by Rinelle Grey
Karla looked around at the other dragons. The elders looked nervous and uncertain. Wayrian barely even looked up. Jayrian’s haunted eyes met hers.
No one here was going to come up with any plans at all.
Karla heaved a sigh. Looked like it was up to her.
“Any ideas on how to beat a lightning dragon?” she asked Bruce lightly.
He stared at her. “Karla, I’m not so sure that’s such a good idea.”
“You got a better one?”
Bruce heaved a sigh. “No,” he admitted. “If you do, I’m all in.”
That was one volunteer, at least.
Now she just needed an idea. She forced herself to eat a tiny bite of food, and to her surprise, she didn’t feel sick. In fact, she realised she was actually hungry. Not really surprising, considering it had been hours since she’d last eaten.
As she ate, she began to feel a little better and her brain a little less foggy and panicked.
How could they even begin to defeat Ultrima? They might have more dragons than he did, but Karla didn’t think a fight was an option. She’d seen what happened last time, and she didn’t want Taurian injured again. Or anyone else for that matter.
She remembered back to the chess game in the library. It seemed years ago, when in reality it was only a few days. That game may have been with Edtrima, but she was pretty sure Ultrima’s attitude would be the same. Dragons thought they were so powerful that they didn’t need to watch the pawns. Only the important people were a threat.
Which right now was Taurian, her, maybe Wayrian.
So who were the pawns?
She watched Ultrima for a while. He stared back once or twice, and looked amused when Karla refused to look away. He watched Taurian as well, but to her surprise, there wasn’t anyone else in the room he gave more than a cursory glance to.
So she had been right. He paid no attention at all to anyone he didn’t think was important.
How could she use that?
A concerted attack from all the dragons at once would certainly achieve something, but it was risky. They were so tightly crowded in the lair that even one bolt of lightning would do a lot of damage. Dragons and humans would die, even if they did manage to defeat Ultrima.
It kept coming back to fighting. Surely there had to be a better way? Surely Ultrima didn’t have to die in order to get him to back off?
Taurian seemed to think he had no regard for the rules or laws, so they couldn’t use that.
What did he want? Did he still want Taurian’s sister? Was that what this was all about?
Karla remembered what Taurian had said, that he had tried to force Taurian's sister to mate with him, and she gave a shiver. Under that suave, polite exterior, he was a dangerous dragon. Maybe a fight was the only solution?
Taurian held up a cup and cleared his throat. The low hum of conversation around the room stopped instantly. “Well, I think it is time for my mate and I to retire to our rooms. I trust I can leave everyone here to continue to enjoy themselves?”
There was a silence in the room for a few moments. The elders looked stunned and nervous. Ultrima gave a grin, like a cat with a mouse. Taurian looked directly at Karla, his eyes asking her a question.
She suspected he wanted her to keep an eye on things here for him, but her heart was frozen at the thought of him retiring to his rooms with Wayrian. They had to mate three times for the mating bond to be complete, she knew that much. Would that all happen in one night, or three, or what?
The thought turned her stomach, and for a few moments, she bitterly regretted the food she had eaten earlier.
“No one seems convinced that this is an enjoyable experience.” Ultrima’s quiet voice was a purr. His eyes were on Karla.
She straightened up, and tried desperately to think of something to say, something to convince Ultrima that she was having a good time. And most importantly, that she wasn’t in the least bit disconcerted by Taurian’s mating.
But her traitorous mind was a complete blank.
“You are the one who needs to be enjoying yourself, Prince Taurian.” Jayrian’s voice rang out, a tone of teasing in it. “Just make sure that costume is fit to wear again tomorrow, you have two more days after this before it can be discarded.”
There was a smattering of nervous laughs. Ultrima’s eyes turned on Jayrian, his expression thoughtful. Karla winced. A pawn lost. Jayrian had earned himself a position as an important piece now. But for a good cause.
Chapter 50
Wayrian stood in front of him, the expression on her face uncertain and nervous. Taurian could hardly blame her, he felt the same himself.
Ultrima had forced his hand. He’d had no intention of mating with Wayrian until they’d had a chance to get to know each other a little better. In truth, he’d planned on putting it off for as long as possible.
He wasn’t sure if he’d ever get over Karla, but right now, with her sitting out there in front of him all night, he was far from over her. It was unfair to Wayrian to mate while he still felt that way about another woman.
And, he had to admit to himself, he wanted to put this off for as long as possible because he knew that the end result of this mating ceremony would be losing his attraction to the woman he loved. Karla, not Wayrian.
He would have to live with this knowledge for a whole week, as the drawn out mating ceremony progressed. He would have to sleep with Wayrian twice, and pretend overwhelming attraction and annoyance at the nights he would sleep alone, all while watching Karla watching him. It wouldn’t be until the last night, at the end of the week, when those feelings would be overwritten by the bond with his mate.
Was there any point to this anyway? Ultrima had brought enough dragons with him that escaping from the lair under his nose, as Taurian had planned, was impossible. All this could be for naught, and he would end up having to fight Ultrima anyway.
Not that he didn’t plan on that, but he’d like to make sure his clan reached safety first. That’s why he was buying time for. There was still a chance someone could come up with a solution. That he could. Because he couldn’t leave this important task to anyone else.
Which meant he had to proceed with the mating ceremony. If Ultrima realised he was faking it, he’d end the charade they were both playing, and it would give the dragon an excuse to attack now.
Taurian bit back a sigh and looked at Wayrian. The task shouldn’t be so hard. She was attractive enough. He could even close his eyes and pretend she was Karla.
Every part of him rebelled at that thought. No, if he was going to do this, it needed to be honest.
He took a step towards Wayrian, and put his hands on her shoulders. Her eyes were wide as she stared up at him, and her lips parted. He could hear her shaky breathing, and the sound did nothing for him.
“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.
She just nodded. She seemed to lose her voice when she was nervous. Not a useful trait.
Oh well, who needed talking. They both knew what was about to happen, and he highly doubted Wayrian was inexperienced. He’d yet to meet a dragon who was.
How to start this? How did one start this? With a kiss, of course. That’s what he’d be doing right now if this were Karla. Kissing the hell out of her. He bent his head down towards Wayrian’s, imagining kissing her.
But it was all wrong.
Taurian jerked his head up and stumbled back a few steps. He couldn’t do this. He just couldn’t. He tried to tell himself it was because Karla was still here, in the next room. Of course he felt disloyalty, as well as the lingering hope that there was still some way to salvage their relationship. Once she was gone, it would be easier to give that up and move on.
That’s what he tried to tell himself. Secretly, he wondered if he would be able to do this even then.
“Is something wrong?” Wayrian’s voice wavered.
Taurian could see the uncertainty in her eyes. He was pretty sure she knew what his problem was, but she wasn’t
going to admit it. Not from any sort of design on him, but from embarrassment.
It was cruel to do this to her. He couldn’t believe her grandfather had suggested it. Who would do that to their granddaughter? It wasn’t her fault he didn’t love her, that his love for Karla made it impossible for him. Even if she didn’t love him either, it was still insulting for him to mate with her while he loved another.
There must be some way for him to save her dignity.
No one else needed to know that they hadn’t slept together. They could draw this out for the entire ceremony, a whole week, and no one would know. The mating ritual, with its back and forth dance of mating and sleeping apart for seven days, would give them plenty of time to come up with a plan to escape Ultrima. The bond wasn’t formed until the final mating on the very last day. That gave them plenty of time.
The thought made Taurian feel a whole lot better. He could explain the truth to his clan after Ultrima had gone, and he and Wayrian could have a proper mating ceremony. After Karla was gone.
“I’m sorry, I’ll never be as pretty as she is.” Wayrian’s voice was miserable.
Her words hit Taurian with a stab of guilt. She would always know she was second best. Even the mating bond would not remove that knowledge. This relationship, a fire and water paring, would be hard enough without adding that to it.
Taurian knew his force and passion could easily overwhelm the gentle, slow moving water dragon. Not that water didn’t have its own strength, he’d seen it wear through solid rock, but before she could use it, it would be boiled away by his own power. He needed to do everything he could to see that that didn’t happen.
Including protecting Wayrian from the knowledge that he struggled to even kiss her.
It wasn’t her fault his passion for Karla would not be silenced.
“No, this has nothing to do with Karla,” he said firmly. He cast his mind around desperately for any other reason to give her.
“You don’t have to make excuses,” Wayrian said softly. “I can see how both of you care about each other. If I were her, you wouldn’t be hesitating.”
Why did she have to choose now to find her voice? He couldn’t tell her that if Karla were the one standing in front of him, the mating outfit would already be in tatters. Even the knowledge that the mating bond would kill her as well if he died by Ultrima’s hand wouldn’t be able to stop him.
The mating bond! Of course, that was his excuse.
“It’s not that,” Taurian argued. “I would have the same concerns no matter who I was mating with. The reality is, at some point I’m going to have to fight Ultrima. There’s no other way out of this. And when I do, I run a big risk of dying.” He didn’t need to tell her that the only reason he’d survived last time was that Bruce and Lisa had saved him. No need to admit that. “If we’ve completed the mating ceremony, then that means you will die too.”
Wayrian’s face paled. “But I thought we were going to run away from Ultrima, not fight him.”
“Rian clan will run. Someone will need to keep Ultrima busy while they do that,” he said softly.
“It shouldn’t be you,” Wayrian said firmly. “The elders will agree with me. We can’t risk losing our prince. Not again.”
“I won’t let it be anyone else.”
Wayrian put her hands on her hips. “That is not your right. We all have a responsibility to the clan that is bigger than our own hopes and dreams. That’s why you and I are here right now. You have to survive, and we have to produce a life dragon. That’s the solution to this. Not pointless fighting.”
Intractable water dragon, stuck on the path they had started on, refusing to change one bit. Even if someone dropped a big rock in the middle of their stream, they’d just try to go around it, moving only the slightest, wearing down those who got in their way.
Taurian should try to accept her personality. It was the only way to make this relationship work. But that would have to wait until later. If they both survived.
“I must do what I must do. If it comes to fighting, I won’t back down. Hopefully, there is still a way out of this, for all of us, but I won’t risk your life on it. Our mating will have to wait until Ultrima is gone.”
“But the only reason he’s not fighting you now is because he thinks this is a mating ceremony.”
“So we pretend. No one has any idea what goes on here in these rooms. As far as they know, we’ve taken the first step.”
“But…” Wayrian’s moment of boldness disappeared, and her eyes slid downwards, away from his, her cheeks flushed.
“But what?” Taurian tried to keep the impatience from his voice. He wasn’t sure which was more annoying, her determined moments, or her shyness. The combination was maddening, he knew that much.
“Everyone will be looking for signs.”
Taurian might have been annoyed at her evasive reply, except he knew exactly what she meant. After the first night of the mating ceremony, a big deal was made of seeing how passionate the night had been, told by its toll on the mating outfit.
If it was still pristine, it was a bad sign for a relationship. Wayrian would be teased by all her friends about not being able to entice him. Even if it was later admitted that this was a fake mating, the stigma would remain, following them for the rest of their lives.
Well, that was an easy fix. Taurian stepped forwards and grasped a handful of the feathers, tearing them off the scrap of fabric that covered her.
Wayrian gasped, her eyes wide.
Taurian ignored her response, stepping back and considering. A good start, but not enough. A prince needed to show an appropriate level of passion. He stepped forwards and reached for the skirt she wore. His hands paused over the waistline—the outfit needed to be worn for another day at least—and tore a rip in the hemline instead.
He scanned her again. There was still something missing. “You need to ruffle your hair, mess it up a little,” he ordered.
Wayrian stared at him for a moment, then she seemed to get it. She nodded, and pulled at her hair, rubbing it between her hands.
Taurian nodded. “Yes, that’s better. No one will question it now.”
Cynically, he wondered how much of the damage done during the mating ceremony was this deliberate. It had never occurred to him to ask that question before, he’d always just assumed that the destruction was a true sign of a couple’s passion. He hadn’t even thought to doubt it.
Now that he was in the situation himself, he realised how easy it was. If your passion wasn’t strong enough, then calmly choosing the level of damage was easy.
If it had been Karla standing in front of him though, there would have been no need for pretence.
Chapter 51
Every bone in Karla’s body ached from sleeping with only a few animal skins between her and the hard sand.
Oh, who was she kidding? There had been barely any sleeping happening at all. Between visions of Taurian mating with Wayrian and the constant fear Ultrima might be sneaking up on her in the dark, Karla had barely closed her eyes all night, much less slept.
As she looked around the room, where all the dragons other than Taurian and Wayrian had slept, she realised she wasn’t the only one. Supposedly, they had slept here to give the mating couple privacy. That’s what she’d been told. Personally, she suspected they wanted to keep as much of an eye on Ultrima as she did.
Everyone looked bleary eyed. If Karla hadn’t been sure there had been no alcohol at the celebration, she would have said everyone was suffering from a hangover. The actual reason for their stupor was clear as dragons eyed the human form, lightning dragon sideways, surprised he hadn’t killed them during the night.
Ultrima was the only one that was chipper. He smiled widely at everyone, greeting them cheerily. Apparently he hadn’t had any problem sleeping at all. Strange really, that he was so unafraid in a room full of his enemies.
Not that anyone had even considered attacking him. Was that because of the dozen dragons out
side, or simply because of their overwhelming fear?
How long could they keep this up? It was almost like Ultrima was wearing them down, trying to make sure they were at their weakest before he attacked.
Why had Taurian ever thought this was a good plan? Then again, he probably hadn’t intended them to still be here this morning. If it weren’t for the dragons waiting on the surface, Karla was pretty sure all of the dragons of Rian clan would have slipped away during the night.
Which would have meant he’d have no time for mating.
As it was…
As if on cue, all heads turned towards the tunnel where Taurian and Wayrian stood, holding hands.
Their hair was rumpled, and Karla’s eyes immediately picked out the missing feathers and torn skirt.
Her heart froze, then resumed beating with a painful jolt. Last night, she’d been sure that it couldn’t get any worse than the images in her head. Somehow, this was worse.
This was reality. Cold, hard, reality.
Apparently worrying hadn’t impeded their night’s activity any.
Karla turned away unable to look. There was no way she could hide how distressing the sight was for her, whether Ultrima was watching or not. What did it matter anyway? Ultrima wasn’t going to care, even if he did notice.
She needed to figure out a way to get everyone out of here so that she could move on before watching this drove her mad.
As if the couple’s appearance was a sign, dragons began to bring out food. The fare was a little more meagre than the feast last night had been, consisting almost entirely of leftovers.
Karla didn’t really care. She didn’t feel like eating anyway.
But when Ultrima took a seat cross legged on the sand beside her, she suddenly found her appetite.
Because eating was far better than trying to think of what to say to him.
Both of them ate in silence for a while, but just when Karla was beginning to relax a little, and figure he was just sitting next to her to intimidate Taurian, Ultrima spoke, “They’re all the same, you know, these Rian dragons. They will mate for the benefits it gains them, not for love.” Ultrima’s voice was surprisingly gentle as though he knew what Karla was going through.
