“I’m doing it!” she exclaimed, pleased with herself.
“Yes, you are!”
Rion was literally flying in circles around her. “Let’s race!”
If she were human, she would have socked him square in the chest. “Don’t make me hurt you.”
He grinned, then twirled as he flew, doing loop-de-loops in the sky.
“Now you’re just showing off!”
“What else can I do to win my lady fair than to show off my prowess as a dragon?” he asked against the wind.
“You were doing a damn fine job on the ground.”
“Ah, indeed I was.”
Now that Alana knew what her magic felt like inside of her, she decided to play with it a little. What if she…
“What was that?” Rion asked, alarmed.
She laughed and smacked his backside again.
Without warning, Rion tackled her in the air. They both went spinning, but she knew he wasn’t serious, if his chuckling was any clue. His dragon teeth lightly bit her shoulder and she gasped, amazed that she could still be so turned on in this form.
Her tail whipped around and struck his wing in a pitiful effort to keep him at bay, but he wasn’t having it. His legs wrapped around her while his long, lithe tongue tickled her newly formed ear.
A lightning bolt struck her and she could barely breathe. Agony such as she’d never known seared right through her, breaking her concentration and plummeting her from the sky.
“Alana!”
She couldn’t answer. Nothing worked, not her wings, not her magic. The ground rushed closer. Her body could no longer hold its new form. She shifted as she fell, flailing about as if trying to find something to grab on to.
Mere seconds before she hit, Rion swooped in, catching her in his strong, human arms. The momentum of her freefall, however, made them both collapse in the grass. He cried out when his wing audibly snapped.
She was sprawled on top of him and noticed he’d shifted, but only part way. His wings were now underneath him and one of them bent at an odd angle.
“Are you all right?” he gritted through clenched teeth.
Pain still coursed through her. She couldn’t do much more than lay her head on his chest and moan.
A pair of strong arms lifted her off Rion with ease and held her against a strong body. Another man grabbed Rion and hoisted him as well, seeming to subdue him with magic. As hard as she tried, Alana couldn’t move. By the looks of things, Rion couldn’t either.
But she recognized the man holding him. He was one of Rion’s guards. Alana could only guess the man holding her was the other one.
“Your Majesty,” came a voice from behind them, “I never knew your betrothed was so enchanting.”
A tall man appeared, his chest bare like Rion’s, but the breeches he wore were glistening red. His hair held a red hue as well, and his eyes seemed a burnished copper. He was handsome, but the air around him heated as he came closer. The way he looked at her made her skin crawl.
Rion’s face twisted in pain, but he still managed to yell. “Stay away from her, Fend. She is my Kindred!”
The man known as Fend walked casually toward Alana and pulled her blue tunic down, revealing her golden birthmark. The smile that spread upon his face was both breathtaking and terrifying at the same time.
Fend tsked his tongue and shook his head. “She isn’t yours yet, Your Majesty. Seems to me she’s fair game.”
Rion growled. Chills raced down Alana’s spine.
“You take her and I will kill you and every member of your House.”
“An empty threat,” Fend said, turning to him. “You know as well as I, she will put me on the throne. Then I will kill every member of your House. Starting with you.”
“No, please!” Panic rose in her throat when she glanced at Rion. The thought of him dying was too much to bear. “Don’t kill him.”
Rion gave her a look, telling her to be quiet.
Fend’s attention once again turned to her. “Why, Alanacapria, I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure. My name is Fendarylonn. I am your Kindred.”
Her eyes widened with shock. This was the leader of the House of Fire! He pulled her tunic down once more and gave her a wicked grin.
“No. Fend, no! Don’t do it. Fendarylonn, I’m begging you!”
Alana didn’t have any time to think about the hysteria in Rion’s voice. With a deep breath, Fend blew his scorching fire directly on her birthmark.
The entire world turned red. Flames licked down the surface of her body, or at least it sure felt like it. She threw back her head and screamed as the fire consumed her, cleaving her soul with Fend’s. The urge to shift was strong, but she controlled it, barely. Her birthmark no longer itched, it burned.
Once the fire had run its course, the arms holding her let go and she fell to the ground.
“Alana!”
That voice. She knew it. Didn’t she?
Glancing up, she saw Rion, still held by his traitor of a guard. His face was wet with tears. Anger and disbelief distorted his features, but it quickly turned to hatred when he glanced at Fend.
“I will kill you!”
Alana looked up at Fend as well, who stood over her as if he’d just conquered her. She supposed that wasn’t too far from the truth.
He was the only thing that wasn’t obscured by a haze of red. She was drawn to him. Her hands itched to touch his skin. The moment she reached out and grasped his ankle, a buzzing raced through her arm and her clothing turned crimson. Even her hair, that had once been a burnished gold, now held highlights of red.
Fend crouched down and touched her cheek with his index finger. The contact excited her beyond reason. She knew her heart belonged to Rion, but her body betrayed her. She reached up to hold Fend’s hand to her skin. It was as if his magic and hers had merely been only half of a whole entity. Fend completed the circle she only now knew existed.
“Rise.”
Fend’s simple command urged her to obey. She wanted to obey.
Once she was on her feet, he placed his arm around her shoulders. Alana sank into his heat, drawn to him despite her emotional aversion. Rion’s look of defeat broke her heart.
“She is mine, Fend. You just committed treason. I will have no mercy. You will die by my hand!”
Fend laughed. “You are in no position to make threats, Your Majesty. I am the Kindred of the House of the Sun. Her power belongs to me. Alana will kill you.”
She cried out in shock. “I will not!”
Fend’s copper eyes pinned her to the spot. “Oh, yes, you will. You cannot defy me, Kindred.”
The longer she stared at him, the more she knew he spoke the truth. His will was bending hers, twisting her desires to be his own.
“No!”
Finding the familiar buzzing within her, she tried her hardest to block him. With a cry of rage, he backhanded her. Alana went sprawling in the grass.
Rion tried to break free, but no matter how hard he struggled, his traitorous guards held him fast.
At that moment, seven black dragons from the House of Night appeared in bright flashes of light. The two guards holding Rion were ripped apart by explosions of magic before they could even react. Fend’s mouth dropped open, but he grabbed Alana at his feet.
The dragons attempted to bring him down as well, but he somehow managed to shield himself by tapping into Alana’s own power. The buzzing continued throughout her body, yet Fend’s knowledge of magic was stronger than hers. It was getting harder to block him.
Rion flexed his wings, apparently healing himself with his own power. Vengeance was in his eyes as the seven dragons dropped to the ground behind him, each ready to pounce at his command.
With another bright flash of light, the glade near the waterfall was gone, replaced by a dark, dank cave. Rion and the others were nowhere in sight. Alana found it hard to adjust her eyes to the shadows.
Fend’s anger burned. She could feel it within her. He yanked her to her feet and
pushed her further within the cave.
“You will kill Rionshalintaris if I have to take you out of the sunlight to break you!”
Alana stumbled as tears of disbelief stung her eyes. The leader of the House of Fire had claimed her as his own. Dear God, what the hell could she do now?
Nine
Rion’s fear boiled almost as hot as his rage. He raced down the halls of his palace, ordering his men to arrest every green dragon from the House of Terra. Two of his guards from that House had already betrayed him. He had no idea how many more were working with Fend. The thought made his temperature rise. How dare they turn on him? Rion’s only solace was the fact the rest of his guards had heard his silent cry for help and arrived when they had. Alana didn’t quite grasp her full potential, but it was altogether possible Fend might have been able to order her to kill him.
The moment that bastard had blown his breath on her golden birthmark, Rion’s heart had broken into pieces. The woman he loved had been claimed by another. He’d been set to claim her himself during his coronation ceremony, but waiting for that day had been his downfall. It would have been a public affair, showing his people the House of Ice still reigned supreme.
Now, however, that reign had been thrown into chaos.
If Fend succeeded in killing Rion, he’d have no one to fight for the throne. Rion had no siblings or any offspring to claim it. Now that he had Alana on his side, the cards were stacked in Fend’s favor.
But they wouldn’t be for long.
There was no way in Dragoran that Rion was going to sit back and allow Fend to take Alana from him. She’d been promised to him from birth. He’d watched her grow through the mirror. She was his.
The only way to claim her now was to kill Fend and break their Kindred bond. He was most eager to do it. The gathering army in the courtyard would help him, no doubt. Only problem was, he had no idea where Fend had taken her.
“Sire!” One of the guards from the House of Night jogged toward him in the hallway. “The House of Terra has been rounded up and placed in the dungeons. They’re protesting loudly.”
“I don’t care,” Rion said, his jaw set as he walked. “Make sure they stay there. I don’t want to take any more chances.”
The man bowed and turned on his heel.
Rion strode through the main hall and out the massive front doors. The dragon-shifters that had gathered in the courtyard were too numerous to be counted. Many shades of color from the House of Ice and the House of Night were accounted for. As soon as Rion had returned to the palace, word spread quickly that Alana had been taken. Every dragon who wished to help had arrived.
He climbed to the top of the battlements and faced his army.
“By now, you’ve heard the Royal House has been betrayed by the House of Terra. My betrothed has been taken. Fendarylonn has bonded Alanacapria as his Kindred in his desperate attempt to take my throne and my kingdom.”
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. A few of the more zealous men yelled for Fend’s death. Rion raised his hand for silence. A hush fell over them.
“We will bring Alana home. She belongs to all of us. I will stop at nothing until she is once again by my side, wearing the colors of my House!”
A cheer went up and the air was charged with magic.
“If it takes all night, all week or all year, we will find her, and I absolutely will not stop until Alanacapria is my Kindred!”
Hails to King Rion rose from the throng. His heart swelled with pride for his people, yet also ached with terror at the thought of Alana at Fend’s mercy. If he hurt one hair on her head, Rion had no qualms about making his death a slow and painful one.
The memory of Alana’s terrified face haunted him. He would find her. He would save her. Whatever the cost.
~ * ~
It was dark. The absence of the sun seemed to drain her energy, making Alana slump against the cave wall. She had no idea how far Fend made her walk, as the cave curved downward into the bedrock. She shuddered at the memory of coming across a huge cavern lit with the fire of magma far below. But that wasn’t what disturbed her.
Scores of red dragons basked themselves on jutting rocks and alcoves, while their human counterparts seemed at ease near the scorching, liquid rock. Delight filled the caves when Fend yelled across the chasm of his new Kindred, the woman who would bring about a change in Dragoran, a shift in power to the House of Fire.
Even though Alana knew the temperature within the cavern was blistering, she felt no discomfort from the heat. Perhaps it was an effect of being bound to a red dragon.
The air was hot, but she shivered anyway, now alone in the pitch black. Fend had dropped her here with a promise to return. She dreaded it. Never in her life had she been drawn to someone who repulsed her. The man was handsome enough in his own right, but that wasn’t enough to absolve him of his crimes. It had been Fend who’d sent assassins to kill Rion’s parents, Fend who’d threatened the lives of the House of Terra to make them turn against their king. He’d even carried out atrocities against his own House, quietly getting rid of those red dragons who didn’t agree with his cause.
Being one with Fend’s magic gave Alana insight into an entire realm of his thoughts. He was a bloodthirsty bastard who was hell-bent on ruling Dragoran with an iron fist. She was merely a pawn. Sure, being his Kindred gave him certain “benefits.” Thankfully, he didn’t seem interested in the obvious—yet. She honestly had no clue what she’d do if he demanded her body. The power to resist was fast slipping through her fingers.
Alana surmised they must be inside a volcano. She only hoped Rion could find her before Fend’s vile wishes became reality. The longer she was with him, the more she’d crumble to his will.
Thinking of Rion, she pulled her knees to her chest and hugged herself. She loved him. There was no doubt of it now. Despite being bound and drawn to Fend, Rion held her heart. He hadn’t needed any time to win her as he’d claimed. She’d been smitten the moment she awoke in Dragoran, naked in his bed.
Remembering his hands on her skin made her ache to feel them again. She didn’t care about becoming queen. She didn’t care about being a dragon-shifter. All she cared about was being with Rion, giving him her body and soul.
Sniffles escaped her. The only time they’d made love had been in her dreams. She’d told him to stay out of her head. Right about now, however, she’d give anything to dream of him again, of his tongue and hands exploring her where no other man had. Her memories made her ache.
Alana was exhausted. She had no clue what time of day it was. Without the sun, she might as well be helpless. Fend didn’t need any shackles or fetters to hold her down. He knew damn well she couldn’t fight him in the dark.
“Please, please find me, Rion,” she moaned pitifully to herself. “I love you so much!”
Lying on the floor of the cave, Alana curled into a ball, determined to fight Fend for as long as she possibly could.
Which, unfortunately, wouldn’t be very long.
Ten
The waiting was killing him. Night had fallen, and Rion’s advisors had told him to stay at the palace while he sent scouts to the four corners of Dragoran to search for Alana. He had no idea where she was. It was folly to send an entire army to…nowhere. Neither could he leave the palace unfortified. For all he knew, Fend wouldn’t hesitate to attack his home once his army took wing.
Rion paced the battlements, impatiently scanning the sky. The House of Fire seemed to have just disappeared. The dragons he’d sent far to the south, where the reds usually resided, had returned with reports they were nowhere to be found. The rest of his scouts had yet to return.
Herinsamiel, a loyal blue, came racing up the battlement steps, his eyes wide. “Your Majesty!”
“What is it?” His heart skipped a beat at the look on his servant’s face.
“One of the greens in the dungeons wants to talk to you.”
“Who?” he asked, his countenance hardening.
“Be
ntielrah, one of your servant maids.”
He gestured for Herin to lead the way. “Take me to her. Right now, I’m willing to listen to just about anything.” He turned to his guards who were watching the skies along the wall. “Tell me the moment something happens, no matter how trivial.”
They bowed at his command. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Once Rion descended the steps to his dungeon, he couldn’t help but take in the eerie quiet. The dragons he’d imprisoned barely made a noise aside from the random sniveling. Perhaps their treason shamed them.
Good, Rion thought. Let them stew in their own guilt.
He heard a few gasps as he strode past their cell doors. He didn’t spare the inhabitants a glance. As far as he was concerned, each and every one of them was dead to him.
Herin led him to a cell at the end of a long hall and pulled a large iron keyring from his belt. He chose one to place in the lock. Once the door swung open with a loud creak, Rion entered the cell and wasted no time in making a ball of bright light appear above their heads.
The light made the dragon-shifter within shrink away from him. Rion recognized her. She’d frequently had the run of the palace, changing linens and keeping the marble floors polished to a fine sheen.
“Speak.” That was all he could bring himself to say to her.
Benti groveled at his feet. “Please, King Rion, hear me. I am so sorry for betraying you. But…Fend has ways of making one obey him.”
“I will not hear this now. There will be a time for you to beg for your life.” He moved closer to the door.
“Wait! I know where he took Alana!”
Rion turned on his heel and glared at the woman on the floor. “I did not give you leave to say her name!”
“Please, I tell you the truth.”
He took a deep breath but kept silent. When the woman didn’t say another word, he yelled, “Speak!”
Benti jumped and began crying. “Your Majesty, I’m the true granddaughter of Marinkalian. She was your father’s loyal subject, the very one who took your betrothed to the Earth realm.”
Rion clenched his jaw while his hands balled into fists. “You have shamed your grandmother, a true subject of the Royal House.”
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