King of Dust

Chapter 17

The house settled. When Yra and I made our way up the stairs, we could feel that the entire mood of the structure had changed. Fortunately for us, when we reached the top of the stairs, the bladed doors had returned to normal. Astrid stood from where she sat on the ground and Urien straightened up.

"Did you do it?" he asked.

"Well, the blades of death are gone, so I think you could assume yes," Yra quipped.

"No need to get snappy. Let's get out of here before anything else terrifying happens."

As quickly as we could, we left. The bottom floors of the house looked as we had expected them to, dusty and old, rotted from years of abandonment, rather than clean and well kept. Before we stepped outside, Yra grabbed his umbrella from the umbrella stand by the door and the four of us emerged into bright sunlight.

If there was any change that I hated the most, it was the sunlight. When the ancient magick still had a heavy hold on Starkovia, every day was beautifully cloudy. I hissed as a sparkle of sunlight hit my hand and I pulled my hood over my head again.

"If there are any other rogue cultists that you pissed off hanging out in the middle of nowhere, it would be wise to let us know." Urien stepped to our wagon and checked to make sure all our belongings were still in order.

"Look, I'm sorry my memory isn't as sparkly as it used to be. Age does that to you." I was not in the mood.

"We head west." Urien climbed onto the wagon. "There's enough daylight to make it to the capitol and we can spend the night there."

Yra sighed and trudged his way over to the wagon. "And then what? You drag us across the countryside to punch more demons in the face?"

"That's the plan. Until we can clean up this area and make sure it's relatively safe after someone made it a breeding ground for all sorts of nasty things."

Astrid and I jumped into the wagon without saying any more. This was my fate, then. To be yanked around on a leash by some grumpy cambion and my ex-boyfriend. Great. I love it.

As we settled into the wagon, Astrid smiled. "I've never been out of the town Starkovia. I'm so excited to see the capitol."

"Why didn't you build your castle near Nessden? It's much larger," Yra questioned.

"The view over Starkovia was better," I replied. "Besides, why not stay close to the town that the country was named after? It's good to remember history."

"Speaking of picking where you wanted to build your castle," Astrid added, pulling a blanket over her lap, "I think it's time for a story. I'm going to eat a bit of lunch and rest. Do we have time for a tale? I want you to tell me about how you became king."

"I hate doing these jobs for no reward," Yra interjected and balled up a blanket to lay down on. "They should pay us for clearing those kids out of that house. Now people won't go missing."

"I think keeping people safe is its own reward."

"And you're a princess of sunshine and rainbows. I hate doing work for no pay."

Astrid tilted her head back and grinned. "I love sunshine and rainbows."

A smile played at the corner of my mouth. She combated his moodiness with the skills of a master.

"So, Darius? A story?" she pressed.

I blinked and realized what was happening. I had made a promise, but it wasn't one I wanted to keep. I would rather her never know my past. Yra shot me a steely glance. I knew if I kept my lips shut, I would be in for some trouble later. I swallowed dryly and ran my tongue over my teeth. I remembered my early vampire days when doing that would have cut my tongue. "I suppose I promised the truth."