Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Silver Banquet Hall, Draca Kingdom
Freya
I shiver under the cold moonlight.
I hurry along the ornate, shadowed side corridor, which leads to the Silver Banquet Hall.
I tug at the silk sleeves of my white dress, which was selected for me like I am as much a virgin sacrifice as a bride.
Good luck with that.
I hope that Shadow Vampires aren’t possessive Alphaholes because Lanlin will soon learn that no purification ritual can wipe away my connection to my other mates.
I’ve fucked both my fae and dragon Alphas and fucking loved it.
Daire rutted his way through half his own army, during the sacred rites and wild parties, before he found me, his true soulmate.
I bless the moon for Daire’s skilled experience, when Aurelius and I are new to the type of sexual intimacy that comes so easily to my Raven King.
But then, he isn’t the only kinky one I’ve discovered.
I reach up to touch the roses, which are woven into my hair. I found them at my bedside with just a hint of smoke and leather in the air.
Did Aurelius cut them freshly from his private rose garden for me?
Were they a final gift? A memory of him?
A goodbye?
Nerves and sadness swirl in my stomach.
I can do this. I’ve been training all week.
I have no choice.
Yet it doesn’t make the pain slice less deep.
My footsteps echo in the silent corridor. I stare straight ahead, wishing that I would never reach the door, which leads to the hall at the end. It also leads me to the end of this chapter in my life and into a new one.
Into a nightmare.
Moon save me, I am about to be handed over in an arranged bonding that ends a war like a princess out of a shitty fairy tale.
May the Shadow Gods curse dickless Alphas who use their mates as captive pets and pawns.
Except, Daire and I aren’t anyone’s pawns.
We’re the King and Queen who are going to topple everyone else off the chessboard.
My eyes gleam. I give a savage grin.
Wraith glides silently behind me at my shoulder. She is skilled at remaining unseen and unheard, until she wants to be. She is part of the inner court and one of Aurelius’ deadly protectors.
I must never forget that.
Wraith is fragile with a sharp, pointed face and calculating jade eyes. Her white-blond hair is plaited with a gold ribbon.
She is dressed in the jade robes of the Guild of Spies.
“You’ve dropped your mask.” Wraith’s voice is hardly above a whisper, but I am instantly riveted to it.
I glance over my shoulder. “Interesting that I can tell you are thinking about ripping off an Alpha’s knot from your expression alone.
Remember your lessons this week: hide behind indifference.
Disguise yourself and maintain silence. Deception is not about what you do or say but what you don’t. ”
With difficulty, I force myself to blank my expression.
Wraith nods. “Better. You’re a good student.”
Internally, I glow at the praise.
All Omegas have a praise kink, after all.
Yet I manage to keep my expression coolly detached. “I remember your lessons: be invisible in plain sight, build trust with the target by feigning vulnerability, shared interests, experiences, and frustrations, and offer up just enough of my own truth to make him open up.”
Wraith pats my shoulder, but she looks dreamy like she’s not seeing me at all. “It’s only a month. You don’t need to smuggle out information, only watch and observe. And don’t die.”
I stumble.
Is she thinking about Vicious? The Beta who she loved?
The assassin who was ripped apart under a sea of Lanlin’s rats?
Wraith has been an incredible mentor this week in the Spy Guild — a place of silent corridors, locked doors, and watchful, robed Betas — despite the death of her lover.
Perhaps, because of it.
What else has she been doing but training me to become a weapon against the Shadow Vampire who killed Vicious?
My throat is thick, and I struggle to clear it.
“Not fucking planning on it. Hey, I’ll be fine.
” A smug sense of victory at getting one over on the spymaster herself rises through me, as I announce like I’ve wanted to all week, “After all, I’ve been successfully spying on you dragons since I arrived in court. ”
I tilt my chin up, proudly.
My pride dies, however, at the way that Wraith simply drifts past me down the corridor, not bothered in the slightest.
“But this time, my apprentice, it must be a secret.”
I stare at her back in shock.
“W-w-what?” I splutter. I dash after Wraith, tripping over my floor-length robe. “What do you mean?”
“I knew.” Wraith glides faster, barely making a sound on the marble.
How does she manage it? “Your ruse was to play the good pet, while the fae played the bad pet, misdirecting our attention with the aim of becoming closer to the inner court and the King. It was a smart plan; one that I may have chosen myself. But not smart enough for me to miss it.”
I pale, shaking with shock.
Wraith could have exposed Daire and me from the start…?
I grab her arm. “Why didn’t you tell…?”
“Vic?” Wraith shakes me off. “She would have dragged you both into her Assassins Guild, then put you into one of her games, where they play with pain like it is pleasure. She would have taken you apart, piece by agonizing piece. She had been dreaming about the torture that she would use to punish the Bandit King for years. War? She would have simply taken off your heads with one strike of her sword. Luc? Betray his heart like that, and he will break you worse than any of us can. Are you forgetting who we are? We’re not the good guys. ”
My heart speeds up. My eyes widen with fear.
Wraith backs me up against the corridor wall, resting her arm beside my head.
I avoid her gaze, fighting not to tremble.
Yet now it is with as much guilt and shame as fear.
“Should I have told Relius?” Wraith adjusts a rose in my hair.
“The one who your betrayal would have hurt the most? The one who your execution as traitors would have destroyed? You crow about your spying now, when you think that you are escaping to another kingdom. When you believe that this sacrifice and capture of another king means that you will be free. But I will never forget what you did. It doesn’t mean that I need to speak.
I am a watcher. A keeper of secrets. A spy doesn’t always need to tell what they know; remember that. Not every secret belongs to everyone.”
Not every secret belongs to everyone…?
Which ones remain in this Shadow Court?
What else don’t I know?
Wraith pulls back, shoving open the door next to me. “Time to meet your new groom. Smile.”
Instead, I snarl, as I follow Wraith through the side door into the Silver Banquet Hall.
It is stiflingly hot inside and flooded by moonlight from the high windows. It is suffocating with Alpha dragon pheromones.
I gag, holding my arm over my nose.
The moonlight catches on the frescoes on the walls, which depict dragons flying across the court, as if ruling it. Statues of Dracanian kings flank the room, along with couches.
Courtiers and council members, the noble silver dragons, including Decima and Liviana, are lounging on the couches.
Unlike the last time that I served here at the feast, however, when there was laughter and Omegas being hand fed on their Alphas’ knees, now there is nothing but a tense atmosphere and stultifying silence.
The only Omega apart from me is Lucius, who is standing at the back of the room with War at his side.
Lucius catches my eye, sending me a tight smile.
I smile back, but it hurts.
It surprises me how much I will miss him.
Amidst the uncomfortable silence, shuffling of feet, and anxious glances, I follow Wraith to the front of the room.
Alphas snatch wine from trays, which the ashen Beta servers are carrying between them, downing them like they need the wine to have the courage to face this event.
Are they truly frightened of Lanlin’s arrival?
Just how terrifying is the Shadow Vampire King that he has got this many fearsome dragons acting like the peace treaty is an execution?
I shiver, remembering the feel of the beetles, bats, and rats during the attack on Bael, as well as the crawling shadows.
…glowing red eyes that own my soul…
My heart speeds up.
Shadow Gods, I regret every item that I have ever stolen (even if I enjoyed stealing them), if that’s what you need to hear to stop fucking jinxing me.
Okay?
Wraith lays her hand on my shoulder, shoving me toward the central golden couch. The banquet table has been pushed to the side, until the couch looks more like a throne.
My stomach fills with yearning, deep and aching, at the sight of Aurelius reclining on the couch in full, gleaming battle armor.
He looks glorious, a dragon god.
Instinctively, I touch the dragon bracelet on my wrist, Aurelius’ heirloom that matches his own.
Maximinus is standing haughtily at his nephew’s shoulder. He thinks that he is the puppetmaster still. He isn’t even attempting to hide it.
Daire and I will find a way to cut the strings and hang him with them, however, along with every other silver dragon in the Council who believe that they can make us dance.
I try to catch Aurelius’ eye, but he’s coldly looking ahead. His expression is mask-like.
Have I become so good at spying that I’m now invisible?
I risk waving at him.
Nothing.
My chest is tight.
I can’t stop myself running the final distance, as Wraith drops back, joining War and Lucius.
Then I draw in a sharp breath as I see the stunning pet who is kneeling on the hard floor with his head ducked.
Aurelius has his hand rested on the fae’s head. He is absentmindedly playing with the snowy curls, which cover his face.
Captivated, I stare.
Despite being on display as a pet — Dove — Daire is still the most spellbinding person in the entire hall.
He doesn’t look like the Raven King any longer.
Excitement thrills through me.
This could work.
Please, let it work.