I blink, nervously looking at Ziven. His arms are crossed tight, and his eyes dare me to answer her. Thankfully, she laughs. “Don’t answer that. It will only make him grumpier. He’s like that with everyone. This is my granddaughter, Henrietta.”
“I’m sorry I knocked you over,” Henrietta exclaims, messing with her hair. “And I like to be called Hettie.”
I’ve always had a soft spot for children, likely because I know I won’t be able to have any of my own due to my body. “Don’t worry about it, Hettie. I’m glad I stopped you running into a door.”
She laughs. “The door would open for me. It opens for anyone from this dynasty.”
“Tell the newcomer all our secrets, why don’t you, sweetheart?” Ziven murmurs, turning her to Ruelle. “Take her back.”
“Of course,” Ruelle answers, bowing her head at him. Ziven grabs my upper arm, dragging me away down the corridor.
“Bye, it’s nice to meet you both!” I shout over my shoulder.
“Don’t talk to them.” Ziven’s snarl echoes in my ear, his cold hand pressing deep into my arm, but he doesn’t really hurt me. He drags me down the corridor, straight into a small room, pushing me in first and shutting the door behind us both. He leans against the closed door. “You weren’t meant to meet her, and that’s a problem.”
“Why not?” I ask.
He tilts his head to the side. “You are always asking so many fucking questions, Storm. All you need to know is that you don’t talk about her to anybody in the Sun Dynasty. Especially not Daegan. Do you understand?”
I don’t dare ask why when he looks like he wants to kill me. Still, I can’t help some of the million questions in my head blurting out. “Honestly, I thought she was from the Sun Dynasty. She doesn’t look like she fits in here. Do you really keep her trapped?”
“Assuming shit will get you killed.”
I narrow my eyes. “I didn’t assume anything. She literally just said—”
“You are a spy, and you are a traitor to your own race by coming here to betray us for whatever fake vampyre king you serve,” he begins, moving towards me. Not this again. He seriously can’t believe that, can he? He only stops when we are inches from each other, and he leans down, his face so close to mine that our breath mixes. “And you are nothing. If you even think of touching Hettie, of hurting her, I will rip you apart so slowly that death would be worth begging for.”
I wince as his insult hits home. I’ve heard it before, and it might be true. I am nothing, I am no one, compared to the rest of the world. I don’t have anyone to call me anything more, but I would never, ever hurt a child. “What have I done to make you hate me so much? You tried to kill me and now this threat? You’re locking me in here, aren’t you? You bargained to have this time here with me. Why? Why bother if you think I’m going to die soon in the Decidere that you set me up into?”
His eyes darken like silver moons. “I do not answer to you.”
“No, I guess you answer to no one, and you never have, King Ziven.”
He leans into me. “Especially not a wild beast that came running in here in a storm with nothing but lies on her tongue. You said you assumed this place would hide you from the vampyres, but that doesn’t make sense. Don’t they hear heartbeats a mile away? What made you think you could hide in a house from them? Even your tale doesn’t make any sense, Storm.”
My mouth dries. “I was panicking, I wasn’t thinking straight. I just…”
“Just what?” he pushes. I just saw my best friend die in front of me to save my life. I ran away from a life that was nothing but torture and pain. From a prince and royal family who had plans for me, plans that would have been more awful than any of this. I clamp my mouth shut. He didn’t answer me either, and I’m not telling him the hardest parts of my life when he will call me a liar anyway. “Fine, then we don’t talk about it, and you are an enemy of the Moon Dynasty. While you’re living here, I have to look after you because of the old laws. I will find out your secrets, Storm, because you’re a lying little spy.”
He walks out, slamming the door shut behind him. I rush over to grab the door—only to find it’s locked. Slamming my hands against the door, I scream. “You’re a bloody arsehole king, and I hope you can hear me! And for your information, I would never hurt a child!”
His echoing laugh suggests that he did hear me, but I hear his footsteps as he leaves me here. I know he isn’t coming back anytime soon, even before I see the plate of food and drinks left out for me on the wooden window seat. There’s a big double bed with thick black sheets and two cabinets on either side of it. A dresser lies in the shadowy corner, and after opening all the drawers, I find it’s mostly empty except for some black clothes. A tight top, tight leggings, underwear, and socks. It’s, funny enough, all in my size. I find a door to a small bathroom by the cabinet, and that room is made of all stone, but there’s a toilet and a shower. I’m locked in a room with two books. Screw him. It’s not that bad. At least I have company. I lift the first book and start reading about the dynasties.
“The dynasties were born into existence over one thousand years ago in the names of the deities. Each dynasty was powerful at the beginning, holding a section of the world as their own, and their dragons never strayed from their own lands or seas.” Lands that I’ve never even heard of are listed, although they’ve probably been renamed by the vampyres.
“The Moon Dynasty, flush with forests and bathed in moonlight, was the biggest land formation, and they held the most dragons. The Sun Dynasty to the south, lands rich in sand, pyramids and towers, were the only ones to truly rival the lands.” I think the land I was brought up in, Nightwell, was once the Moon Dynasty.
“The Twilight Dynasty ruled to the north with the biggest dragons and with the most magic of them all, but their people were few. The Dawn Dynasty in the east rivalled the Moon Dynasty with the amount of people they had, but they lacked the dragons, making them far weaker compared to the Moon, Sun, Dusk and Twilight Dynasties. This bred the way for the wars.”
For five chapters, it describes the brutal wars. There were three great wars, apparently, according to this book, one of which wiped out the Dusk Dynasty. The drawings on here sketch massive dragons fighting, of the sunlight, moonlight, fires and storms and the horror of it all until it was decided that there would be peace for the sake of the people they had left and the dragons that survived. Marriages were arranged, alliances were bred on vows, and there was peace. The Twilight had only a few people left. Dawn didn’t have many either, but the Sun and Moon Dynasties had fared better in the wars—they were the greatest threats.
“It was agreed that when a female heir and male heir were born to the Moon and Sun, they would be married to unite the two powerful kingdoms once and for all.” It makes sense to me that they would try to unite their people. But no female was ever born to the Sun or Moon, or even the Dawn or Twilight Dynasties. Many believed they were cursed for their part in the wars like the Dusk Dynasty. For four hundred years, it was only male heirs born to all the dynasties. This kept a very tender peace between the dynasties until—”
I rub my face as I yawn, putting the book down and pulling the silk string to mark my page, which is about halfway. I can read more tomorrow. I lie back and it takes seconds before I drift off, dreaming of horrible wars and dragons burning everything like the books said. I feel like I’ve barely closed my eyes before I wake up with a startle as my door slams open. A woman rushes in, her black clothes and dark armour matching the colour of her pulled back, short hair. It’s still dark outside, and the only light is coming from the corridor outside and the oil lantern shining behind this stranger. She glares at me, crossing her muscular but slender arms. Her barking shout nearly makes me fall from the bed. “The king is waiting for you. Get up and come with me. Now!”
Chapter Ten
Page Ten.
My dragon is upset with me. She can join the moon and sun. They both believe I’m making a mistake following my father’s orders…am I? To anyone reading this, if you had to choose between your family and your heart, who would you choose?
After the shock wears off, the woman is still barking at me to hurry up and get showered. I quickly shower before throwing clothes on, my wet hair dripping down my back. The tight black clothes seem to stick to every inch of my body, but they match everyone in this dynasty. The second I’m done, she is ushering me down the corridor, and I stay well behind her. My dripping wet hair must have annoyed her, and she swiftly turns, handing me a small band. “Tie your hair back. It’s no good sticking to your neck and getting in your face during training.”
“Wait, training?” I ask, but she doesn’t answer me or even seem to hear me. Training? Why would Ziven want me to be trained to defend myself? It doesn’t make any sense. Tying my hair back, I follow the woman out the doors. I wish I knew her name, but I doubt she will happily give me it. We go up the dragon stairs, round and round, and it’s pretty empty. The sun is still hiding, and I wonder what time it is.
When we get to the training place, it’s pretty empty too except for people from the Moon Dynasty, a black wave of them on the mats, already training hard. All of them seem to be here, or at least I count a good fifteen. Ziven is waiting in the middle of the room, his thick arms holding a sword that looks bigger than me. There is a man at his side, and I’ve seen him before around Ziven outside the Decidere. He has long dark hair that is perfectly straight and falls to his slender shoulders. He smiles at me. Which is more of a smile than I’ve got off anyone out of this dynasty before. The woman bows low when we stop in front of Ziven and the man. “Thank you, Sterling.”
“My king, you can ask anything of me,” she all but purrs, lifting her head. I raise an eyebrow at her tone, and she glares at me before walking away. Ziven stares at me and I stare right back at his stupidly handsome face. Why is he pretty and yet he has a heart of stone? The deities didn’t do anyone fair when they made him.
The man at his side looks between us, rubbing the back of his neck. Ziven hands him the sword. “I’ll, er…go.”
The second the man is gone, I narrow my eyes at Ziven. “Training?”
He watches me for a moment. “You train or you don’t eat. Nothing is for free in this world. If you don’t know that by now, then you’re pretty useless.”
I clear my throat. Training with him? That sounds like a perfectly good way to accidentally get killed by one of his thick arms or giant feet. “Daegan said it wasn’t a good idea if I trained because everyone here has trained since they were kids and that I would be…”
