Page 6 of Zepharali: Lord of the East Winds (Lords of the Wind Book 3)
Lazaar
Lazaar glared so hard at Oleksandr that he shrunk away.
“Do not take your ire out on your guardian. He is the silent sentinel sent to us from the ancient angels of protection. He couldn’t have told you your truth until I allowed it.”
A comforting, melodic voice made Lazaar jerk his head up.
“Rise off your knees, Lazaaras Nyateagor. You are a prince.”
He didn’t know how long he’d been on the ground with silent tears streaming down his hot cheeks, but he had no desire to face this new existence.
He wasn’t born of goodness like he’d been told. Instead, he was a so-called royalty, with fathers who were dark lords and an evil mage-vampire as a mother who’d sent demons to kill him and destroy all he knew and loved.
“She wasn’t trying to kill you, Prince Lazaaras. She needs you alive to take your powers.”
Lazaar felt he should stay on his knees with his head bowed before this angel. From the descriptions in the tales he’d heard, it was the only thing she could be.
“Do not fear to gaze upon me, Prince. I mean you no harm. I am a peaceful being and the Mother of the Earth Realm.”
Her face was almost obscured by an ethereal glow that didn’t allow him to make out her features. Silken white garments blew on the breeze around her bare feet as she went to Justice and touched her head to his.
“Hello, my dearest.”
There appeared to be a telepathic conversation between her and the wolf before she turned back to Lazaar.
“I know, Justice. He cannot be allowed to remain in the Earth Realm. But I knew this day would come, and I’ve established a remedy to keep not only your packs and covens safe but to protect him from his evil lineage.”
Lazaar was about to ask for clarification, but a sensation of fear and intense anger consumed him before a glint of flames through the trees made him want to retreat.
Three men emerged through the dense forest.
A hooded being with a stern, scarred face sat atop a massive beast taller than Justice. The animal stood with a gorgeous fall of black hair. Lazaar realized it was a horse.
But it was the second being with sizzling embers dripping from the exposed skin on his arms—standing amid heat waves—that made the hair on the back of his neck rise.
He walked side by side with a tall man in sleek clothes like the Vampire King, but instead of close-cut hair like Wick, this one had shiny, waist-length black hair with a stark silver streak on the right side.
He was gorgeous, but the one beside him, with the fiery ring around his coal-black eyes, made darkness swim in Lazaar’s veins.
He was drawn to it but kept his feet rooted in place.
The burning one spoke, and to his surprise, he wasn’t afraid.
Is he a fire god?
The Vampire King extended his hand in the man’s direction. “Prince Lazaar, this is my second-in-command, Belleron Liatos, the Lord High. Accompanying him is one of his three mates, Wrath.”
Wrath?
“Brothers, this is the dark prince the Mother and I sent to the secluded realm.”
“He is a tribrid.” Wrath’s voice was a rumble that hurt Lazaar’s chest as he moved forward with his mate tucked behind him. “Evil personified. I should kill him now before he ascends.”
Lazaar bristled, tired of them talking about him as if he weren’t there and his life was not his own.
The ground trembled.
“I am not bad, nor am I evil. I am not a prince. I am simply a peaceful lord from a peaceful land.”
“What you are is a threat to Earth and my mates,” Wrath warned in a fierce growl, snarling at Justice while sparks fell around him. “If you leave him here, there won’t be a place he can hide. As I’ve felt his presence, so will others, and only the top-level demons will come for him. He’ll be caught and forced to serve them.”
No, please.
Wrath didn’t stop his condemnation.
“His vampire half is the most dangerous. After he feeds for the first time, his thirst for blood will consume him. There has never been a tribrid. It’s forbidden to create one, and for good reason, Justice. When he reaches maturity and acquires his full power, there’ll be no barrier that will keep him out, no vampire or wolf who can best him. We must get—”
The Mother held her hand up, and Wrath clamped his mouth shut.
“I promised his fathers I would do all within my authority to save Lazaaras from evil, even from himself. He won’t ascend until he has embraced the dark. I still have time.”
The Mother held her arm toward the hooded man, who’d yet to speak.
“Adres, Titan of the West Wind, I will need your help to send him to Tir Scáthanna.”
Lazaar shook his head in disbelief. The Land of Three Suns.
She smiled in his direction. “A beloved with a titan’s heart can save you from the evil your vampire possesses, the form that came from your mother.”
The hooded man climbed off his horse and stood at her side. She closed her eyes and blew a soft breath on the wind that shimmered in the air and flew toward the East.