Page 67 of The Forbidden Dragon King (Shadow Kings #1)

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Mount Primo

F reya

I sigh, cuddling down in Daire’s wings, sticky but contented. Aurelius’ arm is slung around my waist as he kisses me gently. Daire’s legs are tangled with mine. He licks over his bite on my neck, which is already almost healed.

I’m finally cool but exhausted. My heat is over.

I open my eyes, watching the metallic light of another twilight stretching toward me through the mouth of the cavern.

My stomach grumbles. My mouth is dry. Has it been one night and day or two?

Uncomfortable, I shift, wanting to close my eyes again and forget everything that happened in that Carnival of Shadows.

Forget the past.

Forget my deal with Daire, Maximinus, and the red eyed Shadow Vampire King who haunts my dreams and last night slaughtered Aurelius’ friends.

Forget that Aurelius is forbidden to bond.

Forget the prophecy: Golden fated mates, an Omega and her Alpha Kings, destined to bleed.

It’s no good.

Frustrated, I take a ragged breath.

My mates and I must leave this golden paradise that we’ve created for ourselves, but I don’t want to move.

Being held between these two men feels like home now.

I snuggle down again, breathing in their intermingled scents, smoke and winter oak.

“Morning, love,” Daire says, as familiar as if we’ve been waking up next to each other in bed and greeting each other like this for centuries. My stomach feels fluttery. “Managed to sleep for a few hours, after we ravished you?”

Even after the many mind-blowing activities that Daire coached Aurelius and me through over my heat, he never took off his golden mask.

I stretch out with a smile. “I’m sore but in the best way. Also, in places that I didn’t know I could be sore. And yes, I slept more deeply than I have in years. You fucked the nightmares out of me.”

“I have a talented knot.” Aurelius’ lips curl against mine into a smile.

“I feel the best that I have in years.” Daire stretches his wings. “Bloody brilliant in fact.”

“Not so brilliant that your magic is back…?” Aurelius asks.

“Why?” Daire looks delighted. “Frightened?”

Aurelius snorts. “Hardly. It would just mean that Spark’s ass could fuck the magic back into you. Now that would be a talent.”

I blush.

“Aye, it would. Why don’t we test it again?” Daire says, enthusiastically.

“Sleepy,” I murmur. “You’ll have to wait until my next heat. Just lying here with you both, quietly in your arms, is perfect.”

“It is.” There’s something in Aurelius’ voice, however, that’s off.

I dance my fingers over Aurelius’ powerful bicep. “I’m too content. I’m afraid that this is all a dream.”

Daire presses a kiss to the back of my neck, grazing a hint of teeth along my skin that makes me shiver. “Then I’ll make sure that you’ll never wake up.”

“Now that we’re bonded,” Aurelius pulls me closer against his chest, “we’ll never be parted, even when you’re dreaming.”

“How?”

“We’ll be able to reach out to each other through our dreams. Even if we’re apart, we can be together while we sleep. Bonded dragons are never truly alone. Myths say that the most deeply bonded are together in their dreams, even if one of them dies.”

Carefully, Daire untangles himself from me and sits up. “And why would we be parted, boss? Why would we die?”

Aurelius flinches on the boss .

He draws back from me, pulling his hand through his mussed hair, attempting to smooth it into place. Then he scoots back on the hard floor, until his back hits the rough cavern wall.

Confused, I hold out my hand to him. “Come back.”

Aurelius kneels up, looking more shaken than I’ve seen, even when he was facing down Lanlin’s attack on Bael.

Anxious myself now, I sit up. What’s wrong?

Then to my shock, Aurelius partially transforms. His long, shimmering dragon’s tail with golden scales that glint like sunlight winds around him. Shadows curl at its end like ashen flames.

“It’s beautiful,” I breathe.

Aurelius flushes, and his tail twitches. “I’ve never shown anyone my tail in this form. A dragon must only show it to their fated mates. You’re both mine. The most important people in the realms to me, forever.”

He ducks his head, as if he hadn’t meant to say that last sentence out loud.

Daire blinks, rapidly. Then he glances at me, and for the first time, I don’t believe that it’s a game when I read the softening in his eyes.

He crawls toward Aurelius with a slink of his hips. I don’t know whether it’s a courtesan trick or something that’s inherently part of Daire’s fae sexiness, but I copy him.

Aurelius stiffens but then forces himself to relax. “Do you want to touch my tail?”

“Fuck, yeah.” I reply. “Is it sensitive?”

“It’s like I’ve bared my soul bloody in front of you. You could crush it.”

“Or kiss it.” I lower my head.

My hair sweeps over the scales of his tail, which restlessly shifts.

Then I kiss his warm tail, reveling in the fact that no one has seen it apart from Daire and me.

It’s for us alone.

Daire rests his hand gently on Aurelius’ tail.

“I never thought anyone would want to see or touch my tail.” Aurelius avoids our gaze, even as his tail pushes into our hand and mouth like it can’t resist. “It’s golden. I was taught to hate and fear that. I once tried to?—"

Daire hisses, turning the tail to the side in shock.

“You tried to hack it off.” He runs his finger over the missing scales.

My heart aches at the thought of a younger Aurelius damaging the most precious part of himself because he’d been taught that it was ugly and he’d never have fated mates to show it to.

“Didn’t you hear how bloody beautiful Freya finds you, Aurelius?

You’re powerful too. With a bandit and a thief like us at your side, who can stop you now? ”

Aurelius huffs. “So, you finally admit your crimes then?”

He loops his tail around us both in a sudden move that shocks the breath out of me and hauls Daire and me up into the air in front of him.

Daire only laughs, wriggling against me. “Never confess anything. It’s one of the Unseelie rules.”

My legs dangle. I struggle, grinning.

I stare down at Aurelius, who is surveying us with a regal look but dancing eyes. “May I be judged separately?”

Daire shoots me a pretend hurt look. “After everything we’ve been through together.”

Somehow, Daire manages to pull off being held in Aurelius’ tail above the ground, as if he’s simply enjoying a ride on an unusual animal.

“You know,” Daire catches Aurelius’ gaze, “you could fly us all away from here. We’ve committed a lot of crimes.

How many rules have you broken now? If I’m no longer a prisoner, then prove it.

The featherglass are accepted as part of the army.

They’re safe, and I trust them to get themselves out of danger.

I trained them, after all. I can serve you anywhere. Freya isn’t safe in Bael.”

The amusement dies on Aurelius’ face. He stands up, and I gasp, as Daire and I are swung even higher into the air.

The end of the tail flicks out shadows, untying Daire’s mask and then ripping it off his face. The mask clatters to the cave floor .

Daire’s eyes narrow. “What’s your problem, dragon?”

“My problem, fae, is that neither of us can leave. Not only am I King, and I know that you would never have abandoned your people or kingdom if I hadn’t conquered you, but my uncle holds too tight a leash on both of us. Or am I wrong?”

I stare at both of them, confused.

What is he talking about?

“Daire is your pet,” I say. “We both are, right? Then you made us cadets. Now, you promised us that we’re your bonded fated mates. How does that give your uncle any power over Daire?”

I don’t ask how he holds power over Aurelius. I’ve already witnessed that.

Aurelius’ gaze hardens. “Do you want to tell her or shall I?”

Daire stubbornly sets his jaw. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“One last chance.”

“Oh, go to hell, you pompous arsehole.”

Instantly, Aurelius’ tail slithers away like a retreat and a loss all at once, disappearing back into Aurelius, as if it had never been there.

I scream, but Daire catches me in his arms and glides us back safely to land on the floor.

It still feels like a rejection.

Aurelius crosses his arms. “Not only did Maximinus train my Kitten as a courtesan?—”

“Don’t.” Daire lets go of me, taking a panicked step toward Aurelius. “Please, boss. ”

“But he has also been training him as an assassin,” Aurelius finishes.

Daire flinches like he’s been struck.

I draw back in shock.

An actual assassin?

Not a pretend one who has been making poor, deliberately failed attempts on Aurelius’ life? A real one?

“Daire?” I say in a small voice.

I’m not hurt about this revelation. I’m hurt that Daire kept this secret from me. I thought that we had a deal to share everything.

That we were on the same side.

Was I wrong?

Daire looks trapped; his wings are vibrating with tension. “I didn’t… I haven’t… I had no bloody idea how to tell you.”

“With words,” I force out. “What else haven’t you told me?”

“I was protecting you.”

“Bullshit. You were protecting yourself. Did I judge you over anything?”

He shakes his head, holding his hand over his snowflake mark protectively.

I can sense his panic and distress through the bond, along with his terror that he’s about to be rejected.

Aurelius prowls toward Daire, shoving him in the chest and knocking him into the wall of the cave. Daire allows himself to manhandled without fighting back.

He looks devastated .

“How many of Uncle’s dead and missing rivals were your targets?” Aurelius demands.

“Most of them,” Daire admits but without his usual swagger.

“Are you working against me even now?” Aurelius’ voice is hard. My stomach turns. This is an interrogation. My gaze darts between the two Alphas who I love. I’m torn. “Am I next on your list but for real this time?”

Daire shakes his head.

“How can I believe you?”