Chapter 13 #2
Despite my anger at him, I rush across the garden. “Knotless fool of a dragon. Come here, you need my pheromones.”
I wrap my arms around Aurelius, pulling his face down to rest on my neck.
He takes a deep breath, before he snarls, clutching at my shoulders. He reverses our positions, slamming me back against the tree. Then he licks down my neck, breathing in deeply.
I shiver, purring and nuzzling him.
“I’ve missed you, Little Wolf.” Aurelius pushes his thigh between mine, and I gasp. “You’re not wearing my dress. But his crown is on your head.”
Aurelius’ sharp teeth graze my scent gland.
Possessive asshole.
“Have you earned the right for me to wear your wedding dress yet?” I flood my pheromones over him, worried about the ashen hue to his cheeks. “You made promises.”
Aurelius’ fist curls into my hair, before he drags my lips to his. My heart leaps. My cheeks flush.
Just as our lips meet, however, he murmurs, “Be careful. Maximinus’ spies are everywhere, even here.”
Then he kisses me, and I allow myself to melt into it, even though I know that this is only a cover for our conversation.
He grabs my wrists, pinning me against the tree.
When he pulls back, he searches my face. “Are you with me, Spark?”
“Where else would I be? You have me caged against this tree.”
He clenches his jaw. “I wonder.”
I boldly meet his gaze. “I want our Alphas back.”
“In a month.”
I open and then shut my mouth in shock.
Then I struggle against him, and he lets go of my wrists, but remains close. “Fuck you. I want them back now.”
Aurelius shakes his head. “I needed to make a deal with the Guild of Assassins. Lan has been taken by Wraith to their dungeons. Wraith has been preparing for his arrival for weeks with Taran, the Head of the Guild. She is eager to start their games. Lan will be returned — alive — to us in a month.”
My hand drops to the hilt of my dagger. “If you think that I won’t—”
“What did I just tell you?” Aurelius’ eyes become molten.
Spies…everywhere…
I drop my hand away from my dagger.
Is Aurelius only telling me the official line?
I swallow around my rage and distress. “What about Daire? Why isn’t he joining us? He fucking did what was asked of him. He brought Lanlin back to you.”
Aurelius snorts. “Allow another snake into my nest? He completed my uncle’s mission. It’s Daire’s choice that he’s working against me.”
I storm around Aurelius toward the rosebushes, although I still notice that he called him Daire, rather than returning to belittling him with the pet title of Kit.
“He’s not working against you,” I say, although I don’t altogether believe it.
Daire has been scheming against Aurelius from the moment that he was captured, and part of me believes that he always will.
“Also, you more than anyone should know that he was forced to become both assassin and courtesan by Maximinus. Your uncle isn’t a man you can refuse. ”
Aurelius winces. “My mother had this garden made in the center of the court. She brought these Dragon Blood Roses with her from the only place that they grow in her remote home village in the mountains. Most people think that it was because she was homesick. But really, it was because although the blooms are beautiful, the sharp thorns draw blood from anyone who touches them. Mother was sending a message to her husband’s dangerous brother.
Maximinus didn’t listen.” Aurelius falls quiet, before his hands ball into fists. “I shall make him listen. And bleed.”
“Aren’t we meant to be careful what we say?” I arch my brow.
Aurelius’ expression blanks, before he asks, “Are you still my dragon rider?”
This question is easy. I would never reject either my bond or Aurelius’ dragon side.
“Forever,” I whisper.
Aurelius’ eyes light up, before he asks, casually, “Then would you like to go for a dawn ride? You need practice. In a battle, a soldier mustn’t have rusty skills.”
My brow furrows.
What is he doing?
I nod, however, and move back into the archway that leads to the study.
Instantly, Aurelius transforms into his Golden Dragon shifter form with a roar. His scaled tail winds around the olive tree.
Five meows with excitement.
Aurelius’ wings are folded behind his back, as he crouches to fit inside the garden and not smash down the courtyard with his giant form.
The sun glints off his horns that curve from his head.
Shadows armor his sinuous back. They disintegrate from the tips of his wings like ash. They reach out, wrapping around my waist.
I let out a yelp, as I am lifted up and dropped onto the dragon’s back. Then his shadows hold me onto his back.
Ready, my treasure? Aurelius’ voice drifts like smoke into my mind.
I shiver.
Aurelius’ telepathic connection in dragon form is more intimate than being knotted to him.
I lean forward, stroking my hand over the warm scales on his back, before leaning to kiss him. “Ready.”
He twists his serpent neck to look at me with glowing eyes. My perfect mate and rider, I will prove myself worthy of you.
Then he surges up into the sky with dizzying speed.
I cling to him, grinning at the thrill.
He flaps his wings, flying higher and higher into the bright blue of the sky. Then he circles away from the palace.
If we can talk safely now, I reply back into his mind. I need to know that what happened…how you behaved…when I arrived back through the portal was an act.
Lucius scripted it…every word that I spoke. Isn’t he an evil genius? Aurelius replies.
You are for how convincing you were.
Did I say that I didn’t enjoy seeing my enemy in chains? Aurelius rumbles. A dragon likes to hoard enemies. I’m doing a good job.
My soul feels alive, as the breeze tugs my hair behind me. Aurelius circles away from the walls of the Shadow Court toward Bael.
Pearl, ruby, and silver dragons pass us at a respectful distance. The air is alive with them. The skies are busier than the roads below.
The capital looks beautiful from up here.
I spent my life trapped inside, until Daire and you gave me the courage to take you to the Carnival of Shadows, Aurelius sounds unbearably sad.
In his shifter form, he appears to be able to access emotions that he suppresses most of the time.
It was the best night of my life and then it was my worst. And that was because of Lan.
My smile fades, as I remember the joy of dancing with Aurelius and Daire, before the screams began. Then the terror as the beetles and bats swarmed through the streets, while the rats tore Vicious to pieces.
Lanlin was feral, I try. He was searching for me…
And Vic was my friend. Aurelius’ voice wavers with pain. Now she’s dead.
When Aurelius circles lower over the center of the capital, I can see the market is still damaged. Although there have been attempts to rebuild, the destruction of that night has left its mark.
Aurelius brought me out here to see this. His city and his people were scarred by Lanlin.
Aurelius was too.
I duck my head. I understand that you need to be seen to hand out justice.
You were at war with each other, however, and you were the one who was keeping his Omega from him.
How could you just give Lanlin to Wraith?
She’s grieving the death of her lover. What the fuck do you think she’s going to do to him to take her revenge?
Aurelius takes a moment to reply. Lan is safer in the Guild of Assassins than he is in the Shadow Court right now near my uncle.
My eyes widen. You’re protecting him.
Aurelius banks sharply to the left. Did I say that, my treasured rider?
You never say what you mean.
It’s why I’ve survived in the Shadow Court so long, he replies. I gained the backing of the Guilds by handing over my brother’s killer to atone. I need that, along with the support that I have won from the army and cadets, or I can’t wrest the power from my uncle and the Council.
You have a plan. I breathe out in relief. By the moon, you’re working to save all of us.
Didn’t you trust that I was? Aurelius’ smoky voice winds into my mind. You asked me to secretly work undercover, my Queen. By the Shadow Gods, this is the cost. I will burn my empire down. I will give Daire and your kingdom back. But not everybody can be saved.
There is something about the way he says that — the finality — that shocks me.
I can no longer feel the breeze or the sun on my cheeks. Your plan was to sacrifice Lanlin…to bleed him out…and fulfill the prophecy to save the rest of us. Is it still?
Aurelius roars, and flames shoot from his mouth.
The dragons around us scatter in panic.
Sparks spray from the Golden Dragon’s horns. Embers drift like smoldering confetti around me.
If it saves you, Aurelius growls, I would bleed Lan out, Daire, and myself. I would bleed out the fucking world.
Shaken, I’m not sure if it is Aurelius speaking…or Hadrian.
I’m no longer sure that it matters.