Angel's War

by Meg Xuemei X

  PRINCE SETH

  Last time I checked on homo sapiens, their numbers hadn’t been so great. I was appalled by their reproductive ability. Those earthlings mated like rabbits from my home planet.

  I grinned at the idea of mating. Now I could mate all the time with Rose. And I would. When I returned from this chore, I’d go to her chamber. I would have her again. My cock hardened at the thought.

  But it was futile to torment myself while she wasn’t around. I turned my attention back to the humans. Their intelligence had also increased at great speed. Within a few months, they’d formed farming communities and moved toward technology and industry.

  I wondered why my lord father took an interest in this new, primary species. Other than their fast evolving capacity, I noticed that the humans also shared our thirst for violence. The second they had sprung from the Earth, they’d constantly engaged in wars and eliminated less developed species to expand their territories.

  If the former dominant species like Mysthians, Dragonian, and Luthiansans hadn’t fixed their eyes completely on us, they would want to contain the savage humans as a future threat. But with the Earth’s current power struggle, no one had a mind to pay them the needed supervision, so they moved forward quickly on the path to becoming the new top predator.

  One day—if we were still on Earth—I would bring Rose to see the humans and their amazing evolution. Well, that might be a bad idea. Humans weren’t exactly exotic animals, and the fey looked down their noses at the mortals. Rose would scoff at me for wasting her time.

  Besides, Rose and I might not roam on this planet.

  She would go with me, but first, I needed to guarantee her people’s safety.

  What wouldn’t I do to have her?

  I had come inside her so hard. I had pumped my hot seed into her, never before having given a drop to any other female.

  Rose and I would have our own dynasty in Valhalla at the edge of a far galaxy. It was nothing like Earth. It wasn’t magical like Mysth’s twilight realm, but it had violet seas, silver forests, and the most stunning night sky.

  We could build things together in our new home. We could have our offspring now that I could ejaculate. And I was generous with my seed.

  I wondered what our children would be like. They would have my wings, of course, and her looks and our intelligence. When our dynasty grew bored in one place, my warp-speed spaceship could take us to see other worlds. I would figure out a way to avoid my father’s patrol force. They were everywhere in the universe.

  Maybe I should do what the angel rebels had hoped for me to do—get rid of my tyrant father—if he also proved too much for me, if he kept threatening Rose and our future offspring.

  I no longer wanted to watch humans. I wanted to go back to my female and fuck her and then take a nap with her.

  I soared high into the sky. The moonlight was cool on my wings and the wind sang in my blood, calling me back to my mate.

  I should not lose my head completely. These two days were crucial. I needed to plan carefully and ship her to safety.

  My design to keep her kingdom intact was still half-baked. I had to perfect it and made sure it worked when the time came to fend off my father and brother. I would secretly summon my army in another galaxy when I had another go with Rose late tonight.

  If my father brought his horde, Earth would be a bloodbath.

  As I flew over a ring of snowy mountains, deep in my thoughts, I noticed a speck shooting toward me from the far sky. Another angel was approaching and it was Ephraim.

  Anger rose in me. What was he doing here? I’d ordered him to watch my female.

  I growled before he neared me.

  “High Prince,” Ephraim shouted from afar. “The princess—you must hurry back!”

  A sense of dread sliced into me. “Princess what?”

  “Victoria imprisoned her,” Ephraim said. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t break through and get to her.”

  Icy fear impaled me. I wasn’t ready to lose her when I had just found her. But I might have lost her. I contained my panic, but rage burst from my wings and my black lightning struck across the sky.

  I shot toward Atlantis at maximum speed.

  PRINCESS ROSE

  Shouts, curses, and the sharp sound of crossing blades broke out outside the Spring Hall.

  My heart leapt in cold fear. My warriors were in trouble. I had to go to their aid. My generals would strongly advise me to sacrifice the few for the greater many.

  But there was a thin line between ruthlessness and necessity. What kind of ruler was I if I fled from danger at every chance? I wouldn’t get far alone anyway. With my team, we stood a chance to fight our way out. We only needed to reach the tunnel: the angels would be at a disadvantage inside the subterranean maze.

  I jumped out of the stream and sprang toward the cabinet, where I retrieved a set of attire I had prepared for a situation like this. After I put it on, I picked up the dagger Seth had returned to me and the spare chakram I’d hidden between folded towels.

  Before I could slide my feet into a pair of boots, the hall shook and the door to the Spring Hall toppled down. The skylight exploded, as did all of the windows. Glass, concrete, and splintered wood rained down.

  I rolled under a table to take cover, but some debris still hit me.

  Earth Mother! I called urgently. If you favor me, if you put the magic of offence in me as the prophecy said, let it out! Let me take down your enemies!

  Nothing. Not a whisper. Not a wrinkle. Not even a drop in the rain.

  The angel sentinels—Victoria’s elite legion—poured in through door, windows, and ceiling. They all came to me just as I ducked out from under the table.

  Their blades dripped blood. My people’s blood.

  Fury burst in me. Yet no magic rose to defend my people and myself.

  I was a dud, just as the High Prince had said.

  “How dare you!” I snarled, my dagger in one hand and my chakram in the other. “I’m your future queen.”

  “Not anymore,” a lead guard called. “Take her. General’s order!”

  I threw my chakram at him.

  The lead guard blocked it with his fully armored arm. The steel wheel ricocheted off his armor and spun in the air to find its next easier target. It hit the angel beside him, then went for another.

  Just as two heads rolled off the angels’ necks, the chakram returned and I caught it.

  Shocked, the angels pulled their swords up in defensive positions, no longer treating me as “the weak fey princess.” They’d never seen things like a magical chakram. The majority of them who didn’t wear their armor now looked like they regretted it.

  Hector and Lion fought into the hall, battered and bloody, but in one piece.

  They shouted my name and fought toward me, as I to them.

  Even as we were surrounded and outnumbered, the angels kept coming from the broken skylight.

  Five archers hovered above us, their black wings spreading and blotting out the light, their arrows aiming at my guards and me.

  “Surrender, Princess Rose!” the lead guard threatened. “Or I’ll feed the arrows into the hearts of your guards!”

  I hurled my chakram at an archer above me, and when he blocked it to protect his neck, it plunged and cut through his chest before bouncing toward another archer. A female archer’s head dropped beside me, and I kicked it toward the lead guard.

  He ducked and snarled as the head flew by him.

  Seth thought I’d never seen a broken body. He thought I would faint at the sight of blood.

  Where was he?

  A shadow of doubt crept into my mind like poison. Had he indeed sold me out? He’d finally had that one fuck—actually many. He had no need of me after I’d quenched his lust. Pain twisted my guts at the thought of the prince’s betrayal.

  Why hadn’t he come to finish me himself? He had never been a coward.

  No, Seth wouldn’t do that to me. He wasn’t in the c
ity. He didn’t know.

  We had a bond, even if he hadn’t seen it as I had.

  I leapt and caught the blood-stained chakram in the air, feeling wicked satisfaction at shedding my enemies’ blood.

  Hector and Lion reached my side and fought beside me.

  The angels swarmed toward us like unstoppable hard waves.

  I swept my dagger at the lead guard’s throat as he was on me. Then, pain exploded in my chest.

  An arrowhead stuck out beneath my shoulder blade, then another arrow pierced my arm, then another hit my thigh.

  I twisted my torso to see who had shot me from behind, and my chakram left my hand toward Victoria. Several broad swords blocked the chakram in front of that bitch.

  If I hadn’t been mightily weakened by the pain caused by the arrows, I would have had more strength to deliver the chakram. My weapon would have maimed the king’s whore.

  She had waited until the last minute to show up and shoot me in the back.

  I dropped to my knees and roared in fury while I stabbed my dagger toward the eye of a bulky angel who tried to subdue me. He hadn’t expected that, but he was fast enough to jerk back his head. Pitifully, my dagger only cut a line on his nose.

  The angels caught my wrists, disarmed me, and bounded my hands. I spat at whoever was in front of me.

  Hector screamed my name in wrath as he and Lion both went down.

  Victoria descended from the air, her gray wings unfurling. She stood in front of me.

  Despite the excruciating pain pounding my body, I threw my hand up toward her, hoping the offensive magic would finally come and burn her and all the angels to dust.

  Nothing shot out of my hand, so I cursed Earth Mother for abandoning me before I cursed my foes.

  “I didn’t know a weak fey also had a foul mouth,” Victoria said, and her angels chuckled.

  She pulled the string of her bow to full and released it. Her arrow pierced my other thigh. I bit back a scream of pain.

  She smiled. “Now you look better, little princess.”

  “Where’s King Agro?” I demanded.

  “If you must know…” She clicked her tongue. “His Majesty will return at midnight to assemble what’s left of you.”

  “He’ll tear your wings off before cutting off your head.” I said.

  “Not this time, traitor,” she said with a diabolical smile.

  Instead of calling me an adulterer, she’d named me the traitor again, which meant that Seth hadn’t thrown me to the king’s bitch to save his own skin.

  He was the only one who could help me now. He had called me his lamb in his passion. Would he allow anyone to slaughter his lamb?

  Where was he?

  So I cried for him, as I’d called for him when the assassins had dragged me under the water. He had heard me then. Would he hear me now? Just one last time?

  Seth, come! Victoria has me! I shouted at the supernatural link that had once opened between us. I shouted again and again, but there was no response. Just like what had happened with the great Earth magic—there was no echo and no stir from my imagined bond.

  Even if he’d heard me, he was too far away. But would he come for me? It wouldn’t make any difference, even if he arrived right now.

  I’d been made.

  I spat at the king’s bitch to goad her. “Let’s fight fair, just you and me, you coward.”

  Not even bothering to wipe off my salvia, Victoria grabbed my hair and yanked it backward. “You can never take me, little bitch,” she said, a victorious grin stretching her every facial muscle. “And I won’t satisfy you by fighting fair. I’ve caught your lover boy.”

  Seth? I hid my confused, shocked look. They’d caught him? But he was powerful. Even the king stayed out of his hair. How could anyone other than his lord father subdue him?

  Had they ambushed him and rained down poisonous arrows on him? Seth was still flesh and blood. It was possible he could be killed. I’d seen him bleed. I’d bled him with my little teeth when he’d forced a kiss.

  So he must have walked into the trap, just like me.

  My heart thudded, and my fear for him was greater than the hurt from my wounds.

  “The Dragonian rebel commander has admitted his affinity for you,” Victoria continued. “You can enjoy a reunion with him in the dungeon after King Agro hears every juicy detail from your blue-skinned lover about how you two conspired to overthrow his rule.” She winked. “The king’s wrath will be a sight to behold, Princess.”

  I’d heard of the angels’ torture practices, beyond an earthling’s imagination. Victoria had pulled out every nail from my courtier Philomena, which was child’s play compared to what they must have done to North to break him and force him to confess.

  As the king’s mistress gloated about what the king would do to me, I controlled an inner shudder and focused on how I could get my team out of this. The excruciating pain made it hard for me to think, and I had to try to not pass out from losing blood too fast.

  Victoria clasped her hands. “Take the fey bitch to the king’s chamber and chain her like the filthy animal that she is.”

  The angels, who had bound my hands, dragged me forward.

  Hector struggled to crawl toward me, but he had so many arrows in him. Lion lay in a pool of blood. There was no way to tell if he was dead or alive.

  I would not shed tears in front of my enemies, so I swallowed them, and even that act hurt.

  In the hallway, I saw four of my guards lying broken amid a few dead angels. They had fought well and half of them had perished. I also saw the bodies of many of my courtiers. They’d joined the fight, and now they would never return home.

  I said a silent prayer: may they pass through the gate and rest in the light of afterlife.

  I didn’t spot Souline’s body. That was the only mercy Earth Mother showed me. The goddess had forsaken Mysth and my people as soon as the angels had trespassed on our land and become a threat to her.

  Rage and hatred filled me, leaving room for nothing else. Yet the magic didn’t cause the slightest ripple over my skin.

  I was never the Earth Mother’s favorite. I wasn’t her daughter.

  As I was doomed, all Mysthians were doomed with me.

  Still, in the remote back of my mind, I refused to give up one last hope.

  PRINCE SETH

  Victoria marched toward me as I blasted open the door to the king’s chamber and stormed in.

  “Your Highness,” she purred, “I wasn’t expecting you.”

  The bitch thought she was funny.

  “What’s this?” I snarled, my eyes fixing on Rose.

  The Princess of Mysth was chained like a rabid animal at the foot of my brother’s bed. Four arrows were in her, piercing the skin that I’d touched and kissed.

  Dried blood coated her swollen bottom lip. Ugly bruises sprawled across her cheeks and left eye. There were also red marks and small cuts along her neck. She must have put up a tough fight but had been outnumbered.

  The fey princess raised her head and met my gaze, a storm wheeling in her eyes, yet it didn’t strike. I was sure now that the magic wasn’t in her—if she had had the slightest offensive magic, she would have used it to wipe out her foes.

  But I had seen her white light; I had tasted her magic when I’d come hard in her.

  Had I been mistaken?

  My relief at her being alive didn’t lessen the black rage in me. I kept my eyes hard as usual, even as they fell on my female.

  For a second there, she seemed surprised to see me, as if she couldn’t imagine that I had come for her. Then a look of uncertainty flitted across her eyes—she didn’t believe that I would do anything to protect her.

  She had no clue that she was my destined mate and that I had crossed light years and many worlds to find her.

  Only my mate could claim my seed.

  Now those vermin were trying to take her away from me.

  As I looked at her again—beaten and broken on the grou
nd—I could no longer contain my pain and wrath at my female’s suffering.

  I turned to Victoria, not caring if she spotted the murderous menace in my eyes. No one who harmed my mate would be allowed to see the light again.

  I estimated the situation.

  Two king’s guards stood by the inner door. Over a dozen of Victoria’s elite sentinels were posted outside. They hadn’t dared stop me from entering the king’s chamber, but they wouldn’t let me take the princess without my brother’s permission.

  When I had hurried here, I’d seen soldiers everywhere. Victoria had locked down the king’s palace and the entire city.

  Ephraim loitered outside with a squad of my old team. They would join me if I ever had to fight my way out with the princess.

  We would have to leave a heap of bodies behind. My brother’s bitch had forced my hand, leaving me no room to elaborate on my plan other than to take Rose to my villa. After I healed her, we would escape with my team to Valhalla.

  “You put your future queen in chains?” I asked, my voice lethally calm.

  “She’s no queen of mine,” Victoria said. “I finally caught her pants down.”

  “Caught her what?” I frowned in distaste. She obviously hadn’t caught me with Rose. “Do you understand the consequence of a false accusation? King Agro won’t just flog you this time for damaging the future empress.”

  “King Agro won’t marry a whore,” the general affirmed. “I have a Dragonian spy’s confession. The princess used the rebel’s device to contact the Dragonian commander. I lured the Dragonian rebel leader out. His name is North, and I have him in my cell.” She blew out a satisfied sigh. “I haven’t had such a good day for centuries.”

  “Did the king know about this?” I demanded.

  Agro was supposed to return to Atlantis tomorrow. I needed to solve this before he came back.

  “His Majesty is probably on the way back after I sent him the urgent message.” Victoria turned to glance at Rose in disgust. “His beloved Mysthian princess will soon pray for death after King Agro meets her lover.”