A Shade of Vampire 40: A Throne of Fire
Bella Forrest
Contents
Also by Bella Forrest
The “New Generation” Names List
1. Tejus
2. Derek
3. Hazel
4. Rose
5. Julian
6. Hazel
7. Benedict
8. Jenus
9. Ash
10. Ruby
11. Derek
12. Julian
13. Ruby
14. Tejus
15. Rose
16. Hazel
17. Ash
18. Rose
19. Tejus
20. Jenus
21. Benedict
22. Hazel
23. Jenus
24. Derek
25. Sherus
26. Ruby
27. Ash
28. Hazel
29. Jenus
30. Rose
31. Benedict
32. Ash
33. Tejus
34. Hazel
35. Ruby
36. Tejus
37. Sherus
Read more by Bella Forrest!
Also by Bella Forrest
THE GENDER GAME
The Gender Game (Book 1)
The Gender Secret (Book 2)
The Gender Lie (Book 3)
The Gender War (Book 4)
The Gender Fall (Book 5)
A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES
Series 1: Derek & Sofia’s story
A Shade of Vampire (Book 1)
A Shade of Blood (Book 2)
A Castle of Sand (Book 3)
A Shadow of Light (Book 4)
A Blaze of Sun (Book 5)
A Gate of Night (Book 6)
A Break of Day (Book 7)
Series 2: Rose & Caleb’s story
A Shade of Novak (Book 8)
A Bond of Blood (Book 9)
A Spell of Time (Book 10)
A Chase of Prey (Book 11)
A Shade of Doubt (Book 12)
A Turn of Tides (Book 13)
A Dawn of Strength (Book 14)
A Fall of Secrets (Book 15)
An End of Night (Book 16)
Series 3: Ben & River’s story
A Wind of Change (Book 17)
A Trail of Echoes (Book 18)
A Soldier of Shadows (Book 19)
A Hero of Realms (Book 20)
A Vial of Life (Book 21)
A Fork of Paths (Book 22)
A Flight of Souls (Book 23)
A Bridge of Stars (Book 24)
Series 4: A Clan of Novaks
A Clan of Novaks (Book 25)
A World of New (Book 26)
A Web of Lies (Book 27)
A Touch of Truth (Book 28)
An Hour of Need (Book 29)
A Game of Risk (Book 30)
A Twist of Fates (Book 31)
A Day of Glory (Book 32)
Series 5: A Dawn of Guardians
A Dawn of Guardians (Book 33)
A Sword of Chance (Book 34)
A Race of Trials (Book 35)
A King of Shadow (Book 36)
An Empire of Stones (Book 37)
A Power of Old (Book 38)
A Rip of Realms (Book 39)
A SHADE OF DRAGON TRILOGY
A Shade of Dragon 1
A Shade of Dragon 2
A Shade of Dragon 3
A SHADE OF KIEV TRILOGY
A Shade of Kiev 1
A Shade of Kiev 2
A Shade of Kiev 3
BEAUTIFUL MONSTER DUOLOGY
Beautiful Monster 1
Beautiful Monster 2
DETECTIVE ERIN BOND (Adult mystery/thriller)
Lights, Camera, GONE
Write, Edit, KILL
For an updated list of Bella’s books, please visit her website: www.bellaforrest.net
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Copyright © 2017 by Bella Forrest
Cover design inspired by Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations LLC
All rights reserved.
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The “New Generation” Names List
Arwen: (daughter of Corrine and Ibrahim - witch)
Benedict: (son of Rose and Caleb - human)
Brock: (son of Kiev and Mona – half warlock)
Grace: (daughter of Ben and River – half fae and half human)
Hazel: (daughter of Rose and Caleb – human)
Heath: (son of Jeriad and Sylvia – half dragon and half human)
Ruby: (daughter of Claudia and Yuri – human)
Victoria: (daughter of Vivienne and Xavier – human)
Tejus
We had ridden hard, pushing the bull-horses to their breaking point, attempting to put as much distance as we could between whatever evil was erupting in the cove and what remained of our sentry forces. The Acolytes had fought ferociously, killing ten of our men before all of them eventually lay slain on the sand. With Queen Trina dead, it was the end of the cult. But they had done their work; the entity was rising, and so was its army. We had learned nothing of any use—we knew nothing of the entity’s plans, or what mysterious creatures would rise to ravage our lands.
Our army, though mostly intact, was subdued. We had rescued the children, and Queen Trina’s reign was over, but greater dangers were still to come. Fear settled over the sentries of the five kingdoms, dampening any jubilation we might have felt over our small victory. A few guards and ministers had been sent on to the summer palace to retrieve the wounded we had left there. They would re-join us at Queen Memenion’s home to get the care and attention they needed. Abelle would be left there, chained, until we knew what to do with her – now the Acolytes were dead, and Jenus was with us, Ash and I felt that it would be the best place for her. Maybe give her time to reflect on what she had done.
Hazel sat in front of me on the bull-horse. Her fingers were clasped tightly around mine, her head resting against my chest. I still couldn’t believe that she had been the one to end Queen Trina’s life. Nevertide, and I, had a lot to thank her for. If the land survived what was coming, no doubt Hazel’s name would be written time and time again in the annals of its history—the courageous girl who had ended the life of its most powerful and evil ruler.
I bent low to gently kiss the crown of her head, noticing how cold her skin felt, how small and fragile she felt to me, even after all she had done to prove she was anything but. Hazel had saved my life, in more ways than one.
“Tejus, look at the sky,” Hazel breathed softly. “It’s amazing.”
Her voice sounded dozy, like she was half asleep. I suspected it was the adrenaline finally leaving her body, and the fact that she hadn’t syphoned off anyone in a while.
“It’s certainly something,” I replied, looking up to the sky. After the last wave of tremors that shook the earth while we were at the cove, the sky had ripped further. Now Nevertide seemed cast in an eternal twilight, half the sky the pale pinks and golds of the setting sun, and half of it midnight black. The strange light threw long shadows, stretching and distorting the shapes of the sentries who rode alongside us.
“You can syphon off me, if you need to. We have Jenus riding at the back as well,” I reminded her. I wasn’t sure why she wasn’t using me or any of the other sentries. She also seemed perfectly content with our physical closeness. Normally she would have withdrawn in hunger by now.
/> “I don’t think I need to…honestly, I just want to sleep. I feel like I could sleep for a hundred years.” She yawned, accidentally emphasizing her point. Perhaps it was the adrenaline, then.
“So, sleep,” I replied. “I’ll wake you when we get there.”
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“We’re going to Memenion’s kingdom. There isn’t enough space at the summer palace, and it lacks protection. I doubt we can hide from whatever creatures are going to erupt from the sea, but at least we can ensure that we’re heavily guarded until we work out what we’re going to do.”
She fell silent for a while, and I thought she must have dropped off to sleep, but a moment later she spoke again.
“I know it was the right thing to do, but I feel…strange. I killed somebody.” Her voice wavered. “I killed a person.”
I wrapped my hand more tightly around hers, my body tensing.
“There was little left of Queen Trina that wasn’t evil, Hazel. She would have destroyed all of us—you especially, given half a chance.”
“I know,” she murmured.
I knew whatever I said wouldn’t make her feel any better. It pained me that Hazel would have that on her conscience for the rest of her life—that I couldn’t take the burden from her.
“I was only young when I first killed a man,” I replied hoarsely. I didn’t want to tell her the story—I didn’t want her to think any less of me, but it was necessary to let her know she wasn’t alone.
“The Thraxus kingdom orchestrated an uprising against my father, wanting to end the imperial rule of the Hellswans. We went to battle. It was short and bloody. Many died. The man I killed was almost twice my age—he had gained on my father, syphoning him strongly. I did what I had to do—what I thought was right. I will never forget the way it felt…I will never forget his face.”
I waited for her revulsion, glad that I couldn’t see her expression.
“Tejus,” she whispered.
Instead of the condemnation I was expecting, Hazel lifted our linked hands to her lips, pressing a kiss against my fingers.
“It must have been horrible.”
I shrugged, hardly believing that she wasn’t going to judge me, that my actions weren’t repulsive to her.
“It was necessary. Take comfort that Queen Trina was truly evil—not just a man fighting for what he believed was right.”
“I guess so,” she replied with a sigh.
“Think of your brother, the pain that she caused him—and Ruby and Julian too. They were lucky to survive the ordeals she put them through.”
“And the pain she put you through. Commander Varga. The king of Hadalix. So many,” she replied, her voice sounding stronger. I started to feel a small flicker of energy radiating off her, and smiled to myself in the darkness. Hazel was so much more resilient than I gave her credit for—she would overcome this, and whatever else we would face in the coming days.
“Rest, Hazel,” I commanded her gently. “While we have the time.”
I felt her nod against me, and another yawn erupted. Soon her body lay back against mine limply, and I heard the faint, regular breathing of her sleep.
We were a few miles from Memenion’s castle. I looked toward Queen Memenion and Ragnhild, both riding up front. Ash and Ruby had ridden back through the ranks to check on Jenus and were yet to return.
I hadn’t decided what we were going to do with my brother yet. I wanted him locked away, but so far any attempt we’d made to keep hold of captives had failed dismally—with near-disastrous results. We still had Abelle locked up and chained in the summer palace. Would we leave her there to die? Or could she be of use to us? From what Hazel had told me of the conversation she had overheard in the forest between the woman and the Acolyte, it didn’t seem like Abelle knew much. Perhaps it would be better to leave her to her own fate. No doubt Ash would have an opinion on the matter.
I heard his bull-horse galloping up alongside the army.
“Your brother’s still confined,” Ash informed me, slowing down to a trot to keep pace alongside me. Ruby sat behind him, smiling softly at Hazel’s sleeping form.
“Is he saying anything?” I asked.
“The usual—how put upon he’s been, how Queen Trina was evil incarnate and he’s just an innocent.”
I snorted with derision.
“I don’t believe a word he says either.” Ash smiled wryly.
“Does he know she is dead?”
Ash nodded. “What do you think we should do with him?” he asked after a pause.
“That’s what I’m trying to work out.”
“If what the book said is true, that the Acolytes could communicate with the entity, we need to be careful that Jenus can’t do the same – who knows to what extent Queen Trina involved him in her plan. He denies it, which is to be expected. It just worries me that if we take him with us, he might be able to impart information to the entity—things that could be used against us.”
The words of the book had slipped my mind. If the book was correct, then perhaps we could use it to our advantage.
“Or, if he had fully pledged his allegiance to the Acolytes during his stay with Queen Trina, we could use Jenus’s visions to get information about the entity – what he’s planning,” I countered. “I don’t believe for a moment that we will be able to protect ourselves from an attack by the entity at its full strength, no matter how well protected we are. Our best chance of survival will be to understand what exactly it wants, and try to stay one step ahead.”
“Does it even want anything?” Ruby asked quietly. “Doesn’t it just want us all dead, and Nevertide destroyed?”
“Perhaps,” I agreed. “Though I still don’t believe that its rise is complete yet—I think we would know if it was.”
“We would all be dead already,” Ash muttered.
We fell silent. It was the truth. There must be something that the entity was missing, or some process that hadn’t been completed yet. Had the book been more forthcoming, we might have a better idea as to what that was—but we were clueless.
“The guards have blindfolded him. Hopefully that will keep our location and our numbers hidden for as long as possible,” I said. “There will be ways of making Jenus talk.”
Ash looked over at Hazel, still fast asleep.
“At least she’ll have a steady supply of energy.”
“Is she feeling any better?” Ruby asked, her voice barely above a whisper to avoid waking her friend.
“I think it’s the adrenaline that’s making her tired. She seems more in control of her hunger though.”
Ruby nodded.
“It would be great if she could get that under control—without any more potions.”
“Perhaps with Jenus’s help she can.”
We stopped talking as the road took a sharp turn, joining the smaller pathway that led up toward Queen Memenion’s kingdom. It had been a long time since I’d visited the castle, and it struck me as faintly ironic that we’d be returning to the original birthplace of the Acolytes.
I looked over at the queen. Her eyes were fixed on the castle in the distance, her face as determined as when we’d ridden into battle. I wondered how she felt returning home knowing that her son and husband were dead. I had recognized the face of Ronojoy among the group of Acolytes whose bodies now stained the shoreline, and hoped that she hadn’t seen him. She would know soon enough either way, but no mother should have to witness that, no matter what her son had done.
Derek
We had left the cove behind, stumbling over black-hooded bodies on the shore without taking a moment to discover who or what they were. There hadn’t been time. We could all hear the cracking of the stones behind us. A strange sensation had started to prick at the back of my neck that I couldn’t quite put into words, aside from the fact that I felt we were being watched, that some great force was awakening from the depths of the ocean, its glare fixed greedily upon us.
“Did y
ou feel that?” Sofia asked me as we reached the mainland.
I nodded. None of us knew what we were up against in this strange land, what creatures would be following us or watching from the tall thickets of trees that surrounded our group as we hurried away from the portal.
Sofia and I ran on, the rest of GASP running or flying low behind us. Soon we reached a clearing, and with the strange sensation having faded almost completely, I decided that now was as good a time as any to regroup. I came to a halt.
“Do you think it’s safe to stop here?” my son asked.
“I’m not sure. I want to keep following the army, but I don’t want us in a position where we’ve got enemies both ahead and behind us. Jeriad, Lethe, will you take the other dragons and follow the army that went on ahead? Don’t get too close—I don’t want them to know we’re here, I just want to know what they are and where they’re headed.”
I could have sent Ben and Sherus to ensure that we weren’t seen, but I felt like the dragons would be more content if they were able to stretch their wings and get a good look at the landscape. Plus, I needed the fae down on the ground; if we heard creatures approaching up ahead, I would want Ben, Sherus and his sister to thin themselves and go ahead to investigate.
Jeriad’s aquamarine eyes fixed on mine.
“They have flying creatures of their own, I’m sure of it. I saw them at a distance.”
“Birds,” Lethe confirmed. “They looked like vultures to me, but much larger.”
Rose looked at the ice dragon with curiosity. “Then they’re likely the kidnappers of the children—it’s how we think they traveled out of the portal,” she muttered. I could see my daughter was desperate to ask the dragons to fly closer, to see if there was any evidence of my grandchildren, but held back—it would only endanger their safety at this stage.
“Recon mission only, Rose,” I asserted before she could change her mind.
She nodded, looking sideways at Caleb. Their anxiety was painfully evident, and I wasn’t immune to it either. This land was hostile, and I had only a small hope that the children of The Shade would have survived it intact.