Chapter 17 #2
Not a friend, but a bargainer. A trade between rulers. It was clear now, though that did not make it sting any less. I should have known. Nothing is ever free.
“I have been telling you for years. My father had nothing to do with the disappearance of your mother, Folliade. And do not forget, you are not the only one who lost a mother that night. Your father, in retaliation, crossed into my kingdom and murdered my mother in cold blood.”
Flames erupted from my body, then fell away into flecks of ash like soft rain, the only sign of the pain and sorrow I still carried for her loss. I took a breath, forcing myself to compose. “What reason do you have to believe she is alive and in my kingdom?” I asked.
“A month ago, on my mother’s birthday, in the middle of the night, I was delivered a moonstone. My mother’s favorite,” he explained.
“I am failing to see what that has to do with the Kingdom of Flame,” I retorted.
He continued, “A fire sprite flew through my window, and hand delivered the stone to me, Titus.” His eyes were serious, filled with both pain and hope.
I pressed my lips into a thin line. It was suspicious, but not entirely conclusive.
Fire sprites, for the most part, live only in my kingdom due to the warm climate.
They do not fare well in the others, so I understood why he had drawn that conclusion.
Still, if I had any chance of winning this war and saving my people and dragons from slaughter, I would need those multiplication crystals. And besides, I had nothing to hide.
“Fine. I will grant you the clearances needed for you and two others to search my kingdom and castle. There will be restrictions, of course. Remember, Folliade, you may be my childhood friend, but you are no longer my ally,” I declared coldly.
“Of course, My Lord.” He bowed his head and replied mockingly. “What is the name of the non-Fire Fae companion you will be using to claim the crystals at the border?”
Aurelius interrupted, “You do realize we could simply glamour our Fire Fae features and use a fake name.”
The gems on Folliade’s arms shimmered as they caught the sunlight when he turned his attention toward my Master of Dragons.
“Of course, but it’s the principle of the matter.
If I were ever questioned by my council with a truth stone, I could, with all certainty, say that I did not sign off on three multiplying crystals for a Fire Fae. ”
“Ah, the breakfast service is here. I’m starved!” the captain announced, and the gathered captains and advisors dispersed toward the buffet table, leaving Aurelius, Cercies, Folliade, and me at the map.
“Delilah Raye,” I said plainly. If I need to leave, I’m taking Delilah with me. I do not trust my second and third in command around her without me.
Aurelius narrowed his eyes at me. At the very mention of her name, I caught the shift in him, something more than simple interest, something deeper and harder to ignore. I felt him brush against my mind, wanting a private exchange, so I opened it to receive his thoughts.
"Why her?" He asked in my mind.
-Thanks to my father’s twenty-year war over the queens, there are not many non-Fire Fae left in our kingdom, and certainly none that I trust.
“You trust her? I didn’t realize you and Delilah were so… close.” -Well, she will be my mate, Aurelius. I should take the time to get to know her.
"I should accompany you. I can work with her on her dragon skills along the way.”
-No need. I am capable of training her as well, or did you forget that I fly the largest dragon in all Nevaehun? Besides, I’m sending you and Cercies to the remaining livestock towns to see what can be done to increase our defenses and security, so this won’t happen again.
“Surely Cercies and his battalion could handle that without me.”
Why won’t he fucking drop this? How dare he be so insubordinate? I am his High Lord. I had really hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but I think I know what this is about. He does not want me to be alone with Delilah. I saw the way he hesitated before releasing her when she moved to kiss me.
-Last I checked, I was High Lord. Aurelius, do you really want to challenge me?
He gave me a graceful smile and shook his head. “No.”
Aurelius, with his infuriatingly calm demeanor and his birth-given, ancient power of healing light, the blinding white energy, and the fire that is almost a mockery of my own, filled me with a cold, jealous rage.
Did he actually love her? That is a weakness I am starting to comprehend, yet it is a threat I cannot ignore.
His power may be a near match for my own, and with it, he could challenge the rank.
Even though we grew up together and have always been friends, I have held a certain wariness toward my Master of Dragons.
When he was born with his silver hair, a trait of those of the ancient bloodline, my father decided to manipulate his blood test results to show his power was slightly less than my own, assuring his own lineage on the Flaming Throne.
To this day, I do not know if he is equal to me or above me, but it never mattered.
He never wanted to rule. He just wanted to fly.
So, I made my friend the Master of Dragons and my second.
He has never had a reason to challenge me, until now.
I need to remind him of his place without cracking the pillars any further.
Just then, I inhaled an overwhelming scent of arousal and passion, so pungent that I fought back a dry heave.
I broke away from my mental conversation with Aurelius and scanned the room for the source.
No, it can’t be. Cercies? Unbelievable. My General has been so distracted and disengaged this entire
meeting, and now he is staring at the doorway, his heart rate beating out of control. I wonder if Delilah walked by.
I fire gazed into her room, but she must have extinguished her fireplace, I saw that coming, I should not have watched her pleasure herself but I couldn’t help myself, to be fair, it was not intentional, I was merely checking in on my mortal guest and then I saw her riding the clone of my cock, I couldn’t look away, I needed to know if she could take all of me, if she could handle my size. Fuck, now I was getting aroused!
But there was one other way to check up on my mortal mate, my sentient orb.
It is an extension of my own consciousness, one I plucked from my mind and shaped into the physical form of a fireball.
To create it, the magic required me to choose a part of my mind that I could live without.
I chose my inner child. I made it to help her navigate the castle, and maybe to spy a little as well.
I focused my mind on the whereabouts of the other part of me. I could see her. She was wrapped in the blanket and crying. Fuck. I’ll let the orb handle this. I had bigger things to worry about.
So, Cercies must have been just thinking about her then? Damn, that strong of a rush for a thought. My boys were in deep. Sending them away for a while to clear their minds of Delilah’s hold is exactly what they needed.
“Very well. I will sign off on the crystals for Lady Delilah Raye, and Titus, do glamour your fire traits to lower suspicion. I will fly back to select my search companions, and I will return in a week. I want my clearances by then,” Folliade concluded.
I nodded in agreement.
“And by the way, if you misuse the crystals for anything other than livestock, I will join with the Shadow and Water Kingdoms to bring you down, so don’t fuck me over, Titus. I’m going out on a limb trusting you,” he threatened politely.
“A decision you won’t regret, old friend,” I replied, my tone thick with sarcasm.
I turned to address the room. “I want to thank you all for coming so quickly in our kingdom’s time of need. You are all welcome to stay for the annual SkyGuard performance and feast tonight,” I announced as I concluded the meeting.
The moment I did, Cercies made a break for the door.
Where was he going in such a hurry? He wouldn’t.
Is he seriously going to Delilah’s chambers to finish what we started in my lounge?
He has always had a large sexual appetite, but damn, we were in the war room discussing an attack, and my General was too distracted by his urges to focus on the matter at hand.
Aurelius stayed behind to coordinate the route to the remaining livestock towns, and I decided to follow my third in command.
After the meeting, I lingered in the hall, pretending to be preoccupied with a document so I could study the path Cercies took through my castle, trying to determine my General’s intended destination. After a few paces, I was beckoned by the last person I wanted to talk to, Caddver.
“A word, Lord Titus,” Caddver summoned.
I ground my teeth, annoyed by the interruption. Cercies rounded a corner and was out of my line of sight. I would have to follow his scent later.
I turned to the head of the Council.
“Yes, Council Member Caddver?” I said with forced decorum. My sarcasm did not go unnoticed. He snarled, showing yellow, crooked teeth and blackened gums.
“Who, may I ask, is Delilah Raye? I have not heard this name, and since I am the head of the Council, I should have full knowledge of any and all official associates of the High Lord.”
Hearing her name come out of his rotting mouth made my flames bite at the surface of my skin.
“Spare me the small talk, Caddver, and ask the question you really want to know. I am in the middle of something,” I scowled.
A slow, menacing smile crawled across his hideous face. “Very well. Is Lady Delilah your mate?”
“No,” I replied plainly.
He narrowed his eyes and said, “I know you think that because I reside in the Temple in Embris, I am unaware of the goings-on up here in the castle, but I assure you, there isn’t anything that happens that I don’t know about.”
A cold chill ran through me. There was no way he could have known about what happened in the lounge.
Could there be? I made a mental note to question my staff later.
I slipped my mask of cold indifference into place and replied, “Well then, since you know so much, perhaps you can fill me in on what the fuck you are talking about.”
His eyes blazed with triumph, knowing he had caught me off guard. He continued, “Lady Delilah is the mortal who was rescued from the sacred forest.”
“And?”
“I know you have been obsessed with that prophecy, that dagger, the God Dragon. You plan to use her, don’t you?” he stated.
“Perhaps. Your point, Council Member?” I huffed.
“You plan to mark her, make her your mate?” he baited, tilting his head.
“I didn’t know you cared so much about who warmed my bed,” I replied sarcastically.
“It is of no interest to the Council who you have relations with, but it is of great interest whom the High Lord marks as his mate, as she would have monthly obligations we would oversee, of course, per Holy Law,” he snarled, driblets of spit forming at the corners of his mouth.
I loathed these zealots and their obsession with controlling carnal pleasures.
If I were to mark Delilah and the Council found out, they would enforce the Law of Flesh and make sure Aurelius and Cercies fulfill their monthly duties, most likely in front of all seven members.
Perverted fucks. I was not sure if I was okay with that now.
After seeing the way Aurelius had hesitated to let go of her, he had been fighting feelings of possessiveness.
That had never happened before when we had shared other females.
Was I fighting feelings of possessiveness too?
She wasn’t the feeble, pathetic mortal to me now. She was Delilah, a dragon-riding queen, and after what she said to me right before Prisca barged in, “I’m yours,” her words still rattled around in my mind and tightened my chest.
Caddver continued, “You best respect Holy Law, Lord Titus, or you will start a civil war over a pathetic mortal.”
My flames ripped through my skin. From my shoulders down to my hands, my flesh ignited with furious, rolling embers.
How dare he call her that. I know I had called her worse, but that was different.
I had my reasons. I grabbed his feeble neck in my hand.
It was so frail I could snap it easily. It was so tempting.
“You will address her as Lady Delilah, Council Member Caddver,” I snarled through gritted teeth.
A look of satisfaction took shape on his wrinkled face. He knew by my anger that I harbored something for Delilah, and I
fell right into his trap, showing my hand. Fuck. I released him abruptly. He straightened his crimson robe and pulled the hood over his head, covering most of his face in shadow. His yellow, rotted teeth and black gums were all that remained visible.
“Good luck in the Kingdom of Terrain, My Lord,” he said dismissively. I did not dignify his statement with a response. He walked down the opposite corridor, and I turned, picked up Cercies’ scent, and followed it once again.