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Aetas’ presence behind me had me turning and putting my back against the wall.
“I see the two of you are having a hard time accepting the events that happened during your coronation. I have to admit, I’m a little surprised how it played out, myself.” Aetas walked past to sit on the edge of the bed. “I got a little carried away.”
“A little?” One of my eyebrow’s rose and he twisted his mouth.
“Okay, maybe a lot, but what harm came from it? We were all enjoying ourselves, were we not?”
I shifted uncomfortably, as did Tessa.
“What are your true intentions for these ties?”
“I’ve already told you. I’m letting go of the past and looking toward our futures.”
“That’s bullshit. I feel you, remember? You’re up to something.”
Aetas smiled, half amused, the other half filled with that of a darker nature. “Is it so wrong to want to be bonded with such power? You have amazing gifts, Marko. I can’t help but be jealous of them. If that means my greed matches your own, then so be it.”
“Bond?” Shock filled Tessa’s tone. “I thought we were talking ties. To bond to Marko, that would mean …”
Deviousness crept into Aetas’ eyes. “My bond would erase your own. I’m aware of that. But you’re his concubine. Is that not bond, enough?”
My jaw tightened. “You can’t break mine and Tessa bond. My leader or not, I cannot consent to that.”
Aetas pushed from the bed, looking between me and Tessa. “You could have the world at your fingertips, Marko. King. Does that not appeal?”
Of course it did, but my greed didn’t outweigh my connection to Tessa. I’d fought for it when I thought it was out of reach. I had died inside when I thought I lost her. To throw that away for more power, it wasn’t worth it.
“Appeal, why yes. But I’m afraid I must decline.”
Aetas’ face turned hard. “Then I’m afraid you leave me no choice.”
Tessa was ripped from my side so fast that by the time I turned to reach for her, Aetas was already on me. Hunter was pulling her further away, locking her arms to her sides as she screamed and kicked. Fire sliced into my neck and as I searched for my powers, they were nowhere to be found. The wall I hit was not one of my own, but one of Aetas’.
“No!” An explosion shook the room and in what looked like slow motion, Tessa was running toward me. Hunter was right behind, tackling her down to the ground so she lay on her stomach. His head shot down and she cried out from his bite. Blood sprayed across the floor as he sliced his wrist. The events were so unreal and in sync that when he shoved his wrist under her mouth, it was as though he did it to mine. But it wasn’t his. It was Aetas’ and his blood was pouring into my mouth. My head couldn’t shake. I couldn’t bite down to tear into his flesh. We rolled and the blood was choking me as he attempted to drown me in it.
“Now, you and I are one,” he whispered in my ear. “If I die, you die. You’ll never take my thrown, Marko Delacroix. Never!”
Sounds left me and the truth had me feeling sick. I gagged as more blood forced its way down my throat. The electrical currents that followed zapped me with the force of God, himself. A roar left me and my body convulsed, jerking violently as his essence and power decimated my bond with Tessa. The hollowness that followed was like nothing I’d ever felt before. What replaced love was something so dark, so unexplainably vile, my mind couldn’t grasp it. Even in the worst times of my life—human or vampire—never had I been filled with such hatred. Such need to destroy. And it was coming from Aetas’ blood.
Tessa’s echoing sobs faded out. My body was still thrashing. Bowing. Yes, I felt as if I were twisting every way but the right way. Acid was crashing through my veins in a wild flood of fire. I could feel every pathway that weaved throughout my form bulging with my leader’s strength.
“Fuck, God.” His voice broke through and he was crumbling down next to me, laughing crazily as he pulled me in closer to his side. Arms wrapped around me, one behind my head, the other around my side, cradling me like a lover. His lips pressed into mine and we both jolted at the new rounds of agony merging us together.
“I have to be truthful, Marko Delacroix. I do believe a part of me has fallen in love with you. I want to be you. I want to take over your life—your wife.”
A guggling was coming from my throat as I tried to get words to form.
“Hunter and I will pick up where we left off at the coronation. With them bonded, and you locked away, feeding me your powers, no one has to know that I’m not you. They all saw us tie. If they sense me it would only make sense since you carry my blood.” Again he laughed. “The leader everyone knows is about to die, my king, and the world is going to fall to the ground around us. There will be chaos in the streets with which the world has never known. And only when it is all over with and we’re hanging on by a thread, will I rise again. After all, there has to be a hero in this story. Who better than the villain our people believe I have become?”
I managed to suck in a breath as ice began to accumulate in the pit of my stomach. My core rippled and Aetas face began to change, wavering with a darker tone. My features took shape and his fangs shot down. I could see my hand on his chest. The pigment was lightening, changing color as I began to take over his appearance.
“No,” I breathed out. “N—”
“Shhh. Now you will sleep. Sleep, my king. You will not awake until you are entombed in my final resting place, but do not fear, I will make it so you do not perish. After all, I wouldn’t want to hurt myself.”
“Tess….Te…”
Darkness was pulling me under. In my mind I was screaming. Crying out and begging for someone, for anything to happen, to stop this. It was pointless. Something was happening to me and there was nothing I could do about it. I was going to be just as dead as Aetas would appear to our kind. And the world … it was doomed.
