Page 60 of The Forbidden Dragon King (Shadow Kings #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Bael

A urelius

I wander through the bustling stalls and excited crowds of festivalgoers, who are dressed up in sweeping black and ash costumes. Children laugh and chase each other with dragon shaped, sparkling toys, while lovers stroll hand in hand, devouring sticky, sweet flame cakes.

Nobody is paying more attention to me than the occasional nod of their heads. It’s the first time in three years that I haven’t needed to stiffly play the part of king.

Everyone is equal in the night of shadows.

Finally, my shoulders relax on each step. A smile plays on my lips.

Silver moonlight streams over the straight road that runs through the chaotic high storied tenements. The buildings are decorated for the carnival with red and orange lights, which are strung between buildings, and dragon lanterns that flicker sparking light over the stalls and entertainers.

Ruby, jade, and pearl dragons swoop through the night sky, acting out ancient myths.

My heart is beating fast.

My eyes sting but with happiness, as well as the sense of something lost found again.

How can I have lived so long in Bael and not known how incredible the world outside the walls of my own palace is?

How alive ?

Why have I allowed my family to cage me in the Shadow Court for so long away from joy, love, my own people ?

My jaw clenches.

Tomorrow, I am going to start an inquiry into how the city walls at least can be lined with silver and iron. These people are just as worthy of protection as the nobles in the palace.

The pheromones of so many other dragons swirl around me, but I’m no longer scared of my own wickedness.

I won’t give in to temptation. Nor will I force myself to become as cold as gold. For Freya, I am going to try and be fully present tonight.

I will feel.

A group of young cadets pass me. Even the academy are given the night off to celebrate on the Night of Shadows.

The cadets are laughing in a way that I never heard anyone in the academy laugh, despite the fact that their homemade costumes show that they have little money.

One waves at me, and the rest smile.

Awkwardly, I raise my hand.

Has anyone within the court, aside from my Golden Family, ever smiled at me and meant it? Met my gaze with anything but lurking fear or contempt?

“Stop waving at your adoring public and come and look at this, boss,” Daire calls.

Well, apart from my Kitten, of course.

Plus, my Spark

My Goddess.

I walk faster to catch up with Daire and Freya, which is difficult because they’ve both been excitedly rushing between everything in the carnival from the moment that we stepped out of the palace gates.

They’re the most alive things here tonight. The brightest, most vibrant things.

It burns me to look at them together.

My dragon riders.

Finally, after years of never believing that I would be blessed with a dragon rider like War’s Lucius, now I have two .

I stroll to where Freya and Daire have joined a crowd in front of a lively shadow puppet theater.

Freya and Daire are dressed in costumes that I had designed for this carnival. They match my own. A flowing, diaphanous black cloak like falling shadows over sparkling robes in ash gray with my Golden Dragon emblem over our hearts.

When they both look up at me, my breath catches.

Dressed in my wealthy clothes along with my emblem, they look like mine.

Pack.

Wearing clothes that are as expensive as my own, unshackled and free in my capital on this public date with me, do they understand what I am offering them?

What they now are? My honored dragon riders? Mates?

My consorts? Queen and King in everything but official title?

The Council will realize it, which is why I have spent the last two weeks relentlessly strengthening my position at court.

Lucius has exhausted himself helping me. He is a genius at these types of political maneuvers, undermining Maximinus, winning over the Guilds via Vicious and Wraith, and working on ensuring the army’s backing with War.

I haven’t slept, barely eaten.

The sight of Daire swinging from that whipping post from his dislocated wrist and wings, barely conscious, with his back a bloody ruin, nearly undid me .

He’s a king, my king.

Nobody can hurt him but me. I saved his life, and his blood belongs to me alone.

The only way that any pet will be safe in this court, however, is if I finally wrench the power from my uncle’s greedy hands.

If I fail, I will die in the same way that Hadrian did.

I may not know what pack means but I’m trying. I will do what I can to protect my mates.

After what Maximinus made me do, after getting me drunk at my brother’s deathday, I know that there is no line with me that he won’t cross.

“You’re missing it,” Freya singsongs, holding her hand out to me.

I stroll to her, taking her hand.

“As far as I can tell from this story,” Daire gestures at the shadow puppets, “some big dragon was drowning in this enormous lake, or it may have been lava, I’m not sure, then…”

I narrow my eyes. “This is our origin myth. The big dragon is Primo, emerging from the shadows to create Draca kingdom out of his wings.”

“Aye, right.” Daire’s eyes twinkle.

The scoundrel knew that.

“Are any of you hungry again? I’m starving. How about another flame cake, love? They’re as hot as you are.” Daire twirls, diving back into the crowd toward the food stalls.

“Wait,” I call, but he doesn’t listen.

When does he?

Is he knocking into those festivalgoers on purpose, banging into people’s shoulders and tripping over them? It must be a weird type of protest or revenge for how he’d been treated, when I paraded him through these streets.

I wince and leave him to it.

I look for Wraith and Vicious, who are both hanging back on the edges of the crowd, watchful but unnoticed.

I nod at them, and they silently follow Daire.

Daire may be here with me, and the featherglass may have been mainly accepted by the citizens from most reports, but it wasn’t long ago that Daire was hated and humiliated by everyone here.

I trust my Golden Family to keep him safe.

“It’s good to see him smiling,” Freya says, happily.

“Now I know that all he needs is treats like a real kitten.”

“Remember that the next time you send him to the dungeons.”

My jaw clenches. “I won’t imprison him again.”

I push through to find Daire hovering over a stall, which is overflowing with sweet filled cakes. I take a deep breath of the delicious smelling ricotta, fig, and honey cakes.

They smell like the royal kitchens and long faded memories of Tarquin sneaking me treats after a beating from Uncle, when I was still small enough to live in the palace.

Tarquin never talked about my punishments, only distracted me with gossip about the court, while handing me a honey cake like forgiveness.

It confused me.

I felt closest to my brother in those moments — loved .

Until Freya, honey has only reminded me of being comforted after pain. Familial love was being hurt for your own good and then kept compliant with sweet rewards.

Yet I worshiped honey from my Freya with only pleasure and no pain. In the sweetness between her thighs, I learned that I didn’t need to be hurt, before I could be loved.

“So, you won’t lock Daire up, even if he tries to assassinate you? Again?” Freya asks.

“Nay, you’re my dragon now.” Daire glances at me over his shoulder, smugly. “Why would I kill you?”

“I was your King,” I grumble. “Treason is generally still considered wrong.”

“It’s not treason but our love language. I try to kill you, you throw me in a cell. You order me to kneel, I tell you to go fuck yourself with the pointy end of your dagger . Good times.”

My lips curl into a hard smile. “I’ll miss them.”

“Me too. I’m nostalgic already.”

I glance around myself.

War and Lucius are strolling down the road behind us on bodyguard duty. They’re holding hands, however, and War has treated Lucius to so many pretty baubles that he can hardly carry them.

I roll my eyes.

She spoils her Omega. Although, I don’t blame her.

Lucius deserves to be spoiled.

Should I be buying my Omega gifts like that? I should have paid more attention to Omega courting rules .

I’m a rough warrior, not a charming playboy like Daire.

I grab Freya’s hand, dragging her closer against my side.

She looks up at me with those eyes that have stolen my soul.

“You look beautiful tonight.” I lower my head to Freya’s hair, taking a deep breath of her intoxicating rose scent. “You look beautiful every night.”

Freya nuzzles against me, glowing. “Thanks for these costumes. This carnival is amazing. Being out of the court like this together with you is everything that I’ve been hoping for but never expected. Plus, being cooped up for so long in the palace has been tough.”

“Hmm,” I agree. Freya doesn’t know that I have been cooped up my entire life. “I will make sure that you have as much freedom as you want from now on. The Golden Family and I can keep you safe.”

“I noticed that they’re working as shadows themselves tonight.”

“They’re good at that.”

Reaching the stall, I narrow my eyes at Daire, who is eagerly leaning over the piles of cakes and sniffing them, twitching his fingers like he can’t decide what to pick first.

“What do you want, love?” Daire points out a small apple and pomegranate tart. “We’ll take three of them and?—”

I catch him by the shoulder. “You’ve already eaten your weight in flame cakes. Where are you fitting all of this food? In your wings?”

All evening, Daire has been darting between stalls, examining everything with a type of joy and playfulness that has confused me, as much as it has delighted Freya.

I watched him in case he was still stiff from the beating. He appears to have healed, however, as much as is possible.

Thank the Shadow Gods that I didn’t turn up any later on the day of his flogging. I knew that he would be punished after the trial. I wanted both Daire and Freya to learn how dangerous their decision to join the academy had been.