by Stacy Reid
“Drac please.”
The King of Nuria raised dark brows. He shifted, and more than three hundred of the king’s warriors suddenly filled the council chambers with weapons drawn.
A savage thrill shot through Drac.
“Go with my blades, princess.”
“No!”
Queen Izumi stepped forward. "Where is my daughter?" The Queen’s voice wobbled, but she squared her shoulders.
Drac shifted his eyes to her from the Nurian King. Dread twisted in her, and she trembled. The queen released a startled scream when the shadow stretched at her feet and contracted, and Saieke appeared.
Without hesitation, she flung herself into his arms and Drac drew her into his embrace, his gaze never leaving the Nurians. He let the promise of destruction show in his eyes. The Nurian king nodded, and war was averted for today.
His princess heaved, and he looked down into her bloodless face. She stared at the carnage in the chambers. He tasted her shock and horror at the butchery.
“Take me from here, Drac. I need to be away from the blood and death.”
He disappeared with her.
23
Izumi blinked several times. Her daughter and the Darkan had vanished. She looked at her king and the council members. Most had the same dazed look on their face, but she also felt the cautious relief that pulsed from them.
She turned to King Ajali. "I will offer you several gourds of elixir for the loss of the Allegiance."
He lifted his fist. Swords hissed as they were sheathed, and his warriors relaxed in unison. He inclined his head to her, and they all flashed from the chambers.
She closed her eyes in abject relief.
All the Mevians who had entered their meeting were dead, except for the geikan messenger. Izumi was still unsure what had happened. Her daughter’s consort was a Darkan, and the Nurian King had left. He simply left. Izumi had no idea what that meant. She looked at the high chancellor Azul who stood with his jowls shaking.
“What does it mean that a Darkan has claimed my daughter as his mate?”
“What I know about their laws, my queen, is that it means death for anyone who seeks to take her from him.” He walked to a council seat in which he wilted, the end of his robes soaked with blood and gore.
“Is our kingdom ready for an alliance with the Darkage? Or even to acknowledge them?”
Williem flashed over and drew her in his arms, an unusual display of public affection from him that Izumi welcomed.
Azul scrubbed a hand over his face. “I am unsure what is possible, my queen. The princess can only wed those of noble rank.”
“But he has claimed her as his mate,” the king said.
“We are not sure what that means, your majesty,” The councilor, Chiang, responded from where he stooped over a fallen council member administering the elixir. He did not seem to mind that his robes were trailing in blood.
“He loves her,” Izumi said softly. “I felt it from his chakra, and Saieke loves him.”
There was profound contemplative silence.
“I may be able to help you with your question.” A voice of power and command murmured.
Izumi and her king flashed around, and she almost fainted when the shadows retreated revealing dozens of men.
“I am Gidon Al Shra, King and Ricarkri of the Darkage,” the one perched atop of column with such deadly grace intoned.
He suddenly appeared on the landing a few feet away from them. She glanced into the ceiling at those that remained perched with a stillness that petrified her.
“King Gidon, it seems we have much to discuss, indeed. Welcome to Boreas, the nation of mountains and wind,” her king responded with more calm than what Izumi felt.
He swept out of the room with Izumi by his side and the Darkan king a few paces behind. The warriors he arrived with disappeared as if they did not exist. Izumi let out a startled squeak when a Darkan appeared before her and opened the door to the chambers they were entering.
There were many stories of the Darkans that bandied about Boreas. For the princess to wed one would cause disbelief and uproar. But they would have an alliance with a kingdom that was known for their unremitting strength and power.
She smiled. War hovered, and they could be positioned now to triumph instead of being conquered. It was time for a new era and dawn to grace Boreas, she thought. If they could not get an Allegiance, at least an alliance would enable them to still be standing when the ashes of war have settled.
Saieke whimpered into Drac’s mouth with a desperation she did not understand. She directed him to her wing of the castle and into her chamber. She wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed and nibbled at his lips frantically.
She trembled, and her heart still raced at the day’s event. It had all be so sudden and savage.
“Take me,” she urged shakily along their lei.
She drew his shirt off and ran her lips over his neck and chest. She hummed as pleasure darkened her mind from his beast and pushed the edges of fear away.
“I need you.”
Saieke purred in delight when he caressed against her mind, and she felt the overpowering emotions from his beast. She absorbed the violent emotions along with the longing and love.
“I love you, too.”
She felt the stillness in man and beast, and then the pulse of satisfaction. The monster in him stretched. He tumbled her roughly onto her bed. She shivered, as her legs and her womb clenched and contracted in arousal. Her caftan ripped, and cool air washed across her skin already slick with sweat.
Saieke moaned when the heat of his mouth covered her nipple and sucked. Biting pleasure rushed through her. She keened and arched into him when he plunged two fingers deep. She heard the snarl of delight that hissed across her mind and welcomed it.
He twisted her body so that she lay on her stomach and drew her up on her knees. He ran claw-tipped fingers over her naked back and down her hips with rough possession. He came behind her and nudged her thighs far apart, grabbed her hips bending her into an arch.
She whimpered as his coarse tongue swiped through her dripping core. Fire blazed through her body. Ecstasy, sharp and wicked, sliced at her. Her voice keened and bounced off the walls as he brought her to bliss again and again, with his lips and tongue. Saieke’s voice went hoarse from screaming and begging for release from the relentless sensations that he worked her through.
He nipped at the inside of her thighs and slowly bit along the swell of her ass and hips. He trailed hot wet kisses on her back and laved his tongue to the center over the red imprint of the lashes. She crooned when his fangs plunged into her back and erotic pain bit at Saieke. She felt the strong pull of his teeth as he drank from her. With a hot swipe of his tongue, he stopped the flow of blood and covered her with his heat. Drac nudged her thighs wider, and Saieke’s arms collapsed to her elbows, pushing her rump and back higher into the air. Claws dug deeper into her hips as he positioned his cock at her entrance and thrust hard. She yelped at the harsh penetration.
She felt the darkness in him rise.
He snapped his hips between her thighs, and she bit into the sheets. Too deep. Yet she gloried in each stroke of agonizing ecstasy. Saieke trembled and twisted the coverlets as satisfaction pulsed through her. He slashed his wrist and extended it to her lips.
Drink.” His voice was strained, hoarse with need.
She latched onto his wrist and sucked in time to the lunge of his hips inside of her, the thick ridges rubbing along her sensitive core. He rode her relentlessly, and Saieke lost the ability even to scream.
“Drac, please,” Saieke gasped.
“Drink,” a voice, now dark and seductive, whispered against her mind.
Shock gripped her as fangs punched from her mouth and she instinctively bit into the open wound on his wrist. A roar of triumph and savage satisfaction poured from Drac. She dazedly drew from his wrist, drunk with the pleasure of consuming a part of him. She licked the wound, and more s
hock tunneled through her when it sealed itself immediately. Saieke moaned deep in her throat as his hips plunged harder and her body shook under the raw impact, each hard impalement had bliss searing her insides. “Drac,” she groaned into his mind desperate for relief. Sweat shined her body as the erotic bite of pain and ecstasy became overwhelming.
“Drac please,” she wailed along their link.
“Don’t ever fucking defy me again and harm yourself, Princess.”
The savage rage he had felt at the thought of her being whipped, and him being helpless to prevent it in time bombarded her.
“I love you,” she said. “I will never willingly put you to such suffering again.”
A snarl slid across her mind that reverberated through her body and soul. Chakra pulsed and caressed her clit, her nipples and the crack of her ass. Exquisite sensations peaked inside her and her body detonated from the high on which it had been suspended.
A harsh sound of pleasure rasped from deep in his throat, and he leaned over her and plunged his fangs into her neck. She shivered as aftershocks of bliss stormed through her. She moaned weakly as another orgasm rushed through her as he reached his completion.
Saieke breathed heavily. Perspiration ran in rivulets down her back and into her hair.
He kissed her softly, slowly running his tongue over the puncture wounds in her neck to seal them off. Blood still stained his wrist, so she reached out tentatively with her tongue and licked. Its taste was pure and exotic. She shivered as he placed another soft kiss on her neck.
“You are loved Saieke El Shyokara. I love you.”
She smiled as deep contentment and joy rushed inside of her.
“And I you…take me home.”
Epilogue
Boreas-Kingdom of Winds and Mountains
Castle Windhaven
"A new dawn and era have graced Boreas. We are a strong and amazing people, able to set aside fear and prejudice to see the truth. I know the tales that you have heard of the Darkage. I know the revulsion and fear that has filled your hearts, upon hearing that I will align myself and our kingdom with a Darkan. You are my people, and I am yours; I hope you will have faith in my decision to allow us to bridge fear and hate with acceptance and trust.” Saieke’s voice rang with power and conviction as she beheld the crowd of thousands in front of her.
Queen Izumi felt a deep rush of pride as she listened to her daughter. It had only been five days since the Darkans had appeared in the council chamber, yet it seemed like a lifetime.
Saieke had not delayed in the confirmation ceremony at all. She had also broken tradition and had a mixture of lower family and head families with the highest echelon of the aristocracy of their kingdom present at the joining of her and High Lord of the Darkage, Drac El Kyn.
Thousands graced the courtyard as they peered high up to the balcony at their princess. The hum of the crowd quieted as they looked at her regal beauty and grace. Dressed in a flowing white caftan with her hair coiled high on her head and a headband studded with yellow diamonds twinkling under the suns, Saieke spoke to her people unflinchingly. “I love him,” her voice rang true and clear. “I have a story I want to tell you. A story of a kingdom that is reviled and feared when they are so much more. Beauty, grace, and love are not unique to us,” Saieke continued.
Izumi smiled as for the first time since their meeting with the Dark King she felt a kindling of hope that all would be well. Saieke held the throng captivated with tales of the dark realm. She was loved by all in her kingdom, and Izumi felt hope that their people would slowly accept that one day, a descendant of a Darkan bloodline would sit on the throne of Boreas as king.
The dark king had met with them and their council as he laid out a scroll of their mating laws. It highlighted how precious and revered one’s mate was, so much so that they had implemented laws for their protection. He made it clear Drac would destroy anyone who tried to take her from him.
It was still hard for Izumi to imagine her daughter with someone so brutal and hard and living in a kingdom where their might and cruelty were legendary to the other nations of Amagarie.
King Gidon seemed like a predator amongst them all in the throne room, even though she saw he had strived hard to appear relaxed and unthreatening as they negotiated and unraveled whether they could have an alliance.
Their consort laws had deemed they had an alliance until Saieke ascended to the throne. He was an Archduke in his kingdom and according to the council a rank noble enough for the princess to wed him. If their kingdom was prepared for such a decision was another matter. Chancellor Chiang had pointed out Princess Saieke had claimed him as her consort, and he should remain as such until their kingdom was prepared for more.
Preparing the blood binding and alliance contractual terms had been very vigorous. The dark king had watched them with a remote expression on his face, but Izumi felt the savage satisfaction that had pulsed through him and something darker that she could not identify.
They had drawn up contracts that outlined the alliance between Boreas and the Darkage. It outlined her dowry and the stipulation that the oldest child of their union would be heir to Boreas.
Her King gifted them with several barrels of elixir and dozens of chests of gold and gems as Saieke’s dowry. Izumi had felt the dark king’s surprise at their offer. She had made it clear it was Saieke's bride gift, and it would be an insult to refuse.
She ached that their daughter was moving to the Darkage. Saieke met with them and had laughed as she informed them; her Darkan was faster than anything they could comprehend so she could visit often. She was still the heir and Princess of Boreas, and she would attend all their functions and ceremonies.
They felt hope their people would come to understand and allay the fears they had of the dark world over time, opening trade negotiations between their nations as their alliance demanded. Saieke would not inherit her throne for another thousand years or if they were to perish. There would be enough time to prepare their people for the alliance.
The resounding cheer from the crowd drew Izumi from her thoughts. This was just the beginning of a new chapter for them all, and she welcomed it. A new era has indeed graced Boreas
Nuria outskirts-Town of Hoadecia
“My vision holds true,” the Serangite rasped. The cascading folds of the king’s seer’s elaborate blood-red robe trembled with her anxiety. “I see lands ravaged by war and death,” she continued. “Without access to the mountains of Boreas and their elixir, your kingdom will fall under the might of Mevia and Avindar.”
“Are you still unaware of the date when this will occur?” King Ajali strode to stand in front of Ruxia, staring intently into her diamond hardened eyes as they darkened with power. Her abilities lay in the psychic plane, and it was a testament to his ruthless plotting that he had a much coveted Serangite in his army. The tent swayed under the sudden onslaught of a wind that buffered outside, despite it being high noon and summertide.
“Yes,” she rasped, then shuddered from being trapped in her deathly vision. “I foresee your death at the hands of a black-haired temptress. She tears your throat out and drinks your blood in rage.”
Fire stirred in Ajali, and he suppressed his rage.
The silence in the tent became tense as he acknowledged her predictions. He strode to a great chair and slowly sank into its plush depths, gazing into the ashen face of his high Chancellor Bastien. The tent was starkly furnished with only an oak table in the center with three armchairs and a pallet for sleep. They had camped on their journey home from the kingdom of Boreas.
The Serangite heaved as the vision released her. As a foreseer, her designation was that of a nyth—the third ring of power. She was not even close to being an imperial, yet he did not doubt her. Too many of Ruxia’s visions had come to pass. Ajali waited for her to compose herself before he spoke. “Dismissed.”
She walked through the opening of the tent and disappeared.
Ajali met the eyes of his high ch
ancellor who leaned against the oak table. “I need to find another way to have unlimited access to the Borean mountains, to their elixir.” Tension climbed higher as the leashed violence in his voice vibrated through the tent.
Bastien grimaced. “Who would have thought that the Princess of Boreas would be the mate of a Darkan? You can no longer claim her as your blood oath queen to gain access to their elixir.”
“It was indeed unexpected. I thought her lover would have been from Caleum, and then I would have had leverage over them, that I could manipulate to my whim. The Darkans are always solitary, hidden in the darkness and shadows. It was indeed surprising.”
“The Princess took the Darkan as her lover in the days she hid in the Darkage.”
“Indeed, she did, Bastien,” Ajali said.
“Will you still attempt to take her as your own?”
Ajali chuckled darkly. “I have studied what little I could find on Darkan laws; for taking their mate, they would descend on us like the plague of death. The Darkans would incite the next Great War to retrieve their mates.”
Bastien strode to Ajali and clasped his shoulders. “How do we prevent the Serangite’s predictions without having control of the Borean Mountains, sire?”
“We plot, and we watch, Bastien. We plot and watch.”
Tehdra perched high in a tree on the cliffs of the Fyran Mountains, cocooned in the darkness she summoned. Below her, a convoy flew with great speed; some flew astride massive wraiths while others traveled on the ground on massive four-legged beasts. The wraiths flared their wings in powerful arches, their sleek predatory grace mesmerizing. She had never seen the creatures this close before. They only existed at the Nurians’ royal palace.
She had been spying on the nation for days now. She had sought to infiltrate deep, to hide amongst the Nurians, and stop all threats against her kingdom, the Darkage. She also had to protect the Nurian king from any Darkan that shadowed his kingdom intending to kill him.
