Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ember
I turned away, giving Dela a moment to pull the sheet across her body, preserving what little of her dignity she had left. All of it was my fault for thinking with my cock and not with my head. My other head. The one that was supposed to keep me out of messes like this.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” I ground out, still not looking at her.
“Done what, pleasured me?”
“All of it,” I said, though I found it hard actually to regret my actions.
I knew I didn’t have time, relatively speaking, for the dalliance of hormones between us, but still, the visual of her exploding with ecstasy brought a quirk of happiness to my lips. At that moment, I felt good, like I was doing something right and proper by pleasing her. She deserved it.
“Do you wish you didn’t do it?” she asked uncomfortably.
“Yes.” I whirled around to face her, uncomfortably aware of how the sheet emphasized her curves and made me long for another glimpse of what lay beneath. “No. I don’t know.”
Dela looked up at me past her eyelashes.
Intentional or not, the sultry look set my cock to twitch again.
It would be so easy, I knew, to lean down and kiss her.
I could pull the sheet aside and have my way with her.
Anything I wanted, I could take from her.
I’d sensed it earlier, and my desire to control her, to manipulate her body and mind in any way I pleased as I inflicted endless pleasure on her, was hard to keep restrained. She brought out the beast in me.
“You seemed like you wanted to do it,” she said.
“It’s not meant to be,” I said, stating what I’d told myself over and over.
“Regardless of what I want. I have a responsibility to my people, and I’ve been letting them down.
I should be finding a mate so that I can secure the throne.
Instead, I’ve been letting myself cave. I can’t waste time with you, much as I may be interested in you, even for a human. ”
“Thanks,” she said dryly. “I think.”
“There are lives at stake,” I continued. “People who are fighting and dying because of what I’m doing. Or not doing. I’m being a bad leader by allowing myself to be selfish, Dela, and I can’t keep doing that. I’m sorry for how I’ve led you on, unable to control myself. You don’t deserve that.”
She deserved the world. Her world. The one I couldn’t give to her, no matter how desperately I longed to.
“My presence here hasn’t been easy,” she said.
“On either of us. I’ve seen it, Ember. The conflict and strife slowly enveloping your world.
I’m no student of history, but even I can tell emotions are running high and open conflict is nearly upon you.
Already is, in some ways. I’m sorry for the burden I’ve been on you.
I wish I could have undone it, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy that you’ve done so much to bring me home. ”
“It has been a tough time,” I agreed, sitting down on the bed next to her.
She shifted slightly to stay covered, reminding me she was still naked. I could taste her on my lips. The remnants of our earlier activities and the scent of her wet pussy still pleasantly tickled my nose every so often, making me drool.
“I didn’t mean to make your life harder.”
I chuckled. “You’re very intriguing for a human. Most, I would assume, would still be having a hard time processing, screaming their heads off, wanting to go home, saying it’s all my fault. Yet here you are, saying you’re sorry for showing up against your will.”
She shrugged, the movement pulling the sheet down her body slightly, exposing the top of her chest, before she readjusted. I fought down the furnace that erupted in me at that simple sight. I had to control myself better.
“I’m not sure any other human has ever caught my attention the way you have,” I added. “But I must take a mate and sit on the throne. I must.”
Dela peered at me. “What happened? Your statement has new urgency. What changed?”
“Albright came here,” I said.
She sat upright in a shock, remembering—barely—to clutch the sheet, though now the smooth, soft skin of her back was completely exposed, including the top of her ass, which drove me wild on the inside, causing a frantic fight for control between the two halves of my body.
“Just to talk,” I said, relaxing her. “Diplomacy, he said, which really was just him saying I should give up everything.”
“You said no?”
“Of course. Just listening to that eel try to talk himself into being the ruler of Fire was enough to remind me of why he was unfit to rule. Excluding all the other reasons.”
“Other reasons?”
“There’s no proof, but it’s highly likely that Albright had his older brother, my uncle, killed, or killed him himself, so he could steal his brother’s mate.”
Dela gasped. “That’s despicable!”
“He wants the power. Not what’s best for others, but what’s best for himself. It’s everything wrong with being the prince,” I growled.
“Don’t you want to be the prince?”
“God-King, no,” I said, perhaps a little too hotly. “Sorry. But no. I never wanted it. I’m just next in line, and I know I can’t let Albright have it either. He’d be a disaster.”
Dela was silent, thoughtful. I could tell she had questions.
“Ask,” I encouraged.
“What happened to the last prince?” she asked. “You’ve always talked about taking the throne, being next in the line of succession, etc. But where did the last prince go?”
I pondered that. Should I tell her? Could I? She knew so much about dragons already that a little more couldn’t hurt.
“Every one hundred years,” I said, deciding to explain it to her, “the rulers of the realms and their Eternal Mates are called by the God-King. They go to him.”
“Then what?”
I shrugged. “Nobody knows. They’re never seen again.”
“What?” Dela hissed in shock. “He kills them?”
“We don’t know. He says he doesn’t kill, but they never return. Ever,” I said pointedly.
“Eternal Mates? He takes their lovers, too?” she asked.
“Much more than lovers,” I said. “Dragons can have many lovers. They may even take a mate, much like humans would have a wife or husband. But for the nobility, those of us with the purest blood, we find an Eternal Mate. It’s something more.”
“So, he takes both of you and just disappears you?” She shivered. “And you said he does this for all the princes and their mates? Every hundred years?”
I nodded.
“That’s terrible.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But it’s worked for thousands of years, keeping us alive and well. Minimal strife or conflict. It is a small price to pay. Plus, it ensures there’s always fresh blood on the throne, so the realm doesn’t get stagnant and die off.”
“So, all four realms right now are without a prince?”
I nodded.
“So, they just up and left without anyone ready to take their places?” Dela shook her head. “That’s really bad ruling. If this happens every hundred years, as you said, didn’t they have time to plan it out?”
The overwhelming, oppressive weight of guilt settled on my shoulders. Guilt at the position I was in. When someone else should have been there, someone far more deserving.
“There was someone,” I said tightly, holding back my emotions. “Everything was set and right. Until it was wrong.”
“Blaze,” she said softly. “You’re talking about Blaze.”
I nodded. “He was my brother. The eldest of us three. The best of us, too. We all thought he would have been a great prince, perhaps even better than our father, who was widely regarded. It should be him who sits on the throne right now. Albright wouldn’t have dared make a move on him.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, resting a hand on my leg and squeezing. “What happened?”
Though she’d meant it as a gesture of remorse and support, I couldn’t help but be reminded of how little she was wearing and how intimate we’d been only minutes ago.
That pressure, so high up on my leg, ignited a thermal bloom that spread through my body.
It sizzled and raged just below the surface, a conflagration that I desperately wanted to envelop her in, even though I knew I couldn’t.
It was tearing me apart on the inside, fighting the two sides of the inferno.
I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep it together.
“Ember?” she prodded when I didn’t reply, too wrapped up in my internal battle. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you or pry. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. Or aren’t allowed.”
“I shouldn’t be telling you any of this,” I said. “But I’ve already crossed that line, haven’t I?”
She shrugged, the sheet falling slightly lower, exposing another inch of skin, but no more.
“An Eternal Mate is a title bestowed upon a pair,” I explained. “You don’t just get to say it.”
“Like how husband and wife have to be done by the courts to be legal?”
“Sort of. To be properly recognized, the pair must go before the God-King.”
“Like a minister?” she said, trying to make connections.
“Sort of,” I said. “Except the God-King judges whether the pair is truly a pair of Eternal Mates or not.”
“Oh.” Dela licked her upper lip. “What, um, what happens if he says you aren’t?”
“Nobody knows.”
“Just like with what happens every hundred years?”
I nodded.
“That’s bullshit.”
“It’s our way,” I said. “The God-King keeps us safe. No one’s forced to take the Test. You can always choose to abdicate in favor of the next in line.
If you choose to sit on the throne, you’re aware of the fate that awaits you.
Nor does it shorten your lifespan all that much.
Perhaps a few decades. It’s harsh, perhaps even cruel, but I have no doubt the God-King has a good reason for it. But he’s an immortal, and we’re not.”
“Right. Far be it for me to shake up your society, I guess,” she said, smiling lopsidedly. “Though I don’t understand one part.”
“What’s that?”
“Your situation, the Fire situation, makes sense. The one who was supposed to rule died unexpectedly. Or disappeared. Whatever happened to Blaze. But what about the rest of the princedoms? Why do they not have rulers yet? Surely the exact same thing didn’t happen to each of them?”
“No. Well, yes,” I said, frowning. “In a way. It’s the same issue with me.”
“What issue is that?”
“We can’t find our mates,” I said, some frustration slipping through.
“What about Ari? She seems smart, strong, driven, too. Not to mention she’s gorgeous. You and she …”
I laughed. “Ari wants power. Nothing else, just power. She would be an excellent fit for Albright if he didn’t already have a woman.”
“Do you think she’s on his side?” Dela asked tentatively.
“The thought has crossed my mind,” I admitted. “I no longer know who I can trust, and her statements make me wary. I just don’t know.”
“So, then, if not her, who?”
“I don’t know,” I said, the words coming out hot and harsh. I shook my head, speaking in a cooler tone. “None of us know. We’ve been trying to find them, but nothing is clicking. It’s like … they don’t exist.”
“How do you know if you found them?”
“From what I’ve been told, it’s like a connection. A longing for them no matter how near or far. They’re always on your mind. You feel complete once you have them, in a way that I’ll never know otherwise.” I snickered sarcastically. “I might never know, given how it seems I can’t find my mate.”
I suddenly needed space. With everything Dela was, she was too stark a reminder of the things I was trying to find within dragon society. Things that were being denied to me.
“I have to go,” I said, standing abruptly and heading for the door. “Get some sleep. Tomorrow you go home.”
Then I was out the door, leaving Dela behind. I didn’t turn back, didn’t look over my shoulder. It would be too painful to see her. A person I wanted but could never have.
I walked out the door, my shoulders straight. Maybe that way, she wouldn’t see how much it hurt to walk away from her.