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CHAPTER ONE
New Therian Palace, Tuesday, January 8, 2013, Early Afternoon
The vampire queen’s head hit the stone floor of the king’s chambers with a hollow thud as Luca’s blade splashed her blood across the far wall. Ash grinned at him, still gripping the shriveled black heart she’d torn from Nadya’s chest. Sunlight glinted off the thousands of glass shards from the shattered windows.
“That was overkill.” Ash quirked an eyebrow at him.
Momentum rolled the head across the floor to the open door. Several Therians had arrived in time to see the end of the battle. They’d come prepared to offer their lives, and they now stood in the hall, slack-jawed at witnessing the abrupt end of a war that had lasted for five thousand years. The new Therian king might have struck the final blow, but their salvation had come from a vampire's hands.
Ash guessed at their reactions and tried to match hers to them. She didn’t want to scare her new people or give them the impression that she was evil. Her future relations with the Therians would depend on how she acted in the next few minutes.
Focus on diplomacy. They need to see you as strong but firmly on their side.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the screams echoing through the palace. Queen Nadya’s children weren’t taking her loss well.
“Those are vampires,” Ash told Luca. “Her children must have felt her die.”
Ivanna brushed past the stunned Therians in the doorway to report that all the vampires were experiencing breakdowns. She stopped short at the sight of Nadya headless on the floor.
“Zia!” Luca exclaimed when he remembered the only other good vampire he’d met.
Ash’s eyes went blank as she triggered the magic that fueled her visions. It was so instinctual now that her earlier struggles barely made sense. She had become an entirely new person when the spark burned through her, and she hadn’t had time to examine the fallout from those changes. The magic responded to her call, and she saw Zia spinning in circles and laughing hysterically.
“She’s fine.” Ash smiled as awareness returned. “Although I can’t promise she isn’t going crazy. She laughed like a loon but didn’t look injured.”
Ash didn’t have the connection to other vampires that Nadya had, but she also experienced the fear and pain the fallen queen’s children felt. She erected a mental barrier to shield herself from the chaotic emotions and struggled to pay attention to her surroundings as her newly expanded mind was bombarded. She focused on Luca’s smile to ground herself.
“She’ll be fine. She finally got what she’s wanted since Nadya turned her.” There. That sounded normal and not like I’m losing my fucking mind, right? Damn it, this is like a migraine on steroids. Fuck me sideways.
Ash locked her side of the mating bond so Luca wouldn’t feel her panic and pain. One of them needed to stay calm through this, and she didn’t think it would be her while the vampires’ agony ripped through her mind.
Luca’s heartbeat slowed as his adrenaline rush faded. He looked from the love of his life to the Therians gathered in the doorway, his mind whirling with possibilities. Luca couldn’t touch her mind through their unreliable mating bond, but he sent her his love and gratitude anyway. He took Ash’s hand and pulled her around so he could look into her eyes, which still glowed with copper fire. She had sacrificed everything for him and the Therian people—for the whole world. Never again would he deny her. His queen would stand by his side from now on.
Ash fought the disorientation. She tried to focus on Luca’s eyes, but that shade of blue triggered a memory of scuba diving in the Caribbean. The connection didn’t make sense, and sounds had a muffled quality that faded in and out as if someone were playing with the world’s volume control.
She saw Luca’s lips move, but she heard nothing. “What?” she asked, shaking her head to clear the fog.
“I think it’s time to introduce you to Therian society,” Luca smiled. “And we have a wedding to plan.”
Ash looked alarmed, and Luca barely resisted the urge to pull her into a hug and press a kiss to her forehead. She wasn’t paying attention to the present, apparently dealing with shock or another vision, but Luca had seen her tune out like this before and wasn’t concerned. Just for a little longer, though. Let her be strong and regal now.
"That name you wanted to make for yourself by showing our people that vampires don’t have to be evil?” He put gentle hands on her shoulders and turned her toward the doorway. All the Therians present had taken a knee. “I think you just made it.”
Ash looked at him in panic, fighting the miasma of power and the emotional turmoil she was receiving from every living being in the palace. She screamed into his mind through their mating bond.
Get me out of here! I can’t do this right now. Something’s very, very wrong with me. I need to be away from everyone. I keep taking in more, and the pressure is building. There’s not enough room for everything, and I feel like I’m going to explode. I don’t want to hurt them, Luca. Help me, please!
Their connection was unpredictable, but he heard her as clearly as if she’d spoken out loud.
I hear you, love. I’m on it.
Luca stepped toward the door, his massive frame blocking the view into the room. He presented a calm face despite his anxiety. “The savior of the day needs time to process this victory. I promise we will gather later to explain everything. Please, give her some space for now.”
Ash’s breaths came in gasps, and she vibrated with the need to run out into the open air. She could feel the Therians’ thoughts and unease with a creature unlike any they knew. In their eyes, she wasn’t a vampire, but she wasn’t human, either. Although she fought it, Ash was pulled into their minds and fragmented as their feelings washed over her. Admiration. Gratitude. Shock. Wonder. Confusion. Fear. Mistrust.
Get me the fuck out of here! I’m being pulled into their minds and can’t control it. It’s draining me. Get Eiko!
Luca closed the door behind him and scooped Ash into his arms, wrapping a thick blanket from the bed around her naked body and carrying her toward the balcony. He’d had the builders create a place he could shift and fly from and had asked the witches to tweak the wards so the space would not compromise the palace’s defenses. “How far away do you need to be, Ash?”
