I stared at him and nodded sharply. “Yes, the politics seem to be getting worse the larger our group becomes. Soon I fear I’ll be dealing with the Tories and the Whigs with all the subterfuge and machinations that entails.”
“Most women would kill to be in your situation,” he replied candidly while I nodded and thought about it.
“Envy is a dangerous emotion. It nearly got me killed within the Sidhe. And unless Belinda is dealt with, along with Valentine’s greed, I fear my mercy in the conference room will come back to haunt us.”
“What happened to you in the Sidhe?” he asked his dark eyes curious.
“It is a long story. Suffice it to say a woman did not like me and caused the Lord of Air and Darkness to attack me. In the process she separated my consciousness from my body, which nearly died while I was trapped within the Everlasting.”
Alan looked at me oddly and his fingers gripped the arms of the chair. “You appear… better,” he said, “although I have noticed you are now marked with more than a set of incisor wounds.”
I glanced down, catching site of my breast under the top of my dress and smiled wryly. “The Lord of Air and Darkness’ way of apologizing, though he claims it is the mark of the Gods. I only know it brought Talon to heel.”
“Who is Talon?”
“One of the two Drakes I brought back with my consciousness from the Everlasting. He is a royal pain in my ass,” I told him with a frown.
He looked a little dazed but asked, “And who was the other you brought back?”
“My Silver, though Talon will not let him declare since it appears there is only one color allowed on a Court, and he does not wish for Roa’ to be killed should a more powerful Silver appear. It is most complicated. They are the grey and black skinned men you saw in the hallway,” I told him with a wave of my wrist.
“And yet there were two with bronze hair? Was one a Copper?” he asked curiously. The fact that he noticed surprised me.
“The tall one with the pale bronze hair is Stela.” And I smiled and chuckled softly then told him, “I split my Grandmother’s throne and he spilled out from it. He set himself up as a fertility god when he came to this world, but apparently trapped himself within her throne more than two thousand years ago because his High Priestess informed him a Gold Queen would be born to the Seelie. She failed to mention it would happen so far into the future, and he did not think to ask. The other Bronze is like Marcus. He and the man with the shaved head, who is my Gray, arrived together this morning. Apparently they managed to escape Valentine, likely because they traveled some distance and arrived during daylight. Neither will declare because I already have a Gray and Bronze. However since they are both part Elf they opted to swear fealty to me, much as Cursed did during the Mayor’s party. Should either of them shift or look at me funny, it is likely Stela and Talon will kill them, as they tried to do this morning before they figured out a clever way to circumvent the rules.”
“And the four you were… napping with?” he asked. “I only recognized two of them from before you left.”
“The Queen sent Lira and Roral, along with another, to escort me to the Sidhe. I did not care for the third man and sent him from me. Cael asked to replace him when we returned, and because he provided a small service in keeping Talon from me at an opportune time, I granted his wish. Lord Camthalon was gifted to me when I was two… just as Cursed was. They are both Seelie Princes. Cam angered me and has been watched over by Cursed since he joined us. The man thought to use me to make my Mother jealous and was not overly happy about being subjected to a half breed mongrel such as myself.”
“Hmmm… it appears you have worked through your issues,” he remarked and I frowned and drummed my fingers upon my thigh in agitation.
“Truthfully I had not considered it. However Roa’ nearly bit him in half, and I healed him before even Amras or Cursed, who were both injured at the same time. Cursed assures me he has changed toward me. And as I refused to allow him to shield his mind from my men, I must trust that Cursed was right. But that does not erase the fact that the four of them… tricked me.”
“Ah, that would explain why you were angry with the two in the hall earlier.”
“Yes it is not pleasant to be made a fool of. I should have known better than to trust them. Beware Alan, Elves do not lie… but they do not always tell the truth either,” I told him in a musing voice.
Chapter 21
“The contract seems fairly straight forward,” I told him. “You will understand if I refuse your offer of additional guards.”
Alan smiled and nodded, “I can see that you already have your hands full.”
“I must also warn you that because of my condition I would not be able to spend an entire day with you,” and I grimaced while he sat straight in his chair and glanced at me in concern.
“Are you not well?” he asked softly, his dark eyes looking worried.
“I am breeding,” I told him. “One of the lovely side effects is that if I am not… how shall I put this delicately… with one of my Drakes often enough, I turn nasty and throw temper tantrums, after which I slip into seizure and convulse violently until such time as I am completely segregated from all males, or I find a Drake… within me. At the moment I require attention at least every twelve hours. I’ve been assured it will become more frequent the closer I come to… it’s not quite clear to me what I’m coming closer to, as no one has seen fit to inform me. My men delight in keeping me in the dark about many things. My Grandmother believes it is simply how men try to control women.”
He stared back at me in shock and blinked his eyes several times before he ventured an opinion. “It seems you are a very complex woman,” he replied and I couldn’t help laughing at his hesitant delivery.
“I believe the word you are looking for is difficult. I did warn you I was difficult.”
“Yes, yes you did.”
“Alan, can I not convince you to share the secret with me without this?” I asked and lifted the paper in my lap while he frowned slightly. “I have so many obligations already and if you merely wish for pleasure, I can satisfy you. In fact I would be pleased to do so now, if you are willing?”
Both his eyebrows shot up and he glanced first at me and then around the room, no doubt looking for someplace in which we might become… comfortable. “Lexi, are you certain this is appropriate… here?” he asked, a sly smile lighting his face.
I gave him a lopsided grin and informed him calmly, “You will not even need to remove your clothing,” and he frowned suddenly and looked mutinous.
“I am no lothario,” he growled softly, seeming to be insulted that I would think him… what… easy? I rose from my chair and dropped the contract upon the end table, then crossed slowly toward him. He watched me move and within him I could see a war raging between his desire to do this right, and his need to simply do this. When I slid onto his lap, he held himself tense as if he was not sure how to deal with my forwardness.
I placed my palms upon his chest then lifted one hand and ran my fingers through his hair. “Would you like me to pleasure you, Alan?” I breathed against his lips and his desire to do this right held up their arms and surrendered gracefully to his need to simply do this.
“Oh god yes, Lexi,” he breathed and my hair stood up as his Demon heritage flowed over my skin and coated me with his desire. It seemed I was never fully prepared to handle his power, and it caused my insides to clench with liquid fire. I couldn’t help wondering if this was how my men felt when I breathed my lust at them.
“Then kiss me,” I replied, and when his lips met mine I felt my world tilt slightly. It was hard to remember what it was I was about. We kissed for several minutes before I recalled I should be doing something more than simply enjoying the feel of his velvety soft lips against my own. I murmured softly and shifted in his lap while his hand slid up my thigh and he purred low and soft. “Alan,” I breathed and then filled his body with pleasure, as I had done to Talon
and Stela, and even my own Grandmother.
He cried out and his eyes slipped shut. He moaned softly while I continued feeding him full of my pleasure. When he jerked and slipped sideways in the chair, I lifted my hands from his chest and kissed him lightly upon his cheek. He took a deep breath and one corner of his lips lifted in a small smile. Then he made a pleased sound in his throat and seemed to simply pass out.
I had just lifted myself off his lap and was standing over him, gazing down with a pleased look, when the door slammed open and Kit marched in. Behind him I saw Aerandir and…Bryce poke their heads in, their faces curious. Kit took one look at Alan and growled angrily.
“Mistress?” he demanded, while I raised an eyebrow at him and placed a hand upon my hip.
“I do not recall inviting you in here. Is there some reason you would disturb me when you know full well I am having a private meeting?”
“Since when do you have private meetings?” Kit growled as he crossed to the chair I’d been using and slumped upon it. His fingers reached out and plucked the contract off the end table. I frowned at him while he quickly scanned it, before tossing it aside.
“Since when is my Demon in league with my Drakes in keeping information from me? Oh wait…” I replied sarcastically. “Pretty much since you all decided I was too stupid to make any decisions for myself, right?” I said in an angry voice. “Last I checked,” and I shook my wrist and jangled the Dragons hanging there at him. “I was the one that fulfilled the contract, not Gareth or Jace!”
Kit glared up at me from the depths of the chair, his dark red eyes narrowed. “I have been keeping you safe since you were too young to string two words together, let alone make your own decisions, Mistress. I am not about to forget my duty now because you throw a temper tantrum. And just because my actions happen to coincide with certain other members of our currently unhappy little family, this does not mean that I have forgotten to whom I own my allegiance. Have you?”
I sucked air into my lungs and stared back at him in dismay. “That was uncalled for, Kit.”
“I do not think so,” he hissed. “You have hurt Gareth. Was that your intention?”
“No, it was not my intention! My intention was to find a way to save three men without having to sell more of myself to do it! I don’t think a little trust is too much to ask. You would think the lot of you would have learned by now. Did we not have this exact same conversation the last time this occurred?” I cried. “And correct me if I’m wrong, but were you not all angry with me only to apologize because you had treated me badly? Was it not a matter of you trusting me, not the other way around?”
Kit pressed his lips together and flared his nostrils at me. “What did you do to him?” he growled, clearly wanting to change the subject because he knew I was right and he was not.
I glanced down at Alan, who had a very happy smile on his face and seemed blissfully unaware of the turmoil going on so close to him. “No more than I did to Talon or Stela or Lira. No more than I did to my own Grandmother for stars sakes!” I yelled at him. Beside him on the coffee table the contract went up in flames as he stared back at me.
“We will retrieve these men, and you, Mistress… will keep your blessed nose out of it,” he hissed back at me.
I pulled air into my lungs and tried to calm myself realizing that all this anger was causing me other issues. I had only had Stela this morning and that had been brief at best. If I kept this up, I’d be on the floor in less than an hour. At the moment there weren’t any of my Drakes I was inclined to cuddle with. “Fine,” I replied and I turned my back on him, counted to ten several times, then did some deep breathing exercises.
“What… what just happened?” Kit demanded, his voice sounding confused and still angry but bordering on concerned.
“Nothing,” I told him.
“You never agree with me,” he replied suspiciously. “Why do you not lower your shields?”
“Because I don’t want to,” I replied while he gnashed his teeth, he was so frustrated. I ignored him and walked toward the door, then asked Bryce if he could please find Owen and bring him to the Library for me. He glanced at Aerandir who nodded and we both watched Bryce turn toward the living room. Aerandir looked back at me and eyed me curiously, but blissfully kept his mouth shut. Bryce returned quickly with Owen at his heels and I stepped back into the room and crossed to Alan’s chair, motioning him to follow me.
“Can you please send him home?” I asked Owen, and he glanced between Kit and me and nodded. Alan disappeared a second later. “Thank you,” I told him politely then turned and left the room. Both of them watched me go with disturbed looks.
I left Aerandir and Bryce outside my bedroom door and gratefully closed it behind me. I desperately needed to escape all this testosterone and smothering manly concern that seemed to follow me all over the place. Too bad I was no longer in the Sidhe, I could have used a little girls only time! Okay since that wasn’t an option, maybe what I needed was a little nature. What I needed was to relax… away from men. Some place like Amras’ room, but all my own. I glanced toward my closet, remembering I also had something I needed to take care of. I crossed to the bed and sat myself on the edge and softly called for Areth. She appeared in a swirl of black hair and piercing black eyes and greeted me fondly.
“Mistress… it is so good to see you. We have missed you sorely,” she told me.
“I am very pleased to be home, Areth,” I told her wearily.
She smiled and seated herself upon the bed, gazing up at me inquiringly. “You look as if you need something, Mistress,” she remarked in a concerned voice.
“A nice long vacation,” I muttered and she tilted her head to the side and considered my words.
“What is a vacation?” she asked. I smiled and told her my vision of a vacation. Me riding a beautiful horse down a sandy beach, near a crystal blue bay teeming with fish. Walking on white sand then taking a dip in the Ocean water to cool off. A bit of lush tropical forest with the sound of birds in the distance. I pictured for her ancient ruins somewhere inland and convenient hiking paths through a forest. A fresh water stream burbling down to the bay. And something else I’d been thinking I needed, something very specific. A place out of time where I could relax and spend some quite me time.
“Something like that,” I told her. “Someplace I can go to get away from… them and their politics.” And I waved my hand to indicate all the men currently swarming around the den. “Do you think you could do something like that, maybe through a doorway down the hall behind my closet? Someplace with a little white washed cottage close to the beach with wide porches and a swing I can sit on? Maybe a hammock between two trees near the water? Perhaps you could add a small fruit orchard growing behind the house, with various fruit trees? Sunshine and a rose garden I can putter around in? That would be heaven,” I breathed. “With a door that locks on the inside and a big sign on the outside that says ‘trespassers will be eaten’!” I added while she chuckled, then hopped down from the bed and disappeared within the closet.
When she came back she was smiling and the look on her face nearly made me sigh in anticipation. “Let me know, Mistress, if there is anything else you require,” she told me and then smiled and waved her hand as she passed me a large floppy straw hat and sunglasses. “You may require these.”
“Thank you, Areth, you are a lifesaver,” I replied. “Thirty minutes?” I reminded her, and she nodded her head and was gone in a delicate puff of black haze.
I walked into the closet and noticed my boots and weapons stacked up against a wall. The outfit I’d worn when I’d planet hopped with Immy and the Centuaress sisters was folded neatly on a shelf. The tangerine dress Owen had created for me was there also. Earlier when I’d checked the closet I’d noticed the circlet that had stayed on me despite my attempts to remove it, had somehow found its way back to our den. Despite the fact I’d been wearing it when my soul had disappeared into the Everlasting. It was once again covered
in chocolate diamonds as it had been when I’d gone off with Immy, the aquamarine stones having disappeared. It was now missing from the shelf it had occupied. As was the jewelry box that had contained the gifts I’d received the morning after our flight from city hall. Very good, I thought and smiled slyly.
Right now I needed to get a move on if I wanted to escape before someone came looking for me and I lost the precious time I needed. I planned to request time slow to a crawl while I thought things over and decided what I might do next. Perhaps I could read a book or two. It was past time I brushed up on my heritage.
I glanced around, making sure no one had crept up on me while I’d been ogling my possessions and reached in and plucked my quiver and bow off the floor. Lights flared to life in the hall as I stepped through the opening and into the stone tunnel beyond. Down the hallway about twenty feet and just around a slight bend, there I found a large wooden door. Torches were set into the stone to either side illuminating a sign in large black letters that said ‘Entry prohibited unless invited by the Queen. Trespassers will be harshly dealt with.’ I reached for the doorknob, chuckling as the door swung open, and stared in delight at the beautiful vista spread out before me.
Well I thought, glancing down at the quiver and its mysterious contents. Let’s just see what was what. Then I closed the door behind me and shoved home the huge deadbolt.
Read on for an excerpt from Dragon Pride:
By Kelly Armenta
Coming soon
Dragon Pride - Chapter 1
I closed the door and shoved home the deadbolt then sighed and wiggled my toes in the warm sand. Overhead the sun was shining brightly in a deep azure sky. I glanced around, put on my hat and glasses, and pulled a deep breath. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and nothing to prevent me from the ‘me time’ I was so looking forward to. I pushed away from the door and walked down to the edge of the water. Brightly colored fish swam in schools and the water was so clear I could see the individual grains of sand beneath it. The waves gently lapped the shore and I dipped my toe in and sighed at the perfect temperature. The water was cooler than Spot’s pond, but still pleasantly warm. I turned slowly, taking a moment to enjoy the picture from my mind come to life around me. Some distance from the shore was a small island. It appeared to have a rocky outcropping ringed in a white sandy beach with six or seven palms and not much else. It looked perfect sitting in the middle of all that pale teal water and was easily within swimming distance. If I got ambitious later, I might make backstroke over to it.
Dragon Greed Page 28
