by Zoe Parker
I opened eyes that I hadn’t noticed I’d closed. Struggling to focus on his blurry form, I smiled, soft and victorious. I didn’t care what they did to me at that point. I’d rid the world of a power-hungry festering evil that had begun to spiral out of control.
I righted her wrong,” I answered breathlessly. “Don’t worry, love, you’re next.”
Chapter Five
“Cyan, if you do not wake up right now, I will burn everyone in your vicinity to get to you. Your brother tells me that would upset you, but I’m confident I could get you to forgive me.”
The rumbling baritone in my head drew me from my slumber like no other could. I wanted to be upset that he’d threatened my clan, but I was only capable of one emotion. Elation. His next words, tinged with the smile I heard in his voice, let me know he could feel me.
“There you are, little fox.”
“You’re alive,” I sobbed. “I couldn’t feel you. I couldn’t hear you.”
“I apologize. I lost myself when I felt your terror,” he explained. Without warning my mind is inundated with a movie reel of memories. Valen and his men had nearly taken out the numerous guards The Queen had sent to take me. There had only been a handful of them left. And then he’d felt my fear. Fear so strong it’d pulled him from the fight he’d been engaged in. He’d called out to me and when I hadn’t answered he’d abandoned his battle and tried to come to me. The Queen, of all people, had shot three ice daggers into his chest. When he’d awoken, he hadn’t been sure how much time had passed, where he was, or how he’d gotten there. The door to his cell was still closed, but not locked and after he’d killed the guards, Dallon had appeared to inform him that if he’d finally gotten enough beauty rest he could go and save me.
In return, I showed him what had caused my fear, how Kormen had senselessly murdered Lily.
“He will suffer for the pain he’s caused you,” he promised. “For now, I need you to open your eyes so I can see what you see.”
I knew what he would see if I opened my eyes. I felt his anger when I’d shown him Kormen. If he knew that I was nearly naked and tied to another bed, I couldn’t imagine how much worse it would be.
“Little fox, you haven’t blocked me since you woke up,” he gritted, a colossal wave of fury blasting through the bond before he could smother it.
My eyes snapped open and I took in my surroundings. I was no longer in the room where I killed Celeste, but I still had no idea where I was. This room had been decked out in Christmas decorations as well, but where the last room had been purple, this room was red. To include the silky sheets that cradled and caressed me. Kormen’s sister, Amelia, sat near the picturesque window on my left, a deep scowl on her pixie-like features. Where Kormen was talk and bulky, she was petite and thin.
“Tell me, my princess,” she spat my title, nearly as insulted by it as I had been by Celeste’s. “Did you think you were too good for my brother?”
Okay, another lunatic. Ignoring her, I tested the bindings on my arms. My shoulders screamed in pain from the prolonged position and lack of circulation. I hadn’t been given as much slack as I had the last time and it showed.
“Focus on the window. Show me where you are. I can sense you, but it’s muffled. We’ve come as far as we can on foot. If I let my dragon out now without knowing where you are, he’ll destroy everything until he finds you.”
I knew Valen wanted me to say I’d forgive him if he did that and I almost did, but I couldn’t live with myself if that happened. My clan had done nothing wrong. They’d believed their queen’s words just as loyal subjects should. Looking back to the window, I took in as many details as I could, knowing it wouldn’t be enough. There was snow. And more snow. Surprise. Beyond the open field there was a line of pine trees. Off in the distance I could see nothing but more of the fluffy whiteness.. The only visible structure was a barn of sorts and even it was nondescript.
“You don’t have to answer. This will be done soon enough anyway,” Amelia snapped as she rose.
She crossed the room and pulled the door open.
“Happy birthday, my princess. Or should I say, my queen since you got rid of the old bat,” she quipped. “Kormen, she’s awake.”
My gaze went back to the window, desperately trying to find something I recognized, some sort of clue. I recognized nothing. I recognized . . . nothing! “Valen, I recognize nothing!” Excited beyond measure, I nearly shouted the words out loud.
“I don’t understand what that means. I need you to tell me more.”
I wanted to explain to him that if I recognized nothing, it meant we were nowhere near my clan and he could definitely let his dragon out, but I heard something that stopped my train of thought.
“Hello, my darling princess.”
My head jerked back toward the door. Impossible. Why would my father be here? Allowing this. He entered the room, followed by Kormen, his mother and Dallon. My soul withered as I realized what was happening.
One of the many laws that still existed, but were never practiced; if a ruling monarch fell and the current heir had anything to do with it, the conception of the future ruler had to be witnessed by two members of the ruling family. It was in place to ensure the current heir did nothing more to jeopardize the bloodline. Dallon and my father were the only two members left of my family outside of distant aunts, uncles, and cousins who would more than likely try to take the throne themselves. Tears streamed down Dallon’s face as he tried to look anywhere, but at me. My father remained stoic, eyes glazed. For a moment, I wondered if he’d been drugged. Then he spoke.
“You killed my mate. I went behind her back for you and you took her away from me.
His voice cracked as he spoke. He wasn’t drugged. He was grief-stricken and angry. He would do nothing to stop this. Kormen’s mother gripped my father’s hand between hers and whispered words I couldn’t hear.
“Cyan!” Valen growled, his voice deep and inhuman, nearly unrecognizable. “I cannot hold him back when I can feel your panic.”
“Valen, no! They have Dallon. Dallon is here with them, they’re going to make him watch. You can’t release your dragon, I can’t let my brother be hurt.”
“Kormen, I don’t understand. I thought you said she was fine. Why did we have to come all the way out here to your father’s house in The Gel? Why is Cy naked like that? Why are we hurting her like that?” Dallon questioned.
“Be quiet, Dallon!” My father’s voice thundered through the room.
Everyone went silent at his command and all I could hear were the growls and snarls of Valen’s dragon as he struggled to control him. Finally Kormen stepped forward.
“Dallon, you must witness. It’s the only way your sister won’t be punished for killing your mother. This has to happen so she can be queen,” Kormen explained as he began stripping his clothes off. His movements were slow, methodical, but his eyes . . . his eyes were filled with lust, crazed in their need for what was to come. How had never noticed anything before? How could I have been so blind?
“No! I won’t let you hurt her!” Dallon screamed as he ran toward Kormen. He tried to tackle him, but his slight weight barely fazed him. He looked down at Dallon as though he were an annoying pest. Grabbing him by the back of his shirt he lifted him and tossed him aside, sending him crashing into the wall.
“Dallon!” I shrieked. I tried to ignore the pain in my arms, but it was too much. As I fell back against the bed, sobbing, I heard a roar unlike any I’d ever heard before. When I opened my eyes and saw that everyone had become statues where they stood, I realized they’d heard it too. Valen was close and if the two answering roars were any indication, he’d brought company.
I dragged in a deep breath and my body seized as I felt Valen’s dragon’s feelings. Slaughter. Maim. Obliterate. Undiluted bloodlust coated his every thought. They’d hurt me, took me away from him. He would make sure they didn’t get the chance to live to regret it.
“Cyan! Did you tell him?” Da
llon rasped as he crawled in my direction. “You told him where we are, right?”
Kormen, finally released from his stupor turned to Dallon.
“You did this? You let him out?”
He didn’t give Dallon a chance to answer. Flesh smacked against flesh and with a grunt, Dallon went limp.
“Help him,” I screamed at my father. He didn’t move. Motionless and detached, he only watched.
“Secure the perimeter. Kill them on sight,” Kormen barked to someone beyond the door.
“Cyan?” Dallon mumbled and my eyes jumped to his still form. “Tell him. Tell Valen where we are.”
His words breached my shock, my fear. I finally understood what he’d meant. Valen must have told him we could speak to each other by thought. He’d told me where we were, so I could tell Valen. I knew I didn’t recognize anything, meaning we were nowhere near the clan lands. However, I had been here once before. The Gel. Loosely translated, it meant freeze. The coldest place in Sault Ste Marie. Not many people visited, let alone owned properties. It was already cold everywhere except The Hot Springs, so not many people were interested in being here. Once, when The Queen had pushed me perilously past my limits, Kormen had brought me here to get a break from her “training.” She hated it here and would never have come for me.
Heat, molten in its intensity, flashed through me and I knew it was my dragon’s flames. I reached out to him and he roared in response, shooting more flames into the surrounding forest. I could see what he saw, his vision sharp and bright. I wasn’t too concerned about the fire spreading because of the snow, but I hoped no one was in the few homes scattered across the landscape.
“I need you to listen to me. I need you to calm down so I can show you where I am,” I pleaded. From what Valen had told me earlier, things would be better if the dragon knew where I was. I knew that I would need to make him understand that in order to save me, he would have to relinquish control back to Valen. I could feel their internal struggle. Valen tried to reign in the dragon, but it had gone feral with the need to save me.
“They hurt you. They will suffer. I will burn them all, destroy this ungodly place,” he responded.
I shook my head before I remembered he couldn’t really see me.
“You can’t! They’re still with me. If you burn them, you’ll burn me,” I argued.
“I will not. You are mine. My flames are yours. I cannot burn you,” he informed me.
Oh. Well, that made sense. Maybe. Either way, if he burned anything near me, that would include Dallon. “You would burn my brother. He’s all I have left. I don’t want you to hurt him. He helped you. Without him, you wouldn’t have been able to heal.”
“He is not all you have left. You have me. You will show me where you are or I will find you on my own.”
Stubborn, infuriating dragon. I was arguing with a freaking dragon.
“You will not harm him! I would never forgive you. You will come for us and you will stop fighting Valen and give him back control of you! You will do this and you will be happy to do it or I will freeze your wings repeatedly and never let you fly again.” I commanded, fury lacing my words. As far as threats went, it wasn’t my best, but I figured if anything would piss a dragon off it’d be not being able to fly. He fumed silently for several moments before speaking.
“You will be a worthy mate. I am glad we found you even though you are not dragon-borne,” he grumbled petulantly.
“Thank you?” I took his words as a compliment, but I wasn’t sure he meant them that way.
I could immediately tell when Valen took over. The need to mutilate everyone, but me dissipated, if only slightly.
“Little fox, show me now,” he insisted.
Just as I opened my memories to him, a hand gripped my jaw. I’d been so focused on speaking to Valen that I hadn’t noticed what had been happening around me. Kormen loomed over me, his eyes burning with outrage.
“What were you doing just now?” he demanded, his fingertips digging painfully into my face.
“Son, you must gentle yourself. You will hurt her,” his mother spoke.
“I do not need her face to produce an heir,” he countered. “She did this. I don’t know how, but she led him here.”
“Then you need to get on with it before he finds you,” my father injected.
Son of a bitch! My eyes sought him out. He sounded as though he couldn’t care less what happened to me. I could see him and Kormen’s mother seated not too far from the bed, but Dallon was no longer in the room.
Kormen stepped away from the bed and tugged off the remainder of his clothes. When he stood naked before me, I retched. Why did he feel the need to get completely naked??
“Valen, you really need to hurry,” I implored.
Kormen climbed onto the bed and ignoring the burn in my shoulders I twisted away from him as much as I could. I began screaming when I felt him touch me. I yanked and pulled, twisted and turned, the binding tearing into the flesh at my ankles and wrists. Too weak to do much of anything else, I let Vetur freeze my body. Kormen gritted his teeth, but kept coming.
“You will need more than that to stop me, Cy. I’ve waited too long for this moment. We will be together, it’s meant to be,” he murmured as he settled himself above me. I screamed even more and snapped my teeth at him. If I couldn’t fight him I would bite his fucking nose off. He grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked, pulling my head back into the pillows and restraining it there.
“Close your eyes, little fox,” Valen warned.
I could hear him. The flapping of his wings whooshed through the air like a thunderous clap. His dragon had to be immense to produce that sound. I closed my eyes, but decided I wanted to see. I wanted to witness the end of the man who had betrayed me beyond forgiveness.
The window shattered and the wall around it splintered inward, sending debris and glass flying across the room. Kormen huddled above me, his body shielding me as he threw his arm up to protect his face. His mother screamed. My father made no sound. Peering around Kormen’s body I saw a long, black tail, spiked and deadly, swish back and forth. And then he was there. Barefoot and bare chested, his entire body covered in the iridescent glow from his scales, Valen stepped through the opening made by the tail. Without pause, he moved toward the bed where Kormen scrambled to get away from me. Muscles rippled and flexed with his every step and my overwhelmed mind snagged on wondering where he got pants from.
“Do not touch him,” Valen rumbled.
Confused, I thought he’d spoken to me, but then I saw Konah, covered in yellow scales, not quite golden in color. He, too, wore only pants.
“He is yours,” Konah agreed and my delirious mind wanted both of them to keep speaking so I could bask in the richness of their voices.
Using his claws, Valen sliced through the bindings at my wrists and ankles, then pulled me into his arms. Finally, warmth. His scent surrounded me. Smoky and delicious, wood burning in a fireplace, it soothed me just as much as his touch. He buried his nose against my neck and inhaled. I relaxed into him and whimpered his name.
“You’re safe now. I swear it,” he soothed.
My eyes had begun to drift closed, but they flew open at the sight I caught over his shoulder. Konah had reached my father and Kormen’s mother. Without preamble, he thrust both clawed hands forward into their chests. A wet, sucking sound met my ears as he drew both fists back, covered in blood and gore with their hearts clenched in his hands. Dropping the organs to the floor he made his way to the door and seconds later I heard Amelia’s screams. I must have made a sound of distress because Valen moved, his broad chest blocking my view as he adjusted his hold on me. He tilted my head back and placed his wrist against my mouth. His bleeding wrist. I struggled to pull away, but he held me there, his blood flowing into my mouth.
“Trust me, Cyan. You need to drink it,” he coaxed.
“Mate or not, there are just some things we will not share, Valen!” I tried to push him away, but he did
n’t budge.
“As my mate this is something I will force you to do each time you are hurt. My blood will heal you just as it heals me.”
“No! That’s unsanitary and disgusting! I won’t drink your blood!”
Ignoring my protests, he laid me back against the pillows on the bed. Before I could spit the blood out his palm engulfed the entire bottom half of my face. I had no choice but to swallow.
“Good girl,” he praised aloud, placing a soft kiss on my forehead even as I gagged.
His tender words and touch clashed violently with the macabre scene we were in. A growl, deep and terrifying, rolled through the room as Valen covered me with a blanket.
“Did you think your cowardly attack would work again?” Valen asked as he glanced over his shoulder.
I’d forgotten that Kormen was still here. Why hadn’t he tried to escape while Valen was distracted? Casting a glance around the room, I got my answer. A huge dragon snout, varying in shades of shimmering dark blue and black with smoke streaming from the nostrils, filled the hole that Valen had come through. At the door, Dallon tucked safely in his arms, stood Konah. Kormen had nowhere to go.
“Stay put, little fox,” Valen whispered, his lips grazing mine before he turned to face Kormen.
I noticed Kormen hadn’t sat idle. At some point he’d replaced his pants and his shoes, but nothing else. I’d always thought Kormen was massive in stature, but Valen made him look like a preteen.
“Consider yourself lucky. I find I want to care for my mate more than I want your blood. I’ll make this quick,” Valen said.
Daggers gripped tight in his hands, Kormen spat at the floor near Valen’s feet. “She is not your mate,” he screamed as he rushed forward.
Valen let him come. When Kormen got close enough Valen’s arm shot out as he side-stepped. Kormen stumbled, caught himself, then dropped to his knees. His blades clattered to the floor. Confused I looked to Valen. At his side, his claws dripped blood. He watched silently as Kormen clutched at the gaping wound in his throat. His blood flowed, coating his chest the same way Lily’s had coated hers. When he finally collapsed, Valen scooped me up from the bed and headed toward the hole in the wall.
