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“As if I’d waste my emotions on you, Zyion. You’re mildly tolerable to be around—at best.” He’d physically pushed me to safety while putting himself right into the line of danger. He’d known I wouldn’t have been fast enough to get out of the way, and he’d chosen to protect me by sacrificing himself. “Thank you for not letting that thing kill me,” I murmured, slowly lifting my hand to place my palm against the hard muscles of his chest. When I looked up at him, I hadn’t expected him to look surprised. If I had to guess, Zyion hadn’t ever been thanked for his selflessness before.
“I merely did what anyone else would do.” I noted the lines on his face, even as more formed around his lips. Zyion reached up to scratch the back of his neck, then shrugged. “Has no one taught you how to use a sword?”
“Well, no. Normally, I don’t need weapons. I am the weapon.” Which had been true, but apparently my brother had found my kryptonite. Luckily, Zyion didn’t point out that I was currently helpless and vulnerable.
“We have to remedy that after we’ve helped you ascend to the throne. Come, we have a lot to get done in a short amount of time.” Zyion slid his arm firmly around my trembling form and helped Basilius hoist me over the remains of the wyrm. “You continue to impress me, Aria Prometheus.”
“Honestly Vicious, I’m still shocked she even tried to protect you. I thought that, for certain, she’d let you rot in the bastard’s gullet.” Basilius smirked as he gripped my hips, pulling me from Zyion’s hold and jerking me into the heat of his body. Like Knox, he was a veritable furnace of heat. I shivered against his hold as the scent of bergamot and sage tickled my senses.
“She’s a savage little thing. Isn’t she?” Zyion asked as he jumped over the carcass. “If I hadn’t watched the light burning out of Scylla Prometheus’s pretty eyes, I’d think Aria was her, returning to seek revenge against me.”
“Does she know it was you who murdered her grandmother?” the younger version of Knox queried with a wolfish grin burning in his eyes. Either his whisper skills were as shitty as mine, or he’d meant for me to hear it.
“Do you wish to keep your tongue, Acheron?” Zyion hissed, disapproval tightening his sharp, masculine features.
“Just asking if she’s aware of what your part in all of this is, Vicious. Eventually, she’ll figure the truth out.” Basilius turned and pegged him with a look of censure causing Acheron to step back. As I observed, the air grew thick with tension, thick enough to cut through with a knife. “Whatever. I’ll meet you guys back at the keep. I’m heading out on patrol. Don’t enjoy the pretty princess too much without me. I adore crazy bitches.”
“Why do you adore crazy bitches?” I was curious why anyone would enjoy a woman being cracked in the head. His lips curled into a smile that reminded me of Knox’s.
“Crazy bitches hold nothing back. They fuck like they’re unhinged. I’m fucking here for that shit.” He strode closer before dragging his fingertip over my cheek. “Are you crazy, princess?” His eyes darkened as they lowered to my lips. My tongue jutted out, licking them, which caused a rattle to slip from his.
“Aren’t we all a little crazy at heart?” I returned, answering him before turning back, staring at the others. “The thing is,” I said, turning back to stare at Acheron. “My type of crazy? It comes with an entirely different brand of insane. Stick around me long enough, I’m sure my crazy will come out to play,” I muttered as Zyion pushed Acheron’s hand from my face.
“She’s about to be queen. Show her the respect deserved for the position, Acheron,” he growled protectively. The tone held warning, causing Basilius to study Zyion and his reaction. A look of amusement played over his face, so alike his brother’s. “Let’s go before she catches her death from the cold.”
“Fucking weak ass birds.” Ronin, who hadn’t even bothered to make his presence known, muttered.
I followed Acheron down the dark tunnel we’d been moving down before the wyrm had caught up to us. Zyion’s stare burned into my spine as I listened to him and Basilius talking. The footsteps behind us got further back, as if purposely adding distance between them, and myself. Straining my hearing, I shamelessly eavesdropped on the conversation between Basilius and Zyion.
“You already know how this will end, Vicious,” Basilius warned in a hushed tone. I let him think I couldn’t hear him.
“She’s different for me,” Zyion replied just as quietly. “Scylla ruled by the loyalty to the kingdom her mother handed down to her. She wasn’t given a choice in who she’d wed, as you know. Aria is not ruled by loyalty to the Prometheus line, either. She won’t allow Tirsynth to rise to power or release him from the ground. Not once she knows the truth about him. Griffon is naïve to think his brothers give one fuck about propriety or a bastard born daughter foretold to rule in order to save the realm. Vane sought to murder her before he’d even met her. The queen tied my fate to hers when she forced me to sacrifice what I wanted most, as well as the other thing. I feel Aria on a level I’ve never felt another before. Scylla forcefully embedded this girl into my soul. She’s the one, Basilius. This girl will become the queen, born to destroy the darkness shrouding the Nine Realms.”
“Are you certain it isn’t your cock that feels her? She’s pleasant on the eyes, and the fire burning in her glare would make any warrior take notice of her. Not to mention, she is the mirror image of Scylla, who you once loved.”
“I loved my queen, Basilius. But I was never in love with her. Her mates wouldn’t have thought twice if she’d taken me to her chamber, but she never trespassed against the bond we shared. I’ll not mince words here or tell you that Aria isn’t intriguing, but she has a mate outside of this realm, which means her heart belongs to him and him alone. I am merely her protector. My job is to guide her on her path and ensure the rightful heir ascends the throne and lives long enough to claim it as her own.”
“Your honor is commendable, but I’ve seen you look at her. I’ve seen you blindly leap into a wyrm hole to protect her, which wasn’t done out of loyalty or duty. You are so fucked if you think you’ll be satisfied with merely protecting your queen. When that happens, you’ll bury another queen. Only this one? She’ll take your heart to her grave with her, my friend.”
“I won’t allow her to burn out or go mad as Tirsynth and Scylla’s daughters did. They thought the world owed them, which resulted in it refusing them with its magic. The land has already granted power to Aria, and it did so long before she left the Tenth Realm. She is the son who was promised, but Scylla ensured no one was looking for a daughter born with the sun smoldering in her soul. She was never told of her parentage until she returned to the realms.” Zyion not only spoke with tenderness but also with reverence. He believed what he said. “She will set the world afire, and those who oppose her reign will burn if they try to stop her.”
“Where does that leave you, my friend?”
“My destiny’s tied to hers through the Fates. I am connected to her in a way that cannot be undone. The girl’s different, which is unsettling. She doesn’t order people about, she’s kind to lesser classes. She’s actually refreshing after being stuck serving assholes. Aria doesn’t expect this world to hand her anything as Scylla’s daughters did. Their downfall was their sense of entitlement because of their status as royals. Aria on the other hand? Without first earning their respect, she won’t expect anyone to merely bow to her. Scylla made sure that Aria wouldn’t so easily bow to the whims of others.” My ears perked up at his words as my stomach churned, twisting with misery from the truth buried in them.
“That girl had to learn how to survive from birth because her mother attempted to steal the power Aria housed. So where does it leave me? It leaves me guarding her back from the bevy of blades seeking to end her life, because she is the key to unlocking this prison that they’ve held us in, and returning us to the fight brewing inside the realms.”
“You and I both know there’s nothing left of our home,” Basilius hissed.
“Oh? Didn’t you hear? Aria’s the key to unlocking the walls forcing us to remain here. The moment she exits, the entire realm dissolves and then our prison holding us in will open, my friend. As I said, she’s our salvation and for that, I’ll die on my sword before I allow another to touch one silken strand of hair on her alluring head.”
Chapter Twenty
Aria
Thevillagewetraveledto wasn’t the same as I’d run from earlier. They built this one in a cave, which forced the dragons to veer left and then right through a slender rock formation. A wide entrance allowed them to fly into the cavern, which was filled with lanterns covering man-made bridges reaching throughout several tiers. In the center of the large, open cavern a wide walkway reached from one side to the other.
“Welcome to the City of Dragons, princess,” Zyion stated, even as he slid from the back of Basilius, who’d been the only dragon willing to carry both of us for the long flight to the hidden city. “Basilius and his brethren who ended up trapped here built it while our people were blessed with a mirror realm of our own.”
