I’ve been stuck in this room for days, and I’m so damn tired of it. I mean, it’s a nice prison in comparison to the shit room I had when the Vian captured me last time. Still, I’m needed back in Starlight City. Something is very wrong with Georgina, and Gwen is in trouble. I just know it. I haven’t been able to shake the feeling something awful has happened while I’ve been trapped in this luxury prison. The king-size bed is soft, filled with fluffy pillows, and all of it matches a white colour scheme, from the painted white bedframe to the wardrobes. There are two doors, one that never opens and the other that leads to a bathroom with a huge tub. The other side of the wall is a giant, bulletproof and Nexus-proof window that overlooks the city. They are coloured in glass that brightens with sunlight, but I can’t see anything through the glass other than the outline of other tall buildings when the sun is bright. I can’t sense other Nexus or even Vian outside the room. I have no idea where I am, and I hate it. I’ve thrown anything I could find into the window, had my bear slam into it and every wall of this place, but there must be magic in the walls and window. I haven’t ever made a dent. There’s no other way out of here unless my kidnapperdecides to let me out. Even my food is delivered with wooden cutlery that is nearly impossible to cut with, let alone hurt myself with. Not that I would hurt myself, but... at least I could try to make some sort of weapon to get out of here. My collection of cutlery just sits under the bed.
I pace by the window, part of my daily ritual of pacing just to keep active. The clock on the wall clicks and makes a ring sound that marks ten in the morning. Breakfast will appear in a minute, just as it does every day. I look to the door expecting the food to appear, but this time the door opens. That never happens. For a moment, I hope it’s Gwen or one of her mates come to help me, but it’s not. Issan, my attractive asshole kidnapper, strolls in with a gold tray laid with pancakes, fruit, juices and more wood cutlery for my collection. He puts it down on the side before he turns his eyes on me, and my chest hurts. My Nexus snaps in my mind, angry rolling through my blood. “I came to ask if you wanted a roast dinner tonight, because it’s Sunday? I know Nexus don’t often follow the traditions of Christmas or Halloween. They only celebrate The Hallowed Day in the middle of the year, but the Vian often celebrate these days even though they are human traditions, and a lot of English like eating Sunday roasts. I’ve never tried it before, and I thought we could together.”
“A Sunday roast?” I snap at him, storming closer. I point my finger at him. “Fuck you, you bastard! Take me back to Starlight City now!”
He smirks. Actually, smirks at me. “No. That would put you in danger.”
I blink. “That’s my choice then, you fool! You can shove your roast dinner right up your as?—"
“You’re in Morriganis City.” He cuts me off so smoothly. Morriganis City? I know it only as the second-biggest city, just behind Starlight City. They keep to themselves, and if he istelling me the truth, a Vian is somehow accepted into a Nexus City. What the hell? I run my eyes over his body, over the tight white shirt tucked into black trousers, over the tattoos peeking out of his rolled-up sleeves. There isn’t a weapon on him I can get, and he looks... normal. Strange. Anytime I’ve seen Issan, he has appeared like smoke, in cloaks and wrapped in mystery. Stunning, yes. An asshole? Also, yes. Now my secret shadow has become my kidnapper, and I can’t escape him. I have never been able to. “I’ve come to explain myself. I’d like it if you could eat and listen. Then throw things at me if you feel like it. I’d prefer you didn’t shove things up my arsehole, though.”
My cheeks brighten, and I sneer at him. I pick up the nearest thing off the side to throw at him, which happens to be a dog statue that’s made out of cotton and filled with rice, and it’s too heavy to throw. It doesn’t go very far, landing between us with a thud. The bastard is trying so very hard not to laugh at me. Damn, I made it awkward. I need to harness my best friend’s attitude towards men like him. I’m tempted just to shift into my bear and let her take a bite out of him, but she’s silent now. Her anger is gone, replaced with a calm sense of normalcy. I don’t understand, and when I reach for her, she only sends warmth back to me. Well, she is of no use to me whatsoever.
“My name is Issan, and I’m a Vian Prince. Not the heir, but one all the same.” Fear locks down my body, and I know it’s flashed in my eyes. I see him raise both his hands into the air. “I am no threat to you, Annie. I will never hurt you. I am only really a threat to my father, to my own race. I never wanted to be. When I grew up, I was disobedient of my father’s wishes. He bred with many queens, all of them dying untimely and quick deaths before he found a new queen to breed with. My mother died when I was one. By all accounts, it sounds like she was poisoned. I was brought up to be what he wanted all of the royal children to be, all three of us. For some reason, he stoppedcaring about breeding new children after his fourth wife died in childbirth, the babe along with her. He turned to the children he had left and began to train them into what he wanted. Cold, calculating, murderous, just like him. A means to an end.”
I’m not sure why he is telling me all of this. I know nothing about the Vian royal family other than Gwen’s rare mentions of Prince Severi. “He found that, in a way, with Severi who became like him for a time. I always believed there was more to my brother than the pretence he played for my father. We all pretended, because we knew we would be dead if we didn’t. But with me, I was too kind, and he saw it. I couldn’t kill when he clicked his fingers. He wouldn’t do what he asked. I had no interest in draining Nexus, or humans, or anything. Severi did as he was told. Sometimes I think he was smart for that choice. I spent half my childhood beaten to a pulp by my father, the other half in training that left me delirious with fever half the time. He said I was too mortal, like my mother. She was human. I am half. When it came to my mating ceremony, I prayed to the goddess herself that there would be no mate for me. Any mate would be hurt by my father, and I was too weak to do anything. Why would any goddess bless me with a mate only for me to watch them die? My father believes mate bonds are poison to the soul and best broken.”
“He is wrong.” I mutter.
Issan smiles. “I’m glad you think so. When I stepped up on the platform for the Vian priests, I saw a vision of my mate. I felt sick to my stomach even though she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. The king demanded that I report to him the next morning. Deliverance of who my mate was. When a mate is found, a Vian's scent changes slightly. The priests see the same vision as you, but they never show it to anyone. The king does not have control over the priests. They are the only part ofhis city that he respects and leaves be. They often stay out of his way too.”
“Where is your mate then?” I ask, my arms crossed tight.
“I saw you.” My world spins. I shake my head. No, no, no. “I saw my mate, and she was holding hands with a man I’d later learn to be Kosma. I knew him. I am sorry he died.”
“No, you didn’t!” I shout, taking steps back. “I’m not your mate, and you didn’t know Kos! How could you have?” I’m unable to even take in what he’s saying. “You’re saying I’m your mate? That’s bullshit. I had a mate, and he’s dead. Mates are done for me. Kos was the end of that part of my life! My mating ceremony only bonded me to him. It was him I accepted, and he died!”
I’m breathing too heavily; my heart is racing too quickly. My Nexus doesn’t get angry; she doesn’t scream he is wrong like me. She’s... accepting this madness.
“Because the Nexus mate ceremony is so skewed and they do not tap into the raw magic of our creatures. The Vian ceremony does, it has no restrictions across races. The Nexus leaders want only Nexus mates for their people... but the world does not. We are not meant to be this far apart; we are destined to be together. It isn’t just us; there are hundreds of thousands of Vian who have Nexus mates. Why do you think so many of your kind never find their mates? They’re looking at the wrong race. Our kind has been linked by the stars for millennia and denying it is what’s causing misery for so many. I know you don’t know me. I just told you I’m the prince of the race that you hate. I kidnapped you and brought you here. I haunted you like a shadow. I get the many reasons why this is a shock, and you won’t accept it yet. I want there to be no lies between us. Just this truth, this lingering promise that I am on your side and here to help you, Annie.” He takes a step closer, which feels like a leap. I need the space between us. I can’t cope with what he is saying right now. It’s toomuch, and I do not trust him. I need Gwen, I need the academy, I need my home.
He takes another step forward around the bed towards me. I don’t dare move. Not yet. “But all of this, believe it or not, has been to protect you. I knew who Georgina was when she came to the academy. I was watching her, not just you—her. Continuously. To make sure she was never a threat to your life because of how close you are to Gwenieve. I was there in the shadows when my father contacted her and told her to use you, to make sure you were dealt with and out of the way to make Gwenieve look like she killed you. He told Georgina to hurt you; make it look like a murder scene and then make you disappear. She was going to lock you in the Vian city, hurt and near death, to be used to blackmail Gwenieve. You’re very protective of your friend, and I knew if I told you this, you’d go to her to protect her.”
He isn’t wrong. Issan comes closer, and I realise I need to ask him to let me go now. I can warn Gwenieve. “She’s more than a friend to me. Gwen is like a sister. She is my family. She’s come for me in situations where she knew she could have died. Gwen came to save me, anyway. I owe her my life and, more than that, she was the first person that ever accepted me for just who I am. She didn’t care who my parents were. She didn’t care anything about my past. She never asked anything other than to get to know me. She never judged me, even when the whole world was judging her. That’s what made her my best friend. She’ll rip through this place, I know she will, including you. If any part of you is my mate, you need to let me go. I am useless to anyone locked in here. Issan, your father could hurt Gwenieve. I need to get back to Starlight City?—"
“Your place is here, at my side. I’m sorry if you don’t agree with it.” He shakes his head. “There is no returning to Starlight City or what is left.”
I didn’t realise how close we are. Not until his breath mingles with mine as he leans down. He smells like mint, maybe peppermint, to be exact. It’s far deeper and huskier; that’s just him. My heart’s racing so hard that my chest moves up and down as we both stare at each other. My Nexus pushes against my mind, the bear rubbing her head against my mind like she did with Kosma, how she did when we had a mate last time. Even when Kosma betrayed us, betrayed our entire race, she loved him until his last breath. So, did I. It’s painful to take a few steps back, stepping out of the trance.
“My Nexus just...” I shake my head. “Wait, what do you mean there is no returning to Starlight?”
Issan looks like he’d rather not tell me, and I tap my foot on the floor, crossing my arms and waiting. Issan takes a deep breath in. “Georgina is Gwenieve’s twin. The both of them together... they are destructive on a level the world hasn’t seen before. I have been told Gwenieve was not in control and Georgina allowed the Vian King into the city. Together, the twins killed half the city within moments with their dark power. Starlight City has fallen, and the survivors.”
My knees give in, and I collapse to the floor, my heart pounding. No. The city is gone? Hot tears fall from my eyes, and I don’t even move as Issan kneels in front of me, wiping the tears away with his thumbs. His hands feel so much colder than any male who has touched me before. I try not to imagine it—the death of my home—but it’s all I can see. Oh gods. All the people I grew up knowing and being friends with... dead. “Tell me Gwenieve is alive. Please.”
“She is alive from our reports. She is on the run to make sure the Vian king and her twin sister cannot find her.” He gently explains. “The world is looking for her.”
I knew from the moment I met Gwenieve that she was something more than just a Nexus... something so much more.She never once scared me, and even now, knowing she destroyed a city, I know she was forced into it. Gwen would never hurt people like that, but Georgina? I believe that bitch would do anything and cross any line. Georgina must have been working for the Vian king the entire time, and the academy fell for her innocent act. So did I, for a part. I straighten my back. “You want me to trust you?”
Issan nods once. “Yes.”
I look right into his eyes. “Then tell me every little detail you know about the fall of Starlight City, about what is left in the world to fight the Vian King and, most importantly—where is Gwenieve?”
Chapter
Seven
“Are you sure we’re at the right place?” Finn questions as he drives under a sign that says Junkyard in chunky letters, but theyis missing. It’s been many years since I came here, and it feels like nothing has changed about the junkyard, and for a moment I remember driving in with my father on the back of his motorbike. I remember how he smelt like the vanilla milkshake we shared at a cafe before coming here. There were very few days when it was just us, and he always made sure it was a good day. Time didn’t matter because our memories were happy. “Sun?”
