Mate Of A Dragon Villain (Skeleton Key)

by Mandy Rosko

  When Hargreave started laying his charges against Udolf, the look on Eldric’s face was enough to suggest he didn’t believe a word of it.

  Or he didn’t want to believe any of it.

  Amanda could hardly keep both men in their seats. She wouldn’t have been able to, had Alger not been there, calming Eldric down.

  Amanda was stupid to think she could control the situation. The only person in the room she had any remote influence on was Hargreave. She was grateful when Alger insisted on keeping Eldric calm as well.

  “We should listen to what they have to say.”

  “They are liars.” Eldric turned his glare to Amanda. “I thought better of you. I don’t know what punishment will be fitting for you since you did save Alger’s life, but there will be a punishment for this.”

  Hargreave gripped Udolf’s throat enough to make the older man gasp for breath. His voice was almost animal in its cruelty. “Tell them. Tell them right now everything you confessed to me before.”

  His fingers dug so deeply into Udolf’s skin that bits of blood started to show in Hargreave’s fingernails.

  Udolf trembled, and nodded. Amanda almost felt sorry for him. “It’s true. All of it.”

  Amanda wished Hargreave wouldn’t stare at Eldric with that victorious expression on his face. At the same time, she couldn’t blame him for it either. It almost felt like a relief to hear Udolf confirm the charges, that it was Edward to start the war, Edward who had killed and ravaged Hargreave’s land and family.

  Eldric shook his head, however, and the smile melted off Hargreave’s face.

  “No. Of course he would say that. You have your claws in his throat. That proves nothing.”

  Udolf shook his head. “It is true. This is what happened. We kept it from you to protect you. Your image and the people.”

  Eldric shot to his feet. “I will hear no more of this.”

  Amanda got to her feet, too. She didn’t know what she was going to do, but Alger reached out and grabbed Eldric by the arm.

  “Eldric, stop!”

  “I will listen to no more of these lies!” Eldric tried to shove Alger off, but he wouldn’t let go.

  “Udolf speaks the truth.”

  Amanda was taken aback. She looked at Hargreave, noted his frown, and it was clear he was wondering what the hell was going on.

  So was Eldric, apparently. The expression on his face was something Amanda didn’t have a word for. Whatever confused, annoyed, and worried all at the same time could be called, that was it.

  “What?” Eldric shook his head. “No.”

  “Yes,” Alger said. “And Udolf is not confessing to his sins. Not entirely. I…I am to blame for this as well.”

  “What?”

  Everyone in the room looked at Amanda when she couldn’t contain her outburst. She covered her mouth with both hands, but she couldn’t hold back her shock. Her eyes were probably bulging right out of her head, and when she looked to Udolf, the older man shut his eyes, as though hearing such a thing was a disappointment to him.

  Eldric, a man as strong and noble as he was, looked as though the floor was falling out from beneath him. “What are you…how could you know this?”

  Alger swallowed, glanced at Hargreave, then back to his lover. “It was shortly before we met. I discovered there was a prisoner below the castle. I never saw him, but I had heard Udolf speaking with your father.”

  Alger turned to Hargreave this time. He briefly bit his lips together before meeting Hargreave’s eyes. “The man you hold was asking the king to release you. He spoke on your behalf. King Edward refused. He thought it…fitting, I suppose. To have the son of his enemy held captive.”

  Hargreave stood, taking Udolf with him. Amanda watched her lover, her mate—the fire in his eyes was very real, and it concerned her a whole lot.

  “Hargreave?”

  “And when the old bastard died? What then? You both left me there.”

  Alger raised his hands a little, as though he was trying to tame a wild, dangerous animal. Maybe he was. “If you want blood for your suffering, you may take mine. I will not fight you, but you should know, it was on my suggestion that you stayed in the dungeons.”

  Eldric frowned, looking between Hargreave and the man he trusted more than anyone else in the world. Eldric loved Alger. If Amanda was shocked, this must be tearing Eldric to pieces. “What are you saying?”

  Alger glanced at his lover, but looked away quickly, as though ashamed to hold Eldric’s gaze. “When your father died, I am ashamed to admit it was weeks before I recalled the prisoner in the dungeons. King Edward swore me to secrecy when he found me listening to his conversation that day, but with him dead, it should have ended. Once again, Udolf was ready to release you. I suggested that we not.”

  Hargreave roared and threw Udolf to the floor. The old man grunted and crawled away from the danger in the room. The shirt Amanda had bought for Hargreave burst out the back as his black and red wings made their appearance. They fluttered, as though mirroring Hargreave’s barely concealed irritation. Amanda took a step away from him, just in case the wings accidentally hit her.

  Every muscle Amanda could see was tight, bulging with tension and rage. “You kept me in there.”

  “Why do that?” Amanda asked. She needed to know this, too. It seemed…out of character. Alger was just as honorable as Eldric.

  Eldric moved to his lover’s side, staring at him, as though he’d never seen him before, but Alger refused to look him in the eye. He kept his gaze on Hargreave.

  “Your parents had long since been slain, your lands ravaged. You were the prince and rightful king of your lands. Your release could only mean war for us…and heartbreak for Eldric. Staying in that pit meant eventual, slow death, but I was a coward then. I could not put you out of your misery. Your escape was almost a relief, but war did come when you found what had happened to your family, and your land.”

  “You are still a coward.” Hargreave stomped forward.

  Amanda expected Eldric to get in the way, to stop him from attacking, but he didn’t. Eldric flinched a little when Hargreave punched Alger hard enough in the mouth to send him flying off his feet.

  Amanda shrieked a little when Alger hit the floor hard. A couple of guards rushed in, but Eldric motioned for them to stay back as Hargreave landed on him and threw his punches. Blood soon covered his knuckles, and the meaty sounds of each wet strike were going to make her puke.

  She ran to Eldric. “What are you doing? Why are you just standing here?”

  Eldric’s neck tensed. A shine entered his eyes. “I…have no right to interfere.”

  Oh Christ. Eldric would let Hargreave kill Alger to make amends.

  Being honorable was a good trait and everything, but Christ. “For God’s sake.”

  She ran to Hargreave. She yelled for him to stop. He didn’t hear her. She couldn’t get at his shoulders with those big wings in the way. They moved with each punch thrown, and Amanda needed to get around them if she didn’t want to get hit.

  She grabbed for his hands, getting blood on herself, and nearly getting punched in the process, but she eventually got his attention. “Don’t kill him! Don’t kill him. It’s over. It’s over.”

  Hargreave panted for breath. Alger was still conscious, but his face was bloody and swollen. He wasn’t so handsome now. “It’s not over until he is dead!”

  “No, no, look at me.”

  Amanda got blood on Hargreave’s face when she grabbed him by the cheeks and turned his head, forcing him to look at her. The fire was still in his eyes, but her heart clenched painfully tight, like rusty wires were wrapping around it and squeezing hard, when she saw what could have been the helpless, hurting boy he’d been in that prison.

  She spoke calmly, as softly as she could, needing to keep him with her, instead of going back to that dark place. “It’s over. You’re safe with me. All right? I promise.”

  A choked noise left Hargreave’s throat. He shook
his head, but Amanda couldn’t let him regress.

  “Listen to me, please. You need to forgive him. No, keep looking at me. Don’t turn away.”

  “He doesn’t deserve forgiveness.”

  Hargreave launched another hard punch to Alger’s face. A bit more blood smattered from his flat-looking nose. Alger groaned from the pain. He looked like he was in agony, but he wasn’t so much as lifting his hands to fight back.

  In fact, his hands were clenched into the material of his leggings, as though forcing himself to not raise his arms even in defense.

  Amanda thought of every single Dr. Phil episode she’d ever seen. “Forgiving him doesn’t mean what he did to you was all right. You hear me? It doesn’t. It just means that you can let go, that you can…I don’t know, live your life without having to think about him, or your past, controlling you. I will help you. You can lean on me if things ever get rough, and I promise I will be there, but please, don’t kill him.”

  Hargreave was silent for a moment, still glaring down at Alger, snarling, showing off the sharp points of his teeth. “Why spare his life? Why bother with him at all?”

  Amanda looked back at Eldric, who stood exactly where he’d been this entire time. The man looked like he’d been left there in chains, his face pained.

  “You need to spare his life, because then Eldric will owe you a hell of a lot more than he already does.”

  Amanda turned away from Eldric’s hopeful face. Hargreave’s frown wasn’t much better.

  “Eldric is honorable, remember? Now that he knows all this, he will help you rebuild, he’ll give back as much as he can that his father took.”

  “As much as he can?”

  Amanda bit her lips together. She wasn’t about to get into the nuances of this because there wasn’t time. She knew there was no way Eldric could give back everything his father had taken. Too many people relied on Eldric, on their king to care for them. If he suddenly went into farmlands of the people who had nothing to do with what happened to Hargreave’s family and started taking their livestock, nothing would be accomplished except more war and fighting.

  “You still have a big fortune. You can both work something out. Trade goods and anything else each of you needs. I’m sure Eldric will help with the animals, right?”

  She looked to Eldric. He nodded. “I will. I give my word.”

  Hargreave still appeared distrustful.

  Amanda needed to give him that final push. “If you spare his life, he won’t just owe you whatever help he can give, he will owe you the life of the man he loves. That is a debt he can never repay. You know this as well as he does.”

  Because Amanda knew for a fact Hargreave would feel the same way if anyone had ever saved Amanda’s life.

  Hargreave snapped his attention to her, and he smiled, a soft, sad thing. “You know me so well.”

  Amanda sighed, relief pouring over her like cold water. “So, you’ll let him live?”

  Hargreave nodded. “What was that expression you told me before? One for the road?”

  Amanda didn’t understand until Hargreave grabbed Alger by the cuff and punched him again.

  Alger covered his jaw with his hand, his face twisted in pain, but Hargreave kept smiling as he got to his feet, pulling Amanda up with him.

  Amanda wished he hadn’t punched Alger again, but she was too relieved he was sparing the man’s life to care. Besides, Hargreave had kind of earned those punches.

  “You will spare him?” Eldric asked.

  Hargreave kicked Alger’s boot, stepping away from him. “Yes, yes. I know you would only give him a lush prison with good food and your company for punishment, nothing compared to my dwellings, but I’m sparing him, and that worm of an advisor. I don’t want their lives. I want you to fuck off out of mine.”

  Eldric nodded, moving quickly to stand over Alger. “Yes, of course.”

  “And your spies in my home. Get them out.”

  Eldric nodded again, though Amanda thought she saw his brows furrow slightly.

  He might not know what Hargreave was talking about, and was just agreeing to anything at this point for Alger’s sake.

  Amanda only then realized Udolf was huddling in the corner. She felt another twinge of pity for him, but considering everything that had happened, and how it was more than likely he was the one to plant those spies and assassins, he’d gotten off light.

  “We will be leaving now,” Hargreave said. “I trust your men will not interfere?”

  Eldric bent down, putting his hand on Alger’s shoulder. The two men looked at each other, with Eldric laying a gentle touch to Alger’s bloody cheek with the back of his hand. “They will not harm you.”

  “Good. I will also take twenty cattle. Good ones for breeding, as well as twenty horses. My mate and I will need something to ride if we won’t be flying home.”

  Eldric nodded again. “Of course.”

  Hargreave hesitated. Amanda figured he wanted to ask for something else, but she also thought he was just looking to pick a fight, searching for an area where Eldric would disagree with him and deny him what he wanted.

  Eldric seemed too defeated for that, and Hargreave looked confused by it.

  He eventually looked down at her, that fragility back in his eyes. He sucked it back. “Take your bag, sweet. We are going home.”

  Chapter 18

  Amanda had only ever ridden a horse as a little girl in a carnival, and then later tried it out when she wanted to do her research on what it had felt like. Neither times had she been able to get used to it. Riding next to Hargreave, however, took her mind off of the enormous animal between her legs.

  All she could think about was the man beside her.

  “How do you feel?”

  He’d been quiet since they’d left the castle. He’d made a couple of other small demands. They had enough food and water for the journey back, as well as some blankets and other supplies to make shelter with when they had to stop for the night. Hargreave even had a spear from Eldric’s armory strapped to his back. Eldric had given him basically everything he could carry, and Hargreave hadn’t stopped frowning since they’d left.

  “Hargreave?” Amanda reached for him, touching his arm briefly before pulling back. She couldn’t keep her hands on him for too long. She was still trying to keep her balance on the horse beneath her.

  He blinked and looked at her, as if she’d just pulled him out of a trance.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I…” Hargreave looked down at the animal he rode, then at the horizon ahead of them. Long, flat grassy plains, then the blue mountains in the distance they had to get through. “I don’t know.”

  Amanda bit her lips together. “It’s okay, you know? This all happened so fast.”

  He shook his head. “It seems…too easy. I really wish I had killed that prick.”

  Amanda smiled, reaching for him again, and letting her hand linger a little longer than she probably should have. “I’m glad you didn’t, though.”

  Hargreave stopped his horse. Amanda didn’t give her horse the command to stop, but it seemed to be following Hargreave’s lead.

  Hargreave reached for her hand, holding it tightly in his own before he brought her knuckles to his lips. “And if it makes you happy, I would spare him again. Though, as much as I adore you, I will never stop being gleeful that Edward is dead.”

  Amanda grinned at him. “Good. I’m glad that stupid asshole is dead, too.”

  Hargreave’s eyes widened, and he burst out laughing. “A little killer resides in you, I think.”

  “No,” Amanda said. “At least, I hope not, but I can still be glad he’s gone, too. He didn’t sound like a nice guy.”

  To say the least.

  Hargreave kept right on smiling at her, which Amanda took to be a good thing as their horses continued to move on.

  “You know, I have to say, it’s really interesting seeing you on a horse. I don’t think I’ve ever pictured this.”


  “Oh?” Hargreave glanced at her, his eyes dancing. “And how did you see me? In flight with a weapon in my hands at all times?”

  “Well, basically, yes.”

  Hargreave chuckled. “I am sorry. I should be flying you home. That is the proper way, but this will do for now. Not a bad wedding gift for my mate, if I do say so myself,” Hargreave half turned on his horse and looked back at all the animals they had following them. He got more than the twenty cattle he’d asked for, and Amanda had to admit, she loved the horse she was riding. Eldric had given her a white horse, and congratulated her softly for her mating.

  Hargreave had taken almost a full hour inspecting the horse, making sure the shoes were on right, that it had a good temperament and wouldn’t buck her off. He did almost the same thing with the saddle.

  Yeah, he wasn’t entirely ready to forgive Eldric, but Amanda didn’t blame him. This tense peace they’d come to was better than nothing.

  “I feel just like Daenerys Targaryen on this horse.”

  Hargreave looked at her. “The warrior queen from your tales?”

  “Not mine, but I brought the books. You can read them when we get home.”

  “Ah, what gifts my mate gives to me.”

  “They’re the leather bound special edition copies!” Amanda said. “It’s basically true love that I’d even let you touch them.”

  Hargreave laughed again. “Yes, well, when we make camp for the night, I will show you how I devote my true love to you.”

  Amanda shivered. It was rocky, and she hoped things worked out between Hargreave and Eldric, but this wasn’t a bad way to start her happily ever after. “Can’t wait.”

  The End

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