Page 31 of The Forbidden Dragon King (Shadow Kings #1)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Aurelius’ Study, Shadow Court

F reya

Slowly, my eyes flutter open.

I’m comfortable, warm, and more contented than I’ve ever been in my life.

I’m safe.

For a moment, I’m confused. But then, I remember.

A king on his knees between my thighs. Aurelius in his bestial form. And knowing that I have two Alphas, deadly enemies, in my pack.

I’m lying on Aurelius’ hard chest on top of his desk.

The desk itself is destroyed, raked in claw marks and soaked in honey and wine.

I take a savage joy in the court papers, which paint Aurelius’ under eyes in bruised, exhausted shadows every day, being scattered over the floor.

Aurelius’ arm is wrapped around me, as well as his golden wings.

He is sleeping as well.

My chest becomes tight.

I’ve never slept with anyone before. I’ve definitely not cuddled close to them like this. Nor has anyone allowed me close to them, trusting me in this way.

I stare up at Aurelius’ peaceful sleeping face.

His pale eyelashes fan onto his cheeks. The golden waves of his hair tumble under his elegant dragon crown. His sharp cheekbones are lit by afternoon sun through the window behind the desk.

He looks like a sleeping sun god.

How is it possible for him to be more beautiful, when he’s asleep?

He appears softer like this, as if he’s not constantly afraid of dark secrets, while plotting even darker revenges.

I nuzzle against Aurelius’ reddened neck, breathing in his scent. His pheromones are beginning to settle.

How can he allow himself to be vulnerable like this around me?

If I had the silver knife, which is underneath my mattress… If I was Daire… If I had the courage to sink my fangs into his exposed throat …

Then this wouldn’t be a bad assassination attempt.

I swallow, taking a final glance at this dragon who I am starting to fall for.

I’m torn with the need to both protect and conquer him.

Then I force myself to look down instead at Hadrian’s Dagger, which is still sheathed at Aurelius’ waist.

He never takes it off.

The dagger is whispering to me.

I can hear it, as well as feel it like a dark tar, stickier than the honey on my skin.

Its curse is loud.

Power…temptation…shadowed death.

My fingers twitch toward it.

Would it hurt to just take it out and hold it? I won’t touch the blade.

I bite my lip, as my mind becomes hazy.

The moment that my hand moves toward the dagger, however, Aurelius’ eyes snap open.

My pulse speeds up. I try to push myself up, but Aurelius pulls me back onto his chest with his wings.

“I have to get changed, since someone tore off my clothes.” I avoid Aurelius’ sleepy gaze. “Then I have duties.”

Including going to the dungeons and making sure that Daire agrees to this change in our plans.

Of course, I won’t tell Aurelius that.

Aurelius strokes my hair gently. “You don’t. I’m the King and I’m granting you the day off, Little Spark.”

“Abuse of power. ”

“Shameless, aren’t I?”

Smug.

I frown. “I’m sticky.”

“Demanding captive.” Aurelius slides his hand into my hair and drags my face up to his. My breath catches. “I’ll clean you.”

He licks a smear of honey off my cheek, slow and sensual.

“You missed a bit.” I trace my finger over my lower lip in invitation.

I’m sure that dragons are trainable.

Aurelius arches his brow, before he yanks me even closer and kisses me, over and over, until I’m breathless.

See, trainable.

“I need to be thorough.” Aurelius licks across the seam of my lips, as I cup his cheek. “I still have the honeyed taste of your slick on my tongue. I will worship you however you demand.”

My eyes widen. Then I moan, kissing him more deeply.

How can he just say things like that?

When I feel the hard press of his cock through his breeches against my hip, I pull back in shock. “You didn’t come.”

“Are all wolves this observant?”

I narrow my eyes but still kiss him again, surprising him. I enjoy doing that.

I slide my hand to palm his crotch, and he bucks, groaning. “By the Shadow Gods, you’re so hard that it must be painful.”

“Can you not talk about the gods, when you’re touching me there?” Aurelius’ voice is strained.

“Okay, then by the Shadow Devils, I’m going to make you come hard enough to scream my name.”

“Ambitious. I thought that you wanted to become clean and not dirtier? Although, when I mark you as mine, I could also lick up my own mess like a good Alpha.”

I stop touching him and stare at him in shock. “Fuck a troll.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Where did you learn to talk like that? I thought that you were a virgin.”

The tips of Aurelius’ ears redden. “I’m a soldier. I’ve been on campaign for years alongside Alpha dragons and their Omega riders, who have nothing to do but fight, fuck, or talk about fucking. What do you imagine I hear from War and Lucius? Or overhear from their tent ,” he mutters.

I smirk at the thought of that.

Aurelius’ Golden Family are open enough about their relationships over breakfast. No wonder Aurelius is such an amazing lover. He’s had years to witness the love between other couples. It must have been agony to be alone, despite that.

My brow furrows. “Why did you spend so long at war? Was it really worth suffering all those years on campaigns away from home just to topple the Raven King from his throne? You already controlled his lands. And don’t simply repeat that he was a bandit bullshit at me.”

“While Kit remained free, the fae had hope that their king would rise back to rebuild their Winter Court and retake their kingdom one day.” Aurelius’ expression hardens.

“Do you think that I want to spend my life fighting? Watch my soldiers dying? Doing nothing but killing? The war with the fae wasn’t started by me, but it had to be finished, one way or another. ”

“What about making a peace deal?”

“Superb idea,” Aurelius replies, dryly, “when there is no official king, council, or government to make it with. Still, I found a way to make a deal with Kit. It rather seems like I managed to make a peace deal that saved as many of the fae as possible, while punishing only one of them. Capturing their king, rather than executing him. But what would I know?”

I kiss Aurelius’ jaw in apology. “I’m not the enemy.”

Anymore, at least.

Aurelius hesitates, before giving me a searching look. “But you’re bonded to one.”

I hold my wrist with the snowflake bond mark protectively against my side.

“Aurelius,” I say, quietly, “Daire isn’t your enemy now. He’s your pet.”

A long, dangerous silence.

Shit, have I just saved Aurelius only to screw Daire? Are dragons too possessive to be able to share in a pack?

“When I was a child, as a prince, I had few friends.” Aurelius’ gaze is anguished.

Startled, I’m shocked at his glassy expression, as if he’s sinking into a bad place that he should never return to.

“Yet I had a best friend who I thought understood what it was like to be me: orphan, beast, and royal but an outcast. In the same way that maybe I hoped Kit would. When I was still in the Shadow Military Academy, however, I discovered my friend tearing out my brother’s throat.

I cradled Tarq’s body, and my hands were coated crimson in his blood. ”

My eyes gleam with tears.

I don’t remember the murder of my own parents. Yet it’s been the specter that has haunted my life.

Shadow Vampires are the reason that the entire Moon Court was wiped out and the new one lived in the sight of the barrows, where every portrait and statue of the old royals was buried with them.

It's forbidden to talk openly about the old court. No one who could remember remains or has survived. Yet everyone mourns the murdered shifters’ ghosts at the barrows.

I lean up, meeting Aurelius’ gaze fiercely. “Is this why you fight the vampires?”

Aurelius shakes his head. “The war with the Bloods is complicated. They’ve been raiding the borderlands, however, murdering our citizens.

They’re also the only realm close to us that remains a threat.

You talk about peace deals. I have offered them to the Shadow Vampires.

All they have to do is bend the knee, as you wolves have done, and the war will at long last be over. The fuckers have refused.”

“Some people would rather die than be tamed.”

“Then they can die,” Aurelius replies, coldly. “You wonder why I can’t forgive Kit and allow him close to me. I let almost no one close. Lanlin slaughtered my own brother in front of me. He was my best friend and he betrayed me.”

“Perhaps, only those close to us can truly hurt us.”

“Then I will find a way to get close to Lanlin again. And I will hurt him in every way imaginable.”

I shiver.

I believe him.

“But you’ve let me into your nest,” I venture. “Aren’t you afraid of trusting me?”

Aurelius scrutinizes me, before twisting me, so that we’re lying side by side. This close, it’s as if we’re caught inside the universes of each other’s eyes.

“When I’m with you is the only time that I don’t feel afraid,” Aurelius murmurs.

“Funny, I’m always afraid when I’m with you. But I like it.”

Aurelius gives one of those genuine smiles that I love, throwing an arm over my waist. “I could lose my soul to you. I think that I already have.”

I suck in a shocked breath at the sincerity of his words.

“You shouldn’t say shit like that,” I splutter. “I’m not a safe pair of hands. I constantly lose and break things. I smashed the pottery statue on your windowsill only last week and hid the pieces.”

“I know,” he replies, indulgently. “Did you think that a dragon wouldn’t notice one of his treasures was missing?”

I give a forced laugh. “So, don’t trust me with your soul, heart, or…”

Aurelius’ wings are trembling now in distress. I can’t stop myself from reaching out and stroking them. I’m shocked by his gasp and the way that his eyelashes flutter.

His cheeks flush.

I explore along his strong wings further, caressing them.

Aurelius curls around me with a sigh, as tremors wrack him. I’m concerned, until I realize that they’re of pleasure.