Blakeshire Read Free Page A

of the shadows.”
    Zander raised his brow.
    “Marc is my doppelganger. Chrispin is the commander of my royal guard. I want you as my second-in-command. Front and center. Starting now.”
    No fear came to his eyes. Even if there were a real threat, I doubt I would see any there. Zander was not the small, disheveled boy he was when he watched his mother perish. Even though he was barely seventeen, he was a man, a warrior, and fit the bill to a T. Any king would want him at his side, with or without the brotherhood factor we shared. I knew his weaknesses just as he knew mine.
    I was growing closer to my newfound blood brothers Marc and Chrispin, but not close enough to reveal to them that at times I may fall to the floor as ice ran through my veins, as Donalt tried to seize me. Zander and Landen were the only ones that knew of that weakness, and Zander was the only one that knew how to bring me back.
    “Honored.”
    “As soon as I see Chrispin, I will tell him as much. If anything goes south while I’m gone, you get my mother the hell out of here.”
    Zander could see in the string. Not odd, considering his other gifted senses. My father had taught us both the passages long ago. I’d asked him more than once to get out of this hell and run, but he was waiting on something; what, I didn’t know.
    Zander glanced up quickly then stood, pulling me up with him. When he started to walk briskly toward the hidden passage in the room, I went to follow him, but he held his hand up. “Mommy’s home,” he said with a smirk. “I will guard your fires while you’re gone, my friend.” And with that, he vanished into the dark passage.
    Zander was not a fan of my mother; not in a sinister way, but in the way of respect. He told me once that the energy was too tense around her.
    No argument on that matter would come from me. My mother was, at least until I met Madison, the fiercest female I had ever known, though she hid that well from every other soul in this dimension.
    I started to pull a few clothes together, noting that I had very little attire that allowed me to present a ‘non kingly’ appearance to Madison.
    I had pulled a few outfits and such together right as my mother walked into my chambers.
    “What the hell are you doing?” she asked.
    I raised my brow. “Swearing?”
    She huffed out a breath as she came to my side. We’d had more than a few arguments since Madison had been found, and no doubt they had placed a cold wall between us. She wanted me to admit fault, not only that I was wrong about Willow but to face the fact that I had killed my own father. I refused to do either in her presence, even in a protected room. She was the first woman that had broken my heart. She had hidden my heritage from me, a family from me, and furthermore, she let Donalt do what he did to me. I don’t care how powerful any king is, if my child were in their grasp I would not dress in royal clothes and turn the other way. I would fight to the death and ensure that my child was safe.
    “Drake, you are not running. Not now.”
    My shoulders tensed. I was not in the mood for her half-ass attempts to steer me. I knew I wasn’t running, that I was going to claim what was mine, but she didn’t need to know that.
    “Why not now, Mother ? Would you not be satisfied until I am in the grave?” She had reached my side at that point, so she was in easy striking distance. I didn’t even blink as she slapped my face. That was a first. She’d never even raised her voice at me, much less taken a hand to me. Her eyes welled as she brought her hand up to cover her mouth.
    “Mother, if I were the king that you allowed Donalt to morph me into, you would be looking at the gallows before the sun rises.”
    “I did not allow him to do anything,” she said with a quake in her voice.
    “Why do you want me here? Why am I to play this part any longer? This is not my reign. Not my blood, or my war. If anything, it’s Landen’s.”
    “It is my blood