A Court of Blood and Void: an RH Fantasy Romance (War of the Gods Book 1) Read online

  A Court of Blood and Void

  WAR OF THE GODS, #1

  Meg Xuemei X

  A Court of Blood and Void© 2018 by Meg Xuemei X

  Copyright notice: All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Edited by Dan McNeill

  Cover art by Andreea Vraciu

  The novel is a work of fiction. Any and all characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or events or places is merely coincidence. Novel intended for adults only.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Author’s Notes

  Sneak Peek of The Empress of Mysth

  More Books by Meg Xuemei X

  About the Author

  A Court of Blood and Void

  (War of the Gods, #1)

  They call me beautiful. They call me Monster. Soon, they’ll call me death.

  As a direct descendant of the God of Death, Cassandra Saélihn is considered the most dangerous monster of all time. Her own mother locks her in a cage to protect the world from her. Cass thought this jail would be her world for a lifetime, but then four sexy, formidable warriors--a vampire lord, twin fae princes, and a demigod--find her.

  They claim she's not a monster, but a powerful weapon. The Olympian gods have begun to destroy the Earth with a vengeance, and only she can stop and kill them. But Cass has a mind of her own and can't be told what to do, no matter how drawn she is to her four warrior saviors. To their dismay, the four warriors can't tame the wild, cunning, and volatile Cass. But they have a bigger problem--their growing attraction toward her.

  To turn the woman they desire into the ultimate weapon and ensure Earth's survival, they'll have to conquer her body and heart, which seems even harder than winning the war against the atrocious gods. But nothing turns these alpha males on more than an impossible dare. And nothing turns Cass on more than being stalked.

  Warning: This is a full-length reverse harem fantasy/paranormal romance that features one hell of strong woman and her four powerful supernatural mates. It contains brutal battles, explicit love scenes, raw language, magic, swordfights, Greek gods, dark fae, vampires, shifters, and a lot of assholes.

  PROLOGUE

  The Unseelie fae, heir to Sihde, stood atop the cliff and surveyed the scorched world. The expanse of ocean was no longer silky black glass but a dark crimson ripple of fire and blood. Behind him, just a few blackened stones and bricks remained amid the embers and ashes that had been his cabin.

  The ward hadn’t stopped the invaders—gods from Mount Olympus—from destroying his treasured vacation house.

  Soon, this entire planet, home to immortals and mortals alike, would spin out of existence if Reysalor Iliathorr didn’t find the only weapon that could kill the alien gods.

  Thankfully, he’d received a vision showing him where to look for this weapon that was also his destined mate. She was hidden in a vampire court. To reach her, Reysalor would need the help of the High Lord of Night, a primordial vampire and his old rival. His twin, Pyrder, had set out to recruit another longtime foe, a ruthless demigod he would rather not see for another millennium.

  The fae prince heaved a sigh, shifted into a black panther, and dashed away from his burned cabin by the reddened sea to secure a future for his people and Earth….or what was left of it.

  1

  I pulled at the bars of my cage, willing them to budge so I might slip between, but the iron wouldn’t bend, just like yesterday, just like all the days before that. Yet every day I tried. And every day I hoped that I’d grown strong enough to finally break out of this prison.

  My palms and fingers burned at the iron’s touch. Blisters popped up on my skin. Iron itself couldn’t harm me, but every inch of this cage was warded with the most potent, nastiest spells, designed to keep me in.

  When the acid burning my palms became too much, I gave the bars one last violent shake and shrieked. “Let me out, you cunt! You can’t keep me locked in here forever!”

  The cage remained unaffected, as were the cold walls at the far end. It was deathly quiet here, except for my curses echoing off the walls.

  I didn’t slump to the hard ground. I didn’t sob or beg, as I had during the first thirteen years. I paced in the cage, balling my scalded hands on my sides. My rage smoldered, yet it couldn’t get me out of here.

  Nothing could.

  Even if I screamed myself hoarse, no one would hear me in this underground dome. My enchanted cage hung two feet above the ground to ensure that no supernatural force could sense my presence. The spells have also neutered my power, preventing it from leaving this cage.

  Nevertheless, I threw up a hand and a current of air hit the bars, but it didn’t rattle the metal. I sent a column of black fire to wrestle with every inch of the cage. The fire fizzled out in half a second.

  My name is Cassandra Saélihn. My mother branded me as an extremely dangerous monster and locked me up in this cage when my magic manifested at the age of two, to keep the world safe from me.

  “And to protect you from yourself,” Jezebel had said ruefully, as if I would slit my own throat for fun.

  I heard a click and stopped pacing. My head snapped toward the heavy, sealed door. It usually opened once a day, and sometimes once every few days. When days passed, anxiety drilled holes in my stomach. I dreaded that one day this door would never open again, and I’d be left to rot in here forever.

  Blood rushed to my ears in anticipation as I watched the door open a crack. I prayed this time I’d see a difference person, only to find the same beautiful, innocent, and youthful face I sickened of seeing but was afraid to never see again.

  Jezebel glided in regally and gracefully, carrying a tray of food and a mug of what I knew was cold tea. She took me in, her shoulders stiffening as she saw blood dripping from my palms.

  She reached me in an instant, no longer pretending to be as slow as a mortal. She put the tray down on the desk a few feet outside the cage and perched on her usual seat.

  “How are
you today, Cassandra?” she asked gently.

  “Fuck you.”

  She rubbed her temples, as if pitying herself for having to put up with me. “Cassandra,” she sighed. “Will you ever stop hurting yourself?”

  “It’ll heal tomorrow.”

  “If you keep doing this, you’ll make me sad. When I’m sad, I can’t bear the sight of you, and I won’t come see you for a month.”

  That meant I wouldn’t have food for a month. She never intended to starve me, but she never let me have a full stomach, for fear I would grow too strong for her to control.

  “Mother…” I hadn’t begged her for a very long time. “Just let me out. I’m not a monster. You don’t need to fear me. No one needs to fear me. I’ve never even hurt an ant.”

  She dropped her gaze to the ground, as if looking for ant corpses.

  “Let me out of this cage, please, Mother,” I said, my voice sweet and innocent. “I’ll stay far away from you. I’ll stay out of your sight forever, and you won’t need to burden yourself with me anymore.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of, Cassandra,” she said, her big blue eyes so full of sorrow that, instinctively, I wanted to comfort her, forgetting for a moment who she was—my eternal tormentor. “Only I can bind you. Only I can protect you. By keeping you here, no one will ever find you, use you, and harm you. Don’t you understand? It’s hard for me, too, but I’m doing all this for you. You have no idea how much I’ve sacrificed for you.”

  Rage surged in me. I tried to contain it, but a muscle twitching on my clenched jaw betrayed how upset I was. If I lost my temper, Jezebel would punish me.

  “Every action has a consequence, Cassandra.” She told me that every time she was down here. “Now cheer up, my child. Look what I brought you. An apple.”

  “I don’t want an apple,” I said, though my stomach grumbled in gnawing hunger. “Let me out for a second, and then I’ll return here willingly. Just let me see the sun, the sky, and the stars for once.”

  My voice was full of longing, but it didn’t seem to move her.

  Jezebel shook her head and breathed out a long-suffering sigh. “We’ve been over this, Cassandra. It’s not going to work. I brought you to this world, so you’re my responsibility. I must keep both you and the world safe.”

  I looked around the frosty stone walls, the unbreakable lock on the cage’s door, and the iron bars surrounding me. I would never escape this prison. I would never get away from this mad woman who was my mother.

  Bitterness speared into me, filling me, and I let every vicious thought I’d ever had spur my verbal attack.

  “Do you enjoy it, Mother?” I asked, my gaze lingering on the small bite on her neck near her collarbone, my lips pulling back in a sneer. “You let the bloodsucker drink from you and fuck you every night. In exchange, he lets you do whatever you want with me. Maybe you should teach me how to whore myself out. You seem to have quite the knack for it.”

  Her eyes widened in shock. I’d never talked to her like that before. Automatically, she moved her hand to cover the little red bite mark on her skin.

  “You can’t hide it, Jezebel,” I said. “You reek of sex and blood. Every time you come here, I smell his stench on you.”

  “How can you talk to your own mother like this?” she asked, still stunned, though her voice was now laced with resentment. “Where did this vulgarity come from?” She rose from seat indignantly and tossed the tray of food at the wall. “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done it for you.”

  “Whatever, you delusional bitch,” I said.

  I was done pretending to be a good girl. I was going to rot here anyway. She would never let me out. For over a decade I’d tried every possible way to get her to unleash me and failed. Now I wanted to bleed her a little, as she’d hurt me every day.

  “I never asked you to trade sex and blood so you could lock me up,” I said. “You’re a fucking whore. That’s exactly what you are. Own it and stop pretending to be a saint. You make me sick. Every time I see you, I want to puke my guts out.”

  Her face paled and her dark scarlet lips trembled. She looked at me, her child-like eyes full of tears, as if I was the monster and she was my victim.

  “I won’t come back for a month, Cassandra,” she said in a determined, quivering voice. “Until you’re fully calmed down. Until you learn manners.”

  I barked out a mirthless laugh. “You want me to learn fucking manners when my last meal was five days ago?”

  With one last, devastated glance in my direction, Jezebel turned and headed to the door.

  I stopped laughing. “You stupid cunt!” I screamed after her. “I never want to see your fucking face again. Send someone else next time.”

  The heavy door slammed shut behind her.

  I knew I wouldn’t see my mother for a month.

  ~

  I lay in bed, staring at the blank ceiling above the bars of the cage, trying not to focus on my gnawing hunger. A mortal would have died, but I was more than an immortal with a powerful monster inside me—at least, that was what my mother had told me.

  I didn’t know exactly what I was, even though I had unbearable, endless time on my hands to ponder that. Jezebel kept the knowledge from me. She not only kept me in this cage; she kept me ignorant.

  I snapped my head toward the door when a loud noise rose from it. Usually it clicked and slid open before Jezebel glided in.

  This time it was different. A bang rocked the door. Someone was kicking at it. My pulse spiked as I watched the steel door bend out of shape.

  Who had such strength? I bolted up in bed. It wasn’t my mother. It had to be the enemy hunters she’d tried to keep away from me all these years.

  They must have found me. They had come for me.

  Welcome warmth lit inside me. Anyone was better than her.

  When the door tumbled down, I stood at the edge of the cage, watching with interest.

  A male—not just any male, but a breathtakingly gorgeous man—stepped onto the door on the ground and charged in. An enormous black panther trotted beside him.

  My gaze flicked from the male to the beast, and every dormant cell in me swirled alive as if ignited with fire.

  Both the male and the beast sniffed the air, their nostrils flaring, their eyes brightening, as if they’d just caught the most surprising, exquisite scent.

  And here I was, unwashed.

  I grinned at them predatorily.

  2

  The masculine, handsome male widened his eyes, and the panther snarled at the cage then at the male beside him.

  The stranger was tall and muscled. An unbuttoned white trench coat draped over his dress shirt. A lock of dark hair brushed his strong jaw. His face was cold and hard like refined marble. His piercing gray eyes shone with intelligence as they homed in on me, tracing my every movement.

  His scent of faint pine and aged fine wine wafted toward me, assaulting my senses.

  He was a vampire.

  As soon as I identified his species, an old hatred rose in me.

  Had he come for my blood?

  A dark light flashed through my eyes. I knew how enticing my blood was. Jezebel’s blood was nectar to a vampire, better than any mortal’s or immortal’s. The vampire king was so addicted to her that he’d do anything for her.

  My blood was richer and sweeter than hers.

  The male vampire wouldn’t be able to resist the call of my blood. I could already tell by the flare of his nostrils and the intense heat in his eyes.

  Come to me, boy.

  If he wanted it, I could get him to free me. And then I would show him I would be more trouble than I was worth if he got his fangs near my neck.

  First, I had to pretend to be meek.

  The vampire’s hungry look vanished in a blink, and his face became unreadable. If I hadn’t had superior sight, I would have believed I’d imagined his lust.

  I darted a glance at the panther. The beast hadn’t taken his eyes from me. His golden
irises burned with rage. He growled at the vampire, as if sending him a message. I watched them. The panther didn’t seem to be the vampire’s pet.

  A panther thought he was equal to a vampire?

  The vampire shot an irritated look at the panther before once again fixing his intense gaze on me. I stared back, aware I might never have another visitor if I missed the opportunity. The bloodsucker was my only ticket out of here.

  Soft noises rose from outside the door.

  I tilted my head to listen. The vampire and the panther weren’t alone. They had a team, waiting out of sight. They were stealthy, but I could detect them.

  They were all vampires, and none of them had heartbeats. Jezebel wasn’t among them, neither was her vampire lover.

  I wanted to know what had happened.

  Another vampire horde might have taken over this lair. That would have been a nice change. I could have missed the sound of battle in my insulated hell hole.

  A vampiress strode in with a cocky air and stood on the other side of the sexy vampire. She crinkled her nose at my stink, and I smirked at her.

  She was a pale-skinned, green-eyed knockout. Her blonde hair flowed down to her elegant shoulders, which suddenly made me self-conscious of my wild, knotted hair.

  The panther growled at her, disliking her presence in the room. He’d marked this cell as his space.

  The male vampire ignored the beast, his gray eyes never leaving me.

  “Jade,” he addressed the vampiress without turning his head. “Your presence is not required. Clear the area. No one gets near. I need to interrogate this girl alone.”

  Surprise marred Jade’s beautiful, cold face, and a muscle twitched on her jaw. Judging from the reaction, I’d bet money, if I had any, that he’d never dismissed her like this before.

  Her icy eyes shot knives at me. That look told me all I needed to know—she regarded me as a rival and a threat.