Page 1 of The Forbidden Dragon King (Shadow Kings #1)

CHAPTER ONE

Silver Tower, Shadow Court, Draca Kingdom

A urelius, Alpha Shadow Dragon Prince

Secrets and intrigue breed in the Shadow Court. My brother, King Tarquin, thrives on the fuckers, despite his easy laughter and charm. He wears more masks than I do.

Why did he tap out a code to me on the table over dinner last night, which he hasn’t used since I was a child? A code that told me he had a secret for my ears only? One that we must hide from everybody else?

Is it about the Second Fae War? Uncle Maximinus? Me?

Tarquin’s golden curls and military leathers were as immaculate as ever, as he smiled at the silver winged Omega, Liviana, who he has been courting for the last eighteen months.

I bet that he’ll bond with her, when she next falls into heat. I never understood why he refused to take a dragon rider Omega to be his mate. I yearn for that type of love.

Tarquin prefers to spend his ruts in the arms of a different lover each time.

Except, now he appears to have found his forever bond.

My heart clenches.

Lucky fucker.

It’s a wound that never heals that I’m forbidden from seeking mine.

Yet I know Tarquin better than anyone, and his smile was strained, despite the way that he was allowing Liviana to stroke his curved horns. She teased her fingers around his silver crown with its twin dragons like she already wore one upon her own head.

When Tarquin’s gaze caught mine, I saw the unusual seriousness behind his eyes — a coldness that normally blazes only in mine.

Now, I sprint up the winding, stone stairs of the Silver Tower. My nose scrunches at the moldy, mildew scent.

Nobody comes up here. This is the most ancient part of the palace.

My brother has never summoned me like this before.

He should be getting his knot wet between the slick thighs of the prettiest and most ambitious Omega in court, rather than playing these spy games with me .

The code is a way for us to arrange clandestine meetings alone in this hidden tower that only we know about, away from Maximinus.

I scrape my hand along the rough stone wall, pushing myself faster up the spiral staircase.

My heart speeds up. My pulse is loud in my ears.

My golden hair tumbles over my amber eyes.

The exhausted muscles in my thighs scream at being pushed past their limit. My knees feel like they may buckle.

I ignore them.

I always do.

But then, my brow furrows, as I gasp in pain. The back of my tight Shadow Military Academy uniform is rubbing against the whip lashes, tearing the wounds open again.

“Son of a wingless bitch.” My jaw clenches.

Each searing line across my back and shoulders tugs and pulls. They’re like fire over the deep, cool ache of the layered scars underneath.

I grit my teeth.

Fucking Caligo.

The Chief Instructor has always pushed me harder than any other student. Caligo hates having a royal amongst his ranks.

An expendable heir who is more dominant than he is.

I could take down Caligo and every student as easily as fucking breathing, and only my duty holds me back.

Dear Shadow Gods, sometimes I crave to burn every last one of the fuckers to ash.

I shudder, pushing down my dragon side .

“Fifty lashes,” Caligo barked as he tied me to the whipping post in the parade ground this morning. “Let’s see whether the lash is a better teacher than I am, lad. Do you want to scream? Cry? Beg?”

I sealed my lips and didn’t reply, which pissed him off more than anything else could have.

“One hundred then.” Caligo’s eyes blazed.

I didn’t scream, cry, or beg.

I’m a Golden Dragon. The only one in the kingdom. I don’t show my emotions.

Everybody else can laugh, rage, and love.

But what must Caligo beat into me?

Restraint. Control. Self-discipline.

Because what happens if I forget those lessons? Am unleashed?

After all, I am a beast.

Wicked.

Except, they don’t know half of the darkness that my dragon whispers to me every night, when the shadows rise like smoke around me.

I don’t know why I was born into this form — the form of a long dead legendary conqueror, the original Golden Dragon, Emperor Hadrian.

A destroyer of kingdoms.

Death on shadowed wings.

One day, however, I’ll find out. I’ll know the answer. And that’s the only thing in the realms that scares me.

I catch my foot on a crumbling step, hissing as I slam into the wall. I take the chance to rest for a moment, pulling at the restrictive laces and high collar of the leather uniform.

I bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself panting in agony. Sweat drips down the back of my neck to join the congealed blood.

Never show pain. Never show weakness. Never show emotion.

I hope that the blood from the whipping hasn’t soaked through my uniform. The last thing that I need is Tarquin storming into the academy again to fight my battles for me. It only made things worse last time.

I’m the unneeded and unwanted second prince and heir. Tarquin should accept it because I have. I hope that Tarquin knots and breeds Liviana as soon as possible, then they can have the perfect heir that everybody wants, and I can truly be forgotten.

I fucking wish that I could forget my own yearning to bond as easily.

I distract myself from the pain, distancing myself as I’ve been taught, by staring out of the narrow window in the tower at the capital, Bael, far below outside the walls of the Shadow Court.

Silvery moonlight streams over straight roads that run through areas, which are chaotic with high storied tenements. They are ringed by the suburbs of sprawling houses for the wealthy, complete with courtyards and pretty gardens.

Even at night, it’s bustling.

Ruby, jade, and pearl dragons swoop over the rooftops. Their wings sparkle like starlight .

I’ve never been allowed to visit the capital myself. Only the walls of the palace are silver and iron lined, which protect it from both vampire and fae attack.

The cost is too high to save everyone , Tarquin explained to me, there is always a choice about who to save and who to sacrifice.

Why are the corrupt aristocrats, assassin guilds, and treacherous spies inside the walls of the Shadow Court worth saving? But the merchants, workers, and their kids outside them are deemed the worthless sacrifice?

I stare down at the tenements in the nighttime capital.

What’s a real family like?

It’s too dangerous outside of the palace for you , Maximinus says.

He means, I am too dangerous to be let outside.

I draw in a sharp breath.

Even at this distance, I can smell the pheromones of so many other dragons. I shudder at the swirl of their uncontrolled emotions: terror, rage, and passion.

The emotions surround the dragons like shades, whispering in their ears.

Frantically, I shake my own head.

I ball my hands into fists, letting my nails lengthen to claws and slice open my palms.

Uncle, brother, and Caligo are right. I need to be trained to be free of those ghosts. Free of my wicked temptation. I must become as cold as gold. A warrior. A weapon for the Draca Kingdom in the east to wield.

Feel nothing. Be nothing. Feel nothing…

Suddenly, magic shimmers and wavers in the air .

Something has shifted.

My eyes widen.

I take a deep breath. I’m flooded with the pheromones of a powerful Alpha.

A Shadow Vampire.

“May the Shadow Gods preserve us.” My throat is tight.

How the fuck is that possible?

Then a horrified realization shoots through me. I’m late to my meeting with Tarquin, who will expect that I am the only one who knows about it.

My brother is at the top of this tower waiting for me by himself without his guards…

I let out a roar, throwing myself up the remaining steps. My dragon is battling to get out. My wings are itching on my back.

Then I hear the scream.

I stumble in shock.

Is that Tarquin?

Please don’t let it be…

Another scream.

I can’t deny it anymore. I know my brother better than anyone in the realms. Right now, I fucking wish that I didn’t. I’ve never heard him in such pain.

My powerful golden wings burst out, ripping through the leather of my uniform. I flap them, threateningly. My curling, golden horns thrust from my head.

I growl, low and rumbling, as I prowl toward the open doorway to the room at the top of the tower.

My pheromones become stronger and more dominant.

The full moon shines through the arched window into the empty, abandoned room, which holds some of my happiest memories, when I was alone with my brother.

Then I stagger, frozen in horror.

The room is heaving with black rats.

There are so many rats that their furry bodies and long tails appear to move up and down like the waves of a rodent infested sea. Shadows swell around them, as if the rats are part of the shadows.

The ceiling is transformed moon-like with ghostly white moths.

In the middle of the room hovers a giant bat with red-wine eyes, whose wings are nothing but shadow like they’re trailing the night with them.

As the moonlight shines across the bat, there is a type of beauty to the monster.

The breath is punched out of me.

I know who this is.

Only one vampire has the power to control animals and shift into them himself: Lanlin Sin, the Shadow Vampire King.

I know because Lanlin showed me his talent himself, when we were children.

Lanlin, an Alpha, is my kingdom’s enemy, but we’ve never been each other’s. Secretly, I’ve been dreading that I’d have to face him in battle and break our friendship.

“Lan…?” When I take a confused step forward, the rats part for me .

Startled, Lanlin lifts his head, and I see his blood-stained fangs. And my brother’s neck beneath him.

Lanlin is feeding from my brother.

“No,” I whisper, struggling for breath.

The rats squeak and hiss, surging around the floor agitatedly, as if they’re reacting to my distress or Lanlin’s.

Tarquin is trapped beneath the shadows, the rats, and the bat.

“Let him go, fucker. Stop touching him. Fucking get off him.” I flap my wings, allowing my own sharp fangs to descend.