Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen leaned his hip on the thick stone of the window, looking out through the warped glass of the window. The tents that had not been burnt or destroyed in the initial invasion had been repurposed by the Greibron army into barracks and the land which had been dedicated to being developed into a symbol of peace was instead, yet again, a battle ground.“I’ll be back soon,” he said to Harithen pushing away from the window and crossing to the door. “Try to get some rest.”“I should come with you,” Harithen protested pushing back the blankets. “My supporters need to see that I am alive.”“Harithen,” Thaelen caught at the doorframe and turned back slowly. He closed the door behind him and crossed to sit on the edge of the mattress. “A well-aimed arrow, or one of those handheld guns… And you are dead. They are already trying to kill you. I will take Alandra’s body to the meeting point and hope to reason with Jermyne. But you need to stay here, where i
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeHarithen was leaning against the window looking out at Greibron when Thaelen entered the chamber. He wore a robe belted at the waist, his feet bare, and his hair swept over one shoulder. He glanced over his shoulder at Thaelen and smiled, turning to face him. “So, what did that pompous arse Jermyne have to say for himself when he saw that I was alive?”“He denied that it was you,” Thaelen replied closing the door behind him. “You should be in bed resting.”“Denied it was me? The slimy arsehole. I told you that I should have gone with you, he couldn’t deny it face to face with me.”“If it makes you feel better, I told him that if I saw him again, I’d take his head. Now, into bed, Harithen.”“Take his head,” Harithen laughed. “I like that. I might give it to you as a wedding present. And I’m fine,” Harithen tossed his hair back over his shoulder. The robe gaped at the neck revealing that he was bare beneath it. Thaelen inhaled through his nose, desi
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeHarithen’s head was thrown back, his Adam’s apple exposed, and his golden hair tangled and matted against the pillows. His breath was gasped out, his lips peeled back from his teeth, and his fingers clenched on Thaelen’s shoulders, the heels of his hands pushing him away instinctually.“Thaelen,” he groaned. “Please. It hurts.”Had he been too rough? Thaelen chastised himself. Or just rough enough?“And I’m… Oh, f-k. No. Don’t stop!” Harithen protested when Thaelen eased the suck of his mouth and lifted his face from where he had been drinking from Harithen’s c-ck.Thaelen laughed under his breath. “Make up your mind. Do you want me to stop, or keep going?”“Both,” Harithen laughed wildly. “Neither. I don’t know. It is too much, and yet also, so good…”“Hmm,” Thaelen swiped his tongue over the fragile, sensitive skin, turning his healing of the wound into sensuality, so that Harithen’s groan changed tone.As a prince, Harithen had been raised to b
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen watched as Harithen ran the gauntlet in the courtyard. The prince was barefoot, his trousers rolled to mid-calf and his shirt untucked and untied, revealing his chest and stomach as he leapt between the obstacles, dodging with grace the swinging pendulums that sought to knock him off his perch, his loose hair shimmering as he ducked and weaved completing the course to the congratulations of the menfolk around them.Watching the laughter on Harithen’s young face, Thaelen’s eyes met Sigrid’s across the courtyard, and he smothered his wince. Despite Sigrid’s disapproval, he did not regret turning Harithen, he told himself as she continued on her way into the building, disappearing from his sight. It was true that Harithen was very young, but the prince revelled in his vampirism, embraced it gleefully, and enjoyed his strength and speed.He was glorious.Below, in the courtyard, Harithen was being dressed by adoring blood slaves. Thaelen saw D
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen woke late in the morning to an empty bed.He knew before he even opened his eyes that Harithen was gone, but he told himself that, perhaps, the other man had woken early, or had been hungry. He was even willing to contemplate that Harithen had left in order to find sex elsewhere. But, deep down, he knew.He had been a fool not to take Harithen back to Concordia as soon as he was turned vampire. He should not have lingered at the tower in the hopes of delaying the conversation between them. Harithen had come to the conclusion that Thaelen was not going to throw Concordia’s forces against Greibron and had gone to raise his own army against his mother and sister and take back Greibron for himself.Thaelen dressed and made his way to the watch tower, not surprised to find Sigrid already there. “When did he leave?” He asked her as he took his place on the balcony looking out over Greibron at her side. Harithen had not been wrong about the weath
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen joined Haethnir, Sigrid and Harithen on the balcony of the watch tower and he braced his hands against the railing as he leaned out, the rain plastering his hair to his face and running in rivulets off his beard.“F-k.”The waters were thick with Alden ships and row boats pulled up all along the beach, spilling out soldiers and camp followers to make their way up the rain-soaked terrain to where the campfires struggled to stay lit, pouring smoke darkly into the sky.“Well, we knew that Alden was going to come and play, it’s hardly a surprise,” Harithen was unbothered by the development. “The question is are we going to do something about it or just sit here and watch whilst they roll out their army against us.”“We are going to sit back and watch and use our weaponry to hold them away from the mountains,” Sigrid replied. “There is no reason to throw away Concordian lives over this Greibron foolishness.”A muscle worked in the corner of Har
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen woke when Harithen rose from the bed leaving behind a warm spot where he had been, and the ghost of the scent that Harithen wore in his hair. Thaelen opened his eyes and squinted at the window. Through the part in the curtains, dawn was a grey light. His head ached and his mouth was dry and sour, his stomach uneasy within him. He felt as if he had not slept at all and the bed was rumpled, the sheets sticking against his skin with sour sweat.They had been up late the night before, first with Sigrid, Meguitte and Haethnir, and then alone - drinking wine and going over plans for the battle to take the grass plains and break through the wall, that was all, he thought.Harithen had been able to share insight into the protections built into the wall, the hidden machicolations, the number of men manning the portcullis, and the city beyond it. As he had done centuries before, Thaelen intended to employ Meguitte’s fire to burn out the enemy and sc
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeThe fire struggled to combat the chill from the open window, the sill bearing the tidemark of the blood that Denus had been casting out onto the rocks below as the bowl filled. The bedroom was in chaos, the bedsheets and bedside tables holding dark drips coagulating slowly, and the bed crowded with blood slaves sleeping off the effects of Thaelen’s thirst, but he was finally feeling more of himself.“How is it going with the battle?” He asked as Denus returned the bowl and dagger to the table and came to assist him to strap on armor borrowed from the supplies kept in the watch tower.Denus had been providing periodic updates from the windows for Thaelen, which had enabled him to instruct Farra and send messengers along the mountain range of towers and to Concordia in an effort to hastily source supplies for the soldiers fighting on the grass plains below.“They have taken the beach and the Alden ships, but are giving ground as night falls,” Denus