by Reid, Stacy
“Dare you think to cage me when I’ve invited you to fly with me, Gavyn, but refused?”
Everything about him stilled, even the swirling lust and possessiveness had become a canvas of nothing.
She pressed the flat of her palm over his heart. “Are you not tired of being constrained, Gavyn, of denying this desire between us? The world around us will soon burn, and everything we hold dear will be engulfed in the unrelenting flames of war. I feel it, you feel it, and I am bracing for our world to upend. I will wait no more to live.”
A reflecting need fired in his eye, and hope stirred in her heart.
“Let's just be free tonight and feel no regrets in the morning,” she murmured, her heart a pounding mess.
His expression became inscrutable. “You are a danger to yourself.”
She curved her lips into a challenging smile. “And a little bit of danger to you as well, I dare hope. Now shall we dance?”
There was only a brief hesitation before he swept her into the dance with raw grace and power. With a throaty sigh, she curved her smaller frame into his and rolled her hips in the sensual undulations of the itsu. They danced, the fires in the cavernous room leaped, flickered, and sweat slicked her skin. Each roll and dip became a provocative mimicry of how hot and beautiful it would be between them should he ever accept her invitation to ride rough and wanton between her thighs, to make slow and endless love, to hold her after and kiss her with sweet tenderness. Emotions swelled inside of Xian. She wanted a life with Gavyn, and for the first time in her life, she felt as if she would reach out, demand he take her, and face whatever consequences he feared.
The time to be bold and reckless was now. The safe haven she had grown up in had shattered, the idyllic days were no more, and each morning without war must be treasured. “I will leave my door open for you,” she murmured into the curve of his neck.
The pulse against her lips tripped, and then jerked into a furious pounding, but he did not object. Her breath caught at that realization, and she drew back, swaying slowly against his body, and peered up into his eyes.
“Go to your palace now. I will come.”
Chapter 2
Gavyn’s voice was a slow, lazy drawl, thick with tension and arousal.
For a wild moment, Xian thought she misheard. “Gavyn?”
He pressed his mouth against her ear. “You have swished your sweet, lush ass in front of me for ten years. You torment me daily with what I hunger for and cannot have. You enter a room, and my skin becomes sensitized, my heart pounds like I am an untried lad, and my cock gets so hard it is a fucking wonder it does not break through the front of my trousers. Ten years ago I kissed you, I cannot recall what madness drove me…but I touched you, tasted you, and since then I've bedded no other. A few hungry kisses from you has sustained me for ten years, Xian.” A rough breath shuddered from him, and he continued, “Tonight…tonight I am going to take all that you have offered. I am going to ride your pussy for hours, sometimes the ride will be rough, but I’ll always be sweet with you. And I will punish you with pleasure for my years of waiting in half agony and half hope of you ever being mine. But first, we will talk. There is much I have to tell you.”
The air crackled with tension, her breasts grew heavy with need, and her heart pounded in fear and excitement. "You have waited…no lover in ten years?"
“None,” he said gruffly, his tone a horse echo of unfulfilled need. “Not since the first time I kissed you.”
Her throat burned and she wanted to hug him to her and shout her joy. They swayed together for a few more beats. “I’ve never been with another man,” she confessed softly.
A tender kiss was pressed to her temple. “I know.”
Her lashes fluttered over her cheek at the dark possessiveness in his tone, unable to understand why she responded so. “I do not desire one night, Gavyn. I want forever.”
He flinched. It was subtle, but she caught it.
He cupped her cheek with one of his hands and dragged the rough pad of his thumb across her lower lip. “Do not ask for more, Xian, tonight is all I have to give. I am a damn fool for falling under your wiles, but it seems I cannot stop my stupidity this night.”
“Why would you not give us more than a night of passion? Tell me what you fear. Do you think Ajali will not approve a match between us?”
There was a slight hesitation before Gavyn said with an odd light in his eyes. “I have secrets that would see you turn from me.”
“Never,” she vowed, assured of the love which beat in her heart for him. “You speak the impossible.”
He twirled her, and her back was now plastered to his chest. A slight dip from him and his breath caressed her ears. “I speak a reality.”
“Everything that has been well ordered in our world is changing. Trusted friends have proven to be betrayers of the kingdom. The peace accords are threatened. My nightmares of slaughter are more frequent, and I can see that everything is about to change. The only thing I am sure that will never change is how I feel about you…and the possibility of us.”
They faltered in the center of the ballroom, uncaring that hundreds still danced, responding to the primal thrill elicited by the drums. She turned in his arms, lifted her hand and cupped his jaw. “Tell me…what are you afraid of?”
His eyes softened and the harsh cruelty of his lips curved into a small smile. “Are you aware everyone is staring at us?”
“Only a few,” she said, staring into his eyes, wishing she could see this secret he feared. “I am certain in a few hours the rumors that Princess Xian has finally claimed a consort will echo throughout the kingdom.”
“I see I am to preserve you from the consequences of your own folly.”
“You could attempt it.” She tipped, arched her back and brushed a fleeting kiss against his chin. Such a risk with this public display of affections, for neither, had declared to their king they had feelings for each other.
Those gray eyes searched her features as if he wanted to examine her soul. Xian could not speak, enthralled with the need flashing in his eyes. Soon they became shuttered, and something dangerous glowed back at her.
"Who did this?" he murmured, touching the slight swelling at the corner of her lips. "This was caused by a fist."
Her pulse tripped alarmingly. “It is nothing.”
“I will not ask again, Xian.”
She lifted her chin. “It is from a training exercise.” And that was all she would say on the matter.
He placed her hand on his arm and escorted her from the ballroom to one of the smaller balconies. Once there, a welcoming breeze danced over her skin, the smell of burning pinecones redolent on the air. Frenzied shrieks echoed from above where massive insubstantial winged creatures, the wraith of their kingdoms, patrolled the skies.
“The law is death for anyone who hurts a royal princess. Even in training.”
“A ridiculous law,” she said with a wry smile. “How am I to know how to battle effectively if I am cossetted.”
He advanced on her, the scowl on his face menacing, the silver in his eyes darkening to black. The scar stretched taut over his cheekbones, and she lifted a finger and traced along the puckered ridge. His many wounds and his indomitable will had been earned on bloody battlefields as he walked with loyalty beside her Kalija. A place she had never been. Xian had never fought in a war or a battle and had been protected from much by her brothers. But she would not stand by while her kingdom suffered. No more.
“Why are you displeased?”
“You have Queen’s blades: A team of ten, some of Ajali’s most merciless warriors and their sole job is to protect you. There is no need to risk—”
She slapped a hand on his chest, and he halted, certainly not by her strength. His chest felt like an immovable mountain. And at times like these, she hated their disparity in size and strength. Without the six-inch heels diamond slipper encasing her feet tonight, the top of her head would barely touch his chest.
&nbs
p; Everyone in the royal court and the kingdom insisted on treating her like spun glass. She was a master swordswoman, even if she did not practice wielding her shenkiri of fire like most citizens with serious chakra control. She was too afraid of tempting the flames buried inside of her, but that did not mean she was not a capable warrior.
“These last weeks have proven that a war hover. War, Gavyn. Not a skirmish that will be settled in a few days or weeks. We are talking about thousands of dead. Lives displaced. Homes and families destroyed. All because of a madman who only cares to amass power. The emperor of Mevia must be stopped. He came for Ajali, here in our very own realm with such ruthless boldness he steals my sleep. The empire will come again, and we must be prepared. I must be ready to fight and defend our king and people.”
Eyes without mercy set in a hard, ruthless face peered down at her. “Is that why you have been sneaking out daily to the edges of Taryllion to train?”
She sucked in a sharp breath. "You’ve set spies on me?”
“No,” he said. “I followed you myself.”
“Why?”
A hiss slipped from him. “You are mine to protect, Xian. Taryllion is the deadlands of the seven kingdoms, only the lawless lives there, the thieves, the cutthroats, the assassins and murderers. It is no place for a princess.”
She laughed and tossed her head, the thick, heavy tresses of her hair tumbling from its chignon and down to her hips. “I do not need you hovering as if I will stumble and break my delicate toe. I am a princess of this realm, and I must be ready to give my life for its protection and its people. If I must steal away and train for this, then that is what I shall do. And if you tell my brother, I will never forgive you."
“You are asking me to betray Ajali,” he growled.
“I am not. I am asking for your loyalty. I do nothing that will harm our king and our nation, so there is no fucking betrayal.”
“What is it that you fear?”
She searched his eyes. “Have you forgotten so soon? ‘I see lands ravaged by war and death. Without access to the mountains of Boreas and their elixir, your kingdom will fall under the might of Mevia and Avindar’. Those are the chilling words of the Serangite, Ruxia. We were all there when she gave them to Ajali.”
Xian paused, pushing down the fear which had lived for a long time in her since that prophecy. “It is Nuria which is to fall under the might of Mevia and Avindar. I close my eyes each night, and I see the unveiling of the prophecy, and all I feel is fear. Our kingdom must not fall, Gavyn. Our people…our people must be saved at all cost. How do you dare suggest I must not do everything in my power, as Nuria’s princess to save our people?”
He brushed his thumb tenderly over her trembling lips. “We know that prophecy is not set in stone. Did the foreseer not predict Ajali would die at the hand of a woman? And that has not come to pass.”
“Tehdra did rip out his throat!” Xian snapped.
“Yes,” Gavyn said. “But it did not lead to death, but to a love…a mating in her words…a bond that is unbreakable.”
Frustration surged through Xian. “The outcome is not what we feared, but it did happen. Exactly as the foreseer said. And that is what is important. War is inevitable. Right now, I do not care to speculate on the aftermath though I can easily envision the hopelessness and despair. What I care to prevent are the battles that will be waged. I—”
A blast, sharp and thunderous echoed with such primal power, the walls of the castle shook, and Xian stumbled. Another blast roared, then a repercussion of a long scream, so melodious and vibrant it ached the ears to endure. The soundwaves rolled through the walls of the castle and trembled over the kingdom. Another sonic blast came, then another, as the soundwaves echoed over the seven kingdoms with unrelenting force.
Dread coiled in Xian’s gut. “What is that?” she demanded hoarsely, stepping from his arms and flashing to the high turret of the eastern wing, a bird’s eye view of the castle grounds and the sleeping city of Adara. Ajali was already there with Tehdra, and his other high dukes and closest allies of the kingdom. Their faces were grim, and in their cold, hard eyes she saw the painful truth.
It was the sound of death and the promise of destruction, and it blasted from the Empire of Mevia—the kingdom of sound.
The sonic booms rippled across the sky once more, and creatures which had been in the air plummeted to their deaths, their hearts ruptured from the force of the waves. The very air and the earth beneath their feet trembled in reaction to such blatant show of power.
“It is here,” Tehdra said, lacing her fingers with Ajali’s.
"It has come too soon," her brother responded, tipping his face to the sky, his expression harsh and ruthless.
Xian walked to the edge of the balcony and gripped the ledge overlooking Adara. Towering mountains rose in splendor with waterfalls rushing down their ridges, and below the mountains, thousands of homes spread in an organized sprawl. Crystal lights were coming on by the thousands as the City of Fire, which had slept, responded to the call of violence trembling on the air. Millions of white city-lights, glinting like diamonds, burned. Their majestic capital of marble spread for miles as it woke hours before what was required. A wall of heat was suddenly at her back, but she did not lean into the silent support he offered.
Her realm was prosperous and had one of the most glamorous cities of the seven kingdoms. The people had been at peace for over one hundred years. Never in their history had another war been declared so soon after the other. And why? Greed and madness of the emperor. But surely that could not be all. What did he want? How Xian wished she could infiltrate the empire and slit his throat. But if she were to attempt such a feat, her life would be lost. The emperor was reputed to be one of the most dangerous men of the seven realms. It was even said that Darkans feared him, which is why they had aligned with him and worked to overthrow their own king from the throne.
“Say it,” she demanded hoarsely.
“It is war,” Gavyn said, his gray eyes bleak, the chilling distance in his voice an echo of the brutal fight to come.
A sudden violent mix of fear and rage like none she’d ever experienced overwhelmed Xian. She bit her bottom lip until she tasted blood.
“War has come to the seven kingdoms.”
Chapter 3
Gavyn sat in a high wing back chair in the antechamber attached to the war council. The antechamber was starkly furnished with the twin chair to the one in which he sat, an iron table, and a chaise longue by a crackling fire. The ceiling rose to more than six stories upward and was pure glass, the night sky theirs to admire with a simple tilt of their heads. After Ajali had summoned his generals, chancellors, and his Sherras—his most loyal high dukes of the realm, which had pledged their houses to him, he'd singled out Gavyn and requested a brief private audience. He tipped the goblet to his mouth and drank deeply of the wine which came from Aria. It was tangy and quite potent, and one of the realm of Earth and Sands’ most famous and expensive commodities.
“It is unusual you would wish to meet with me privately now.” Gavyn could feel the wave of energy in the room next to them as the council waited for their king to return.
Ajali did not turn around but continued staring at the sigil of his house above the crackling fireplace. His lustrous plaited locks were caught in a queue at his nape, yet they still fell to the middle of his back. His hands were clasped behind him, and his feet were braced apart. His king seemed as if the fate of the realm rested on his shoulders only, and Gavyn could sense the turbulence writhing inside his friend.
“I saw you dancing with Xian…kissing her,” he finally murmured. "You both have never shown such an obvious attachment for each other publicly before."
A stillness blanketed the room.
“And you wanted to warn me from her?” he drawled, with provoking mockery.
“No, but I did want to warn you.” Then Ajali shifted. Regret flashed in his eyes before his expression smoothed.
Gavyn�
�s hand instinctively tightened on the goblet. “Just tell me.”
“She will be leaving the kingdom tonight.”
His heart twisted with unexpected pain. “For how long?”
“She might visit from time to time…when the war is over.”
And that could be anywhere from one year to a hundred. Agony sliced through his soul like a poison-tipped dagger. A faint rumble of warning, unfamiliar and insidious, slithered through his mind.
“Do you do this to protect her?” Gavyn asked softly.
In his gut he knew it was a move to consolidate more power, but he wanted it to be something else. A coldness slowly permeated his bones and worked its way up to his heart. Let it be something else.
“Her fate was decided with the trumpet of war,” Ajali said.
A hiss escaped Gavyn, and he scrubbed a hand over his face. “She is radiant, and so damned beautiful each time I see her I fall a little bit more into her spell. Princess Xian is sharp, clever, spirited and possesses the heart of a warrior. She deserves to be a general in your army. That is how she wants to stand by your side.”
“I wish it could be different. My sister deserves the world. Gavyn, you must know that Xian is not like me,” Ajali continued. “Her heart is softer, yet at the same time, she is more unforgiving when she is wounded. She would never have accepted you once she learned your secret.”
It felt as if waves and massive boulders crashed against Gavyn’s chest, pushing him toward the earth. He stood, resting the goblet by the side table, and stared at the man who had been one of his closest friends for the past two hundred years. “You know?”
“Yes.”
Gavyn jerked as if he had been punched.
They stared at each other. There was a deadly watchfulness in the emerald eyes of his king, and something disturbingly vicious stirred in Gavyn. “How long have you known I am…different?”
“Only since Tehdra revealed herself as a Darkan a few days ago. There is something inside of her, a power that is brutal and dark. There had always been an oddness about your chakra, darkness to your life energy which I did not understand. I sense that same darkness inside of her, and it was then since I realize what it meant for you, my friend. I asked Tehdra if she sensed a demon within you, and she said no. But the first time she met you…she thought you smelled like death.”