Page 20 of The Forbidden Dragon King (Shadow Kings #1)

CHAPTER NINE

Freya’s Bedroom, Shadow Court

F reya

One month later…

I yawn, waking up in my nest in Aurelius’ palace in Bael. I indulge myself for a long moment, rolling around on the soft mattress, which is built with golden, velvet blankets and ornate cushions embroidered with flames.

It smells deliciously of smoky leather, since I stole one of Aurelius’ tunics and hid it underneath my pillow.

The room is tiny with stone walls and floor, and beamed, arched roof. The thin light of dawn is filtered through a silk screen, which is decorated with ruby, pearl, and jade dragons, over a plain pine chest at the base of my bed.

I smile, when I glimpse the oak shrine in the far corner. It is small but carved in the shape of two noble wolves: My parents.

I’ve never been able to imagine what my parents looked like before; they were blurred in my mind, whether in human or shifter form. I have only the faintest memory, which over the years has remained shrouded in shadows.

Now, Aurelius has given me a depiction of them that looks as special as if they were royalty. Candles flank the shrine on either side. At long last, I have somewhere to grieve for them. Somewhere to pray for their souls.

Aurelius carved the shrine himself on the journey to Bael, presenting it to me at the same time that he showed me this room.

It’s the most precious thing that anyone has given me.

And a shock.

When I arrived in Aurelius’ capital after a long, difficult journey and a parade through the center, which was just as humiliating for Daire in his gilded cage as he warned me that it would be, I expected to be sent to dorms similar to the ones that I’ve lived in all my life.

Especially after Aurelius’ reaction to noticing the snowflake bonding mark on my wrist.

He stood frighteningly still.

He didn’t say a word .

But his eyes…

They glowed. Swirled. Became fathomless.

Dread gripped me. I quaked, shrinking back in the face of a predator, an entirely different man.

I didn’t know him.

Then he turned on his heel and stormed away.

Aurelius refused to talk to me for the remainder of the journey. Yet he made sure that the Beta guards cared for me and kept me safe, while allowing me to sleep in his tent and visit Daire openly as much as I liked.

I didn’t know whether that was a kindness or a cruelty.

Once we arrived in Bael two weeks ago, Aurelius installed me in this small stone room, which is attached to his study. His bedroom leads off the study on the other side.

He has returned to an affected coldness, as if he is frightened to look at me for too long.

As if it hurts him.

I don’t know why.

I happily slip my hand underneath the mattress to my stolen treasures and the silk purse, which is crimson with a knot of golden threads on the front. It holds my first pay.

Still there.

Do all servants get given their salaries this way? Or is the silk purse a courting gift?

Aurelius is a strange Alpha.

He barely does more than bark orders at me. But then he gives me this room to myself close to him with a nest fit for his own Omega, a gold bracelet, silk purse, and fresh roses every day from what the other servants whisper is his private garden, which he doesn’t allow anyone into.

Why?

I sniff the sweet, floral scent of roses, which fills my bedroom. Then I purr, when I notice the gorgeous red roses, which Aurelius must have placed last night in a delicate dragon vase on the table beside my bed.

I rub at my throbbing temples.

The King works too hard, even when it comes to sneaking around and leaving gifts for me in secret in order to keep up the act that he doesn’t care.

A couple of nights ago, I found him in his large, intimidating study asleep over his official court papers.

I sighed, pulling a blanket from my own bed to wrap around his shoulders against the night cold.

Of course, I also moved his arm to the side to read those official papers, in case they would help Daire and me.

I am a secret spy, after all.

Thief and spy.

I’m a lifelong learner.

I’m only dressed in a light, white nightdress but I’m still sweating. My hair is plastered to my neck. The only jewelry that I’m wearing is the bracelet that Aurelius gave me, and which I never take off, even when I bathe.

I frown.

Have I caught some illness ?

My limbs are heavy and achy. My mind is hazy, and I struggle to clear it.

I groan. “Fuck a troll, what’s wrong with me? I better not have caught some kind of freaky dragon flu. Not today. Daire needs me…”

My charming rogue — soulmate. I smile at the thought, touching the silver snowflake on my wrist.

Daire has landed himself back in the Shadow Court dungeons again. He’s spent more time in them than out of them.

Aurelius cooly told me yesterday without looking up from signing a document, “You’re in charge of feeding Kit. He’s in the dungeons again.”

The again sounded weary.

I try to push myself up because Daire will be hungry. I’ve discovered that he has a bigger appetite than I do for everything: food, touch, plotting, laughter, and fucking life.

Shadow Fae are meant to be death, but I’ve never met anyone who lives as fully, dangerously , as Daire does.

I struggle to my elbows, but my muscles are weak. I collapse onto my back.

On the moon, what’s wrong with me?

I stare up at the beamed roof. “What did you do this time, my raven soulmate? Bribery? Spying? Gambling? Another assassination attempt? ”

I grin.

Daire calls it misdirection .

Aurelius would never believe that Daire would be tamed fully straight away. He thinks that his pet is no more than an impulsive scoundrel.

On the journey, under the guise of bringing food and water to Daire, we whispered plans together.

It was agony not to be able to stop my fated Alpha, both god and king, from suffering beatings from the guards, being tormented on the long journey, then being jeered at and pelted with mud and rotten food, as he was dragged in his iron cage through the streets, while Aurelius rode at the head of the army in triumph.

Yet I had to wear a mask because soulmate or not, Daire is meant to be a conquered enemy.

Daire wouldn’t be swayed in his decision that he would be the one to play the bad pet and take the punishments.

After all, it would be what was expected. It would also misdirect the dragons from our real, greater scheme.

Then I could be the good pet .

Soon, no one would even question seeing me working around the palace. As I had in the Moon Court, I could listen to the inner circle around Aurelius, his Golden Family, who are almost always hanging around him like his bodyguards.

I am the spy that Aurelius has invited into his own rooms…into his dragon’s nest. Because that’s what these three rooms at the heart of the palace are. I’ve heard several of his friends mutter bitter warnings about that.

One of them, the brutal Legate, War, eyes me like she wishes she could burn me. Daire and War circle around each other with words every time that they meet like they’re sparring .

Hate stabs through Daire’s emotions in the bond the moment that War steps into a room.

I brush my fingers across the snowflake, concentrating.

Hunger and pain.

I swallow, struggling to stand up.

My Alpha needs me.

To my shock, however, slick gushes between my thighs.

I stare down at the stain on the front of my nightdress, which is now sticking to my legs.

“What the fuck…?” I gasp.

My pheromones become stronger in waves, and my scent deepens.

I pant, sprawling back in the bed.

It can’t be.

But what if it is? I bonded with Bard, although he broke it.

Have I fully bonded with Daire? Is the mark enough to trigger my body into my first heat?

I pant, thrashing my head side to side, as waves of unexpected pleasure hit me.

I slip my hand between my thighs, teasing up the edges of my nightdress with aching slowness and wishing that it was Daire’s long fingers.

I hump my hips, as my pussy clenches.

More slick runs down my thighs.

I feel empty.

I moan, as my eyelashes flutter.

My mind is beginning to fog .

This is why Omegas and Alphas over the age of twenty-one match up in the Mate Hunt. Being alone through either a heat or a rut is agony.

Suddenly, my eyes shoot open.

Is Daire also going through his rut? If we’re connected through the bond, surely my heat is dragging him into rut as well. Only, he isn’t luxuriating in velvet bedding. He’s lying on a hard stone floor behind bars in the freezing darkness.

He’s locked in the dungeons below this palace.

“Daire,” I whisper, licking across the snowflake, hoping that he can feel it. “Alpha.”

I shiver, when I feel the press of gentle lips in return, then a nip of sharp teeth like Daire is struggling to restrain himself and biting his wrist is helping him.

My Alpha is in rut too.

I slowly sink my own teeth into my wrist without breaking the skin, over the exact imprint of Daire’s teeth.

I feel his desire and joy explode though the bond.

If we need to be separated, then I will find a way to help him through this.

Without letting go of my wrist, I lick over the bond mark. I feel the ghost of Daire’s tongue, mimicking my every move.

I groan, humping my hips.

It’s ecstasy.

“Alpha,” I mumble.

I imagine Daire’s beautiful lavender eyes.

The snowflake warms, as if with pleasure.

My skin sparks .

I shake, hoping that Daire can pick up how desperately I wish that he was with me.

How much I need him.

The snowflake pulses again in answer.

I whine, working my fingers to my clit and circling in a way that makes me whimper.

“Why aren’t you up yet?” Aurelius’ cold voice demands from the doorway.

“Stop biting yourself. On the Shadow Gods, are you feral? Do I not feed you enough honey and dates that you need to start gnawing your own wrist? Get up, you can eat, then serve me breakfast. Otherwise, I’ll be the one devouring… ”

With difficulty, I swing my head to look at him with half-hooded eyes.

Aurelius is standing in the doorway with flaring nostrils.