by Meara Platt
She raised on her elbow to frown at him. “I agree, it would take nothing for him to do it. So why hasn’t he? I think he wants to protect you. I think he wanted you to choose me as your dragon mate.”
“Rubbish. Are you suggesting he’s matchmaking for his younger brother? Let me dispel you of that notion. The emptiness you noticed in Bloodaxe’s eyes is a symptom of the disease they all carry and have carried since the beginning of time.”
Her eyes rounded in surprise and she gasped. “Your brother?” Clutching at the bedsheet, she scrambled to her knees and gaped at him. “Of course, it all makes sense now.”
“Damn it.” He’d been so busy warning her to never let down her guard when he ought to have taken his own advice. Now, she knew. This is what he would become.
“Why didn’t you tell me? Your brother? Oh, Saron. I’m so sorry.” She reached out and set her palm on the day’s growth of beard along his jaw. “I’m also relieved. I thought he was the darker side of you, that you were one and the same, for he only appeared to me when you were not present.” Her sigh was one of anguish. “Does it mean both of you were taken as children? How awful.”
“Bloodaxe went willingly.” Damn again. He decided to tell her all of it. “His name is Arik and he’s six years older than me. He was meant to be the Duke of Draloch when our father passed. I was merely the spare, the one destined to be given over to Brihann, the High King of the Underworld. But Arik followed shortly after I was taken.”
Anabelle shook her head in disbelief. “Why would he do such a thing?”
“He was born into evil. We both were. How else could he kill Gideon, his own nephew?”
Anabelle took his hand and held it tightly. “What if he followed to save you?”
Saron ran his thumb over her small, soft hand. “I wish it were so, but our time in the Underworld proved it was not.”
“Is it possible you’re wrong? What if Brihann was the one who shot Gideon? The Stone of Draloch told me as much. Why would it lie to you?”
“It is my guiding beacon but it is also Arik’s. Perhaps it holds a greater allegiance to my brother. Now that he is Bloodaxe, it knows that my brother must reclaim a piece of his soul to survive in our world.”
“So it’s helping him to regain his humanity.”
Saron tensed. “No…perhaps it thinks so, but the Stone of Draloch will only give my brother the means to conquer us all. That little piece of his soul only needs to be the darkest piece, the shred of connection sufficient to allow him and the Dragon Lords to rise up from the Underworld and once more walk among us. They’ll bring death and destruction. Those of us they don’t kill will become their slaves.”
He felt a violent swell of anger, one far more dangerous than the mere need to hurl a crystal glass into the fire. He moved away from Anabelle before he unwittingly harmed her.
“Please stay with me,” she said, but knew enough to keep from reaching out to him. “I like being held in your arms. I like the feel of your hard muscles against my body.”
“Not yet,” he said, needing to move about her chamber to calm himself down. He lit the small lamp beside her night table and crossed the room to make certain the drapes were securely drawn. “A demon of the Underworld can never stray too far from its portal, especially in daylight. Even the Dragon Lords must stay close, it matters not whether they are in their natural bodies or have shifted to become a dragon. A dragon’s wings are particularly sensitive to sunlight. They’ll catch fire and burn under the sun’s glare, as you saw with Necros.”
“So they can only come out at night.”
“They are safest at night. But their demon skin remains sensitive to light. A lamp shone in their eyes, a torch or roaring campfire lit by a human can be as painful—and deadly—to them as sunlight.”
Anabelle remained on her knees, watching him from her bed. “Then we have the tools to defeat them.”
“For now.”
She wrapped the sheet securely around her body before rising from the bed and slowly walking toward him. It was a shame that she’d covered up her beautiful body, but he’d explored it well enough and knew her every slender curve. He’d tug the sheet off her soon and carry her back to bed. There were hours more until the rise of dawn and he meant to take full advantage, if she were willing. “That anyone would sell their own child is shocking, yet such cruelty happens. I’m so sorry it happened to you.”
He saw the glint of tears on her cheeks and knew they were sincere. Anabelle believed that love conquered all. He did not. Still, he held out his arms to her and was heartened when she came into them without hesitation. He felt her heart pound with unrelenting force and knew that he’d scared her a moment ago. “The child of a duke ought to be raised in comfort and privilege,” he said. “I expect most are, but I never was. The demon part of my father ran strong in him and he chose a mate who was equally heartless.”
“I would never allow anyone to hurt our children.”
“I know, little one. You’d chase them into the demonic shadow world to get them back. You’d risk all to save them. I know our children will be loved by you.”
She nodded. “My heart is breaking over what happened to you.”
“It’s done and over. I was an unwanted, unloved little boy. But I’m a man now and I’m content with my choice of dragon mate. There is so much love in you, Anabelle. I think it’s what drew me to you from the start and what I crave even more from you now.”
He kissed her softly on the lips, hoping to keep the ache from his voice as he spoke of his past. Perhaps he was allowing Anabelle to see too much of what he’d struggled to hide all of his life. He should have carried her to bed and stopped all conversation by making love to her. He would soon. “My parents coveted the riches they were offered, but they would have handed me over with little urging. The Dukes of Draloch have never been pure human. We’ve always carried demon blood in our veins. Our children will carry that taint. In time, the Dragon Lords will come for them just as they came for me. They want them young, for a young mind can more easily be turned to evil.”
Anabelle’s eyes began to mist again.
He paused to meet her steady gaze, then ran his thumb gently across the watery trail of tears that fell upon her cheeks. “So you see what you will soon face, Anabelle. Do you still wish to go through with the wedding?”
“More than ever.” She hugged him tightly, her arms as gentle as an angel’s wings around him. “I will never give up our children. I’ll fight to the death to protect them.”
“I know.” He dipped his head to hers and kissed her softly on the lips. “It is my greatest fear.”
*
Anabelle held back her tears, unable to imagine one of her own children carrying those horrid, red slashes across his back. She needed to be brave and not turn into a useless watering pot. She tugged him down on the bed beside her, wanting to lie in his arms as they spoke, and willing to couple with him if he so wished it. They were to be married in a few hours.
She needed to be in his arms tonight.
“Saron, I want to know more about your time in the Underworld. How did you escape?” she asked once he’d slipped onto the soft mattress beside her. The thin sheet was still wrapped around her, but she expected it would not remain on her person for very long.
She trailed her fingers along the dusting of dark hair across his chest. “The Prince Regent will snatch you away from me again soon and I want to know all I can about you while we’re here together.”
She felt the coiled tension in his body and knew he was ready to mate with her again, but he needed to unburden all that he’d held in for so many years. He kissed the top of her head as she rested it against his chest. “I escaped after years in captivity because one of the guards simply forgot to lock my cage one night.”
She gasped and glanced up at him. “They kept you in a cage?”
“Yes, and every night I tried to claw my way through those iron bars. Every morning I was beaten for my atte
mpt. Finally, an unlocked door saved me. It was as simple as that. I stuffed my cloak beneath the bedding so the creatures who guarded me would mistake it for my body, then waited for a quiet moment to sneak out while my guards weren’t looking. I had a few hours head start, made my way to the Razor Cliffs, the jagged mountains separating the Underworld from our mortal world. All I had to do was climb upward to the sunshine.”
Anabelle once more burrowed into his chest, needing his warmth to dispel the ice in her blood from his chilling story. She knew this was no bedtime fable and knew he’d made it back, barely alive, his skin raw and flayed. He had such strength of heart. What other child could have endured his time in the Underworld as he had? What other child would have fought each night to gain his freedom?
Her own heart began to beat rapidly and her fingers dug into his shoulders with such force, she feared she might cut through his skin.
She eased her grip and held her breath as he continued.
“The Dragon Lords sent their demon army out to find me. They caught up to me at the Razor Cliffs, but I was determined and wouldn’t surrender. I climbed toward the sunlight, fighting them off as they surrounded me, ignoring the pain as their claws ripped through my shirt, and when it was all in tatters, they began to tear at my flesh. I held on, kept going. I could see the sunlight and it felt warm upon my face.”
A shudder coursed through Anabelle. “Oh, Saron.”
“The sun shone hotter and brighter as I kept climbing. Finally, I felt the wind on my face and knew I had made it out. But I wouldn’t be safe until I found a faerie portal in which to hide. As I’ve mentioned, demons can’t survive long in sunlight. It burns their skin to ashes. I knew they’d soon have to turn back or die attempting to find me. I was half dead myself, but didn’t care. I had made it out.”
“Badly injured.” She kissed his jaw, the stubble of his newly growing beard rough against her lips.
“I was free and that’s what mattered most.” He paused to make certain she was all right. Her hands still clutched his shoulders and she was trembling. She loved him even more for worrying about her. “I wasn’t safe yet,” he continued. “I knew the Dragon Lords would send Lord Bloodaxe after me. My own brother.”
“Because he was part human and able to survive in daylight?”
Saron nodded. “He raced to Castle Draloch, expecting to find me there.”
“And?”
“Draloch was the last place I wanted go. I didn’t trust my parents, knew they would only force me back into the Underworld.”
Anabelle softly released the breath she’d been holding. “Of course, you went to Penelope.”
“Not right away, but that was my ultimate destination.” He ran his hand lightly over her arms as he spoke. “I was weak and bleeding, wasn’t certain I would make it. At my lowest point, I fully expected to die in a ditch along the road. I would have died had King Cadeyrn and his Woodlands army not found me unconscious beside their faerie portal. They took me into their protection, hid me in their realm at great danger to themselves. The Dragon Lords would have attacked them had they realized I sought sanctuary with them.”
Anabelle pursed her lips and frowned. “Did Bloodaxe not consider it a possibility?”
“No. It does seem odd that he didn’t, but who knows what he was thinking at the time? He searched high and low, finally gave up, and returned to his Underworld in a vengeful rage. King Cadeyrn then delivered me to Penelope. The Fae healers had restored my body by then, but I credit Penelope for saving my ravaged heart.”
He ran a hand through the red waves of Anabelle’s hair. He loved the way it spilled down her back and fell in gentle waves over their bodies. “However, I still feel the pull of that darkness. It draws me to evil every time I venture into the Underworld.”
“With this latest threat, will you feel the need to go back there?” She kissed him again on his clenched jaw.
“I must, for the Prince Regent commands it.”
Anabelle thought of the paper she had found among the shattered glass in the library. “And what of the men whose names were on that slip of paper? Bellingham, Reston, Asbury, and Knox. Are they all traitors? Or is it only one of them?”
“We believe only one has been turned by Lord Brihann. But these are the Prince Regent’s closest advisors, and each of them believes he should negotiate with the Dragon Lords. Foolish, foolish men. Bloodaxe has come through and they still don’t understand the threat.”
Anabelle pursed her lips. “How best can we persuade them?”
His expression turned grim. “This isn’t a task for you. Don’t even consider it.”
“But if only one advisor has been tainted, then the others can be convinced to change their minds. How is that dangerous to us?”
“It’s dangerous to you.” He appeared ready to throttle her, but she knew that she could be of help in this matter. “We don’t know which advisor has been bought. Until we do, I don’t want you anywhere near these men.”
“How can you prevent it? We’ll likely be invited to the same balls and dinner parties. I wouldn’t ever be alone with any of them. Besides, you’ll be close by to protect me.”
He caressed her cheek and buried his hands in her hair as he drew her forward for a kiss. “This is my fault. I’ve created an insatiable, flame-haired demon.”
“No, this is your destiny.”
“To worry each night that you might be stolen away?”
“To love me.” But a shiver ran up her spine, for she fully appreciated the danger. “I’ll be careful, my love. I have no intention of running off alone to investigate. But don’t shut me out. Don’t keep me locked away because you think it’s the only way to protect me. I love that you bared your heart to me this evening. I learned so much about you.”
“Speaking of baring hearts…” He quickly dispensed with the sheet still curled around her body and settled over her. Their mating was intensely exquisite, forged in the heat of yearning and desperation. He was convinced that one of them would die and he feared it would not be him.
Chapter Seventeen
“Anabelle, do you take Saron Blakefield, Duke of Draloch,” the minister intoned as they stood together in front of the altar in the small church near Saron’s townhouse and proceeded to list a string of his other titles, “for your lawfully wedded husband?”
She smiled at the man who would soon be her husband. “I do. With all my heart. Forever and eternally.”
Saron rolled his eyes. He appeared about as happy as a man about to step into a hangman’s noose. “Do you, Your Grace, take Lady Anabelle Harleigh…”
Anabelle held her breath.
Would he refuse, that dragon instinct to protect her overcoming his promise to marry her?
No, he wouldn’t be standing beside her if that had been his intention. Nor would he have made love to her throughout the night. Still, who knew when panic would strike? “I do,” Saron said, dipping his head to kiss her lips once the simple ceremony was concluded.
No doubt rumor was already rampant that they had been left with no choice but to wed in haste. Those rumors would be dispelled as the months passed and everyone saw that she was not heavy with child.
After the ceremony, Saron introduced her to his cousin, the Earl of Eastbourne and his beautiful wife, Julia. With her blonde hair and violet eyes, Julia seemed more elfin than regal countess, but her smile was warm and friendly. Anabelle liked that the earl obviously loved his wife. There were far too few love marriages among members of the ton.
“We lived not very far from each other, “Anabelle said. “I knew your father, Vicar Marsden. He was beloved in our district.”
Julia nodded. “I still miss him to this day. My husband and I had our own adventures and know a little of what has been happening to you.” She reached out and took Anabelle’s hand in hers. “We know the dangers that lurk near Friar’s Crag and know that your estate of Harleigh is not far from there. We’ll be in London for a little while now that the s
eason has started. Come to us if you’re ever in need of help.” She glanced at Saron, who had moved off to the side and was talking to Eastbourne. “I know the duke will protect you, but the Prince Regent relies heavily on him and will be most demanding of his time. Send word if you need us.”
Anabelle thanked her sincerely. “I will. I believe your husband is telling mine the same thing.”
Julia smiled sweetly. “They’re good friends as well as cousins. Eastbourne is worried about him, too.”
The remainder of the day passed uneventfully and for the most part quite pleasantly. She did not like to see Saron so subdued and knew that he was quietly fretting over her fate. Perhaps his concern was over the missive he’d received shortly after the ceremony and tucked in his pocket after slipping away to read it. Anabelle was burning to know what it said, for it bore the royal seal and she knew who had sent it.
As the sun sank low in the horizon, the blue sky now streaked with amber and lavender and varying shades of pink, Anabelle was eager to retire to bed with her new husband. Her handsome as sin new husband. He was eager for it, too. She saw the glint of desire in his dragon eyes.
He surprised her by leading her into his ducal quarters. “We’ll share my bed this evening.”
Anabelle held her breath as she walked into what turned out to be an elegant bedchamber fit for a duke. She chuckled as she surveyed her surroundings. Saron understood her thoughts and could not resist passing a comment. “Are you surprised that my dragon lair is not a damp, foul-scented cave with bones of my victims strewn about?”
“I never thought any such thing. I was sure it was a finely scented cave. And you’re far too fastidious to leave bones littering the floor.” She smiled at him. “I would only marry a dragon with excellent grooming habits.”
He laughed, the first truly joyful laugh she’d heard from him all day.