This time, Graham’s response didn’t delay in arriving. The man shot to his feet, his entire being vibrating with anger. “You will not touch him. You will not place your filthy hands on him.”
Apparently, Karein had been correct in that there was something between the werewolf and Caelyn Sutharlainn. To Hareem’s mind, it needed to be squashed before it got any further. Not only would Caelyn’s connection to Karein make this all a huge humiliation to the Tersain, but even for Caelyn, Graham Powers could only bring about disaster. Someone in Caelyn’s position would have to give up everything he’d ever known if he wanted to even attempt something with a member of the ninth caste.
But Hareem was probably seeing too much in this. Other than these words and Karein’s assessment of earlier events—which Karein himself had admitted to be inconclusive—they had nothing to go on, no proof that Caelyn might even feel anything for Graham Powers other than pity, sexual attraction, or a combination of both. Therefore, Hareem smirked at the werewolf. “Oh, the mutt has guts,” he said. “What makes you think you can give us orders?”
“He can’t,” his brother pointed out calmly. “He’s just a desperate, desperate man who’s lusting for someone he can’t ever reach. Get it into your thick skull, werewolf. You’ll never touch Caelyn. Never.”
With those dismissive words, Karein turned and headed out of the cell. As Karein gave the guards instructions to tighten the security around Graham, Hareem followed his brother, his attention once more on the adjoining cell. He simply couldn’t resist his instincts anymore. His dragon was practically roaring now, beckoning him to move faster, to tear that stupid door apart.
Hareem miraculously managed to contain that urge and gestured to another guard to open that cell. Even if, as a rule, he wasn’t as frightening as Karein—no one could really reach Karein’s performance in terrifying people, not even their father—they rushed to comply, probably noticing his mood. To be true, Hareem himself was quite notorious for being dangerous when crossed, something which would probably prove to be useful once he took the Ornoz throne.
For once, the thought didn’t leave him with anything except vague displeasure. His dragon really didn’t care about politics or power struggles. It just wanted to be in that stupid cell already.
Thankfully, the guard moved quickly and opened the door. Hareem stepped inside and froze. Every muscle in his body seized at the sight that greeted his eyes.
The occupant of this cell was far smaller than Graham, his build slender where Graham’s had been muscular. His dark hair was caked with blood, but he didn’t seem seriously injured. He got up when he saw Hareem come inside, his green-gold eyes fixing straight on him.
He was beautiful, almost sinfully so. He’d obviously shifted earlier, because he was wearing next to nothing, only a flimsy garment that tried, but mostly failed, to cover the prisoner’s genitals. His nipples peaked in the chill of the dungeon and his creamy skin bore the already fading traces of battle.
The small man stared at Hareem, a million emotions flashing through those expressive eyes. Anger, hostility, confusion, and maybe, something else. Yearning? Or was that Hareem’s own emotion? He couldn’t tell. He could barely breathe when faced with the undeniable realization. His pulse thrummed in his ears, and everything seemed sharper, brighter. His heart beat a million miles an hour, and his entire being seemed to focus on the other man. And all the while, his dragon roared “mate.” It reached out to the prisoner’s own beast, the wolf he could sense so close.
Hareem wanted to kiss him, to touch him all over, to hold him close and claim him. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the chance to do that. Having apparently noticed what Hareem was doing, Karein manifested behind him. His presence seemed to break the trance the smaller man had been in. His hackles rose and he bared his teeth at them in an obvious display of hostility.
Hareem felt it like a physical blow. He took a deep breath and shook himself, summoning his own composure. He had to remember who he was. Given his position as heir of the Ornoz throne, he couldn’t allow anyone to know what this man meant to him. It would be a disaster, just like in Caelyn Sutharlainn’s case.
Nevertheless, he couldn’t let the wolf stay here. “Take him away and to my chambers,” he ordered.
Karein didn’t seem to be very happy about Hareem’s decision. “Hareem,” he started to say.
Hareem threw a gaze toward his brother and narrowed his eyes at the younger draechen. He knew what Karein was going to say. Technically speaking, the Directive prohibited using members of the ninth caste for sexual relief. It was a provision that, unfortunately, had been many times ignored in the past. Hareem found such abuse disgusting, if only because he didn’t want to take what wasn’t freely given. Imprisoning a werewolf was one thing, but using one as a sex slave implied debasing not only the wolf, but also himself, as a person.
But Hareem had no intention of allowing any harm to come to the lovely wolf. Neither did he intend to force himself on the man. He didn’t actually know what he would do and how he’d get out of this predicament, but he couldn’t allow his mate to continue to suffer in these awful dungeons. “Don’t argue with me on this one, Karein. I know what I’m doing.”
The guards went to the werewolf’s side and grabbed his arm. The smaller shifter tried to struggle, but he was greatly overpowered. “You bastards,” he cursed. “You’ll pay for this. I’d rather die before I’ll become your plaything, fuckers.”
Hareem suppressed a wince as he watched the soldiers drag the werewolf away. He was the heir apparent of Ornoz. What in the world was he supposed to do with a werewolf mate? How would he even hide his interest in the man from his father? He had so many questions he couldn’t answer. He only hoped that his mate would eventually prove to be more cooperative and open toward a compromise.
* * * *
Hareem sighed as he forced himself to return to the present. He was no longer just a prince, and he didn’t fear his father anymore, but his problems hadn’t changed.
The irony was that Taryn had indeed been impossibly supportive, in spite of everything that had happened. Sure, there had been times when they’d argued, but it had always been after he’d found out Taryn was pregnant. Hareem had handled that badly, too. He was shocked that Taryn had even wanted to stay by his side at all.
But there was no point in dwelling on the past. He’d committed many mistakes, no doubt about it. He’d have been willing to atone for them, and if only he hadn’t been bound to the throne, he’d have spent his entire life proving to Taryn that he could do better. But Taryn wasn’t safe by his side, and in the end, it wasn’t only about his own poor decisions. There were so many other factors involved, such as this mysterious force that now threatened them.
Focusing on that, Hareem shook off his self-pity and painful memories. He had to find a way to figure out what had caused Talbot Stervos to attack the Draechenburg dungeons and to what extent he’d been controlled by someone else. To that end, he had to turn off his heart for a while and use his brain.
In spite of that knowledge, Hareem found himself reaching out to his mate in his mind. Taryn was there, as quiet as always, but his pained affection still spilling over his barriers. Hareem realized all too well that he’d been cruel to Taryn time and time again, but he still couldn’t let go of him.
“I’m sorry,” he sent to the werewolf. “I do love you. I’ve loved you from the very first moment we first met.”
For the first time in what seemed like forever, Taryn answered. “But it’s not enough, is it? You said it yourself. I’m not enough, and neither is our love.”
Hareem was so startled that he almost fell off his throne. Now that Taryn had briefly let his barriers down, he was flooded by the werewolf’s confused emotions. They were so intense that for a few moments, Hareem could barely even breathe. It was just like suddenly walking on a limb that had fallen asleep, and feeling the blood flood it, only a million times stronger.
There were countless thing
s Hareem wanted to tell Taryn. Yes, he had said all that, and to a certain extent, it was true. Taryn simply couldn’t be the emperor’s consort. As things stood, just having him here, at Hareem’s side, had made people of numerous nations frown in displeasure. But it wasn’t Taryn who was at fault. Their world was just too putrid to understand the beauty and purity of Taryn’s heart. Hareem wanted to fix it, to show everyone how stupid it was to make rash judgments based on a war that had ended centuries ago, but that wasn’t something that could be done in a day, a week, or even a year. Not to mention that things were even more complicated now, with the vampires attacking and hidden foes stirring. And sadly, Taryn’s pregnancy gave them a deadline, one that would have never sufficed for what Hareem had to do.
“I know,” Taryn said softly. “But you shouldn’t have to carry this alone. You should have a consort to help you.”
Hareem’s heart started to race. “What exactly are you saying, sweeting?”
“Go ahead and propose to someone, Hareem. You think you can trust Hanna Zager. Ask her to be your consort. The wedding doesn’t have to be now, but the help she could provide would be invaluable.”
Hareem couldn’t understand anything anymore. Taryn had always been against Hareem taking an official mate, something Hareem couldn’t blame him for. Why had he changed his mind?
“Because no matter what you or I do, this won’t ever change,” Taryn replied. “I can’t be more than a concubine, not now, not a century in the future, and we both know it.”
Jagged pain coursed through Hareem as his mate spoke. Taryn’s words were quite similar to what he himself had once told the werewolf. It was stupid of him to have thought Taryn would get over that, but in many ways, his hands were bound. He wanted to explain that he had no real interest in anyone else except Taryn, that even if he did take a mate, it would all be a front, and likely as hard on Hareem as it would be for Taryn. In fact, he didn’t want to do it at all. And now of all times, Taryn was suggesting that he go through with it. Why?
“I know I said and did many things that hurt you,” Hareem told his mate. “But this is only temporary. I want it to only be temporary. Eventually, things will change.”
“Not even you believe that,” Taryn answered. “The emperor of Ornoz simply cannot take a werewolf as an official mate. It is written in the Directive, in every tradition your people respect. What you want and what will actually happen are two very different things.”
Hareem struggled to come up with a reply that would manage to convey at least some of the emotions in his heart. Truth be told, sometimes, he himself was torn between the knowledge of the impossibility of giving Taryn the place he deserved and his inability to do so.
It was all so very fucked up. Ornoz represented a danger for Taryn, and yet, Hareem had a duty to it. If he threw everything aside like he wanted to, the instability would not only affect the draechen. It would ripple all throughout the nine castes, endangering everyone Taryn knew and cared about.
Hareem desperately loved Taryn, but the fact remained that his affection couldn’t shield Taryn from harm. Overlords, he’d once been poisoned, and it had partly been because of his low popularity with the draechen lords. Taryn had been there, at that very same party. If he’d drunk the wine, he’d have suffered the same fate as Hareem. Hareem didn’t even want to imagine what it would have done to the baby Taryn carried.
It all came around to one, simple, undeniable fact. Even if he was emperor, even if he occupied the most important position in the shifter world, Hareem was helpless when it came to fulfilling his own personal desires. He’d wanted to do so, but the betrayal that had nearly plunged Ornoz into a war with the naga had only been a symptom of a larger problem. Draechen society still didn’t trust him, and that could prove to be lethal to all of them, especially with so many foes just waiting to strike.
Before he could find a way to explain all that, Taryn’s presence in his mind dwindled to a dim buzz. Hareem winced, knowing that he’d once again disappointed his lover.
But there was nothing he could do about it now. He would not follow Taryn’s urge to take an official mate. It would mean betraying Taryn more than he already had. At the very least, he could use the turmoil in the paranormal world to postpone a decision in that regard.
For the moment, Hareem couldn’t just wait here and wallow in his own misery. No matter what happened, he was still emperor. If he aimed to one day fix this seemingly unfixable situation, he had to take matters into his own hands.
Taking a deep breath, Hareem got up and left the throne room. He refused to leave his tasks up to Talrasar and Kaelezrin. No. For his mate and his child, he would get to the bottom of this. And then, maybe, just maybe, he’d be able to face his mate and ask for forgiveness.
Chapter Two
Taryn lay in his bed, staring at a random spot on the wall without really seeing it. In his mind, he absently watched his mate’s actions. He knew he probably shouldn’t be doing so. He was only hurting himself by it, by acknowledging how close, yet how far away, his mate was. He shouldn’t even have spoken to Hareem through their mate bond, but he hadn’t been able to help himself. And he’d ended up telling Hareem to find someone new, even if that was the opposite of what he actually wanted.
Whimpering, Taryn curled around a pillow, feeling more miserable and wretched than ever. Tears threatened at the corners of his eyes, and he futilely tried to push them back. His emotions were a mess as of late, and without Hareem by his side, he felt like a leaf being thrown around in a hurricane.
The only thing that kept him going was his child. Taryn patted his stomach, where a slight bump had already appeared. He hadn’t expected this to happen, not when he’d accepted Hareem in his body and in his heart. From the very beginning, their relationship had been tumultuous and unequal, with Taryn more than aware that his position in Hareem’s life was risky and uncertain.
He was fairly certain his baby would be a boy. Prince Sareltae had said that it was too soon to tell for sure, but that his magic felt the child would be male. Taryn believed him, since he couldn’t imagine why the fae would lie. And even if nothing was certain, he realized all too well that if Taryn had been draechen, this child would also have been treated differently. He might have become the heir of Ornoz.
Taryn didn’t care about power. He just wanted him and his baby to be loved. In fact, he’d have taken any scraps of affection Hareem wanted to throw his way. It wasn’t that he didn’t have any dignity, or that the mate bond forced his will away, but rather, the exact opposite had happened. When Hareem had opened his heart, Taryn had seen that, no matter what the draechen might show to the public, Hareem truly meant well. He wanted a better future for Ornoz, for all of them. Without his father stifling him, he actually had the power to change the world now.
Hareem was a good man, torn between his duty toward his people and his genuine affection toward Taryn. Unfortunately, draechen didn’t appreciate kindness. Perhaps they instinctively sensed it within Hareem and recoiled, comparing Hareem with the previous emperor and finding him lacking. It was so very stupid, and it angered Taryn, more so because it forced Hareem to pretend to be someone he was not.
Taryn would have done his best to support him through it, but his condition made it impossible for him to stay with Hareem. He knew that. He’d known it for quite a while. And yet, Hareem’s sending him away still hurt, so very much.
A million memories drifted through Taryn’s mind, crystal clear, like they’d happened just the day before. A part of Taryn fixed on their separation, on the last good-bye they had shared. Hareem had been torn apart by the poison, and Taryn was unable to help him. But Taryn didn’t want to think about that. Squeezing his eyes shut, he remembered the first day they’d met, how beautiful, awful, and dangerous it had been. From the moment he’d met Hareem’s gaze, Taryn had known he would never be the same again.
* * * *
Taryn struggled and writhed as the two guards dragged him through the darken
ed corridor. “Let me go!” he shouted. “Let me go, you bastards.”
Predictably, they ignored him. Not that Taryn had expected anything different. They’d received a very clear command from a superior, and they would fulfill it.
Truly, Taryn didn’t even know what he was protesting, their actions, or the command behind it. He just felt that this was all wrong. It seemed like he’d fallen into a nightmare, a particularly cruel one that had shattered most of his dreams.
Taryn wasn’t afraid of draechen. He’d lived most of his life on the run, always aware that any moment now, he might be caught. True, Monroe had protected him, but not even his brother was omnipotent, as proven by Taryn’s current predicament. He had accepted it and had been biding his time, waiting for the right moment, an opening that would allow him to escape.
And then, it had happened. The strange man had entered his cell, and Taryn’s wolf had immediately howled “mate.” For a brief instant, he’d allowed himself to hope, to believe that the man he had been waiting for all of his life had miraculously found him in his enclosure. But the illusion had quickly shattered when the Dog-Catcher—Shtamakarein Tersain—had entered his cell, and called the stranger by his name. Hareem.
Taryn’s mate was the heir apparent of Ornoz, Prince Hareematek Tersain. It was a bitter irony, and Taryn knew better than to believe that the ice dragon would suddenly confess to needing a mate bond with him.
Perhaps it was that knowledge that urged him to struggle so desperately. In spite of his efforts, though, the guards continued on their way. They led him out of the basement, where the cells were located, into the house and up a flight of stairs. Finally, they reached a room with more soldiers in front of it. One of them opened the door and shoved Taryn inside.
Courtesy of his werewolf abilities, Taryn didn’t fall, finding his balance at the last moment. He turned and glared at the soldier who’d followed him inside. Since his words obviously didn’t affect the draechen, he spat in the guard’s face.
Emperor's Consort [Chronicles of the Shifter Directive 5] (Siren Publishing Epic Romance, ManLove) Page 2
