Page 44 of Cruelly Fated (Princes of Avari #1)

Forty

ALLIE

I swallowed the cry clawing its way up my throat. Kyon needed my strength now.

I tore strips from the hem of my dress. “Where are you bleeding most?” I asked. I forced my shaky legs to carry me forward.

He rose wearily, turned toward me, and pulled me in a heavy embrace. His chest expanded against mine, then he exhaled in slow, weary intervals. The fight had drained him.

“Can I examine your wounds?” I whispered .

“I’m afraid you can’t see the ones on my heart…” He eased back just enough to peer at me. I sucked in a breath. His severe green irises pulsed with a muted light swirling in their depths. Even the dragon grieved his fallen brother.

I scanned his bare torso and pressed a wad of fabric to a gash beneath his rib. Kyon hissed through clenched teeth. “It’s already healing.” He gently pried my hand away. The bleeding slowed to a drip…then sealed. I stared with awe as the torn flesh mended and bruises faded.

“Come,” he said softly, lifting my hand and lacing our fingers. He kissed my knuckles, then began leading us out of the maze. “I’m sorry I attacked you…again.” His brow furrowed. “If it weren’t for your quick thinking—”

I tugged on his arm, halting us, and pressed a finger to his lips.

“You’re not to blame. This was your brother’s doing.

And your father’s.” My heart hammered, part fury, part fear.

He’d always spoken of the dragon king with reverence and restraint…

and here I was, brazenly calling out his father.

But I also spoke the truth that he needed to hear.

“My father…” Kyon growled, turning his face away. Silence stretched between us while he wrestled with whatever storm brewed in his mind. I stayed close, waiting. “He means nothing to me now. He’s got no rule over me. And no fucking right to tell me who I can be with.”

When he faced me again, his eyes burned with fierce emotion .

“I should’ve listened to the dragon when he called you our ‘mate.’ I thought the creature was delusional. A low fae can’t bond with a dragon. But a mixed fae…with dragon ancestry…can.”

I reached up, fingers brushing the back of my neck. The mark pulsed faintly beneath my skin. Cyrus, my father, was a powerful fae dragon shifter. I didn't know what to think...

“Why did you come to the ball?” he asked.

I lowered my gaze. “Lately I’ve realized that some things are worth fighting for, even if it leads to heartbreak.”

“Huh. May I ask who inspired such thoughts?” His tone had a teasing edge to it.

“Well, I spoke with Grandpa earlier today…”

Kyon’s chest rumbled with laughter. “So I have the old man to thank for saving my life.”

I peered at him. “I hardly see how—”

Kyon snatched my waist and flattened me against him.

His other hand slid into my hair, fingers threading to the base of my skull as he tilted my face up and kissed me reverently.

I let out a soft gasp, barely a breath, and he deepened the kiss, slow and unhurried.

My body lit up, every nerve tingling. Gods, I rose onto my toes without even thinking.

This was wrong. I didn’t want to be his concubine. I broke the kiss and stepped back.

“What about your fiancée?”

Kyon lowered his forehead to mine. “There never was one. Catalina played along at my request. She’s been in love with Torian since we were kids.

I didn’t want to ruin the ball for my mother by announcing I had no intention of marrying her, and Catalina agreed to keep up the charade.

I was planning to confront my father tomorrow. ”

He dragged his forehead gently across mine, side to side, before adding, “I was going to tell him I’d fallen in love with someone else.”

Warmth unfurled in my belly.

“He wouldn’t have taken that well,” I said.

Kyon arched a brow with a look that said obviously . “He’d disown me and try to kill me—all in a single breath. You know, the usual family dynamics.”

I couldn’t tell whether he was joking.

“And you were going to do that?” I asked, still trembling from everything he’d just said. “For me?”

“Mm-hmm.” His voice dropped. “For us .”

He kissed my forehead and resumed walking. I tried to match his pace, but my legs couldn’t keep up. He noticed with one glance, and scooped me into his blood- and sweat-slicked arms.

“Why the rush?” I asked, wrapping my arms around his neck.

“Valor needs to hack into that livestream before they wipe all the IPs. I want to hunt down every bastard who bet to watch. And my mother…she deserves to know her son is dead.” His jaw tensed.

“Promise me you’ll keep Torian’s part in it to yourself.

It’ll destroy her. His death alone will break her. ”

His pain tightened around my chest like a vice. “Actually, I didn’t get a chance to look at my kidnapper," I whispered .

When he gazed at me, warmth flickered in his eyes. He gave my side a gentle squeeze.

Cool mountain air whooshed through an open, window-like slit carved into the cliffside.

Kyon hunched beneath the descending ceiling, then paused at the ledge.

I stepped beside him and peered down. Fog masked the pit between the jagged peaks and the rolling, lush hills surrounding Avari.

My stomach bottomed out. I had a sinking feeling there was only one way out—and it didn’t involve stairs.

I pressed myself closer to him, and he let out a slow chuckle.

“This won’t work,” he said. “You’d better climb onto my back. You’re about to ride my dragon.”

He set me gently on my feet, and I circled behind him, pulse thudding in my ears.

“Once I shift, lie flat,” he said.

“Can’t I grip one of your horns?” I asked. This girl needed something to hold onto.

“Baby steps, sweetheart,” he said with a smirk. “My dragon isn’t used to having a rider.”

Blowing a raspberry, I climbed onto his back, wrapped my arms around his neck and locked my thighs around his waist. “I thought you gave rides regularly,” I whispered, trying to lighten the moment and distract myself from the fact that we were about to plummet off a mountain.

Kyon huffed, and the sound rumbled with something not entirely human. “You’re the first—and only—fae I’ll ever allow to ride me. ”

Without a warning, he stepped off the edge.

I squeezed my eyes shut, forehead pressed to the solid heat of his back.

His body burst beneath me. His neck elongated, wings cracking from his shoulder blades with the sound of thunder.

In seconds, I could no longer straddle him.

My body flattened across his scaly form, clinging to the rising heat that poured from him like steam over hot stone.

The dragon bellowed, the sound tearing into the air like a nightmare.

He circled above the fields in easy, sweeping arcs, giving me time to adjust. I lifted my head.

The city glittered below us like stardust flung across a velvet canvas, its winding lights glowing soft and golden beneath the mountain haze.

I tapped my fingers against Kyon’s scales, a subconscious motion of sketching the view.

As we neared the Voltaire estate, the dragon began huffing, the heat radiating stronger beneath me. I ran a palm along his scales, and he let out a strained whine, half-exhaustion, half-relief. His talons clattered softly as he touched down on a sprawling balcony that opened into a bedroom.

I slid down his side, but before my feet met the ground, Kyon shifted mid-motion. His strong arms caught my waist, slowing my descent.

Then, he vanished into a walk-in closet the size of a studio apartment.

I padded forward, bare feet brushing the cool, polished hardwood.

The space stretched wide, more mansion than bedroom.

A canopy bed stood against the far wall, its onyx-carved posts gleaming like mined graphite between two towering windows.

A flat-screen TV dominated the opposite wall, with storage below.

I squinted at the rare color in this space tucked into a navy basket.

I feathered my fingertips over book spines and a few collectibles: comic books, bobbleheads, and a decent stack of video games.

It was strange, imagining Kyon as a kid growing up in this cold, cavernous palace.

But at least here, in this room, there had been flashes of joy. Something normal and real.

He reappeared with a phone to his ear, one hand braced on the terrace frame as he leaned forward, voice low and intense. He related details such as the stream location, number of viewers, and more. Valor had to be on the other side of the call.

I resumed perusing his childhood treasures. Strong arms wrapped around me from behind, tucking me gently against the planes of his chest. I let myself melt into him as his chin settled on top of my head.

“I see you found my shit,” he said, his voice a soft rumble in my ear.

“I expected more weapons,” I teased, holding a miniature sword from a scene building set.

He hissed. “You haven’t seen my private training room…”

Tiny sword in my grasp, I stabbed his forearm playfully.

“I have proof now you’re not all razor teeth and sharp talons,” I said.

“Oh? So I’m not a stupid dragon anymore? ”

I coughed out a giggle. “Guess I should burn all the drawings I made of you.”

“Guess I should erase the words I wrote in my diary.”

“You have a diary?”

“Nooo…”

I slapped his arm, oddly relieved. I liked a sensitive man, but Kyon and a diary…? That wasn’t him.

He cupped my face and turned my chin up and to the side, making me look at him. His gaze bored into mine, the light mood all gone now. My breathing quickened in anticipation—of what, I didn’t know.

“You’re in my fucking veins,” he whispered in a dark, possessive tone that sent my pulse roaring.

I met him halfway, our minds and desires synced, in a searing kiss. He ran his nose up my cheek, inhaling my scent. I closed my eyes, breathing him in too. Then, he licked and nibbled on my lips and I parted them to give his tongue access.

Footsteps approached.