Chapter 7
S ay nothing, Lady Dragon.” Dash’s voice was loud and clear in her thoughts.
Tanis considered how much she wanted to out him to the ruffians in the tavern. But he held her dragon powers, and she would definitely need those back. Along with her dragon body.
And given who he was...
He would gut her long before they gutted him.
Not to mention, she was no longer sure killing him would return her to her dragon form. He wasn’t just a unicorn.
He was the most lethal creature in existence.
The High King of all kingdoms.
What have I done?
Of all the beasts she could have captured...
The High King of the Thirteen Kingdoms. Deciel Coeur de Noir.
How? Why?
Oh dear gods...
She was so lucky she was alive. No wonder he appeared dangerous.
He was dangerous.
No. He was danger personified.
This was a unicorn who literally impaled others for entertainment. He wore body parts as statement pieces.
The stories about him were legendary and terrible.
Honestly, she wanted to run. No, she wanted to run screaming. Screaming and rending her hair.
What do I do?
Dash smirked at the keeper. “Well, as you said, I’m sure it’s all bullshit. If a mere spell could kill Coeur de Noir, he’d have been dead ten times over.” He inclined his head to the man. “Thank you for the information.”
Then, he gestured at the poster. “Mind if I take this?”
“Go ahead. Not sure if anyone else here is even literate.”
With a gruff snort, Dash took the poster down, folded it up and tucked it into the pouch at his waist.
Taking her arm, he headed for the door.
Don’t act suspicious, she told herself as they walked across the room.
But how did one not act suspicious? She was no longer sure because she felt like everyone was staring at them.
Were they?
They’d been before. How could they not know who he was? It was so obvious.
You didn’t know till they told you.
‘Cause I’m an idiot!
No wonder her father had always called her one. He’d been right and she’d been lying to herself when she’d thought herself smart.
I’m going to die. Slowly. Painfully. Most likely impaled on a black unicorn horn. With her soul sucked out of her for good measure.
Her ears were buzzing. She was sweating and shivering at the same time. Damn this human body.
“Breathe, little dragon,” he whispered.
Easy for him to say. He was the most feared monster of all time. Forget being a dragon. They had nothing on him when it came to brutality. They might breathe fire and fly, but he had quelled the mightiest of her people.
Even her father paid tribute to him. Not out of respect. Balls out, holy terror.
They weren’t even allowed to say his name in her father’s court for fear that he might somehow know it and wipe them out. Every kingdom lived in terror of this king’s wrath.
Not of his army.
Fear that he’d show up, personally, and slaughter them all. Just for entertainment.
Not even in their sleep, either. No. He made an example in how he executed those he declared his enemies. Bloody. Gory. There was no mistaking when someone crossed him.
He had stabbed his own father in the heart, in front of their court and his father’s bodyguards.
Not even bards wrote songs about him.
They were too afraid to lest it offend him, and he used their lute strings to cut off their heads and fingers.
His deeds were spoken of in terrified whispers. Or by mothers who wanted to frighten their children into good behavior. Don’t do that or the Unicorn King will come for you!
And she had just spent three nights camping with him. Three days riding on his back.
I captured him in a freaking net!
Oh my God...
How was she still alive?
By the time they were outside, she could barely stand.
And she was angry. Furious, actually.
So much so that she couldn’t contain herself. Without thinking, she shoved him. “Why didn’t you tell me who you were?!”
Dash froze in complete shock at her attack. No one had dared to strike him since he’d killed his father after his father had backhanded him.
Not even Ryper.
To this day, he could see the shocked look on his father’s face when he’d finally fought back.
On that fateful day when his horn had turned black, he’d promised himself that no one would ever again lay a hand to him without paying for it with blood.
And no one had.
Until now.
But Dash could never harm someone so much smaller than him. Ever. It wasn’t in him to do such.
Besides, she wasn’t out to hurt him. She was merely upset and had no idea how close she was to being splintered into a thousand pieces.
Calming himself, he cleared his throat. “Probably for the same reason you didn’t tell me you were the daughter of King Iagan.”
That took some of the anger from her as she stepped back and looked around nervously. “How do you know that?” she whispered.
Was she serious? “He just said the dragon’s skull was royal. There’s only one royal dragon family. If that’s your brother’s skull... he was Prince Davin Dragomir.”
The king’s only son. Was she not aware of how many times Dash had met with her father? Or the fact that he’d known her brother? The only surprise here was that he hadn’t met her when he’d been to their court.
She bit her lip. “Oh.”
“Oh? Is that really all you have to say?”
“You’re a villain?”
He blinked slowly. Mostly because he was strangely amused by the insult that should have pissed him off. He wasn’t a villain. He’d done what he had to, to ensure peace for his people. To protect all kingdoms.
Yes, he’d been vicious. Ruthless, even. But when he’d come to power, the kingdoms had been in a constant state of war.
No one had been safe, and millions had been needlessly slaughtered.
His father had made countless treaties and allowed others to walk all over their people. Just as the other kings and queens had done. No one’s throne had been safe.
Dash made no apologies for what he’d done to restore law and order to the lands. And he never would.He’d brought about an unprecedented time of peace. If that made him a villain, then he relished the title.
“Tell me something, princess. When you left your island kingdom and crossed my border to set the trap in my land for a unicorn, were you afraid?”
She frowned at him. “What?”
“You heard my question. Even though unicorns and dragons have been enemies for generations, when you entered Licordian lands, were you afraid of being caught in our territory?”
“Well... no.”
“What did you think would happen if a unicorn found you visiting in our lands?”
Tanis wasn’t sure why this was important. “Nothing.”
“That’s right. No one would have bothered you for being there. They damn sure wouldn’t have butchered you. Have you any idea what would have happened twenty years ago had you been caught in Licordia?”
“I’d have been slaughtered.”
Yes, she would have. Brutally. They would have sent her back to her father in pieces. And no one would have been punished for it.
“Now, after more than a decade of peace, someone is killing my people and yours while they sleep. I want to know who.”
Tanis paused as she remembered his questions when they’d met. “Is that why you asked me why I didn’t burn down the village?”
He nodded. “You wanted justice against a single person for your brother’s murder. My job is to make sure you get it.”
For a monster, he seemed remarkably reasonable. But one thing concerned her. “Had I wanted to burn down the village?”
“I think you know what I would have done to you.”
Kill her. Without any hesitation or reservation whatsoever.
She swallowed hard as her fear returned. He had no remorse for all the lives he’d taken. “How do you sleep at night?”
“With my head on a pillow.”
That was not comforting at all. Nor was the cold look in his eyes. His beauty made that brutality all the more obscene and shocking.
Kill him.
For the sake of all the kingdoms, she needed to. No one had ever been able to get this close to him. Over and over, she’d heard her father and uncles talking about it.
Someone needs to stop that psycho. He has spies everywhere and an assassin at his side. Always demanding lives when they breach the laws he passes. If only we could get our own assassin inside his castle and end his reign.
But every time someone had tried, they’d failed and died for their attempt.
His laws were brutal, and he made no exceptions. If found guilty, he made an example of the guilty party as a warning to others.
Obey me or die begging for a mercy I will not give.
Granted it was something she planned to do to the man who’d killed her brother, but that was different. Hers was personal.
His wasn’t.
She’d heard the tales. He’d gutted people for doing nothing more than stealing bread to feed their starving family. That was unforgivable. Heartless.
“Why aren’t you killing me?” she asked him.
“I believe in justice, Dragon.” He paused in the street and jerked his chin toward a group of children who were playing nearby. “You see them?”
“Yes.”
“When I first inherited my father’s crown, mothers kept their children hidden in their homes. They were too afraid to let them outside for fear of what would happen to them if they dared leave their homes for even a few minutes. Men hid their daughters and wives for the same reasons. Innocents were kidnapped and sold for brutal games, slavery and brothels. I fought constantly with my sister, because I knew what someone could do to her, and she hated me for it.”
Tanis swallowed as she remembered having those fights with her own father.
Worse was the fact that she’d been one of the innocents who’d been taken.
“I did what I had to, to make sure my kingdom was safe for her and all the other children who deserved to grow up without fear. And once Licordia was secure, I did whatever it took for the innocents in the other kingdoms to sleep in peace and security. I am the monster they all fear, and I will remain so until the day I die. Because as long as I’m here, those children will play in the streets and know no harm. I will never apologize for that. If the world wants to hate me for it, so be it. Better they fear one monster in a distant palace far away from them, than thousands of monsters lurking in every dark corner and alley they pass, seeking to do them harm. Or worse, monsters who break into their homes to hurt them whenever they lay their weary heads down to sleep.”
The sincerity in his voice sent a chill down her spine.
What had made him like this? Had he been harmed, too? He spoke with the same determined fury inside him that she held. That inconsolable rage that burned so deep and hot that it often frightened her because it never dulled. Nothing quenched it. While she might be able to set it to simmer at times, it was always there, waiting to bubble up at the worst moments.
If he had suffered as she had, it would make sense and explain his need to control the world. She’d felt the same way once she returned home.
Only she’d lacked his power to make everything better.
And if what she suspected was true, it made him all the deadlier. Because that rage was eternal.
Without another word, he took off through the crowd.
“Where are we going, beast?” she asked.
“I have a man to kill and so do you.”
“You mean an imp, don’t you?”
Dash snorted. “Imp, man, irritant. All the same.”
To him, probably, but she didn’t think of them that way. “Did the imp steal the magick wand from you?”
“What?”
She had to struggle to keep up with Dash’s long strides. “The golden wand you asked about. Is that what you were after when I captured you?”
Dash slowed as he realized what he’d let slip. Over the last three days, he’d said much of nothing to the dragon.
Halla had done most of the talking, and the two of them had chatted about nothing of any consequence. Halla was good at that. So was the dragon.
Damn it. It wasn’t like him to talk about personal matters. He’d learned long ago that such things could and would be weaponized against him.
Never let anyone see any kind of vulnerability.
Never let anyone know what bleeds.
How could he forget that?
So, he quickly switched the subject. “You didn’t capture me.”
“You ran into my net.”
“A technicality.”
“You landed on your arse, beast. I saw it.”
He growled low in his throat at her reminder. Why did he tolerate her insubordination? Not even Halla would have dared such with him.
Renata would have. She’d have laughed, to boot.
But she was an exception. His sister had nerves of steel honed by the knowledge that she could get away with murder where he was concerned. That was only because she’d won his heart the moment she’d been born.
God, he could still see her laughing at him while she yanked at his hair.
No one else had ever loved him. Ever accepted him without judgement.
Not his father, nor his mother who forever let him know that he was a disappointment.
And he’d failed his sister...
Never had he hated himself more than he did right now. All he’d done to make this world safe for Renata and it hadn’t been enough.
You’re worthless, boy! They should have cut your throat when you were born instead of your cord!
His father had been right, after all. They should have strangled him with his umbilical cord and saved them all the misery of his life. He hadn’t been worth the cost of raising him.
Or the trouble.
He sighed heavily as he stared at the dragon. “Is your sole purpose to torment me?”
“Not my sole purpose. Just a happy bonus.”
“Lovely.” He headed toward the village gates.
She kept pace beside him. “You didn’t answer my question, beast.”
“Because I didn’t want to.”
“But I want to know. Were you after all the ingredients to destroy them so that they couldn’t be used against you? You only asked about the wand, at first. Did you know about the others? Or was the wand the only thing you were after?”
“Oh dear gods...”
“You know, if you turned me back into a dragon, we could get there faster. I could fly.”
“Is everyone in Indara so loquacious?”
She blinked at his question. “There’s a word you don’t hear every day. Loquacious. It’s kind of fun to say, isn’t it? Loquacious.”
“Is it your sole intent to drive me to madness? Or do you just want to piss me off?”
Tanis stopped as she realized that he was getting irritated, and that really wasn’t her intent. She wanted him to answer her. “No. Definitely don’t want to upset the bogey man. I just forgot again who you were, and I did want to know about the wand. I’ll shut up now.”
Dash stopped as she pressed her lips together to stop her insane rambling. And it was only then that he fully realized why he’d tolerated her impertinence.
Over the last three days, it really had been because she’d had no idea who he was.
To her, he’d been a random unicorn. Granted, he’d been the unicorn who owned her, but she’d had no knowledge that he was the scourge of their lands.
For the whole of his life, he’d either been the crown prince or the High King.
Those around him had either hated him for it. Or kissed his ass.
How he’d love to say his title had been a blessing, but it had brought him nothing save absolute misery. His parents were a prime example of that, too.
Because of their highborn positions, they’d been unable to marry. Unable to tell anyone of their relationship for fear of the political consequences. So, his mother had left Licordia, an embittered woman who got along with no one.
Not even Dash.
She’d birthed him far away from Licordia, then sent him to his father to raise in a home with a stepmother who had no use for a bastard heir, or anything that reminded her of the fact her royal husband had cheated on her.
And because his father had been the fourth born son who’d only inherited the throne after his brothers had died without issue, he’d resented the fact that Dash was a constant reminder of a love he could never claim due to a responsibility he resented just as much.
You won’t be like my brothers.
According to his father, even though they’d been the highest born princes, they’d been wastrels. Bullies who’d expected everyone to wait on them and do as they commanded. He’d wanted his son to understand what being a king meant. To never take for granted a position his father felt he didn’t deserve.
Fucking bastard.
Till the day Dash had ended his father’s life, Dash had expected him to leave the throne to his legitimate daughter, Renata. It was, after all, his father’s favorite threat.
Honestly, he wouldn’t have cared. She’d have been the better monarch.
At least Renata had a heart. As was proven by the fact that her horn had been golden. A gold horn on a unicorn was one of the rarest of all. It’d been over three hundred years since any unicorn had grown one.
The only other horn almost as rare was his.
A black one.
Not that it was better. Indeed, a black horn came from the darkest magick. Soulless magick. No one was more powerful. Not even a gold horn.
And only a gold horn could kill him.
Or the spell the imp was trying to sell.
The two of them combined... Dash didn’t stand a chance. Now it wasn’t a question of just finding Renata’s wand, he had to find and destroy that spell, too.
If he could manage to destroy both the horn and spell, he’d be invincible.
At least technically. While in human form, he was still vulnerable to a degree. As a human, he could fall victim to another spell. And if someone found his own horn while he was in human form, they could use it to kill him.
But it would be a lot harder to find his wand and use it against him, than it would be to kill him with Renata’s.
Which was why he had to recover Renata’s horn at any cost. Not just because it held the ability to kill him, but because it was all he had left of her. The thought of any part of her being in the hands of her killer...
It disgusted him.
She had been the purest, kindest creature ever born. If he could get to her horn in time, he had the powers inherited from his mother that might allow him to reawaken her spirit enough to say goodbye.
To ask forgiveness for the harsh words he’d said that last time he’d seen her.
That was all he wanted. He just needed to make peace with the only person in his life who’d loved him.
“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, Dragon.”
Tanis scowled at the odd note in his voice. She wasn’t sure which of them was the most shocked by his apology. “You didn’t hurt them. I know I’m irritating. My father and sisters are always telling me to shut up and go away.”
“You’re not really irritating. I’m often impatient with others. My sister and Halla have often told me it’s one of my greater flaws.”
Those words caught her off guard, too. Wrinkling her nose, she playfully nudged him. “I won’t say you’re not impatient. But it’s easy to be impatient when others try your patience.”
He actually smiled.
And that made her breath catch in her throat. As handsome as he’d been before, he was truly spectacular when his eyes sparkled with humor. She’d never seen anything so incredible.
It sent a wave of desire through her so fierce that it was shocking, and for a moment, she couldn’t breathe.
How in the name of the Thirteen Kingdoms had the High King remained unmarried? Were the unicorn princesses insane?
Or completely cold-blooded?
Her brother had been nowhere near so gorgeous, and she-dragons had hunted him relentlessly from the moment he’d hit puberty until Marla had dragged him to the altar, kicking and screaming.
Well, not entirely screaming.
But Davin had done his best to delay marriage as long as possible. He’d wanted to keep his options open. Their father, however, had wanted to secure their throne.
Which had really infuriated her sisters who’d wanted to be named heirs instead of their brother.
Iagan Dragomir hadn’t cared what they wanted. His goal had been to incorporate their northern lands that were ruled by Prince Dagur, and Dagur only had daughters, which meant Davin was forced to marry Marla or risk being disinherited forever.
Davin had quickly seen the wisdom of his father’s wishes. And Marla had been more than pleased to marry him in turn. Who wouldn’t want to be a future queen and the leader of her own lands in her own right? Something neither of their fathers knew about because Davin had promised Marla in private that he would never exert his control over her father’s land. Her brother had promised to make her queen in her own right once he inherited their father’s crown.
That was what had made her brother so incredible.
But what in the world would have kept a king of Dash’s magnitude from marrying? How was it possible that she-unicorns weren’t lined up the street, after him?
And before she could say anything more, excitement broke out all around them.
Tanis frowned as she tried to figure out what was happening.
Dash pulled her close to his side. It took her a second to realize that he was doing so in order to protect her from the rushing crowd that would have trampled her easily in their excitement.
“Is it true?”
“Have you heard?”
“I want that money!”
“Give me the poster!”
Voices ran together, sharing news. But she couldn’t quite tell what the news was that they were passing.
Dash grabbed a man as he rushed past. “What’s going on?”
The man handed him a poster. “The High King’s left his palace without his army. His guard’s hunting him. There’s a bounty being offered for his life!”