Page 38 of Curse of the Midnight Dragon (The Moonlight Dragon #2)

Celestina

Soren’s parents glared when we finally arrived at the ball. Hours late. Oh, his father tried to hide his displeasure as we climbed the dais to bow and curtsy to them.

When Soren briefly explained the reason for our tardiness, the older vampire nodded. “Give me a full briefing of your plans immediately after the ball. I’ll make sure the festivities end early.”

“Thank you, sir.” Soren loathed official parties. He smiled when his father suggested he end this one early.

The entire time Soren was speaking with his father, Soren’s mother had been shooting daggers at me with her sharp brown eyes. I wasn’t the princess she’d wanted for her son. Not even close. But I was the princess her son had chosen. So, I smiled demurely, curtsied prettily, and let Soren handle his mother. Her disapproval wasn’t my problem. I couldn’t change who or what I was. She was the one who was going to have to change her opinion of me. Luckily, I had Soren’s support in this.

After Soren had kissed his mother’s cheek, he whispered something in her ear. I don’t know what he said, but the queen plastered a fake smile on her face before rising from her throne. She embraced me and kissed both my cheeks.

Perhaps he’d reminded the queen how I’d saved her life even after she’d tried to kill me.

Families. They’re fun.

“Everyone is expecting us to dance,” Soren said, looking adorably uncomfortable as we descended the dais’ steps. He could cut through a throng of heavily armed men without breaking into a nervous sweat. But put him in a formal suit—tonight’s was a creamy white with silver trim—and he quailed. “If we give them one right away, the palace advisors might leave us alone for the rest of the evening.”

I doubted that. And besides which, I was looking forward to dancing with him.

He frowned as he held out his hand for me.

“I’m an excellent dancer,” I promised as I pressed my hand against his palm. A rush of heat flowed through me that I’m sure showed on my cheeks. “And a good actress. No one will ever suspect if you happen to stomp on my toes.”

That made him smile. “My feet are like clouds when I dance, thank you very much. I just don’t enjoy it.”

I chuckled softly. “You’ll enjoy dancing with me.”

“Only if we do it alone and naked.”

“That’s not dancing.”

His eyes darkened with lust. “Apparently, you’re the one who needs dance lessons. I could show you how to—”

“General Kitmun,” Driscoll rushed over to intercept us just as we descended the royal dais. “Thank goodness you’re here.”

“What’s going on?” Soren reached for the sword he hadn’t worn.

“It’s your brother. He’s in trouble.” Driscoll glanced warily at me before continuing. “You must stop him before he does something incredibly foolish, something that’ll get him killed.”

“Where is he?” Soren sounded more resigned than surprised.

“In the retiring parlor. He’s locked the door,” Driscoll explained.

The retiring parlor was a room off the ballroom where ladies could go when they needed to fix a hem or get away from the crowd.

“I’ll see what the trouble is.” Soren took off toward the parlor at a fast trot.

The spy caught my arm when I tried to follow.

Was Soren anxious to save his brother or running away from having to dance a waltz with me in front of this huge crowd of courtiers?

Likely both.

“If Cullen is in danger, why didn’t you go save him.” While Driscoll wasn’t a warrior, I’d seen him fight. He knew how to hold his own. He didn’t need to wait for Soren to help Cullen.

Driscoll shook his head. “I don’t have the ranking to interfere with a prince. And Prince Cullen made it clear that he didn’t want to be interrupted.”

“But you are interfering by bringing in Soren, aren’t you?”

He thought about it for barely a second before deciding, “Technically, no.”

Ranking and overstepping their place was never something either Gray or Raya ever worried about. And, as irritating as their stubborn presence had sometimes been in the past, I was glad they watched out for Soren with or without Soren’s permission. The only reason Gray and Raya weren’t trailing after us now like a pair of angry guard dogs was because they were busy preparing for later tonight.

It hadn’t been merely sexy-fun-in-the-bedroom that had made us late to the ball, although that was why my legs and wrists felt sore…in the best way. After we’d finished our bedroom games, Soren had kept his word and included me when he’d called Gray and Raya back into our chambers to plan what to do about the impending dragon attack. He involved me in the discussions…even letting me hear secrets known to only a handful in the palace.

While waiting for Soren’s return now, I went over those plans in my head. Parts of them would work. Other parts were problematic . I was so caught up in thinking about what needed to be done tonight that I barely paid attention as Driscoll introduced me to a few of his friends, which I took to mean they were also spies within Cullen’s inner circle. Everyone was exceedingly friendly—even the ladies and lords who came up and asked for introductions—which was a relief. I’d been worried that those in attendance would fear and hate me for turning last night’s court into a bonfire.

Things were going so well that I started to believe that I could make this place my home. I belonged here.

Amaya

Cullen knew what to do with my body.

It had been right there…

Ready to explode…

Into something mind-numbingly beautiful…

Until something ripped Cullen’s hand away.

Cullen’s entire body flew off me. That same something tossed him clear across the room. He crashed against the wall and slid to the floor.

No! my entire body screamed. No …

I was still struggling to catch my breath, and my body still buzzed with unsated heat.

“What the hell, Cull?” a deep male voice growled.

What was Cullen’s brother doing here? It looked as if battle-boy Soren was seconds away from slamming his fist through my prince’s pretty face.

“This isn’t who we are. This isn’t how we act.”

“She—” Cullen looked at me and then dragged a hand through his black hair.

“You might want to watch what comes out of your mouth carefully,” the crown prince’s voice was low and deadly. “Because if you’re about to blame Amaya for your actions, you’re not going to leave this room in one piece.”

“I wasn’t going to blame her.” Cullen climbed to his feet. He shook his head several times before he turned toward me. Blood gushed from his neck where I’d bitten him. He pressed his hand to the wound as if pressure alone would staunch the flow. I touched my neck, expecting to find a similar ragged, bloody gash. But there was no wound. When I pressed against the spot where he’d bitten me, the unblemished skin tingled and heat coiled through my body reigniting all my sensitive spots. I sucked in a trembling breath. Even from across the room, Cullen had noticed. His gaze darkened as he spoke. “Amaya and I were working through this toxic attraction we seem to be feeling toward each other.”

He stumbled a step as his skin paled.

I sat up. I supposed I shouldn’t have bitten his fragile neck that deeply. What I’d done had come so naturally, I hadn’t stopped to consider if I was harming him. When dragons mated, they would walk away from the encounter with fierce battle wounds. It wasn’t anything that a quick shift through our forms couldn’t fix. Only occasionally, something would happen that would require the services of the healer. But Cullen wasn’t a dragon. His skin wasn’t fireproof or as tough as thick leather. And he couldn’t shift to heal himself.

But when his gaze landed on me again, he gave me the cockiest smile I’d ever seen.

Even bleeding, even on the verge of getting murdered by his own brother, Cullen thought it wise to grin at me like that? To run his tongue suggestively over his fangs? To look at me with eyes so blown with lust they looked pitch black?

Apparently, my beautiful prince had no sense of self-preservation.

I jumped up off the chaise and rushed across the room before Cullen’s brother committed murder. Foolish . Vampire affairs were none of my business. I needed to convince Celestina to come back to the Andalotian Plateau with me instead of wasting time with either of these two idiots. Even knowing that, I grabbed Soren’s arm before he slammed his fist through his bookish brother’s head.

“I-I wanted—” I stammered. Damn, this was embarrassing. And unbecoming of a dragon. I shook my head in disgust and raised my chin. “He is mine to punish as I see fit.” I bared my pointy dragon teeth. “But if you wish to challenge me for that right, I will gladly fight you.”

Soren raised his hands. “I’m trying to avoid fights of any kind, Lady Amaya. The Fein hope to be your ally.”

“I’m not a lady or any kind of royalty. Beithir society is above such frivolous hierarchy games.”

“I stand corrected.” Soren stepped back, bowing as if that kind of formal behavior would impress me. “If you wish to remain in this room and punish my socially deficient brother, I’ll let you have at him.” He looked over at his bleeding brother and raised an eyebrow in question, telling me all I needed to know. He wasn’t really going to hand one of his own over to a dragon to be slaughtered. At least, not without his brother’s permission.

Cullen nodded. “Amaya and I could use a few minutes.”

“Very well.” Soren started for the door but paused. “Your neck. It’s bleeding heavily. Do you want to take care of that first?”

“No, I’m fine.”

Cullen didn’t look fine. He looked the opposite of fine. He needed the services of a healer or a blood donor, or whatever vampires did to keep themselves from bleeding themselves dry. Blood had coated his hand and arm and was now dripping on the floor.

“Very well. I’ll bid the two of you a goodnight then. Amaya.” He gave another shallow bow in my direction. He then left the room and silently closed the door behind him.

“You don’t look good,” I said in the awkward silence that followed Soren’s exit.

“Ah, Amaya, you are terrible for my self-confidence.” He leaned against the wall.

“I mean you look like you’re going to collapse from blood loss. Isn’t there anything you can do to stop that?” I waved toward his neck. “Not to mention the mess you’re making all over the floor. Some poor servant will have a devil of a time cleaning all that up, you know.”

“Do you think I should send that servant some of my secret chocolate stash as an apology?” He slid down the wall a good inch. I moved closer in case he collapsed altogether. “My body should have healed the bite by now. But as you might have read in that book I gave you—the book I translated when I was a lad—dragon bites can be deadly to vampires. There’s something in your saliva that keeps the wound from healing.”

“Oh.” I think I’d forgotten that part. “I-I didn’t mean to. I mean, it’s what dragons do when we mate. We bite.” And the fact that he was bleeding and hurting from that bite, a bite I’d made because I’d lost myself to lust, made me want to beg his forgiveness.

Imagine that. A dragon begging a vampire’s forgiveness? That wasn’t going to happen…even if I’d wanted to do it. I did have my pride.

“There is something you could do for me.” He suggestively ran his tongue over his fangs again. How could he be thinking about that when blood was gushing like a damned geyser out of his body? “But you won’t like it. And I won’t ask it of you.”

“You want me to get you off one last time before you die? Give you a hand job? Or service you with my mouth? Sheesh. That’s such a guy response. I don’t think turning your body into a playground is the best use of our time here. Let me fetch you a healer.” I started for the door.

He caught my wrist. “I don’t need a healer, Amaya. I need you. But only if you’re willing.”