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A warrior born but monster made, Changes fates of souls enslaved. Twins of sun and moon will rise, When one has lived a thousand lives. A circle of gold shall join two souls, And a debt paid rights wrongs of old. In a holy mountain the earth will heal, Then the dead shall live, and the curse will keel.
The primal need to survive made even the weakest of mice fight with all the fury of a god. When your back was against the wall, you found out what your soul was made of, and I’d learned long ago that mine had been forged in fire and ferocity.
Fantasy was my favourite way to escape this world, but life always dragged me back kicking and screaming.
“If this is kismet, then I’ve never known such a clear sign – the stars are practically screaming at us to change our destiny. Short of one of them tearing down to earth and making a deal with us in person, I don’t think they could send us a better signal to do this,” she said, her confidence unwavering, and damn, I loved her for that.
“Why is it that whenever I mention danger, one of my daughters has to go dancing with it?” Dad said sternly, and Callie tossed a mischievous smile back at him. “Because even chickens in a coop like to wave their feathery asses at a fox sometimes,” I said.
“I love you both,” he breathed. “You are the most beautiful creations of my life, and I would not have chosen to spend my days anywhere but here at your sides.”
“Slayer,” she growled in shock. “We’d begun to think you were all dead.” “You thought wrong.” He twisted towards her so suddenly that I almost missed the motion. His sword swept low, aiming for her stomach, but somehow, she leapt above it, parrying his second blade with her own.
His gaze darkened with a pain so sharp that I felt the stab of it biting into me too as he turned away from me to gaze up at the grey sky. “Forgive me, brother,” he muttered, raw agony lacing his voice as his grip on his swords slackened and the world seemed to dim with his words. “I slept too long.”
As the drug needled its way deeper and dragged me down into a dreamless sleep, I felt Hank’s shoulder press against mine, and the smallest measure of comfort found me at the fact. If I’m headed toward a terrible fate, at least I’m not alone.
“The runes should have kept you inside,” he said, as if that made any sense. “The scratches in the dirt? Yeah…sorry to break it to you, but I just stepped right over them as if they were, well, scratches in the dirt…”
“The ward was just to encourage you to stay within the protection of our shelter where you would be less likely to get into any trouble. I’m surprised you were aware of its effect on you, and even more surprised that you were able to overcome it.” “You think I’m going to believe you’re some kind of wizard or sorcerer?” I scoffed, images from my dad’s stories filling my mind of children going to
“A man’s name holds a lot of power.” He finished building the fire and began striking two flints together to light it. Okay then. As I’d suspected, he was insane.
Like Asshole or He-who-doesn’t-talk or Arrogant-jerk or Fucking Shawn or Phillip.... The fire bloomed to life and he leaned back to watch it. “My name is Magnar Elioson, first of the Blessed Crusaders. It means warrior of the sun. I was my clan’s Earl before I slept.” He pushed a hand through his long hair and sighed like the weight of the world lay on his shoulders.
captured me most, his mouth pulled down in grim tedium, his brows drawn low as if he was already long tired of this day and perhaps the rest of them to come. And some part of me wanted to know what could possibly cause such apathy in a creature who clearly held the world in his fist.
“I've made my choice.” Erik gave a half-shrug. “This is the offering and I've chosen a girl from it. Do make up your mind, brother. One moment you demand I pick, the next you bitch about my choice.” If possible, the grey sky grew greyer and the air became too thick to breathe.
the wall as I jerked at the feeling. I let out a small gasp as the strangest sensation flooded through me, like déjà vu, as if I’d been here before, done this before. Though there was nothing at all familiar to me about standing in a cave with a barbarian while accepting a dagger from his hand.
“Fury,” I murmured, the name skipping through my mind like the whisper of an old friend. “What did you say?” Magnar stepped towards me suddenly, boxing me in entirely, catching my wrist in his grip as he stared between the dagger and me. “How do you know that name?”
“Enlighten me...” he purred, his gaze moving up from my hair to stare directly into my eyes. Into my goddamn soul. “Why did you walk into that courtyard looking like a rebel today?” “Maybe I am one,” I whispered truthfully, letting him see the fight in my eyes, the dreams I’d had of killing his kind for all they had done to mine. “Lucky me then, because a rebel is just what I need.”
“There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” he said, his breath caressing my bare shoulder and making goosebumps flutter along my skin from how cold it was. “You’re freezing,” I exhaled. “Yes, rebel,” he said, shifting my hair over one shoulder and letting his knuckles graze the back of my neck until I shivered. “And you are so very warm.”
Erik moved toward them, joining the line-up with a smirk dancing at the corner of his mouth. “It is easy to create perfection out of a creature that is already so close to it,” Erik said, and I twisted in my seat to look at him, finding him watching me with an intensity that was at odds with how he had been treating me before. Perfection? What the hell was he talking about?
“You alright, wild one?” he asked when he’d swallowed. The other two men shifted in their chairs, glancing over at the Royals as if they were nervous to speak in their presence. “Wild one?” I scoffed. “You sure looked wild the last time I saw you,” he said with a grin, and it lit up his handsome features.
Erik laid a possessive hand on my shoulder, leaning down and letting the tip of my fork press to his throat. “I dare you to try and stab me,” he breathed just for me, his gaze flickering like he wanted me to do it. But I wasn’t going to give him a reason to punish me in front of everyone.
“You do,” Miles replied with a sympathetic look that was no doubt all farce. “But granted, not a huge one. We all understand the difficulty of your situation and don't expect you to acclimatise immediately. But you must try to look at the positives in the situation.” It sounded like he was reading out lines he didn’t believe in, like even he didn’t care for this arrangement. But wasn’t he one of the monsters enforcing it?
Erik halted the two guards who were inches from getting hold of me and Wolfe snarled, his eyes shifting onto me in fury. He raised a hand to strike me, and Erik caught me by the waist, yanking me hard against him, and his whole body tensed. “She belongs to me,” he snarled at Wolfe, his fingers biting into my ribs as he crushed me against him. “Lay a hand on her and I will tear it clean from your body, General. You do not have permission to touch her.”
“I told you once and I will not tell you again, General. This girl is under royal protection. My protection.” “But, sire-” Wolfe started. “No,” Erik growled. “Go to my office if you wish to discuss this further.”
“There is nothing in this world which will ever see me on my knees,” he replied in a rough tone that rushed right through to my core.
“They will not take you, Callie,” he swore, the use of my name stalling the rush of thoughts which had been clamouring in my mind. “You are under my protection, and I won’t allow them to lay a hand on you. I give you my word that I will keep you safe and out of their clutches.”
I’d fought a vampire and fucking won. Damn, I wished Monty could have been here to see it. Magnar watched me for several long seconds then let out a booming laugh. “Yeah. This is what I fucking live for,” he agreed. “Death is the endgame, but the fight is where I thrive.” I couldn’t help but give him a feral grin of my own in reply.
“Is it really so hard?” Clarice snipped. “Her family is in trouble. You would care if it was your family, wouldn't you?” Did she really think he was capable of such a thing? Did their kind form
“He is also a stubborn ass with a boredom complex he won’t even try to overcome. He acts like nothing in this world is remotely interesting to him anymore, but I believe you are of interest to him, Montana.” “I can hear you,” Erik clipped from beyond the door, and I bit down on a smirk while Clarice let her smile fly free.
“You have the sun in your hair,” he commented. I glanced up at the canopy of trees overhead, the gloomy clouds beyond them letting only the dullest of daylight through. “What?” I frowned at him. “Your hair is the colour of the sun. It’s a gift from the goddess Sol who drives the sun’s chariot. You shouldn’t hide it away, it will bring you luck.”
You look half inclined to pounce on me, and I haven’t even dropped my trousers yet.” I scoffed, heat blazing through me as I fought the urge to punch him. “In your dreams, asshole. You might not have gotten laid in a thousand years, but it will be a thousand more before I’d ever take you up on the offer.” “It wasn’t an offer,” he replied dismissively. “You’d know if it was, and trust me, you would be more than willing.”
“Perhaps you’re the one who needs a good fuck, drakaina hjarta, you harbour a lot of anger in your soul.”
“There what is?” I demanded. “That silence I knew you were capable of. If only I had realised my nudity was the key to it, I might have removed my clothes days ago.” “Fuck you,” I spat. “Not today.”
“This is a slayer’s mark,” Magnar said slowly, giving me a moment to absorb his words, my gaze flicking between his mark and my own. “You mean I...you...” I frowned at the mark on my arm. Apart from its pink appearance, it was an exact twin to the one on his skin.
Your heart slows the further you wander, the cold creeps in and death peers over your shoulder, wondering why you watch the ghosts of old with such interest, questioning whether you might wish to join them in Valhalla.”
Magnar nodded. “Fury was given to me as a gift by the leader of the Clan of Dreams. It was forged to be wielded by those of their bloodline and has never connected to me as it has to you.” “What does that mean?” “That I’m not your great, great, grandfather, though I already told you that myself,” he replied with half a smile. “Your bloodline is of the Clan of Dreams. I am of the Clan of War.”
“Remember what I said about your tone?” He turned me around sharply, fastening the buttons up to my neck, his cool fingers brushing my skin. A shiver gripped my spine, and I fought hard not to twitch away as electricity seemed to spark from his touch. “Something about respect?” I bit out. Which I have none of for you. “Oh good, it listens.”
it really did seem like a construction in that moment, his eyes betraying something deeper, a darkness so potent it cut to the root of
“The blood upsets you,” Erik remarked, and I looked up at him in all his chiselled perfection, finding a crease between his eyes. Seeing them drink blood in front of me, I might as well have had my own veins hooked up to their damn chalices.
Erik's lips thinned, but he didn't bite back at me. “I can avoid drinking in front of you, if you would prefer.” I'd prefer if you stopped drinking altogether and turned into a pile of soot. I simply shrugged, growing angrier with him. With all of them. But mostly with myself. “It's something you will have to get used to,” Erik murmured. I continued to ignore him, angling my head away from him so I didn't have to think about the blood he'd just swallowed.
Erik gave me a concerned frown, his fingers tightening on my arm so we were both gripping each other, and maybe I was crazy, but his expression twisted into something resembling remorse. “I don’t wish to put this curse on anyone, but it is the way of things now.”
“You think it’s a curse?” I whispered, my heart strumming a frantic tune. He ground his jaw, glancing over at the other vampires, seeming concerned that they might have heard him. “I know it’s a curse,” he said, a heavy darkness filling his eyes that spoke of true torment. “Perhaps bringing you here was a little...insensitive.” He spoke the last word as if he was unsure.
“You're the first human I've chosen,” he said. “I'm not sure what is appropriate and what isn't, but…I will try to learn.” My brows lifted in surprise and my throat finally loosened enough to allow me to answer.
“No,” I said quickly, laying my hand on his knee in fear. “I can do it, Erik. I will.” Fire blazed in my soul, and he released a low noise in his throat that was so carnal it made my heart judder. I slowly withdrew my hand from his knee and leaned away from the fervour in his gaze. “I think you’re getting it now,” he said. “Watch them then try again.”
Erik's fingers trailed down my spine, and every fibre in my body came to life with his caress. Part of me wanted to pull away, but I was frozen in place, trapped in the arc of his powerful body with heat bursting through my veins.
“The brothers. Fabian the Snake, Miles the False God, and Erik,” he spat the final name with venom so thick my heart skipped a beat. “Killer of a Thousand Souls.”
“You want me to fear you,” I stated, a tremor rolling through me from the threat in his words. “I want you to respect me,” he said, his eyes dropping to my mouth for the briefest moment before darting back up again. “You can buy my fear with threats, but respect is earned,” I said, and he bared his teeth at me, his eyes sparking with madness.
Erik remained rigid throughout the entire display, though he didn’t push her off. “Valentina,” Erik said warmly, at complete odds with the way he had just been speaking to me. “How are you?”
Hmmmmm
“This one is particularly obedient,” Erik said, and I almost snorted at that. It was like a private joke between us, but I refused to let it shift the ice around my heart.
Hehe
