Текст книги "The Serpent and the Wings of Night"
Автор книги: Carissa Broadbent
сообщить о нарушении
Текущая страница: 28 (всего у книги 29 страниц)
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
The wedding ceremony was performed in my chamber. The priestess was one of the Ministaer's—one of those idiots who spent half their lives staring at a stone wall in the church. Her gaze was lowered as she whispered scriptures in ancient tongues.
I stood there and considered running away. Considered attacking her. Considered attacking Raihn. Considered smashing the window and hurling myself out of it.
I didn’t.
I jumped when the priestess took my hand. Her touch was cool and unnaturally smooth. She took Raihn’s in the other, and then flipped both over, so our palms raised to the ceiling.
She whispered an incantation, then brushed her fingertip over my skin.
I hissed a curse, startled by the stab of pain. A river of crimson opened over my palm.
Raihn did not flinch as she did the same to him.
“The vows,” the priestess said simply. As if we were supposed to know what that meant.
I had never seen a wedding. I was never allowed at such gatherings. They often turned debauched and unruly, and Vincent always said—
Vincent.
The casual thought of his name stole the breath from my lungs, the pain unbearable.
Raihn’s touch was warm and rough. The opposite of the priestess’s in every way—the opposite of every vampire’s.
Maybe he knew I didn’t know what to say. He lifted my palm. I tensed as he brought it to his mouth. His tongue moved slowly over the wound. I hadn’t been expecting the tenderness of it. Soft, and gentle. An apology, and a promise.
He lowered my hand. Swallowed my blood.
I wanted to look away. I couldn’t.
“Oraya of the Nightborn,” he murmured. “I give you my body. I give you my blood. I give you my soul. I give you my heart. From this night until the end of nights. From daybreak until our days are broken. Your soul is my soul. Your heart is my heart. Your pain is my pain. I bind myself to you.”
I wanted it to all be a lie. But it was not a lie.
In this moment I recognized, with unmistakable clarity, that Raihn was in love with me.
He offered his hand to me. Red-black liquid pooled in his palm, seeping into the lines and scars of a life well-lived. My mouth was dry as I raised it to my lips. I thought maybe I’d throw it up once it hit my stomach.
Instead, the taste of him was the most exquisite thing I had ever experienced. His blood was warm and smooth over my tongue, sweet and metallic and deep as the night itself.
It tasted like the sky. It tasted like falling.
I lowered his hand. My fingers trembled around his skin.
“Raihn Ashraj.”
Mother, my voice did not sound like it belonged to me.
“I give you my body. I give you my blood. I give you—I give you my soul. I give you…”
My heart.
I couldn’t make myself say the words.
My heart.
My weak, human heart. Scarred and broken and bleeding. The one thing I had always been taught to protect above all. And yet, whatever thing struggled along within my ribcage now, far beneath the Mark that my dead father left on me, was anything but protected. It had been torn apart and ripped open.
How had I ever thought Vincent had given me a vampire heart? This was human.
“My…”
I couldn’t say it.
“You must complete the vow, my lady,” the priestess said.
I blinked back tears and shook my head. “No.”
“But my lady—”
“It’s fine,” Raihn barked.
“But—”
“I said it’s fine. She doesn’t have to.”
I allowed myself to look up at him.
I hated that he looked at me like he cared. His thumb swept over the back of my hand. I could hear his voice in that gesture: You’re safe.
But I was not safe. Even if I felt it, just for a moment. Especially because I felt it.
The priestess led me through the rest of my vows. When it was done, I was married to the King of the Nightborn. I had lost my autonomy, my name, my blood. I had lost my country.
But at least I had kept my heart.
Raihn remained only briefly after the priestess left. I went to the window and watched the carnage in Sivrinaj beyond. I wouldn’t look at him. I felt too much, and I felt his stare strongest of all.
“If you’re waiting for me to invite you to our wedding bed,” I said, after long seconds passed, “it isn’t going to happen.”
My voice wasn’t as ruthless as I wanted it to be. The word “wedding” reminded me of how his mouth felt against my palm. The word “bed” reminded me of how it felt against my flesh. Both were equally confusing.
He said nothing. I wondered, in the silence, if he felt those things, too.
Eventually, I peered over my shoulder. He stood at the center of the room, hands at his sides, looking as if he had too many things to say and not enough words for them.
My husband.
Mother, what had I just done?
His lips parted. I didn’t want to hear any of it. I couldn’t.
“I’d like to be alone,” I said, before he could speak.
His mouth closed. He stared at me for what felt like an endless moment—felt like it because I struggled to keep myself together with every agonizing second, and I refused to allow him to see me break.
Finally, he lowered his chin. I turned my back to him, sat on the bed, and listened to his footsteps leave. He locked the door behind him.
The rap on the glass came near dawn. I had been lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, trying very hard to feel nothing.
I thought I was hallucinating when I rose to see the figure in the window.
I drew closer, and the face that peered back at me—perfect, sculpted, dangerous—was not a reflection.
Jesmine knocked on the glass again, more urgently. I never thought I would be so grateful to see her.
I tried to open the window. It was locked, of course, but when I twisted the handle, it broke apart in my hands, a snapped bolt shooting halfway across the room. Was I stronger now than I was before? Maybe it was my newly-acknowledged vampire blood. Or maybe it was just all that repressed rage.
I threw the window open. Jesmine clung to the side of the castle. Her ashy hair was braided, a few strands of it whipping about her face. She was bloody and bruised, a cut slicing her cheek. She looked as if she hadn’t slept in days.
Still stunning, of course.
“Come in,” I said, and it was only after the words were out of my mouth that I realized maybe I didn’t necessarily want her to. It was impossible to tell who was an enemy and who was an ally.
Her gaze flicked over the window frame.
“There’s a barrier here,” she said. “I don’t feel like getting shredded today.”
Like the ones in the Moon Palace. She was right—if I squinted, I could see the faint blue-white sheen across the window. It would’ve been too easy.
“I can’t stay,” she said. “But I couldn’t leave without seeing you first.” She looked me up and down. “You look like shit.”
I felt like shit. “Thanks.”
“How are you? Are you alright?”
I blinked. It was strange. She asked the question like it really mattered to her.
No. No, I was not alright.
I said, “Yes.”
Her eyes softened. “He’s gone.”
I swallowed. Nodded.
Jesmine bowed her head. Genuine sorrow flitted over that flawless face.
“May the Mother guide him home.”
The Mother was the one who put us all in this shit situation. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to ask her for anything at all.
“I don’t have time for much, so excuse my bluntness,” Jesmine went on. “They’re waiting for me, beyond the walls.”
“They?”
“The military.” She said this as if to say, Who else?
And… who else, indeed? She was the Head of War. A damned good one.
“Whoever is left, anyway. The Bloodborn bastards are…” She hissed through her teeth. “Efficient killers. We weren’t expecting them.”
“How many?”
I’d made a mistake, I realized. I had been thinking like a grieving daughter. Like a prisoner. I had not been thinking like a leader.
I didn’t even know what was happening beyond these walls.
“I don’t know yet,” she said. “I need to assess. But it’s… it is not good, Highness.”
Highness.
I physically jolted at that word. Jesmine saw it. Her eyes narrowed.
“Let me make one thing very clear. I respected Vincent as my king and my leader. But he does not hold my loyalty. The Hiaj clan holds my loyalty. Until the day I die.” She jabbed a finger at me—at my chest. “I don’t know how you got that. I’m as surprised as any other that you have it. But it’s not my place to question that. You are the Hiaj Heir. That makes you my queen. And that means my loyalty is yours.”
Maybe I had misjudged Jesmine. I had never trusted her before. I wasn’t sure what it said about me that I trusted her right now.
I didn’t know what to say. Thanking her didn’t seem appropriate.
So I was grateful when she surveyed me again and moved on to another topic. “Did he do it? The marriage?”
“Yes.”
She hissed. “Our queen married to a Turned Rishan slave. Vincent would have—” She shook her head.
“Better this than dead,” I said.
She shrugged, as if this was a small consolation.
“I told you he was trouble. Pretty trouble. But trouble.”
Fair enough, I thought, begrudgingly.
“What is your plan?” I asked.
“What are your orders?”
I was not at all prepared to give orders.
I tried to speak as Vincent would have. “I would like to hear your recommendation.”
“We are losing men, and rapidly. We’re outnumbered. We need to regroup.” She peered into the room. “If you wish, highness, I can send warriors here to—”
“No.”
The last thing I needed was for Hiaj soldiers to get caught trying to rescue me. Tortured. Killed. Who knew what else.
I had to think like a leader.
“I don’t want any more bloodshed than there already has been,” I said. “Not until we know what we’re dealing with. Retreat.”
Jesmine’s lip curled. “So we let him take it. Let him take the House of Night.”
We could build something better, Raihn had whispered to me.
But this did not seem better.
“And let the Bloodborn—”
“I know,” I cut in. “I know.”
It was one thing to hand this country to Raihn.
Another to hand it to Septimus.
This country hated me. I hated it, in some ways. But it was still my home.
“I need time,” I said. “Time to learn. Time to gather information. Keep yourself safe until then.”
“And you?”
“He won’t hurt me.”
Jesmine gave me a cold stare. “That marriage is to protect him. Not you. Your doors are locked from the outside. Your windows are cursed.”
“He won’t hurt me,” I said again, because I didn’t know how to explain to her how certain I was of this.
“This is bigger than him,” she said. “If I may speak frankly, highness—you are not a prisoner. You are a queen. I have broken the unbreakable before.”
She pulled open her shirt—revealing her scar. “I was bound to a man who sought to control me too, once. I nearly gave my life to break that bond. But I’m free now. I could free you, too.”
Yes. I had underestimated Jesmine.
And maybe that was why I was more honest with her now than I ever intended to be.
“I don’t intend to lead anyone into a war we can’t win. I don’t intend to fight for the sake of fighting. And maybe I have a Mark on my skin, but I don’t know what that means. The world knows me as human. The Hiaj know me as human.”
I knew myself as human.
“If you want to fight for this House, we are ready,” she said. “I won’t pretend it will be easy. I won’t pretend that some—maybe many—won’t want to accept your rule.” Her lip curled. “But Raihn Ashraj’s people don’t want to follow him, either. He was a slave to their king. Turned. Abandoned his clan for centuries. Do you think his people don’t remember those things? They’ll be reluctant to go on their knees for him when they feel it should be the other way around.”
Despite everything, my heart ached to know that they thought of Raihn that way.
“They are waiting to usurp him, too,” she went on. “And that’s only if the House of Blood doesn’t slide a knife into his back first, and then we are all fucked before his own people even have the chance to turn on him.”
A bang rang out in the distance, a puff of smoke rolling from the distant eastern walls. Jesmine’s face snapped to the sound.
“Go,” I said. “I’ll be fine for now.”
“You can find me when you need me,” she said urgently. “Don’t rely on him to protect you, Highness. He has his own threats and weaknesses. You have teeth, too. Yours are sharper than his. Just tell us when to bite, and we fight for you, and you alone.”
Another bang. Another flash of light in the distance.
And Jesmine gave me no time to tell her anything else before she disappeared into the night, scaling the castle walls with the ease of someone who had centuries of experience slipping through the locked windows of powerful men.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
I was escorted to the throne room at nightfall the next day. I listened to the door click four times before it swung open. Raihn stood there, Cairis at his side.
“Four locks?” I said as we walked through the halls. Cairis trailed far behind. I wondered if I should expect him to always be lingering near us, now. “How flattering.”
“I know better than to underestimate you.”
“Where are we going?”
He gave me an odd look, like this was an obvious question. “To work, of course.”
“Why? Aren’t I your prisoner?”
Another strange look—this one I couldn’t quite decipher.
“You aren’t my prisoner,” he said. “You’re my queen.”
I had grown up in this palace. I knew every crevice. I had slipped through each secret hallway in the bright hours of day, when no one could disturb me. But everything was different now. New faces in the hall. Paintings torn from the walls. The face of my father shredded and disfigured, just as it had been in life.
Raihn led me to the throne room. There were so many people here. All Rishan. All of them looked at me with utter disgust. I knew what it was to walk into a room and know that everyone there wanted to kill me. That is what it was to be prey in a world of predators.
This was different.
These people wanted to kill me not because I was weak, but because I was powerful.
Raihn excused himself to go speak to Ketura, who shot me a wary glare when his back was turned. I walked through this familiar-unfamiliar room. I crossed it until I reached the double doors that overlooked the ballroom.
All the paintings—paintings of Hiaj legend and royalty—had been destroyed, smashed to pieces over the marble floor.
Only one still remained, that small painting I had always so admired: the Rishan man, falling, reaching for a savior that would not reach back.
“I am so glad we have the opportunity to work together once again.”
The hairs rose on the back of my neck. The smell of tobacco smoke wafted over me. I turned to see Septimus leaning on the opposite doorframe.
I didn’t feel like playing today.
“Work together,” I said. “What a polite way of talking about slaughtering a kingdom.”
“Slaughter? That’s harsh.”
“It’s what you want, isn’t it? Looks like it, from what I’ve seen.”
He exhaled a puff of smoke. “Then you’re not looking at much of anything, are you? Perhaps the same impulses that drive my people are the ones that drive you to murder in your human slums. After all, your people weren’t the only ones used as pawns in our goddess’s little games.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, because something about the pointed stare, full of anger he mostly managed to hide, reminded me of that first trial—of the look of horror on the Bloodborn contestant’s face as he realized that he was fighting monsters that had once been his people. Both the humans and the Bloodborn had been used and discarded.
“You didn’t hesitate to use Angelika as a pawn, either.”
“Angelika was a good friend of mine, and the sacrifice she made for her kingdom will live on far longer than she has.”
I asked bluntly, “How did you know this would work?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Raihn made your deal”—caved to your blackmail—“to save me. Yet for him to hold up his end, he had to win the Kejari. Why would you think he would kill me after he had saved me?”
Septimus smirked. Exhaled smoke. “I didn’t. He’s clearly a romantic.”
I kept my face blank, but did not understand this answer.
He chuckled and straightened. “I told you I don’t make bets that I can lose. And every bet I’ve made on you has been a winning one, dove.”
He offered me the box of cigarillos. I shook my head.
“I hope you can find it in your heart to call me a friend,” he said, as he slipped the box into his pocket. “You may find we have more in common than you think. We’re the only ones here who know what it’s like to fight against time. Counts for a lot in this world, doesn’t it?”
He sauntered away without another word, just in time for Raihn to return to my side. He eyed Septimus’s departing form warily.
“What was that about?”
“Nothing.”
Raihn looked unconvinced. He took my arm. I stiffened and pulled away, but followed him as he walked.
“What now?” I said.
He led me into the ballroom. To our right, floor-to-ceiling windows displayed a tableau of Sivrinaj, domes and spires gleaming beneath the star-dusted sky. The night was still hazy with smoke and white with fire, bright as inverted sunshine spilling across the ballroom’s marble floors.
“Good question” Raihn said. “Guess we have to build a kingdom.”
On the surface, his voice held the lilt of a flippant joke. It did little to mask the blatant fear beneath it.
I was afraid, too.
Afraid of the enemies beyond these walls, and within them. The enemies that surrounded Raihn, and the ones that surrounded me. The allies ready to betray us both.
Afraid of the fire consuming the kingdom that raised me, and for the countless innocent humans who would be caught within it.
Afraid of the danger of the future, and the secrets of the past.
Raihn took my hand.
And this time, I let him.
Our eyes met at the same moment, united in our mutual terror—united in all the ways we were the same, even if we weren’t ready to admit it. For one moment, it was all laid bare.
My friend. My enemy. My lover. My captor.
King and slave. Human and vampire.
And perhaps the only other person who had ever really understood what it was like to have a heart that bled both red and black.
I hated him. And I loved him.
And I couldn’t even try to deny how beautiful he was, with his life-marked face doused in the flickering light of our world falling to ash.
“And what about you?” he murmured. His thumb stroked my cheek, traced the line of my jaw. “Are you going to kill me, Oraya?”
He said it just as he had a lifetime ago, as dawn encroached on an alleyway in the human slums. And just like that night, I didn’t pull away from his touch.
Instead, I pressed my palm flat to his chest. Behind him, my kingdom burned.
I thought, Maybe.
“Not tonight,” I said.
END of BOOK I
Oraya and Raihn’s story will continue in The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King, coming soon.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Thank you so much for reading The Serpent and the Wings of Night! I hope you loved reading it as much as I loved writing it. We have five more books in this world, and I’m really excited to explore all of its dark and bloody corners with you! Oraya is one of my favorite characters I’ve ever written—both the toughest and the most deeply sensitive. I hope you fell in love with her as I did, and that you enjoy the next phase of her—and Raihn’s—story.
If you enjoyed this book, I would truly appreciate if you’d consider giving a review on Amazon or GoodReads. I can’t overstate how important reviews are to authors!
And if you’d like to be the first to know about new releases, new art, new swag, and all kinds of other fun stuff, consider signing up for my newsletter at carissabroadbentbooks.com, hanging out in my Facebook group (Carissa Broadbent’s Lost Hearts), or joining my Discord server (invite at linktr.ee/carissanasyra!).
I would love to keep in touch!
ALSO BY CARISSA BROADBENT
If you liked The Serpent and the Wings of Night, check out The War of Lost Hearts trilogy, an epic romantasy trilogy full of romance, revenge, and redemption – and best of all, it’s complete and ready to binge.
Book 1: Daughter of No Worlds
Book 2: Children of Fallen Gods
Book 3: Mother of Death and Dawn
Available on Amazon and free to read in Kindle Unlimited.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Acaeja – The goddess of spellcasting, mystery, and lost things. Member of the White Pantheon.
Alarus – The god of death and husband of Nyaxia. Exiled by the White Panethon as punishment for his forbidden relationship with Nyaxia. Considered to be deceased.
Asteris – A form of magical energy wielded by Nightborn vampires, derived from the stars. Rare and difficult to use, requiring significant skill and energy.
Atroxus – The god of the sun and leader of the White Pantheon.
Bloodborn – Vampires of the House of Blood.
Born – A term used to describe vampires who are born via biological procreation. This is the most common way that vampires are created.
Celeba – A continent in the human lands to the east of Obitraes.
Coriatis Bond – A rare and powerful bond that can be forged only by a god, in which two people share all aspects of their power, linking their lives and souls. Nyaxia is the only god known to grant Coriatis bonds, though any god is capable of doing so. Those who are bound are referred to as each other’s Coriatae. Coriatae share all aspects of each other’s power, typically making both stronger. Coriatae cannot act against each other and cannot live without each other.
Dhaivinth – A poison that temporarily paralyzes.
Dhera – A nation in the human lands. Vale is currently living there.
Extryn – The prison of the gods of the White Pantheon.
Obitraes – The land of Nyaxia, consisting of three kingdoms: The House of Night, The House of Shadow, and the House of Blood.
Heir Mark – A permanent mark that appears on the Heir of the Hiaj and Rishan clans when the previous Heir dies, marking their position and power.
Hiaj – One of the two clans of Nightborn vampires. They have featherless wings that resemble those of bats.
The House of Blood – One of the three vampire kingdoms of Obitraes. Two thousand years ago, when Nyaxia created vampires, the House of Blood was her favorite House. She thought long and hard about which gift to give them, while the Bloodborn watched their brothers to the west and north flaunt their powers. Eventually, the Bloodborn turned on Nyaxia, certain that she had abandoned them. In punishment, Nyaxia cursed them. The House of Blood is now looked down upon by the other two houses. People from the House of Blood are called Bloodborn.
The House of Night – One of the three vampire kingdoms of Obitraes. Known for their skill in battle and for their vicious natures, and wielders of magic derived from the night sky. There are two clans of Nightborn vampires, Hiaj and Rishan, who have fought for thousands of years over rule. Those of the House of Night are called Nightborn.
The House of Shadow – One of the three vampire kingdoms of Obitraes. Known for their commitment to knowledge; wielders of mind magic, shadow magic, and necromancy. Those of the House of Shadow are called Shadowborn.
Ix – Goddess of sex, fertility, childbirth, and procreation. Member of the White Pantheon.
Kajmar – God of art, seduction, beauty, and deceit. Member of the White Pantheon.
The Kejari – A legendary, once-per-century tournament to the death held in Nyaxia’s honor. The winner receives a gift from Nyaxia herself. The Kejari is open to all in Obitraes, but is hosted by the House of Night, as the Nightborn hold the greatest domain over the art of battle out the three vampire kingdoms.
Lituro River – A river that runs through the center of Sivrinaj.
Moon Palace – A palace in Sivrinaj, the capital of the House of Night, specifically there to house contestants of the once-in-a-century Kejari tournament held in Nyaxia’s honor. Said to be enchanted and to exert the will of Nyaxia herself.
Neculai Vasarus – The former Rishan king of the House of Night. Usurped and killed by Vincent 200 years prior to the events of this book.
Nightborn – Vampires of the House of Night.
Nightfire – Like Asteris, another form of star-derived magic wielded by the vampires of the House of Night. While Asteris is dark and cold, Nightfire is bright and hot. Nightfire is commonly used in the House of Night but very difficult to wield masterfully.
Nyaxia – Exiled goddess, mother of vampires, and widow of the god of death. Nyaxia lords over the domain of night, shadow, and blood, and as well as the inherited domain of death from her deceased husband. Formerly a lesser goddess, she fell in love with Alarus and married him despite the forbidden nature of their relationship. When Alarus was murdered by the White Pantheon as punishment for his marriage to her, Nyaxia broke free from the White Pantheon in a fit of rage, and offered her supporters the gift of immortality in the form of vampirism—founding Obitraes and the vampire kingdoms. (Also referred to as: the Mother; the Goddess; Mother of the Ravenous Dark; Mother of Night, Shadow, and Blood)
Pachnai – A human nation to the east of Obitraes.
Rishan – One of the two clans of Nightborn vampires. Have feathered wings. Usurped by the Hiaj 200 years ago.
Salinae – A major city in the House of Night. Located in Rishan territory. When the Rishan were in power, Salinae was a thriving hub, functioning as a second capital. Oraya spent the first years of her life, before Vincent found her, in Salinae.
Shadowborn – Vampires of the House of Shadow.
Sivrinaj – The capital of the House of Night. Home to the Nightborn castle, the Moon Palace, and host to the Kejari once every 100 years.
Turning – A process to make a human into a vampire, requiring a vampire to drink from a human and offer their blood to the human in return. Vampires who underwent this process are referred to as Turned.
White Pantheon – The twelve gods of the core cannon, including Alarus, who is presumed deceased. The White Pantheon is worshipped by all humans, with certain regions potentially having favor towards specific gods within the Pantheon. Nyaxia is not a member of the White Pantheon and is actively hostile to them. The White Pantheon imprisoned and later executed Alarus, the God of Death, as punishment for his unlawful marriage with Nyaxia, then a lesser goddess.
Zarux – The god of the sea, rain, weather, storms, and water. Member of the White Pantheon.
