by Stacy Reid
Knowing what it would cost him, he allowed more of his Phoenyx out. Power rushed through his veins and the earth beneath his feet scorched and blackened.
Ahhhhhhhh.
He flinched from the scream of torment that blasted inside of his head. She writhed on the ground as unrelenting flames ate at her, piercing through the hardened scales covering her entire body. She struggled against his hold.
His heart was a war drum in his chest. Ajali released her and flashed away. He was hurting Tehdra. Remember she is the enemy, he ruthlessly reminded himself, pushing aside all thoughts of the pleasure he’d found in her arms, the comfort in her smiles and the temptation in her eyes. Nothing must come before his people.
“Acheron,” he rasped.
“I am here.”
“I cannot approach her any closer. She will cease to exist under the flames of my Phoenyx. Is Tehdra still inside?”
“Yes.”
Relief almost felled Ajali to his knee, and he recalled some of his flames. “Can you incant her sprit to the forefront?”
“I will try.”
“How is your barrier holding up?”
“You cannot release any more, even with my powers I will turn to ash.”
“Forgive me, Tehdra,” he said and Acheron threw him a puzzled frown.
Ajali leashed his flames, and in the same breath, moved with speed to appear in front of Tehdra. With hesitation he plunged his fist into her chest, pushing her into the ground, breaking bones and rupturing muscles. He drew her to him, plunging his sword deep as he met her obsidian gaze.
Why betray me?
Those last words brushed against his mind before he sunk into darkness, trapped in the psychic connection they had somehow formed.
Chapter Eighteen
Mevia—Kingdom of Sounds
“It is done, my sovereign ruler.”
Princess Shilah cringed from the emperor’s grand general’s subservient tone. His voice poured forth treachery, yet the beauty of its pitch enticed her. A sob caught in her throat. She had been deceived. Her sister’s freedom and aid to their kingdom had been promised. Shilah had fulfilled her task, but she was still a prisoner. A unique one—she had the freedom to traverse the empire but always with a guard. And not just any guard. Someone from the grand general’s elite warriors.
She waited silently with foolish hope beating inside of her for the emperor of Mevia to make his ruling. A ruling from who she perceived as the most dangerous man in Amagarie. Beauty should not sit so well on evil. He’d been the only ruler of the imperial empire of Mevia for three thousand years—no other leader in Serange or Amagarie had ever done so. He’d held his throne against war and seditions. It had been why she’d approached him, not realizing that she dealt with a monster until it was too late. “You have proven invaluable to me, Princess Shilah.” Sweet venom dripped from the emperor’s tongue.
She held tightly on her restraints, it would never do for a princess to flinch and betray fear.
“She has failed, my sovereign ruler,” Grand General Shenzhen replied. “The princess is not fit to be in the service of the sovereign ruler of the imperial house of Zhang.”
His obsequiousness sickened her. He was such a paradox—abjectly servile to the beautiful emperor, yet Shenzhen she believed was one of the most dangerous men in the empire to ever hold the title of Grand General.
Shilah exhaled slightly, relieved when the emperor responded in a moderate tone. Sounds were weapons for Mevians. Their voices were not naturally beautiful. They merely had the ability to manipulate the variance of sound whenever they chose to turn their voices into a lethal instrument.
“Come now, General Shenzhen, the princess has proved her worth. She was able to pull forth the demon from its master into a corporeal form and then control both. That is extremely impressive.”
Nothing moved inside of her at the smile that curved his lips.
“But we do not yet have the king of Nuria, my imperial emperor.”
“We do not, but we have something better.”
Shilah tried not to startle at the presence that simply appeared in the emperor room. A Darkan. Her stomach knotted, and she forced her mind to remain calm as the Darkan threw the witch that she worked with on the ground. She was a bloody mess. A hard shaft of fear slammed into Shilah, and she cringed as the Darkan shifted his gaze to her, sensing her rising dread.
“What is better than the Nurian king, my imperial emperor?”
“A Dracan.”
“An impossibility, none has been recorded for more than a millennia, my emperor.”
The emperor slashed his beautiful eyes to look at the witch that huddled on the ground.
“Report, my sweet Amirah.”
Her aura wavered and flicker a deep violet, indicating her depth of pain. The witch held her ribs and swiped at the blood that bubbled from her lips. “I incanted, my emperor, for the Darkan to attack the king. I controlled his will with all my abilities and fulfilled my end of the bargain. I was unable to touch what housed inside of the king. He had a witch, High Duke Acheron, on the battle field that incanted to counter attack my spells.”
She paused as she labored for breath, and then continued. “The Darkan and his summoned beast were defeated before the king was incapacitated for his retrieval.”
She trembled, yet she maintained eye contact with the emperor. The witch Amirah was unable to contain her flinch as Shenzhen withdrew his sword from its sheath.
“The princess and the witch have failed in the execution of their task, my imperial emperor. I ask you leave to execute them.”
Shilah gathered her power even as acrid fear wafted through her. She tried to scan the general’s aura pattern, seeking a weakness and found none. She could not die. The sole liberation of her realm rested on her shoulders.
“Hold your sword, General Shenzhen. They have executed their tasks beautifully. They have proven that a Darkan can be controlled completely by us. We have also found another weapon in the war to come. And these weapons are the Princess Shilah and the witch Amirah.”
The general hesitated. “My imperial emperor?”
“The task I set before them was to breach the wall that separated man from beast, bringing the beast to the forefront. The princess executed that task brilliantly, and with the help of the witch’s incantation, they were able to steer the demon into attacking the Games of Fyre.”
“The task was to capture the Nurian king, my emperor, and they failed.”
The emperor smiled, and it was so beautiful Shilah was forced to look away.
“The task was to show they could force a Darkan to draw forth his beast power and to control that Darkan. Think of the possibilities, my general, for our army. And they discovered something that will position us beautifully. A Dracan. The thing that fought to protect the king houses a Dracan. I want the Darkan that houses that beast in this dungeon before the next moon night.”
“And the king?”
“We will use the Dracan to take the king.”
The laughter that pulsed from him wavered with his might. Shilah’s chest tightened as power lashed at her, biting at her skin. She breathed through it. “Sovereign emperor of Mevia, I have fulfilled my bargain. Are we to complete our oaths?” Her heart thumped in her chest, and she took some comfort from the fact that only the Darkan who looked on silently felt her dread.
“The agreement my, sweet princess, was your aid in interpreting the book of oracle and decipher a way to make the Phoenyx’ power mine. Have you discovered the way?”
She hesitated. Had they not been over this? “Its power cannot be harnessed, emperor. It is pure rage. For it to be pulled forth from King Ajali, all would be incinerated. Its heat rivals the sun,” she rasped hoarsely.
“Then you have not fulfilled your bargain.”
“The witch and I have
scoured the book of oracle, the tombs and scrolls. We presented our findings. It cannot be pulled from the king.”
“But it can be harnessed, hmmm?”
After a deep fearful pause, she continued, “I doubt that I have the power to call forth such a power, even with the witch’s incantation.”
“Are you confirming that you are useless to the execution of my plans, princess?”
Asked so blandly without a hint of power thrilling his voice, Shilah knew she faced death.
“No.” She could squeeze no more out of the tight clasp on her throat.
“You will be able to practice on the Darkan that houses the Dracan. If it takes you years, you will control this beast as you did the other.”
He threw a book and it landed at her feet. She picked up the massive tome. She skipped the first page and balked from the depiction drawn there. Even though a picture, it reeked of vicious evilness. She swallowed as she realized she held a tome that catalogued the Darkans’ beasts, their strengths…and weaknesses?
“Learn about all that a Dracan offers, for I will have control of it.”
She executed a shallow curtsy, and then walked away from his throne. She ignored the garbled whimper from the witch. Shilah had not been abused for her supposedly failure because she was the only Serangite in the kingdom of Mevia. Witches peppered Amagarie after abandoning their realm eons ago. The emperor could kill Amirah and have another Witchia in his service in a few hours. To retain another Serangite? That might take him another hundred years.
She walked through the imperial castle, rapidly planning how to proceed. What to do? She had explained to the emperor the dangers of harnessing the power of the Phoenyx and bonding it inside of himself. He was willing to risk war with Nuria to attain his obsession. There were many whispers in the castle of his plans to capture the Nurian King, but she had been disbelieving until they had been whisked away to the outer walls of his castle only a few hours ago.
To capture the king of such a nation was certainly an immense folly, but the confidence of the emperor shook her. He was either incredible powerful, more so than she comprehended, or absolutely mad.
The beauty of the empire did nothing to soothe Shilah’s frazzled nerves as she lightly ran up the stairs that led to her guest quarters. They were regal in their elegance, with several rooms and antechambers allocated for her sole use, including her own bath chamber, yet she knew her apartment for what it was. Her prison.
She eased open the doors and walked with grim purpose to her desk with its many parchments and inkwell. At least it was a comfortable prison with many luxuries provided. She came to a stunned halt seeing a man who was stooped rifling through the contents of the secret compartment in her desk. The one she’d believed she’d cleverly installed.
“Who are you and what are you doing in my chambers?” she demanded.
He rose with animalistic grace and faced her. Something wicked pulsed through her at his slow perusal. “I have told the grand general time and again I do not require a consort,” she snapped.
At his silence, she grew uncomfortable.
“I am not here for your pleasure.”
She realized that seconds after she made her rash statement. He was not dressed like a consort in silken revealing clothing like the others that had been presented to her. He seemed…predatory? She assessed him but sensed no aura. Impossible. She was an imperial—the most powerful in her designation of telepathy.
That lack of aura, the lack of his sense of power, gave her the first inkling of fear. She gently flared out her telepathy, fluttering softly against his mind, and the shield that she encountered stunned her. She studied it with her psychic eye, reading its intricate pattern. It was a shield constructed from sheer willpower, and her mind was unable to see what was housed beyond its walls.
Her heart thumped. “Are you here to kill me?”
“First a consort and now a killer,” he said with such lazy amusement Shilah was almost disarmed. Almost. She slipped her hand inside the folds of her sari and gripped the hilt of her dagger. Her fighting skills were below par of most Amagarians, but she would not be taken without a fight.
The smile that curved his lips indicated that he’d seen her subtle move. If he attacked, even with the force of his shield, she would try and penetrate his barriers, seeking any weakness. She could attempt to trap him into a false memory or implant the suggestion to leave her unharmed.
“Your harm is not my desire, Princess Shilah.”
“I am sure that you do not expect me to be assured by such words coming from a stranger in my personal room. The emperor did not send you. Who are you?”
“I seek something that you have,” he said with a lazy smile and shrug.
She was filled with undeniable awareness. “You deliberately let me find you here. What is it I possess that you seek?”
“Information.”
“What information? And why would I aid a man who has forced his way into my chambers and intrudes on my privacy?”
The soft hiss of a blade clearing it sheath sounded like a drum in the chamber. Shilah flared out her psychic eye, preparing for an attack even as she trembled.
She gasped in raw shock when he gently clasped her from behind, belying the cold press of steel against her throat. She swallowed. She had not seen him move at all. Not even the slightest indication of movement.
“You will aid me, princess. I do not desire to harm you, but if I must? I most assuredly will.”
“The emperor will have your head if you bring me harm,” she said with false calm. Fear slashed through her. She punched hard against his mind, trying to break past his psychic barriers. She had never encountered the resistance she met. Who was he?
The soft laughter against her ear rasped against her skin like the sweetest caress. She resented it, the feeling was unwelcomed towards someone who threatened her life.
“The dungeons of Mevia, princess. Tell me all you know about them.”
The princess felt sublimely resting against him. When Lachlan had spied her earlier he had faltered in the shadows staring at her. He’d stepped in her shadows, travelling with her for hours, learning and plotting. He’d discovered two things about her. She appealed to him despite being so petite, and the emperor of Mevia was her enemy despite the façade she put on. Even without a demon beast’s essence guiding him, he could see that she feared the emperor, yet resentment and hatred had burned in her eyes. It was that spit of fire amidst the fear that stoked his intrigue. But what captured him the most? She was a Serangite. Her mind was able to store vast amount of information, dissect them and unravel patterns. And she was a telepath.
Would she aid him? That remained to be seen He would try to persuade her to help and would even use his blades if necessary, although he would prefer to use seduction as his tool. Lachlan tensed, analyzing his thoughts. He was attracted to the petite princess, but it was moot as his mission to uncover the famed dungeon of Mevia’s stronghold was his main objective.
She inhaled, unintentionally pressing her softness into his hardened frame. The top of her head met his chest. She barely cleared five feet, and he could not detect her curves. Her loosely flowing sari hid all from his gaze. Her face, however, was shaped like the finest of porcelain. Delicate chin, small nose, gently rounded cheeks, beautiful lips and eyes hardened like diamonds with no white but completely ringed by black. He ignored the flare of arousal that tightened his gut and pressed the blade closer to her beating pulse. Her soft gasp rasped over him, stoking the arousal that seemed to pulse inside of him. He should have ignored her presence, but he raced against time. He would do anything to free Princess Saieke from the emotional pain that beset upon her because of her Queens blades’ imprisonment. Saieke’s blades’ lives now rested in his hands. Lachlan had been in Mevia for three days, and it seemed as if the dungeons were a mystery to everyone in the empire.. Yet
he knew they existed.
The famed torture chamber of Mevia created fear even in Darkans. The Princess Shilah was a weak link in the empire. Ironically a powerful weak link, one that possibly held the key to what he sought. Possibly. He pressed the blade closer to her skin letting its cold caress her skin, and its threat imprint in her mind. She posed no danger to him with her telepathy. It wasn’t that she was not dangerous. Far from it. She might be more fragile than other Amagarians, lacking their speed, strength, and their rapid healing capabilities, but Serangites made up for it with their mental prowess. But his shield, built through agonizing pain and loss, was impenetrable.
He dipped his head and whispered in her ear. “The dungeons of Mevia, Princess. All that you know.”
***
The imperial throne room of the Emperor’s castle
“Our true purpose must always be kept secret, Shenzhen. Are we now truly alone?” The emperor studied his general as he softly hummed, and vibrations ran across the air, sinking into every crevice and shadow.
“No unusual disturbance is felt in the darkness, my sovereign ruler.”
“We must proceed with caution. We do not want the unnamed king to detect our work with his people.”
The unnamed king, the power hungry mongrel that wanted to rule the Darkage. It was beneath him as an imperial emperor to deal with tainted bloodlines, yet he must do so until he has achieved all. Then he would bury his foulness.
“The Nurian king has proven the traitor’s word,” the emperor said, caressing the cold steel of his sword.
“Do we trust a traitor that betrays his king?” General Shenzhen asked.
“Trust? No, but the information he provided was indeed valuable. He provided an insight into the king that we lacked before.”
“Very true, my imperial majesty. Without his insight we would never have learnt that the best way to take the king of Nuria would be inside of his kingdom. We had plotted to take him on his travels outside of his kingdom but the traitor’s information proved to be invaluable.”
