Niyx

a chill worked its way down his spine. The sniffle of a child made him whirl to face the corner. His gaze met the cold ice-blue eyes of his twin. Niyx stood there in heavy black plate armor, broadsword across his back. Although he was not truly that much taller than Onyx, he always seemed bigger. His presence made him appear as though he was ten feet tall. Next to Niyx stood a petite elven woman with pale hair and piercing green eyes. When Onyx met her gaze, it felt as though she peered all the way into his darkened soul and found him wanting. She held a toddler boy in her arms who had her green eyes, but his skin was a much warmer tone, and Onyx could not sense any magic in the child.
Niyx cleared his throat when Onyx stood there gawking at them for several moments. “I told you that I would come for you when it was time, brother.”
“You really need to learn how to knock. It’s not wise to sneak up on an assassin,” Onyx grumbled as he furrowed his brow. A million questions raced through his mind. How had Niyx gotten in here? Not important. Why was he here? That was the better question. “Time for what?”
“We need your help,” the woman spoke, her voice soft. It held power in it, magic of some sort.
“I don’t think I’ve met you,” Onyx said, looking her and the child over.
“Kiril is my bride. Nial is our son,” Niyx explained as though it was obvious.
“You have a wife and a kid?” Onyx blurted out, shocked. His twin was the vampire king of the undead hordes. How did he have a family? Onyx hadn’t even found someone for that yet. And from what he could tell the child was not only alive but had no magic even though he appeared full-elven. “How?”
“Unimportant. We need a safe place to stay. May we stay here?” Niyx asked, waving a hand to encompass Hrral’tyn manor.
“I have to ask Ruel. It is his manor, not mine. I just live here,” Onyx said with a shrug. “Don’t you own the forest?”
Niyx bristled and the air seemed to get even colder as he narrowed his eyes and bared his fangs just slightly. “The Templars attacked us. They destroyed my village. My people had to scatter. They are using Sandsilver weapons, Onyx. They have broken the treaty.”
“What?” Onyx felt like he’d been punched. That didn’t make any sense. The Templars had kept the treaty with the Night Creatures for hundreds of years. All the Sandsilver weapons had been destroyed as part of that treaty. Or so the stories around Aderaan went. Onyx kept close tabs on the Templars, and the thought that something this important had snuck under his nose bothered him. “They aren’t supposed to have Sandsilver. It’s illegal.”
“I saw it with my own eyes. Weapons that glittered like stars in the sky.” Niyx clenched and unclenched his hand a few times. “They intend to destroy my people.”
Onyx rubbed his temples as he tried to sort this information out. “They want to reclaim the forest. But why?”
“Also unimportant. What is important is finding a safe place for my family and my people to stay away from these crazed zealots,” Niyx hissed. “My wife and child are tired and weary.”
“All right,” Onyx walked to the door. “Stay here. I’ll find Ruel. You can sit down if you want.” He didn’t wait for a response. He activated his blood magic to track Ruel’s location. He broke into a run to the study and used the doorframe to propel himself into the room, so he skidded to a stop in front of the desk.
Ruel’s blue eyes widened and the quill he was writing with flew into the air and scattered ink all across the desk. “What?”
“Were you aware my twin and his family are in the manor?” Onyx asked as he leaned on the desk.
Ruel looked at Onyx as though he had gone completely insane. “What? They can’t be. My magic would tell me if they were!”
“They got in. Somehow. Without you knowing. That’s a problem.” Onyx shook his head. “Not the immediate problem. They want to stay here. The Templars drove them out of the forest with Sandsilver weapons.”
“What?!” Ruel rose to his feet and leaned on the desk closer to Onyx as if that would help him hear more clearly. “The Templars? Why would they do that? And they don’t have Sandsilver weapons anymore!”
“May we stay here, Lord Ruel?” Niyx asked, his cold formal voice catching Ruel and Onyx’s attention as they both whirled to look at him. Niyx bowed slightly in respect to Ruel.
Ruel stared for a moment, then his formal training over the last few years kicked in and he bowed deeply to Niyx. “Lord of the Night, it is an honor to have you in my manor. It is not often a mere Lord can play host to a powerful king. Please feel at ease. You may stay as long as you need to.”
“You have my thanks.” Niyx inclined his head.
Ruel walked to the doorway and squeezed past Niyx. His main butler came down the hall to them at the quickest pace he could manage and still look respectful. “Please show King Niyx and his family to our best chambers available and give them anything they need.”
The butler bowed deeply to Niyx then gestured down the hall. “Please, this way, King Niyx,” the butler directed, in a reverent tone. Niyx nodded again to Onyx and Ruel then followed the butler down the hall.
Ruel fell against the doorframe in shock as he stared at Onyx. “What are we getting into, Onyx?”
“War with the Templars,” Onyx said with certainty as he started back to his room. “You need to figure out how they got in here, Ruel.”
“I will,” Ruel promised, sounding disturbed as he retreated into his study.

CHAPTER THREE
Niyx watched the snow fall onto the darkened city beyond the window with a