Page 12 of Brutal Dragon King (Nayara Dragon Kings #1)
I stare at the wall, absentmindedly toying with my spoon, while my mind drifts off into an empty abyss where only thoughts about the human and our time at the crystal shrine exist.
It’s been four days, yet I still can’t get her out of my mind.
Greatly despising how I’ve become, weakened by the human presence in the palace grounds, I grunt reproachfully at myself, returning my attention to the breakfast I’ve barely touched.
“Your Majesty…” the serving servant comes rushing over, ready to do whatever bidding I need.
Instead, I dismiss her with a flick of my wrist, not wanting anything from her.
Except…
“Wait!” I call out, and the servant, Nyra, stops and quickly turns, her head hanging low in a permanent bow. “Where is Al—” I stop to clear my throat. “Where is the palace’s child-bearer?” I ask. I’ve settled to calling her the palace’s child-bearer, instead of the possessive “mine” that keeps me in a loop of intense desire for her.
She might be a slave in the kingdom, and treated as such, but she is no prized possession of mine that will lead me to being attached to a weakness.
That is what Althea is to me—a weakness this kingdom cannot afford for its king to have.
I will lose everything I built in the madness of needing her. I’ve fulfilled my quest of conceiving a child by consummating the mating ritual. Nothing more is required of me, or us.
I don’t need to see her again, and that’s why I’ve been steering clear of her ever since I fled the scene that night. In a moment of weakness, I unlocked the door that kept our bedrooms separated and walked in, only to find her asleep.
What was I going to do if I found her awake? I’m not really sure. I’m glad I didn’t stick around to find out if she’d wake up, or see her in the palace ever since that day.
My question comes only to ensure that I don’t run into her while I’m out doing the tasks required of The Spine’s king. I need to keep my head in the game, leveled and clear-thinking, so I’m not weakened.
“She’s out in the gardens today, Your Majesty,” Nyra informs me.
I grunt, dismissing the servant again and glaring into my bowl. The last time I caught Althea frolicking in the gardens without a care in the world, I’d become so consumed by possessiveness that I’d picked her up and flown her to the hockey arena and commanded her to remain seated, only to notice that she was watching me play as if I was the only dragon shifter in the air.
She drove me wild. The fantasies I had about her were crazed, and I'd become a lunatic driven by the intensity of my cravings. An addiction that I had unfortunately tasted and still can't seem to get enough of. That's how addictions work, and I've had to go cold turkey on the human by staying away from her.
I could have easily thrown her into the dungeon with the rest of the slaves and child-bearers who'd come before her for the other males. Ryu's mate had been picked in last year's annual draw, and she's locked with the other slaves in the underground bunker.
That's where they belong, these slaves. That's why I made the rule in the first place, and why we'd been sticking to ancient rulings that saw humans as inferior beings who had no value thanks to the absence of any true power.
Reminding myself that Althea is merely a human, I huff and throw my spoon down, deciding on the spot that wallowing in these endless thoughts won't do.
I have a kingdom to rule, and another to conquer with my brothers. I was, after all, the one who called Jaid?n and Kaid?n to The Spine, to round up the final plans to attack Khyronia and overthrow Hestios. I can't sit around here and be a coward as if I'm afraid of a measly human.
“Pfft!” I blow out an angry, fiery breath at my bowl, deciding that this will not do and that the only way I can prove to myself that I am still the respected, revered dragon king of The Spine of Nayara, King Haid?n Nayara, is by going out there and facing Althea Waters.
A human shouldn’t have this much pull on my being, as if pulling the strings while I’m just a puppet when I’m a powerful, majestic dragon shifter.
Duty awaits me, and I can’t seem to keep my head in the game.
I need to prove to myself that the palace’s child-bearer, the slave, is but a measly human who has no effect on me. With that determination in mind, I rise to my feet, dismissing the servants who rush toward me.
“Prepare the breakfast table for my brothers,” I order the servants as they keep their heads lowered. “Part the doors for me.”
One servant scurries to the front entrance of the palace, parting the doors to prepare for my exit. My chin is held up high, as boldly and confidently as ever now that I’ve decided I won’t let a human affect me this way. Everything in my world must be righted, and this will only prove that what occurred between us means nothing.
It shouldn’t, after all.
At least, that’s what I firmly believe until I spot Althea Waters and prove myself wrong.
As soon as I lay eyes on her for the first time in almost four days, my breath is stolen, stopping me in my tracks until I’m frozen in place. My heart beats rapidly and uncontrollably, and my ears ring with a faint beep.
What’s going on?
She has her back turned in my direction, and all I can see are the waves of light brown hair cascading down her shoulders and reaching the peaks of her rear. I gulp when I feel a surge of awareness coursing through me when I’m reminded of the way I handled her that night. She’d become my own personal ragdoll, and I’d used her the way I wanted to.
I lift a hand to my collar and tug it as I remember to take a breath. As the air returns to my lungs, so does my determination to bear in mind that Althea is just a human slave here in the kingdom, not some ethereal creature who deserves this kind of pining from me. I’m snapped out of my daze, still unsettled by how much she affects me, but mentally chanting that she has no hold over me anymore.
That’s when I noticed that she isn’t alone. The two men on either side are wearing the colors of their kingdoms,
My brothers stand in front of her, one licking his lips as he strokes his chin, the other ogling her through speculatively narrowed eyes. The sight of their dark eyes on her has my stomach churning, my blood coursing with a sudden bout of anger and, irritation and possessiveness all wrapped up in one dynamite package that has me fuming on the spot.
A steady growl rumbles through my belly, my hands curling into tight, readied fists at my sides. The jealousy and possessiveness I feel course through every fiber of my being, alighting my pulse with something so primal. I have visions of the things I want to do to her because she shouldn’t be there, alone with my brothers.
A passionate need to go there and rip off her clothes and claim her as mine is alarming. I just tried to quell the intense craving for her by coming out here, but I’m only proving myself wrong. Fuming in one place, the jealousy and possessiveness build into hot, licking flames to my soul, until I’m spurred to take long strides toward Althea.
As if I’m possessed by an unseen force, I grab the back of her neck and pull her toward me, whispering low into her when she gasps.
“What are you doing, slave?” I grate, glancing between my brothers. Both appear smug about my rather violent arrival, Kaid?n crossing his arms as a smirk crosses his face.
“I wasn't doing anything,” she retorts boldly, eyes straining to meet mine through the side. “I was just walking around when your—”
To cut her off, I abruptly release her and send her stumbling forward. My brothers exchange approving glances, but something is unsettling about what I just did.
It doesn't sit right with me, a flicker of remorse passing through and blurring the lines of my inner conflict that forces me to not give my brothers the wrong idea.
They don't need to know that their eldest brother, the king of The Spine, has a weakness that is a human.
The only problem is that said human doesn't know how to obey me. She's still as bold as ever, turning treacherously glaring eyes on me, her nostrils flaring as she fumes.
Before she could speak, I put my hand in front of her face.
“Go back to the palace, slave,” I command.
To my detriment, Althea chooses this moment to defy me in front of my brothers.
“No,” she says the single word flatly, her arms crossed over her chest defiantly.
My eyes flare like the pits of hell. “Go back, Althea,” I command sternly, but my firm voice doesn't faze the only human in the kingdom who would dare to defy me.
“I don't want to go back,” she insists, nostrils flaring again, the corner of her lip twitching.
I mask a nervous chuckle with a passing wink at Kaid?n, knowing he'll read the gesture like this is some sort of game between my slave and me.
“Are you defying me, slave?” I ask with a raised brow, placing a hand up at the side of my hip to stop him when Jaid?n places his hand on his sword.
He's ready to kill anyone who dares to defy the Nayara brothers.
“I would be defying you if I even cared that you're the king,” she says as she rolls her eyes.
Getting angrier by the second, a few possibilities rush through my mind of all the things I could do to her in front of my brothers.
But for some reason, I cannot stomach the thought of abusing her in front of them, even if she's just a slave. I can't let her get the wrong idea, either. Neither can I give my brothers the wrong idea that my slave speaks to me in this way.
I curl my hands into fists instead, stifling the urge to get physically dominant, not to taint her self-esteem. I lean close to her ear, making sure everyone present can hear the sternness in my voice.
“I understand you were enjoying your time outside with my brothers…” I grate with a cynical smile. “I wouldn’t mind lending my slaves out…” I say with slow, calculated bitterness. “But my brothers will have reapings of their own. They wouldn't want something used, anyway.”
With that, I straighten up with a self-satisfied smirk, and to my utmost horror, Althea is tight-lipped for the first time without me needing a kiss to keep her quiet. Her eyes lose their usual glow as they widen with blankness, the color seeping from her cheeks as she stares at me bewilderedly. She's shocked to silence by the bitterness of my words, and suddenly, I wish I could take those words back.
But it's too late.
Without throwing any retorts my way like she usually would, Althea turns, her shoulders slumping over as she does the walk of shame down the path toward the palace.
Grimacing, I keep my attention focused on my brothers, trying hard not to glance back in case I decide to give into this strange feeling of tenderness that might lead to me running after Althea to apologize for what I said.
I know that it cut her deeper than anything we've ever bickered about in the past. What's worse is that it was in front of my brothers, but it's too late to take my words back when Kaid?n chuckles and slaps my shoulder proudly.
“Slaves, huh?” he chuckles, rolling his eyes as he turns toward the palace. “The sex is gonna be explosive when you punish her later!”
“Yes…” I relent, even though I'm hardly paying attention to what he's saying. My mind remains on Althea, and how terrible I feel for what I told her only because I saw how it stung her.
“ King Haid?n…” Comes Ryu's voice in my mind.
My daze is cut short when I catch the seriousness in his telepathic voice.
Something is wrong.
I hold up a hand for my brothers to know that something serious has come up, and Kaid?n stops his chuckling.
“ What is it, General?” I ask with a finger pressed to my temple, and my eyes pierced narrowly at the horizon of the vast forest from where the head of the royal guard emerges alone.
It can't be as serious as I expected, since he isn't followed by the troop of soldiers he'd been leading that morning to the outskirts of the Dynasty perimeters to sweep the borders.
With our planned attack on Khyronia pending, we've been strengthening our border defenses all around the Dynasty of the three kingdoms, covering the villages, the Astral Plateau, and the Wyrmwood Forest next to the Plateau.
But by the looks of it, this has nothing to do with this morning's border patrol.
I step out from under Kaid?n's arm, standing at attention as Ryu approaches in a jog. He stops in front of me and quickly bows, appearing out of breath when he lifts his headgear off.
“Your Majesties…” Ryu greets my brothers and bows before turning a worried expression on me.
“What is it, Ryu?” I ask, a sliver of his concern coursing down my spine.
“It's Wyrmwood Forest…” Ryu begins with a nervous sigh. “There's a crack along the site where the Wyrm is buried.”
An eerie silence follows, in which I glance at both my brothers in shock, letting the realization come over me as I process what this means.
This is much worse than anything I could have imagined. Even worse than an attack from King Hestios.
The Wyrm is a cursed dragon who'd been cast to the underground of the forest for trying to take over the entire realm of Nyxoria. The realm is where the Nayara Dynasty exists, along with other dragon kingdoms and the other preternatural creatures and humans in the villages.
As a cursed dragon, legend has it that he almost wreaked havoc in Nyxoria, and almost caused the demise of the entire realm. Kingdoms would have been wiped out, but my mother and the oracle defeated the immortal Wyrm and kept it buried beneath the surface of the forest using an ancient spell.
All of this happened when my brothers and I were little boys, and Mother suspects that the Wyrm was the cause of Father's disappearance.
How he abandoned us…
If the Wyrm is stirring awake, it opens up a can of worms that I do not wish to open. None of us do, and I see it in both my brothers’ eyes when I glance over my shoulders at them.
They're as equally as concerned as I am, their brows furrowed with tremendous strain as Jaid?n walks up to me.
“The Wyrm shouldn't be awake,” he laments, his voice gruff and low.
“It's been asleep for almost three hundred years…” the youngest brother adds when he joins us.
“Perhaps the spell has begun to wear off…” I deliberate. “We must consult with Mother.”
“Our lives and that of the kingdom are at stake,” Jaid?n says warily.
“Nothing will go wrong,” I assure my younger brothers, stepping up as the oldest king in the Dynasty. Not while I'm around.
This is exactly why I have to stop daydreaming about the human. I have many more important things to take care of, like this stirring of the Wyrm in Wyrmwood Forest.
If it wakes up, it poses a threat to the realm of Nyxoria, and it will wipe out our existence if we don't tend to it right now.
Becoming determined again, reclaiming my power as the King of The Spine of Nayara, I push out the thoughts of the human and decide that I will never become distracted again. This problem requires my undivided attention.
“Let's go to Wyrmwood,” I tell my brothers and Ryu. “We will inspect the damages on the ground, and decide what to do next.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Ryu concedes with a firm bow before straightening up and turning on his heel. He takes a step forward and shifts into his dragon form, then waits for the kings to complete their transformations.
I turn to my brothers to address them. “If the Wyrm is stirring in its resting place, it means that trouble is on the horizon,” I remind them of the oracle's warning when we'd first taken our rightful places as the kings in the Nayara Dynasty's kingdoms. According to her, if we didn't act in time to sire heirs for our kingdoms, the Wyrm would awaken and unleash havoc on the realm.
It would lead to destruction, with its ability to kill dragon shifters without the use of the lethal herb, dragonclaw. Its powers are unknown, suppressed by a curse that cast it to the underground depths of the forest. If it escapes, our doom is imminent.
“We will inspect the damages in Wyrmwood Forest,” I continue, to which my brothers give brief nods in agreement. “And consult with Mother thereafter.”
My eyes flicker to the palace, where Althea Waters has retreated for the day after a brief verbal spat with her that led to her fleeing. A gentle wave of regret threatens to surge through me, but I'm stronger than these weak feelings, and repress this one with hands balling into fists as I turn away and invoke my dragon.
When the shift is complete, my brothers are ready in their dragon forms, and we fly out toward the Wyrmwood Forest to take care of affairs that demand my attention.
This is why I cannot become distracted, even if today proved that the familiar feeling of possessiveness over the human is something I can't quite contain. I'll figure it out, as I always do.
I have no other choice but to keep the human slave at a distance, always reminding myself who she is.