High House Draconis Box Set

by Riley Storm

  Her eyes met his, and she could see it now, plain as day. Buried in the depths of his dark blue eyes, she could see the caring, the interest, and perhaps even the fear of what she represented—she couldn’t begin to understand what it would mean to a dragon to be given a second mate, if that was what she truly was—all buried behind his defenses.

  Oh Galen. I could help you. I could help carry you burden for you, if you would only let me!

  “You can confide in me,” she said quietly, still looking deep into his face, holding his gaze. “You don’t have to be the King all the time. You can just be Galen with me. I’m okay with it.”

  She was putting herself out there, exposed and raw, and it scared Kyla fiercely. She’d never let someone get so close to her, dig so deep under her outer layers. Yet somehow in a manner of days, Galen had managed to work his way in deeper than anyone before.

  That scared her. Terrified her, in fact, to the point of wanting to shake and tremble as her brain wandered, imagining what might have been if they had met under different circumstances, without the threat of vampires or the animosity between their kinds.

  Kyla was willing to set that aside. To explore things with Galen. But first, first he would have to let her in, even just a little. Everything was in his hands, and that, she knew almost immediately, was the problem.

  Galen had enough to handle, and her pushing this back on him, it was perhaps more than the stoic shifter could handle. Everyone had their breaking points, even an elder dragon, and she wondered if he even knew what he was doing. What he was throwing away.

  “They are one and the same,” Galen said stubbornly, proudly.

  “No they aren’t,” she said softly, recognizing that she wasn’t going to be able to convince him.

  Kyla had come back up into the tower, convinced to give it one more shot with Galen. She would stay, right there at his side, for as long as she could. Together they would have faced the oncoming darkness as one. It was crazy, crazy, that she would be willing to lay down her life, if it meant the chance at being with him for just a few days.

  Yet she would do it. In a heartbeat, though she couldn’t understand why, no matter how deeply she delved into her soul. There was something else there, something that she couldn’t understand beating in her heart. Beating for him.

  But all of that, it only worked under one specific condition. A condition that hadn’t been met.

  Galen had to want her to stay.

  The dragon shifter and proclaimed King of House Draconis did not seem like he was willing to admit that, to her or to himself, however, and so she knew that it was over. Their time was up, and the glorious thing that could have been began to fade in her mind.

  “I’m sorry I bothered you,” she said softly, fighting back tears at the thought of the future that they could have had together. It hurt to realize that it was gone, yanked away by a pain centuries old, and a threat looming over them all that was ancient compared to that.

  The first tear shed a track down her cheek as she waited for a response, the pain mounting in her chest.

  “It was not a bother,” Galen said, his voice emotionless as he moved past her to stand up against the balcony once more, looking out over his ‘kingdom’, and not at her. “I wish you the best.”

  “Goodbye, Galen,” she whispered, then turned and fled back down the stairs before he could see the rest of the tears fall.

  Behind her, Galen stood tall and straight-backed, looking out over the grounds of Drakon Keep, in every visual sense the perfect regal King. Exactly what House Draconis needed.

  Chapter 24

  The stone wall that formed the edge of the balcony cracked and shattered as his fingers tightened, digging deep into the hand-hewn stone. Mortar crumbled to dust.

  All the while Galen stared straight out, eyes seeing nothing, his mind picturing a short curvy woman running down the stairs, her short hair bouncing wildly as she went.

  He could all but hear the tears as they fell. They’d been evident in her voice, and it pained him to the core to know what he’d done to her. How he’d hurt her.

  It was for the best, he told himself, repeating that over and over again. Kyla stood a much better chance of surviving if she wasn’t around him or the dragons. The mages were a powerful group, and unlike the dragons, their might was fully awake. They could prepare for the vampires, and stand a real chance of surviving.

  But not Kyla. Not if she stayed with him. Despite the added power her contribution would give to the cause, they were still going to die. Galen knew it, right down to his core, and how could he not? There simply wasn’t any other way that it could go. The vampires were too powerful, the dragons too few. It was simple math.

  I’m sorry.

  That didn’t stop his pain. Pain he’d hidden from her under his mask, keeping his emotions and feelings concealed, so that it would be easier for her. She could hate him, and that would help her move on, forget about him. He could act like she was nothing but a body to him.

  Even if underneath, he’d come to believe that she was much more. But the timing was wrong and there was nothing he could do about it. The final attack would come any time now. Mere days away at most, he could feel it.

  It was better to push her away before they allowed things between them to become firm and establish roots.

  That didn’t mean he was immune to feeling anything. More stone crumbled, the whites of his knuckles showing as he ground the stone to dust, nothing else moving. He didn’t even blink.

  Finally, his lungs screaming at him to breathe, Galen inhaled a deep, shuddering breath, fighting hard to keep his composure. To keep from shouting out.

  Why did being a King have to be so difficult? All he wanted was to lead his men, and keep their spirits buoyed until fate descended upon them in a wave of shadow and death. Was it that much to ask?

  Far down below, he saw a shape exit the side of the Keep, heading away toward the south. Kyla. Another figure raced after her.

  Aaric. Galen watched the two of them interact for several moments, and then Kyla just walked away. He sighed in relief. She would be gone soon. Over the wall and disappearing into a portal before the vampires ever reacted to her presence. Safe and sound, out of harm’s reached, just as he hoped.

  Galen sighed. He would die better, knowing that she was going to live.

  Footsteps on the stone stairway echoed up to him, announcing the imminent arrival of someone else.

  “Someone new come to disturb my peace,” he growled angrily, pulling his hands free of the solid stone railing, dust falling to the ground as he beat them against the sides of his legs to clean the worst off.

  “Aaric,” he said calmly as the fire dragon strode out onto the balcony only moments after confronting Kyla. “Go ahead and—”

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Aaric snarled furiously.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I didn’t stutter, you air-brained moron. I asked you what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

  Light glowed in Aaric’s eyes. Always wary of fire dragons and their hot tempers, Galen proceeded with caution.

  “I was about to ask you to call the others,” he said slowly, carefully. “But I suspect that’s not what you mean, is it?”

  “No, that’s not what I mean,” Aaric said in a mocking tone, his voice pitched slightly higher.

  “Then what are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about her,” Aaric said, stabbing a finger out in the direction Kyla had left. “What is wrong with you?”

  “Nothing is wrong with me,” Galen said, his own anger at the way Aaric was acting starting to grow. “What is it to you?”

  “You daft, thick-headed, idiotic moron!” Aaric cried, looking up to the sky, his shoulders bulging with muscle as he breathed heavily. “Stop acting so dense and pretending like you’re an imbecile. We both know that you aren’t, and that you care about her. So why are you so intent on pretending like you don’t?”

 
Galen glared at Aaric, but the look just washed right over the fire dragon. He just didn’t care at the moment, his fury casting everything else aside.

  “I am the King of House Draconis,” Galen began.

  “Some House,” Aaric spat. “We’re only five strong. Five. That’s it.”

  “I know, I can count,” Galen said airly. “I am King, and as King I am doing what is best for the House, for the dragons.”

  Aaric sighed. “You’re an idiot, is what you are, Galen.”

  “Would you care to explain your words?” he asked tightly, the wind stirring dangerously around them.

  “I wouldn’t have to, if you would stop pretending like any of this actually matters. But you’re so stuck with playing the Good King, that you can’t actually see reality anymore. You’ve blinded yourself, because you think you need to do something for the rest of us.”

  “That’s what a King does,” Galen said. “He leads, so that the others will follow. We need to keep our focus, to defeat the vampires when the attack comes.”

  “Defeat the vampires?” Aaric paused, eyes bugging wide. Then he threw back his head and burst into laughter.

  Galen stood by stoically as it boomed on and on, the peals fading out into the night sky as Aaric howled.

  “Oh, that’s rich. Too rich,” the fire dragon said, wiping a tear. Then he straightened and fire burned in both his eyes as he took a step toward Galen. “Listen to me, and listen to me good, my King. You’re a good man, a good person, but if you think that the rest of us are so stupid that we believe your words, that we can defeat the vampires? Then you’re a disgrace to us, and you don’t deserve to be King.”

  Galen reeled back, caught off guard by the sheer vehemence and savagery of Aaric’s words.

  “Oh, I get that you’re doing it because you think it’s what a King should do. That you think we need you to set an example for us. I know you aren’t being malicious,” Aaric continued, not letting up as he laid into the King verbally. “But what you are doing, is making the rest of us miserable.”

  “What?” Galen was stunned at this admission. “How?”

  “We know we can’t win, Galen. We’ve accepted our fates, the rest of us have. So we’re spending the last days we have enjoying them. Living our lives, laughing, loving, having copious amounts of sex and playing with the young that will continue on after we’re gone, and maybe one day rebuild the dragon race.”

  “But…” Galen tried to say. Aaric slashed a hand through the air, leaving a brief fiery trail, like a shooting star.

  “I’m not done yet!” the fire dragon bellowed. “That’s what we’re trying to do. But you, your attitude, as well-meaning as it might be, is depressing. Especially now.”

  “We need to—”

  “We have already done everything we can do!” Aaric roared, his skin bursting into flame. “Preparations have been made. Everything is in place. All we need now is to wait for things to happen. So please, Galen, Galen Drakon, not King of House Draconis, whoever the fuck that is, stop treating us like children.”

  Galen licked his lips, searching for words to respond to Aaric’s accusations.

  “We know what’s coming, Galen. All of us. We’re working to accept it. All of us except you. You’re denying yourself any happiness before it arrives, all because you think we need you to act like some sort of cold heartless bastard. Which we don’t. We want you to be happy. To live your life, so that the rest of us don’t feel guilty about living ours. Can you understand this?”

  Galen stepped back, sitting down heavily on the stone wall.

  “I never thought about it that way,” he said, still stunned at the tirade directed his way.

  “No shit,” Aaric muttered. “That was obvious.”

  “Okay. You’ve made your point,” Galen said, the wind picking up even more, a warning to Aaric that he was pushing his luck.

  “I know you’re scared,” Aaric said, coming and sitting next to the wind dragon, both of them turning their backs on the world behind them. “We all are,” he said quietly. “I’m terrified. I don’t want to die. I just found my mate. Olivia just told me the other day that I’m going to be a father. I don’t want to miss that.”

  Galen looked up. “She’s pregnant?”

  Aaric nodded. “Yes. We’re not saying anything because…well, because everything is hard enough.”

  “Congratulations,” Galen said, then returned to morose silence as he realized Aaric would never be around for the birth of his child, or to see them grow into an adult and become a dragon shifter themselves.

  “But I’ll always have the happiness of knowing that the time I spent with Olivia was full of happiness and joy, Galen. Smiles and laughter. I’ll remember her touch, and that’s what will keep me smiling even when the shadows roll over us.”

  Galen nodding, feeling an empty pit in his stomach where such emotions and memories would normally evoke a feeling of warmth.

  “You can have that too,” Aaric said softly. “All you need to do is what I’m doing now.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Aaric’s hand flashed out and smacked Galen in the back of the head. “Talk to her, Galen. Tell her how you feel. All of it. Every single piece, don’t hold anything back.”

  “I don’t—”

  “If you weren’t about to say “I don’t know if I’ll ever get another chance to tell her how I feel about her”, then you’re saying the wrong things and you haven’t been listening to anything I’ve just said,” Aaric said. “Have you been listening?”

  Galen paused before replying.

  “If I go to her, she’ll stay and fight by our side,” he said quietly. “She won’t leave, like your mates. She’s going to die if I tell her how I feel. Plus what about Katherine?”

  Aaric nodded. “I never knew Katherine,” he said softly. “But from what I have heard over the years, she was a wonderful woman, who wanted you to be happy.”

  “She was,” Galen said quietly. “She truly was. I couldn’t have asked for more.”

  “Yet we can all see that Kyla awakens something in you, Galen. It’s obvious to anyone, we notice the way you look at her, the way she made you smile. Even when you didn’t fully trust her, there was obviously a connection of some sort between you.”

  “But how can that be?” Galen asked helplessly.

  “I don’t know. But the winds of fate have given you a second chance. Don’t you think it’s a little rude not to take it? I’m sure that Katherine would not begrudge you happiness. In fact, I think she would prefer to see you smile and enjoy yourself. Keep her memories with you always, Galen. But don’t be afraid to make new ones either.”

  “She’ll die if she stays,” he countered.

  “That is her choice, Galen. Not yours. You cannot change that. In fact, you need to respect it. To treat her like an adult, because that’s what she is. You aren’t her King. She doesn’t want you to treat her like one. She wants you to be Galen.”

  “Maybe,” he said, nodding his head. “Maybe.”

  “I’m glad you’re finally coming around,” Aaric said, slumping over. “I was afraid I might have to beat some sense into you for you to understand.”

  “Good luck with that,” Galen said with a laugh, feeling his spirits lift for the first time in days.

  “Now, are you going to go, or what?” Aaric asked, standing up and taking several strides back into the spire, pausing at the top of the stairs while he waited for an answer.

  Galen frowned. “Go where?”

  The fire dragon groaned. “After her, you idiot!” Then he launched a ball of flame right at Galen that backflipped him off the railing and out into mid-air. “Go!”

  Wind shrieked like a banshee around him, and Galen was gone.

  Chapter 25

  Kyla stared up at the wall in front of her.

  Beyond it lay the edge of the protective wards around Drakon Keep, and her freedom. All she had to do was scale it and run. This time, she was going
to open a portal on the ground. Making it harder for any vampires watching to intercept her in time.

  She was also going to use up a lot of power and conjure a second portal, one that they could attack, while she went through the original. It would take effort to focus on two portals at once, but she’d done it before.

  It was probably redundant anyway; she doubted any vamps could reach her in time. Not when she was exiting the wall at a completely random spot, nowhere near the front gates. Still, better to be safe than sorry.

  She lifted her staff into the air, prepared to call upon a spell that would lift her up and over the wall itself.

  Her hand paused mid-air as her ears detected a faint noise.

  What the hell is that?

  Worried about a possible vampire attack, she ducked low. Had they started their assault on the Keep this night? It would be incredibly bad luck for her if so. Crouching, she moved right up into the cover of the wall as the sound grew louder.

  It sounded like a wail, a high-pitched noise that grew louder and louder.

  Whatever it was, it was getting closer. Feeling threatened, her back literally up against the wall, Kyla tapped her staff on the ground twice. The ruins lit up with golden light and a green haze appeared in the sky above her.

  Her left hand twitched slowly and a dull red glow washed over her face as she summoned her fighting rope, letting it hang in her hand, ready to deploy as necessary.

  If the vampires were coming, she wasn’t about to go down without a fight.

  The shriek intensified. She was able to pinpoint where it was coming from, raising her hand to launch a blast of magic at her attacker.

  It came close, then faded abruptly as the whirling winds slowed, dispersing to reveal a familiar figure as he dropped ten feet or so to the ground, his windy transportation becoming ethereal once more before disappearing entirely.

  “Kyla.”

  She tiled her head, dropping the magic shield and her prepared blast of red energy.