Page 69 of The Forbidden Dragon King (Shadow Kings #1)

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Golden Basilica, Shadow Court

F reya

My cheeks itch with dried tears. I stopped crying hours ago. I’m the wolf who escaped the Mate Hunt. Survived being rejected by my first love, the prince of my own kingdom. The pet who became a dragon rider. The soul bond of two enemy kings, dragon and fae.

The secret Queen of this fucking kingdom.

Not bad going for an orphan thief.

It’s not sadness that’s howling through me and awaking my inner wolf; it’s rage.

Maximinus had his men drag Daire and me back to the palace. Still naked, I wanted to fight, but Daire stopped me with a shake to his head the moment that Maximinus tightened the chain around Aurelius’ throat like a collar with a flick of his wrist.

Now, when I concentrate, I can sense the golden threads of our bond in their own collar around my neck. It’s a comforting presence, as if Aurelius is still with me in the same way that I know I can always sense Daire through our soul mark.

Did the servants collect the wooden dragon and feather brooch from my ruined clothes or are they still abandoned on Primo Mount?

I shake at the thought that they’re lost.

Inside the palace, Daire and I were pulled down a corridor toward the servant quarters and away from Aurelius.

What were they going to do to Aurelius? What the fucking hell would they do to my Alpha?

Then silent Betas, who avoided meeting our eyes, led us to the bathhouse and didn’t even bother to warm the water, before hurling buckets of freezing water over us both to clean us.

I screamed, as if I’d been pricked by thousands of needles.

Daire snarled and fought, despite still being chained. He twisted to shield me with his body, taking the full blast of the next cold water assault.

“May the Shadow Devils break your bloody bones.” Shivering, he glared over his shoulder at the servants.

His feathers were bedraggled. Whatever the Betas saw in Daire’s eyes was enough to make them back off.

Then he turned to me, resting his forehead against mine.

His dripping curls brushed my cheeks. “Okay, love? Be strong a little longer. I’m with you.

Even if I’m not the mate you hoped I was, I promise that I’ll be the mate you need. ”

Now, dressed in nothing but a coarse, plain white robe like a sacrifice, I swing from the chains in the grand Silver Basilica, which the servants have whispered about as the Council’s judgment chamber.

The chains bind my arms above me to a large marble column to one side of a wide aisle.

I grit my teeth, as they also dig into my stomach, looping tightly around my waist. I’m suspended above the silver veined marble floor.

I tilt my head to look through the celestory windows in the nave walls. A sharp, cold moonlight streams across the walls of the basilica that are gilded entirely in silver.

On the night that I’m probably going to die, the moon looks painfully beautiful.

Will I soon fly to join my parents and murdered ancestors?

“Hey, love, are you still with me?” Daire whispers.

He attempts to kick his legs, banging against the column to get my attention.

He’s dressed in matching robes to mine, which are a startling contrast to the black of his feathers.

He doesn’t need silks, satins, or the trappings of royalty to look beautiful.

Or like an Alpha. He’s a second sacrifice. “You hanging in there?”

My gaze snaps to his with an unwilling smile. “That wasn’t funny the first dozen times you said it.”

Daire’s arms are chained above his head. His wings are folded behind him and crushed against the hard column by the tight chain that winds not only around his waist but also his chest.

I wince.

I try to ignore the bruise standing out on his cheekbone from where Maximinus struck him after he strode into the cavern. I didn’t understand why so much of his anger had been directed at Daire.

“Want me to tell you another epic Shadow Fae poem?” Daire swings from the column on the opposite side of the aisle.

I wince. “Pass.”

I know what he’s doing. I don’t know how many hours we’ve been left here, but it’s long enough to leave me strung out, desperate with nerves. Daire has been trying to distract me by entertaining me.

I hate that Maximinus has taken Daire’s natural talents and used them to train him into both a courtesan and an assassin. Yet I realize that I know little about the Raven King (or simply, the fae), who lived free in the beautiful woods and snowy mountains of the Unseelie Kingdom.

A fae with close friendships and his featherglass. A fae who laughed, danced, and stood up against an invading force who were much stronger than he was.

A fae who witnessed the death of his family. His friends. His court.

How could he think that I’d judge him?

Earlier, Daire sang a hauntingly beautiful song that was as soothing as a lullabye. It echoed through the spacious nave and up to the vaulted ceiling.

In every note, I could hear the whisper of the breeze through the northern forests and ice shifting under frozen rivers.

While he sang, I felt safe. I shivered with the dominance in every note. Maximinus controls Daire, but I know that if he’s unleashed, his power could make this empire shake.

I hate this metallic chamber with its enchanted chains and walls that are weapons in the hands of a metallicum sorcerer.

This is the heart of the Council.

At one end, an apse, a semicircular raised stage is flanked by twelve statues of silver dragons in flight.

In the center is a single giant throne that appears to have been built out of glittering dragon scales, with the House of Draca’s emblem on the back, and gilt flames coiling from it all the way to the vaulted ceiling, as if it’s blazing on fire.

I grimace at the ache in my arms. I shift, trying to ease the pressure on my shoulders, gasping as pain bursts through my wrists, arms, shoulders, then down my back.

My throat is dry, and I cough to clear it. My temples throb.

After such an extreme heat, I should be resting and not hanging by my wrists.

That’s basic Omega care.

What a surprise, Maximinus doesn’t give a fuck. I hope that he never bonds. Has he in the past?

I can see why he earned his pet-hater badge.

My stomach turns with anxiety.

I don’t know how much longer I can hold onto consciousness. Is this how Daire and I are being executed or only tortured?

Or will the Council judge us like this? Shit, will they send us to be devoured by the Shadow Gods?

My breathing becomes labored.

“You okay, love?” Daire asks.

“You’ve also said that more than a dozen times.” I force my breathing to slow. “I should be asking you. You’re the one whose wrist has only just recovered from being dislocated.”

Daire smirks. “I’m always up for some kinky bondage.”

Does he realize that I’m beginning to learn his tells? Smirking and deflection.

His wrist must be fucked again, and he doesn’t want me to know .

How much trouble is he in with Maximinus? What has Maximinus been doing to force him into working for him?

Has he been threatening the featherglass? Threatening me?

“So,” I lick over my dry lips, “do we have our stories straight?”

“And what story would that be?”

“Ehm, that we fucked off from Bael because of my heat and then broke the rule not to bond with Aurelius.”

Daire’s lips quirk. “Aye, that one. As someone who finds himself in trouble a lot?—”

“I’ll have you know that I’m quite the troublemaker too. Hard as it is to believe, I can compete with you there.”

“Not that hard to believe, love. Then you should know that brutal honesty normally gets your arse kicked. Although, in this case, I’m not sure there is much we can say that will change what happens next.”

Chills chase down my spine. “Then what can? Aurelius or Maximinus?”

Daire shakes his head. “Look where they’ve brought us.

This isn’t Aurelius’ study or Maximinus’.

It’s not even the Silver Banquet Room. This is the Silver Basilica, the Council’s playroom.

It’s not somewhere any prisoner wants to end up.

Only the most serious crimes are judged here, the ones that end bloody. ”

I pale. “The Council hold the power here, but who controls them?”

I don’t understand the guilt sheeting through Daire’s expression.

“The Head of the Council will sway their decision, and the last one is, well, dead.”

I narrow my eyes. “Dead, huh? Wild guess here, you killed him.”

“And this is why we’re fated mates. You know me so well.”

“I’d prefer that it wasn’t in an assassin club.”

“Those arseholes in the Assassin Guild never let me become a member. It appears that killers and torturers are also elitists or else, they had enough sense not to trust me.”

“Why did Maximinus order you to murder the Head of the Council?”

“Do you remember Quintus Sempronia? The man from the banquet whose lap I was sprawled in? ”

I let out a long breath. “That’s why you were seducing him. Fuck, you killed him that night for Maximinus.”

“I killed him,” Daire says, hard and cool, “because that bastard dared to lay his hands on you. That it was my orders was only a bonus. If ever someone deserved to die, trust me that it was Quintus. Maximinus only cared about the fact that Quintus was trying to form a faction behind Aurelius, which would weaken his position in the Shadow Court. The choosing of the new Head of the Council took place the morning after the Carnival of Shadows. You’ll know them by the large, silver signet ring shaped like dragon wings.

What’s the odds that in Aurelius’ absence and after the carnage during the night, Maximinus manoevered someone loyal to him into the position? I truly have fucked myself.”