“Voryn, a word, please,” he called after me. I had never heard such anxious undertones in his voice before. His grimace told me everything I needed to know, even if he hadn’t meant to show his emotions. He was strong and fearless for his men, yet he was as distressed as any of us.
His somber expression added years to his already aging face, the usual brightness of his eyes swirling with anguish. I quickly crossed the room to offer words of comfort or encouragement, although I didn’t rightly know what I would say as I reached him.
“How can I help? Your face suggests hell itself swallowed you whole and spat you back out.”
I half expected he would at least attempt to chuckle at my jest, but none came. His face darkened instead, his brows knit in worry. He inhaled deeply. “I have been meaning to speak to you about something before today, yet it never seemed the right time,” he began. “I think now I had better be out with it.”
His words perplexed me; we had always been on excellent terms and he trusted me with his life, with secrets that I’d sworn to take to my grave. To each man his business, but he had never kept anything of urgency from me.
“But is everything all right?’ I asked, unable to mask my confusion.
He tilted his head low to hide his expression in the torch’s leaping shadows. “This mission means a lot to many, so we must not fail in rescuing the princess. I would not forgive myself if she were lost forever. My heart would break. I would die to protect her.”
“As would we all,” I replied, considering his words and struggling to keep my thoughts to myself. How I wished to tell him that at this very moment my heart was breaking to think she might never again grace us with her presence.
Instead, I kept it to myself. It was pure folly to speak of the princess as my lover, a promised woman with whom I had no chance.
Derene stood from his chair at the head of the Council table, placing his hand on my shoulder. Our gazes met, his eyes dark pools glazed with tears he refused to let fall. I stepped back slightly, allowing me a fraction of distance to breathe. He allowed his arm to fall limp by his waist before resting it on the hilt of his sword, his thumb caressing the intricate polished bronze engravings at its end.
“I believe,” he began, his voice heavy. He fell into a dark silence, then tried again. “I believe you mistake the purpose of this conversation.” Unease threaded through his words.
I struggled to decipher what he might mean. Mistake the purpose? There was no mistaking our need to rescue the princess, nor her need to be rescued.
“How do I misunderstand? Please, sir, speak frankly. There is no time to waste. Every second puts distance between the princess and us, and—”
“The princess is dear to me,” he interjected. “I will not permit these heathens to spirit her away, taking my heart with her.”
The weight of his words crashed into me, making my head spin.
My shoulders and back tensed. Had I misheard? No, he couldn’t possibly…
His blade in my side would have been more pleasant and welcome at that moment. I tried to swallow but my mouth was too dry to rid me of the bitterness within. I should have claimed her when I had the opportunity...
I knew that other men gazed longingly at her, but Derene…
The gods had to be playing a sick game with me. The one person I trusted and held the highest opinion of was after my Baera.
But I wasn’t about to let him think he could do it so easily.
“So all this time you were after her and you couldn’t at least tell me?” I gritted out through clenched jaws. My teeth ground together like a mortar and pestle over cornmeal, the lack of moisture creating a strange friction between them.
“I thought you knew,” he replied softly. “Could you not see?” He shifted his view from me to focus on an object across the room as he combed his fingers through his greying hair. “The gods save me, I noticed how you felt.”
He’s too old for her, I wailed internally, barely managing to contain my misery.
Leaning back, Derene rested his hand on the table, spilling an inkpot in the process.
He sought a rag nearby and in his haste to mop up the splotchy mess he stained the front of his tunic, all the while continuing to shield his face from view.
“So you thought you could deliver this news before we leave to rescue my Baera and all would be well between us? I held you in high regard all this time… and even so, you betray me…”
My voice trailed off, my mind racing with a hundred things to say, yet I didn’t have the energy to speak them into reality.
Small beads of sweat dripped down my neck over throbbing veins, tickling as they went. I pulled at my collar to release some of the heat trapped between my tunic and my skin.
“She is meant for neither of us, my friend,” Derene said softly. “And yet, if she remains too long with the Gold Dragonlord, Prince Belamere might decide she’s damaged goods.”
“And if that happens?”
Derene’s silence told me more than if he had shouted it. He meant to keep her for himself and was putting me on notice.
I shook my head. I wasn’t going to do this, not now. I didn’t even know where to find the princess and Derene thought it the best time to drop a bomb like this on me. I was at a loss as to why—or who in his right mind would act in such a manner.
I simply wanted her back.
No. That wasn’t entirely true.
I wanted her close to me so that I might hold her close, take in the scent of her, feel her bosom against my chest…
I couldn’t allow this mishap to be the reason I lost my focus. Without another word I turned and strode away, almost dismantling the door from its hinges as I slammed it behind me. The more space there was between the two of us, the better.
Even if it was only a few inches of oak.
Mystrel
The journey to Meres had been a long one, but extraordinarily fulfilling. Everything had gone according to plan—I was expecting more from Aere and his men, but they had made it far too easy for me to steal away one of their treasures. The princess Baera was even more beautiful than I’d been advised—so painfully beautiful that it was difficult to keep my composure as I held her in my talons.
The poor foolish bastard. I almost felt for her father, but he brought it upon himself by refusing to meet my demands. A dragon is never denied his hoard. And my inner dragon had become stronger in recent years, burying what little human emotion remained.
I made my way to my chambers. After such a long trip I would need some rest, but not before my appetite was attended to. A meal and a good fuck sounded perfect right now.
Too bad I couldn’t take the princess to my bed. Sadly, though, I needed her to maintain her value in her father’s eyes if I wanted to be able to use her to force his hand.
That did not, however, mean that I couldn’t play with her, rather like a cat playing with a mouse.
I grinned at the thought. It wasn’t as good as a meal and a fuck. But I could at least still have a meal afterward.
Food first.
I was halfway across the room, on my way to pull the cord to summon a servant, when a blast shook the stones beneath my feet. A wave of crackling power swept through me, tugging at my dragon, almost forcing me to shift against my will.
All over the castle, I heard the clarion calls of my people, not as strong as I, changing into their dragons and taking flight.
I changed course almost immediately, following the remnants of power down to the dungeon, where I expected to find the princess pouting in her cell.
Instead, as I moved down the stairway, I was met with unusual silence.
And darkness. The entire cell room was cloaked in blackness, save a slight purple glow coming from one of the cells. Pausing at the foot of the stairs, I drew on my inner dragon to conjure a tiny flame in my hand, lighting the room.
On the floor in front of me, still scattered where they had dropped, all my guards lay dead.
T
hey had been in a circle, obviously paying attention to something other than my prisoner. With a low curse, I stepped closer, leaning down to find runestones strewn among them. At the sight, my curses redoubled.
I hurried to the princess’s cell, the source of the purple glow. She, too, lay in a heap on the ground, having collapsed where she stood.
But that glow surrounding her. Surely it couldn’t be…
“Damned fools,” I muttered to the dead guards. “Bringing runestones out when you were meant to be guarding the new prisoner.”
I snatched the keys from a guard’s cold hand and swung open the princess’s cell door.
If that glow was the magic I thought it was, she couldn’t be dead. I checked her pulse. It was strong, as was her breath.
Thank all the gods above and below.
I could never let her know what had happened to the guards. Or what role the runestones had played. Not if I wanted to reach my end goals.
My new end goals.
And if the princess was to play the role I had in mind for her, I could not leave her locked away in the dungeon, either.
I had known she was a treasure. Beautiful, royal, and the key to Aere’s kingdom.
She was more than that, however. If I was right about what had happened here, she was the key not merely to Aere’s kingdom, but to the entire world.
Extinguishing my light fire, I scooped her up in my arms, carrying her unconscious form lightly as I stepped over the dead guards’ bodies, glancing at them in disgust. I would have to send someone down here to clean this up.
Eyeing the runestones, I paused. Shifting the princess’s weight, I crouched down and supported her with one knee as I quickly scooped up the stones and dropped them into a pocket of my robe.
Those would have to be hidden away from the princess, as well, unless I wanted her to come into her full power before I had claimed her as my own.
As I carried her up the stairs toward my bedchamber, I considered what it meant to have accidentally taken the heir to the power of the Dragonshadow.
“How did you come to be born so far away from the Dragonlands, little one?” I murmured as I closed the door to my chamber behind me with one foot and placed her gently on my bed.
She stirred but did not awaken.
I flung myself down into one of the wingback chairs by the fireplace, watching the princess sleep and considering my next move.
A slow smile spread across my face.
Looked like I would be fucking her, after all.
Not tonight, of course. And perhaps not for many nights to come. Not until she was all but mine, anyway.
Then, however, I would take her—and with the power of the Dragonshadow and my strength combined, I would be able to rule much more than simply my own kingdom and her father’s.
First the continent, and then the entire world would become my kingdom.
I threw my head back and laughed softly.
“You are more than I ever expected you to be,” I said to her.
I could not believe my good fortune.
It had to be fate.
Baera
I was dreaming. I knew it even as I raised my hands high above my head, purple lightning flashing between them, sparking through the blue fog that swirled and rolled around me.
Three men stepped out of the darkness.
I recognized them all.
Sir Voryn, with his muscular shoulders and exquisitely large member, knelt before me first, his eyes shining up at me.
“You are mine.” I smiled gently at him, and he nodded.
I placed my hand on his head, sending my power surging into him and pulling it back to tie it into all that I had already taken. “I claim you as my own, take you into my heart as I did into my bed, draw from you your courage and strength.”
“I give to you my courage and strength,” he repeated, his words crackling with power, echoing through the empty space we occupied.
He stood and leaned in to kiss my lips, the taste of him both familiar and strange. My dream-self knew we belonged together.
He is mine.
Just as those odd stones were mine, the part of me standing outside the dream mused.
Next, Sir Derene, his eyes dark pools of passion and knowledge, moved smoothly to kneel before me, as he had so often knelt before my father. “I am yours,” he said proudly. “Now and always.”
I smoothed his greying hair back, resting my hand on his head, and allowed my power to rush into the space he opened for it. “I claim you as my own, take you into my heart as I did into my bed, draw from you your wisdom and your loyalty.”
“I give to you my wisdom and my loyalty,” he completed the oath.
Finally, Mystrel strode into sight, taking in Voryn and Derene in a single glance and dismissing them just as quickly. He stopped before me, resisting the need to drop to his knees.
“You are mine,” I proclaimed.
His muscles strained as he fought against the compulsion, but he could not bring himself to walk away. Only when it overwhelmed him did he finally bend his knees to kneel.
I considered him for a long moment before placing my hand on his head. His heat nearly singed my palm until I countered it with my own. “I claim you as my own, take you into my heart as I did into my bed, draw from you your fire and your passion.”
His jaws clenched, he ground out, “I give to you my fire and my passion.”
I pulled the ancient blade from its place on the stone altar behind me, carved with the same symbols as the stones. “Give me your left palms as you give me your strengths.”
They all three held out their hands, even Mystrel unable to resist the magic flowing to encompass us, growing as the ceremony continued.
I sliced my left palm first, the palm of the heart-hand, the hand of giving. Dipping the blade into the shallow cut each time, I cut first Voryn, then Derene, then Mystrel. Then I repeated the process with our right hands, the hands of receiving. I moved from each one to the next, holding their right hands with my left, their left with my right, so we each gave and received in an unending circle.
“Stand,” I instructed them.
Placing the knife back upon the altar, I gestured for them to join me.
That’s when the part of me outside the dream realized the stones with the markings were laid out upon the altar. Somehow, they were part of this.
“With our touch, our blood, and our strengths, we bind ourselves to this sacred duty,” I intoned, placing my bloodied palms upon the altar. My three men spread out to encircle the altar with me, placing their own palms flat on the stone and repeating my words.
Purple and blue flames swept up around us, encircling us in pure power. Lightning flashed from the ground and the sky, crackling and dancing. And with a cracking boom of thunder, the altar split in two, revealing, hidden in its depths, a gleaming sword, glowing with the runes that had been written on the broken altar and on the stones—stones that had, I realized, disappeared entirely.
I sat up with a gasp, waking to find myself in the Dragonlord’s bed, with the gold man—Mystrel, I remembered from my dream—sleeping beside me.
Derene, Voryn, and Mystrel
“I claim you as my own, take you into my heart as I did into my bed, draw from you…” Baera’s voice echoed around me, through me, tugging at me from my heart to my balls.
Her power claimed me, made me hers. As the magic of the Dragonshadow slammed into me, taking everything I was, everything I ever had or would be, a glowing ecstasy poured in to take the place of anything I might have lost.
I am hers.
Now and forever.
“With our touch, our blood, and our strengths, we bind ourselves to this sacred duty.” I repeated the words, the joy of giving her what she needed sending tears streaming down my face.
And when the stone altar broke, revealing her sword, I knew without any doubt that this was my destiny.
Together, the four of us had a duty. We three owed her our fea
lty, our lives, our unbreaking loyalty.
But she owed us her soul.
And together, we would mend our broken world.
Or, if it would not be mended, we would destroy it entirely.
“No!”
My shout awoke me from my dream.
I could not allow that to happen.
I would not.
This was not the future.
It was not written in stone.
And yet, as if echoing across time itself, I heard the words again.
I claim you as my own.
Love this story? Be sure to leave a review for the set! Want to read more about Baera, Voryn, Derene, and Mystrel? Preorder The Princess Assassin’s Blade, Book 1 of the Dragonshadow Chronicles.
About the Author
K.M. McKenna is the shared pen name of NYT bestselling author Margo Bond Collins and Krystal Pena. Under this name, the pair writes new adult fantasy with strong heroines and anti-heroines at center stage.
KM McKenna is currently writing their first series, an exciting epic fantasy featuring dragons and a quest to save the world from an encroaching darkness.
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A Weekend To Remember
Eden Rose
One
I’ve always enjoyed wearing a dress without underwear on. There’s something sensual and exotic about it. The thought of me able to lift my skirt up and to show everyone my freshly waxed pussy has always excited me and makes my fangs drip with venom.
Which is why my mate and I are at the bar right now. I’m not entirely sure that he knows I’m not wearing any underwear and I’m not going to tell him until hopefully later. We are at the bar to see if I can find a third for our “Save the Marriage” operation. Joe and I are stretched along the plush seats of the bar and I’m busy scanning the crowd.
Wicked Souls: A Limited Edition Reverse Harem Romance Collection Page 184