King of Knights Read online

  Chapter One:

  Owen:

  “Ivy said she’d meet us here?” Ryker asked turning to glance at the door, yet again.

  We were at the MBIA Annual Winter Banquet. Really, it was just a chance to get to evaluate how the other teams did on their winter projects, and also to see who didn’t make the cut. There was even an award ceremony for the best projects of their categories. Last year, when they had announced Team Camelot in first place for finding Excalibur, we thought the room was going to riot. Turns out, King of Knights wasn’t just an ironic title that we threw around to get on Ryker’s nerves. As the lore of knights goes, whosoever wields Excalibur holds the title King of Knights. Technically, that means there hadn’t been one since Arthur.

  Now there was definitive proof.

  The knights, apparently, took this very seriously. Some, especially the Legacies of the Round Table, were thrilled. But others grew a little spiteful.

  “Yes, she said she’d hitch a ride with Natalie and them,” I replied. Ryker let out a long sigh.

  The room was filling up as people in their evening best strutted into the huge ballroom. A large, globed chandler hung from the painted ceiling at the crest of the dome. Pillars framed the room with tables set in the space outside of them. Inside the circle was room for dancing and, of course, the stage for the ceremony. I saw Conner and Hailey walk in. I gave them a wave. They both glared at me and hurried along. Yeah, Team Lake and Team Camelot had a falling out. Although they could not be expelled, they also could not rank because they acted as an assisting team, which meant a demotion to B class. Ryker had several arguments with Conner that we hadn’t known anything about assisting teams when it all started, but they refused to listen. With my finger, I moved a chair back just as Conner walked by. His foot caught the chair’s leg, and he fell.

  “Stop that,” Ryker grumbled.

  “Cadet Emrys.” I would recognize that velvety feminine voice anywhere.

  “Yes, my lady.” I stood to greet Morgana. Judging by the green sparks in her eyes, she was pissed about something.

  “Have you read that book I gave you?” She demanded. Now, we both knew the answer to that question, but she was also setting a trap to catch me in a lie.

  “You look lovely tonight.” I smiled. She wore a shimmering purple, long-sleeved dress, and her silver hair was pulled up in a bun. For an ancient lady, she was stunning.

  “Cut the flattery.” Morgana glared up at me, pointing her finger in front of my nose. “If you don’t read that book by the time school starts, you won’t be allowed to attend.” She threatened. I took a step back.

  “What?” I gasped, “That’s in five days.” The tome was over five hundred pages long, which was part of the reason I hadn’t read it yet. Between reading for school and magic, it just hasn’t been at the top of my priorities list.

  “Then I guess I know what you’ll be doing this week,” Morgana replied, setting her hands on her hips.

  “You can’t expel me for not reading a book.” I pushed the boundary. I wanted to know exactly how important this was to her.

  “Try me.” By the cold set in her glittering emerald eyes, I knew she was dead serious. Apparently, it was extremely important to her that I read this.

  “Fine,” I grumbled.

  “Believe me, I’ll know if you don’t.” Morgana threatened. Then, with a turn on her heel, she was gone, leaving me to watch after her. It was remarkable to me how good they were at that.

  “Guess I’ll be reading this week,” I sighed, sitting back down.

  “She should be here already,” Ryker muttered, drumming his fingers on the table. “Why didn’t you drive her? What if something happened?” I inhaled a deep breath, rolling my eyes. So, a year ago Ryker and Ivy decided to put their feelings on hold for the sake of the team. Fine. Except it has made them moody, crabby, and too stupid for each other to function. I also knew that the problem wasn’t Ivy.

  I’ll never forget that day she burst into my room crying. Ivy cried over everything, so I’m used to it by now. It was about six months ago that she curled herself up in my bed with Archimedes and proceeded to tell me Ryker moved out of their love shack cabin in dream world. Apparently, it was just too darn hard for our King of Knights to control himself being alone with Ivy. I wonder what that meant. It was then that Ivy announced that she was going to date. I was so proud that day. I thought Ryker was going to shit himself.

  She had been on a few dates, but nothing more than two friends hanging out. I wasn’t really worried about it. That is until I saw her walk into the ballroom on the arm of a tall, rugged fellow. She, of course, looked beautiful in her emerald green evening gown with her moonlight colored hair swept up one side. But I was more interested in the guy she was with.

  “Who the hell is that?” Ryker demanded. Oh, looks like I wasn’t the only one who noticed.

  They walked over to us, Ivy laughing at whatever he had just said. Ryker and I both stood. Ryker stood because he was about to try to assert his dominance, and I stood because I wanted a good view of whatever was about to happen. Meeting Ivy’s suitors has been the best entertainment I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t just the drama of Ryker trying not to bust something, but also Ivy’s taste in men was atrocious.

  “Hey, guys!” Ivy greeted us, “This is Malcolm Gadsden, he’s a transfer student from Australia.” He wore an all-black tuxedo, with a bolo tie, and western boots. He stood just as tall as me, but was burlier, like Ryker’s build. His golden blond hair fell in long locks down to his shoulders, and he had bright blue eyes.

  “Evnin’ mates.” He smiled holding out his hand to Ryker.

  “Ryker Pendragon,” He replied.

  “Ah, a Pendragon then, that’s impressive,” Malcolm laughed. “I’m just learning all the legacies meself, I’m still pretty new to this.” Though he sounded simple, something was fascinating about him. For all intents and purposes, he looked like a stoner surfer, but there was a sharpness behind his eyes and an inflection in his voice that made me think there was more than met the eye.

  “Malcolm is a Legate.” Ivy smiled up at him. Oh, a newbie huh?

  “I’m the first of me line.” Malcolm shrugged. “A right weird thing to discovah.” He laughed then. I opened myself up to feel his magic as I wondered which of the many races he belonged to in Mythos. I felt no outward magic off of him, which meant he could be one of two things. A troll or a knight.

  “Malcolm asked me to introduce the two of you,” Ivy said, giving Ryker a pointed look when he fell into dead silence. I could feel the heat of his anger coming off of him from where I stood. “You know, because he’s a knight.” Who says the universe doesn’t have a sense of humor?

  “Oh aye, mate, I wanted to congratulate ya on findin’ Excalibah.” He held out his hand again. I could tell Ryker was aggravated with the flattery. No one wants to be a dick to someone who admires them.

  “Thank you,” Ryker said shaking his hand. I wished I had a camera to capture that stunned look on his face. “I’m sorry, did you say you’re a new knight?” I knew he couldn’t help himself.

  “Aye, that’s what they tell me. I got discovered, oh, about two years ago now. I had boxed a shark, made the local paper for saving a kid. Then, these two guys came to me door and asked me to crush a piece of paper in me hand, small as I could. I figure it was no bigger than a tack by the time I was done with it.” He explained.

  Before Ryker could say anything, an announcement was called for us to please take our seats. Malcolm excused himself, kissed Ivy’s hand, and then left. Ivy took the chair between Ryker and me. I gave her a big smile and a wink. By the cocky grin she gave me back, she knew exactly what she was doing. Ryker sat away from us, glaring down at the tablecloth. We
shared our table with a handful of werewolves. They kept to themselves, as they were pack creatures, but they were friendly fellows.

  After a few announcements, dinner was served. It wasn’t anything remarkable, just bland, mass-produced banquet food, but the conversation was stimulating. According to the werewolves at our table, it was actually taboo for werewolves to pledge themselves to a nation since they were part of a kingdom. The problem was their king had gone missing about fifty years ago with the vampire princess. Now the two kingdoms were feuding, and so citizens of both sides have been discreetly jumping ship. Since then, the government of the werewolf kingdom has tried to make amends and is even sending exchange students as a sign of good favor.

  As they were passing out dessert, Agent Rogers and Morgana took the stage. They welcomed us back from winter break and congratulated us on passing the project. The room had about two hundred students in it, which was quite the decline from the five hundred that our class had entered with. As they prattled on, a beauty caught my eye. She wore a long shimmering dark blue dress that brought out her big brown doe eyes and the light tones of her chestnut colored hair.

  “Now, for the awards of this year’s winter project: Humane Trophies” Morgana announced and I looked back over. For the project, we basically had to find a rare and dangerous mythical beast, get a piece of fur, a fang, or something without killing it, and bring it back here.

  “For the most trophies collected, Team Lake for collecting over fifty locks of fur from fifty different Amaroks!” Agent Rogers announced. The room applauded. I rolled my eyes. They would do anything to pass, wouldn’t they? Amaroks were gigantic wolves that lived in Alaska and Northern Canada. They didn’t even have any magic; they were just huge.

  Agent Rogers and Morgana listed off several more award categories and a few of the winners were actually impressive. Team Trojan, the team with the Legacies Achilles, Troy, and Medusa, found a freaking Pegasus. They got the award for “most difficult creature.” Naturally skittish, the Pegasus could take flight at any moment.

  “Now for the Excellence Award, the award that goes to the team that displayed the most skill, efficiency, and research to succeed. This is the highest honor of any cadet at MBIA.” Morgana announced.

  My heart pounded. I didn’t know why I was nervous, a Griffin was plenty good enough. I mean we had to go to the tiny islands in Highland Scotland after spending weeks researching where one might be. Once there, we spent a week trying to hunt one down. We finally found one in a cave on a tiny, uninhabited island. The creatures were vicious, as much a predator as a flight risk.

  “Second place goes to,” Morgana glanced down at her note card, “Team Camelot, for bringing back the feathers of a Griffin!” The room applauded, but the three of us sat in shock. If we didn’t win, then who did?

  “The winners are, Oh! Team Wallaby.” Morgana announced. I was shocked.

  “Who the hell is Team Wallaby?” Ryker demanded. Malcolm and two other guys stood as the room cheered for them.

  “Team Wallaby found a dragon in the Outback,” Morgana explained.

  “A dragon? Are you freaking kidding me? They’re supposed to be extinct.” Ryker hit the table. Ivy cheered with the rest of them. Apparently, her competitive drive was proportionately linked to her lust for the new guy. That did not improve Ryker’s mood.

  “The hell with this,” Ryker muttered and stood. Ivy followed him grabbing his arm.

  I was done with the drama; there was a beauty here that needed my attention. Standing, I made my way across the room to the stunning girl in the blue dress. She sat with her teammates, a nymph and a fairy, as the D.J. was opening up the dance floor.

  “Natalie, would you like to dance?” I asked. She smiled and put her hand in mine.

  “You look handsome tonight.” She smiled up at me as I wrapped my arms around her on the dance floor. The D.J. was playing an uplifting beat, but not too fast. Others started to crowd the dance floor, but I was all eyes for the beautiful girl in my arms.

  “Thank you, you look, lovely.” I swept my eyes over her, and she blushed a bit.

  “So, a Griffin, that’s pretty impressive.” She smiled up at me then, her brown eyes shimmering in the low light of the room.

  “Not as impressive as a dragon.” I sighed. I couldn’t believe it. They were supposed to be extinct for over two thousand years, and one was just hanging out in the desolate wastelands of the northern Australian outback.

  “What did Team Wales produce?” I then asked her. Natalie was descendent of Belvedere, which gave her the title Protector of Wales.

  “Oh, just goblin teeth,” she shrugged. “We wanted to pass, not waste our whole winter break on overachieving.” A wide smile formed on her pretty face as she gave me a pointed look.

  “I also hear that Team Britain has ranked all the way up to Class C, that is impressive.” I gave her a smile and pulled her closer to me. She let out a long laugh that I couldn’t help but chuckle along with.

  “Not bad, especially from where we started way down in S.” She nodded.

  “Well, I expect nothing less from the first female knight, I’m sure by the time we graduate to MBIU you’ll be a part of A class.” I knew flattery wouldn’t win her over, but it didn’t hurt either.

  “If I get in.” She shrugged. I knew she would. Natalie was impressive in her own right. She was a skilled fighter, a brilliant tactician, and an excellent judge of situations and character.

  “Well, judging by the roughed up shape Ryker was in after your practice this morning, I’d say you are a shoo-in.” I flirted. Natalie laughed.

  “You should have seen me.” She winked.

  “Nah, I don’t believe that.” I turned her around the dance floor. “Ryker praises your merits every time that you two are stacked up against each other.” I could tell by the smile on her face and the way her eyes brightened that she was pleased with that. Ryker and I have known Natalie since we were kids. We always tried to protect her and watch out for her, especially since she was, well, different. But Ryker saw her as a knight from day one, no matter if she was a boy or a girl. I saw her as a girl from the moment I met her, and no one could have convinced me otherwise. It was her energy, her spirit, that showed me who she truly was.

  “Well, after this year, I’ll be with Ryker a lot.” She nodded. After we graduated from MBIA, assuming we did, we could then apply for MBIU. Attending MBIA was not a guarantee that we would be accepted to the university, but it did help. Ryker knew that once we reached that step, he would have to start taking leadership of his twelve legacy Knights of the Round Table. He also knew that since he could officially hold the title King of Knights, he would also have to start asserting his authority over the others. MBI was apparent with their big plans for him and our team, given that we don’t royally mess things up between now and then.

  “Will that mean that I get to see more of you?” I asked, letting my nose rest in her hair. She always smelled like jasmine.

  “Owen.” She pulled away, giving me a sharp look. I let her go, holding up my hands in surrender.

  “Sorry, love, you’re just so beautiful tonight,” I said honestly. She gave me a little smile and then stepped back towards me to let me dance with her a little more.

  “What’s going on with them?” Natalie asked after a moment, nodding her head towards Ivy and Ryker, who were both out on the dance floor, with different people, but staring at each other longingly.

  “They’re both idiots,” I replied. Natalie laughed and gave me a playful smack on the shoulder.

  “I’m serious, no one really knows. I mean the rumor mill always has information about them. Ryker punched that troll for grabbing Ivy’s arm, even though he was wearing gloves, last month.” I remembered that.

  The troll had asked Ivy out, and she had politely declined, as she had done with many of her potential suitors. Ryker and I were standing on the other side of the courtyard, Ryker administering his daily Excalibur pull. We spotted them
across the way from us. Ivy went to walk away, and the troll grabbed her arm, not letting her go, even after she tugged away. Ryker was there before I even realized he had moved.

  “He’s a little protective of her.” I shrugged. We had all agreed to keep their connection quiet, as we had no idea what the consequences would be if that information got into the wrong hands. “As am I.” I then added.

  “I know. Ivy is one of those rare bright stars in a sea of mediocrity.” Natalie assessed, looking over at her. Ivy was dancing with Malcolm, but I knew she would have a different partner for each dance. Since she announced she was available for dating, the young men of Mythos have responded with vigor. “It also helps that she’s just, like, the most beautiful person.” Ivy was beautiful, that was both her power and her curse. A force which she could use to tempt, flirt, coheres, and pry information from unwilling sources, but also a curse as she often wondered if anyone actually liked her. That was one of the questions she often posed when we were alone.

  “You’re the most beautiful person.” I asserted. Natalie let out a little laugh and shook her head.

  “You always flatter me Owen Emrys, tell me, are you like this with all the girls?” She asked, resting her arms on my shoulders and looking up at me with that open and trusting expression. I knew this was my chance to tell her, but I also knew she wasn’t ready.

  “Just the most beautiful ones.” I winked.

  The song ended, and we started to go our separate ways. That was when I sensed his dark energy in the room. It was familiar to the power I felt when we were fighting the cult a year ago. Dark, twisted magic just entered the vicinity. I glanced all around the room, looking for an unfamiliar face. There were caterers and party workers all around. It could be any of them, but I didn’t think so.

  “Get to your team,” I told Natalie and then rushed across the dance floor. I grabbed Ivy away from a legate warlock and dragged her to the other side of the open area where Ryker was standing, talking to a few Knights of the Round Table. Ivy was fighting against my hold, but I ignored her. Ryker turned and looked at me. I gave him a head nod, and he followed me to the edge of the room, into a dark corner.