“Any who is willing, dragon,” she laughed huskily and wiggled her hips, and more blood seeped from the chain and down the gown. “A girl has to feed, and with my appetite, often is preferred.”
“You’re not adding me to their numbers,” he snarled. His hands moved to his head and his fingers threaded through his hair as he calmed his breathing. His dick throbbed, and yet he held himself composed as he moved to the bed, giving Ciara his back.
“Keep testing me, and you may not like how I choose to feed you,” he warned. “I won’t be kept or swayed from my goal by a slick pussy, or a willing whore.”
He turned, dressing as his eyes assessed the damage to her midsection, wincing at the sight of her blood. The muscle in his jaw hammered, ticking wildly as he lifted his oceanic blue eyes to hers. He exhaled and shook his head.
He grabbed a shirt from the same pile his pants had been in, a sword, and a harness, and moved towards her slowly as he smiled with a coldness that sent a shiver racing down her spine. “He will come for you, even if I have to lure him with bits and pieces of you, Ciara. After I’ve killed him and taken his throne, I may just keep you chained to my bed for eternity. I wonder if you’d beg me to feed you then, or would you beg me for a painless death?”
“He has a Goddess at his side; he will not fall to you, dragon whelp,” she countered, carefully choosing her words. “Do you have any idea how powerful Synthia is? She could be in here with us right now, and you’d never know it until your blood covered this very floor. You can’t ward against her, no one can. You think she’d allow him to walk into your trap alone? She’d spot those wards inside that forest; she’d see them miles before they ever reached them. You’re a fool; take your people and leave. Live—he won’t care that you are alive, Blane, trust me. Just go. Before it’s too late,” she pleaded, her eyes searching his face for any sign he was listening. She wasn’t only speaking to him, though. She was telling Synthia what she knew, giving her a warning with her words.
“He’s the Horde King; he won’t walk in, Ciara, he’ll sift. By then, it will be too late for him to turn back. He’s a cold-blooded killer—I know. I was there when he slaughtered my people. He killed my people; my mother was raped and killed by some of his men as I watched them from where I was hidden by my mother’s maid. I won’t run from him, not again. Last time I was a mere lad; now, I’m a man who will pay him back for what he did. I won’t allow it to happen again.”
“He was following orders. He has always regretted what he was forced to do to your people,” she whispered softly. “He killed our father not long ago. He made sure that the real killer paid for his deeds.”
“He took that monster that drove your father mad into him. It’s only a matter of time before he follows his own father’s steps and destroys what little remains of this world. He didn’t kill him because of his deeds, he killed him because he craved power; we’ve heard it whispered from the very day he killed his sire. Killing Alazander doesn’t absolve him of his crimes. Those who he killed were innocent; they didn’t deserve to die like that, or to be left for the carrion birds,” he growled, his blue eyes filling with ice laced with hate as he watched Ciara swallow against the malice she saw in his beautiful, watery depths.
“My brother’s beast is his own, not my father’s. I know what he is. I was there the day he killed my father. I saw what happened and why it happened. Ryder isn’t what you think he is,” she replied carefully, watching the dragon as he moved even closer to her. “Do you think our monster of a father was any kinder to his children? He used us; he tore my brothers down until they had no choice but to do as he bid them, and if they fought against him, he would kill whoever they were closest to. He tortured them, but Ryder is not our father; they’re nothing alike.”
“And you’d lie to protect him,” he hissed.
“I’m Fae, asshole. One hundred percent High Fae royalty and you know it. I can’t lie!” she growled and glared at him. “I’m telling you the truth!”
“Who says the Fae can’t lie? The Guild? How do you know that isn’t something they fed to the Guild so that they would buy it? If I were the High Fae of old, I’d have told them the same thing. Takes out torture, now doesn’t it? They’d buy anything they told them because, of course, the Fae cannot tell a lie.”
“You’re the most stubborn asshole in this entire world! Would you listen to me?” She growled as she struggled against the chains that held her.
“The more you fight, the more you drain what little strength you have left, Ciara,” he said smoothly as his crystal blue eyes slowly trailed over her breasts where the tattered dress failed to hide her ample cleavage, which moved with every furious breath she took. “If I were you, I’d reserve that energy. I have no plans of feeding you or falling prey to your seduction, temptress.”
Ciara watched as he slowly walked to the door of the tent and stood there before turning around to look at her. “I didn’t ask for this, but I won’t allow that monster to have another opportunity to harm anyone else. To destroy any other caste of Faery. You are innocent, but so were my people. So were the infants that were killed to prevent them from becoming pets for the Horde King’s sick pleasure. The people out there?” He pointed outside of the tent. “All of them are survivors or their children. We have to kill that monster. We have waited, bided our time, and that time is now. Don’t move too much, Princess. Your blood gives me no pleasure,” he gritted out before he turned and exited the tent.
“You have to go, Synthia. You have to keep my brothers away from them. They will fight to the death, and none of them will win. I can’t live knowing that it was my actions that bring down these people or the Horde King. I know he won’t stop looking for me, but he has to.”
“Did they create the problems with the portals?” Synthia’s voice was barely above a whisper.
Ciara considered it, and then remembered what she’d overheard this morning, which had been a lot. They’d talked back and forth outside the tent without care if she heard them, which terrified her. What if he intended to kill her and she was playing into his trap? He’d made it clear he thought her no good, but was it anger talking, or him? No, she’d stay because she could do this. If she could save them and right the wrong her father had done, wouldn’t it all be worth it?
“No. They don’t bother themselves with the problems of Faery. They do, however, steal women, as they have only a few of their own. Dragon births are typically male, and since most of their females were lost in the Battle of Dragons, they now take them from villages that won’t be noticed by the Horde and mate with them. I think it’s why there aren’t thousands of them here right now. What you saw out there are the ones who were either away when the Horde attacked, were wounded and left for dead after battle, or were just small children that escaped. From what I have overheard, they have a few small encampments now, scattered in rough locations that most wouldn’t dare to think to look in. Most are not inhabited by creatures because of the locale. Dragon Aery is what they call their new home, and Blane is their born king. He was there the day Ryder slaughtered the dragons; he watched him do it.” It was amazing what you could learn in only one day of living among people. People who talked freely, unaware that her hearing carried to every end of the village and further.
“The chain, I think I can get it off of you.” She kept her voice low as she contemplated what she had been told.
“You can’t,” Ciara hissed. “It’s set to slice me in half should it be tampered with. I’m a trap, made to lure the Horde here to watch me die as they try to free me from it. Blane isn’t a bad guy; he’s damaged. He’s endured a lot, and I think I can reach him, Syn. I just need time. The chain, however, I believe is one of the relics my brother is looking for.”
“If that’s the case, it’s a pretty fucked-up relic. Ciara, I’m not leaving you here,” she snapped.
“You are because
you have to,” Ciara whispered frantically as tears slid down her cheeks. “Promise me you won’t let my brothers come. Keep them safe. I will get free, I promise.”
“If he doesn’t feed you, you’ll weaken and waste away. There is a lot of emotion in this camp. Anger, pain, resentment, hate; it’s not enough to keep you going for long,” she growled as she considered what she’d been told and what her options were.
“He will feed me,” she replied confidently. “I’m going to break through to him, and I’m going to make him see I’m flesh and blood, just as he is. You have to go now. Please, trust me. My brothers don’t; they think I’m weak because I was born female, but I’m not. I can do this, and end this war before it really starts.”
Synthia frowned and hope flared in Ciara. Her hand lifted to rest on Ciara’s shoulder, and she paused, wondering what she was doing. The wards began to glow, and panic entered her mind as her eyes grew large and rounded until Synthia pulled back her magic. Magic filtered into her body, megawatts of it that replenished what she’d lost. The aches and pains lessened as her skin turned bronzed, and her hair shined from the power within her.
She leaned in, hugging Ciara tightly before whispering in her ear. “Ciara, I will come back for you. I will figure out how to remove that chain, and I will come to get you. You have a very short window of time; I can’t watch your brothers endure failure as they come home without you for much longer. Do what you can, but I will be back. Understood?”
“He comes,” she whispered, and turned away, ignoring Synthia as she vanished from sight as the dragons and their king rushed into the tent.
“She did it,” one of the men cheered from inside the tent. “I told you she was too vain to remain dirty,” he snickered as he grabbed her arm and turned it over. “Vanity is a bitch, Ciara.”
“Is it?” she purred as her eyes lifted to Blane’s. “Or was it something else?” she smiled saucily.
“Ready the weapons and have the men prepare to fight the Horde, should they come for her,” Blane gritted out coldly.
Ciara prayed to the Gods her choice to remain behind wouldn’t be in vain, that she would be able to fix this thing between her people and theirs, or that she’d escape it somehow on her own without having to get help to do so.
Chapter Thirteen
Ciara watched Blane pace outside the tent, his energy dampening as he realized the Horde wasn’t coming. No, he had no idea how close to death he’d been today or that she’d been the one thing standing between him and it. She could see his shadow bathed by the flames from the campfires, smell the alcohol as they drank deeply, oblivious to everything around them once they figured out the danger had passed. He flipped the makeshift door open and moved through it, glaring at her as if she’d betrayed him.
There was a calmness inside of her, something she hadn’t felt in a long time when he was near, and that both bothered and comforted her. How could she feel it around him of all people? She should be terrified, and yet she wasn’t here—not with him.
“You lied to me,” he accused coldly.
“No, I did not. I’m not capable of it. You see, it’s not something we just made up. I literally cannot lie to you. If it makes you feel better to believe otherwise, then so be it. You also might want to tell your soldiers and people to talk less, because they never shut up. Especially your women. You actually steal women from other villages? And yet we are the bad guys? Kettle, meet the clock.”
“It’s pot.”
“What’s pot?”
“The saying, it is kettle meet the pot.”
“Whatever,” she sighed. “Do I get to stand here all night, or what’s the plan?” she asked as her shoulders slumped.
“Who was inside this tent with you?” he asked. “I heard you talking to someone, and yet here you are, still with me. If it was someone related to you, I doubt they’d have left you here.”
“Not related, no. It was a Goddess,” she smirked seductively.
“Enough games,” he growled.
“Or what, you going to spank me? Because I’m down to try it. I mean, I don’t think I would like it, but we can go there if it’s what you want, big boy. You know, unless I’m too much of a cock-monger for you to handle. You know, with all the dick I get on the side and all,” she laughed, knowing to him it would sound like a truth, that she was telling the truth, but she was joking, which made her able to say it. His jaw hammered as he stared at her. “Oh that’s right, you don’t like leftovers.”
“If you can’t lie, then a Goddess was here? Then why are you still here, Ciara? Why didn’t you leave with her?”
“Because you have a chain set to slice me in half should I try to escape,” she pointed out, and he blinked at her words. He hadn’t told her that little tidbit yet. His people had. Some wanted to remove her from the tent just to watch it happen. Hearing them speak of it told her that some probably couldn’t be swayed to their side, but Blane was conflicted; he wanted her, and he didn’t enjoy the fact that she was bleeding.
“How did you learn of that?” he asked.
“Maggie? I think that was her name. Anyway, she and some of the other girls who wanted to join your bed and take my place wanted to watch it happen. Watch me be torn apart, and that’s pretty messed up, by the way. You could have given a girl a heads up, ya know?” she replied. “Maybe like hey, girl, you’re about to be cut up into two pieces should you try to escape. Might keep me from actually trying to escape, you know?”
“Why would I? You’re my enemy.”
“Am I? Because I’m pretty sure I never trespassed on you or those outside this tent who want me dead. You have me wearing a dead woman’s dress to remind you of who I am; morbid much? Tell me, dragon, did you forget who I was when you kissed me last night? Was that why I was removed from your bed and made to stand all night long? Or is that to make me hate you?”
“You heard a lot today,” he said, scratching the back of his head as he held her eyes.
“I did,” she agreed. “Especially how you are a lady pleaser, and yet here I am, aching because you couldn’t find the hole.”
“I wasn’t trying to fuck you,” he snapped as his eyes heated and he strode forward, closing the distance between them. “If I had, you’d be sore, and I wouldn’t be walking around wondering what you felt like from the inside, princess. You keep taunting me, and I’ll make sure you know what it feels like to have me inside you.”
“Blah, blah, blah. Your lips are flapping, and all I hear is your aim sucks,” she laughed throatily. “You don’t deserve to know what I feel like on the inside. Not when you plan to cut me up. That would just make me a little insane to want some asshole that plans to murder me anyway, no matter what happens in the end. Now wouldn’t it? I mean, according to your people I’m already dead, I just don’t know it yet. How did they put it? Oh yeah, I’m too fucking thick in the head to know I’m a dead woman.”
“They hate you and your kind,” he admitted.
“You know, fighting for peace and going to war for it is like fucking someone and then hoping they’re a virgin again afterwards. You don’t fight for peace, you ask for it. If you ask for it, you might get it outright. The problem is you’re so full of rage that you can’t. You want war, you want the fight. Yet no one who enjoyed killing your people were allowed to live. They all were slaughtered beside my father; even my brothers who enjoyed it were killed. Bet you didn’t know that, did you? We killed them right alongside the monster that created them. None were allowed to live because we don’t want to live like that anymore. You say you’ve learned who we are, studied us. You must suck at it. If you’d done half of what you said you had, you’d know that. There wouldn’t be a look of doubt in your eyes at my words, because you’d have learned it. Why do you think you’re not hunted anymore?”
“Because you thought you’d killed us out,�
� he admitted.
“No, no, we hoped that we hadn’t; that by some miracle some escaped. You assumed, and that means you half-assed it too, which means you not only suck at aiming, you suck at finding facts.”
His hands reached up, untying hers and then he knelt at her feet, unbinding them. Once he’d released her, he grabbed the hem of her dress and lifted it over her head. She stood before him, bare and unafraid.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He grabbed her hair without warning, pulling her across the room to the bed where he tossed her upon it, climbing up behind her. His body captured hers beneath it, blocking any exit she had with his bulky frame.
“Blane, what are you doing?” she whimpered as he pulled his shirt over his head and then slowly worked his pants, pushing them down just far enough to release his cock. “Slow down, Blane,” she whimpered as his dark head bent low, capturing her puckered nipple between his teeth, pulling on it as he rolled it between his teeth as his traced circles over it. Her back lifted and she moaned as pleasure shot through her. Her hands threaded his hair, holding his heated mouth to her breast. She moaned as she fought to pull from the haze of lust he created in her mind, body, and soul.
“I’m showing you that I can aim just fucking fine,” he growled huskily as he parted her thighs and knelt between them.
“Not like this, not angry,” she whimpered as panic reared its ugly head, and she eyed the flap of the tent. She wasn’t sure what she wanted, but it wasn’t what he planned to do. She could smell the liquor on his breath. She parted her legs, expecting to be able to dislodge him, but it wasn’t what happened.
He pushed against her opening as she tightened her fingers against his shoulders, trying to reach him before he did something they’d both end up regretting. She arched into his body, and all it took was one thrust. One calculated thrust and she screamed as he battered past her maidenhead, ruining any chance of a marriage that she’d forged based on her purity. Her entire body tensed as pain tore through her. A screamed bubbled in her throat as her centuries of sacrificing and maintaining her purity were ruined just like that.
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