Page 7

Chapter 7

Aruan

T he floor quakes under my feet as my boots hit the polished flagstones. My mother is already in the sunroom where she receives her visitors, standing tall and regal in front of the arched window that overlooks the lakes and valleys on the hilly side of the kingdom.

As predicted, Gaia is with her. They’re whispering in an urgent tone. I don’t need my enhanced hearing to know what they’re talking about.

When I enter with angry steps that shake the walls, my petrified sister shoots me an apologetic look before making herself scarce.

My mother pulls her back straight as I advance on her. I stop a few paces away. The urge to reach out and strangle the woman who gave birth to me, a woman I should honor, is too strong.

“Aruan,” she says, her melodic voice sweet and filled with love. “I’m glad you’ve come.”

Gaia got here a good few minutes before I did. My mother had enough time to summon my father to support—or rather, to protect—her, yet she didn’t.

Because she’s guilty.

Because she did it.

I take in her youthful complexion and soft, dove-gray eyes. Her jet-black hair doesn’t sport a single white streak. She looks the same age as my sister, yet she’s decades older than I am. For that reason alone, I owe her respect, but I can’t respect the woman who birthed me only to doom me to an unthinkable fate.

“I know why you’re here,” she says, her long silver skirt, embroidered with pearls, swishing as she walks so gracefully toward me it seems as if she’s floating.

I don’t bother softening my tone. “You lied to me.”

“My son.” She reaches out to cup my cheek, but I pull away, making her flinch at the rejection.

“You told me she was dead.”

“My son,” she says again, this time in protest. “I don’t know what happened. All I can tell you is that I had nothing to do with it.”

I clench my fingers so hard my knuckles crack. Whatever my mother sees on my face makes her backtrack a few steps. The fury rises until it’s pulsing in every corner of my being and my whole body is one big vibrating mass. The slavers had her. They beat her. They were about to?—

The thousand-year-old pink-stained window at my mother’s back explodes, colorful shards flying outward. The sharp tinkling of breaking fragments lingers in the room with a disconcerting echo. An unsuspecting bijou dragon that hunts on this side of the palace utters an ear-splitting screech and dives through the air, flapping its wings to escape the torrent of broken glass.

The eastern wind grabs the opportunity to rush inside like a greedy, invisible spirit, knocking priceless figurines off the stone slab of my mother’s table beneath the window.

The freshness of the morning is gone. The midday heat and the musky, intoxicating smell of the poisonous lilies that bloom on the balcony.

My mother and I face each other from opposite sides as my anger pulses around us. She stands perfectly still, unmoved by the violence and destruction, but her rosy cheeks have lost their color.

I’m a bit disturbed as well. I haven’t allowed my power to get out of hand like this since the Incident.

It must be my mate, the effect she has on me. The self-control I’ve developed over the years seems to be slipping.

I push my discomfort aside and smile at my mother. It’s a cold, mocking gesture, reflecting the bitter betrayal and disillusionment that smolder in my gut like red-hot coals. “Shall I summon Kian to shed light on the truth?”

My mother stares at me, aghast but not surprised. I’ll do what I must, even if it means using her own offspring against her.

She raises a slender, graceful hand. “You’re making a mistake.”

My smile turns vicious. “It’s not I who made the mistake, Mother.”

I still as something stirs in my chest. Awareness surfaces from unconsciousness, and it’s scared.

She’s awake.

The pull on my heart is immediate and undeniable. Her fear is worse than being pierced by a blade.

I turn on my heel instantly, just in time to see my cousins, aunts, and uncles scurry like insects behind the protection of the thick walls where they were listening. Their fear is palpable, following me like an offensive smell to the doorway.

“Aruan,” my mother says to my back with a plea in her voice. “At least let me meet her.”

I pause to flash her a sardonic grin. “Oh, you will, sooner than you think. Order preparations for a banquet. The court will meet my mate.” I add in a menacing tone, “Tonight.”

Worry lines crease her smooth face. “It’s too soon. This is a mistake, my son. Give her time to settle in.”

“I’ve waited my whole life,” I bite out.

As my rage materializes again, a fissure appears in the roof of the cavern, and a crystal goblet explodes on the ornate stone table where exotic fruit and honey wine are conveniently set out for the queen’s unending queue of morning guests.

My mother, no longer able to contain herself, lets out a terrified cry.

“I’m done waiting,” I say.

With that, I leave my traitorous parent and hurry back to my quarters. I stop outside the sealed entrance, using my enhanced vision to look through the wall. By now, Elsie should be awake. Some may call it spying, but I’m curious about what she’s been up to in my absence.

My small, exquisite mate is standing in front of the sealed archway with the bed sheet twisted around her body. My own body reacts in an instant, heating at the sight of her, knowing there’s nothing beneath that sheet but soft, silky skin.

The feeling is powerful. It’s like nothing I’ve experienced. It’s sweet and thick like melted honey—pure, unadulterated lust. Under the hem of my tunic, my cock stirs in my pants. It takes great effort to ignore it and even more to will it down.

I watch for a few seconds while she feels with nimble fingers along the crevices of the stone wall, no doubt searching for an exit.

When I let the wall dissolve, revealing the entrance, she stumbles backward, staring at me with wide eyes. Her short hair stands in all directions on her head, the messy style making her look peculiarly adorable.

She glances at the opening, no doubt speculating if she’d get past me if she made a run for it. Before she can act on such a futile idea, I step inside and seal the wall.

“Where the hell am I?” she demands. “What did you do to?—”

She bites off the words mid-sentence, her eyes growing even rounder. “Wait.” She backtracks, clutching the sheet between her breasts. “I speak your language.”

“Yes,” I say, giving her a patient smile. “You do indeed, my sweet.”

Her pretty lips part. “But how?”

It’s difficult to keep my distance. Everything inside me screams for me to take her in my arms and claim her. I can do it right now, here in my bed. But I feel her fear, so I hold back, tamping down the fierce need that fires through my veins and boils my blood.

Instead, I offer her an explanation. “My brother, Kian, has the power of reading and manipulating minds. One of the advantages of that manipulation is that he can grant someone the ability to understand and speak a language.”

“Wait, what?” She holds up a hand. “Back up there for a second. Did you just say power ?” She stares at me as if I were a dragon. “What are you?”

“My name is Aruan. I’m an Alit,” I say, daring another step closer. “The same as you, Laliss.”

“Laliss? The same as me?” She utters a laugh. “You’re hallucinating.” Clasping her forehead, she starts pacing. “Maybe I’m hallucinating.”

“You’re not hallucinating. Vitai, my youngest brother, healed you fully, including all the head injuries you sustained.”

She looks down at her body as if realizing my words for the first time. Her tongue peeks out from the corner of her mouth. I watch with mesmerized fascination as she drags the pink tip over her teeth.

By dragon, if she keeps that up, I’m going to lose control. I want nothing more than to taste those lips and get drunk on her flavor.

A pretty flush turns her cheeks pink, and I know she feels the all-consuming heat and magnetic pull too.

“Yes,” I say as she continues to draw her tongue over her small, white teeth. “He fixed your teeth too.”

“Those fucking lizards,” she mumbles, more to herself than to me.

“Phaelix,” I say, crossing my hands behind my back to prevent myself from touching her.

“What?”

“They’re called the Phaelix. They’re another intelligent species on Zerra.”

“It’s true, then.” She buries the fingers of one hand in her hair. “I’m really on a different planet.”

The complexity of the situation dawns on me. There’s much she doesn’t understand and has to learn. If she’s been on Earth all this time, the existence of our world must be a shock to her.

For all the wonders they have on Earth, the humans there are weak and powerless, and utterly unaware of Zerra.

Then again, there’s much for me to learn as well. I know next to nothing about my mate. I have no idea what she likes or favors. It’s going to take time to get to know each other, something I’m already looking forward to greatly—once I’ve secured our bond.

I’m not taking any risks now that I’ve found her.

I’ll claim her as soon as possible.

Tonight. As soon as I’ve explained the situation.

Yes, that sits just about right with me.

Taking my time, I cross the floor. She stares at me, clearly scared yet standing her ground. Still, when I stop in front of her, she flattens her body against the wall, creating as much space between us as possible.

I reach for the sheet that covers her body, but before I can pull at the ends that are folded in over her breasts, she slaps my hand away, her cheeks darkening to a deeper shade of red.

Clutching the sheet in both hands with a death grip, she asks in a choked voice, “What do you think you’re doing?”

Her enticing smell fills my nostrils. That strange, urgent, and sweetly painful tug in my chest rises to a new crescendo. It demands that I ease the ache. My edginess won’t be put to rest until I take what’s mine.

She’s so close, within my reach.

Yet I don’t raise my hand to caress the delicate lines of her face or to test the texture of her spiky hair because I sense her confusion and resistance. Instead, I inhale deeply, contenting myself for now with her scent, one that reminds me of the rare dragon shrub blossoms that flower only once a century under the full moon. Their aroma is subtle and delicate but the most powerful aphrodisiac.

She stares at me with round, unblinking eyes, a vein fluttering like the wings of a water dragon in her neck.

This scrap of a woman is mine.

She’s destined for me.

She feels it too. Her body temperature increases marginally as her pulse kicks up. With my enhanced hearing, I can hear her heart beating in her chest. It speeds up at my nearness, pumping blood through her veins with more urgency.

“I want to inspect your body to make sure that my brother healed you properly,” I say, infusing calmness into my voice to soothe her.

“I’m fine, thank you very much,” she says with a defiant tilt of her chin. “I’m totally capable of checking my own body. Just because you saw me naked once doesn’t mean you have the right to look at me on demand.”

An uncharacteristic smile plucks at my lips. Again.

Vitai is never negligent, and I’d sense it if his work was incomplete. All I pick up now is her need to be nourished.

“You’re hungry,” I say, devouring her features with my gaze even though they’re already imprinted in my mind. “I’ll order you food and something to drink.”

I’m looking forward to serving her the best Zerran dishes so I can learn her tastes and how to please her.

“Wait,” she says when I tear myself away and head for the exit.

“We’ll talk after you’ve eaten.” With concern, I take in her slim frame beneath the sheet. “You need to recover your strength.”

She shoots forward, grabbing hold of my arm. Heat dances over my skin where she touches me. I look at where her fingers are locked around my bicep, not even covering half of the muscle. The urge to take her in my arms is so powerful that I almost give up the fight. But then she pulls her hand away as if my clothes are on fire and draws back a few paces.

Facing her, I give her the full attention she deserves. “Is there anything else you need?”

She clears her throat. “Clothes, to start.”

“That will be arranged.”

“And answers,” she adds swiftly. “For instance, you still haven’t told me why you brought me here.”

I love the sound of my mother tongue on her lips. She has an accent. It’s so slight one could easily miss it, but I’m attuned to every nuance of her voice and expression. I could listen to her talk all day, but she needs to eat.

“Am I your slave?” she continues with apprehension.

“No,” I say, amused. “You’re not my slave, Laliss.”

Her brows pull together. “Who the hell is Laliss?”

I frown too. “Don’t you know your own name?”

“I do, and I assure you, it’s not Laliss.” I’m still considering that when she asks, “If I’m not your slave, why am I here?” The questions tumble from her lips so fast that her tongue trips over the words. “Why didn’t you take me back to Earth? What are you going to do with me? Why did you save me from those lizar—Phaelix?”

She has no idea. Yes, she may feel the pull, and her body may answer to the call of mine, but she clearly doesn’t know she’s my future and fated destiny.

There’s a right way of doing things, a correct order, but nothing about this miraculous day is orderly or normal.

Holding her turquoise gaze, I give her the truth that will change our world even before I’ve asked for her Earth name. “You’re here, my sweet, because you’re my mate.”