by Eden Winter
THE 3 SUNS
The 3 Moon Series
A Paranormal Romance Story
By
Eden Winter
Copyright © 2017 Isse Publishing
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
A Note From The Author
Prologue
“You have to go.” Her voice was playful, but he knew that she was serious. She rolled over to face him, her hair falling around her face and shoulders like a white curtain. He was still lying on his back, his eyes searching the heavens that they had just been making love under.
The sky was now several shades of pink and orange. The king had never seen it this color. He knew that it was all because of her. Whatever she felt, the sky felt too. His gaze shifted from the clouds to her pale skin and then to her unusually dark eyes.
“I don’t want to leave you,” he said.
The queen lowered her face to his, her hair tumbling around them, and she gave him a gentle kiss on his lips. His lips were so warm and full of life. It was strange for her to feel anything at all, but when she was near him, something stirred inside her. Now was the first time she had ever felt alive. She had lived for centuries and never knew what it meant for a man to love her.
“I don’t want you to leave,” she whispered when their lips parted. The sky began to look rosier. The orange was swirling with delight overhead like the silhouettes of flowers.
“How long do you think we can go on like this?” he asked.
His voice was so low and so deep. When he spoke, her sky brightened. There were now wisps of green floating among the clouds. He brought a new color to her world, and it delighted her.
“Not long. The humans in my court are suspicious of me. I can feel it,” she said.
“But they’ve never seen us together.”
“No… But there is always reason to talk when a queen is often away from her kingdom and her people.”
She rested her head on his chest and listened to the sound of his heart beating. His chest rose and fell slowly. She couldn’t understand how he was so peaceful in times like this.
If anyone were to discover an elf and a vampire together, it could destroy everything—even everything beyond their own lust.
But they were not just a vampire and an elf. They were the king and the queen of their respected kingdoms. They were two of some of the most important rulers in the entire realm. There had been feuding among many of the kingdoms for quite some time. Some humans found their loyalties with the vampires and some with the elves. Wraiths, sirens, and the merfolk killed anyone who drew near to the coast and the caves in the mountains by the sea. And the wolves who walked like men had a history of disloyalty; though now most had ties to the vampire queen, which meant they could kill an elf on sight once it stepped into the Great Black Wood.
Discovering that the elf king and the vampire queen were meeting in secret would destroy the natural order in all the kingdoms.
“You have to go,” the queen said again. Her voice was barely above a whisper now. She was tired. She wanted to sleep in his arms, but she knew that it was a dangerous idea. She snuggled up against the king’s chest to enjoy him for just a few moments longer. His breathing was like a gentle rocking that was lulling her to sleep. She closed her eyes, promising herself that she wouldn’t fall asleep. She would rise and they would say their goodbyes until their next encounter.
But the queen was soon fast asleep, lying cold against the warm body of the tall and handsome king. Before morning, the king had quietly slipped away and made his way back to the south to rejoin his people.
Chapter One
The King
There was a war coming. Anyone could see it brewing as the skies from all the kingdoms swirled and merged in their hues, or felt it in the wind that whipped around like a warning coming in the form of a violent whisper. The ground rumbled beneath the bodies of the land dwellers, shifting the soil and disrupting the waves of the sea for the water folk to feel the undulation. The world was tense, as if the sky, the soil, and the sea were anticipating which of the kingdoms would launch the first arrow or sound the first horns of war.
King Kainen couldn’t have that. He wouldn’t allow a war to be started on his account. He had to get to the Queen—to change what was left of her heart for the greater good of all the kingdoms.
The shadow from the clouds above blackened the valley that lay before the king and his army.
“She knows we’re drawing nearer,” the king whispered. The fleet was behind him, waiting for his word on how to proceed. The rigid jawline of the king made him look all too serious and almost sinister. His eyebrows were furrowed in worry, and his teeth were clenched. His raven-colored hair danced about his face and cascaded like a waterfall halfway down his back. Most of the other mountain elves resembled him—light brown skin, a long and thin face and body, long jet black hair, ears turned up towards the heavens, and eyes so pale you would have to be close to see that they in fact bore icy blue pupils.
Kainen’s high cheekbones and mighty gaze gave him away as the king even before one noticed the small crown that rested on his head or heard the low rumble of his powerful voice. His father before him was king, and his grandmother had reigned as queen. He was only in his 13th cycle with the crown, and already his most recent mistakes were about to cost him his kingdom and possibly his allegiance to the other elven districts. He was brooding like the clouds above, thoughts undulating like the sea along the coastline to his east.
Would the king’s army travel by the shore to risk the sirens and wraiths, or would they venture into the valley where the wolves who walked like men roamed in order to visit with the vampire queen?
This was the king’s fight, and he couldn’t risk the lives of so many of his most skilled people. He had to think with the clear mind of a somewhat new leader. What was worth the lives of so many? And what about his own life?
“Have you decided on the best course of action, my Lord?”
The king’s field marshal Yleinen rode up beside him. Yleinen could see that the king was troubled. Kainen was taking too long to come to a decision.
“We must travel into the wood,” the king said. His voice sounded more certain than he actually felt.
“But, King Kainen…” Yleinen began to protest. The king shot a glance at him, and Yleinen swallowed the rest of his words. Yleinen’s giant black horse whinnied beneath him as if to finish his sentiments. The horse’s head shook with the whinny, and the chimes that adorned the horse clinked softly.
“We have no allies by the sea,” Kainen sighed. “Perhaps our cousins in the forest will be of some guidance.”
That would have been a long shot. The forest elves were not in the region near the edge of the valley that these mountain elves had just come from. They were by the fields and the forest, between the cave dwellings of the trolls and the centermost part of the forest. There were a lot of fields and open spaces there with several small brooks cutting through them. The forest elves made sure to steer clear of the region of the
forest that took them closer to the caves. They had no friends there. The only creatures that lived there were the cave trolls and the witches—the two having become unusual allies. The witches, trolls, and elves had been in allegiance once, but those were the elves who lived in the volcanoes, and that had been almost generations ago.
The forest elves were days—perhaps even more than a week—away, and that knowledge was of no use to the king. If there was to be a war, then the mountain elves and the forest elves could join forces.
There was a rumble of thunder above them. It was ominous but brought a certain comfort to the king. His troops floated behind him on their legless horses and continued to wait for whatever choice he wished to make.
Yleinen said nothing, but he stopped to take a long look at Kainen. He floated away and turned to face the troops.
“We are going through the wood,” Yleinen said. His voice was low, but all 1200 of the troops could hear his words. Elves had a way of communicating that far surpassed the werewolves, wraiths, mermaids, sirens, and even the humans and vampires.
“Only a few,” Yleinen said. The king had sent him a private message with his gaze. They would only need one hundred to follow. Some he would send back home, while others would wait for a signal to either charge through the forest to save the king or to retreat and call upon their allies to join them in war. Kainen hoped that their last resort would be war… If there was even need for it at all.
Yleinen was met with skeptical glances. None of the elves felt compelled to protest. They knew it would be easier to find their way in the forest before making an attempt to go towards the shore.
Some soldiers glided forward on their powerful horses. They didn’t need to converse. Elves were brave and skilled. They knew when to follow, when to flee, and when to fight. Each elf made his choice and waited for direct orders from King Kainen.
Kainen looked over each member of his fleet and nodded once. It was time for them to go. Without another word, one hundred of the King’s troops ventured into territory that no elf had explored in over five hundred years.
*****
Kainen moved through the woods as if he had been there before—and in a way, he had. He had dreamt of this place. There was no clear path, but there were spaces between the trees that compelled him and his small convoy to move forward.
Every time he closed his eyes to pause and concentrate, he saw her. When the wind was still and the forest was seemingly quiet, memories of his time with the queen flooded into his mind. And whenever he stopped to think of her, he could always see them together in these woods. There was a sense of peace among his feelings of unease, because he was sure he had never set foot into the Great Black Wood.
He let down his guard for a moment. Something within him softened at the thought of the vampire queen—her hair as white and pale as her skin, her dark soulful eyes that had always captured his gaze and later his heart, the way her robes clung to her skin and draped over her broad shoulders, and most of all, how her lips were forever red.
A whisper! Or was it the wind? Kainen was brought back to his senses by the sounds of the creatures around him. Some had stirred in the grass and in the branches of the trees even though the elves moved silently. Their horses had no legs to gallop. The elves’ breathing was so silent that it couldn’t be heard even when face to face.
The air was thick all around them. The forest floor was covered in blackened leaves and radiant life to juxtapose the decay; creatures with brightened eyes and shrill voices either scurried away or took curious glances from their hiding places.
Who were these intruders? The creatures had never seen elves before.
Kainen’s pointed ears twitched and moved in every direction. There were so many sounds to absorb, so many creatures that he had never seen before. Even though it was dark, he had to admit that there was something beautiful about these woods.
When he looked up, he could barely see the sky above. The canopy was lush with the deepest shades of green. His army floated silently behind him on their legless horses. The only light came from the fires in the horses’ eyes and the unusual colors coming from the different creatures that were all around them.
“Wait!” Kainen heard Yleinen hiss.
Yleinen stopped abruptly and looked to his left. Kainen did the same. There was only the flash of a creature disappearing beyond the brush. Was that a woodland creature?
“A wraith,” a lady elf spat from behind them. Wraiths were not friends of the elves, and it was rare for one to have travelled so far away from the shore. Kainen wondered if this could have been one of the vampire queen’s spies.
“It could be a shapeshifter or a witch.” Another sent out his words so that each elf in the convoy could hear him, but no other creature would be able to.
“There hasn’t been a known shapeshifter for generations. They either perished or disappeared after the uprising of the wraiths. What Yleinen saw could have been a wraith, but they’re not known to come to the wood. As for the witches,” the same lady elf started—she looked up and all around before she continued, “they have no business here. They are not known spies.”
Kainen was silently grateful that Yleinen and the lady elf were here. They could speak what he sometimes felt without him needing to say a word. He was a ruler who spent a lot of time deep in thought rather than talking at great length.
The lady elf’s name was Dende, and she was a skilled warrior and skeptical of most things. Her hand was always hovering around her dagger or her bow to prepare herself for whatever might come.
“Should we follow it?” Another elf rode silently beside the king. Kainen hadn’t even been sure what it was that he had seen.
There was no point in following whatever it was. They had come too far, and they had lost enough time.
“No,” Kainen said. His eyebrows lowered into a scowl. There was someone close by. Someone… or something. He reached down with his left hand to take hold of the handle of his sword. King Kainen swung his leg over the side of his horse and jumped off. His horse didn’t move. She was a brilliant shade of blood-like red with flaming eyes to match. Her mane was black and curled at the ends. Hermione was a regal horse that had been a gift to the king even before he was born.
From a distance, Kainen noticed a large shadow appear between the trees. Even with their amazing eyesight, the elves couldn’t see so far ahead and through such thick darkness. The shadow grew larger, but not because it was coming closer, but because it was standing taller. It was massive. Its arms were thick, and its torso was about as wide as one of the tree trunks. Kainen’s eyes were now completely focused on the shadow before him, and he readied his weapon.
The figure was moving towards them. It was slow and graceful, not wanting to draw attention to itself or appear alarming.
“Is that friend or foe?” Dende asked. No one knew. No one said anything in response to her question. Kainen raised a hand to his convoy and they simultaneously brought out their bows and held them up, their arrows pointing directly at what they thought might have been the heart of the beast.
“Your arrows may sting, but they will not kill me.”
Kainen had never heard a voice so deep or so commanding before. It sounded more like a growl.
“Werewolf,” an elf behind him breathed. There was no disgust or hatred in his voice, only fear. Kainen wasn’t afraid. His sword was made from silver that was forged over a millennium ago. It was the only sword in all the realms that had the ability to kill any creature.
“Siluman,” Kainen said to no one. He had no idea why he had said it. He had never uttered the name before, but still, he knew that it was the name of the werewolf walking towards them. That was when the werewolf came into view. He wasn’t in a human form. He towered over them, larger than an elf’s horse in height and girth. His fur could have been brown or grey or a mixture of the two. His eyes were a piercing yellow, and his snout was full of fangs the size of the head of an elf’s arrow.
&nbs
p; “Your Majesty,” the wolf-man said. He lowered onto one knee and bowed his mighty head before the king. Kainen nodded to pay his own respects. He was still unsure of the werewolf’s loyalty and kept a finger on the handle of his sword in case he needed to move quickly.
“You know this beast?” Yleinen asked. He had now come off of his horse, as had Dende. She still had her bow in her right hand. If she had known that they might encounter a wolf, Kainen knew that she would have instructed the fleet to bring silver-tipped arrows. Kainen didn’t speak.
“You need to leave these woods. There are more creatures who know of your whereabouts. Even the wolves are waiting in ambush,” the werewolf said.
“I know your name,” Kainen said. He didn’t expect for those to be his first words to the wolf, but he was confused. He knew Siluman, even though he was sure they had never met—just as he was sure he had never gone into these woods but knew where he was and where to go.
“The queen. The queen has sent me visions of you, and visions of me to you,” Siluman said. That caught Kainen off guard. He didn’t think the queen would want to help him, especially with a war on the horizon and knowing that she now wanted nothing to do with him.
Was this a trick? Kainen’s pale eyes searched the wild yellow eyes of Siluman. He was still on one knee. Even though he was still much larger than them, he didn’t look as if he posed a threat. Kainen knew the queen well enough to know that if she wanted him dead, she would want to witness it herself. But she was expecting him. She could probably smell him coming even though he was days away from her.
“And where would you have us go?”
It surprised Kainen that it was Dende who spoke. She was the first to mistrust, but her eyes were still on Siluman, and they had softened.
“To the sea,” Siluman whispered. Only Kainen, Yleinen, and Dende could hear. “Those by the shore don’t know what’s coming yet. But move quickly. The wolves should by now be aware of your presence.”