Page 16 of Possessed by the Dragon Alien (Zarux Dragon Brides #6)

TWELVE

The lift opened onto a small landing with a single black door. Nena’s borrowed slippers made no sound as she approached. The door slid open at her presence, revealing a vast chamber cloaked in shadow.

She stepped inside, struck by how empty it felt.

Like her cell, but exponentially larger.

The walls were bare, unadorned. No art, no personal items, nothing to suggest someone actually lived here.

The furniture was minimal. She spotted a large, perfectly made bed and several doors and corridors that led off from the large room.

Everything clean-lined and utilitarian. The only real feature was the bank of windows that stretched from floor to ceiling along the far wall.

High Chancellor Madrian stood there. He was a dark shape cut out against the purple-tinged sky beyond the dome. His wings were partially spread, creating a striking silhouette. The artificial lights of Central sparkled behind him like scattered stars.

Something caught in Nena’s throat at the sight of him.

He looked both powerful and isolated, like a being set apart, watching over an empire he helped to build but didn’t seem to be part of.

The complete lack of personal touches in his quarters suddenly made more sense. He lived here, but this wasn’t a home.

He turned as she entered, and his wings drew close to his back. “You made it.” Relief was thick in his voice.

“Your Prime Watcher Rien is good at what she does.” Nena pushed back her hood, letting her green hair fall free. “No one looked twice at us.”

“Did anyone see you enter the lift?”

“No.” She glanced around the room again and thought of her small cottage at Settlement 112-1.

It had been a pleasant, cozy place to be when her bondmate wasn’t in it.

She’d kept it clean, but had added touches that she’d liked, like a wind chime and a hanging plant that put out sweet-smelling blossoms twice a year.

She’d brought in dried fronds and woven wreaths with them. “This is where you live?”

“Where I exist,” he said in a strained voice. “I wouldn’t call it living.”

The honesty in his voice made her chest ache. Here was one of the most powerful beings in the empire, and his quarters were as sterile as a prison. No plants, no color, no warmth. Just duty and isolation.

She moved closer, drawn by some pull she couldn’t name. “Why did you bring me here?”

“You know why.” His wings shifted restlessly. “I couldn’t allow them to kill you.”

“There are other places you could have sent me.”

His gaze was impossibly intense. “I know.”

“Even though it proves what they fear?” She was pressing him and she wasn’t even sure why. Some need to extract a confession from him? He’d never denied their connection. Never tried to deflect. “That I affect you?”

And he didn’t try to now.

“Yes.” He turned to face her fully. “Even knowing it ends my position in Axis leadership and possibly my life, too.”

That took the air from her chest. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but she hadn’t expected a complete disavowal of his position. That the Axis would kill him for associating with her…

“I don’t want you to be punished because of me,” she said harshly. “Call back Rien and have her bring me somewhere else. My cell, even.” She clasped her hands tightly. “I am not worth the trouble I’m causing.”

He crossed to her in a flash, with a rustle of leathery wings, and loomed over her. It would be menacing, if Nena was still afraid of him. “Do not speak like that,” he ground out. “Do not presume your life is worth so little. You are more worthy of breathing air than I am, a thousand times over.”

Nena had no idea how to reply to that. She’d never seen herself as someone particularly valuable, except to her friends, and as a farm worker who helped make the Axis’ quota.

But here was this dark, powerful male saying things that countered every view she had of herself.

And he did it with such conviction that she had to believe he meant it.

She swallowed through a tight throat. “What happens now?” she asked.

The question felt too small for this moment, but she had nothing else.

She wasn’t about to argue with him about what her life was worth. “How long can you hide me here?”

“Until I figure out how to keep you safe.” His silver eyes caught the dim light. “Or until you choose to leave.”

“And go where?” She gestured at the expanse of Central in general. “I’m trapped in this dome just like you are.”

Something flickered across his expression at her words. “You think I’m trapped?”

“Aren’t you?” She looked around his stark quarters again, surprised he didn’t see the truth for himself. “All this power, and you live like a prisoner. No personal belongings. No real home.” She met his gaze. “Just orders and duty and rules.”

He went still. “You see too much.”

“Maybe you’re finally seeing it too.” She took another step closer, close enough now to catch his scent. It was something clean and metallic, with an underlying warmth like sun-heated stone. “That’s what they’re afraid of, isn’t it? That I make you question things you never questioned before.”

His eyes glittered as they moved over her. “Yes.”

“And do you?” She held her breath. “Question things?”

“Every moment since I first saw you.” He reached out, fingers hovering near her face but not quite touching. “You make me see the chaos I’ve caused. The worlds I’ve helped destroy.” His hand dropped. “I don’t know who I am anymore.”

“Good.” The word slipped out before she could stop it.

His eyes narrowed. “Good?”

“Yes.” She lifted her chin. “Because the male you were before? He was part of a system that enslaves people. That takes their names, their freedom, their dignity.” Her voice shook. “That male wouldn’t have saved me tonight.”

Madrian’s breath hitched. He stared at her like she’d struck him, but there was something else in his expression too. Relief, maybe, or recognition.

“You’re right,” he said softly. “That male wouldn’t have.”

“So who are you now?”

“One who isn’t sure he can live with the destruction he’s caused.

” Madrian moved closer, circling her like a predator sizing up his prey.

“One who knows he can never redeem himself for the things he’s done.

One who wants the female who stands in his chambers with a hunger so fierce it consumes him, but won’t taint her with the filth of his touch. ”

Nena’s heart squeezed at the pain in his voice, even as awareness rippled through her at the raw need that was there too.

Oh, he’d done terrible things. He’d been part of a system that had crushed worlds and destroyed lives.

But the male before her now was questioning all of it.

Seeing the horror of what he’d participated in. That took its own kind of courage.

“You cannot change the past,” she said softly. “I suppose what matters is what you will do next.”

“I am trying to determine that.” His wings curved forward slightly, like he wanted to wrap them around her but held himself back. “But nothing I do can make up for the death I’ve caused. The worlds I helped conquer.”

She stepped closer, drawn by the ache in his voice. “Chancellor—”

“Call me Madrian. I am only Madrian with you,” he said and let out a rusty chuckle. “I doubt I will be a chancellor for much longer, anyway.”

“Very well, Madrian.” She shook her head.

“You asked me to see my worth. I’m asking you to see yours.

Your potential. Your true power.” This was, without question, the strangest conversation she’d had with anyone, ever .

And she’d walked her friends, and others in the settlement, through plenty of personal dilemmas.

Never had she ever imagined that she’d one day work through a devastating personal revelation with one of the high leaders of the Axis.

But here they were, so close she could see the tense lines around his eyes and the taut angle of his jaw and feel the knots of restraint he was employing to keep his hands off her.

His silver eyes locked onto hers. She saw the conflict there, the self-loathing warring with hope.

With need. She understood, now, what the council feared.

This connection between them wasn’t just about attraction or even rebellion.

It was about seeing each other past the masks they wore, past the roles they’d been forced into. It was about losing control.

Without letting herself overthink it, she reached up and touched his face. His scales were smooth and warm beneath her palm. A muscle jumped in his jaw. He went utterly still, but she felt the shudder that ran through him at her touch.

“I am not afraid to touch you,” she whispered. “You cannot ‘taint’ me.”

He leaned into her hand, his eyes drifting shut. “Nena…”

“You don’t have to be what they made you,” she said. Her thumb traced the sharp line of his cheekbone. “You can choose differently. Choose better.”

His hands came up to frame her face, so carefully, like she might shatter. “I choose you,” he said roughly. “Whatever that means. Whatever it costs.”

The truth of it rang between them like a bell. Whatever happened next, there was no going back. Not for either of them.

Nena let her other hand rest against his chest, feeling the thunder of his heart beneath her palm. “Then be the male you want to be,” she whispered. “Not their weapon. Not their chancellor. Just…you.”

His wings wrapped around them both, blocking out the room and creating a private world of shadow and warmth. And then, he lowered his mouth to hers.

His lips brushed hers, gentle as starlight. Nena’s breath caught at the softness of it, the careful way he explored her mouth like she was something precious. His hands trembled against her face as he deepened the kiss, drawing her closer with aching tenderness.

Heat bloomed in her chest and spread outward, warming her from the inside out. She slid her fingers into his hair, reveling in the silky texture against her gardener’s hands. His wings curved closer, cocooning them in velvet darkness that felt like a sanctuary.

When he finally pulled back, his silver eyes were dark with emotion. “I’ve never…” He swallowed hard. “No one has ever touched me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like I’m worth touching.” His thumbs stroked her cheeks. “Like I matter beyond my power.”

Nena’s heart cracked. She stretched up and pressed another soft kiss to his lips. “You do matter,” she whispered. “You always have. They just made you forget.”

He rested his forehead against hers, his wings still sheltering them from the rest of the world. For now, there was only the quiet sound of their breathing, the warmth of his hands on her skin, and the knowledge that everything was about to change.