“Which name?” Rachen inquired, trying to buy some time. Everything was too strange, and the only explanations he could come up with were too shocking to even process.
“Don’t play dumb,” Karein replied. “Kaelezrin. Fewer people know that name than they do Alwyn’s.”
Rachen just stared at Karein, trying to make sense of that. “But… The Great Sacrifice… The Directive…”
Karein finally threw his hands up. “I can’t make any sense of what you’re saying, and I don’t have time for this nonsense. What great sacrifice are you talking about?”
By his side, Phoenix started to shiver violently. Rachen pulled his mate in his embrace once again, rubbing his hands over Phoenix’s and wrapping the cloak tighter around his lover. “Rachen,” Phoenix whispered through their bond. “I did something. I think the vision is coming true.”
It certainly seemed like that was the case, except Rachen still felt very confused. He couldn’t understand anything anymore. Nothing made sense, and only his bond with his mate kept him from losing it right then and there. Even that was being threatened by Karein.
There had to be a way to find out exactly what had happened to Sari, Kael, and the others. And what about Prince Talrasar? What about Graham and Taryn? What did the closeness between Karein truly mean? And where were Sage and Camden? Sage was never very far from Karein, but up to this point, Rachen had seen no sign of the ice dragon.
Before he could come up with a way to ask all of these questions, a knock sounded at the door. “Yes?” Karein called out, sounding even more pissed off.
A guard slowly entered, bowing so lowly he was practically crawling on the ground. “General Hareematek Tersain here to see you, Your Imperial Majesty.”
“Ah, yes.” Karein waved a hand. “Usher him inside.”
Hareem’s title made Rachen frown, but it was only a drop in the ocean of changes going on all around them. His oldest brother stepped into the room and froze when he caught sight of Rachen and Phoenix. It only lasted for about half a minute, because after that, he became completely focused on Karein.
“Welcome back, General,” Karein said. “What news do you have?”
“Your Imperial Majesty, I’ve looked into the coordinates given to us by the scouts,” Hareem reported. “It seems that it was a false alarm. The wolves we found were just that, wolves.”
“Very well.” Karein said. “I suppose I should have known. Werewolves have been extinct for centuries. You should choose your scouts more carefully, General. We don’t have time to waste resources on this.”
Hareem bowed and knelt in front of his brother. “I know. You have my most humble apologies. They will be reprimanded.”
Rachen could hardly hear anything more. His mind was awash with dread, both his own and Phoenix’s. Werewolves extinct? That couldn’t possibly be true. Did that mean Taryn was dead? And baby Galyn… Oh, Overlords, what about Galyn? How could this be happening?
Finally, his mate dared to vocalize the same thing they both had been thinking. He didn’t say it out loud, but Rachen still heard it loud and clear, coming through their bond.
“I think…I think I changed the entire world, Rachen.”
* * * *
Karein was glad his brother had returned. He would have never admitted it, of course, since it would have been a sign of weakness. Above all else, Karein was emperor, and Hareem his underling. But still, he appreciated Hareem’s opportune arrival. It wouldn’t hurt to have a secondary opinion on his new, uninvited guests.
He should probably be stressing the mistake a little more. He needed Hareem here to weed out the resistance. However, he feared that his opponents were starting to grow a little too clever.
He eyed the other two men in the throne room without bothering to conceal his distaste for the entire matter. He couldn’t remember ever feeling such conflicting emotions before. He hated that the two men seemed to be aware of all of his weaknesses, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but want to reach out to the sprite, to Alwyn. It was insane, because Karein had met Alwyn Cyraltin, and he hadn’t felt this attraction, not in the slightest.
In his mind, a voice whispered, “What in the world are you doing? That’s your mate. Claim him.”
Karein shook it off. It was becoming increasingly hard to do that, and Karein had stopped trying the night he’d reached his two-hundredth birthday. He had accepted it as both a gift and a burden that couldn’t be denied. He knew it was a sign of his insanity, but as long as he used it for his benefit, he could deal with it.
It was a little harder in moments like these, when the two sides of him were of a different mind. He hated that another man was touching the sprite he identified as his mate, and by rights, he should have torn the stranger’s arms off. And yet, he hadn’t done it. Why?
“For the same reason you don’t fuck that sprite slut in your bed,” the same voice returned, taunting him. “You’re weak, Karein. You always have been. Without me, you’d be nothing.”
Karein wasn’t self-conscious about his magic or his ability to lead the empire. It was his birthright, as a black dragon, as the heir of the Tersain dynasty. However, Caelyn was a soft spot. He had been one ever since they’d first met, when Karein had decided to claim him as his official consort. The irony was that, for a while, before meeting Caelyn, he’d considered Alwyn Cyraltin before deciding it wasn’t wise to tie the empire too closely to the sprite kritarchy.
He had been pushed into mating a sprite after the battle that had nearly decimated the entire draechen army, but contrary to popular belief, that wasn’t why he’d picked Caelyn. There was just something about the young sprite that made Karein want to protect him. At the strangest moments, he seemed to remind Karein of someone else, but Karein couldn’t for the life of him figure out who that person was.
It was frustrating and confusing to now be faced with an Alwyn who affected him in this way. But he couldn’t let that part of him cloud his judgment. Too many people had died already in the conflict with the sprites. For all he knew, this wasn’t even Alwyn at all. His scent held a subtle difference, although not one Karein would normally consider suspicious. Either way, whatever the Elusians had come up with, Karein couldn’t let them win. He had to figure out what these two men planned.
Shaking himself, Karein focused on his brother once again. Hareem looked up at him. A question glittered in his ice-blue eyes, and Karein knew his sibling wanted to address something else.
Karein debated sending his two unwanted guests away, but in the end, he decided there was no point. He wanted to see how the two men reacted to whatever Hareem intended to say. So far, Hareem’s report seemed to nauseate them, although Karein couldn’t exactly tell why that was. Not to mention that there was no way the couple would be leaving Draechenburg anytime soon, not with the knowledge they had.
He gestured for his brother to get up and speak. Hareem frowned, obviously a little puzzled. Even so, he didn’t question Karein. “I’ve spoken to Akara,” he said softly. “She reports that she found the trail of the Myrthylar and she expects to finally get a lock on their exact location within the next couple of days.”
“Excellent.” Karein smirked. “Finally, you’ve brought me some good news.”
The Ivenians simply didn’t know when to give up. Even if they had been defeated centuries ago, still they resisted. They even tried to assist those ridiculous humans. Karein couldn’t imagine why they were taking such chances, but his people had been using their stubbornness to find the ever-elusive fae royals.
Something angry and ugly twisted inside him, like a feeling of wrongness that refused to go away. It was the same emotion that always appeared whenever someone mentioned the Myrthylar in general, and Sareltae Norrenddare Myrthylar in specific. Hearing that name from the lips of the intruder had been like a knife to the gut. This was a problem that needed to be handled, as swiftly and efficiently as possible.
“Join Akara,” he told his brother. “Make this your compl
ete priority. Eanera, Selbrian, and Sareltae Norrenddare Myrthylar have been a thorn in my side for too long.”
His words seemed to snap the two men out of their trance. “Karein, stop,” the man who looked like him said. “You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“I’m eliminating enemies to the Empire,” Karein said calmly. The words felt bitter on his tongue, but he said them nonetheless, like he always did.
“Enemies of the Empire,” Alwyn repeated, as if in a trance. He shook his head adamantly, every muscle in his body trembling. “No, no. This is all wrong.”
He closed his eyes, and for a few moments, Karein felt a wave of power flowing over him. Instinctively, Karein shot to his feet, but before he could act, pain erupted through him, stirring painful desires and thoughts that shouldn’t have been there. Karein froze, trying to grasp the elusive information torturing him, niggling at the back of his mind.
In front of him, Hareem keeled over, groaning, holding his chest as if he was in great pain. And still, Karein couldn’t move. It was like Alwyn had hypnotized him, and he couldn’t get a good grip of his abilities. He couldn’t fight him, and in his heart, he didn’t want to. Karein felt like he was on the verge of a momentous discovery, like he’d finally get the answers to all the questions plaguing him.
And then, the power fizzled and died, and Karein remembered who he was. His black dragon powers surged out of him, flowing over the two men in a furious wave. Strikingly enough, his look-alike got in the way. As Karein’s magic struck him, he grunted, but didn’t lose consciousness like any other shifter or magical creature would have. Instead, he held his ground, seemingly absorbing the blow.
Something inside Karein recognized the power that fought back. It appeared to be mimicking the deepest darkest part of him, making the voice hiding in the recesses of his mind stir in confusion. It was all so very strange. He felt an odd mix of loyalty and fury, of need and frustration, and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what to do about it.
As it turned out, Hareem didn’t have that problem. Alwyn’s power seemed to have stirred his anger, because he released a wild roar. Frost novas appeared all over the room, one of them striking Alwyn. Karein’s clone lost his focus and turned toward Hareem, ready to attack.
It was the perfect moment for Karein to strike, but something inside him rebelled at the thought. He had never been one to stab someone in the back, and it seemed particularly treacherous to do so this time around.
By now, guards had burst into the room, surrounding the men who’d dared to assault Karein. He could have easily allowed them to attack. No matter how powerful the mysterious draechen was, the guards were simply too numerous.
However, he was oddly reluctant to allow the man to be hurt more than he already had been. “Enough!” he shouted. “I am Emperor of Ornoz, and you will respect my power and my authority. I do not know who you are and why you’ve come here, but fighting me in my own throne room won’t impress me.”
His look alike scowled fiercely. “Perhaps you’d like me to hand my mate over to you on a silver platter.”
“Actually, what I want are some explanations,” Karein shot back.
He waved the guards off, not wanting to have this conversation in front of them. His men complied with his order, albeit reluctantly. Once they were gone, Karein addressed the couple again. “I’ll make it easy for you. Exactly how did you know about the existence of Kaelezrin Tersain?”
For a few seconds, the two men remained silent, and Karein actually thought they wouldn’t reply. Finally, his doppelgänger shook his head. “You wouldn’t believe us if we told you.”
“Try me,” Karein said, sitting back down on the throne.
The two men didn’t look at all convinced of his ability to understand, and Karein didn’t have the patience to play games. Normally, he would never have given spies such quarter or privileges, but for some reason, he felt these men were different. Whether that was true or not, he still refused to wait around until they decided to confess whatever was on their mind.
He might have attempted to pry the information out of them, but a knock sounded at the door, stopping him before he could do so. Irritated by all the interruptions, Karein growled. “Yes?”
His anger melted into something entirely different when one of Caelyn’s personal guards entered the room. “Your Imperial Majesty,” he said simply. He didn’t have to say anything more, because his glum expression spoke volumes.
Instantly, Karein was on his feet again. “Hareem, take our guests to the dungeons. I’m needed elsewhere.”
His look-alike opened his mouth, obviously wanting to protest, but Karein no longer had the time to bother with them. He threw the other man a glare, leaving no doubt as to the fact that he would not tolerate any further resistance. The stranger—and Overlords, Karein couldn’t believe that he still hadn’t figured out the guy’s true identity—gritted his teeth, but Alwyn pressed a hand to his shoulder and shook his head.
“We understand,” he told Karein. “We won’t cause any trouble.”
Deciding that reassurance would have to be enough, Karein pushed past the couple. After a brief moment of consideration, he pulled his brother aside and said, “Lead them to one of the more comfortable cells and allow them to stay together.”
Hareem blinked at him, obviously puzzled by his command. Karein himself wasn’t sure why he’d ordered it. Perhaps it was the fact that the two men so clearly needed each other. He didn’t dare to scan the thought too much, and didn’t even wait for a reaction from his brother’s part. Instead, he stalked out of the throne room, his mind already on his task.
Caelyn’s guard followed, and Karein immediately said, “Tell me.”
“As per your instructions, Imperial Consort Caelyn retreated to his quarters,” the soldier said. “Naturally, we accompanied him. But a few minutes ago, he suddenly got sick. We were about to summon a medic, when he suddenly recovered and asked to see you.”
A few minutes ago. If Karein wasn’t mistaken, that pretty much fit with the moment of that strange wave of power that had shaken him so much. It could easily be something else, since it wouldn’t have been the first time Caelyn suddenly got sick with no apparent reason. It wasn’t widely known, and it made Karein even more protective of the sprite.
As a rule, Caelyn often experienced nausea and fainting without draechen doctors being able to identify a clear cause. Other times, he got exceedingly depressed, clutching his stomach and refusing to speak for days. Many people got frustrated with Karein for sticking by Caelyn’s side instead of undoing the mating. They claimed Caelyn wasn’t fit to be the emperor’s consort. Naturally, whoever dared to say that to Caelyn or Karein’s faces found out very quickly that it wasn’t wise to piss Karein off.
Today, though, something else seemed to have happened, or rather, something more. When Karein entered Caelyn’s quarters, he barely had the time to close the door before Caelyn’s slender arms wrapped around him. His entire body was trembling, and he buried his face in Karein’s chest.
He didn’t speak, and Karein didn’t push him to do so. Instead, he took Caelyn in his arms and carried him to the bed. He placed the young sprite on the mattress and joined him, hugging his consort close to his chest.
Finally, Caelyn began to calm down. “I’m sorry about that,” he said. “I don’t know what came over me. Suddenly, I felt like I couldn’t breathe or see straight, like I was missing some vital part of me I couldn’t understand.”
Karein nodded. It was exactly what had happened to him. Even if it had been triggered by Alwyn’s power, this wasn’t the first time such a thing had happened, and it unsettled him greatly.
But he had to be strong for Caelyn. “It’s gone now,” he said. “I think our visitors might have had something to do with it, but I’ll figure it out.”
“I know you will,” Caelyn replied. Clearing his throat, he pulled away from Karein. “I wanted to apologize for earlier. I know you don’t like me in
tervening or questioning you in public. I just felt that those men are important.”
“They are,” Karein mused. “I have no idea what could have brought them here, but I suspect the information they hold could help us very much. But don’t worry about it. Just get some rest and make sure you recover.”
Their gazes met, and suddenly, Caelyn’s golden hair seemed to become white blond. His blue eyes shone silver. Karein heard his own voice speaking, angrily asking, “Do you even realize how close I am to throwing all caution to the wind and making you mine, right here? You’re so beautiful and so very cruel.”
“I’m yours,” came the soft reply. Did it come from the man in front of him or from Karein’s own mind? Karein didn’t know, but the tone was like a silken caress over Karein’s skin. Before he could stop himself, he reached for his consort and crushed their mouths together.
The younger man parted his lips, moaning as Karein thrust his tongue into his wet cavern. Karein buried his fingers in his mate’s hair, seeking the familiar scent of incense and vanilla, the silken touch of the white-blond locks.
But that distinctive aroma wasn’t there. The taste of the kiss was all wrong. Karein tore his mouth away and blinked. Whatever hallucination he’d just had faded away, and Caelyn sat in front him once again, looking lost and a little afraid.
Karein took a couple of deep breaths, struggling to control his errant emotions. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen the image of another man in Caelyn’s stead. He blamed it on his incipient insanity. Fortunately, he’d always managed to stop himself before he could pursue the passion that image stirred within him. This lust he felt now wasn’t for Caelyn, but for the mysterious man who came to Karein in his dreams, and now, even when he was awake.
Hyacinth, Scarlet - From the Ashes [Chronicles of the Shifter Directive 7] (Siren Publishing Epic Romance, ManLove) Page 2
