by Vi Voxley
He closed the doors and the room flared up. Before being blinded by another burst of light, Chloe heard his final words.
"Do send the boys my best."
"Boys!?" Chloe called over the rushing in her ears, but no answer came.
While the room disappeared and she begun to see the outlines of a gigantic temple, she turned the paper in her hand.
Two names. It was definitely two names.
Elias and Vanor.
Well, shit.
5
Elias
"I assume that this is not a good time."
The female's beautiful, soft voice echoed in his ears, banishing everything else around Elias to nothingness, to trivial concerns. At that moment, he couldn't have said with certainty where he was or who he was, only that he was the man to claim that woman in white for his, forever.
She looked at him, a playful smile on her lips like she wasn't sure whether she wanted him or not, but her desire was plain to the warlord. The same passion flowed in his veins, making his cock grow hard against his armor, aching for her voluptuous body.
Yet Elias wanted to make her smile like that even more, not simply to claim her. He wanted to wake up every day next to her, the female's soft dark hair sprayed out on the pillow and see the golden rays of the sun bathe her.
That was his queen, right there, appearing to him like a vision. The warlord knew that he would always desire her with all the fervor in his body, dedicating his life to give her everything she ever wanted. He knew it as surely as that he would become king.
It was hard to imagine something ruining that moment of absolute joy, but then Elias met Vanor's eyes and the reality crashed back down on him.
Anyone but him. This is not possible.
The crowd around them had fallen silent in the meantime, staring at the female much like he was. The priests, however, had started to regain their composure.
"This is holy ground of the Haverins," one of them bellowed to her. "Guards, seize her! We will question you later when–"
The female backed away, shocked into muteness, raising a soft hand to defend herself. Battle rage flashed before Elias' eyes. He pulled the blade from Vanor's throat so fast he cut a red line across the other warlord's cheek. Vanor didn't even seem to notice, his attention equally as transfixed on the mystery woman.
As Elias rushed up the stairs, taking three at a time, fury driving him on, Vanor bellowed:
"Whoever touches her will count their limbs in the afterlife!"
All but one of the temple guards seemed to have heard him. The one still approached, a long ceremonial spear aimed at the female's throat.
"Stop," she said with a shaking voice, "I didn't mean to–"
Elias grabbed a hold of the guy, ripping the spear from his hands like it was nothing more than a toy in a child's grip. He was about to cut his throat, when the female's hazel eyes went wide and she dashed towards them.
"No, please!"
Elias froze, unable to refuse her. The guard, however, was unrelenting in his wish to join his forefathers in the afterlife. With a lightning quick movement, he pulled a dagger from his hip and thrust it at her, fury in his gold-speckled eyes.
The female jumped back with a yelp, but not before the blade drew blood from her hand. The cut was nothing more than a scratch, but it still hurt to see his fated harmed.
No!
With a roar, Elias bodily lifted the man up as though he weighed nothing and threw him down the temple stairs. He watched him fall with a bloodlust in his heart, but the guard didn't have long to live. With the dagger dropped from his grip, his fall was stopped by Vanor's boot on his chest and in the next second, the warlord's sword was plunged in his heart.
The female let out a silent scream of horror, but Elias turned to the crowd. Anger bristled in him, though it was slightly sated by the sight of the offender dead.
Even if it was by Vanor’s hand.
"Anyone who lays a finger on her will die," he growled, his deep voice carrying conviction as well as a threat for revenge. "This was to be the day when you see your new king, but fates have been kind. I present to you – your queen! We are standing at the brink of a new, better age!"
Finally, my fated! A queen for my people, a mother to my children – and a mate for me.
As the crowd picked up a thundering cheer, the female's mouth fell open.
"Oh no," she whispered. "No, no, no. This is so bad."
Before he could say something, anything to assure the female that everything in the world was better for her being there now, Vanor interrupted.
"I agree," he said, the warlord's deep voice easily silencing the crowd as it rumbled over it. "She is our new queen, yet I would rather die than see you on the throne."
"Same here," Elias replied with a grin. "Your death can be easily arranged."
The words were simple, but in his heart, he wasn’t so sure. He had seen the way Vanor looked at the woman, his woman. It could only mean one thing.
And he wasn’t sure whether he was ready for the implications.
"My lords..." the priest interrupted before either of them could draw their swords again." The female. She is still here."
Both Elias and Vanor turned and the priest shrunk back from the fire in their gazes. Despite that, he still had enough spine to continue:
"You know this soil is sacred. She must not step here."
That was true, Elias thought with a grim expression. The Haverins were fiercely protective of their holy sites. Even with all the interactions with other species – and he had a pretty good idea of how the female ended up with him – that was the one rule they always followed.
No strangers in places where only Haverins walked.
Still, she was his queen and Elias didn't even consider punishing her for the trespassing, much less let her be taken by guards like a prisoner.
"So she won't," he told the priest, turning to the female then. "My queen. What is your name?"
The female gave him a sharp look that went straight to his cock. Elias immediately wished he was somewhere else, with her, very much naked and deep inside her sweet, wet pussy.
"Chloe," she said. "Please stop calling me that."
There was no honorific, no sign of submission in her voice. The crowd sighed audibly, but Elias' grin spread wider on his face. She had spirit, he could tell. She would make a perfect mate for him, if there wasn't the one glaring problem.
With unguarded hatred, Elias turned to Vanor, who was observing him with his maddening, ever-present calm.
"She needs a safe place," he said through gritted teeth, hating that he had to say one more word to the cursed enemy of his family.
He'd fully expected Vanor to be dead by that hour, and to wear the crown on his head at his burial, honoring him like a worthy opponent. Now that the Lord Merive lived, honoring him in any way sent furious spikes of rage through Elias.
Yet the female came first, always. His fated had to be taken away from the temple, for the sake of their people and her too. There were rules for these things, rules that needed to be followed.
To his surprise, Vanor gave him the slightest of curt nods.
"I agree," the other warlord said, clearly resenting the situation as much as Elias did. "I propose the palace. It is her rightful place, after all. We can settle her there and meet here again for the duel in two weeks, when the next alignment of suns shines upon us."
That was so reasonable, so unexpected coming from a cold bastard like a Merive that Elias had to bite his tongue to make sure he wasn't dreaming it all up.
The gods must be as shocked as I am… A Merive and a Greole agreeing on something?
He wanted to laugh at the absurdity of agreeing with Vanor on anything, but as ever, Elias was mindful of position and place at the head of his people. He had to keep up appearances.
"We are in agreement," he said as impassively as he could.
The female was staring at them, her hazel eyes narrowed in suspicion
and confusion.
"Okay," she cut in when he was done. "I won't pretend I understand a single thing about what you're talking about, but let me make myself clear. I want to get out of here. Without dying, preferably, and without someone else dying because of me."
Her blunt and fiery temper was turning Elias on more than he wanted to admit to himself. All the passions he'd shared with women before were nothing compared to what merely looking at Chloe felt like.
I must have her, he thought, his attention so easily captured by her time and time again.
"I got that I'm not supposed to stand here, right?" she asked. "What's the price of that?"
"Death," Vanor said and Elias had to resist cutting his head off for not finding a better way to phrase that, even if it was the truth.
"Oh," Chloe said, quirking a brow. "I don't think I want that."
Vanor stepped over to her after moving up the steps with measured strides, offering her his hand.
"Since you can't walk down without incurring more scorn from the priests, will you permit me to carry you away from the holy soil?" he asked, while Elias cursed himself for not offering it sooner.
He could have interfered, but Chloe had looked so scared before he only wanted her to get away from the temple, even if in Vanor's arms. Neither of the warlords liked it, but she needed to be safe before they could settle their affairs.
Chloe's eyes were displaying a variety of emotions, but Elias noticed the same desire as before when she looked from Vanor to him, to Vanor again. When she nodded, the most breathtakingly gorgeous blush painted her soft cheeks pink.
Looking at such beauty almost made it bearable to watch his archenemy pick up his queen and carry her away on the day no one was made king.
6
Vanor
His fated was fast driving him out of his mind with desire.
The scent of Chloe's hair was almost impossible to resist, robbing Vanor of the iron self-control he was known for. It was making him ache to bury his face into her soft curls and hold her close. In his life up to now, only two people had managed to make him irrational, one with fury and the other with love. As it happened, he now found himself in the company of both of them.
Technically, the warlord knew he could have put Chloe down at the bottom of the temple, but he kept walking, unable to relinquish the chance to hold her. So far, she didn't protest.
Quite the opposite – she was looking at him with those mesmerizing hazel eyes that made him want to willingly drown in them. If only for the pleasure of being with her.
Her body was lush and soft in his arms, inviting him to discover what she hid under the folds of that dress that seemed to accentuate her every delicious curve. It was enough to drive a man out of his mind, even one as strictly in control of his faculties as Vanor.
Like the shadow that he'd always been, Elias appeared with his guards to match his pace as the crowds fell away behind them. There was a cruel smile on his lips as the blond warlord spoke almost dismissively, his gold eyes considering Chloe with far too much familiarity for Vanor’s tastes.
"We've left the temple behind a while ago, my queen."
That seemed to bring Chloe out of the daze she'd been in. She looked at him, frowning, and even that expression made her look so desirable that Vanor had to resist claiming her right there.
"Is that true?" the female asked, her voice suggesting she was not happy about being deceived. "Could I have walked most of the way?"
"Yes," Elias put in while Vanor glared at the other warlord, adding: "You could have, but you do not know the road."
"Put me down," Chloe said, sounding exasperated, before he could add anything. "That doesn't excuse anything. It's not like you would have allowed me to hike across the planet before telling me I should have turned left on Main."
He lowered her to the ground gently, not understanding half of what she said, but picking up on the tone of her voice easily enough.
The female straightened herself and the odd white dress she was wearing. It definitely wasn't Haverin fashion, but Vanor couldn't say he was complaining. It hugged her body in the most flattering ways, emphasizing her beautiful soft breasts and the ass that was just begging for him to grope it. To lift her into his arms and thrust into her tight pussy, claim her for himself, forever.
Yet he didn't try to touch her any more than she allowed. She was his queen, not some random female who could not bear his children. Just the thought of his fated, big with his child, was enough to make Vanor wait and be patient.
It was what he was good at and what she deserved. Chloe was clearly not from his world and Vanor knew what problems that brought. Patience would serve him well.
"So, which way is it?" the female asked, pleased with how she looked at last.
Vanor pointed behind her and when she turned, her gasp of surprise was audible even across the bustle of the street they were on. People stopped to stare and admire her, but Chloe only had eyes for the palace towering in front of her in the distance.
It was the jewel of the Haverins, the center of Corolon and, of course, the seat of the king and queen. Ever since the death of the last ruler, Elias' father, it had sat empty, waiting for the suitable alignments of the suns.
The throne had been empty for weeks now and it felt so. There was no presence in the palace, only the enormous structure itself with its fountains and walkways and gardens.
"I hope you guys have a sense of humor and you get that I'm trying to make a joke, but damn, I'm starting to reconsider this queen thing," Chloe said, her eyes full of wonder and awe.
She walked towards the palace with Vanor and Elias following, refusing to give each other more than a look.
It seemed to Vanor that fate had decided to test them by throwing something completely impossible their way. To share a fated was not uncommon, it was practically customary. There were cases of only one male joining a female, but they were rare.
Even Greole and Merive had had to pair up for a female, but that was rarer still and only happened in the lesser branches of the two families, never with the main line and especially not with heirs. Fate had kept the two houses apart and Vanor believed that was for the best.
Now, he and Lord Greole had the same fated. He did not need to discuss it with Elias to be sure of that.
Vanor had no doubt the female didn't know it yet, but that would not stand. It was a crime to leave such a beauty with only one mate, but there was no other option – there was no possible future in his eyes where he and Elias could have joined for a female. There wasn't even the option of the both of them living through the next alignment of the suns.
While a female might have shared her bed, there was only one throne for the king.
If Chloe's other fated had been anyone else but Elias, Vanor would have been thrilled. A good, proud warrior – of House Merive, of course – to join him in producing strong, golden-eyed heirs. It was all he'd ever wanted. It was perfectly natural. There were rooms in the palace for the other fated of the queen, always had been.
Not Elias, though. Never him. We both know there can only be one king and only one who claims Chloe along with the throne.
Before them, Chloe was rushing to the palace now, her beautiful face smiling in a way that made the suns pale. Every time she looked back, her eyes were filled with joy – and desire, shared between the two warlords. As much as it made Vanor’s heart soar to see her look at him that way, it also made bile twist in his gut because the other man was Elias.
Vanor didn't have to see Elias' eyes to know the other warlord knew and agreed. It was a weird thing, to be so completely of the same mind as his enemy, yet that was how it was. Fate had given them an impossible situation.
The female deserved two warriors, but she could never have them both. Not with all the bad blood between the Greole and Merive families.
As she took off her shoes and ran to the first garden, a fountain sprayed her wet. The sunlight shone in the water drops in her hair, already
crowning her. Walking behind her, Vanor knew Elias was already dreaming of spilling the blood from his veins, just as he did.
Fate had gifted Elias with two weeks to live, but after that, Vanor would return to the palace with his queen, alone.
So it shall be.
7
Chloe
This could be worse.
Thinking that proved once and for all for Chloe that she had completely and utterly lost her mind. First of all, she'd just seen a person die in front of her.
The closest she'd come to death so far in her life was when the police came to pick her up from daycare and told the six-year-old her that her parents had died in a car crash. Apparently it had been the bad sort of a crash, one that didn't leave that many recognizable pieces, so Chloe wasn't allowed to attend the funeral.
It was probably for the best.
Chloe had imagined the car crash many times in her life before she realized it wasn't very healthy.- There had almost been some mystical fog around her parents. Like a painting with blurred lines, she had never been able to see them very clearly.
It was like dreaming up an indie cartoon where all the characters were stick figures, barely resembling humans, yet still carrying immense emotional significance for her.
This time, she had smelled the death. She’d seen the face of the guard as he died, the blood spilling out, marring the ground of the temple. It had been so close to her that it seemed unreal, like she was watching a movie and it hadn't happened to her at all.
On the other hand, the guy had tried to kill her for no reason, so she couldn’t mourn his lost life that much.
That still left the alien warriors to worry about.
Chloe hadn't asked, but she was more than certain that the two men who seemed to be in charge and right in the middle of a dick measuring competition were the same ones whose names were on the piece of paper.
