Blood Solstice: Part Three in the Tale of Lunarmorte Read Free Page A

the lykan at his
back.
    “ Brother,” he pleaded in Kirios’ ear. “You have to
understand.”
    “ Understand what?” Kirios bit out, his entire being trembling
with rage and desolation. “That you would kill me to cover your
crime?”
    “ I made a mistake, brother. She wasn’t even worth it. I can’t
lose Galen. He’s like my father, he is all I have ever
known.”
    “ And yet you took what was most precious to him.”
    Eneas growled, spittle flecking the side of Kirios’ face, “She
seduced me! It wasn’t my fault.”
    “ Ye gods, what has become of you, Eneas, that you would blame
a hapless human for your own folly?”
    “ Hers also.”
    “ Yes. But she is gone and with her, an innocent child by your
hand.”
    Eneas held still, seeming to have stopped breathing
altogether. And then… “This can only end with your death, brother.
I am truly sorry.”
    Before the blade could pierce his skin, Kirios whirled as if a
tornado, took the blade from Eneas’ hand and plunged it into his
black heart.
    His blood soaked Kirios’ hands and tears his face.
     
    ***
    Seven nights later
     
    His prison was cold and solitary. Like his heart, he snorted.
Bitterness threatened to overwhelm Kirios but he held true. This
was not his fault. Who knew Galen was a poisoned dagger biding its
time before plunging its blade into the hearts of those he had
sought to befriend. The beginning of a war was brewing and it had
only been but a few days. After he had sought out Galen with his
evidence of Eneas’ treachery, Galen had gone mad, almost has if he
had been taken over by the gods themselves. What had once been a
magik of, yes, mercurial moods, was now a magik of molten violence
who held a deep hostility towards lykans and vampyres. He threw
Kirios in prison (an act of mercy, ha!) and was already enlisting
faeries into espionage, searching for powerful communities of
vampyres and lykans that he and his remaining children could
destroy.
    “ Kirios.”
    He blinked in surprise to see Agamemnon towering over his
naked form in the prison cell. “Agamemnon?” He breathed. “W-w-what
are you doing here?”
    The magik’s mouth twisted. “Freeing you.”
    “ Why? Galen?”
    He shook his head. “He doesn’t know I am here. I’m getting you
out of here and then I’m leaving. I want no part in this mad man’s
war.” At that he reached out and touched Kirios, his magik flowing
over him until he was clothed. Kirios barely had time to nod his
thanks before the magik grabbed hold of his hand and the world
whirled past them with sickening speed. The sound of crashing water
met his ears, the invigorating scent of salty ocean cleansing his
dirt-filled nose and waking his numb senses. He blinked. They stood
on the dark shore, the sea just a black mass before
them.
    “ This is where I leave you, friend.” Agamemnon handed him a
clay bowl. The liquid was a little coagulated but Kirios almost
wept with relief.
    Blood.
    “ I don’t know how to thank you, my dear friend.”
    “ Just stay alive and out of Galen’s path.”
    And then he was gone.
     
    ***
    Brundisium 253 A.D.
     
    It had been more than five hundred years and yet there was a
yesteryear familiarity in being held captive by the Galen family.
Galen himself was gone now; his children and his children’s
children were Kirios’ captors. Stupidity, he whispered weakly under
his breath, his head lying limply against the jutting cold stone of
his cell, his neck aching numbly with the awkward angle. He didn’t
move though. He couldn’t. He was starving and had been for… Gaia,
how long had he been here? The sound of the shore off Tyras still
rang clearly in his memory, as if it had only been yesterday he had
fled from Galen. Back to a life of a nomad for him. And every time
Kirios had heard of Galen’s movement growing closer to his
location, off he would flee once more. After centuries of travel
Kirios had found a certain peace in Athens for a while, mesmerising
his way