As my irritation rose, I noticed the pointed looks the capital dwellers were sending my way. Smoke had curled from my nostrils, signaling my growing temper. The villagers gave our procession a wide berth. Either from my seething expression or the blood that still stained my clothes. I hadn’t given us time to stop. We’d ridden without a break until we’d reached Aurelia.
Normally, I’d curtail my anger, but I wanted them to scurry away from me. The more they feared me, the less trouble we should have while we were in the capital. I only used violence as a last resort, but I wouldn’t hesitate if threatened. I’d guarded their borders for twenty years, and I knew tales of my prowess had spread far and wide. Their fear pleased me and made it easier for me to keep my distance.
A gathering of courtiers, servants, and guardsmen clustered around the entrance to the castle. I studied their faces with disguised interest, but only recognized the Queen, Seleste. I didn’t spend much time in court if I could help it, and couldn’t care less about royal happenings.
I came to a stop beside the crown and dismounted. Seleste rushed to my side and offered her hand. “Lord Blaque,” she greeted in a simpering voice. “So delighted to have you here at last. I hope your journey was pleasant.”
She either ignored or didn’t care why I was covered in blood. Perhaps she thought I ate humans for breakfast only a regular basis. “I trust my future mate made it as well.”
Her eyes dimmed. “She arrived just this morning.”
“I’d like to see her.”
“She’s busy at the moment,” interjected another shifter. He stepped forward to Seleste’s side and met my gaze.
“I would have thought the first item on the agenda would have been to introduce me to my mate,” I told a stony-faced Gideon Darkmoore, Prince of Acasia. I recognized him after a moment from his resemblance to his father, King Baron.
“Of course, Lord Blaque,” he demurred. “We’ll summon her at once.”
That was another reason why I hated being in the capital. The shifters in this region treated males like they were chattel to be crushed under the delicate female boot. I’d been mated to a woman like that once, and I’d be damned if I’d let anyone treat me like that again.
I’d burn in Slaine first.
My words were bitten out between gritted teeth when I spoke, “Don’t bother yourself. Tell me where she is, and I’ll find her.”
Gideon’s eyes widened a fraction in surprise. “That’s unnecessary.”
“I’ll decide what’s necessary,” I replied without hesitation.
Prince Gideon’s jaw tightened and for a moment I thought he would argue, but he said, “She’s with our father. He’s been ill since our mother passed.”
“I was sorry to hear it.”
Seleste snapped her fingers. “You there, show Lord Blaque to King Baron’s quarters.”
A maid curtsied, then said, “Yes, your highness. Right this way.”
I held up a hand. Stars, these people needed help with everything, didn’t they? “I can find it on my own, unless you think I need an escort.”
“Of course not,” Seleste said with faux cheerfulness. “You’ll join us for dinner?”
Rather than argue, I agreed. “Of course.”
After directing my stewards to stow my belongings in my rooms, I made my way to King Baron’s quarters. The last time I was in the capital it had been to negotiate for his daughter’s hand. Despite my hesitance to bind myself to another mate, I was eager to meet the princess and get it all over with so I could go back to the Northlands.
My ears picked up the sound of her voice first, not enough to make out the words, but enough to gather she was whispering encouraging sentiments to her father. She was saying her goodbyes. I couldn’t decipher what she was saying, but her voice was melodious and confident, despite the grief that shadowed it.
The dragon inside my chest purred like the sound of her voice was a siren’s call. It wanted her, fiercely, viciously, as it sometimes craved the blood of an enemy.
I stepped up to the door, but didn’t announce myself. Dressed in a nondescript, but well-made gown and cloak, a young woman of about twenty sat at the bedside of an ailing man, her hands clasped around one of his. Her hair draped over her shoulders in a glossy length the color of burnished wood. I wanted to run my claws through it, feel it draped over my body. Because the urge to touch it was all too strong, I stepped forward and cleared my throat to call her attention.
She started, turned. A hand went to her hair, and she pushed it away from her red eyes. She’d been crying. Her cheeks were still wet from tears and the dragon snarled, wanting to lick them clean, desperate for the taste of her sorrow on my tongue.
“Are you the healer?” she asked, getting to her feet. She gestured and said, “This room, it’s too stifled. My father needs fresh air. His quarters need to be cleaned more regularly, his body bathed at more frequent intervals. Just because he’s dying doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve to be treated with dignity. By stars, he was your King!”
I frowned at her. When was the last time someone other than Alaric had spoken to me in such a way and not been punished for it? “I’m not your healer, girl.”
Her eyes flashed with a heat I felt down to the marrow. “It’s Princess,” she gritted out. “If you’re not the healer, then if you’d be so kind as to fetch one, it would be most appreciated. Be quick about it, I have somewhere else I need to be soon.”
It should have enraged me to have to her order me about, considering the last thing I wanted in a woman was one who had any semblance of a backbone, but I found myself stepping toward her instead of away. “There’s no need,” I told her.
She stepped closer to her father’s slumbering form. “No need for what?”
“No need for fetching a healer. Can’t you tell your father is dying? He won’t have much left in this world before he ascends to the stars.”
It was true. I thought it kinder not to spare her of my assessments. I could hear how frail his heart beat, the slow, death-march rattle of his lungs. He’d lost much weight since I saw him last, twenty years ago. His thick hair that had once matched the color of his daughter’s, was now silver and lank. Once, he’d been a great warrior of renowned strength and power, some said he’d rivaled my own, but now his muscle had wasted away, and he looked as though one stiff wind could blow him away…if it possible for him to stand from the sick bed.
The pale skin of her face drained of all color. “How could you say such a thing? Who are you?”
“Denying it will only make it harder, Elena.”
“How do you know my name?” she demanded. “Who are you?” She looked around the room as though to find someone to order me away…or escape. Then, she turned back to me. Her eyes took in my blood-stained clothes, my claws, and the steam still unfurling from my nose.
When I smiled, she took a step back, her gaze going to my fangs.
“I know your name, just as you know mine.”
Her hand fluttered to her throat as she swallowed hard and met my eyes. “You’re my mate,” she said, her voice a whisper.
Mine, my dragon roared in response.
5
Elena
I could wipe at my face, straighten my travel-rumpled skirts and bemoan the fact I wasn’t decked out in finery, but there was no use. Not when the man standing in front of me reeked of days’ old blood and sweat. All I could do was stare, dumbfounded. He wasn’t at all what I expected. Somehow both worse and not as dangerous as I’d assumed.
He inclined his head at my words and agreed, “Your future mate.”
The thought sent a shiver racing down my spine. The threat of being bound to a mate, this man in particular, had always been on the peripherals of my mind. I had been raised knowing it would take place eventually.
Eventually had come.
I’d had twenty years to ready myself, but if I had twenty more, it wouldn’t have prepared me for the savage man towering over me.
&nb
sp; Decades of legend and lore from the whispers of servants and passing dignitaries hadn’t done him justice. Even though I’d been groomed to be a queen my entire life, his aura of power radiated throughout the room. He didn’t need the threat of the throne, or an elaborate crown, to assert his dominance the way I always had before I’d been cast out. And I wanted to slap the resulting impertinent smile off his face to mask my own insecurities. No one would have dared to take the throne from him, you could see it in his eyes; the way they gave warning without him having to say a word. That was why Father had gone to him for protection, even though it had been against both the Council and my mother’s wishes. She’d wanted me to mate for love, according to what my brother told me.
It wasn’t only his dominance that intimidated me. He was exactly the type of man old crones would warn their granddaughters about, in order to get them to behave. Marry a good, kind man, they’d say. You don’t want to be burdened with a brute.
My mother had married such a man, and though I loved my father beyond reason, many people said it was why she died after giving birth to me. She was cursed after marrying a man with violence in his blood.
A man like Lord Blaque.
And I was following right in her footsteps.
Whether I wanted to or not.
“Princess,” he said and knelt at my feet in such a way he made a mockery of the act. His lips remained in a firm line, everything about him hard and unforgiving. A man like him didn’t need to kneel, but he did it anyway.
I didn’t know what to say. I was so woefully unprepared. He took my hand in greeting, his lips grazing my skin. It had been so long since I’d been so close to anyone who wasn’t bleeding that my heart stumbled in my chest.
“My lord,” I said when I could speak again. It took extra effort to keep my voice even. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I apologize for the misunderstanding.”
I couldn’t show him any weakness. The stony look in his eyes and his massive build, not to mention the rumors about his first mate, told me he’d take any weakness and devour it like the finest meal, spitting my bones out the moment his appetite was sated.
He got to his feet slowly and I wondered if living in the North had frozen his expression, because I could glean nothing of what he may be thinking from his face. “Even if I’m a brute?”
Before I could respond and ask him what he meant, Gideon appeared in the doorway once more. He was out of breath and hurried to my side pressing a palm to my back. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to reassure me or to keep me from running. “I see you’ve met,” he said in a practiced tone. “I hope you’ve found everything to your… satisfaction.”
Eyes still on me, Lord Blaque said, “Oh, I’m sure I will.” He cocked his head as though considering. I stiffened, my skin beginning to crawl with an uncanny awareness that wasn’t altogether unpleasant. I wanted nothing more than to put as much distance between us as possible. Then I realized, once we were bound to one another, there would be no such thing as distance.
My body a statue of granite, I didn’t know whether to be insulted or relieved. A gauntlet had been thrown and he’d barely said a word. Though it was warm, and I was wearing more clothes than should be allowed, a shiver coursed through me at the challenge.
Or maybe, it was due to the hint of smile now present in those ice-blue eyes.
The shivers increased, and I tucked my arms protectively around my waist. Mostly to ward off the chill, but also to hide my hand, which was still tingling from his lips on my skin. “I’d best get ready for dinner,” I said with false amicability. Ignoring his innuendo seemed prudent for the moment. Whatever political maneuvering my brother intended, The Dragon clearly wasn’t so inclined. “The Queen is eager to introduce me to her mate.” I decided to settle on relief and nod to both men as I made my escape.
Except, a hand on my arm halted my exit.
I turned to find Lord Blaque entirely too close.
“I’ll escort you to dinner,” he said.
There was no use in arguing, so I nodded and made a hasty retreat.
Hours later, I turned to Leisha and tried to prevent my voice from wavering. “How do I look?”
Leisha, who sat on a chaise in front of the fire, patient as ever, tilted her face up from her sewing. The moment she saw me, her expression brightened. “Oh,” she breathed, then went silent.
I grimaced. “That terrible?”
She set the sewing aside and came to me. “Oh, no, Elena.” With her hands on my shoulders, she turned me to face the mirror I’d been avoiding. “Look.”
I didn’t want to. Part of me was afraid to look in the mirror and find the woman who failed to become queen. I’d been able to hide underneath plain clothes and drown myself with chores. At the temple I may have been suffocated, but I was safe. Nothing would happen to me there. I didn’t have time for disappointment. From the moment I arrived, I’d been busy and hadn’t stopped.
As I met my gaze in the mirror, time did just that, then sped rapidly in reverse. In the span of a few seconds, I’d gone from the self-assured girl who’d learned the art of healing under the patient tutelage of the temple healer to the insecure princess who’d lost her way.
“What’s the matter? You look beautiful.”
“It’s not that,” I said, my voice barely a whisper, but I couldn’t speak my fears. The last time I’d been in Aurelia, I’d run. I made a vow as I held my reflection: I was done running.
I’d face my fate, no matter what—or who—it was.
A knock came at the door and I ripped myself away with a frightened glance in its direction. As Leisha went to answer, I smoothed my hands down the thick material of my dress, even though there wasn’t a wrinkle to be found. I shouldn’t be nervous, but my hands trembled. Immortals mated all the time, for bloodlines, to increase power—both political and personal—and to ally powerful shifter clans. I was hardly the first woman to face an arranged binding.
Even knowing so, my heart tripped over itself as Lord Blaque stepped through the door, impossibly more handsome than hours before.
I hadn’t had the time before to truly look at him, but as he spoke quietly with Leisha, I studied the man who was to be my future mate for the first time without panic clouding my thoughts. I could tell he reached over six feet at his full height. If we were standing face-to-face, he would no doubt tower over me. His tan leather coat was several shades lighter than his caramel skin and stretched over the broad expanse of his shoulders. A cape of the same hue billowed from his back. The sleeves of his coat were adorned with cuffs of curious thick scale-like armor. Soft breeches a shade lighter than his overcoat cupped powerful legs and disappeared into boots fashioned from the same material as his cuffs. It was a far cry from the ragged, bloodstained beast he’d been when we first met; I’d give him that.
His ice-blue eyes lifted to mine as I completed my examination and though I wanted, very much, to look away, I forced myself to keep his gaze. Thick, dark brown hair brushed his forehead. His face was as regal as my own. Feline eyes and a patrician nose were framed by the two slashes of his cheekbones and punctuated by the full line of his permanently smirking mouth.
He didn’t seem like the monster rumor claimed him to be. If I knew nothing about him and had any inclination to be bound to another, he’d make a fine mate. My eyes caught on those lips. He may be a monster, but he was a beautiful one. If he hadn’t been promised to me, he would have had no trouble finding another female to be his.
I had to stop thinking about his lips. I shook myself and remembered we weren’t alone.
Two men stood at his back, though I knew from many accounts he required no protection. He waved them away and Leisha scurried after, leaving us alone. I’d spoken with servants in Gideon’s service about the goings-on in my absence and about Rhysander, but they could tell me little. The only thing I knew for sure was that as the last of his kind, he was the rarest of all shifters. As the oldest, his authority wasn’t a question, but a cert
ainty. It was why my father had chosen him, after all. They didn’t have to tell me about his former mate. Everyone knew what happened to her.
Rhysander was a dangerous man, and he was tasked with being my protector. But who would protect me from him?
“Good evening, Elena,” came his deep voice. He hadn’t missed my blatant perusal because he gave me one of his own. I ached to cross my arms over my body to block his view, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. “I’ll escort you to dinner.”
His remarkable composure grated on my already frayed nerves, but I nodded despite my body screaming to run in the other direction. I made it across the room without stumbling and placed my hand in his, stifling a gasp at the unnatural heat emanating from his skin. It was as though he was lit from the inside out with an eternal flame.
He placed my hand on his forearm and guided me through the door. His two companions, who were waiting in the hall, followed close behind as we wound through the castle to the dining hall.
Lord Blaque didn’t speak, and I refused to lure him into conversation, so the walk to the hall was silent and rife with all the unsaid words and thick with tension. Normally, I’d take my meals in my room to avoid the whispers and stares from the others. When he and I entered the crowded hall, all conversation ceased, and all eyes turn to us.
Uncaring or unaware of the attention, Lord Blaque led me to a high table where Seleste and Gideon were seated. The former shot me a covertly scathing look and the latter, a pleased one. I took my place next to my brother gratefully and planned to ignore my future husband on my other side.
But ignoring a man like him, I learned, was impossible.
Seleste surged to her feet. “Lords and Ladies,” she announced in her simpering voice. “I’d like to make an announcement.”
My stomach clenched on emptiness. I hadn’t had a moment to prepare. I’d forgotten how the royals liked to put on a show, and Seleste most of all.
Deal with the Dragon (Immortals Ever After Book 1) Page 4
