Chapter 4 – Blood Moon Rising

The next seven nights passed in a fever of luxury and terror.

Valerian never left my side for more than minutes at a time.

He carried me through the palace like I was made of glass, fed me fruits that tasted like starlight and honey, and read to our daughter in a low, ancient tongue that made the baby kick in delighted response.

He also tripled the royal guard, sealed every entrance to the crypts, and stationed twelve of his most lethal assassins around our chambers.

But even a vampire prince cannot stop the turning of celestial wheels.

On the eighth night, the blood moon rose.

I felt it before I saw it.

A pressure behind my eyes.

A burning in my veins that had nothing to do with the child growing inside me.

I woke gasping, clutching my throat.

Valerian was already standing at the window, shirtless, silver hair loose, every muscle rigid.

The sky outside had turned the color of fresh blood.

“It’s time,” he said without turning. “The blood moon opens the veil between worlds. Tonight, every ancient power that has ever slept beneath this palace will try to wake.”

He crossed to me in two strides and cupped my face.

“Stay here. The wards are strongest in this wing. Livia and twenty guards will be with you. I’m going to the crypts to end this before it begins.”

“No.” The word tore out of me. “You are not facing whatever is down there alone.”

His eyes flashed gold for a heartbeat something I had only seen once before.

“Harper.”

“I’m the Sun-Born, remember? The prophecy revolves around me and this baby. If Solaris is waking because of us, then I’m coming.”

For a moment I thought he would lock me in the room.

Then he exhaled, a sound of pure surrender, and rested his forehead against mine.

“You will be the death of me, little sun.”

“Only if you keep trying to protect me by leaving me behind.”

He kissed me hard, desperate, tasting of fear and love.

Then he dressed for war.

Black armor etched with silver runes.

Twin swords forged from star-iron strapped across his back.

Daggers in every conceivable place.

He looked like the god of death’s favorite son.

Livia tried to protest when we left the royal wing, but one look from Valerian silenced her.

We descended.

Level after level after level.

The air grew colder, older, thick with the scent of dust and old blood.

Torches flickered with blue witch fire that cast no warmth.

The guards with us twelve of the elite Shadow Blades moved like ghosts.

Finally we reached the Forbidden Crypts.

A single archway of black stone carved with solar symbols that hurt to look at.

The wards here were ancient, woven by Solaris himself.

Valerian raised a hand and spoke words in a language that made my ears bleed.

The wards shattered like glass.

We stepped inside.

The crypt was a cathedral of darkness.

Rows of sarcophagi lined the walls each one sealed with chains of pure silver.

At the very center stood a single coffin on a raised dais.

It was made of white marble veined with gold.

Cracks spider-webbed across its surface.

Golden light pulsed from within like a second heartbeat.

Valerian’s swords whispered free.

“Stay behind me,” he ordered.

The Shadow Blades fanned out.

Then the coffin exploded.

Shards of marble flew like shrapnel.

A man rose from the ruins.

No not a man.

A god.

Taller than Valerian by a head.

Hair like molten gold cascading to his waist.

Skin that glowed with inner sunlight.

Eyes pure, blinding gold.

He wore armor of white gold that looked forged from the sun itself.

Every vampire in the crypt Valerian included dropped to one knee.

Except me.

I couldn’t move.

Because I knew him.

Not from this life.

From dreams that had haunted me since childhood.

Dreams of a golden king who called me “my sun” and “my queen” and wept when I died in his arms five hundred years ago.

Solaris smiled.

The expression was beautiful and terrible.

“Hello, little brother,” he said to Valerian, voice like a thousand bells made of light.

Then his gaze shifted to me.

“And hello again, my beloved. Did you truly think death could keep us apart?”

Valerian surged to his feet, swords igniting with black flame.

“Stay away from her!”

Solaris tilted his head.

“You stole her from me once, Valerian. You will not do so again.”

He took one step forward and the temperature in the crypt rose twenty degrees.

The Shadow Blades attacked.

Twelve of the deadliest vampires in history moved as one.

Solaris didn’t even look at them.

He raised a hand.

Golden light flared.

When it faded, twelve piles of ash drifted to the floor.

Valerian roared and launched himself at the ancient king.

The clash that followed shook the foundations of the palace.

Black fire against golden sun.

Swords that screamed when they met.

They moved faster than thought blurs of night and day tearing each other apart.

I backed away until my spine hit a sarcophagus.

Solaris was winning.

Every blow Valerian landed healed instantly.

Every wound Solaris dealt bled black blood that smoked on the floor.

Then Solaris pinned Valerian against a pillar with one hand around his throat.

“Enough games,” he said calmly. “She comes with me.”

He turned to me.

“Come, my love. It is time to remember who you truly are.”

Images slammed into my mind.

A woman with my face, wearing a crown of sunlight, laughing in a garden that no longer existed.

Dying in Solaris’s arms as Valerian younger, broken watched from the shadows.

A promise whispered with my last breath: “I will find you again.”

I clutched my head, screaming.

Valerian broke free and tackled Solaris.

They crashed through three sarcophagi.

Dust and bone exploded everywhere.

I ran.

Not away toward them.

Because something inside me was waking up.

Something that remembered both kings.

Something that loved them both.

And hated them both.

I grabbed Valerian’s fallen dagger star iron, humming with powerand drove it straight into Solaris’s back.

Golden blood sprayed across the floor.

Solaris staggered.

Valerian rolled free, coughing black blood.

Solaris turned to me slowly.

The dagger melted in his back like ice in fire.

He touched my cheek with fingers that burned like sunlight.

“You always did choose him,” he whispered, and for the first time, he looked ancient. Tired. Heartbroken.

Then he looked at my belly.

“Our daughter deserves better than a world of endless night.”

He vanished in a pillar of golden flame that seared my retinas.

When I could see again, the crypt was empty except for ash and silence.

Valerian lay on the floor, chest torn open, black blood pooling beneath him.

I fell to my knees beside him.

“No,no,no,Valerian, stay with me!”

He smiled through bloodied lips.

“Still… so bossy… my sun.”

His hand found my stomach.

“Protect her,” he rasped. “Promise me.”

“You’re not dying!” I screamed, pressing my hands to the wound.

Golden light my light poured from my palms.

The wound began to close.

Valerian’s eyes widened.

“Impossible.”

Far above us, in the throne hall, the eternal night sky cracked open for the first time in a thousand years.

Real sunlight speared down in a single beam.

And in that light stood Solaris alive, unharmed, crowned in dawn.

He looked straight down through the palace, through stone and shadow, and met my eyes across the distance.

The message was clear.

This was only the beginning.

The war for the Sun-Child had just begun.

And I was no longer sure which king I would choose when the final battle came.