“We’re here on behalf of the Breaker,” Dorian announced. “And we seek Queen Gwynnore.”
Glancing around, she voiced the collective question. “Who is Queen Gwynnore?”
“My female,” Belshazzar said.
“Another queen?”
“My queen, my female, being held by your Queen Niniane.”
“Niniane is not our queen. She is a madwoman who assumed the rule of this place after the death of Savion,” the woman said. “Our queen is the Breaker.”
The silence after that proclamation was deafening. The five men surrounding me all had different reactions: Dorian rolled his eyes; Belshazzar was annoyed; Roran, Rilen, and Aiko were all stunned in their own ways.
“Excuse me, please?” I asked. “Could you say that again?”
“It was declared that the Breaker should take the place of the king after his death, as Niniane assumed his throne,” she said. “How do you not know this?”
“We’re druids from Western S’Kir,” Rilen said. “We wouldn’t have heard of it because Niniane’s soldiers are too busy destroying our cities and countryside.”
“You are not all druids.” She stared at Aiko and Belshazzar.
“Look, can you all figure this out later?” the king rumbled. “Niniane took Gwen, and we need to get her back. As fast as we can.”
The group exchanged looks. I wanted to know more, but I was also not in the position to question anyone about what was going on.
They wanted me to be queen? What the hell?
As far as they knew, the Breaker was a druid, and there was no way that I could be a queen of the vampires.
My head snapped around to Belshazzar as I remembered that—he had said he was king of the druids in his world.
Could a druid—half druid—rule the vampires here?
A man in a military uniform that all of Savion’s soldiers wore stepped forward. “The queens—both of them—are missing. We don’t know exactly where Niniane is. She is not in the Stronghold. We still get communiques from her, through her loyalists, but no one has seen her for a week.”
“It makes sense that she’s not in the Stronghold,” I said.
Aiko nodded. “She’s too paranoid about staying in a public place where people can hunt her down.”
“She haunted the walls,” I said.
“Where else could she go?” Belshazzar asked, addressing no one in particular. “Where could she hide?”
“Hide and manage to live,” Rilen said. “The Rocks are out.”
“The Rocks are too close to the stronghold,” I said. “The pine forest, too.”
“She wouldn’t be able to hide in the south,” Roran said. “The Burning Lands are terrible for hiding. Too flat.”
“The Burnt Woods would reject her,” Rilen said. “And possibly drive her even madder.”
“We’ve already eliminated the Cauldron,” the military man said. “There is no easy escape from those waters, and I’m sure she’s not an accomplished mariner.”
“That leaves two places,” Roran said. “The Elkthorne Forest and the Barren Mountains.”
Aiko clearly cringed and sighed. “And the way to the Barren Mountains from here is through the Elkthorne Forest.”
“Are you going to destroy Niniane?” one of the others asked from the shadows.
“She’s already been destroyed,” I answered. “We are going to save Gwen from her, and if we can remove her crown, we will.”
“She needs to die,” the military man said. “She needs to be destroyed. We are here below the ground because we don’t know when her insane loyalists will attack us.”
“Random attacks?”
The woman nodded. “Yes.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I lost my mate and my oldest child to her first attack.”
“After the second raid, we moved ourselves to the underground,” the military man said. “Those not loyal to Niniane send warnings if they can. But since she left the Stronghold, it’s been hard for them to do so.”
“Who is still in the Stronghold?” Aiko asked.
“Several of the Lord Knights and just one general,” he answered.
“Kane?” Aiko questioned.
The military man agreed. “And Tatano.”
“Georgios?”
“Still alive, but ensconced in Winter Keep.”
“And Illian?”
“Dead,” he assured us. “Good and dead. Kane ran him through with a sword, cut off his head, and threw him on the Rocks.” The man canted his head and stared at Aiko. “How do you know all these generals and knights?”
He glanced at Rilen, who nodded, and I concurred with his permission to state his name. Aiko wasn’t excited to do it, but he did. “Because I am the Lord Knight Aiko Elkthorne.”
At least half of the guns in the small room cocked back, ready to fire. Aiko dropped his sword on the ground carefully and raised his hands.
“I am not a loyalist, and I was not allied with Savion.”
“Your sister was his mistress,” the woman said, waving down all the guns. “You were allied with him for a long time.”
“Not anymore. He killed her, and I realized what I had chosen to support was wrong. That was nearly two centuries ago, my lady.”
“How do we know you’re not a spy?”
“Savion took my sister’s head off?”
“And you wouldn’t switch sides to Niniane? To hold your power?” someone else asked.
“We don’t have time for this,” Belshazzar said. “He doesn’t have any interest in serving Niniane. He’s an ally. Can we please get some information on where Queen Gwynnore is, and we’ll be out of your hair?”
The military man and the woman looked at each other, and the man sighed. “We aren’t sure. It’s been strongly rumored that she is in the Barren Mountains. But the people in Elkthorne would know better.” A nasty little smile slipped over his face. “And I’m sure that they will be ever so excited to see you, Lord Knight Aiko Elkthorne.”
I stared at Aiko, who swallowed and looked quite terrified and conflicted at the same time.
16
GWYNNORE
I think I swallowed my tongue. I groaned in pain, patting at my pink tongue to make sure it was still there. My mouth might as well have been stuffed with cotton balls it was so dry. I mumbled in delirium, “I think they are trying to kill me.”
How long had it been?
I only had the burning cramp in my stomach to go by. It had to be a week so far. Barely any food, crumbs of bread, maybe a slice a day. Clean water was poured into the tiny crevices from above, enough to lap it up from the floor or the stone as it poured down.
But no blood given.
I would truly go mad soon.
If Bel waited much longer to find me, I would need to put myself into Rest. It would be the only safe option to save my sanity—vampires without blood went crazy. Truly fucking crazy. I didn’t want that for my own life, even if it did feel so damn small right now.
I hunched over on my side, holding my aching stomach and gazed at the gems—my only companions here. “Why hasn’t Bel found me yet? How fucking big can S’Kir be? I saw it from the damned boat. It’s an island. I couldn’t have gone too far, you know?”
The minerals hummed a soothing glow.
They had been doing that a lot lately.
I knocked my head softly against the stone floor, trying to focus my faint thoughts. I would pass out again soon, that much was clear. I blinked blurry eyes at the many beautiful colors, and I mumbled, “I’d like to talk to my father, too, before I die. We have a lot we need to discuss, and I didn’t have time before leaving. I need to tell him. He needs to know I don’t hate him anymore…” I sighed and closed my eyes, my gaze burning with unshed tears. “Fucking hell. I’ll die, and he won’t know. That’s what unsaid words get you.”
More soothing glows all around.
“Maybe I should pray.” My shoulders shivered on the cold, damp ground. “I’ve never done that before. The humans think
it helps, for some finagled reason. I’ll try anything right now. Please, Jesus, if you are there… I need blood. Please. Just give me one throat to rip open, and I will be so grateful.”
The gems blinked really slow.
“Shut up. It’s what I need.”
The boulder behind me started to creak.
I turned as fast as my weak body could, staring with wide eyes from the ground. The boulder was moving—finally. I muttered in shock, “Sweet baby Jesus, thank you.”
All the gems went mute. Their colors gone.
Were…they hiding? Fuck if I knew.
I sucked in a sharp breath as a dart pierced my neck in the darkness. “Goddamn. Filthy sonsabitches! I can’t even move as it is!”
Maybe they’d heard my prayer. Dammit!
My two kidnappers strolled into the room, looking clean and refreshed. Well-fed on blood. Everything that I was not right now, a jaunty hop to their steps—in fine damn moods.
From my back, I bared my fangs. “You two are assholes.” I couldn’t move again, the Vampire’s Draught having affected my system much faster than before—because I wasn’t healthy right now, I was sure. I couldn’t even twitch a finger. I wasn’t positive my mouth was truly moving or not, my words difficult to decipher even to my own ears. “Let me guess. You’ve come to beat me up when I can’t move. My, how courageous of you.”
I was going to kick Bel’s ass for ever inventing this damned crap. It was quite bothersome when you’re loaded with Vampire’s Draught and trying to be fierce. The effects weren’t exactly what one wanted.
As evidenced by me lying on the floor.
I probably looked like a wet rag doll.
Quite fierce, I tell you.
One vampire took a place at my feet while the other moved to stand above my head.
My first captor snickered softly—by my boots. “I would rather not touch you with a ten foot pole. You stink like shit.”
I glared. Or tried to. “The shit’s in the corner, not on me.” I had kept the bathroom area as far away from me as possible. But, to be fair, the “cell” was tiny. I’d gotten used to the smell a long time ago. “Why are you here now?” Please, give me blood.
I would never beg aloud, though.
These fuckers would be dead at some point, and I would not give them the satisfaction of my pleas before then.
Fuck you, kidnappers.
“Queen Niniane wishes to speak with you now.” He bent at the waist and grabbed my ankles, his teeth pulling back in disgust. “Grab her arms, Kyldan. I don’t want to touch this filth any longer than I have to.”
“This is disgusting,” Kyldan growled, staring down at my body. He bent at the knees and grimaced, covering his nose for a minute. “I don’t want to touch her either, Maon.”
“Just hurry up.”
I chuckled evilly, even as my wrists were grabbed by large, warm hands. “Looks like you don’t get that ten foot pole, Maon. What a shame. I hope the stench stays with you all day long.”
My body was lifted off the cold ground by my arms and legs, my ass hanging down and bumping the ground with each step they took. My head lolled off my shoulders and fell back between my arms. I stared at a pair of leather-covered knees walking a few inches from my nose.
I grumbled, “Well, this is quite unsuitable. Couldn’t you have found a wheelchair to roll me in?”
Bump, bump, bump went my ass. Ouch.
Kyldan grunted. “She has a point. We should procure one if she’s staying long. We won’t have to touch her then.”
“Bingo!” I snorted.
“What the fuck does that mean?” Maon rumbled.
I twitched my lips—barely. “It means you two are super smart.”
“She talks weird,” Kyldan muttered.
“I think she’s making fun of us,” Maon stated. “Let’s sit her ass down in a super comfortable place.”
All air left my lungs as I was tossed to the ground, the side of my head smacking the cave’s floor—there were no pretty gems here to keep me company. Instead, there was a worn wooden table, with moss growing on the underside, four wooden chairs, and torches along the walls: another small room, the entire space cramped from what I’d seen.
“Where the hell are we?” I slurred, blinking hard past the white dots clouding my vision from the fall. “What cave is this?”
“It’s one of many inside the Barren Mountains.” Maon bowed gallantly, mocking my deadweight position on the ground. “Welcome to our humble abode.”
“Yeah, you can take your humble abode and choke on it. This place is appalling. Even the mountain castles where I’m from aren’t like…this.” My eyes scanned the ground—close up like I was. I blinked in disgust, my jaw grinding together. “There is rat shit all over the floor.”
Hmm. I wondered if I could catch a rat to drink. Desperate times called for desperate measures. I would gladly drain a rodent dry right now—as many as I could get my eager hands on.
“Our maid is away,” Kyldan mocked. He shook his head and played with a knife in his hands—ready to stab me with it. “It’s a fucking cave in a mountain. What else would you expect? We’ll be back in the Stronghold soon enough.”
“Well, with how vile this place is, I’d assume there’d be bats here, too,” I answered honestly.
Kyldan flashed fang, stepping toward me.
Maon grabbed his mate’s right arm, pulling him back gently. “Queen Niniane said not to harm her.”
“A few missing fingers wouldn’t be so horrible.”
“With the queen in a mood?”
Kyldan put his knife away. “You’re right.”
They stepped back to stand against the walls on either side of the room, now standing sentinel quietly.
I snorted. “She’s got you wrapped around her twisted fingers. How did she manage that?”
Maon flicked a glance down at me, then back up to stare at nothing. Eventually, he stated candidly, “Land. We get land when all this is over.”
I blinked. “That’s it?”
“That is enough for us.”
“You know, I’m from Earth. I own plenty of land. I could give you a nice slice there if you’ll get me the fuck out of here and back with the man I came with.”
Kyldan snorted. “Earth is a myth.”
I gaped, and then stated quietly, “I thought the same about S’Kir, too. But here I am. In this fucking dump.”
Maon muttered, “That’s the blood withdrawal talking right there. It’ll get real interesting soon. She’ll even say she’s been to the moon.”
“I haven’t been myself, but astronauts have walked on the moon before.” I hummed deep in my throat, closing my eyes, near fainting with exhaustion—my stomach churned with agony. “I think that’s a splendid idea, though. I wouldn’t mind going to the moon one day. I wonder how much money that would take?”
Kyldan laughed outright. “This is getting good. What else can you tell—”
A screech rent the air, bloodcurdling.
The tiny hairs on my arms stood on end, and my eyes popped open in a hurry. “What the fuck was that?”
“Our queen.” Maon yawned, even as he stood at attention. “She is almost here.”
I watched the entrance of the room avidly. “Will one of you please sit me upright?”
Both of their noses scrunched in revulsion.
“Fuck you, too.”
Bat shit crazy walked into the room wearing a crown and a fine dress fit for a queen. Pearls roped around her neck too many times to be proper, and her sandy blond hair was pulled back into a tight bun at the nape of her neck. Her wild, brown eyes darted to and fro, not stopping on one certain thing for more than a second. Her walk was the most elegant part about her, perfectly sedate, small steps so she didn’t ruin the stunning hem of her dress.
“Ah, shit.” I breathed.
Honey had done lost it a long time ago. Not a whole lot was going on upstairs in that pretty vampire head of hers. Had she ever been sa
ne? It didn’t look like it with that gleam in her eyes.
Queen Niniane’s chaotic gaze finally stopped.
On me.
She blinked. And…whoa…
Lucidity returned to her eyes in a heartbeat.
The cracked queen stated pleasantly, “Now, what in the gods names are you doing down there, Gwynnore? Did you trip?”
I snorted. “Yes, right down the fucking rabbit hole, Your Royal Highness. It’s called S’Kir. And I don’t like it much.”
17
GWYNNORE
I grunted heavily as Maon sat my ass down on a chair—upon his queen’s insistence. He leaned my frame back to rest against the chair, none too gently.
My kidnapper smacked at my cheeks, insulting. “Smile. You’re about to dine with a queen.”
I am a queen, you fuckwit.
I smiled generously. “Will there be the bones of your enemies to munch on? Or something more delicate, like their entrails?”
One more hard smack to the right cheek. “If you’re lucky, she’ll save you the eyeballs.”
I snickered softly. At least, my jailers had a sense of humor. After talking to only myself, and the gems, the interaction wasn’t completely unwelcome—if I was being honest with myself.
How long had the cracked queen gone without talking to someone? I was betting a very long time by the bouncing of her steps while she placed tea on the table, brought in by a servant.
“Got any blood to spike it with?” I asked politely, attempting to move my fingers. I was dying of thirst, so tea didn’t sound too damn bad right now. If only I could move…
Queen Niniane sat down on the chair across from me, spreading her gown out around her. She smiled with genuine excitement, but demurred softly, “No, I’m afraid not. It is not time for you to have blood yet.”
“It’s been a while,” I hedged.
She lifted both eyebrows high on her forehead. “Believe me. I know when it is no longer safe for a vampire, when they need blood, and when they don’t. You are not there yet.” She giggled—a little crazy entering her gaze again.
I asked bluntly, “How long were you withheld blood?”
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