by Laurie Roma
Seneca quickly placed the food down on the table while Jaden walked over to where Braec was grinning at him. “She is your worthy match, my lord. Isak and Ryodan told us she was a warrior, but I wanted to see for myself just how much she cared for you.”
“I see.”
Without another word, Jaden picked Braec up with one hand, lifted him out of his chair and tossed him off the dais. He didn’t realize just how much stronger he was now until Braec sailed halfway across the room, crashing down on one of the tables in a stunned heap.
All the males stared at him in amazement, but Katra just smiled at him as she began picking at her food. “Come eat, Jaden.”
He walked back to the table and sat back down beside her. She could feel the anger he still felt toward his friend, and sent comfort and understanding to him through their bond. “He is your friend, mate. He wanted to see if we truly cared for one another.”
“He could have just fucking asked.”
“We are a violent couple,” she said in way of an apology to the stunned males at the table. “And very protective of one another.”
“Yes, you are,” Braec moaned as he stood up. “And stronger it seems.”
“I know what you were trying to do, Braec,” Jaden said. “I appreciate the sentiment, but never insult my consort again, or I will see that you pay for it in blood.”
“Yes, my lord.” Braec walked back to the table, but he didn’t head back to his seat. Instead, he moved to stand next to Katra’s chair, waiting until she looked up at him. When she did, he unsheathed his sword and sank down onto one knee, bowing his head and holding his sword in his right hand while the other end of the blade rested over his left wrist.
Calum, Isak and Ryodan rose from the table and walked over to join Braec, mimicking his position on the floor in front of her. Katra blinked at them, then looked up at Jaden in confusion. She saw the pleasure in his dark gaze and felt his pride through their bond.
“My warriors swear their fealty. By holding the sword in that position they are showing their willingness to cut their own wrist if you ask it of them. They would have done it when I introduce you to everyone and demanded it of them, but they offer it freely to you. It is high praise, mate.”
Katra rose to her feet again, wanting to give the proper solemnity to the occasion that seemed fitting. She didn’t know exactly what to do, but she did what felt right. “As you have given your oath to me, I will give you one in return. I will love and protect your lord, and do the same for his people. Arise, warriors.”
Jaden’s warriors stood, all of them smiling warmly at her as they took turns bowing to her, then they returned to their seats at the table. Before she could sit back down, Jaden gripped her neck and pulled her to him to kiss her thoroughly enough to cause the entire table to applaud.
“I love you, Katra. Thank you for that.”
“And I love you, mate.”
“You people are fucking weird,” Malloy said, shaking his head.
Katra was lightheaded when she took her seat again, and glanced over to see Lord Malik Rego smiling at her. “Well done, princess. That teleportation thing you can do is very impressive.”
Jaden froze with his goblet of wine halfway to his lips. He set the drink down and stared at his friend. “What did you call her?”
“Princess. It’s what she is, after all.”
Jaden slowly turned to Katra. “Did you forget to tell me something?”
She shrugged her shoulders and continued eating. “Oops.”
“Oops? Katra, we are really going to have to work on your communication skills.” He scowled at her when she had the nerve to laugh.
“I guess I forgot to mention it.”
“How could you fucking forget to tell me you’re a princess!”
“I would have told you sooner or later. It just never came up.”
“Never—!”
“First, you were being a pain in the ass on the way here,” Katra informed him, making the Alliance officers snicker. Isak and Ryodan coughed to cover up their laughter.
“Katra—”
“Then, you pissed me off when we arrived, and after we made up, we had to go rescue those females and kill the bad guys. Remember?”
“I know the bloody sequence of events—”
Katra ignored him and turned to look at the rest of the table. “Speaking of, where are Kylie and Teya?”
“Still sleeping, my lady,” Breac offered helpfully, earning a glare from Jaden.
“Ah. Well, they needed their rest.”
“Katra!”
She sighed. “If you looked at my memories you would have known.”
“I don’t even know what that means, let alone how to do it!”
Malloy huffed out a breath. “You can see each other’s memories? That’s pretty fucking cool, or extremely weird. Maybe both…and a little creepy.”
Katra shot him a glare, then focused back on Jaden. “On my home world, my uncles are the Kings of the Palace on the Isle of Mist and my fathers are the head of their guards. That makes my brothers princes and myself a princess. My cousins are also princes, but they will rule as kings one day when their fathers decide to step down.”
Jaden stared at her incredulously. “Not only are you the only female child of your family, you also come from a royal house? And you claim your fathers won’t be pleased you’re mated to me? Pleased? Katra, your fathers, uncles, brothers and cousins are going to fucking kill me!”
“Do not worry, I will protect you.” When Jaden just growled at her, she laughed. “Jaden, I told you, my family knows they cannot come between mates. Rest easy.”
“Are they doing that talking in their mind thing again?” Caporele asked. “I hate when they do that. We always miss the best shit.”
Before Jaden could explode again, Katra pointed to his food. “Stop worrying. Now, eat your food.”
Glowering at her, he did just that.
Rego laughed. “Princess Katra, it is a pleasure to see you have my good friend well in hand.”
“Please, just call me Katra. No need for titles among friends.”
Jaden let out a low, enraged growl that made the other males chuckle.
“Okay, now that we’ve been entertained, why don’t we talk about war?” Malloy asked.
“Aye, we need to fill you in on what we have learned,” Katra asserted, then turned to Jaden to let him explain. He did, and she filled in what she could.
When their explanation was over, Lieutenant Dean Caporele frowned. “So, do you think this Telok Lomar is really this Korsek guy?”
“He could be,” Jaden permitted, but he wasn’t convinced. “But Ellion did say “they” before he died. He could have meant Telok and his warriors, but I’m not sure I believe that. I know Telok, and he’s not smart enough to pull off everything that Korsek has been credited for doing.”
“I agree,” Rego stated, his voice cold as winter ice. “I don’t like knowing I have a traitor in my palace. I trust my warriors as much as you do yours, Jaden. Pirus Lomar was also my friend. We will need my warriors if we plan on attacking Lomar palace.”
“I know, Rego. We will know more once Kylie and Teya are awake and able to fill in the details.”
“Pardon me, my lord,” Seneca said as she hurried to the table. “Might I borrow Lady Tor for a moment? The ladies of the palace would like to meet your consort, and we were hoping we can talk to her about the celebration we are planning to present your new lady.”
Jaden smiled at Katra and reached out to grab her hand. “Is that all right with you, my love? I can make excuses if you’d rather not.”
“I would like to,” she assured him. “Is there a chance I might be meeting former bed partners of yours while I am at it?”
His jaw clenched. “Seneca is too circumspect for that, but if you do, just remember that Tarins need sex to survive. They were in the past, and I will touch no other but you for the rest of my life.”
“You better not, or
I will cut off your hands…along with other body parts.”
Katra grinned at his wary expression as she stood up. “I would enjoy meeting the ladies in the palace.”
Jaden kept hold of her hand, stopping her from leaving. “Perhaps I will take the males out for a little training while you’re about your business. Seneca can let us know if we need to do anything for the celebration tonight.”
“Tonight?” Seneca scoffed. “We can plan a decent meal to welcome your lady tonight, but there will be no official celebration this evening. It will take us no less than two weeks to plan a proper celebration as befitting the lord of the palace finally claiming a consort.”
Jaden scowled at her. “Two weeks?”
“Yes, two weeks,” Seneca repeated, frowning down at him. “This, my lord, has been a long time in coming, and we will not rush it.”
Jaden glared at her, but there was an amused sparkle in his dark eyes. “Off with you now.”
Katra leaned down and kissed him lightly on the lips. “Now, I wish I would have said no so I could go train with you.”
“It’s best you don’t, or else you might scare my warriors.”
She was laughing as she walked away with Seneca. “Thank you for offering to introduce me to everyone,” Katra said as she followed the older female through a hallway that led back to the kitchen area.
“It’s my pleasure, my lady.”
“Please, call me Katra.”
“Oh, no. I can’t do that!” The horrified look on Seneca’s face was almost comical. “How about we compromise, and I call you Lady Katra?”
“That works for me. I see you got a language converter today.”
“We all did.” Seneca beamed at her. “Lord Tor hasn’t been very trusting when it comes to human technology, but when we discovered that it would be the only way to communicate with you, we were all more than happy to get the language converters to be able to speak with you.”
Touched, Katra smiled. “Thank you for that. It was very thoughtful.”
“We are all thrilled that Lord Tor has finally found a consort to share his life with. It’s so exciting to meet one after hearing so much about your people. My parents used to tell me stories of the Dragon Warriors when I was young. I thought they were all just myths. I guess we have time to see if they were all true. Can I ask one thing?” After receiving a nod from Katra, Seneca bit her lip. “I heard that Dragon Warriors’ mates can talk to each other in their minds. Is that true?”
“Aye, it is. Jaden is my mate, and we can speak to one another.”
“That is amazing! Here we are.” Seneca led Katra into the kitchen, where over a dozen females were waiting to meet her. After introductions were made, Katra noticed that a couple of the females couldn’t meet her gaze. She figured those were the ones who Jaden had formerly had relations with, and when they quickly excused themselves, she assumed she was right.
They began talking about the celebration they wanted to plan, overwhelming Katra when everyone spoke at once. She found herself deferring to them, leaving Seneca in charge since she knew what would work better than Katra did. After Seneca issued tasks to be completed to the other females, she and Gianna offered to show her the garden, and Katra gratefully agreed to accompany them outside.
“I thought you looked like you could use a break, Lady Katra,” Gianna said with a bright smile. “I’m Calum’s consort, and we’ve been waiting for Jaden to find a female who could make him happy.”
“I shall try my best.”
They walked outside, and Katra enjoyed breathing in the cool, clean air. She found the flowers outside in the garden were beautiful, although they were a little strange to her with their black stems and boldly colored blooms.
“I don’t know how much you know about Jaden’s past,” Seneca began. “I hope I’m not speaking out of turn…”
Intrigued, Katra’s attention focused on her. She knew most of Jaden’s past, having direct access to his memories, but she wanted to hear what the other females were willing to tell her. “Please, speak freely.”
“When I was young, my mother was a slave here at the palace. Lord Jaden’s father was somewhat of a tyrant, like most of the old lords. My mother was lucky, because when my father fell in love with her and asked his lord, the old Lord Tor allowed for my father to take her as his consort. When Lord Jaden was about eighteen, his father gave him his first slave. Her name was Kelcie Richards, and she was one of the rare humans on Tartarus at the time.”
“Human slaves were highly coveted then, and still are,” Gianna added.
“Lord Jaden never believed in the tradition of owning slaves, but there was little he could do while his father ruled. Lady Katra, Jaden’s father…”
Katra knew Jaden’s father had ruled with an iron fist, and had been very abusive toward his son. It was one of the reasons why Jaden had tried so hard never to be like his father. “He was abusive.” Katra’s voice held a hard edge to it. “If he were still alive, I would have pleasure paying him back in kind.”
Seneca smiled warmly at her. “When Lord Jaden received Kelcie, he spent a lot of time keeping her safe from his father. He didn’t love her, but Lord Jaden did the best he could to care for her. When Lady Alyssa—I mean, Lady Skylar was born, there was new purpose in Lord Jaden’s life. He didn’t want his daughter to live in a world where she would be at the mercy of males her entire life.”
“A lot of what I know, I’ve learned from Calum. From what I’ve heard, when Lord Jaden’s father died, the entire palace celebrated,” Gianna said. “Lord Jaden ended slavery at Tor Palace, and things began to change for the better.”
“He offered to release Kelcie, but she chose to remain here at the palace. But then she got sick and died, and Lord Jaden feared the same thing would happen to young Skylar when she became ill. He sent her to the Hades Outpost to get treated, but their entourage was attacked on the way, and she was taken. Lord Jaden went crazy when we were told that Lady Skylar had been killed. He searched the area where the attack had taken place, but by then the bodies had already been moved so there was no proof of what had really happened.”
“He blamed himself,” Gianni whispered. “All these years, he’s never allowed himself to be happy, even though everything that had taken place wasn’t his fault.”
“No, he hasn’t,” Seneca agreed. “When Lady Skylar returned recently and Lord Jaden discovered what had really happened to her, he has been…torn. He’s thrilled to have his daughter back, but he has also been eaten with guilt that he didn’t find her when Lord Fen Varo had taken her all those years ago. And when we learned that Nula had been part of the whole plot, Lord Jaden’s faith in his people was shattered.”
Katra knew most of the story directly from Skylar herself and the others who had been involved, but to hear the outcome from the people who knew him best gave her a better understanding at how he’d been affected by everything.
Gianna glanced at Seneca before she said, “No one liked Nula, but she had nowhere else to go, so Lord Jaden allowed her to stay here. I can assure you, the people in the palace now are all loyal to Lord Jaden, and we only want the best for him.”
“I believe you,” Katra assured her. She wasn’t worried about the people in the palace. Whether or not Jaden needed it, she would be his right hand of justice.
And if anyone else ever dared to betray him, she would kill them herself.
“Lord Jaden cares deeply for you,” Gianna told Katra. “I don’t know if you are aware of this, but last night, he asked Calum to move his former lovers out of the palace.”
“He did?”
“Oh, yes. Lord Jaden has never formed a connection with any female he’s been with before. There are a few that remain here, but they are consorts to some of his warriors and will not cause any problems. A few weren’t very pleased to go, but the others gladly moved to Lord Rego’s palace when he offered to allow them a place there.”
“And the ones who were not pleased to leave?”<
br />
Seneca snorted. “Those hussies were only upset because they thought they had a chance with Lord Jaden, but as soon as they discovered you were a Dragon Warrior, they packed their things.”
Katra smiled. “I assume you are the one who told them what they would face if they incurred my wrath?”
“In detail.”
That made Katra laugh. When she sobered, she said, “There is something I am curious about. All of you live off of energy, and I understand that you get it through sex and fighting, but why have the females of your kind never fought back?”
“Energy transfers only become necessary when we come of age. For Tarins, it’s what keeps us from aging and what makes us strong. But if you mean the slaves that have been taken, they don’t have the skills to defeat their captors,” Seneca said sadly.
“Our males have gotten used to protecting us, and I think the thought of us learning how to fight makes them a little nervous,” Gianna explained. “It’s just the way it’s been here on Tartarus.”
Katra’s smiled slowly at them. “I believe that is all going to change.”
* * *
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Kylie and Teya finally woke and arrived downstairs just as the evening meal was ending. The females looked better than they had, but it was easy to tell that they were still exhausted. When they stumbled on the way to table, Ryodan jumped up from his seat and hurried over to them. He grabbed hold of Kylie, but Teya jerked away before he could touch her.
“Lady Kylie, are you well?”
She blushed prettily as she clung to his strong arms. “I’m fine. Thank you.”
Katra exchanged a look with Jaden. “How long has your warrior been in love with Lady Lomar?”
“What? He isn’t—”
“Aye, he is.”
Jaden watched as Ryodan assisted Kylie to the lord’s table, where he gently helped her take her seat next to him. Katra could feel Jaden’s surprise when he saw what she had.
“Hellfire.”
