to Savion.” Roran stared hard at his brother. “You know I’m right. It doesn’t matter what he thinks he was going to do. When it comes to Savion, you know how he’s always, rightfully, spoken of him.”
“What is it he thinks he’s doing there?” Rilen looked bored.
“Ostensibly? Rescuing the Breaker who has quite adroitly rescued herself.”
Rilen rolled his eyes. “And his secret motivation?”
“To kill him. It’s always been to kill him. He would have climbed the Spine to kill him if he thought it wouldn’t have sucked the air from his lungs to stop him.” Roran folded his arms.
“Can you blame him?”
“I don’t. But using Kimber as an excuse? Come on, brother. We both know that’s stupid and dangerous. None of us knew what it was like over there.”
“He didn’t trust me?” My eyes danced between them.
“He didn’t trust Savion,” Roran said. “He never did, and with good cause. But he was a crusader, using you as an excuse to go charging through the Chasm. I’m sure he does want to rescue you, but I’m afraid he wants to kill Savion more.”
“What does that matter now?” Rilen asked.
“Now,” Roran snapped. “Until yesterday at dawn, we had no idea that Kimber was alive. So don’t be a jackass. Now we have to go back over there to save his ass.”
“If he hasn’t killed the king already.”
Gasping, I put a hand over my mouth. “He doesn’t know that I’m here. Dorian doesn’t know that. Savion wouldn’t tell him, either. He’ll hold Dorian hostage, lying about where I am!”
The twins looked at each other, and I could feel their disagreement melting away.
Rilen was the first to break the silence. “No, ilati, that’s not our first worry.”
“Dorian is not rational when it comes to Savion. We’re afraid that he would go there and let you be sacrificed to exact his revenge.”
My jaw fell open. My eyes roamed between the two of them, and I couldn’t contain my shock. My voice was a mere squeak when I finally found it.
“Sacrifice?”
It took both of them a moment to nod.
My knees trembled, and I was afraid I was going to land on the floor. “He would do that?”
“We don’t know, Kimber,” Roran answered.
“It’s been festering for three th
ousand years,” Rilen added and slipped his arm around my waist when he saw I was about to fall.
“Three thousand…”
There was another silent look shared by the brothers, and Rilen sighed. “Savion and Dorian are a part of the reason the Spine was raised.”
Roran nodded. “And why the Gate is locked.”
I looked at the horses in the stable and back to the two of them standing there. “We don’t have time to tour the city. We have to get Dorian before he does something stupid enough to raise the Spine again.”
Rilen gasped, and Roran jerked back.
Roran asked, “Do you think the magic of S’Kir would do that?”
I nodded. “Can’t you feel it? When we were joined with it, the magic became easier to understand.”
Rilen tilted his head. “I have been so angry and worried about you and Dorian and my stupid brother that I haven’t been listening.”
Roran narrowed his eyes. “Stupid, brother?”
“Would you prefer idiotic?”
“Eh. Six of one way, half a dozen of the other.”
I shook my head. “Are you done fighting?” They nodded together. “Good. We need to get Staviz to release some soldiers to us. Ones who have been trained with guns and are good with swords.”
“You don’t ask much, do you, ilati?” Rilen smirked.
I eyeballed him. “Have you learned how to use a gun?”
He looked sheepish. “Not with any accuracy.”
Staring him down, I admonished him with a tease. “You know, I can’t be the only warrior in this relationship.”
“Who taught you?” Roran questioned. “I thought you were a prisoner?”
“The rebel vampires have their own plans, and Aiko was able to sneak me out and teach me. I also had more guidance under Odom at the Burnt Woods.”
Roran stepped back and growled. “Odom?”
That was a surprise. “You know Odom?”
“He was Savion’s dungeon master.”
I nodded. “He was. He was also the man who smuggled my pregnant mother out of West S’Kir to safety.”
Rilen stared. “Excuse me?”
His brother grimaced and rubbed his neck. “Uh, yeah. We kind of need to talk about that.”
Death of Gods (Vampire Crown Book 3) Page 30