Dragon Envy

by Kelly Armenta

  Tdem frowned and shook his head. “I did not think… it is a rare gift indeed,” he muttered. “So few have the gift to charm the beasts of the field.”

  Oh I thought, wondering if it was something new from my excessive sex drive or something I’d been able to do for a while. The fairy steeds had seemed to hear me, but none had spoken to me directly. I wasn’t sure if it was something new or not. I didn’t tend to hang out in meadows and until recently had spent the majority of my life shielded. Sighing, I turned back to the path and noticed that Kit was nearly to the meadow floor, so we strolled along after him. I stopped several more times along the way to greet various animals, much to Tdem’s annoyance. “They seem charmed indeed by Your Majesty. Let us hope they do not attempt to follow you home,” he remarked and I glanced around to see several faces peeking out of the tall grass behind us. “I think you are a novelty. It has been a very long time since we entertained a Dragoness in our Sidhe, and I do not believe this Sidhe has ever boasted a Queen.”

  Hmmm, I thought. “Tdem, where are we?” I asked, looking around at the landscape spread out before us.

  He tilted his head and glanced down at me as we walked. “I am not sure what you mean,” he told me. “We are in the Seelie caverns within the Sidhe.”

  “So this is not part of the UnSeelie’s lands?” I asked and looked up at him while he pressed his lips together and his eyes became veiled.

  “No, Your Majesty. The Seelie are a people of light. The UnSeelie are more comfortable with the night,” he replied evasively.

  “So if I were to visit the UnSeelie Court?” I asked, and within my mind a rushing of voices cried out sharply and then fell silent.

  “You would not find our caverns as charming as these,” He replied in a steely voice.

  “Oh? Did you return to your court earlier when you left? Or did you go somewhere else? Who is minding your kingdom while you are here with me strolling the Seelie caverns?” I asked curiously.

  Tdem glanced down at me and frowned then nearly growled, “None but I mind my kingdom. To think otherwise would be dangerous.”

  Obviously a sore subject, I thought, and winced as his nostrils flared and his eyes nearly glowed. “I did not intend to insult you, Tdem. I have been told next to nothing of the UnSeelie court and was merely curious,” I said and he seemed to struggle with his upset for several seconds before seeming to conquer it.

  “My pardon, Your Majesty,” he replied in a calm voice that was in direct contrast to the look still simmering in his eyes. “I know you did not mean to challenge my authority. It is difficult at times to remember just how unfamiliar you are with our ways.”

  “Tell me, does your court resemble this one?” I asked him and gave him a tug so that we might start walking again.

  “In which way, Your Majesty?”

  “Does it have Dukes and Earls and royal families?” I asked. “How is a King chosen? Do your people decide law or is that something only their King can do?”

  Tdem considered my words quietly before answering. “The UnSeelie court is similar in many ways to the Seelie; however my court is less politic and focuses more on individual strengths. To become a power you must be strong. Weakness is not a trait that will earn you a place at my high table,” He assured me, then added in a rather pious tone, “Yet unlike the Seelie we will accept anyone, as long as they can earn their place or provide a service. I do not tolerate sloth,” He assured me tightly and I nodded, pressing my lips together. “Our laws are simple, easily learned, and quickly punished if broken. We do not tolerate infidelity, traitors, or unlawful intercourse with humans except in times of war. Children are precious to us and to abuse a spouse or perform rape of any kind is punishable by death. Duals are overseen by the court and anyone may challenge anyone at any time, no matter rank or office. Ours is not a peaceful court, as there is ever one fraction or another vying for higher rank. I do not encourage infighting, but neither do I discourage it, as it keeps the court strong. Simple infractions are overseen by my nobles while I alone have the final say over any arbitration. My court does not hold session daily, yet anyone may call a conclave at any time.”

  We reached the meadow where Kit was standing watching the horses a short distance from us. Kit turned to me, his eyes wide. “I have never seen such an animal not even in your dreams.”

  “Elfin Horses… they are very beautiful,” I called to him and one of the horses threw up his head and glanced toward me out of large champagne colored eyes. I smiled and he snorted, tossing his head and sending his long mane floating on the air. I dipped my head to him, acknowledging his silent welcome.

  Tdem gripped my shoulders and turned me toward him. He seemed impatient with me, annoyed that my concentration had left him even momentarily. Apparently he was still angry with me. But his anger seemed very much out of proportion. And his hands seemed to burn where they touched my skin.

  “You asked how we choose a King,” his eyes narrowing slightly when I nodded. “Then observe,” he growled softly and over head the sky went grey while storm clouds gathered, the wind howled and I watched as the horses, obviously alarmed, fled across the meadow.

  My hair whipped around me and lightning flashed to the ground mere feet from where we stood. This was like Cam’s earlier display in the bathtub only this was on a much larger scale. Tdem’s eyes bled to solid black. His face darkened as I watched and his lips opened revealing his canine like teeth, while he seemed to grow by several inches. Twilight spread across the sky and within the clouds pitch black ooze began pulsing and growing, as if something was trying to escape through it. Behind us I heard voices crying out. Tdem’s hands tightened on my arms as the ooze split and something spilled out. My eyes were drawn to a creature so hideous that my mind struggled to encompass its form. The wind tore the breath from my lungs and I watched in numb horror as more nebulous malformed creatures clawed their way out of the ooze and circled the sky above us. Tdem’s face and body began to glow an eerie shade of black, sheened in blue. The change in him caused me to tear my eyes from the creatures hanging over our heads to look full at him.

  “Enough!” I yelled and forced myself to look into his face. He stared down at me with eyes through which I could see… what I suspected might be on other side of the ooze staining the sky above us. When he failed to heed me I did the only thing I could think and reached for him, mentally and physically. My hands rose to his chest and my mind slid into his.

  Tdem’s consciousness was like a maze and I fell into it, trapped suddenly within. Rage filled every corner, and blood red horrors too ghastly to contemplate crawled and flopped upon the outer edges. My mind shrank back from their forms. Overwhelmed, my mind turned and ran from them, forcing my way inward calling to Tdem as I went.

  Time ceased to exist and I could no longer tell how long I had been searching when a voice echoed through me like a sonic wave, ‘You should not be here!’ It vibrated through my very being and I turned anxiously searching the surrounding darkness in vain. And then the horror was upon me, it’s wet scaly form sliding over top of me, coating my being and pressing me down while its teeth tore into me and I struggled but could find no way of escape.

  My red door was ripped open and lust poured into Tdem’s mind, covering us both with a limitless store of desire. Red eyes blinked at me and pale fangs appeared in the dark while I reared back fighting to breathe. An alien intelligence pressed against me.

  By stopping I realized I had allowed it to catch me. It now had a taste of my lust and I could sense it wanted more… perhaps all of it. I had little doubt it would kill me to get at it if necessary. This creature seemed filled with a bottomless rage, the lust it had stolen from my mind, and an envy that engulfed everything it touched. My mind buckled as the creature quashed me under its onslaught. I tried to resist, but the pure evilness of it coated every corner of my being. It filled me up with its need to take, until it seemed there was nothing left of me. I could not fight the invasion, and my mind shudd
ered as the alien lifeform overtook me. I cried out to Danu to save my soul, then oblivion swallowed me whole and I simply knew no more.

  Read on for an excerpt from

  Dragonfire Romance Book 4

  DRAGON GREED

  By Kelly Armenta

  Chapter 1

  Awareness crept back into my consciousness slowly. My head hurt, the pain felt like a vice clamped around my forehead. Beneath my cheek the floor was smooth and cool, yet hard like marble. I cracked open my eyes and groaned at the pain. When I would have reached for my head, I discovered my hands were somehow chained together behind my back. The room I was in was pale grey and I lifted my head and glanced around, sensing I was not alone. Everything about this place was grey including the old crone of a woman seated in the corner some ten feet from me. Her hair was stringy, her body emasculated. Pale rheumy eyes stared back at me from a heavily wrinkled face. She was wearing a long grey dress covered in a tattered cloak that was slightly darker. Across her lap was a staff which looked to be made from some form of knobby wood. Tied at her waist was a large leather pouch with a draw string. Her feet were bare and her hair was pooled onto the floor beside her. If she stood it would likely still reach the floor, it seemed so long.

  I used my shoulder and pushed myself up into a kneeling position, eyeing the crone cautiously. “Hello,” I greeted her and watched as she blinked at me slowly and tilted her head to the side. “Where are we?” I asked, glancing around the room and finding that there were bars covering the one wall behind me. The other walls were grey, perhaps marble, a match to the floor. I lifted myself to my feet and walked to the bars trying to catch a glimpse up and down the corridor without success. Across from our cell was another that held nothing, or no one that I could see.

  My eyes searched the bars and found the door, but the lock was not of any make I’d ever seen. I stepped back and bent my knees lowering my hands so that I could step through them, bringing them to my front. About my wrists were silver bands linked together by silver chain. I tried my strength to break free but only earned some nasty bruises for effort. On my right wrist was a mark burned into my skin, almost like a tattoo. I glanced at it curiously, while my mind skittered around my pain and I tried to remember where it might have come from.

  “You are in Oiotellad, child,” the old crone rasped, her voice sounding like old parchment.

  “And where is that?” I asked turning back to her.

  “It is… everywhere and… nowhere,” she told me calmly and I frowned.

  “Who are you?”

  “Morai,” she replied and turned her bird like face up to me. “I am she that is Keeper of Souls.”

  “And what do you here?” I asked, turning fully back to her and stepping away from the bars and to the nearest wall, where I proceeded to pace off the dimensions of the room. It appeared we were in a fifteen foot square enclosure, actually quite large for a cell. There were no seats or buckets or windows to be seen. Just smooth marble and silver bars. Even the ceiling looked to be marble.

  “It is where I am most needed at this time,” She remarked and a chill ran up my spine.

  I tilted my own head and stared down at her. “Have we been here long?” I asked, grateful that my headache seemed to be easing.

  “What is time to an immortal?”

  “You are immortal?” I asked and she blinked again and nodded.

  “Yes, as are you child.”

  Oh, I thought, and started searching the walls, looking for a crack in the marble or some sort of hidden doorway. “You do not talk much,” I remarked, coming to the end of the wall after having run my fingers over every line and imaginary crack I could find, all to no avail.

  “Perhaps you have not yet asked the right question,” She responded with a sly smile.

  I turned to the next wall and considered her response. “Why am I here?” I finally asked.

  “I believe you angered Kaela Mensha by challenging his Blade.”

  Kaela Mensha? Who was that and why would I have challenged his Blade? Was his Blade a person or thing? If a man, was he incompetent? No, obviously not, or I wouldn’t have found myself chained and locked away in his prison. I did not remember challenging anyone. Had it been a mistake? It might help if I knew who this person was. Aside from the fact that he was male, I had very little to go by. “Can you tell me who he is and do you think he is planning to keep me here forever? I can’t quite remember, but it seems there is something I needed to be doing.”

  The crone sighed and turned her staff in her lap. “Kaela Mensha’s areas are blood and death, just as mine are soul keeping. It is he that enhances war-like qualities. To know him is to embrace rage and use it to increase power. As to your other question, I do not believe even Kaela would do such a thing. At least not once he realizes he’s been used.”

  After having searched all four walls, I turned to her and seated myself on the floor some three feet away. I pushed back my long golden reddish hair and realized I was quite naked. For what reason was I naked while she was clothed? For what reason was I here? Apparently this person Kaela was not going to keep me here forever which was a good thing. Though who might use a God? I wondered then sighed, so many questions. Perhaps I simply needed to wait a short while and I would find myself free once again? I sensed that patience was not a problem for me.

  Morai watched me closely; her pale eyes steady upon my face as if she was waiting patiently herself. Waiting for me to do or say something. I shifted slightly upon the cool floor and thought about it. Why would the Keeper of Souls be here with me, locked in a cell in this grey place? “What does Oiotellad mean?” I asked and she smiled and nodded once.

  “I believe child, that you might call it… the Everlasting.”

  Author’s Note

  Thanks so much for reading! I hate deadlines so if you want to know when the next book will be released you can follow me on Facebook (kellyarmenta) or Twitter (@KellyArmenta). Or you can check out my website at www.kellyarmenta.com for some of my favorite art.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Editing was handled by me. So if you see something you believe needs changing, feel free to contact me. If you like the artwork I can recommend Jason Russell, Graphic Designer at artistjrussell@gmail.com and you can get some awesome artwork for yourself.

  A special thanks to my family for their encouragement and my fans for their continued patience and support.

  Other works by Kelly Armenta

  Dragonfire Series

  Dragon Lust

  Dragon Rage

  Coming Soon

  Dragon Greed

  Western Romance

  Willful Deception

  Golden Dream

  The Right Man