Chapter Thirteen #2
“Don't play coy. You know I want you. So, you need to decide if you want me or you'd rather fuck every man in the palace.”
“Every man in the palace?” I went to my worktable and removed the bomb remnants from my pockets, setting them on a metal dish. “That sounds exhausting.”
The King snorted. “You know what I mean. So, what do you want, Sevarin?”
I turned to look at him. “First, I need to know what you want.”
“I want to explore the possibility of us. I can't guarantee we will have a lasting relationship, but I think we'll be good together.”
“Have you forgotten that I'm not interested in emotional ties?”
“No, but I don't believe you.”
I didn't believe myself either, and that scared me.
My earlier inclination to end things with the King faded away.
If I felt like this about him after knowing him for just three days, how would I feel in a month?
No, I couldn't ignore the way I felt. Emotions could be powerful, but they were unreliable.
To survive them, I had to define them and the terms of this potential love.
In short, I had to be true to myself and my heritage.
“Very well, I will agree to a relationship with you if you agree to a contract.” I crossed my arms and leaned back against the table. My back itched with the need to get started with the metal, but I knew I had to settle this first.
“A contract? What are you talking about?”
“When Volper court and decide to take a relationship further, we define how we will proceed. It's not a written contract, but a verbal agreement. Terms accepted by both parties.”
“You want terms for our relationship?” The King gaped at me.
“Yes.”
“Such as?”
“I will not be kept. You may ask me to stay, but you will not assume that I will. Nor will you make any public claim to me.”
“I cannot claim you as my lover?”
“You may say I'm your lover, but you won't behave possessively.
No fighting over me or warning me away from men as you just did.
I'm making a contract with you. That alone says that I will not betray you. Do not insult me by implying that I would. I choose to be with you, but that does not mean I belong to you.”
The King stared at me in silence for a few long moments. “That is acceptable. What else?”
“Wait, are we doing this? Because if we are, our terms must be witnessed by fire.”
“Fire, eh?” He motioned at my worktable. “I'm sure you have something you can light.”
“It should be a hearth fire.”
“Very well.” He went to the fireplace and the logs there caught.
I joined him, but although there were two chairs, we both remained standing a foot from the flames. “I'll trust you to abide by what we agree as you must trust me.”
“I give you my word and my trust. Now, what are the rest of your terms?”
“When I say I won't be kept, I also mean there is to be no expectation of courtly displays.”
“Displays?”
“Don't expect me to behave as your concubine in public. You don't have to hide our relationship, but I don't want it to be a big production either.”
The King cleared his throat. “I expect you to behave as you wish to.”
“Good. Now, let's talk about gifts.”
“You want gifts?” He chuckled.
“No, I want to define gift giving.”
“Go on.”
“Ambiguity is predatory. If you give me something, you must clearly define it as either a part of my employment, something for both of us as partners, an exchange for something you want from me, or a genuine gift without expectation of return.”
The King looked me over slowly. “You're scared.”
“I'm careful. My people have learned to be. I will not tolerate emotional debt.”
“I'm not used to labeling my gifts.” Falken grimaced. “Very well. I agree to define things I give to you. What else?”
“Our relationship doesn’t entitle you to my work. My alchemy doesn't belong to you. I don't want my discoveries weaponized without my consent.”
“Of course not. I hired you to cure the rot. Beyond that, your work belongs to you.”
“Thank you. Now, going back to my first term, which we didn't settle over flame, I want you to agree that I can leave whenever I wish.”
The King's expression went horrified. “I will not hold you captive, Sevarin.”
“Yes, but you need to know that should I form feelings for you, it may not result in my staying. I am in my wander years. Trail bonds sometimes form during these years, but they rarely result in a permanent relationship.”
“I see. Yes, agreed.”
“My next term is truth. You will never lie to me, nor I to you. If you do lie, I will leave. No second chances, no theatrics, it will be the end.”
“Understood.”
“Do you agree?”
“Yes, I agree to your truth clause.” He shook his head. “You negotiate as if I'm trying to trap you.”
I met his gaze. “No, I'm negotiating as if I want to stay. If I leave something undefined, it could hurt me, and I'd be forced to leave you.”
The Dragon King's expression went from peeved to hopeful. “I understand. Thank you for being clear.”
“Those are all of my terms,” I hurried on, worried that I had shown too much. “We have a contract.”
“Hold on now. You got to make terms, but you didn't give me a chance to.”
I blinked, taken aback. “What are your terms?”
“First, if someone takes you from me, I will come for you.”
I made a huffing sound. “No one is going to abduct me.”
“But if someone did, I want the right to save you without you seeing it as possessive behavior.”
Grimacing, I gave in. “Fine. What else?”
“You said you wouldn't lie to me. I want more than that. You will be honest with me about your feelings.”
“What feelings? Specifically for you or all of my feelings?”
King Falken chuckled. “You're good at this.”
I shrugged. “I've had practice.”
His amusement vanished. “How many of these contracts have you made?”
“This is my first relationship contract, but I've made other contracts.”
“Ah. All right.”
“Do you have further terms, Your Majesty?”
The King grinned. “Yes, actually. In private, you will call me Falken.”
“Agreed.”
“Wait!” He narrowed his eyes at me. “You didn't agree to being open about your feelings. You just moved past it. That was sneaky.”
“You didn't define it.”
“You will be truthful about your feelings for me.”
“Does that mean I have to tell you what I'm feeling the moment I feel it?”
“No, but don't deny them to yourself or me if I should ask.”
I sighed. “Agreed.”
“Don't you want me to agree to be honest with you about my feelings?”
“No, I know you will be aggressively honest.”
The Dragon King chuckled. Then he went serious. “If you are my mate, you will not leave me. Never.”
I went still. “I can't agree to that.”
“Do you know what happens to a Dragon when their mate leaves or dies?”
I winced. “They usually die.”
“Yes. So, if you are my mate, and you leave me, it will be a death sentence. Considering that, will you agree to stay?”
“How will I know if I'm your mate?”
“Neither of us will know until the mating magic begins. It happens during sex. The magic will overcome me, and I’ll cover you in my essence, binding us together.”
“Define essence?”
“My essence is a magical liquid that carries tiny pieces of my soul along with the Goddess's magic. It is released as an ejaculate. The essence will sink into you and merge with your soul, forming an unbreakable bond between us.”
“Holy fuck!” I jerked back as images of Eliel in King Raventar's arms filled my mind. “Then I'll have no choice. That's akin to imprisonment.”
“It is not at all like imprisonment. If you are my mate, we will be happy together. I promise you that. If you're not, you won't have to worry about it.”
“I am in my wander years. I cannot commit to staying with you.”
“I need this certainty, Sevarin. I can't have a relationship with you knowing that you might leave, even if we form a mating bond. We are talking about my life.” He sighed. “I promise you that you will want to stay.”
“Then why would you need to add this clause to our agreement? If you're so sure I'll want to stay, you don't have to worry about it.”
“I'm mostly sure. But you're so different from every other man I've known. You see things uniquely, and react just as uniquely.”
I turned away, crossing my arms over my chest. I'd opened myself up to the possibility of being with him during our negotiation. Now, I wanted to be with him even more. But I didn't want to be trapped. Dragon mating magic had made me wary about him to begin with, and now I was even more so.
“I will die if we bond and you leave, Sevarin. Can't you understand why I'd want this assurance?”
I turned back to him. “Of course, I understand. But that doesn't make me inclined to agree.”
He nodded and stepped back. “Then we don't have a contract?”
I weighed the risk. If I continued to have sex with him, the possibility of him bonding with me was the same.
And I would stay if he bonded with me even without an agreement.
I couldn't be the death of him. That was evil.
So, if I wanted to be with him, it would be better to have the contract in place than not.
If I decided not to take the risk, then it would mean ending things before they began.
I would never be with Falken again. Not intimately.
The thought sent a zing of pain and fear through me.
I'd never felt anything like it. Usually, I had sex when needed, without emotional ties.
I could walk away from anyone. But three days with this man had changed that.
We had only been intimate twice, but the thought of never having that again saddened me.
That I had gone to him a second time when not in physical need said how much I wanted him.
Something in my chest tightened, urging me to take the risk.
Although I was an alchemist, I also trusted my instincts. But I had to know one more thing.
“Would I still be me?”
The King went still. “What do you mean?”
“If you merge your soul with mine, would I still be me? Or would your soul change me into someone more like you?”
His eyes went wide. “I wouldn't want you if you were more like me. I want this version of you, Sevarin.”
“But you don't control the mating magic.”
Falken softened his expression. “No, but I know it won't change you. Not who you are, just your relationship with me.”
“By strengthening it?”
“Yes.”
“Agreed,” I whispered.
“What?” The King's face went blank. “You agree? You'll stay if you're my mate?”
“Yes, I agree to your terms. Do we have a contract?”
The Dragon King grinned. “We do indeed, Master Sevarin.”