by Jasmine Walt
35
The next morning, Dareena and her mates rose with the sun, then gathered around the dining table in the royal suite to enjoy a leisurely breakfast. The four of them had slept soundly last night. As Dareena feasted on poached eggs, bacon, fried tomatoes, and buttered toast, she had a hard time remembering the last time she felt this well-rested and content.
Home truly is where the heart is, she thought. A smile tugged at her lips as she watched her mates tease and joke with each other. The four of them fit so perfectly together, like a real family, something she hadn’t had in so long. Dareena couldn’t wait until she finally brought their babe into the world. She had a feeling it would bring them even closer together, and if the dragon god was correct, finally break the curse.
“Now that we have some food in our bellies,” Drystan said, “we really ought to talk about our warlock problem.”
“Do you mean the warlocks in our dungeon?” Lucyan asked. “Or the warlocks in general?”
Drystan raised his eyebrows. “It can’t be both?”
“We must do something about their surveillance magic,” Alistair growled, his eyes sparking with annoyance. “I don’t like that they can spy on us at any time, especially since there is no way of knowing when they are listening.”
“Perhaps either the count or the imposter can fashion a spell to block them out,” Lucyan said thoughtfully. “I assume they value their lives, though I’m happy to start with their toenails first.” He mimed pulling them out with a pair of pliers.
Dareena shuddered at the mental image that conveyed. “I think relying on the warlocks is very risky,” she said. “There is no way to test whether or not whatever magic they do works, and they could just as easily try to sabotage us.”
“Dareena is right,” Drystan said grimly. “We cannot trust any of the warlocks not to betray us, even the trader you do business with at the market.”
“Well, well.” Lucyan raised his eyebrows. “Spying, are we, brother?”
Drystan smirked. “You aren’t the only observant one around here.”
A knock came at the door, and Tariana entered, Ryolas close behind her. “I figured the four of you were already up and eating,” Tariana declared as she took a seat next to Alistair. She and Ryolas looked very relaxed, Dareena noted with some amusement. “Are you discussing anything useful?”
“We’re trying to figure out how to get the warlocks off our backs,” Drystan said. “Now that they have proven themselves to be the true enemy, we must confront them.”
“I’ve heard that Arolas has been released from the dungeons,” Ryolas said darkly. “Count Kianor’s influence may have lessened when he left Elvenhame, but it clearly has not diminished completely. We need to remind my father of the elven goddess’s decree and have him return control of the armies to me.”
“The elven goddess’s decree?” Lucyan asked.
“The day Arolas cut Alistair’s arm off, the elven goddess took control of Basilla and spoke through her,” Dareena said. Chills still ran through her whenever she recalled that day. “She said that Arolas had brought dishonor upon his house and forsworn his family against the dragons. She also made it very clear that the king should choose either Basilla or Ryolas to be his heir, and that Arolas should be punished.”
“That must be what the dragon god was talking about,” Lucyan muttered, a speculative look in his eyes. “Were there any witnesses other than you and the royal family?”
“Count Kianor and Duchess Valenhall,” Dareena said. “The former is unreliable, but the latter might be willing to testify. And, of course, there is Princess Basilla herself.”
“Where is Basilla?” Alistair asked, looking around the table. “Was she not hungry this morning?”
“I knocked on her door, but she was still asleep,” Ryolas said. “I must admit I found that a little unusual, but we did have a hard ride yesterday. I assume she’s exhausted.”
“That’s only natural,” Drystan said, and the others returned to their food. But something niggled at the back of Dareena’s mind, and she was not hungry anymore.
“I’m going to go check on Basilla,” she said, standing up.
The brothers immediately rose from the table. “We’ll come with you,” Drystan said.
“There is no need,” Dareena protested. “I know you’re all still hungry, and Tariana and Ryolas just sat down. Please, enjoy yourselves. I’m only going down the hall—it’s perfectly safe for you to let me walk about on my own.”
“Not when you’re carrying our child,” Drystan said firmly. He pushed his chair in, motioning for his brothers to sit back down. “At least allow me to accompany you.”
Dareena sighed, glancing down at her belly. The brothers were already overprotective, and this baby was making them doubly so. But she had just been stolen away for two weeks, so she could hardly blame them.
“All right,” she said, slipping her hand into Drystan’s. “But just you.”
They walked down the hall and headed toward the guest rooms, where Dareena had spent her first few weeks at the Keep, first as one of the Chosen, and then as the Dragon’s Gift while the brothers vied for her favor. Thinking about that time summoned a wave of nostalgia—while she was happy that she and the brothers had ended up together, she also missed those simpler times, when all she had to worry about was whom she would marry.
“Do you remember the first night we met?” Dareena squeezed Drystan’s hand.
“How could I forget?” Drystan smiled fondly at her. “You were like a vision, standing in the garden, the moonlight shining in your lovely green eyes. I think you had flower petals in your hair.” He reached out to brush his hand along the fine black strands, and the tender look in his eyes gave way to laughter. “You were perfect, and I acted like a total brute.”
Dareena grinned. “You acted like a fearsome dragon defending his castle,” she corrected. “And you have done a splendid job of it.”
Drystan’s smile faded a little. “I could not have done half as well without you,” he said. “You gave us the strength to drive our father out, and your clever mind has finally set us on the path to destroying this curse once and for all.”
“And that is why we are a team,” Dareena said as they stopped outside Basilla’s door. She leaned up to peck Drystan’s cheek, then rapped on the door. “Basilla?” she called. “Are you awake?”
No answer.
“Basilla?” She knocked a little harder, then tried the door knob. It gave easily. “I’m coming in,” she warned, pushing open the door.
Dareena gasped in horror.
“Fuck!” Drystan swore. The bed was empty, the room had been destroyed, and a trail of blood led from the middle of the room to the open window. Drystan and Dareena rushed to the window together, batting the billowing curtains aside. It was a sheer drop to the bottom, a good hundred feet. Not possible without climbing gear.
Or magic.
“Guards!” Drystan bellowed, his voice full of rage and guilt. Four of them came running, stunned looks on their faces as they surveyed the room. “The Princess Basilla has been taken from her chamber. We must find her at once!”
The castle was put on full alert, and a full search of the Keep was conducted. The brothers tried to get Dareena to wait in her room, but she refused, choosing to help with the search instead. As she went from room to room, with Lucyan at her side, anxiety rose within her, along with incredible guilt. Ryolas had looked absolutely stricken when he’d been told the news. He’d assumed his sister would be safe in the Keep, and why wouldn’t he? If the princess could be taken from her bed in the middle of the night, were any of them truly safe?
“Hang on,” Lucyan growled as he and Dareena rushed down a stairwell. “I smell blood.”
Dareena froze. Now that she was paying attention, she smelled it too—a coppery tang that made her shoulders tense with nerves. “Is someone injured?” she asked as she followed Lucyan down the stairs, keeping her body behind his.
“He…he’s been there for a while,” Dareena said, her voice trembling. Tears blurred her vision as she braced a hand against the wall for support. How long ago had Basilla been taken? Why hadn’t Taldren’s body been found before?
Lucyan yelled for help, and the guards came running, along with Drystan, Alistair, Tariana, and Ryolas. Their faces turned white at the sight of Taldren’s body, and Ryolas passed a hand over his face, looking like he wanted to break something.
“This is just bloody great,” he snarled. “On top of everything else.”
“What do you mean ‘everything else?’” Lucyan demanded, twisting around to face the others. He’d dropped to his knees next to Taldren to check for a pulse, and his trousers were stained with his cousin’s blood. “What else has happened?”
“Both the count and the imposter have broken out of their cells,” Drystan answered, his voice filled with barely leashed rage. A vein throbbed in his temple, and he looked even angrier than Ryolas, if that were possible. “They must have found some way to circumvent those manacles.”
Footsteps pounding against the stone floor drew their attention, and they turned to see Shadley rushing toward them. “They used the catacombs to escape,” he said, his face flushed with exertion. “The captain of the Guard and I just confirmed it.”
“That means they had inside help,” Tariana snapped. “Only the royal family and a trusted few retainers even know of the catacombs.”
“So, there is a traitor in our midst,” Alistair said softly. Outwardly, he appeared the calmest, but Dareena knew that Taldren’s death had to be hitting him just as hard. His eyes filled with grief as he looked down at his cousin, and he crouched to close those dead, unseeing eyes. “And because we were too blind to see it, Taldren paid with his life.”
Grief swelled in Dareena’s throat, choking off her airway. Wasn’t it just last night that he’d sat at the table, his eyes bright and his cheeks flushed with color? She’d wondered if he and Basilla might develop a courtship. Instead, he lay here, bled out, while the princess was being spirited off to gods knew where.
“There’s more,” Shadley said, his tone dire. He pulled a sheaf of parchment from inside his sleeve and handed it to Drystan. “We found this sitting on the throne.”
Drystan’s jaw clenched as he looked at the paper. “Enjoy what little time you have left together,” he read aloud in a flat, emotionless tone. “Your dynasty will soon come to an end, and I will come back to claim what I have left behind.”
“What does that mean?” Ryolas asked, his voice cracking. “What more could they want? And why have they taken my sister?”
“They are obviously not pleased that Basilla rejected Prince Mordan’s marriage proposal,” Alistair said. “Perhaps they mean to force the issue by planting a warlock babe in her belly.”
Dareena shuddered, placing a hand on her own belly. It was becoming a habit, one she couldn’t quite help even though she knew her hand didn’t keep him any safer. “If our dynasty is under threat,” she said slowly, dread filling her heart, “they must mean to target our child.”
The brothers’ eyes flared bright red. “We will never let that happen,” they snarled as one.
“It is time to take the fight to Shadowhaven,” Tariana said in a hard voice. She placed her hand on Ryolas’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “We will rescue your sister and vanquish the warlocks once and for all. The time has come for the dragons to rise again, and we shall not let these insidious liver-eaters stand in our way.”
Tariana’s fierce declaration banished some of the fear in Dareena’s heart. Taking a deep breath, she met each of the brother’s eyes in turn, exchanging a silent vow with them. She didn’t know how, but the four of them would find a way to penetrate Shadowhaven’s indomitable defenses and strike at the heart of their empire.
The gods help anyone who stood in their way.
To be continued…
* * *
Dareena’s story will conclude in Dragon’s Curse, coming December 2017! There is no pre-order, and Amazon will likely NOT notify you when the book is out, so make sure to sign up for Jasmine’s newsletter so you don’t miss it!
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About the Authors
JASMINE WALT is obsessed with books, chocolate, and sharp objects. Somehow, those three things melded together in her head and transformed into a desire to write, usually fantastical stuff with a healthy dose of action and romance. Her characters are a little (okay, a lot) on the snarky side, and they swear, but they mean well. Even the villains sometimes. When she isn’t chained to her keyboard, you can find her practicing her triangle choke on the jujitsu mat, spending time with her family, or binge-watching superhero shows on Netflix. You can learn more about her at www.jasminewalt.com
When she isn't writing about sassy women and alpha males, MAY SAGE can generally be found playing with her cats and her puppy, eating cake, or reading about sassy women and alpha males. Her first love is paranormal romance but she's not that faithful, so expect to find anything from shifters, princes and kings, to aliens and billionaires in her
Also by Jasmine Walt
Dragon’s Gift - The Trilogy:
Coauthored with May Sage
Dragon’s Gift
Dragon’s Blood
Dragon’s Legacy—Coming Soon!
* * *
The Baine Chronicles Series:
Burned by Magic
Bound by Magic
Hunted by Magic
Marked by Magic
Betrayed by Magic
Deceived by Magic
Scorched by Magic
Taken by Magic (Coming Soon!)
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The Baine Chronicles: Fenris’s Story:
Forsaken by Magic (Novella)
Fugitive by Magic
Claimed by Magic
Saved by Magic
* * *
The Nia Rivers Adventures:
Coauthored with Ines Johnson
Dragon Bones
Demeter’s Tablet
Templar Scrolls
Serpent Mound—Coming Soon!
Eden’s Garden—Coming Soon!
* * *
The Gatekeeper Chronicles:
Coauthored with Debbie Cassidy
Marked by Sin
Hunted by Sin
Claimed by Sin
