Japri, Ultima Esperanza, Chile

 

 

 

One day with the crown on my head and shit had already taken a dive for the worse. My ass was killing me, each butt cheek aching and protesting my chosen vantage point—chilly and jagged rocks weren’t made for relaxing on. But I continued to sit high on a small boulder, cold and uncomfortable, while I evaluated the soldiers assembled.

My first official task as Queen was here.

The men and women sat or stood, their postures relaxed as they talked quietly to one another, waiting patiently for me to give instruction. None seemed bothered by the crumbling, dusty mess where I’d decided to hold this process. Their clothes already sported dirt and filth just by walking in here.

I considered the two men who were lying side-by-side on the ground, both staring up at the ceiling of the cave—the cave where I’d been crowned as the new Queen just this morning. I glanced up, eyeing the black rock. The ceiling didn’t appear all that remarkable, and neither man was talking to anyone else. I flipped through the tablet on my lap while the boulder and pebbles continued to bite into my ass. I scrolled until I found their pictures and then wiggled my backside to get the circulation flowing again. A quick scan of their profiles had my black brows rising. The outward appearances of the men were as different as night and day, but their profiles indicated they were cousins…and extremely old. Nearly two thousand years old.

And apparently mute for almost a thousand.

I swiped my palm over the screen, turning the viewer black, wondering if someone had tampered with the files. Felicia, a general in our vampire warrior forces, had done as I’d asked. She’d sent the best pairs of vampire soldiers for me to decide who I’d like to have as my private guards, but I hadn’t expected her to send individuals who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, speak. Communication in dangerous situations was necessary, and sign language with swords in your hands wouldn’t be feasible. Even if a sword through a chest was the universal language of ‘you’re fucked.’

I’d rather not have a sword through my chest.

I glanced at the pair once more.

The man with skin the color of midnight shifted and placed the back of his head on his cousin’s stomach, getting more comfortable as they continued to stare at the ceiling. His cousin placed his milk-pale hand on the other’s forehead, leaving it there, the contrast of skin color beautiful. He didn’t move any further, just enough to indicate it was okay for the cousin to use him as a pillow. Each man was perfectly at peace, thousands of years being in each other’s presence obvious.

My lips curved up on one side.

Well, now that they were more at ease, perhaps I should start up this evaluation. I wouldn’t want anyone getting too comfy during this. The eval wasn’t meant to be simple.

I set the tablet aside and slid down the curve of the boulder, my black leather pants taking the brunt of the rocky edge digging into my legs and butt. I landed with fluid grace on the floor, a puff of dust shooting out from under my black boots, coating them in a film of dirt. I brushed off the back of my pants as everyone’s—including the cousins—heads snapped in my direction. I watched each individual as I walked closer, all jumping to their feet or straightening to their full height, standing at attention.

I stopped in front of the group of twenty soldiers. My blue eyes ran over each person. These vampires had muscles on top of their muscles, not one ounce of fat to be found. They weren’t all the same, though. No, they had different body types. After the day I’d had with the stronghold attack, this might provide entertainment.

I placed my hands behind my back and cleared my throat, speaking over the wind whistling inside the cave—the opening from the blasts still in disarray and in need of repair. “I’m sure you all know who I am by now and why you’re here. I know you were given orders from your general to be here.” I started walking up and down their formed line, but I didn’t look at them now, allowing them a moment to listen and think on their own. “I don’t want you here if you don’t want to be. The two individuals I pick to protect me will be dedicated to me—and only me. Anything I ask of you, you will do. You will follow my orders no matter what they are. This is not the vampire army, a camaraderie of brothers and sisters in arms. This is a lonely life you’ll lead—all for the Crown. You won’t have friends. You won’t have lovers. You won’t have a family. You will only have me.”

I pivoted and strolled back to the small boulder I’d been sitting on, waving my left hand toward the exit of the ceremonial room. I spoke over my shoulder. “If you leave, it won’t be held against you. Decide now. You have until I reach the top of this rock before the process begins. Anyone left in this room will start sparring on my command, and you won’t stop until I give the order.”

I gripped the cold rock and placed my feet in the divots marring the stone. I began climbing at a leisurely pace as rustling commenced with the soldiers, quiet decisions made behind my back. I wasn’t lying. This would be one hell of a solitary life. They needed to know that going in. The last problem I wanted was my personal guards feeling trapped. It needed to be their decision.

At the top of the boulder, I brushed off my hands and stood to gaze out into the darkness of night through the hole in the mountain, the hole in my stronghold.

My teeth ground together in frustration.

The Overlords were keeping quiet on their thoughts of the attack, facts alone only allowed for my eyes. I knew why. It didn’t make it any easier not being party to their theories. The Overlords didn’t want Master Niallan knowing vampire affairs…not until he was crowned king. Which meant, my true reign to protect my people couldn’t begin until shit was handled with Nial.

The Queen was below the King.

I sniffed at the thought. Current law was a bitch.

The Overlords were handling the attack, the investigation into it, the repairs to the stronghold, and added soldiers to our ranks at this castle. At least, they kept me in the loop, permitting me to see any discoveries about the attack—unlike Master Niallan, who was kept entirely in the dark.

But I didn’t know the real information.

What was inside the Overlords’ heads.

Not until the king and the queen were both crowned.

The Overlords would hand over information then.

I rolled my shoulders and pushed the stress away to focus on the task at hand. My personal guards needed to be chosen. I turned around on the boulder and focused on the soldiers below me.

None had left the ceremonial room.

I didn’t allow my surprise to show.

They all wanted the job. Good.

I sat down and grabbed the tablet, motioning to the area in front of me. The ground was littered with debris from the blasts and restoration tools, none of it easy to work around—just like a battlefield or close quarters would be.

I stated, “Pair up with your partner, and don’t hold back for even a second. Kill shots aren’t allowed and no guns. The test starts now.”

With a burst of vampire speed, the fighting began.

I crossed my legs and leaned my elbows on my knees, peering down into the battle. Blood flowed almost immediately, flying through the air and splattering against the boulder I sat on and turning the loose dirt under their feet to bloody mud. The clang of swords clashed constantly. I fiddled with a lock of my black hair as the breeze caught it, brushing the strands across my cheek, tickling my skin.

One pair of soldiers eventually crawled out of the frenzy, their arms dragging their bloodstained bodies behind them. Looked like their legs had been sliced one too many times. Once on their feet again, wobbling but alive as they hung their heads in defeat, I turned my attention back to those still fighting. Those two were out of the match.

My eyes narrowed at what I witnessed. I growled, “I said don’t hold back! I see you down there. Don’t think I don’t!”

Jaws clenched, and swords moved even faster.

“I don’t care if they’re soldiers you’ve fought next to for millennia. Right now, they’re your enemy.” My constricted gaze landed on a pair backed into a corner, their blocks slow, and their footwork clumsy in their hesitance. “You want this job, then you show me what the hell you have inside you.”

Thank fuck someone listened.

The cousins decided to show me what they were really made of. My jaw dropped, a bit comically and unqueenly if I was honest with myself. I snapped it shut before anyone saw. The remaining contestants didn’t stand a chance—any lingering hesitation quickly gone as they fought for their lives. I had said no kill shots…but we were going to need a medic or ten soon. The cousins had bided their time, waiting for the others to lose their stamina.

Smart. Cunning. Skilled.

Everything I fucking wanted.

They were a wet dream of blood and talent.

“Stop,” I whispered. Wondering…

Instant stillness. I damn near came in my pants.

Labored chests heaved, and soldiers fell to the ground in exhaustion, a few swords clattering onto the stone from limp hands. The cousins lowered their swords from their attack and sucked oxygen but weren’t worn out. As one, they turned to look at me, their shoulders wide and strong, their heads held high. It was as if the night sky turned the world upside down, one as pale as the moon and the other as dark as the heavens, both shining from below, staring up at me.

I blinked myself out of my poetic musings and turned my attention from them, speaking to the others who were barely breathing. “I want each of you to head straight to the infirmary. And thank you for trying, especially knowing who you were up against, as I’m sure you all did. Leave us.”

You just couldn’t beat God-given talent like that. The other soldiers—my people—would only hurt themselves further if they continued on.

I quickly turned my gaze back to the cousins. “You two, stay.”

They nodded, silent.

I hummed under my breath. That wouldn’t do.

I lifted the tablet and viewed their profiles again, clicking and reading more as the losing soldiers helped each other out of the ceremonial room. The area quieted. The breeze and a lone wolf howling in the distance was all that could be heard.

My eyes scanned the pages for a full five minutes until I was certain these were the bodyguards I wanted. Their marksmanship scores were through the roof, and they’d been together with the vampire army since they were twenty years old. Special Forces for the vast majority of it. They were trained killers…and spies when need be. I now saw why Felicia sent them, despite their decision to not speak.

And the confidential files said it was a decision.

I turned the tablet off and tossed it down off the boulder. One of the cousins caught it deftly out of the air. I grunted in good humor and slid down the boulder, again landing easily on the bloody mud. I walked to stand directly in front of them as I tapped on my phone, letting Felicia know who I’d picked and to make the proper arrangements. Stuffing my phone back into my pants pocket, I gazed up into their contrasting eyes, each cousin much taller than I was.

I started pulling my hair up into a ponytail, using the hair tie around my wrist to hold it in place, now pretending not to look at them. “I want you two as my bodyguards. But only if I know you’ll speak when you need to. Your decision to stay mute for the last thousand years is none of my business. What is my business is making sure I stay alive.”

Hair now in place on top of my head, I looked back up at them, done giving them a chance to hide their expressions at my dictate. “Say something. I need to know you can move past this to save my life when need be.”

Crow rubbed the top of his short black hair with the edge of my tablet while his sword dangled from his other hand. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. His voice was gruff, unused. “I’m thirsty.”

Phoenix tossed his head, moving his sweaty blond locks out of his eyes, acting bored. “Talking is overrated.”

I hid my grin by turning around and drawing out my two short swords strapped to my back. “Almost a thousand years of silence, and that’s what you two have to say?” With my back to them, I snorted and swung my arms a few times, loosening them up. They didn’t answer me, and I didn’t expect it. I moved along. “So, your duties are as such: Once I’ve picked my personal assistant, you’ll each receive my daily schedule, though your job starts now. Your pay will reflect that of a royal guard on your next paycheck and your own personal quarters will be moved to the royal guard chambers. One of you will always safeguard my personal quarters, while the other guard will be with me. No one is to enter my room without my permission. There are no days off, as I have no days off. Figure out your own sleep schedule—though, if you are too run down, I’ll trust you to pick reliable soldiers to take your place for a few hours so you may rest. You’ll tell no one of my activities. If you do, I’ll have your heads chopped off without mercy. You’ll be my eyes and ears along with my protection. If I ask to bite you to look into your memories, you will allow it. Do you understand and agree?”

A moment of quiet, then eventually…

“Yes, your majesty,” Phoenix grunted.

Crow cleared his throat, his voice still gruff. “Yes, your majesty.”

I nodded and turned back around to face them, my swords still in my hands. “I’m in the mood to spar for a little while. One of you go to my new quarters and stand guard. The other stay here and work with me. I don’t care which does what. The general knows you’re my royal guard now, and you’ll have no issue entering the royal area. If you do, have them call me.”

Crow turned and started to walk toward the entrance with a pensive expression on his handsome face, Phoenix staying behind to spar with me. Though, the dark-headed man stopped, done deliberating whatever he was thinking about, and asked, “I have one question, your majesty.”

“Whoa. You’re becoming chatty. The horrors.”

He flicked a glare over his shoulder, silent.

My lips twitched. “Ask your question, Crow.”

He cleared his throat again, his questioning quiet. “Were you being obtuse? Or do you really not know why we’re silent?”

“That was two questions.” I swung my swords to keep my arms loose, acting unbothered by his question—the personal nature behind it. “Let me ask you this. Are you two really cousins?”

They were old. Black and white did mix in vampire culture back in their birth years, defying human cultures at that time. But they looked absolutely nothing alike. At all. They didn’t even have the same accents. If I had to guess, one had grown up in Germany, the other in France.

Crow snorted. “You know our parentage is a lie.”

“I lied too.” I tipped my head to the exit. “Go on now, and I’ll promise to never ask you about her.”

He swallowed hard, his throat constricting and releasing with the telling action. He tipped his head in appreciation, and then he marched out of the room, my tablet still in his hand.

I raised my swords up in preparation for a fight but kept my tone honest as I stared at my other guard. “I’ve got a lot on my mind, and my concentration is waning. Don’t go too hard on me.” The man was much more skilled than I was.

Phoenix nodded, mute, and lifted his own sword.

The fight was on.

Our swords hitting, again and again, shattered the relative quiet, silencing the howling wolf outside hidden on the mountain.

Sweat beaded my brow. My feet skipped around debris. The smell of blood was still in the air. My grunts of effort stung my own ears. Occasionally, rocks crumbled down from broken walls, clattering loudly in the background as we moved throughout the damaged chamber.

But my thoughts were still elsewhere.

My parries scarcely registered in my own mind.

Off to my right, a deep, masculine voice, one of sin and sex, commented, “Sloppy, your majesty.”

I risked a glance in that direction.

An Overlord had entered the ceremonial room at some point while I’d been sparring. I hadn’t even noticed, my thoughts too grim and heart-constricting.

I grunted and raised a hand at my guard. He stopped instantly, and I nodded my head in thanks. I turned to the Overlord while my bodyguard discreetly backed away into the shadows—on the opposite wall as the Overlord’s bodyguard (the one who went with him everywhere and usually frightened the shit out of me) so they could both protect us from different angles.

I swung my short swords in small circles, eyeing the man who had interrupted my practice. He was just as delicious as always, but the lord had been avoiding any personal contact with me the past couple of days. Not that I blamed him. I hadn’t been in the right frame of mind—still wasn’t.

With a bored flare, I asked, “Lock yourself out of your room again, Lord Belshazzar?”

He flicked a piece of dirt off the shoulder of his pristine suit, rather annoyed with the flake for having landed there. “No, I had that fixed the night after the Blood Rite.” The night he’d had to spend in my room.

“Hmm.” I kept swinging my swords. “That’s a shame.”

He bent over and started untying his dress shoes, his eyes peeking up at me through the fall of his long, thick black hair. Those ice blue eyes flared in heat, desire aimed straight at me—heady and lethal and delicious. A black eyebrow lifted as he placed one shoe and a sock on a stone next to him, baring one foot. “All you have to do is call me. As long as I’m free, there’s no reason to use a locked room as an excuse.”

My cheeks turned pink, and I glanced at my bodyguard in the shadows. Phoenix was doing a damn good job of pretending not to listen to us. Good man. I turned my attention to the Overlord. My head jerked back an inch in surprise. He was standing right in front of me now, his minty scent and his heat invading my personal space…with both of his shoes and his socks back on the rock across the room. I peered down at his bare toes.

He wiggled them under my inspection.

They were perfect and adorable. Fuck.

I blinked up at him. “What are you doing?”

He lifted his left hand and tucked a lock of my black hair behind my ear, a few stray pieces now hanging around my face from fighting. His blue eyes watched this action closely, and his deep rumble was soft. “You and I are going to spar until you’re no longer thinking about the dead.”

Subtle, he was not.

My mouth snapped shut. I hissed, “Don’t.”

Adelie was off limits.

He shrugged his massive shoulders, continuing to mess with my earlobe. “You’re out of practice from your recent Rest, and I won’t go as easy on you as Phoenix did. And, in the end, all you’ll be thinking about is me.”

I scoffed. “Your ego is as big as this mountain.”

“Bigger.” His plump lips curved up at the corners and his ice blue eyes met mine again as he lowered his hand.

I sighed and lifted my eyes heavenward.

Lord Belshazzar took a step forward and pressed his hard, muscled body against mine. His head dipped low, and he placed his warm, soft lips against the ear he’d been playing with. His breath puffed against my flesh as he murmured casually, “Then we’ll go back to my room and fuck all night long, celebrate your new crown.”

My lower stomach instantly warmed with his heated promise, and my lips twitched as I took a step back from him and raised my swords. “So, this is all in an effort to have my direct attention later?”

“Something like that.” He chuckled and peered over my head. He raised his left hand and snapped his fingers. “Phoenix, give me your sword.”

Nothing happened.

The wolf howled outside.

Lord Belshazzar winked at me, swordless. “The invented cousins have been coveted by every king and queen for the past thousand years for their royal guard. Phoenix and Crow have turned them all down.”

I merely lifted a brow, not lowering my swords or showing my surprise at that fact. Instead, I deadpanned. “It’s obviously my amazingness that brought them running.”

I would figure out why they’d really decided I was the one to throw their hats in with, to turn everyone else down, but say yes to me. There was a reason there—even if it was just boredom. I’d know it soon enough.

“Perhaps that’s true.” Not a real answer from the man. Bel leaned down and pressed his mouth to mine, grinning against my lips when I didn’t falter in my stance, my swords still at the ready. He bit my lower lip with his blunt teeth and tugged on it before releasing my mouth—right as our heartbeats had started to connect, only to separate instantly when he pulled back. The lord stood to his full, intimidating height and snapped his fingers behind him. “Sword, Orin.”

His bodyguard immediately relinquished one of his weapons, pitching it into the air with his vampire speed.

Lord Belshazzar twisted and caught the handle in mid-flight, holding the sword in the air like a striking scorpion in my direction. His grin was wicked in the face of my sour expression. “I won’t play nice, your majesty. But I won’t kill you either. Don’t worry your pretty little head too much.”

I griped, “Thanks, Lord Belshazzar. That’s extraordinarily kind of you.”

The man launched at me.

Shit. Shit. Shiiiit.

I spun, barely missing impalement.

Was that a piece of my hair flying through the air?

What the fuck?

My eyes narrowed, and my grip tightened on my swords. I charged the ancient lord head on.

Our swords clashed together in the silence.

I ducked under his lifted arm, using my smaller stature to advantage. As he spun around to face me, I slashed one sword in the air, my other meeting his sword above our heads.

His blue eyes blinked. I grinned.

We both stalled, watching as a piece of silky black hair floated down through the air between us, landing like a feather onto the ground next to the identical section of black hair already lying there from my head.

The vain lord lifted his gaze and scowled. “How about we don’t butcher each other’s hair? I think we’re even now.”

“Agreed.” I chuckled and shoved away from him.

Each clang of our swords was invigorating, pulsing inside my veins, when, before with Phoenix, I’d just been going through the motions. With Lord Belshazzar, my cheeks flushed, not only from exertion but also from excitement. The Overlord kept me on my toes, pushing me harder…and then harder. My blue eyes sparkled with merriment, only matched by his own, the lord smirking with each dirty trick I tried on him—and failed at.

Then I tripped backward over a downed rock.

A sudden smack on my ass kept me from falling backward, my eyes widening as I stumbled to a stop, amazed to still be on my feet. The lord hadn’t appeared to move from in front of me, except for his long black hair that mysteriously blew to the side in a strong breeze. I pointed one of my swords at him, muttering in shock, “Yeah, none of that shit, my lord.”

The Overlord snorted, roguish allure dancing in his frosty eyes. He teased in his deep tone, “I’ll let you fall on your ass next time, your majesty.”

I rotated my wrists.

Christ. I hadn’t had this much fun in a while.

With a grin etched on my face, I charged him again. The lord met me blow for blow, the jarring in my arms satisfying. Moisture dotted my brow and his, both of us working up a healthy sweat. It was a perfect dance of battle.

Until it wasn’t.

I grunted when I missed the kick aimed at the back of my legs. No smack on my ass saved me this time.

I went down on my back but quickly rolled to the side when his sword followed me down. I bounced back up to my feet, meeting his next blow. I tried not to pout. I really did.

Lord Belshazzar chuckled quietly, even as he kept his attack steady. “You asked for it, Gwen.”

“Shut up,” I grouched. I swung again.

Hell, I was already dirty.

I dropped to the ground in a flurry of movement, catching him by surprise and knocking his balance off kilter, his swing way off. I shoved both feet right into the front of his thighs as hard as I could. I was back on my feet before he even landed on the ground. I smirked down at him, relishing the look of revulsion on his face when he looked up from the blood-mud, just barely catching himself from face-planting into the mess—now in a push-up position.

I mumbled, “Oops.”

A sardonic black brow lifted. “Oops? Really?”

I nodded. “Oops.”

He stared, his lips lifting into a grin, his eyes heated with playful pleasure. “You’re going to pay for that.”

Fuck me. In the best possible way, please.

An embarrassing giggle escaped my lips when I was suddenly swordless and lifted off my feet by an equally swordless Overlord. My back slammed into the wall closest to us. I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. I pretended to scowl, but the effect failed as a burst of laughter leapt up from deep within my belly.

I shook my head, my white smile brash in the cave of doom. “Why didn’t you stop yourself from falling?”

“My reasons are my own.” Lord Belshazzar tipped his face closer to mine, his head tilting to the side in concentrated thought. His minty scent was welcome, and I pulled him even closer. Our lips brushed together at the closeness, and he blinked, back to reality, our racing heartbeats beginning to beat as one—already. He whispered in a husky tone, “You’re actually very skilled with the sword. Against anyone else, you would have taken them down with that move.”

“My grandfather made sure I had the best mentors.” I moaned softly in complaint when he didn’t kiss me. “What are you waiting for?”

He tipped his head to the right, his eyes still on mine with his lips brushing my mouth softly as he spoke in irritation. “For Orin to move his fucking ass out of here.”

I jerked my attention to the side, catching the ordinarily stoic guard’s expression—the man standing directly next to us. Apparently, we’d landed right beside him. Complete shock radiated off him in waves before he quickly took three steps away from us—the expression wasn’t disappearing though. It looked firmly planted on his face, frozen that way. I hadn’t even detected he was there, my attention entirely on the lord I’d wrapped myself around.

“I know it’s been forever since you’ve seen me want to fuck someone, Orin. But that is not what I meant,” Lord Belshazzar stated slowly. He cast his blue eyes on his loyal bodyguard, his gaze narrowing to dangerous slits. “If you won’t leave us alone, then go stand over there by Phoenix, for fuck’s sake.”

His mouth bobbed for a second. “My apologies, Lord Belshazzar.” Any shock he may have been expressing was quickly gone, his normal fearsome, professional persona back in action. “Due to your new desire for privacy, may I make a suggestion, my lord?”

Lord Belshazzar ground his teeth together, his fingers gripping my thighs tighter with restraint. “If you must.”

Orin flicked a finger toward the entrance and picked up his sword from where the lord had tossed ours, his voice quiet, “I believe someone is coming.”