Chapter 4 Irena
IRENA
“What the fuck do you want?” he growls in that deep, guttural voice and for a moment, my breath catches in my throat and I can’t answer.
He’s so big—so overwhelming. Even chained, his power leaves me breathless and his eyes—glowing like two angry red coals—glare down at me through his tangled black hair.
I feel as though I have a lump of cold lead in my stomach and my palms are sweating but I must continue—how can I tame him if I can’t even master myself?
Gathering my courage, I look up at him.
“I want you to bear me on your back across the Poison Desert, all the way to the stronghold of the Sorceress of Thornmere Forest,” I say in a rush.
To my surprise, he throws back his head and laughs—a full-throated rumble that I can feel in my bones. Then he looks down at me again.
“No,” he says flatly.
No? He’s not supposed to be able to say “no”—is he? Not when I wear the ring and he wears the collar!
“You will bear me over the Poison Desert and to the Sorceress’s stronghold,” I say again, putting all the force of will I can muster behind the words. “I will be your Mistress.”
“You can call yourself whatever you fucking want, but I’m not flying over the fucking desert with you on my back,” he says. “I’d have to fly so high above sand to keep the poison fumes from killing us both that you’d freeze to death.”
For a moment, I’m speechless. Then I find my voice.
“I don’t care about the cold—I have my cloak,” I tell him.
“And you think that will save you?” He lifts one eyebrow at me sardonically.
“I’ll be fine.” I toss my head impatiently. “I have my magic to keep me warm.”
Of course, I have no idea if the magic in my blood will actually keep me warm, but it’s better to make him think I’m more magical than I actually am.
He gives me a speculative look.
“All right. Tell me why you want to go so badly—badly enough to come and face the ‘beast’ in his den.”
The way he’s talking really surprises me. All my life I’ve been taught that the beasts are ignorant and animalistic—not intelligent enough to hold a simple conversation with, let alone a debate. Yet, despite his use of profanity, he seems more than able to keep up with me.
I decide not to lie.
“My mother, Queen Lorraina, is ill. She needs a Health Draught prepared by the Sorceress of Thornmere.” I hold up my hand, showing him the silver ring which is glowing faintly blue with magic.
“And so you are going to take me to her—and back again,” I add quickly, for it would do no good to get the magical cure and then be unable to return.
“Why should I?” he counters. “Why should I help heal your mother—or any of your fucking family? You chained me down here like an animal—I fucking hate you all.”
The look on his face is so fierce—so full of fury—that for a moment I feel my courage falter. Then I remind myself that he is my people’s ancient enemy and I have the power. I’m supposed to anyway, but the ring and collar aren’t working exactly as I expected.
I had imagined that I would give an order and he would obey it at once, without question. Instead, he’s refusing and questioning everything I say. What am I doing wrong?
I don’t know, but there’s nothing I can do but press on.
“It doesn’t matter if you hate me and my family,” I say, lifting my chin. “Though I will point out it was my brother who captured you. My mother objected to keeping you. I believe she would have made him let you go if she hadn’t fallen ill.”
“And what about you, little Princess?” he growls. “Did you say anything against your brother keeping a living, thinking male who has done no harm to you or your family chained in the dungeon? Did you?”
I feel a twinge of guilt—which I try to suppress.
“I…it’s not my place to say anything,” I get out at last. “My brother is the Crown Prince—he is heir to the throne, not me.”
“So you didn’t give a fuck that I was chained down here until you needed to use me,” he snarls. “And now you expect me to ask ‘how high?’ when you say ‘jump!’”
I feel another surge of guilt. Maybe I shouldn’t have believed Kellis when he told us the beast deserved to be chained and locked away.
But the Drake people have been our mortal enemies for as long as I can remember—I grew up hearing tales of how they used to burn our towns and fields to the ground before our magicians put the magic, invisible net over all our lands to keep them out.
I push the guilt away again—I’m here to save my mother. That’s all that matters now.
“You must obey.” I tell the beast.
I raise my hand with the ring and watch as it glows a brighter blue and begins to warm. At the same time, I feel a strange sensation—almost like someone or something is pulling on me—maybe even pulling something out of me, though I don’t know what.
“You will take me there and back again,” I insist.
The beast growls but the silver collar around his neck glows brighter too until it matches the ring I wear.
He’s fighting me—fighting the power the ring and collar give me over him.
The pulling sensation in my midsection grows stronger and I tighten my stomach muscles, trying to endure it—to brace against whatever it is.
It doesn’t feel pleasant at all and I have the feeling that something precious is being drained from me.
“What makes you think you’d be safe with me, little Princess?
” His voice has dropped to a menacing rumble that makes all the short hairs at the back of my neck stand up.
“Once you unlock me from these chains, what’s stopping me from Shifting to my Drake and burning your whole fucking castle to the ground—with you and your entire family inside it? ”
His words make my throat dry with sudden fear, but I can’t let him know what I feel.
“You can’t do that—I won’t allow it,” I say, as sternly as I can. I show him the ring again. “While I wear this and you wear your collar you must obey me. Besides, the wearer of the collar cannot kill the wearer of the ring.”
I still don’t know why he can’t kill me—that was on the lost part of the manuscript. But I trust that it’s true and the little surge I feel from the ring seems to back me up.
“So you think you can control me, do you?”
Suddenly, the beast lunges forward, as far as his chains will allow. This motion brings his face within inches of mine.
I gasp and stumble backwards as he bares his teeth, showing long, sharp fangs that gleam in the half-light. I swear they’re as long as my finger!
“You know you’ll have to feed me on your blood if you unlock me, don’t you?” he rumbles. “You understand it’s the price you must pay to bend me to your will?”
I take a deep, shaky breath, trying to calm my racing heart. Part of me wants to turn tail and run, but I can’t do that—my mother’s life is on the line. I’ll do anything to save her—brave any danger.
“I know I must give you my blood,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady. “I am prepared to do that.”
“Ahh, but it’s been so fucking long since I drank from a female,” he growls. “And I’m so fucking thirsty. I might just drain you dry, my pretty little Princess.”
“That’s enough!” I snap. I can only get so frightened before my fear turns to anger.
I step up to him and put my finger in his face.
“I know the rules—I read the manuscript,” I tell him.
“You can’t kill me and you must obey me.
I’m prepared to do anything I have to in order to save my mother’s life, so I will unlock you and then you will take me to get her cure. Is that understood?”
He looks at me for a long moment.
“On one condition,” he says at last.
I want to shout that he can’t make conditions—I am the one wearing the ring and he has on the collar. Supposedly, I have all the power in this situation. But here he is, bargaining with me.
However, maybe if we make a bargain, he’ll be less trouble.
I have to admit, after the battle of wills we’ve been having, I’m feeling light-headed and weak.
I wonder if the pulling/draining sensation I had earlier was the feeling of my strength being siphoned away to feed the magic of the ring and collar and make him do my bidding?
“All right—I’m listening,” I say, just as he did earlier. “What’s your condition?”
“I’ll take you to the stronghold of the Sorceress and I’ll bring you back again. But once I leave you here on your lands, you must remove this collar and let me go free,” he tells me.
I nibble my lower lip. Kellis won’t like it that I let the beast go—especially after he went to so much trouble to fight him and capture him.
Then again, I am sure he would agree that healing our mother is worth any price.
He might be angry for a time, but he’ll forgive me once mother is well again.
Also, now that I know he’s not actually a mindless animal, it seems wrong to keep him chained up—even if he is incredibly annoying. I have to admit, my mind would rest easier if I could promise to let him go free when the quest is done.
“All right,” I say at last. “But you must obey my orders. No more fighting—I want you to do what I say when I say it.”
He lifts his eyebrows.
“Bossy little thing, aren’t you?”
“I wear the ring of control,” I remind him. “I can be as bossy as I want.”
“Fine.” He blows out a breath. “If you abide by the laws of the ring and collar, so will I. Unlock me and let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“Another thing—stop swearing so much,” I say, producing the silver key. “It’s coarse and I don’t like it.”
“I don’t much give a fuck what you like or not, pretty little Princess,” he growls. “I’ve been chained up in your basement dungeon for almost a fucking year—I’ll swear if I fucking well want to.”
I think about giving him an order not to swear…and then remember the draining sensation and how I still feel a little dizzy. So instead of ordering, I simply purse my lips and go to fit the key into the lock of his left wrist manacle so I can free his hand.
Following that, I free his right hand, watching him carefully as I do so. I’m waiting to see if he’ll lash out, but instead he just rubs his wrists, where there are angry red marks from the magic manacles.
I kneel at his feet, (which are absolutely huge) to unlock the manacles around his ankles, trying hard not to notice the long shaft dangling between his thighs. But I can’t help it—my eyes flick up to catch sight of it once or twice.
I’ve never seen a man’s equipment before but I have seen a bull’s once when Father went to judge the livestock at a nearby town.
What I see between the beast’s legs reminds me of the bull—shockingly long and thick.
I wonder how in the world he can use it on anyone.
Perhaps the women of the Drake people have more accommodating anatomy.
Being this close to him, I cannot help but notice his smell—but it’s not what I would have expected. I thought that after being chained for so long, he would smell rank and disgusting because in fact he does look rather sweaty and dirty.
However, he doesn’t smell bad at all—his scent reminds me of bonfire night, when we build a huge fire in the courtyard to celebrate the coming of the New Year. It’s a hot, spicy scent and below it I smell a kind of deep, masculine musk that draws me to him rather than repelling me.
Don’t be foolish, Irena! I tell myself sternly. This beast is your prisoner—even though you are freeing him, he is yours to command for as long as you wear the ring and he wears the collar. Don’t forget that you must stay in control of him if you wish to save Mother’s life!
When I finish unlocking the second ankle manacle, I stand up and take a step back…
And that’s when his hand shoots out and grabs me by the throat.