“Stop him,” I growl, jumping their direction, but it’s too late. The vampire rips clean through his throat, spraying blood everywhere. Desperation reeks from the vampire’s cage as the body slips to the ground. Wet slurps fill the air as he drinks the blood from the floor before yanking the mer’s body to the bars.
Knowing there’s nothing that can be done for him now, I force out, “Keep moving and stay together. Hold hands if you have to.”
We make it all the way to the end of a corridor without another incident. What greets us makes up for the lost trouble times ten. A dragon the size of the Keep sleeps next to a hollow hole that seems to go on forever. Dragons haven’t gone down in the books as the gentlest of creatures. Especially when someone is encroaching on their hoarding dens.
Mocking Aukai’s quiet steps, we work around the sleeping giant. The dark green scales look dry, like it’s trying to shed. Wings fold underneath arms that lead down into sharp claws longer than my entire arm and webbed feet. Wherever this dragon is supposed to be, it’s not in a dank cave. He was made for the water.
“Well, if it isn’t the oath breaking mermaid himself,” a voice quips out, making the dragon stir but not awaken.
Aukai holds up his hands in front of him. “I’m no oath breaker, Dain. I’m here, aren’t I?”
Chains rattle, stirring the dragon again before a malnourished fae steps close enough to Aukai’s light to see.
“Only took you a hundred years,” he counters.
“There’s much to discuss,” Aukai replies, “but I’m here to uphold my promise.”
The stunned expression on the fae’s face says it all, but then his lids drop low in warning as his lips curl back. “Is this a trick? Your father send you down here to see if I’d be stupid enough to attempt another escape?”
He spits on the ground at Aukai’s feet. “Leave, traitor, before I wake the dragon. You and I both know none of us want that.”
“It’s no trick,” Zale says, stepping around my shoulder.
If the fae’s eyes could’ve gotten any bigger, I’m sure they would’ve, but my brother doesn’t notice as he keeps going. “Our brother was bitten by one of the dark creatures. We need your help to save him.”
“I’m here to keep my oath and call in one of my favors,” Aukai adds.
“You brought them here?” the fae snarls, jerking against his restraints and rattling his chains again. “Do you know what you’ve done?”
A hot huff of air fills the cavern just as we all begin to realize the dragon is no longer sleeping. The entire floor threatens to crumble away as he begins to rise to his feet.
“Mother help us all,” the fae murmurs. “Get us out of these chains. We’ve got to get out of here before it’s too late.”
I’m tempted to tell him that we’ve already pushed that button as the dragon lets out a roar loud enough to have my head aching instantly.
Aukai jumps into motion, wrapping his hand around the anklet chaining the fae down. It releases with a click and drops to the floor with a rattle that echoes. Raising to his feet, he’s gone to turn when the fae sinks his fingernails into his arm.
“I’m not leaving him here,” he barks. “You want my help, then we take him too.”
Fear forces Aukai’s back rigid as he tells him, “We can’t. He may not even shift back.”
“Package deal, friend,” the fae quips.
Easton and Caelan have slowly inserted themselves between my brother and I and the threats in the room. I sense the few others we brought with us closing ranks as well. Intelligence is hidden in the deep pools of the dragon’s eyes, but whatever they’ve done to him down here makes that glass over real quick. He lets out another roar, giving us plenty of time to understand he’s done with the show. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’d rather not be dragon food today.
“Aukai,” I command, “open the chains.”
Without hesitation, he jumps to obey my order. The fae waves his arms at the dragon like a mad man to draw his attention there instead of his friend running straight towards its leg that looks big enough to crush him against the stone wall.
There’s another clink and the sound of a chain hitting the floor. Just in time too, because the dragon had just opened his mouth to let out another roar or get himself a meal. Guess we’ll never know and that’s not a bad thing.
The dragon’s eyes roll back in his head until there’s nothing but white showing. Then he sways once before dropping into a heap on the floor. Immediately, he shifts down into human form. Unconscious but definitely less conspicuous.
Aukai moves to carry him, but the fae beats him to it. Heaving the dragon shifter over his shoulder like he weighs nothing proves all the old myths about the fae right. I could’ve sworn by the state he’s in that he’d barely be able to carry himself out of here. Let alone a body twice his size.
“We’ve got to hurry,” Aukai says, pulling up point again in front of everyone to lead us back. We’re what feels about halfway there when several of the doors screech open.
“Weapons!” I yell at the same time Aukai slams into me from the front. We both hit the cavern floor with a snarling beast on top of us. The only reason it wasn’t able to instantly bite our heads off is because my trident got lodged in his throat when I went to stab on my way down. It howls in fury and pain, but this is a matter of our lives or it. Using all my strength, I shove forward, digging the trident all the way in. It goes lack on the top of us, covering us both in black goo.
Grunts and groans around us say the rest are still fighting. The sight of these things is subpar to the stench, which seems to be getting worse as more of them die. Kicking the carcass off my lower half allows me to free myself and get back to my feet. Easton and Zale are running a sword and trident through another one of the creatures. All around us bodies are dropping and thankfully they’re none of ours.
“We’ve got to move before they let out more of them,” the fae barks. “We can’t take them all on.”
Doing a once over to make sure we’re still together, Aukai takes the lead again with the fae. I swear I can feel the tingling on my skin as we get closer to the portal. Never in my life have I ever been happier to know that I’ll be going through one.
We’re within a few steps when more doors open.
“Run!” Aukai barks. “Follow Dain! He’ll get you home!”
Then he dead stops and spins on his heel to face the creatures behind us.
“NOOO!” Zale yells as he’s forced forward by Caelan and Easton at his back.
They’re so distracted pushing him, they aren’t able to make a grab for me as I sidestep. The fae and dragon disappear first then my brother and our guards.
Twisting in place, I move to Aukai’s side.
“What are you doing?” he demands, keeping his eyes trained on the threats looming in front of us. And boy are they ugly. These are the ones I refused to even look at through the bars. Whatever they used to be, there’s nothing of that left in them.
“I’m not leaving a brother behind,” I tell him.
In my peripheral, I see his chin jerk toward my face. As though that’s the opening they’ve been waiting for, the monsters jump. We take turns side by side stabbing and downing them, but it’s obvious we aren’t going to be able to hold them off long enough to get through the portal ourselves.
“Close it!” I yell over the scream of the victim at the end of my trident.
Gods, Rubi. I’m sorry, my love.
“Not yet,” a voice stresses behind us right before we’re all blinded with a light bright enough to be the sun itself.
A human hand wraps itself around my bicep and pulls backward. I don’t bother fighting it since we’d kept the creatures funneled to our front.
“Aukai!” I bellow. “We can’t leave him!”
I still can’t see, but I can feel when we pass through the portal. The sick feeling the first time is nothing compared to this. I’ve failed Rubi. Aukai is stuck in that god a
wful place and will die a most horrible death.
Trying to open my eyes proves to be worth nothing since the light has left me blind. Voices echo around the throne room as the portal drops with a slight suction to our ears. Already without one of my senses, I drop to my hands and knees.
“Aukai,” I mutter, letting my head slip down to rest against the floor.
A hand presses against my back as I hear Zale say, “He’s here, brother. He made it out.”
If there weren’t so many people around us, I might just embarrass myself by crying in relief. Losing any of us would’ve been hard on Rubi.
Zephyr.
Thankfully, when I open my eyes I can see again, I can see once more. Even if there are still spots dancing in my vision. Zale tries to help me up, and I let him. I’m sure there was a moment there when he thought I was going to be the one who wasn’t going to make it back. Once I’m on my feet, I one arm hug him.
“Let’s go save our brother and kiss our mate,” I tell him, drawing a tight laugh from his chest.
Bouncing back and forth between wearing a hole in the floor and sitting at Zephyr’s bedside watching him deteriorate has worn me out. Especially since none of us got to rest after the long travels it took to get here. It’s been hours but feels like days since my other mates left and worry is a live thing sitting in my gut. Merrick has tried to convince me to get some rest, and I know that he can see how much the stress is starting to weigh on me. He’s as concerned for me as we both are for Zephyr. I couldn’t lay down to rest even if I wanted to, knowing that one mate is slowly slipping away from me as the others are off risking their lives to save him.
A manic sob starts bubbling in the back of my throat, but I push it down as hard as I can. I refuse to lose my cool here when I’ve got the smallest job of all. I’m going to stay strong for them and prove to these mer I’ll be a good queen.
Which doesn’t mean I have to sit still while doing it either. Hopping up from Zephyr’s side, I stroll over to the window that overlooks the kingdom. I’ve done this many times over the past several hours, but it still stuns me every time.
Yhalwgon is absolutely beautiful and as close to paradise I think I’ll ever lay eyes on. When the sun was high in the sky, it reflected off the rooftops of the tightly-knit buildings. Now that it’s setting, the glow causes shadows, making the entire scene look like a painting. At dark I’m sure the streets will seem like those of a ghost town with no one occupying the houses. Maybe one day in our lifetimes we’ll be able to restore all of this to its former glory like it deserves.
My ears pop, and I jerk around to face Merrick, the question I’m not sure I want the answer to on the tip of my tongue. Glancing to the door, I see the guards eye each other, but neither move to investigate.
Please. Please. Please let them all be safe.
Just in case it’s not them, I move to place myself between the door and Zephyr, picking up my trident from where it’s been propped against the foot of the bed. Though he’s already dying, someone will have to go through me to get him while he’s at his weakest.
It takes a while, but voices finally start drifting down the corridor. Clenching my weapon tightly, I’m prepared for anything that walks through that door.
Well, apparently most anything. The sight of the palest man I’ve ever seen carrying an overly large naked dude with his ass stuck right up in the air immediately makes me wonder if the exhaustion has finally driven me mad. He barely spares me and my weapon a glance as he lays the naked guy on one of the other beds before rushing over to Zephyr. It isn’t until he’s at his side that I overcome my shock and jump into motion.
Springing around the other side of the bed, I hop up on my knees and have my trident poking him right in the throat before he can even think about laying a hand on my mate. His left eyebrow lifts, but otherwise he shows no emotion to being so close to death. Or maybe he just doesn’t realize it’s staring him right in the face.
“Who are you?” I question.
“The one who’s here to save your mate, youngling,” he replies. Then, with a smile adds, “If you’ll allow it, of course.”
“Where---”
“It’s okay, damselfish,” Zale says as he and Zanthus walk through the door. The latter looks a little worse for wear, but otherwise unharmed. Trusting Zale’s word, I let my trident drop from the stranger.
Making my way over to the party at the door, I hand my weapon off to Easton before throwing my arms around Zale and Zanthus both at the same time, taking turns kissing both their cheeks.
“I’ve been so worried,” I admit quietly.
Zanthus squeezes me tighter and seems to be having trouble focusing with his eyes as he says, “We wouldn’t be here at all were it not for Aukai.”
Oh, I haven’t forgotten him for one little second. I’ve only got so many arms and they were the closest. They part to let me through so they can go to their brother’s side. Aukai stands stiffly, shifting his eyes anywhere but to me.
Closing the distance between us, I throw my arms around his torso and bury my face into his shirt. It’s covered in something that smells worse than the dumpster behind the Chinese restaurant back in the human realm, but I don’t care. He took on the task of trying to save Zephyr then brought the other two back to me safely.
“Thank you,” I whisper, lifting my chin to get a good look at his face. His expression says he’s just as exhausted as I am, if not worse.
“No need for thanks. I’ll do anything to protect you,” he says, finally embracing me back. Looking towards the bed he adds, “You. My brothers. This kingdom.”
Palming his cheeks, I smash our lips together. Regrettably, it’s a short-lasting kiss considering Zephyr chooses this moment to make a wise crack. “I’m the one dying over here. I think I need some kisses too.”
My gasp is loud, and I don’t care. Those are the first words he’s spoken since being dragged out of the water. Rushing to his side, I’m careful not to disturb the strange man whose eyes are closed, hands hovering inches above the wounds. A bright light flows between them, slowly knitting the open flesh back together while the black veins retreat.
Leaning down to press my lips against Zephyr’s forehead I tell him, “You had me worried.”
“It’ll take something stronger than that to take me away from you,” he teases, grimacing on the last few words.
“You were almost done in by something that inks itself in defense,” Zanthus pokes.
Zephyr’s mouth clenches in a tight line defensively. “Brother, that was no ordinary sea critter. I think I deserve a pass from ridicule for now.”
Zanthus can’t help but smile like the rest of us as he concedes, “For now.”
“What happened, highnesses?” Merrick asks from where he’d stepped back to make room for the man.
The room is in a quiet hush while Zale gives us a breakdown of their harrowing rescue. My heart hurts for those that were left behind after so many years of being imprisoned and for the mer who died. If what Zale says is correct, there isn’t anything we can do for them at this point, though. Plus, the mer who gave his life to save my mate will have a service fit for a royal family. I’ll see to that personally.
Zale takes a break every now and then to ask Aukai questions that have obviously been weighing on his mind. Such as how he was able to break the two strangers out of chains.
To which Aukai replies, “My father crafted those chains. Only his blood can unlock or break them.”
“What was the light show?” Zanthus asks.
For the first time since setting to work, the stranger speaks, weariness weighing into his voice. “No sunlight ever permeates the pit. Some of those creatures haven’t seen it in hundreds of years. That was the only thing I knew to do before the portal closed.”
By the time he’s done, I’ve got a question of my own. “So, who’s the naked dude?”
Zeph snorts softly and Zanthus jerks his chin to the bed where the stranger lays. Merrick
drags the blanket at the foot up over him to hide his nakedness, drawing a snort in return from me.
“He’s one of the only friends I’ve ever had and the one who has kept me from turning like the other monsters that reside down there,” the stranger says. “I wasn’t going to leave without him.”
Holding my hand out to him, I introduce myself and wait until I’ve gotten his name in return before telling him, “Thank you, Dain.”
Several loud gasps sound out around us, and I wonder what error I’ve made now. Dain smiles, and I see small fangs poking down from his gums as he replies, “You’re welcome, Rubi of Yhalwgon. Now I must beg to take my leave to private quarters. I’m quite tired after not having so much excitement in so long.”
One of the mer leads Dain out of the room. His scent still lingers in the air as Zanthus warns, “Never thank the fae, love. If you thank them, you’ll owe them a favor, and according to them, no favor is too large or small.”
Sucking my lip through my teeth, I worry what he’ll ask for in return.
Aukai comes to stand at the foot of Zephyr’s bed as he says, “He didn’t call for the favor, which he’d know better than to do with my mate. So, you’re safe.”
I nod, giving him a thankful smile. I don’t think I could handle being indebted to a fae on top of everything else right now.
Though... “He did save Zephyr’s life,” I finish my thought out loud.
“That was a favor owed and a favor repaid. Plus, we not only rescued him but Ladon at his behest as well,” Aukai reminds me.
Okay, he’s got me there. I didn’t get firsthand experience through that portal, but between their haggard appearances and the stench rolling off their clothes, I don’t think I need it. Whatever kind of life we can offer Dain and Ladon has to be better than where they were.
Sunken Empire Page 22
