Promised in Blood (Broken Bloodlines Book 2)
Promised in Blood: Chapter 38

It takes me not even a moment to find Giorgios amongst the cacophony of voices that fill my head these days. It seems as though my mind can tap into every person I have ever connected with, and all at once. And I can isolate each one as quickly as pressing a button on a remote control.

Giorgios.

Good evening, brother. His familiar voice fills me with a sense of nostalgia and, despite my reason for reaching out to him, I feel a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.

It disappears quickly. Our father paid me a visit me today.

He is silent for a moment, no doubt as shocked as I was. For what purpose?

He knew of your visits to me these past months. He asked what we were hiding from him.

I assume you told him nothing.

I told him I had a pledge that I thought you may be interested in siring.

Good. Smart thinking, he says. Do you think he suspects anything close to the truth?

If I did, then I would already be long gone, not calmly having this conversation. No. But it is a grave concern that he suspects anything at all. We will have to limit your visits from now on.

I agree, brother.

I am sure he will pay you a visit shortly.

He groans. What a pleasant surprise that will be.

I smile in spite of everything. He is a good brother, and I have seen far too little of him the past several years. And now it looks like we will not be able to see each other for the foreseeable future.

He will learn nothing of the girl from me, Alexandros. I may not have your skill, but I can hold my own. I have had many years of practice.

I know, Giorgios. I believe in you.

Thank you, brother. I must go. I have some business to attend to, and she does not like to be kept waiting, he says with a dark chuckle.

After bidding him goodbye, I close my eyes and tune out the voices that once again fill my head. They slowly fade to a quiet hum of white noise. The voices are so much louder and more vibrant than they used to be, and I am surprised at how easily I can tune them in and out.

And the walls that I built to keep out those I am bonded with, both through choice and through family, are stronger somehow. There is no escaping the fact that the shift occurred when I bonded with Ophelia, although I have no idea why. When I bonded with Elena, I never experienced any shift in my powers. But she did not channel any of mine either.

She was one of the most powerful elementai of her generation. We met when she was only sixteen. She was a powerful and alluring elementai even at her tender age, but it was my brother who found her beauty intoxicating. They would spend hours reading the old philosophers and speculating about the Lost Prophecies of Fiere.

But it was I, the son of House Drakos, who could communicate with dragons and was therefore chosen as her suitor. Her father and mine deemed it the most appropriate match, and being the obedient children that we were, we did not question it. Vampire and elementai can choose to bond, or not, with any of our respective kinds. There does not have to be any kind of attraction for the bond to take root. And my bond with Elena was a strong one. We were as committed to each other as any vampire and elementai before us. And we were happy. Even for the seven hundred years before we had our first child. A healthy vampire boy, who looked just like me but had her hazel eyes. He was an only child for almost two hundred years until his little sisters were born.

Painfully bittersweet memories of the way he would carry them both on his back, how they would wait at the castle door, eager for his safe return, unfold in my mind like pages from a book. A tear runs down my face, and I swat it away, closing the book and shutting down my grief before it can take root.

My bond with Ophelia is so very different. Was our story also written billions of years ago when the universe was new? I have always known of the possibility of vampires having fated mates, but it is so rare an occurrence that I never considered it a possibility. Until today, I had no idea my parents were fated mates. Never would I have thought that I had one or that I would wait over two thousand years for her.

Knowing what I know now, I would wait two million years for Ophelia. She is different from any being I have ever known before, and as her powers grow, so do mine. And what better way to test them …

I clear my mind and focus on him, and as I breach the veil between our worlds, my mind grows sharper.

Alexandros Drakos. His deep growl is even fiercer than I recall.

My pulse spikes. Anikêtos.

He snorts, and I can practically feel the heat from his fire. Elpis told me you had spoken.

I expected that she would.

I am surprised to hear from you. The last time we spoke, you called me … What was it now?

I pinch the spot between my brows and sigh. You burned my wife’s face, Ani.

She got in my way.

Fury burns inside me as raw as the day in question, but I swallow it down. He never accepted her part in my life. You are a dragon with a three-hundred-foot wingspan. Everyone is in your way.

I was by your side for over a millennium, Alexandros.

And then you left! I remind him. And when my entire world was burning, you still did not come back. I needed you.

Do you think that we could have done anything to stop what happened?

Grief, acrid and hot, balls in my throat. You could have tried.

And risked the elimination of my entire species too? Do not be so arrogant as to assume that dragons owe your kind anything, Alexandros. We stalked this earth long before any of you, and when you all destroy each other, as you surely will, we will return once more.

I am not talking about what your kind owes anyone, Ani. I am talking about you and me.

He snorts again. You think that I owe you something?

A familiar rage swirls inside me once more, only now it is tinged with guilt and regret. I should have known this would be a mistake. The door of my study opens, and Ophelia pokes her head inside. The mere sight of her is enough to soothe the raging vortex of emotion that churns inside me.

I hold out a hand and beckon her to me. Closing my eyes, I listen to the sound of her soft footfalls as she crosses the room. Her slender fingers curl around mine, her touch sending a gentle warmth through my veins rather than the electric current I usually feel in such close proximity to her. She shuffles onto my lap and curls her small body against mine. With my arms around her, I rest my lips on the top of her head. She fits so perfectly here, as though she is precisely where she was meant to be. As though our atoms were forged from the same piece of the same star.

Hello Anikêtos, son of Herôs, first of your kind, Seer of truths and Keeper of the cradle of magic. It’s an honor to speak with you, Ophelia says in a calm, clear voice.

I blink at her.

And you are? Ani responds, but I can already tell that using all of his titles has gone a long way toward ingratiating herself to him. Dragons are known for their large egos, and none can compare to that of Anikêtos.

I am Ophelia Hart. I’m bonded to Alexandros.

I narrow my eyes in warning so she knows not to reveal too much, but she simply smiles sweetly at me.

You are not a vampire. His tone is much less harsh than it was a moment ago, full of curiosity now rather than disdain.

I am not, she admits.

He is no threat to her, but I still find myself banding her within the tightly protective circle of my arms. You are a curious creature, Ophelia Hart. So few are able to talk to dragons.

I know. I consider it a great honor, sir.

He snorts a laugh, probably because he knows how much her calling him sir will enrage me. I tip her jaw up with my forefinger. “You do not call him sir, little one.”

She flutters her eyelashes. “Sorry, sir.”

I stifle a groan and shift her on my lap so she sits squarely over my aching dick. It seems I become a slave to my desires whenever she is around. It is a distraction I could do without given the grave situation we all face, but it is one I relish all the same.

Is she your fated mate?

Ophelia’s blue eyes widen as she stares at me, both of them awaiting my answer.

There is no denying this truth, and I am no longer sure why I did not admit it sooner. Yes.

I told you, Dragon Whisperer, Ani says.

Ophelia gasps, and her heart flutters. I am certain she did not hear his reply, although it seared itself into my brain. Condescending egomaniac. He told me many times that Elena was not the one meant for me, and I rebuffed him every single time.

She blinks at me. I thought only wolves had fated mates.

No. Other species do too, although it is very rare.

Ani snorts. Not for dragons.

No, not for dragons, I admit. But your kind are so few in number that my statement still holds true.

Ophelia’s eyes spark with fascination. How many of your kind are there, Anikêtos?

We have so few left. Less than twenty dragons remain in the netherworld. Our food supply is not so nourishing here.

They have more than halved in number, which is a feat for creatures who can live for many thousands of years. I am sorry for your losses, Ani, I tell him sincerely.

He offers me only a growl of acknowledgment.

Ophelia wrinkles her nose. I find her curiosity so annoyingly endearing. What do dragons eat?

We do not eat. We consume. He snorts again, and I see the thick plumes of dark smoke in my mind’s eye, and a pang of regret and longing lances through my chest.

Is that not the same thing?

He remains silent. Knowing him, he considers it beneath him to answer such basic questions, so I tell her. “Dragons feed on energy. There is energy everywhere in the mortal realm, but it is not as abundant in the netherworld. Whilst they have an ample supply of souls to feast on, they are not so filling, diverse, or, I imagine, as pleasant as those in the realm of the living.”

Would you ever return to this realm, Anikêtos? she asks.

I brace myself for a diatribe about how dragons are superior to every race on earth and how we do not deserve them. As true as it may be, it is a sermon I have heard too many times.

But he surprises me and speaks in a tone as gentle as I have ever heard from him. Perhaps one day, if there is a strong enough reason. And you, Clandarrah, may call me Ani.

“Ani.” She says his name aloud and repeats it in her head. What does Clandarrah mean?

I brush the pad of my thumb over her full lips. It is dragon speak. Roughly translated it means Choice.

Chosen, Ani snorts.

Dragons have such few words unique to their kind, but Ani taught me all of them. I suppose my dragon is a little rusty after a thousand years.

I like this one, Dragon Whisperer, he says. Then he is gone, closed off to me once more.

My heart beats erratically in my chest. So many fond memories interspersed with the bitter ones. I met him, the most feared and respected dragon to ever roam the skies, when I was only a boy. He was my ally. My most trusted friend. Ophelia places a hand on my cheek. “Why are you sad?”

I stare into her bright-blue eyes. “I am not.”

She frowns. “You can’t lie to me. I feel your sadness as strongly as I would my own.”

I sink my teeth into my bottom lip and tip my face to the ceiling, avoiding the scrutiny of her gaze. My annoyance is irrational, but her ability to see me so clearly—to know me so intimately—makes it impossible to keep up the facade that has served me so well for half a millennium.

“And you don’t have to hide anything from me, Alexandros. It’s true that we’re fated mates. I felt it the moment you claimed me, but I didn’t know the words to describe the feeling.”

I brush her hair back from her face. “There are parts of me I should hide from you, agápi mou. Parts you should never have to see.”

She shakes her head, her eyes brimming with tears. “You never have to hide any part of yourself from me. I love all of you. Your darkness, your shadows, your light. Everything that makes you uniquely you. I feel like I have loved you since the beginning of time.”

I rest my forehead against hers and drink in the scent of her. Everything feels like too much to experience all at once. My love and obsession for her, guilt and regret over Ani and Elpis, Elena and our beautiful daughters. Lucian. My heart aches with such a profound sense of happiness and loss at the same time, and it is tearing me apart. My hands ball into fists. I need to do something that will sate the raging beast inside me. Feed him until he falls silent once more.

She turns on my lap and straddles me. “I will be whatever you need,” she whispers, her breath dusting over my forehead.

My fangs ache. My cock throbs. “I will not be gentle, little one.”

She brushes her lips over my cheek. “I’m an elementai. I’m sure I can handle it, sir.”

I growl, reminded of the jealousy that raged in me when she said that word to Ani a few moments ago. “If I ever hear you call another sir again, I will punish you severely.”

Her nimble hands glide over the collar of my shirt before she fists her hand in the soft fabric. “And I’m sure I’ll handle that too. But what do you need right now?”

I run my nose over her throat, stopping at the pulse that flutters beneath her skin. “All I ever need, Ophelia. You.”

She drags in a breath and grinds herself against my shaft. “So take me. I’m already yours.”

Yes, she is mine. A fact I remind her of when I fuck her on my lap and then on my desk. Over and over until she is the only thing I can taste and see and feel.

And I will take the few blissful hours of mindless oblivion that being inside her provides me before all the pain of the past and the fear for our futures comes crashing down around us once more.