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Rei was his heart, the breath in his lungs, the blood in his veins. How was he supposed to go on if Rei was trapped in the fae realm?
But if Rei left with the queen, there was a chance that all of this fighting could be over. No more death. His clan wouldn’t be in danger any longer.
“Very well,” Belladonna interrupted with an extravagant sigh. “You may take your pet vampire with you. I understand you’ve become attached. I promise if you bring him with you, he will be as safe from attack as you are. He won’t be a prisoner, but a guest.”
“No!”
“I’ll do it!”
They answered at the same time, though Yichen couldn’t recall making the conscious decision to return to the fae realm. For a century, he’d wanted nothing more than to escape and never see that place again. He vowed to die before ever returning, but when faced with the choice of never seeing Rei again and returning to that hell, it felt as though it was no choice at all. He swore to himself that he would follow Rei wherever he went. And that included the fae realm.
Rei shoved his swords into their sheaths and marched over to Yichen. He roughly grabbed his biceps and gave him a hard shake. “Have you lost your mind?”
“The only thing I’m scared of losing is you.” Yichen tried to smile at Rei, but his lips weren’t working properly. He was scared of going to the fae realm, but not seeing Rei every night was an even worse fate.
The elf swallowed hard, his finger biting into Yichen’s arms. “This isn’t fair. I wanted to be the one to make the grand gesture.” He huffed a broken laugh and rapidly blinked away tears that seemed ready to slip free. When he spoke again, his voice was thick and low. “I wanted to give up the throne and the royal life for you. I wanted to be the one to choose you over everything.”
“I know.” Yichen choked out his own laugh. “We have everything ready for our new life, but sometimes plans change. Going with you means I can be there to watch your back. Plus, you’ll need someone at your side to deliver important daily truths like the fact that you’re obnoxious and your jokes aren’t funny.”
Rei didn’t even crack a smile at his teasing. He just pleaded, “Please, don’t do this, Yiyi.”
Reaching up, Yichen cupped Rei’s cheek and wiped away a stray tear with his trembling thumb. “I have to. I can’t live without my prince any longer.”
“Yichen! Don’t leave!”
Yichen’s head snapped around to see Xiang and Xiao Dan standing several meters away. Shixiong was tightly holding Xiang’s elbow to keep him from charging over to them, while expressions of pain twisted up their features. He’d forgotten they were still there.
“Think about your family,” Rei whispered. “They worked and fought so hard to get you home.”
Pain sliced through his chest like he’d been stabbed, but his resolve didn’t waver. “I wish I could stay with them, but I am thinking about them with this decision. If I go with you today, we can end this now and they’ll be safe. That’s enough for me.”
Rei closed his eyes, sending more tears streaking down his cheeks. “Yiyi, I love you. I wish I was stronger than I am. Strong enough to force you to stay behind.”
“I love you with everything that I am, Rei. There’s nowhere you can go that I won’t follow.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when Trin rose swiftly to his feet, his pale face flushed. “She’s lying!” he snarled, his entire body shaking.
Rei turned toward his brother, pausing only for a beat to glare at the queen who rolled her eyes. “Of course she’s lying.”
“No, she’s lying about everything. Every word. All of it. She was meeting with me at the same time that Sarya was speaking with you,” Trin continued in a rush. “After you killed King Ash, she planned to drag you and the vampire to the fae realm, where you would both be locked up separately. The only time you’d see each other would be to watch the other be tortured. She has no intention of stopping in her plan to take over the human realm. She will kill your mate as well as all the humans.”
“You really are the most useless child,” the queen complained. “You couldn’t kill the king. You couldn’t kill your brother. And now, you can’t even allow me a little fun.” She turned her attention to Rei, her beautiful face chilling as all her playful malice fell away. “There is one way I can guarantee that you will return to our realm.” She paused as her gaze slid over to pin Yichen. “If he’s there.”
Fuck.
The queen grabbed the silver hilt at her hip and slowly drew out a long, slender sword that appeared as if it had been made of blue crystal. It was too pale for a sapphire but too dark to be ice. Yichen had never seen anything like it, and he wasn’t going to get the chance to take a closer look. She held it straight up in the air and breathed, “Come.”
Once again, the earth shook, but this time it was accompanied by a violent rush of water like the nearby river was climbing out of its banks. There was no point in waiting around to find out what spell she was cooking up. Yichen grabbed Rei’s arm and pulled, urging him to start running to Xiang and Xiao Dan.
They didn’t get more than a step when the few trees standing between them and the river snapped in half or were uprooted completely. A massive dragon with horns and shining blue scales soared from the river, busting through the trees that tried to block its path.
“Take!” Belladonna screamed. Yichen turned to stare at her to find that she was pointing the sword directly at his chest.
Yichen stumbled, his body freezing for what he thought was only a second as he watched the mythical creature wheel in the air and turn toward him. A dragon. It was a real dragon.
“No!”
He thought the sound came from Rei, but it was only as Xiang crashed into him and Rei that Yichen realized his brother had shoved him and his mate out of the way. Yichen screamed as he hit the ground, but it was too late. The dragon’s massive paw circled Xiang and scooped him up. He dragged in another breath to shout again, but Xiang and the dragon were gone with a massive splash.
