Shadowborn Royals Read online

  I smile bashfully at him. “Yes, please.”

  He takes my hand and guides me over to the bed. I watch him pull back the lush bedding, strip the top half of his uniform off to reveal his lean, muscular chest, and then pull me into his arms underneath the covers.

  I press my ear to his chest, listening to his heartbeat lulling me to sleep, and finally, I am safe again. How I wish the moment to never end.

  Like an old movie, everything around me slowly flickers to life until it’s so clear I wonder if I’m dreaming at all. I’m sitting on a wooden bench, looking over a park full of human children running around, their laughter filling my ears along with the sound of birds chirping away. The hot sun shines down on me and I swear I can feel its warmth like I’m actually here.

  I know this park, it’s not just a random place. My stepdad took me and Willow here a few times, and I never knew exactly why. He made us play with the human children and then took us for ice cream before telling us the reason one day. He wanted us to see that humans are just like us. I remember my mother being so angry at him and after that day, he never took me with him and Willow on their adventures. And our relationship never grew from that point; it festered into something cold.

  I suddenly flinch, lost in my thoughts when a woman sits down next to me on the bench. I turn to look at her, and I nearly jump away. I’ve seen this woman in one of my dreams not long ago, and I know in my soul I would never forget her.

  She is enchantingly beautiful with her golden hair, pale skin, and curvy body wrapped in a silk white dress that clings to her body. As much as she is stunning, her eyes make me believe she is a goddess of some kind because I’ve never seen eyes like hers. It’s like looking through a kaleidoscope toy when I was a kid. Her eyes are millions of sections of light that resemble butterflies. So beautiful and otherworldly.

  “I have a secret I never told you when we met last time,” she starts, and then she giggles so softly that I can’t help but laugh with her.

  For some reason, being around this…whatever she is…makes me feel happy and free.

  “You told me the Titans are going to be free and you are a gift to them. What does that mean?” I question her and she smiles.

  “My secret is that my name is Kaelah and I am your saviour as much as you are mine,” she says and picks up my hand. Her touch feels like touching the sun, but somehow I’m not in pain, I’m not burning. “And time is running out. I want you to know I’m here throughout all this.”

  “Throughout what, exactly?” I demand, but she laughs again. The anger and confusion I felt for a moment flicker away into joy and I find myself laughing with her…even though I don’t know what is funny.

  “There are five keys that lock the realm of the Titans, the only cage in existence that can hold them, and I am one of the keys. When you collect the other four…which are literal keys hidden in the Enchanted Forest…you must free me and we will lock them away together.” She leans in and lowers her voice as if telling me a secret. “We will fly together, Izora Dawn.”

  My head swims with the words. Titan keys? How in the name of Selena is Kaelah a key?

  “Who are you, Kaelah?”

  She lets go of my hand to place her palms on either side of my head. “Once I was human, but then I became so much more…”

  Her voice fades as she disappears and a slew of images blasts into my mind in rapid succession. Each image shows a pretty blonde human girl born in a human village, many, many years ago. Back when they had cabins as homes, and campfires burned in the centre of the tiny village she was from. The girl grows into a beautiful woman who the village folk say belongs to the gods.

  One day, a goddess comes to her and with a single touch, sends her into a portal where ten titans catch her and she is lost forever from the human world. I freeze when I see the goddess with long black hair and eyes that remind me of the moon with how silver they are. She is familiar and yet I can’t seem to name her.

  When the last image fades, I open my eyes to see Kaelah smiling at me.

  “I am the gift given to the Titans, and I love them. But when they are in this world, they become monsters that I cannot stop. Power corrupts even the purest soul. You must understand that.”

  “Where can I find these keys?” I whisper, feeling my eyes fill with tears as I’m suddenly sadder than I ever have been before. Kaelah’s pain siphons into me. As she cries, I realise I’m feeling her emotions, from her joy to her pain. How is this even possible?

  “The keys will call to your soul when the titans are free. They call to all of the House of Dawn because the Dawn bloodline is meant to protect the forest and therefore the power lies in your souls.”

  “I don’t understand.” I furrow my eyebrows and reach for her, but she lets me go and stands.

  “You will know your place in the world soon…and then the world will need you and your sister to save it,” she says in a whisper.

  Why would Willow help me save the Enchanted Forest? I doubt she would want to help anyone, even if she was forced.

  “I don’t think we can save anyone,” I tell her. “I’m not the saviour you need.”

  Kaelah laughs as the dream fades away.

  “You were created on a night full of hope and light. You were born at Dawn and you are far more than you know, Izora.”

  “Wake up!”

  Eva’s voice snaps me back to reality. I blink my eyes open and see her face way too close to mine. I follow her arm resting on Luke’s chest to the dagger she has pressed under his neck. With her other hand, she slips a needle into his arm and I freeze, knowing with one move she could kill Luke. Panic flares through me as I watch the serum getting pumped into his body. What the hell is she injecting him with?

  “Behave or I will take pleasure in killing him,” she warns in a hiss. “I simply gave him something to help him sleep as we both know he wouldn’t let you go.”

  Very slowly, she pulls the dagger away from his neck and I finally feel like I can breathe.

  I climb off the bed, always watching her because I’m not stupid. Princess Psycho Bitch might be crazy, but she is a trained killer and is the one in charge here.

  Eva better watch her back, though, because I swear I will stab her in it the first second I can.

  She glides to the door and holds it open, pausing to look back at me. “Are you coming or not?”

  “Do I have a choice?” I question.

  “Fae like us do not get a choice. We are born to follow orders,” she replies, which doesn’t make a lot of sense.

  I wasn’t born fae. Those wardens turned me into one.

  Looking back at Luke, watching his chest rise normally for a moment, I know I don’t have a choice. I could kick and scream, and most likely get a chance to punch the princess, but it won’t do me any good and I’m worried what she’ll do to Luke in retaliation. I also need answers and a way out of this place for us all. The best shot I have at that is with Eva.

  Holding my head high, I follow her out into the corridor and she leads the way down to a blank wall at the end where there isn’t anything. Eva taps the middle of the wall and a screen appears out of nowhere. Quickly, she types in nine digits, and I catch the first three. Five. Six. Nine. I mentally repeat them a few times so I remember, and watch as the wall slides to the slide to reveal a lift on the other side. Eva presses the button and the lift comes up, making a dinging noise as the doors open and we step in. The second the door siphons shut, Eva’s hand rests on my shoulder and she purposely digs her long nails into my skin.

  Her eyes, filled with darkness and cruelty, lock onto mine. “When the lab is done with you, I’m going to take great pleasure in killing you slowly, painfully, and we won’t be alone. I’m going to make your parents watch as you bleed into my hands.”

  I grin at her even though I feel rattled inside. I’d never let her see that, though. “You can try, princess.”

  Her laugh fills the lift as she lets me go and I flatten my shaking hands to m
y sides. In the world of the fae, death threats are amusing it seems.

  And I don’t believe either one of us is joking.

  “You really do look like her,” Eva says after a moment of staring at me in silence.

  The lift jerks to a halt, and Eva slips through the doors before I can reply. Her cryptic comment shouldn’t surprise me. This bitch be hella crazy. But I can’t help but wonder who she thinks I look like. It’s not like I have any siblings, or even cousins for that matter.

  I follow her down the long shapeless hallway, only the sounds of our footsteps for company. Guards flank a gated entrance at the end. They open it as soon as Eva arrives. My heart bangs against my ribs as I follow her through. To my surprise and unease, the room I step into is a laboratory. Everything is clinically white, much like the rest of this prison, but there are strange kinds of machinery in here, incubators and fume hoods, and research devices littered over the steel countertops. Yet even more startling than the equipment are the familiar faces I see.

  Doctor Frank, the man who wanted to take me for ‘testing’, and Gold, who couldn’t look more disinterested to see me if he tried. For once he isn’t wearing a suit. A black shirt hugs his torso, the sleeves rolled up, and gold braces stretching over his shoulders. His pants and shoes are a similar black, but it’s not really his clothes that catch my attention. It’s the huge gun he’s loading with strange-looking cartridges.

  I glare at him, a silly part of me hoping he’ll acknowledge me, but of course, he doesn’t. He whispers something to the doctor that I can’t quite pick up. Whatever it is, the doctor looks over at me and motions me to come hither.

  Eva waits, watching as I follow him to one of the beds. My focus zeroes in on the six needles lying on the cart by the bed. My heart thrashes so violently that I struggle to hear what he says to Eva. I don’t say anything to them. I look only at Gold.

  “What are you doing?” I spit out.

  The edge of his lips curl and he looks over at Eva. She arches a paper-thin eyebrow at him, then the two of them chuckle like they’re sharing the best inside joke in the fucking world. Tears sting my eyes and I peel them off Gold to look down at the needles. My palms turn sweaty as I struggle not to show any weakness.

  They can’t know I’m afraid.

  That’s the kind of bullshit Eva gets off on.

  She’s not the kind of fae to fight her opponent in battle. No, Eva would rather watch those fight to the death for her so she doesn’t need to get her hands dirty. She knows nothing about honour or integrity. She’s a damn coward.

  The doctor wraps a rubber band around my arm and prods around for a vein. A slight relief fills me when I realise he’s just going to take some blood. The doctor fills two needles with blood, then picks up another and hovers it by the edge of my left wing.

  Panic flares through me. I twist on the bed and reach for his hand on instinct, digging my nails into his pale skin. Gold clicks his tongue and shifts over, restraining my arms so the doctor can take blood from my wings. A sharp pain grips me when he injects the needle. After a moment, he sets the needle on the cart and the liquid inside is silver. I snap my hands away from Gold and glare up at him.

  The tears I’ve been fighting to hold back get the better of me and slip from my lashes. I feel so utterly betrayed by him. Why would he do this to me? I thought… I meant something to him. But clearly I was wrong. I don’t mean shit to Zavier Gold, otherwise, he wouldn’t be putting me through this.

  “Very good.” Eva snaps her fingers at me. “Come.”

  And with that, she skips toward the door at the other side of the room. I cast Gold a generous glare as I slide off the bed and follow her, my wings throbbing in protest of the pain. Just as I step through the door, I catch a fleeting glance from Gold, an almost pained look on his face, but he looks away as soon as I meet his gaze.

  I really mean nothing to him.

  It shouldn’t hurt me as much as it does, considering he’s the one who betrayed me, but the pain takes root inside of me, spreading to every valley of my body. I’m angrier at myself for letting my guard down and developing feelings for him. How could I have been so stupid?

  The air catches in my lungs when I see what’s inside the room. My mother hunched over a panel of flashing machinery and computers, and a girl floating in a glass tank. It’s not just any girl, either.

  It’s Sage Millhouse.

  One of my friends from the academy.

  She’s hooked up to a bunch of tubes that siphon into her, yet her expression is calm as if she’s merely cast under a sleeping spell. Her pink hair floats and wraps around her outstretched arms.

  “What the fuck?” I hiss in a whisper, more to myself than anything.

  My mother turns to smile at me. “Hello, darling. I see Her Highness has decided to reveal what we have been working on all these years.” She points to Sage. “The first of her kind, Sage will soon become a full-blooded light fae instead of shadowborn. Isn’t this marvellous?”

  Bile rises into my throat. “What…have you done?” I barely manage to get the words out.

  “I am healing her,” my mother answers, her tone unaltered despite my obvious distress. “I am fixing her.”

  “You say it so pleasantly,” Eva drawls, dragging me over to the tank. “I much prefer the gory details. Did you know that a fae can endure several weeks of torture before their body can no longer heal them? It is rather fascinating. By the third week, I can manipulate their cells into a state of metamorphosis, which has, at long last, almost resulted in the cleansing I’ve desired my whole life. This right here”—she places her hand to the glass—“will soon be the end of all shadowborns. Now comes the Age of Light. Those who swim in darkness will have no place among us.”

  I look between them, stunned for words. They are both fucking crazy, and this is my own mother! I knew she was fucked up and had gone to the ‘dark side’, but I guess I deep down I secretly hoped she’d see the light again. Now she’s merely using the light as a way to conceal her darkness. I no longer recognise the woman standing before me. She’s as much a monster as Eva and anyone else who particulates in this ‘research’. It’s just another word to justify the torture they’re doing.

  Before I can even think about what I’m doing, I slam Eva’s face into the glass. A tiny fraction of it shatters, but my satisfaction at seeing Eva in pain is short-lived. She lifts her hand and I’m lifted into the air, an invisible grip tightening around my throat.

  “Please, Your Highness, I beg of you!” My mother stands between us, her face ashen. “She is still my daughter. Please?”

  For a moment, I think Eva is actually about to kill me, until she lets me go. I fall to the floor, gasping for air and tears gathering into my eyes. Gold appears at my side and lifts me to my feet. I try to shrug him off but he holds me like a vice while I try to catch my breath.

  “Take her back,” the princess orders, turning to Sage again. “I have all that I need for now.”

  Gold drags me out of the laboratory, his breathing harsh and rapid, and shoves me into the lift. The doors were barely closed when suddenly he’s pushing me against the wall and his lips crash against my own, snatching my breath away until all I can think and feel is him.

  Roughly sinking my hands into Gold’s thick, soft hair, he presses me harder into the wall. His lips explore mine with a fevered passion that makes me dizzy. Every ounce of heartache I felt before momentarily vanishes. Gods, I hate and love this man. And I’m so fucking confused, but I know that right now, at this moment, I want more.

  I will always want more of Gold.

  It’s why I was so devastated by his rejection, but from this kiss alone I know that he never rejected me. He was merely playing Eva’s twisted game. However, if he thinks I’m letting him off easy for the pain he’s put me through, he’s got another think coming.

  He breaks the kiss first, brushing my lips with his one last time. It’s a teasing and almost painful kiss that makes me desperate for
more. As soon as the kiss ends, reality comes crashing back down, and with it my list of questions.

  “Why the fuck did you pretend I’m nothing to you?” I ask, shoving him back and stepping away, needing the space to clear my thoughts.

  Gold looks at me for a moment in silence. “I have a son,” he finally says, “and if I don’t do everything she says, Zander will be killed.” I freeze, turning back to him, and he continues. “I never knew about the child. His mother was a one-night stand years ago.” His eyes darken a little, filled with pain. “Fuck, the goddess gave me a son who’s life now depends on what I do here. It’s a cruel irony if ever I’ve seen one.”

  A tinge of jealousy slithers into me, the kind of jealousy that burns up in my soul. It disappears as quickly as it arrives and I suck a deep breath of relief. Gold was protecting his son? This changes things a little. It makes me less angry with him and more sympathetic. Still, I wish he’d told me sooner because it would’ve saved me so much pain. I can understand why he didn’t, though. Holy shit…Vina’s Zander. The shadow warden is in love with her. I only met him once or twice in the academy, but he seemed like a good guy. I guess the dragon eyes he has makes a lot of sense.

  “I met him in the academy,” I say. “He’s in love with my friend Corvina. He is a good guy as far as I know.”

  “This is messed up. You’ve met my son before me.” He almost humorlessly laughs, though the smile on his lips doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

  “I thought I’d have to knock some sense into you for being on that crazy bitch’s side.”

  Gold surprises me by laughing this time as he steps closer. I take his hand and rest my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. He’s warm to the touch and pressed this close to him, I can hear a low rumble that must be coming from his dragon side.

  “I thought you would hate me,” he whispers.

  “For protecting your kid?” I look up at him. “Never. You did the right thing even if it makes it harder for us. I’m just glad I was wrong, and that you weren’t the one who hated me.”