Slowly, and very displeased, Rilen swiveled his head toward his twin. “Talk. About. What?”
Touching the back of Rilen’s hand around my waist, he turned back to me. “Savion is my father.”
A string of words in a language I’d never heard spilled from him. I didn’t know what he was saying, but I knew he was swearing.
A lot.
“This just makes everything more complicated…” Rilen twisted his lip.
My forehead wrinkled in confusion. “What makes you say that?”
“He’s your father?”
“Who raped her mother repeatedly,” Roran added. “The only thing that’s more complicated is she’s half vampire. And needs blood to live.”
Rilen rolled his eyes. “How many times did you have her bite your dick, brother? Does it look like pilsu cheese yet?”
I burst out laughing.
“None, thank you very much. I was waiting on that.” Roran cocked his head. “Do you have… fangs?”
“Are you really ready to see that?” I asked.
Taking my hands in his, Rilen turned me toward him. “You feel no loyalty to him.”
I paused and thought for a minute. “Is there a way to go beyond the words, ‘hell fuck no’? Because that’s probably not even as far as I’d need to go. I had a father. He taught me to use the sword I carry. He gave his life for me to live when the boat went under. I will always carry his name.”
Rilen brought his mouth to mine and kissed me. It was soft and suggestive, and I caught Roran’s smile out of the corner of my eye.
I held my hand out to him, and he grabbed it. I pulled him in close.
“I don’t want you fighting. Dorian can be his own idiot if he likes, but the idea that you two are at odds hurts my heart.”
“It’s the nature of brothers to hate and love each other at the same time,” Roran said with a wink. “You’ll get used to it.”
I rolled my eyes. “Roran. Do you have an erection again?”
“When don’t I around you?”
Rilen whispered in my ear, “It was the dick comment.”
I twisted and looked at him. “That’s only ninety percent of your conversations.”
Roran tried to look offended, but in the end, just shrugged. “Guilty.”
I couldn’t believe how happy I was to be back with the two of them. I belonged here, with them. No matter who my sire was, no matter what I was. These two—three—were home.
“We don’t have time to tour the city,” I whispered. “We have to go after Dorian. I won’t let him die because he’s stupid enough to go after Savion.”
Rilen nodded as Roran took my other hand. “Let’s get back to Staviz. You can see the city when we’re back from saving Dorian from his own arrogance.”
* * *
I legged up on the horse, and every part of my lady-bits screamed in protest.
It was a delightful scream, though.
Roran and Rilen had worshiped every part of my body late into the night.
They were starved for me.
I had been starved for them as well.
There had been dozens of orgasms, and falling asleep between them made me realize I was finally home, safe.
The beautiful, sleek black mare I sat on was calm and well behaved. She didn’t whinny or paw the ground at all. Standing stock still at a solid sixteen hands, she merely surveyed the surrounding area.
“She suits you,” Aiko said, trotting up next to me.
“She’s beautiful,” I nodded. “I am used to slightly misbehaved horses.”
Chuckling, he leaned in a little closer. “It’s an animal fit to bear a princess.”
My stomach clenched, but I knew that he meant it as a compliment. The rule was clear in all of S’Kir.
The daughter of a king was a princess.
No matter how she was begotten.
Ugh.
I wasn’t ready for that.
No one knew, except the twins and Aiko. I wasn’t going to share that knowledge either, not until we had Dorian back, and I could talk to him about what all this meant.
I gave Aiko a weak smile and shrugged.
Taking a deep breath, I asked him the question I didn’t really want the answer to. “Do you need blood, my lord?”
He pinched his nose and nodded. “I do, Mistress.”
“You should have come to me before, Aiko.”
I kicked the horse into motion, off behind the headquarter tents near the Chasm. Aiko followed a moment behind me.
He pulled his mount to a stop next to me. “I did not think that…”
I caught his hesitation. “Think what?”
“That people would be so unwilling to even speak to me, never mind share blood.” He sounded defeated—and I couldn’t blame him. The only people who spoke to him, beyond polite, trite hellos, were Drez and Staviz.
They were enthralled, and I thought that might make up for it.
Clearly, I was wrong.
Climbing down off the horse, I tied her and Aiko’s to a picket line. There were some empty chairs and tables under the tree, and I chose one to sit in.
Aiko’s demeanor was sad. He was disappointed and alone, and my sore bits made me feel guilty.
He shook his head before I could say a word. “No. Your men love you. I can see that. They are dedicated to you. I will find my way in this world. I will find another to take blood from as soon as I can.”
“I do wish this was all different, Aiko.”
“I don’t, siqinira.”
He pulled his chair close, and I offered my arm.
“Kimber? Where are you?” Rilen walked out from behind the tents. “It’s time—”
We all froze. Aiko’s fangs poised above my wrist, and Rilen’s face locked in surprise.
I finally forced time to move again. “Lord Aiko needs blood, and I am the only one willing to give him my wrist, apparently. We can’t ride into Savion’s lair with our only vampire lacking blood.”
His visage unlocked, and he walked over. “Really? No one at all? I was sure that one of our lovely druid ladies would want to know that pleasure.”
Motioning me to stand, I had no choice. Rilen sat in the same chair and pulled me back into his lap.
I gave him a questioning glance. “Rilen?”
“This is not a terrible pleasure you should bear alone, ilati.” He brushed some wild curls away from my face. “If the mistress is willing to offer, we will take guard.”
I leaned into his ear, suppressing a smile. “Jealous?”
“Protective,” he answered. “You should not have to do this alone.”
“I’m not alone.”
But I realized what he was really doing there. He didn’t trust Aiko yet. Not with me. He could trust all the intel the man shared, and the updates to the maps and the information on Savion’s army…but when it came to me, and my sharing my very blood with him, Rilen wasn’t ready to trust him.
“It’s perfectly fine with me if Master Rilen wishes to stay. Sharing is not always private.”
“He needs the blood, Rilen.”
Bobbing his head, Rilen agreed. “I know, ilati.”
Aiko gave a sad smile. “You’ll keep her on your lap?”
“I will.”
Fighting him was going to be too much trouble and too much time. We had to get going.
I held out my arm again, and Aiko adjusted his chair and distance. Leaning my head into the crook of Rilen’s neck, I closed my eyes.
“Brace yourself,” I whispered.
“What?”
But there wasn’t time to answer.
Aiko’s teeth found my vein immediately, and the moan escaped me. His lips barely moved, encircling the wounds. He pulled on my blood, and I squirmed, the sensation lighting up my sex.
He pulled again, again, again, each time sending a jolt through me, straight to my core.
Finally, I exploded. The orgasm had me arching my back, pressing myself into Rilen.
Rilen covered my mouth with his and swallowed my screams. His arms were tight, holding my body against his as the utter bliss raced through me.
Another smaller one followed as Aiko swiped his tongue to seal my wrist.
He dropped a quick kiss on my palm.
Before I could say a thing, he stood and bowed stiffly. “Thank you, Mistress Breaker. Have you need of mine?”
“No, Lord Aiko. I’m still more than a week away from the bloodlust.”
He nodded, and untied his horse, leading it away.
Rilen stared at me in his lap. “Every time? You come every time?”
“For now,” I whispered. “Aiko said as I grow used to taking and sharing, I’ll learn to control it.”
Rilen stood with me in his arms and walked to the patient horse on the line. “You didn’t sleep with him?”
“Love, I already share a bed with three men. I would have broken all of your trusts if I had. The blood was enough.”
He helped me up on to the horse and held the reins from me for just a moment.
“He loves you, Kimber.”
I let out a long, slow breath. “I know.”
Offering the reins, he stared up at me. “And you? Do you love him?”
A small pause held in the air. I bit the inside of my lip and stared at Rilen’s handsome face and worried look. Grabbing the reins, I finally answered a moment and lifetime later.
“I could.” My hand found his cheek. “But Rilen, always remember that I chose you over him. And I always will.”
“The blood…”
“Let’s get Dorian back. Then we can fight, argue, and have make-up sex. Good deal?”
He smirked. “A very good deal, my lady mistress.”
THE STRONGHOLD STOOD IN THE DISTANCE, and we waited out of firing range of any cannons, as Aiko advised.
It had taken us two long days to get from the city to this point. The void in the Chasm had been strange to pass through. Nearly a hundred strides long, it was disconcerting to feel as though I had no senses. I knew I had put it there, but the magic didn’t even allow me to penetrate it.
Aiko and I led the company through and out the other side into East S’Kir. There were dozens of vampire warriors standing on the other side, but none of them moved.
Creepy.
Even creepier because they were vampires.
Roran rode up next to Aiko. “My lord?”
“I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head in anticipation of the question. “Something has happened at the Stronghold if they are not attacking.”
Rilen looked at him. “Good something or bad something?”
Aiko pursed his lips. “When your king is insane, there’s no possible way to know that.”
I nodded. “That is the truth.”
All through our day, it seemed the vampires were lining the entire road. Thousands upon thousands.
“It’s an illusion,” Aiko stated at lunch.
As the last of our battalion passed the end of the vampire ranks, they ran ahead and reformed their lines. Over and over, league after league. Through the whole day. And when we stopped for camp that night, they surrounded us. Two deep and a constant vigil.
Savion was a bastard.
It was mid-afternoon by the time the Stronghold came into view. The vampires lined the rest of the road to the front door.
“The arch is disgusting,” I stated. “It’s bones and sinew and just… beyond anything I could ever think to do with bodies of the dead.”
“Smells too,” Aiko added. “There’s always a festering body somewhere.”
“Sounds like quite the welcome,” Roran grumbled.
I raised an eyebrow. “Wait until you see the fountain.”
The brothers traded looks and decided not to ask.
I was glad I didn’t have to explain.
We stared at the building in the distance, and I glanced back at the battalion behind us.
I shrugged. “Do we rush in? Do we surround the building?”
Rilen motioned up four people behind us, and their horses trotted forward. “What do you think, captains?”
The four of them traded a look with one another, and then glanced at Aiko and me.
A tall woman on a horse nearly as red as her hair cocked her head. “We don’t know the layout of the building, and from what you’ve said, it’s a maze, filled with psychotic torture toys.
The captain next to her nodded. “Captain Sareesa is right. From what we know of our soldiers, they are not ready for such a scene. They will fight, but they aren’t ready for the innocents he tortures.”
The man on the end also nodded, his hand on a wicked looking scimitar blade handle. “It would be best if we surrounded the Stronghold or occupied the courtyard while a select few walked in.”
“I agree,” the other female captain said. “Surround and blockade.”
“Lord Aiko?” Rilen asked.
“Agreed. There are two entrances to the courtyard and one to the palace proper.” He inclined his head to the side. “There is also a secret entrance in the stables. It would be conceivable to send a small platoon in that way. For reinforcements.”
“The stables. They have access to the whole building from there.” A grin spread across my face. “That would be brilliant to have our people in the walls inside.”
“In the walls?” Rilen asked.
“Passages that the rebels have built over the years,” Aiko explained.
“Excellent.” Roran grinned.
A tremendous explosion shattered the quiet of the day, and the entire battalion turned to see where the noise had come from.
A puff of smoke rose near the top of the right turret, and a whistling sound grew louder and closer.
“They shouldn’t be able to fire this far.” Aiko breathed. “Cannonshot!”
It was another few heartbeats before we could see the tiny ball hurtling through the air. There was no way to tell where that cannonball was going to hit.
“Scatter!” Rilen screamed back at the troops. “Off the road!”
Another boom sounded from the left turret.
Two cannon balls.
“Stop them,” Roran hissed.
Time seemed to stop.
I was the Breaker of the Spine.
Bright Sword.
The only child of a vampire and a druid, ever.
I had moved the magic from the Chasm, broken the Spine, set our magic alight.
A cannonball?
Child’s play.
Time released, and I reached out with the magic and touched the cannonball.
It was lead.
It would not be influenced directly.
Gathering the air—not even realizing I was mimicking my magic with my hands—I slammed it into the lead ball and knocked it out into the fields far beyond us to the right.
I quickly switched directions and slammed the same air into the other one, hurling it in the opposite direction.
There were more explosions from the stronghold, and I wouldn’t be able to keep batting the shots away.
“Shield, Kimber!” Rilen yelled as he rode back toward the soldiers, trying to get them back on the dirt.
“Shield the road.” Aiko nodded.
The words I can’t were on the tip of my tongue, and I stopped them.
I could.
I had to.
Shoving my power into the earth below us, I reached and heaved the magic up out of the earth. I dropped all my shields and just let everything S’Kir had to give me flow up and out of my fingertips.
The colors of all the magic danced and blended, they stiffened and flex and formed a dome overhead. The blended white spun into pillars at each corner of the dome, and I pulled the leading edge of the shield to the ground in front of me.
The magic leapt up and held the shield in place.
The cannonshot bounced right off.
Carefully, I withdrew my power, and the magic stayed there, hovering.
“Mist
ress…”
I turned toward the twinned voices and found Rilen and Roran astride their horses, staring at me. Complete shock and awe written on their faces, they took the next moment to stare up at the magic dome I had created.
“Holy Mother of Sacred S’Kir,” Roran breathed.
“It’s staying,” Rilen whispered.
They glanced back at me.
I smirked. “I am the Breaker, after all. And now, I have my full measure of magic.” I wiggled my fingers, and the sparks danced from fingertip to fingertip.
“Sareesa,” Rilen called behind him, “make sure the soldiers stay on the road, under the shield.”
“I’m not sure where the shield ends,” Sareesa answered.
“Let me try,” Roran said, “since Kimber linked us to the magic as well.”
Wiggling his fingertips at the dome—he and Rilen could clearly see it—a small roil of fog, a misty waterfall, appeared, clearly showing the edge of the protection.
“Amazing,” Rilen whispered.
I looked at them and gave a grin. “Let’s go get Dorian back, shall we? Aiko, you’re with us.”
I turned my horse toward the Stronghold and kicked her into a gallop. Passing through the shield was like a warm caress. Once out the other side, the horse took off as if she had vampire speed.
The gallop up the road was enlightening. I had only been vaguely aware when we raced away in my mostly-dead state.
The Road of Light, leading through the Arch of Life, was nothing of the sort. The fanciful names were something that Savion had dreamed up in his madness.
The road was lined with bones.
Thousands and thousands of long bones from the vampire dead.
Femur, tibia, fibula, humerus, ulna, radius, stacked and held in place with rocks and plaster. Finger bones and toe bones filled in some holes. They were decorated with pelvis and spine.
It was utterly perverse until we got to the columns and the Arch of Life. Composed entirely of ribs and skulls, and held together with sinew, I wanted nothing more than to vomit. This didn’t need to exist. No one needed to know their death.
I wove a little more magic through the bones and sinew and grabbed hold.
I pulled.
The entire arch collapsed, but instead of falling and blocking the road, it all just disappeared as it fell.
Death of Gods (Vampire Crown Book 3) Page 31