by Stacy Reid
Drac was an Archduke? She filed the information away.
The healers were beautiful. Their skins so pale it appeared translucent, their hair dark and straight. They observed at her with bald curiosity. It was hard to reconcile that these women had beasts within and could kill in her seconds.
“I am Lea, Princess El Shyokara, and this is my daughter Tien.” After a slight hesitation Lea continued, “Tien and I returned with more of our herbal water to bathe your wounds, but you appear healed.”
Saieke smiled, hoping to dispel their evident anxiety. What did they have to be anxious about? She was the one alone with two Darkans. “I thank you both for your care. I had my kingdom’s healing water within a vial. With a sip, I was able be restored to my full vitality.”
Saieke brimmed with curiosity to ask about Drac. She shouldn’t be so enthralled with him, but she selfishly admitted he aroused her completely. If she took him as a lover, she would be unchained from marriage to the King Ajali. Fear tightened her throat, and Lea paused, hunger flashing across her face. Saieke grimaced, hating that her unguarded emotions provided food.
“Would you do us the privilege of sharing information of your healing elixir?” Tien asked with a tentative smile.
Saieke nodded. “I would be honored to.”
Their pleased expressions relaxed her. It felt good to see that not all Darkans reeked of brutality. After quickly dressing, she sat in the high winged back chair by the fire, and the healers questioned her extensively of the elixir’s many uses. She answered with patience, enjoying their conversation and the sense of normalcy after her attack.
“Oh my,” Lea said, a sheepish expression settling on her lovely features. “King Gidon had ordered a report on your wellbeing after we tended you. We need to inform him right away that you are healed.” She turned to her daughter. “Tien, please advise the king of what has transpired.”
Dark swirls of chakra formed a path to the door, then out of the room, allowing her to track Tien’s movements. “The way your people move is intriguing,” Saieke ventured. “Earlier the Archduke vanished.”
“The more powerful Darkans leave fewer traces,” the healer offered with a smile.
Saieke frowned. “The Archduke exited the chamber without opening the door.”
There was a slight hesitation before Lea answered, “To shiktred is to control the shadows and darkness, a power that is inherent to all Darkans, but is only mastered by those who train relentlessly. As for doors, the shadows bend around them, so some Darkans do not need to open or close them.”
Saieke understood. Only those who honed their chakra and trained themselves can master the elements of the seven kingdoms. She had been training for years and had only a few months past, wielded water with the grace and strength of how she controlled her wind. “Please tell me more,” Saieke implored.
“We are faster than all Amagarians, except for a Darkan using the powers of his beast. If we are in other kingdoms, we use the shadows cast from the fire-places, the great torches, the moon, and the sun.”
Saieke stiffened. “I thought Darkans only existed in the dark?” The very idea of that rumor being false filled her with terror.
Lea did not reply as the door opened and her daughter came in with the ladies in waiting.
“Princess Saieke, the king has requested your presence in his chambers in the next hour. I have brought your ladies in waiting, and there are several trusted guards waiting outside to escort you,” Tien said.
Lea promptly rose. “We thank you for your patience with our incessant questions, Princess. Please have a relaxing time here at the Darkage until you return to Boreas.”
With graceful curtsies, they shiktred from the chamber, leaving Saieke alone with her very muddled thoughts.
***
“What the fuck happened?” Gidon demanded the second Drac appeared in the council room.
His cadre waited for his answer. He had none to give. Drac stalked to the table that held decanters of their wine, poured a chalice full, and drank deeply.
“Drac, what happened?” Gidon’s tone was dangerously soft.
“Not sure,” Drac rasped.
“You broke the law when you killed the princess’s attacker. You ripped him apart with you bare hands,” Gidon said.
Drac inhaled deeply to subdue the flare of darkness that rose in him. He knew he had broken the law. Disputes were not settled with brutality any more. Laws were implemented with sheriffs and systems had been put in place to ensure they were upheld, to ensure the Darkage was civilized, and he threatened everything they had been working for with his loss of control…and he risked being the ravaging demon his brother had become. He’d always sworn never to claim a woman if she had the ability to inspire him to such madness. It was damn frustrating to know she’d not even tried, and he killed one of his people with little effort. Imagining the thousands he could kill if she was his mate and she was harmed was unbearable.
Maybe he was getting ahead of himself. Maybe…just maybe…what he felt was a simple reaction to one of the most stunning women he’d ever laid eyes on. His beast twisted in his mind, and amused laughter echoed.
Amusement? Fuck…he was losing his mind.
“They attacked a royal in our nation with the intention to cause serious harm. Their action is punishable by death, Gidon,” Talon said into the silence that seethed with danger.
“You don’t think I know that?” their king growled. “We still have a system of laws which must be strictly followed before judgment is handed down, and if found guilty, they are certainly not executed by being ripped apart. Gather your thoughts and explain, Drac. How did you know the princess was the one being attacked, and why would it cause such a reaction in you?”
Drac grunted, stalking to the windows overlooking the wildness of their kingdom. He wanted the death of the two Darkans held in the dungeon with an irrationality he could not suppress. Even now, he wanted to coat himself in the blood that would pour from them when he was through. Because they hurt her.
Yes, his darkness hissed as they accorded. He knew the men were to be given a hearing before being judged for their actions. They would be given the opportunity to defend their atrocity, then their defense would be assessed by Gidon and the twelve elders who sat on the council, and their fate determined. It was a law Gidon and his father had worked hard to integrate into their society. They now operated with order and respect for the guidelines, and for those who enforced those guidelines. Their kingdom thrived and flourished under the new structure and rules, and Drac had just threatened the structure.
He was the same as Vlad.
Drac was a Mecca, the Archduke of the northern quadrant, and he had broken a cardinal law. Yet all he was concerned about was the princess being healed and safe. “I think she is my mate,” he said in the silence. Saying it out loud did not lessen unease stalking him.
“Impossible,” Lachlan said. “A beast does not reside within her, we would have sensed it.”
“Why do you think that?” Gidon demanded, stalking to stand beside him.
“It’s not possible,” Talon said. “Our people have always mated only with each other. To mate with someone outside of a Darkan is inconceivable.”
“He’s right,” Lachlan murmured. “Our mating is raw and tends to be filled with pain because of the satisfaction we derive from it. To lie with her would be impossible.”
“Impossible yes,” Gidon said, clasping Drac’s shoulder. “However, it would certainly solve the issue of a hearing for how you killed the Darkans that attacked her. The laws that protect the defense of a mate are absolute.”
No it would not...for he would never claim her.
“We are ignoring something critical,” Lachlan said, moving to also stand at the massive windows. “It is the beast in us that makes us mate for life, how can the bond be created without the pri
ncess having a beast? How will lei be formed?”
Drac had thought the same thing the minute he wondered if the princess could be his mate. How would they form lei, the bonding link only mated pairs shared, a connection that was only possible due to the presence of each beast that bonded together through a psychic connection? Having a mate created a weakness that could be exploited, and he wanted no distraction until he found those who plotted against his king. Worse, having a mate such as her was a weakness onto itself. For if she proved to be his, nothing would be more important than protecting her, not even his king’s life, and the very notion was untenable.
“A mating is not possible with her. Each beast soothes each other and keeps the blood thirst quenched. If necessary, we can feed off each other’s essence for strength. That is how it is between Cazara and I,” Talon said.
“It’s not possible that the princess be my mate,” Drac said. “Yet the possession and protectiveness I feel makes no other sense. The taste of her fear and pain is distasteful to me. I cannot feed my darkness from her.”
“I will have to consult with the elders,” Lachlan said, stalking to the doors. “We need to check our histories to see if we have ever mated with one who did not possess a beast.”
“No!” Drac said. “To involve the elders now would cause complications we are not ready for. And all of you are missing the most significant fact. She is the treasured Princess of the Boreas.”
“Kings’ hell!” Talon muttered harshly.
They stood in silence, contemplating the implications of the Princess of Boreas being the mate of a Darkan.
He said nothing of the threat she presented to him. Losing his soul...and murdering his own people.
Chapter Eight
Gidon Al Shra sat on the throne in his council chamber and deeply contemplated what looked like the beginning of a royal cluster fuck of disaster drifting his way. His council chamber—one of the most beautiful rooms in the castle, designed by his mother to help soothe his father’s beast, offered Gidon no comfort.
If his suspicions proved correct, his kingdom needed to brace for war. A thing the kingmaker would relish, using the distraction to unseat Gidon from power. He could use all his wiles and manipulative power and not escape this one. They were so hated; all of Amagarie would fight against the princess mating one of his people.
He lifted his head as Drac stalked into the chamber looking pole axed. That was never an expression Gidon associated with his first enforcer. “I thought you had retired.”
An incoherent growl came from Drac, and Gidon rose, went to the side-table and poured himself some of their potent wine. The snarl from his beast warned him he would need it.
“When does she leave with Lachlan?” Drac demanded.
Gidon didn’t need to ask who she was. “Five days.”
“Why so long? He is the emissary and he is here now, why will they not depart tomorrow?”
“Have you forgotten that she was recently injured?” Gidon softly queried. Was this the effect of being near a mate? He had never seen Drac so rattled.
“You know that she healed herself. She looks better than when she arrived,” Drac ground out.
Gidon leaned on the mantel and observed Drac. He was actually disturbed. Gidon’s beast could feel the tension rolling off him. He doubted the princess was Drac’s mate considering she was not of their kind, but the reaction that she drew from both man and beast was dangerous. The very fact Drac started pacing like a caged animal was caused for concern.
“I toyed with the idea of having her stay longer. Giving her time to heal and to also mend the damage her attackers had wrought.”
He watched the coldness seep deeper into Drac’s eyes upon the mention of the Darkans who were currently being held in the dungeons.
Gidon had no intention of conducting a hearing for Drac’s actions, and knew the elders and chancellors would be displeased. He was flouting laws that he had laid down but he had been present, the control that Drac had lost due to the princess her being hurt was not something Gidon wanted anyone to be privy to at this time. The cadre he trusted with his life would not reveal anything, and the Darkans awaiting trial had enough to fear.
“She is mended,” Drac rasped.
“She is not, Drac,” Gidon said. “The elixir may have healed her wounds, but the terror of what happened must linger within her, and she will question why she was attacked. I will have to explain the distaste many of our people have for her kingdom. I will invite her to remain with us for several days while getting to know our world. We want to form a relationship with a kingdom so we can ascend out of complete darkness for the prosperity of our people. She is the bridge we need to the kingdom of wind and mountains. The potential benefits for our realm if we form a relationship with Boreas are vast. How would that be attained if the princess were to return tomorrow with the memory of her attack at the forefront of her thoughts? She is ignorant as to what we have to offer, and we will take this opportunity to do something our Kingdom has never done before.”
“Fuck!” Drac curse rang in the chamber. “The desire to be near her is searing and constant. I was in the shadows watching her prepare for an audience with you. She is nervous, and I want to soothe her.” He sat in the high winged back chair by the fire, tipping his head to the ceiling. “My resistance will eventually crumble and I will take her. She is so much more fragile than what I am, how would she be able to withstand the viciousness of my beast’s chakra? What if I am too rough? What if I lose control, Gidon? What if she is harmed and I go on a rampage?” Drac asked with a throb of some emotion Gidon could not identify as it did not bespoke darkness.
He frowned at Drac’s statement of intent. “You will stay away from the princess. She is the heir to the Borean throne and is blood bound to Nuria. She is not just an outsider who tempts you. You court war to entertain the thought of bedding her.”
“If she stays beyond the morrow, for the remainder of the days I will have her under me, over me and every way I can imagine until I am sated. Expect nothing less from me,” Drac said.
There was a lengthy silence while Gidon observed his friend. He trusted Drac with his life and kingdom. He would never endanger the ideals Gidon and his father worked so tirelessly and mercilessly toward. Drac’s difficulty in restraining his desire in a situation fraught with so many implications troubled Gidon. He could always rely on Drac for his unflappable calm, his logical ruthlessness, and his ability to be unfazed by emotions.
“Is it that bad?” Gidon asked.
Drac ran his fingers roughly through his hair. “I enter the hallways and her scent eats at my gut, my beast claws at my mind to reach out to a beast in her that is not present. My cock gets painfully hard with just a fleeting thought of her. Her taste is none like I have ever had. It creates a craving in me that has my control of my darkness tenuous, as it roars wanting to devour. It’s a need that is visceral. I hunger for her.”
“Her taste Drac?”
He met Gidon’s eye unflinching.
“Her taste.”
“Fuck,” Gidon replied, which really said it all. “And was the princess open to you tasting her?” Not that he thought his friend would force any woman, but she was the damn Princess of Boreas, she should be skittish and fearful, not receptive to seduction.
Drac snarled and the lust and satisfaction that fired in his eyes had Gidon rocking back on his heels and mentally cursing.
“I cannot leave here until she departs with Lachlan. I want to be away from her Gidon, but I need to be here. If she was ever attacked again while I am away is not something I want to even consider.”
It was imperative that nothing at this stage tip the delicate balance they were trying to get established with her nation. A Darkan could not claim a woman belonging to another kingdom without inviting war, much less the heir of Boreas.
Definitely a royal cluste
r fuck. “She will be heavily guarded. I have selected a team of my five deadliest and loyal warriors to be her shadow for the duration of her stay if she accepts my invitation. She will not be harmed; you can return to the Northern Keep and concentrate your energy on finding the assassin of my father,” Gidon vowed.
Drac looked at him as if he was losing his mind.
“I cannot leave knowing death shadows her steps while she is here,” he stated implacably. “Do not doubt me, my friend, I will find the assassin of our Ricarkri, but I need to be here now. It is only five days, and Tehdra is mounting a search for the cowards, and she will not fail.”
Gidon had never thought Drac capable of putting anything before executing his duty. He was not like many that yearned to find the other half to themselves, and had always been wary of being vulnerable to a woman. They could have relationships, but there came a time when a Darkan meets a man or woman who the beast in them craved, and when they took that mate, it was for life.
“Do not bed her unless she is your mate. If she is yours then you are bound to her and her to you. Only if you are certain, Drac. If not, stay away from her,” Gidon ordered with finality ringing in his voice.
“I will depart in five days when she departs.” Drac shiktred away.
It really was easier to dominate with fear, Gidon mused. To simply take what he needed from each kingdom would be much simpler, but he had a vision for his people that many did not understand, and he had to rule with fairness and respect the other kingdoms in Amagarie. The character of the Ricarkri would be the character of the kingdom. If he ruled with the rage, treachery and viciousness that would be the only way his nation was perceived. If he wanted honor bargains, treaties and gifts for his nation, he would have to rise above the mercilessness inside of him and rule with fairness, strength and graciousness. A challenge, but one he welcomed.
***
The king’s private room was designed with regal elegance. The floor was made with onyx stones, and the great chairs and the dais were made from oak and padded with the softest of silver and blue velvet. The cavernous fireplace blazed with a fire that illuminated the stunning mastery of the tapestries which adorned the walls. Her feet sank into plush carpets threaded with an intricate design. Upon peering closer Saieke realized the threading had drawn pictures of several beasts in motion.
