“Fuck you!” I shout back.
“Maybe we can get tothat.” He looks me up and down in a way that makes my cheeks burn. “But first, what’s your name?”
Something makes me want to tell him and I clench my teeth. “Wrenley. Queen of the Dawn Dynasty, and you will die for hurting me. They will rip you to pieces.” I bite out.
“I’d like to see them try.” He smirks. “And this will hurt. I have a feeling I will enjoy every single drop of you, Wren.”
I go to scream, but I can’t. Something wraps around my mouth, and I realise it’s purple, almost like a mist, like my father’s shadows but different, brighter almost. I struggle in his grip as he moves his hand from my neck, arching my chin up, right before he sinks his teeth into my neck. A silent scream echoes from my mouth, and he groans, drinking deep, and blissfully I pass out into an unwelcoming darkness... where Irealise he is going to take me, and I might never see my home again.
CHAPTER 2
Iwake up to the sound of hooves, to my body thumping up and down, but I slowly come to the realisation we are on horseback. This isn’t my royal-bred horse — Alight — with her golden locks and smooth run. This horse is black as the night, its hair braided tight, and the braids are hitting my knee as it storms forward with the force of the ocean. I swallow the bile in my mouth and lift my head, looking around for one second before dropping my eyes to the thick arms wrapped tight around my waist, clutching the reins. Wait... not just his arms... rope. The bastard has tied rope around my arms and waist, pushing my hands to my thighs. I lift my eyes again, wincing at the bright light from the sun above. The sun is huge and bright, and I’ve never seen this much orange sand. It stretches miles and miles in every direction, and the heat of the sun is pouring down on us. My thick dress feels even more suffocating than it did when I was crowned in it, and by the feel of my head, my crown is gone. I look down, seeing a bag tied to the saddle and my dragon egg wedged inside it.
“How in the name of dragons did you steal me from the castle?” I snarl, turning back to face him. “And where the fuck are we, kidnapper?”
“Has anyone ever told you that you really have a dirty mouth for a queen?” He doesn’t so much as look down at me. His cloak is gone; he is wearing a thin black shirt that moves in the breeze, and tattoos cover his hands and lower arms, tattoos of dragons, crowns and cities I’ve never seen. I pull my gaze up, and he smirks. “You can admire me all you like, thief.”
“Fuck you.” I snarl back, wriggling to try to get free, but it’s pointless.
I freeze as he leans down to my neck and inhales deeply. His voice is a dark whisper. “You keep saying that. Is it because you’re hoping it would happen? You do taste delicious, thief.”
My cheeks brighten for a second until the memory of him biting me comes back. I didn’t know vampyre bites hurt that much, even if the pain was only for a second. My mother is covered in bite marks... Just thinking of her reminds me of what I have to do. I need to get away from this lunatic and back to my family. “No. One — you bit me without permission. Two — you kidnapped me. Three — you’ve literally tied me to your horse with rope. If it’s your idea of flirting, then it’s really fucked up.”
“I don’t know. A bit of rope can be a definite way of flirting.” He murmurs. “As for the bite... I needed power to open the portal, and your blood sings of it. I do not bite usually; I don’t need blood to survive.”
What the fuck? Vampyres do need blood to survive. I rub my thigh, where the dawn court marking lies. I had the mark given to me a few years ago, when it was decided. “What are you? Hell, what’s your name? I’ve given you mine.”
“Well, they call me the Game Hunter. But you can just call me Hunter.” He murmurs. “It’s been hundreds of years since I used any other name. As for what I am, it is simple. I am a quarter vampyre and the rest is fae.”
I’ve never heard of a half-breed between our races, let alone a mixture like he is. “Where are we?”
“We’re not in your world, not anymore, and you won’t be returning.” Dread pools in my stomach. My parents must have found nothing but drops of blood on the floor in my room, and they will be so worried. I can’t leave them worried like that. I don’t care what Hunter thinks — I will be going home. “This is a world that runs parallel to yours, and it was made by dragons to be their hiding place. Something went wrong hundreds of years ago, and it is now nearly impossible to travel through the worlds unless you wield magic. If you wield it, you are trained by the dragons to be theirs, and it is only under their demand you can use magic in this world.”
Well, I will keep my magic a secret then.
“But you have magic, so you can leave?” I question.
“With dragon blood, yes.” He answers. I’m surprised he is telling me all of this, but at the same time, I worry it’s because he thinks I won’t be leaving. There is no risk in telling me things when I have no one to tell them to. “Now tell me, why did you come here, steal the egg, and how did you get away with it?”
“I didn’t steal the egg. It came to me when I was a child. It just floated in from the sea.” I frown, looking forward at the desert. I’m careful not to tell him that my powers pulled the egg out of the sea towards me, that it didn’t float at all, that I felt it deep within the ocean and told the water to help me move it. In fact, I can barely feel any water in this world. It’s so strange. I’ve grown up in a castle right on the edge of the sea, but here it’s almost like water doesn’t exist. I can feel tiny droplets deep within the sand, but it is barely anything.
“That’s a lie.”
I try to elbow his stomach, but it’s like hitting a rock wall and now my elbow hurts. “It’s not a lie. Why would I steal a dragon egg? Who in their right mind would? How exactly would I have done that when I was just a child? I’ve looked after it, cared for it. But I don’t think it’s alive. It’s just an egg. It can’t hatch.”
He doesn’t say anything for a long time. When he does speak, it’s a sigh. “The egg will hatch here, eventually, if its parents will allow it. It’s been missing for a while. I assumed you stole it, and you look younger than you are. Fae can be deceiving.”
“I’m not older than I look. I’m twenty-one.” Around the age fae stop aging and everything slows. I will live hundreds of years, hopefully, looking as I do now with barely any changes. “Hunter, take me back home.”
Finally, he looks at me, and his eyes lock with mine. Vibrant, glowing purple. “The moment I saw you, Wren, I knew you would never leave my side.” I shiver at the commanding tone, at the firmness in it. “For now, you must face the rulers of our world, or they will punish the fae who live here.” He looks away and I suck in a breath, which is a mistake because all I can smell is him. He smells like the desert, sandalwood and smoke. “They are very angry with you, but I will not let you die, Wren. I’ve decided you will live.”
“How nice of you, asshole.” I mutter, trying to pull forward and away from him. His amused laugh echoes in my ear as he smacks his legs against his horse and it picks up speed, forcing me to lean my back against him so I don’t fall off. I don’t know how many hours we ride in the blistering heat. He does eventually hand me a bottle of water and help me drink it without the use of my hands before we take off again. I am desperate for a toilet by the time he starts to slow down, and I go to ask him to stop when I see our destination.
Suddenly, all that matters is surviving because there is a castle as big as a city in this world, and it is full of people. Fae. They walk around the land around the castle, the sparse vegetation and huts built in lines, some shaded under big palm trees. The castle itself is a monster, looming high above the desert, and it stretches so far back I can’t even see the end. It’s purple — all of it is purple stone — blistering towers shininghigh into the sky. Fabric flags flutter off some of the towers; the purple material has a symbol on it that I can’t make out from here. The sand dances around the edges of the castle with the wind, and again, there is no water I can sense.
I hear it first... then it swoops above us, rustling sand. A dragon flies straight across the sky, its sparkling wings and body huge. I’m lost in the sight of the legendary creature, right until it lands in the centre of what must be a huge courtyard of the castle. The dragon is purple, like nothing I’ve ever seen in paintings or drawings, heard about in songs and rhymes.
For once, I don’t say a thing. Hunter leans close to my ear, his breath hotter than the desert. “Welcome to the Dragon’s Court, Wren. I wouldn’t suggest telling them you’re queen of anything. They won’t appreciate that here because they rule and fae? We are their slaves and their dinner if we cross them.”
