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She stayed still until he pulled back and smiled down at her. “It’s nice to meet you, Rowan Dahl. I am the Dragon King, Alessandro.” His eyes landed on a glowing red as he stared down at her.

Rowan didn’t know why, but her eyes were suddenly heavy and the center of her forehead was burning. She tried to say something cool, anything to break the unbearable tension inside, but darkness took her instead.

Chapter 4

There was something in the way the elf woman moved as she awoke that sent Alessandro’s dragon into cautious overdrive.

Like water lapping on a lakeshore, the woman’s softness was deceptive. The undertow was the reality of her immense magical capacity.

A magical capacity that was indeed unheard of in elf kind, but even more interesting, the woman’s aura was glowing with a rare gift that he’d seldom seen in real life.

Bright blue eyes took in his visage. Confusion quickly morphed into something predatory.

It was beyond rare for anything to look at him with such eyes. He was Alessandro, king not only to his dragons, but to all beasts.

Yet, a woman of barely five feet tall stared at him as if he were a walking, talking piece of meat.

Her soft inhalation of the temperature controlled caves didn’t go unnoticed, nor the lavender glow that passed through her eyes in a flash.

A fucking succubus?

“Alessandro the Dragon King.” She spoke the words with a slight smile.

She was challenging him. Annoyance intermingled with his curiosity. Her magic level had seemed to diminish as she became more and more alert. Where it currently was, there would have been no way that she’d be able to do what she had in Draconis.

Suppression magic? If Chloe Darling was in the picture, it was no surprise.

Just how potent was that magic underneath it?

“Rowan Dahl, Princess of the Eastern Elven Kingdom.”

She seemed annoyed by the title and Alessandro found he enjoyed inciting that emotion from her.

“Is this where I think it is?” She shed the annoyance in a split second. “Is this your hoard?”

He supposed he liked not having to encourage her to finish her questions. Her open nature would make it unnecessary to skim her surface thoughts and allow him to dig deeper to test her motivations.

“Yes. I would like to repay you for helping the Thunder.”

Oh. That was an interesting bit of magic. A mental wall stopped him from getting too far, and the frown that sliced her face warned she was aware he was sifting through her mind.

“Why don’t you try asking whatever you’re wondering?” She suggested.

Her eyes locked onto his and he knew with a wave of irritation she’d noticed the subtle change of color. He collected his thoughts while she concentrated on his traitorous features.

“How did a little elf wipe magic so completely from the land of dragons?” He took her advice.

“Oh.” She cleared her throat. Her eyes darted to a space behind his head. “Is that the shield of Aneas?”

Alessandro’s magic reached out like a viper. The quick defensive barrier she erected impressed him. He pressed further and the unexpected scent of lust bombarded him.

Her eyes were now fully glowing, and he felt his knees buckle. The strength of the succubus blood running through her veins usually came with indicators the woman lacked. Yet he could scent the power as it tried to take over his will. His eyes landed on the necklaces against her chest.

They broke with the slightest tug of his fingers.

The extra limbs he’d been expecting popped into existence. Black fleshed wings with red inner folds spread out behind her. Delicate black horns curled gently up from her forehead, ending in deadly sharp points. A tail, as thick as her wrist at its base, thinned before flaring out into the shape of a spade, its tip just as sharp as her horns.

Her roar of rage shook him.