Crown of Souls

Chapters 4-5

Chapter 4

The morning sun seemed to crash through the window as my eyes eased awake. It was almost blinding. I silently cursed myself for forgetting to close that curtain as I had every night for the past four years, since I had become the High King and so gotten to move into the Ivory Palace.

Those memories, in particular, happened to haunt me to the very day and would continue to until the end of them. The old High King was a tyrant, too evil a man to respect enough to say his name. He had seen my parents killed, two nobles who happened to believe in doing what was right for the sake of it being right, not to fill their own pockets and stomachs full of gold and palace-quality meals, solely because they defied his idea to declare a war against the Faeries and Wolves solely to eradicate them, for the old High King, you see, happened to have a particular disdain for non-Human people. My friends and I had basically come from nothing at that point, and so we gathered all those who would join us and stormed the Ivory Palace, demanding that the King either abject, or that I would challenge him for the throne and take it by force.

For a cowardly tyrant, he sure did try and defend it, but to no avail. Though I almost perished myself, I took the crown from him, and Troy and Percy had no qualms taking up the responsibility when my first order of business was to have him placed in the dankest cell the dungeons offered.

The fight flew through my mind like a windstorm, battering my heart, as I'd never wished to harm anyone like that. Then, in the same week that I'd become High King, Elanis Summerset invaded the Kingdom of Humans, and despite the fact that they had the upper hand (being Vampires and all), we had almost won against them. However, they fought us into a stalemate, which was to be decided in one final battle, the Battle of Sunsets, which took place on the border between my Kingdom and Summerset's.

The Vampires almost defeated us, and we were down to our last few hundred soldiers (as the Human army beforehand was only around a thousand compared to the Vampires' forces, of which Elanis only brought five thousand). Our defeat, and the eradication of the Humans was imminent. That was, however, until I faced Elanis myself in combat, and stunned everyone by actually winning, placing Summerset at my mercy.

That's when the reinforcements that we didn't see coming arrived. Jaxis Fang led his Wolves to assist us, and at the time newly-crowned Seryn led the Fae Army to surround what remained of the reinforcements Summerset had sent for to guarantee his victory.

The sun set on that day with us victorious, and me inducted into the Conclave as the person representing the Kingdom of Humans.

Ever since that day, Summerset and I clashed at every Conclave meeting, and any time we crossed paths, anyone traveling with us tensed up, bracing for what felt like an inevitable conclusion.

Fortunately, the Humans and Vampires hadn't fought since the Battle of Sunsets, but the way the Conclave meeting that day went would determine whether we got to keep that streak of peace alive.

Panic started to hammer at my brain and my heart, my chest seizing up and my breathing slowing to a near halt. It was impossible to catch my breath. It was almost like someone had grabbed my very lungs. I tried to gasp for a deep breath, but to no avail.

Aurora, waking with a start, said something, but I couldn't hear her. My ears were ringing, my eyes widening with each passing second.

Suddenly, through the Heartlink, I felt her.

It's ok, sweetheart, she sent, relax. I'm right here, my Heartmate. Breathe.

My lungs finally loosened up, though the pain was still tremendous. I finally took one deep breath. Then another. And another.