Court of Nightmares

COURT OF NIGHTMARES COURT AND KINGS K.A. KNIGHT CONTENTS Author Note Prologue 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 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Chapter 58 Chapter 59 Chapter 60 Chapter 61 Chapter 62 Chapter 63 Chapter 64 Chapter 65 Chapter 66 Chapter 67 Chapter 68 Chapter 69 Chapter 70 Chapter 71 Chapter 72 Chapter 73 Chapter 74 Epilogue About the Author Also By K.A Knight Court of Nightmares (Court and Kings). This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to places, events or real people are entirely coincidental. Copyright © 2023 K.A. Knight, all rights reserved. Written by K.A. Knight: Edited By Jess from Elemental Editing and Proofreading. Proofreading by Norma’s Nook. Formatted by The Nutty Formatter. Cover by Jay at Simply Defined Art. AUTHOR NOTE Please note, this is a dark romance and as such there may be scenes that you find triggering. For in depth TW please contact K.A Knight. Step into the dark and find the nightmares within . . . PROLOGUE There’s one thing you need to know about heartbreak—it will make a monster out of you if you let it. I did. My fangs rip into the flesh of the innocent man below me as he screams for mercy. His blood fills me, fuelling my body and making me crueller as his cries only grow. You see, I’m not the hero of this story, I’m the villain, but maybe I should start at the beginning. That’s where all good stories start after all. With a hopeful, young girl whose future is laid out before her with grand plans and hopes . . . Before it is all taken away. CHAPTER ONE ALTHEA “They never get vampyrs right,” Simon, my closest friend, complains as he tosses popcorn into his mouth, groaning when one catches on his new fangs and sticks there like a hilarious Vlad the Impaler. I turn away in jealousy, running my tongue along my teeth, wishing I already had mine. Soon, I remind myself. “Yeah, but Wesley Snipes sure is hot,” I reply. “That he is.” Simon sighs, and we cheers to that. You see, vampyrs are born, but we do not become true nightwalkers until the change. For sixteen years, we are neither human nor vampyr. We are stronger and faster than humans, but we have no fangs or thirst. At sixteen, we either change or die. Well, either way we die, but if we are strong enough, then we come back as a full-fledged vampyr or, as we call ourselves, sangui, which means blood in Latin. It’s not very original, I know, but what can I say? Our race is a dramatic bunch. My sixteenth birthday is only two days away. Two days until I either die or am reborn and plunged into the night world, just like Simon. They call us halfies until then, and we are not permitted to attend gatherings held by full-fledged sangui. We do not see that side of our society—well, he does now. He went to his first one last night, and I can already see the changes wrought by drinking blood. He’s now almost six feet tall, where before he was a measly five feet, and where he was once wiry, muscles are now growing. His blond hair is darkening and growing, becoming thicker and luscious, and his lips are plumped up. Simon is becoming the perfect hunting machine, made to seduce and kill. If he didn’t like men, I’d jump him. Foolish, I know, but I’d do anything for a taste of that life. “Althea, you’ll be fine,” he murmurs, taking my hand like he knows my thoughts. “Two days of unimaginably agony, sure, but then life will be amazing, you’ll see, and we’ll spend our nights hunting and partying with the others.” “Until we turn eighteen, that is.” I huff, and he rolls his eyes. “You don’t want a mate?” It’s not the first time he’s asked, and until now, I haven’t really explained why. Maybe it’s my impending death, but I finally do. “No, I do. It’s just . . . eighteen is so young to have to choose who to spend the rest of your life with,” I mutter, not telling him my deepest fear, which is that I might not make it to eighteen, so why worry about who fate may or may not pair me with? “Hardly anyone finds their mate that early, sausage.” Simon grins, making me groan. “Some go hundreds of years and still never find their mate, so think of yourself as lucky if you find them that soon.” “I know, I know,” I mutter, listening to the lecture I’ve heard a million times, but whereas Simon desperately wants to find his mate, I have reservations. That’s all. Worries. Fate is supposed to choose the perfect person for you, and when you meet them, the whole world will fade away. You’ll only feed on each other and become stronger and more powerful . . . but I know firsthand how fate can be a bitch. After all, on my mother’s death bed, she predicted that I would die young. Yay me. “She was delirious, Thea,” Simon says, no doubt reading my expression. He tugs me against him, and I curl into his side. I used to fit perfectly, and now he towers over me, squishing me. I hate how he can always