Bernie (Guardians In Love Book 3) Read online

  Bernie

  By Brianna West

  Copyright © Brianna West 2017

  Photos on Cover © Dreamstime.com

  All Rights Reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Any distribution, electronically or physically, of this book in part or in whole without the explicit consent of the author is strictly prohibited.

  Other Books by Author

  The Promiscus Guardians Series

  Awakening, Book One

  Metamorphosis, Book Two

  Dawning, Book Three

  Resurrection, Book Four

  The Guardians In Love Series

  Victor, Book One

  Pavel, Book Two

  The Underground Guardians Series

  When Darkness Breaks, Book One

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Epilogue

  Author Links

  “Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell.”

  —Joan Crawford

  Acknowledgement

  Thank you to my supportive betas and fellow indie authors who helped me get this book finished. Especially my betas, Sammy, Victoria, Kelley, Sara, Trisha, and Kate.

  I would also like to thank my ARC readers for providing last minute feedback.

  As per winner to a character naming contest, Bernie’s sister was named at their discretion. Thank you, Itzel, for your contribution to this book.

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to my dear friend and obsessive Bernie-lover, Sammy. Without her, Bernie may have never seen his own book. Thank you for loving my character more than me most days!

  Chapter One

  ~***~

  The blade of my sword sliced through flesh, cutting from the top of the demon’s head to the floor below and landing on the ground with a great thump.

  Focused and aglow silver eyes drew backwards and over my shoulder, catching the glint of light pink and soft yellow hair. Which I had drawn up tightly with elaborate, perfectly woven braids and jewels that clinked with every move of my head.

  I shifted my weight, imbedding the blade of my massive weapon into the earth and lifted myself bodily with the help of it. My leg kicked out, flowing up and hitting a demon behind me with accurate precision—a move I favored greatly when I was surrounded and didn’t want to lose momentum. The prickly faced and shapeless bodied beast was unable to defend against my speed or strength as I followed the kick with the fluid downward swipe of my sword and cut through it with the massive blade like its fallen companion.

  I landed low to the ground, peering around the battlefield at my translucent companions as they fought their enemies and scored their own hits. It gave me the utmost pride to see them as they bested each enemy that attempted to overcome them.

  I had trained them well.

  “My Princess!” someone called out as I rested the colossal blade that was both the length and width of my own body on my shoulder, rising up to my barely five-foot-one height as the tall soldier made his way over to me. He stabbed a demon through its chest, spinning and cutting through a wide circle of surrounding foes before leaping across the space and tumbling to a knee. And then finally, he let his head drop in reverence.

  Oh my god! So cool!

  “Report,” I said evenly, voice powerful and regal like I was taught from birth all the way through my one hundred and fifty years to sound.

  The soldier kept his head lowered and spoke up with a deep register, hand crossed over his chest as a sign of respect and duty to royalty. “The king requests an audience with you.”

  Big Brother!

  “Can it not wait?” I asked, face removed of emotion as I panned around at the fighting mass. “I have a responsibility to my soldiers here and must remain until the fighting is finished.”

  Glowing white eyes rose to meet mine before flitting back down as the soldier straightened but remained kneeled. “I am afraid it is urgent, my Princess.”

  “What is this all about?” another voice asked over the sounds of battle as a massive body appeared with the falling of several demons that had surrounded us in the seconds we conversed.

  Luminous light blue eyes trained to me as the bulky, immensely strong-looking warrior strode over the fallen enemies. His tight, body-molded armor and leather boots were splattered with demon residue. His chin-length silver hair was braided back and away from his face, halfway up at the back. His straight nose bore no sign of so many years on a battlefield, yet a small, long-healed scar that went from the top of his cheek nearly to the side of his lip spoke of the warrior side of him. His upwards slanted eyes, which were as cold as the frigid air around us, regarded the two of us severely.

  To many, he was a striking man, his features appealing to the women who looked upon him; his cold indifference celebrated among many of them as something to fawn over without a single iota of the depth of pain living inside pale eyes. There was an intelligence in his eyes and a strength to his movements that demanded respect and exuded authority. Years of fighting at the side of great warriors, exceeding their abilities tenfold, was expressed in every nonchalant gander he paid those around him. However, it was just the thing that won so many female hearts.

  Basically, he was a total stud.

  He towered over me as he walked forward, the slow fall of his eyes to the soldier suggesting he wasn’t exactly pleased that he had found the two of us here amid battling soldiers and demons. His square jaw clenched as he rested his sword on the earth, body poised and at the ready for any enemies who might try to come at us while we spoke. Though his body was intimidating, his demeanor severe and no-nonsense, I knew him only as…

  “Anric,” I greeted with a nod.

  I loved what he did with his hair. It showed off his handsome face so perfectly. He would have all the women in court hanging all over again. Just like Big Brother.

  “My Princess,” he answered, bowing, “I thought our plan was to fight together.”

  Internally, I was giggling. Truly, I’d gotten swept up in my eagerness for battle and had left him just as soon as I spotted my first enemy. I wasn’t one to be reckless, but it had been a very long time since I’d been given the opportunity to fight anything to this degree. But outwardly, as I was taught to be, I was expressionless and unashamed.

  I turned and nodded the messenger away. “I will return shortly.” The kneeled soldier looked ready to speak up again, but my blade was swiftly cutting through the air before it rested just above his shoulder. “Am I clear?”

  His eyes widened briefly before he was nodding a bit too fearfully for a trained soldier of his station.

  Still neede
d training it seemed.

  But, poor thing. He just looked so cute all cowering and fearful, so I couldn’t help the slight shift of my weapon, which had him responding with an overt cringe when the sharp blade moved a fraction towards him. He had frozen—so adorable!—before I removed it from where it nearly cut into him, resting it once more on my shoulder as shimmering blue magic wafted up from beneath me and exploded around us in a wide circle. Every demon within its reach was vanquished with the surge of power, falling to pools of ash and blood.

  Anric came over as the soldier disappeared. “Your brothers will be displeased that you chose to use magic,” he reminded me, making my gaze stray to him as I straightened and overlooked the soldiers left without an enemy to fight.

  Dammit, I’d exerted too much power and destroyed them all. Totally meant to do that.

  I flipped my hair over my shoulder as the wind blew it into my face while I pondered how to respond to my perceptive battle companion.

  “I had no other choice,” I responded coolly, turning away from all the stray Spiritum Bellatorum warriors as they searched for any of ours that had either been overcome or injured. “See that the portal is found and whoever summoned it is defeated. I shall return as soon as I am finished speaking with Brother.”

  The nearly seven-foot warrior, and unfortunately, my childhood tutor, stepped into my path as I started towards our kingdom. “I go with you everywhere, Princess Nyla. You know this.”

  He was so dreamy when his voice got all deep and demanding like that, but I wasn’t charmed by him like the others were. I knew all the tricks. Pretty sure it was a second language for me to know what to say and how to say it to get Anric to concede to my will.

  “And you intend to leave the warriors to manage it themselves without a leader?” I asked, chiding him with my even tone and severe gaze. “Must I remind you that you are not, in fact, my keeper, but my righthand man and loyal friend.”

  Anric growled low in his throat, reaching for me, but then withdrew after he had thought better of it. “Not to be forgotten, Nyla, I am more than just your bloody bodyguard. I am your betrothed.”

  Oh, he was just too bloody cute angry. He wouldn’t do anything, of course, but it was still a good effort on his part. I was especially convinced today. I was also desperate to laugh at him, but I couldn’t. Not with being royalty, and certainly not in front of the men. But when it was me alone, surely then I’d be able to laugh at his getting all huffy.

  “You remind me of it too often for me to forget, Anric.”

  His blue eyes flashed before he cleared his throat and straightened up, nodding for me to go on ahead. “If you truly remembered it, then I wouldn’t have to remind you so often.”

  “If you didn’t, my brothers and the elders would. It is our duty,” I said bitterly, unable to keep the venom from my voice in saying so.

  Anric’s face downturned in a momentary break of his usual control. He felt the same way I did. But it was our duty as we were born into responsibility and had no other choice but to fulfil such a responsibility when the time came. Admittedly, I was glad it was my dearest friend and teacher.

  Anric had known me since birth; had treated me kindly and without deference for my position as princess, and he was an honorable man that never pushed much, except when it came to my training as a warrior. But that was something I’d always strived for—to be more than just a princess. Most importantly, Anric had respected me to a degree that most men and family did not.

  And though he was nearly five hundred years older than I was, I was betrothed to him from birth since I was the first female born to our lineage in nearly a millennium. Currently, I was the only living princess in the Spiritum Bellatorum, so it was my duty to fulfil the promise made between our fathers all those years ago and give birth to our lineage and future royalty as my father, Craton, had once imparted to me before his mind became too muddled with greed.

  It did help slightly that Anric was totally hot, though I’d never admit it to him, because he wouldn’t believe me anyway. But he was as handsome as they came. He had every set of female eyes following him the moment he set foot in court. Though, in truth, I saw him more as an uncle or older brother than I did a lover. He certainly played father to me more than anyone else did. So, it would be unbearably awkward when I was forced to have his children.

  I internally shuddered at the thought.

  My brother had apparently offered to let him dissolve the pact made between our parents, but Anric insisted that it be kept. It was the first time I’d ever been so angry with my longtime companion and teacher. However, Anric explained that there was discord among our people, especially now that Brother had overthrown my father to become king. If we were to suddenly dissolve our betrothal, it would impact my brother’s rule greatly. It would be seen as an abuse of power. And after Anric had explained as much to me, I knew that what he said was true.

  Anric and my brother were close friends, and he loved Anric as much as Anric loved him. I knew that Anric would feel it a betrayal of some kind to my brother if we dissolved our betrothal, so I was forced to comply once more under the promise that Anric would let me choose how to live my life thereafter.

  But truthfully, all I wanted was to be free of these chains and to be the woman I was on the inside; to go somewhere I wasn’t Princess Nyla. I wanted desperately to be only Nyla. Here, I’d never be who I really was. I could never be anyone but the princess that birthed future heirs and possible princesses for our kind.

  Because our court was somewhat small, mainly five or so families, it was imperative that we kept our population within it strong and strive for female heirs to the most powerful lines of the Spiritum Bellatorum families.

  Like many of the sprite, we had difficulty birthing females, and thus, we were held to a higher standard to produce children being one. I’d never considered it a burden, because my father never let me think of it as anything but my responsibility. Until Big Brother had beseeched me to hold myself in a higher regard. It was evident that he only wanted me to be happy. But with his shift from prince to the king of our people, there was a greater weight to do everything as it had always been done and not deviate from tradition.

  I tossed my tall childhood teacher a small look over my shoulder before I teleported short distances until I’d made it all the way back to our kingdom that sat near the cliffs of the Soulless Sea.

  Water Sprite, Aquatherials, lived deep within its recesses and had only recently joined the other kingdoms with a treaty to help the Promiscus Guardians—a mixed group of self-proclaimed protectors of the innocent humans and Light within the mortal realm—in their endeavor towards saving humans from the Dark.

  After seeing portals sprout up all over the realm, it was evident that what the Promiscus Guardians had said on their previous visit was true: the realms were at war. And though we had stayed neutral all this time—rather, my father hated the Guardians so greatly that he refused to intervene where they were concerned—we were petitioned by a small team not very long ago in hopes of fighting against the Dark that wished to overcome not only the mortal world, but our world as well.

  Brother had finally overthrown and defeated our father, and with his first act as king, he decreed that we would assist the Guardians in anything they asked for. He sent our best warriors to the realm to aid where we could with the outbreak in the mortal world, and it was met with mixed reactions.

  Some of the elders of our kind were against any sort of intervention. Others believed it a progressive enough move to help garner our kind the power we needed to rebuild our ranks. Still, Big Brother faced our own siblings. Many of my other brothers were not happy with his choices since becoming king.

  “My Princess,” two guards greeted as I shifted the leather armor along my small waist and readjusted the massive weapon strapped to my back.

  Randall!

  Look fierce. Look regal. Do not giggle.

  One of the large guards, Randall, came forward an
d offered to take my sword, but I lifted my hand to stop him. “I will be needing it shortly.” He bowed respectfully, taking quick, retreating steps as I watched him.

  It was so cute that most of these guards cowered every time I spoke. But truly, I just wanted to hug the life out of them in greeting, and my hands twitched as I forced my slender arms to stay at my sides. With Anric and my brothers’ beckoning, I ruled with an iron fist and brought punishment to those that overstepped their bounds. Though a better part of me wished to laugh and jest alongside my men, as their captain, I could not.

  My leather boots were caked in grime, but I didn’t have time to redress as a result of the evidently urgent matter my brother wished to speak to me about. Guards along the way slammed their arms across their chests, bowing slightly as I passed and took the long corridor towards the throne room where I knew my brother would be.

  I kept my chin lifted and my temper tucked away, since I wasn’t exactly happy to be torn away from the battle I’d anticipated and prepared for nearly all week. Knowing Anric, he would tell my brother that I used magic on the battlefield. Which for any warrior of my kind, it was a disgraceful action that could even possibly lead to punishment in some cases. Not that mine would.

  Our kind fought with our speed, strength, and foremost, our skill. We found it a weakness to rely on our inherent gifts to defeat a foe. Since the gifts of being a Spiritum Bellatorum were great and often lethal to many with very little effort put forward on our part, it was more honorable to fight with what we garnered on our own merit and not what we were predisposed to doing. With my kind, it was best to win a fight without the use of any magic at all.

  A set of ceiling-high doors opened the moment I took the corner on my right, the guards pushing them inward as I strode without hesitation into the room. The slender, seductively attractive women in black, skin-tight outfits in which hugged their every curve walked from group to group of conversing, sharply dressed men. These women were another reason I hated court.