Chapter 13
D ash sighed wearily as he sat before a blazing fire. While it’d been warm earlier, there was a chill in the air now that night had fallen.
What really sickened him was the knowledge as to why his sister had been killed.
Not because she was mad at him and had run away in a fit of rage after their fight and was overtaken by some random trophy hunter or bandit. She’d been killed for her horn because of a greedy piece of shit who wanted to sell the ability to assassinate him.
Pain washed through him anew. Gods, if he could just take back that one last moment.
The things he’d said to her...
He hadn’t meant them. He’d just been so mad at her for not listening to him. And he was desperate to believe that the harsh words she’d spoken to him had been just as meaningless.
You’re a heartless bastard, Dash. No wonder Father sent you away from us. You don’t care about anyone except yourself, and you never will!
Nothing in his life had ever cut him as deeply as her words that night. Never in their lives had she spoken to him that way. Because they weren’t her words.
They were Keryna’s. He’d heard that bitch many times whispering in Renata’s ear that he was heartless and didn’t care about anyone. Not even Renata. That he’d been sent to the centaurs because their father knew he was incapable of compassion.
Renata had still been a colt at the time he’d been sent to Meara’s. She had no knowledge of why it’d happened. Especially since no one dared speak of that time once Dash had returned home and confronted his father.
Nor did Renata understand the contract the kingdoms had signed for peace. It was one that couldn’t be broken. Signed in blood on the flesh of an ataswere demon.
So long as the ataswere lived, Meara could only enter his kingdom by invitation.
But Dash hadn’t thought about that or the cause behind the words when they’d left Renata’s lips during their fight. His fury and pain had been too great. I will not allow you to lead my army for Lorens and his rebels. We are not Thassalian and I will not get involved in their politics. I’m not going to allow you to kill our warriors in a conflict that has nothing to with us or any unicorn. Nor will I invade another country because my fool-hearted sister thinks she knows better than a queen who’s ruled longer than you’ve been alive. You’re an idiot, Ren. Not a politician.
He’d known how sensitive she was to being called an idiot. It’d been their father’s favorite insult for her. All their lives, Dash had refrained from using it in any regard in her presence.
But she’d hit him below his belt, and he’d retaliated in kind.
And that insult had only fueled her more. You’re a coward, brother. The fury in her eyes would haunt him for eternity. They broke you in Meara’s court, and you’re too afraid to even cross her borders.
Those words had unlocked a door inside him that no one should have ever touched. When he’d returned home, it’d taken him years to calm down.
Not because he was broken. Rather Meara had awakened the demon inside him that he had yet to fully quell.
After Renata had spoken those hate-filled words, his rage had been such that he’d actually drawn his hand back to slap her for them. It was the only time in his life that he’d done such a thing, and it’d startled them both. But she’d plucked a nerve so raw that he still didn’t know how he’d found the strength not to strike her out of the feral rage she’d unleashed.
There was no cowardice in him from his time in Queen Meara’s court. Only a nightmare so brutal and lasting that, to this day, he couldn’t sleep through an entire night.
Couldn’t trust anyone at his back.
And his only fear came from that demon they’d freed and stoked deep inside his soul that he now kept caged. Fear of the times when something unleashed it... such as Renata’s hateful words.
Fear of whenever his control slipped because the demon side of him was so lethal, even he didn’t know exactly what it was capable of.
He’d lowered his arm and glared at her. Get out of my sight, Ren. And stay away from me until you learn to show me the respect I’ve earned. I have done nothing but shelter and protect you. And if that’s not enough for you, you know where the door is.
That had been the last time he’d seen her.
The last words spoken between them.
Just hours later, Keryna had come to him to tell him that Renata had left to join the centaur rebels. He’d been so pissed off that he hadn’t even thought to gather his army or even an escort before he went after her. Hadn’t even thought to tell Ryper or Chrysis.
His only thought had been to get to Renata before something bad happened to her.
Instead of finding his sister so that he could verbally throttle her, he’d found her body, along with a tiny brownie who’d been watching over her remains.
Sobbing, the small, frail, winged creature had been sitting on the ground, tangled in her mane. Had it not been for the tears, with her brown hair and eyes, he’d have mistaken her for a butterfly or moth.
She’d cringed away from him when his shadow had fallen over her.
“I mean you no harm.” It’d been obvious that she hadn’t killed his sister. She was far too tiny to cut off a horn. “What happened?”
“T-t-t-they killed her.” She blew her nose into the gauze of her sleeve, then wiped her nose on the back of her tiny hand.
“Who?”
“H-h-h-humans.” She’d been so upset that all she could do was gesture at Renata’s head. “Said her h-horn was invaluable. Th-th-that they needed it. Why would they kill something so beautiful?”
“I don’t know.” He’d choked on his own tears. Changing into his own human body, he’d knelt beside his sister so that he could lay his head against her soft neck and hold her close.
“I-I tried to slow them down. I-I was too small. They didn’t even see me.”
Fury had blinded him as he fisted his hand in Renata’s bloodied mane. “Did they say where they were going?”
“Auderley.”
Dash had heard Halla’s gasp as she’d caught up to him. Infuriated and desperate, he’d entrusted his sister’s body to her and then he’d been on his way to find her killer.
Until a dragon had slowed him down.
At that time, he’d assumed Renata had been overtaken by trophy hunters, enemies or wizards.
Now he knew it was a planned coup against him. Even if he’d given his sister permission to take his army, she wouldn’t have come back alive.
Keryna had other plans.
This was all his fault.
There had been no saving Renata. It both sickened and comforted him to know that. Most of all, it just pissed him off. Because the one thing he could have changed was that last night with her. He should never have lost his temper.
Not with his baby sister.
A sudden shadow fell over him.
“What are you thinking?” Tanis knelt down by his side.
Sighing heavily, he tossed a piece of wood into the fire. “That I played into hands I shouldn’t have. Of all creatures, I should have known better.”
She leaned against his side to offer him comfort. “Don’t beat yourself up, beast.”
“You’re right. I shouldn’t. There are so many others who want to do it for me. I probably wouldn’t have to walk three feet to find one.”
She laughed. “You need to get some sleep while you’re able.”
“Probably. Tomorrow is sure to be an even longer, more fun-filled day than today was.”
They were safe for the moment, but it wouldn’t last. Marthen’s shield would allow them protection for the night. Yet they were still in the middle of enemy territory.
If an elf found them here...
Tanis should be fine even as a human. He doubted they’d harm her.
Dash would be recognized and dealt with. While he could hold them off for a bit, they would ultimately win and his would be a nice hide they’d use for shoe leather. Or a decoration in the hall of one of their three ruling monarchs.
He glanced over to Tanis. “I’m also thinking I should have been kinder to the elves as a king.”
Her eyes widened. “What did you do to the elves?”
He tossed another stick into the fire as he remembered it as if it were yesterday. “I sent them a giant wooden statue of myself as a unicorn.”
She scowled at him. “Well, that’s not so bad. I mean, it is a little egotistical. But not too awful.”
He gave her a flat, droll stare. “It was carved from their sacred mother tree.”
She gasped as the full horror of what he’d done dawned on her. “Oh, that is terrible, Dash! Why in the Thirteen Kingdoms would you do something like that?”
He shrugged nonchalantly. He should probably regret it, but he didn’t. Other than the fact that the blowback now would be extreme when he needed their support.
“Don’t you dare shrug at me, beast. Tell me what you were thinking.”
He let out a tired breath before he explained his actions. “One of their princes raided a fairy distillery, drank a bit much of their ale and ended up setting fire to a grove of dryads in his drunken stupor. Thirty-five of them were severely injured, but thankfully none of them died. When I demanded he be punished, his father refused. Said they were noble elves. It was an accident and that the dryads weren’t as important as his legacy. Since none of the dryads had died, he didn’t understand my anger over it. After all, he argued, trees were just trees. They were nowhere near as valuable as an elf. So, I decided to make a point. Especially given that the elves are supposed to be protectors of the forest.”
If a tree was just a tree...
Sighing, she pressed her forehead against his shoulder. “You clearly made your point, beast.”
“I did. As well as an enemy I’m sure still wants to gut me.”
Tanis shook her head at him. “What am I going to do with you?”
“If you were smart, you’d run back to your father and keep your head down till all of this blows over.”
Tanis paused at the sincerity she heard in his voice. She probably should. It was the smart thing to do. And she had no idea why she was still here.
He’d set her free. She could seek her brother’s head on her own.
Just days ago, finding her brother’s killer had been the most important thing in the world to her. So important that she’d made an unbelievable bargain.
With a unicorn—a hated creature that two weeks ago she wouldn’t have spit on had he been on fire.
Then she’d met this enigmatic one with searing green eyes that haunted her. Strange that she’d only known him for these handful of days, and yet it seemed like a lifetime had passed since they’d joined forces.
The last thing anyone who knew her would call her was a romantic. She didn’t believe in love or romance of any kind. Didn’t believe in much of anything other than misery and cruelty.
But her unicorn made her want to believe in impossible things.
What scared her now was the fact that he most likely wouldn’t survive this.
That he’d leave her life as quickly as he’d entered it.
“You really have pissed off everyone, haven’t you?” she asked.
He sighed heavily. “I’ve done my best.”
“Was that really the only way to have peace?”
Dash shrugged. “I tried to be nice when I was young. I swear I did. They took it as an invitation to walk all over me. They mistook kindness for weakness. My policy was to ask, then kick their ass. Sadly, ass kicking accomplished a lot more than asking nicely.”
“You sound like my father.”
But she saw the weariness in his eyes. The sadness. “Can I let you in on a secret, Dragon?”
“Sure.”
“Having lived through hell, I’d rather have not.”
That, she well understood as she struggled with the same feelings every day of her life. Sometimes it wasn’t so bad, then others...
It was hard to make through a single hour. “Me, too, Dash. Me, too.”
He put his arm around her and held her close.
Tanis listened to his strong heart beating beneath her cheek. Last week, her worst fear had been living without her brother.
Now it was losing a unicorn she barely knew.
It was so weird. How had he come to mean so much to her so quickly?
Was it because Davin was gone, and she didn’t want to be alone? Or because Dash saw her when others didn’t? That he knew the same pain that haunted her?
She had no idea.
It wasn’t like she hadn’t been alone before. She had. She’d long ago reconciled herself to the fact that she would never have anyone in her life.
That her only family would be Davin, Marla and their hatchlings.
Tanis knew she could survive it. She just didn’t want to. Because she knew exactly how cold and lonely it was. How brutally awful.
This could be the only night we have together.
It could be the last chance she had. That was what scared her most. In all these years, she’d lived completely closed off from everyone else. Lived in a shell where she’d never thought she’d ever be attracted to anyone at all. A part of her had been fine with that, but deep down in a place she’d closed off from the entire world she didn’t really want to be alone.
She wanted to have what others did. To have someone she cared about, who cared about her, too.
And there was no denying what she felt for Dash. Even if he was a dreaded unicorn. The awful, feared High King.
For all his bluster and his horrible reputation, he’d been decent to her.
Even now, he was gentle.
This could be the only chance in her life that she’d have to be with a male. And if it was, she didn’t want to let it go without taking a chance.
I don’t want to have any more regrets.
“Would you make love to me, Dash?” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.
And she wasn’t sure which of them was the most shocked when they betrayed her.
She clapped both of her hands over her mouth, then she began to sputter helplessly. “I... uh... um... What was that? I don’t know, Dash? Moon lunacy. Fire drunk. I’ll go with that. Fire drunk. That sounds reasonable. I’ve lost my mind. Have you seen it?”
Dash chuckled at the rush of color that stained her cheeks as she quickly sought to cover her slip. He’d never met anyone like her. She never hesitated to speak her mind. Even when it was completely insane.
Never played any games with him. So, when she said that, he knew it was without guile or malicious intent.
It was from her heart.
Even though he had no idea why.
“Have you any idea what you’re asking me, Dragon?”
She peeked at him from between the fingers she had covering her eyes. “The mechanics of it, yes. Part A goes into Part B.”
Now, he understood why she’d asked him what she had.
She’d never had anyone love her. He knew that from the kiss they’d shared. She might have been taken, but she’d never been held as if she mattered. Never been held with tenderness as she should have.
Tanis was still as innocent as a virgin.
And that pissed him off for her. No one should be abused like that.
“Do you not have a dragon at home waiting for you, Tanis?”
Shadows haunted her dark eyes as she lowered her hands and shook her head. “I’m stained by my past. No dragon will ever have me.”
Defiled by another species or clan was what she meant. Dragons were very particular about their mates, and they only had one partner for the whole of their lives that was usually picked for them by their families when they were adolescents. While they might have some lovers before marriage, those lovers were all dragons, and usually chosen from within their clan. There was no such thing as cheating in their culture once they were promised to another, as it was met with a swift death penalty were they caught.
“During your captivity?” he asked.
She started away from him.
Dash gently caught her arm. “You don’t have to tell me. I just wanted to understand.”
A single tear fell down her cheek. “It wasn’t by my choice. Yet my family acted as if it was.”
And because of that, she was damned to an eternity of solitude. It was so unfair to her. No one should be degraded like that. Denied a future or any prospect of love or partnership because of some random asshole who’d taken what he had no right to.
He’d seen far too much of it when he’d lived among the centaurs. They gleefully used rape as a way to break their captives.
Used it to break their own.
Sex should never be weaponized.
He would never understand how anyone could do that to another, and it sickened him that someone could have done it to a female as precious as his dragon.
“I would never hurt you, Tanis.”
“I know.”
Brushing the dark red hair back from her cheek, he smiled at her, then pressed his lips against the hollow of her throat so that he could inhale the sweet rose scent that was his dragon.
She had seen him in ways no one ever had. When he looked into her kind, dark eyes he didn’t see the bastard unicorn king who was hated by all, he saw himself as he wanted to be. Kind. Heroic. Noble.
Most of all lovable.
The one thing he’d never been...
Accepted.
Lifting his head, he touched her lips with his fingertips. “Thank you,” he breathed.
“For what?”
“For seeing the best inside of me instead of the demon.”
She smiled at him. “I only see what’s there.”
Not believing that for a minute, he leaned forward and kissed her.
Tanis surrendered herself to him with a gentle moan of pleasure. He tasted of warmth and wine while his whiskers prickled her skin.
Nibbling her lips, he toyed with her top. “I’ve never seen anything more incredible or frustrating than you, Dragon. Except for the laces of your corset.”
She laughed at him as he used his magick to remove it and leave her bare to his gaze. That sobered her as she felt completely naked.
Not just physically. She couldn’t explain it. He made her feel exposed in ways that defied logic. As if he could read her soul.
As if sensing her discomfort, he quickly conjured a fur blanket for her to wrap around her shoulders. Then more pelts for the ground.
And that was why she wanted to be with him. He was forever considerate.
As if he knew her thoughts, he enveloped her with his arms and held her close to the heat of his body.
Tanis trembled. For some reason, she felt as though she’d come home after a long absence. Something about being with her unicorn just felt so very right.
She looked up to see if he felt it as well. She didn’t know, but his emerald gaze burned into hers.
He dipped his head toward her lips, and she welcomed his kiss. Tanis growled deep in her throat as their lips met. This was what she’d been aching for, and she hadn’t even known it. Someone in her arms who treated as if she mattered.
With a boldness that astounded her, she took his lips between her teeth and tugged gently. She wanted to devour this beast, to feel every inch of him against her and to never, ever let him go.
His clothes vanished beneath her hands, and his powers should frighten her, but she was getting as used to them as she was to him.
Dash’s head swam as he tasted the sweetness of his dragon’s mouth. She clutched at his back, pulling him so close to her that he feared he might actually hurt her.
In her innocence, she rubbed her breasts against his chest, searing him with heat. He growled as she shifted her weight in his arms and her hip brushed his swollen groin.
For a moment, he swore he saw stars. Damn... how long had it been since he’d last been with someone?
He really couldn’t remember.
Too damn long, honestly. Because of his position, he’d avoided lovers and the complications they brought to his already complicated life. He didn’t want their demands or their tantrums.
He’d had a little sister for that.
Nor had he wanted anyone trying to control him. Or pretending to act on his behalf.
Again, he’d learned much in Meara’s court over the years he’d spent there, and her consorts had been a nightmare for the queen.
He could have married, but he’d never found anyone who had appealed to him. No one he’d wanted to spend more than five minutes around.
Until now.
Tanis was unlike any female he’d ever met. She’s a dragon, idiot. True. But she was more than that. She was unexpected.
Beguiling.
And right now, she owned him in a way no one ever had.
Not even his sister.
Leaning forward, she captured his lips with her own.
His will shredded by her touch, Dash was past the point of rational thought. All he could focus on was the manifestation of his dreams. The pleasure of her smell, the feel of her hip grinding against the part of him he longed to give her.
“Make love to me, Dash, for the rest of the night.” Tanis felt his hands sliding along the bared flesh of her buttocks as he kissed her fiercely.
She reveled in the feel of him. In the knowledge that she would never want anyone else the way she wanted her unicorn.
Never.
Bliss tore through her as chills erupted the length of her body. She wasn’t sure what thrilled her more, the feel of his tongue stroking her neck or the strong hands that touched her in places no one else had ever touched her with such kindness.
Dash cupped her face in his hands and kissed her deeply.
She closed her eyes as she savored ever last bit of it. If she died in this moment, she would be perfectly happy.
And she wanted to please him as much as he was pleasing her. Even though it scared her, she slowly slid her hand down the tight, hard muscles of his chest, over his abdomen through the tangled curls between his legs to touch the hard flesh of him with her hand.
Sucking his breath in sharply between his teeth, he shook all over. Tanis smiled in satisfaction at the thought of the power she had over this powerful beast who claimed he needed no one.
Yes, he was still ferocious and feral, but he was purring for her and her alone.
His green eyes glowing with warmth, he laid her down against the fur pelts, and pulled the fur away from her breasts. Exposed to his gaze, she trembled in uncertainty. Her face warmed as his gaze ran over her.
“My dragon,” he whispered. “I want to see you, to touch you.”
He dipped his head to her breast. Tanis arched her back at the sensation of his tongue playing across the taut peak. Moaning, she cupped his head in her hands and held him close as his hot breath scorched her skin.
He ran his hand down her stomach and over her hip. Her entire body ached with need. Bittersweet pleasure tore through her.
And then, he trailed his hand around her thigh and touched the center of her body. Tanis gasped as spindles of pleasure whipped through her, while his fingers caressed the tender folds of her body.
Dash took care to make sure he didn’t harm her. He couldn’t help what had happened to her in the past. But he wanted to make damn sure that this night brought her nothing save the best memory that he could make it.
And if it was his last night in this life, then he wanted to make it count.
Let my last deed be a good one.
Over and over, he stroked her, teasing her with a promise of more pleasure, until he pulled away.
She whimpered in disappointment.
“Don’t worry, my dragon. I’m far from finished.” Dash placed a kiss on the back of her neck.
She shivered.
He lay behind her to pull her back against his chest and ran his hands over her breasts, down her waist, and then to her hips.
Reaching up , over her head to bury her hands in his thick black hair, Tanis arched her back against him.
He wrapped one arm about her waist, then trailed his hand back to the juncture of her thighs. She growled in pleasure.
“That’s it,” he breathed against her neck. He rained kisses over her shoulders. She could feel the tip of his shaft pressing against her buttocks.
Dash sucked his breath in sharply between his teeth, then lifted his head. His fingers returned to torture her with pleasure.
Tanis couldn’t stand it. She writhed in his arms as his fingers slid in and out of her.
And as the ache in her built, he nudged her thighs wider apart and plunged himself deep into her body.
She cried out in ecstasy as she lowered her hips to draw him deeper.
Dash closed his eyes, savoring her sighs as he buried himself up to his hilt. Never had he felt anything more incredible than the tightness of her heat surrounding him as he thrust himself deeper into her.
Heaven help him for what he was doing. But this was all he had ever wanted in his life. Someone who could accept him and not judge him.
She was a part of him he hadn’t realized was missing until she’d stumbled into his life.
Or more to the point, captured him.
Tanis clenched her teeth as exquisite torture wracked her body. Her head spun as he drove himself into her again and again, deeper than before. It was incredible, this feeling of him behind her and in her.
His fingers quickened to a rhythm to match the strokes of his hips. Her body became possessed of its own free will as it met him stroke for stroke, building her pleasure until she could barely stand it.
Never in her life had she known this kind of bliss could exist.
No wonder dragons were willing to risk their lives for this. She clutched at his hair, growling deep in her throat as she craved more of him.
He moved faster as if he knew what she needed. His breathing grew more ragged in her ear.
And then she exploded into ribbons of sheer, unadulterated ecstasy.
Throwing her head back, Tanis cried out as a sheer pleasure, more profound than anything she had ever imagined, tore through her. She tightened her hand in his hair.
Dash closed his eyes as he felt her shuddering in his arms, and then he filled her with his own release.
Sated to a depth he had never known existed, Dash rolled to his back, pulling her with him.
Her head spinning, Tanis turned over on his chest so that she could lay her body over him.
He pulled her lips to his for a deep and possessive kiss. “You are incredible, Lady Dragon.”
She ran her hand over his brow, then through his hair as she stared at those brilliant eyes. “I had no idea it could be like that,” she said in awe.
“Neither did I.”
Tanis moved to kiss his chest, then felt her smile fade as she saw all the scars that covered his flesh. While she’d seen warrior dragons scarred, she’d never seen anything like this. There were claw marks. Sword wounds. Lash marks. And some she couldn’t name.
Never in her life had she seen so much damage.
“Dash? What happened?”
Then, she saw the light fade from his eyes. “Sorry. I forgot.” He reached for his shirt to put it on.
Tanis stopped him. “They don’t bother me. I mean, they bother me only in that I hurt for you. Who did this?”
For the first time, she didn’t see the nefarious High King who was always in control. She saw the vulnerable boy he must have once been. One who had been tortured by the looks of it.
Cupping his face, she met his gaze. “I know. We don’t talk about the past. We kill things.”
A sly smile curved his lips. “Burn the motherfuckers to the ground.”
“All of them.”
Nodding, Dash pulled her into his arms and held her.
Tanis lay against him in the quiet darkness with the sound of the fire crackling and the wind rustling through the trees. This had been a very strange day.
Two enemies had found common ground. But the problem was, she wasn’t sure where she stood anymore.
I still need to get my brother’s skull. That hadn’t changed. And they definitely had to get Renata’s wand before his enemies used it to kill him.