Dragon's Treasure: A Reverse Harem Serial (Blood Prophecy Book 5)

by Lili Zander

  5

  Aria

  Driving Bastian’s Porsche on the Autobahn is great. The car handles like a dream, and to his credit, Bastian’s not a nervous passenger at all. We blare Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song—Bastian’s pick, and the two of us sing along at the top of our lungs.

  Lunch is fantastic as well. There’s a kale and sausage stew, and some freshly baked bread to go with it. All the dragons except Erik show up for the meal, and we talk about music, movies, and books, studiously avoiding any mention of Zyrian’s curse.

  But it’s there. Mateo’s words linger in the back of my mind, and though I curl up with a book after the meal, I can’t focus on it.

  “What’s wrong?” Casius, who’s sitting in the study with a book of his own, looks up after I shift positions for the fiftieth time.

  “I’m just feeling restless.” Or something. I can’t exactly put it into words. “Do you want to duel with me?” Maybe I just need to work up a sweat. A couple of hours of sword practice might be the key to calming my nerves.

  “I can,” he says agreeably. “But I have a better idea. Why don’t you give your friend Beatrice a call?” A grin flashes across his face. “Her scholarship letter went out a few days ago. She’s probably received it by now.”

  Bea. Yes! A conversation with my best friend that involves nothing more complicated than gardens that need tending and fields that need plowing. That is exactly what I need.

  I jump to my feet. “Casius,” I tell him fervently. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a genius? Thank you. That’s a great idea.”

  He laughs. “Yes,” he says. “And you’re welcome.”

  I miss girl-time. My mates are awesome, but I’m surrounded by nothing but testosterone… a girl needs a little estrogen before she starts growing her own beard.

  I tap out a quick text to Bea on the way to my bedroom. I could use my bestie and a bottle or two or three of wine.

  Her reply comes almost instantly. It’s ten in the morning, you lush.

  I laugh out loud. I totally spaced out the time difference. You going to Cellar tonight?

  Pfft. We are having ladies’ night. Skype and W(h)ine. It’ll be our thing until you come home to me. Plus, I have news. Six work for you?

  Six for Bea is eleven in the night. Mateo’s scheduled an early morning magic lesson, but I still reply without hesitation. Perfect.

  Rhys passes me in the corridor and sees my wide grin. “What’s got you smiling, love?” he asks.

  “Bea and I are having a girls’ night.” A much-needed night of girl talk. Accompanied by wine, of course. Copious amounts of wine. “We are going to Skype, drink a lot, get silly, and talk about boys,” I add cheekily.

  His eyes flash with amused heat. He crowds me against the wall and holds my wrists above my head. “Boys hmm?”

  My heart kicks up a notch. Arousal flares in my core, the way it always does when one of my mates is close. When he runs his nose along my jaw toward my ear, I turn my head and give him better access, humming my approval, yet wanting more. Always wanting more.

  “Last I checked…” he growls, his breath hot against my ear, “We’re most definitely not boys.”

  My body responds as if I were a puppet on a string, perfectly controlled by him. The deep rumble of his voice causes my nipples to pebble. He presses his body against mine, his hardness caught between us. Ho-boy. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

  Agree with what? I stare at him blankly, all thoughts vanished from my lust-hazed mind. God, he’s sexy. My dragon. Mine. “What are you talking about?”

  He chuckles and nips my earlobe between his teeth. “You’re going to Skype and talk about men,” he corrects.

  “Aria, Casius said you wanted to duel?” Bastian’s voice breaks through my fog. “Oh, sorry…”

  I push Rhys away, planting a smacking kiss on his cheek, and accidentally—totally on purpose—rubbing against his erection as I pass him, finding a deep feminine satisfaction at his low groan. “Sorry, it’s time to play with swords.”

  Rhys scrubs his hands down his face, then grabs my wrist and pulls me back for a passionate kiss. When we break away, I’m breathless. So is he. “Go play with Bastian’s sword, love,” he quips. “I’ll find you later.”

  I smile back at him. “Later.”

  I change into my favorite pajama pants—blue with cats on them, don’t judge—and my “Cats Because People Suck” t-shirt. I get comfy on my bed, glass of wine already in hand when my computer chimes with an incoming call. I click to answer and see boobs.

  “I didn’t realize it was that kind of call…” I snicker.

  “Fuck, sorry. Had to get this stupid bra off. Besides, my tits are awesome.” Bea gives her chest a little shake and smiles like a loon.

  “God, I’ve missed your face.” My tone is wistful.

  “Well, duh! I’m totally miss-able. It’s only natural that you go through withdrawals without me.”

  We both dissolve into giggles. I take a healthy sip of my wine. Bea jumps up, and the camera shows her empty bedroom. “Forgot my wiiiine!” I hear her shout from her kitchen. In less than a minute she’s back on camera, bottle of wine in hand.

  She tips the bottle to her lips, and I raise my eyebrows. “Really?”

  She rolls her eyes. “Don’t judge me. I’m out of clean glasses. It’s either this or a mixing bowl.”

  I shake my head, laughing. I’m already feeling a thousand times better than I did this morning.

  Bea takes another swig and fixes me with a piercing look. “Okay, confession time. How’s everything really going? I know something’s up.”

  “Do we have to start with me?” I ask, groaning at the prospect of my upcoming interrogation.

  “Yep. Sorry chickadee. I know you’ll avoid your feelings until the end of days if I don’t force it out of you. Spill.”

  I take a long, slow drink of my wine while I consider my options. I can’t tell Bea the truth, or anything close to it. It’s too dangerous. Which means I’m going to have to divert her attention.

  “Having five mates is… complicated. They all have such different personalities and I just… I don’t know. I feel like I’m juggling five balls while blindfolded and I don’t know how to juggle.”

  “Ten balls. You’re juggling ten… unless someone is missing one,” Bea says with a straight face, totally taking the bait. “Is anyone missing one?”

  I stare at her open-mouthed.

  “No? Well then… ten balls. Man, that’s a lot of balls. What do you do with all those balls?”

  “Beatrice Marie Connelly!” I screech. I take another healthy sip—okay I chug the rest of the wine in my glass—then refill it from the bottle. I know I steered the conversation to this topic, but I have not had enough alcohol for ball-talk. “New rule, no talking about balls.”

  Bea holds her hands up defensively. “You started it.” She takes a deep pull from the bottle. “Are you practicing safe sex?”

  “What the hell, Bea?” I squeak.

  “It’s a valid question. I just want to know if my best friend is going to be laying an egg or not.”

  I almost spit out my wine. “Oh my God, I will not be laying any eggs. Besides, dragons choose when they want to have a baby.”

  Bea looks contemplative. “Do you think wolf shifters are like that, too?”

  “Not really,” I reply, alerted by her tone. “Why?”

  She looks off to the side and chews on her thumbnail. She’s hiding something. Unlike me, it’s pretty easy to get Bea talking. Another couple of sips of the wine, and she’ll spill her guts. “How’s everything with Jesse?”

  A Cheshire-Cat-worthy smile spreads on her face. “Things are great.” She flops back on her bed so all I can see are her knees. “He’s amazing. Better than amazing. Except…” She sits back up, a serious look on her face. “Things are complicated. Aria… He’s a wolf shifter.”

  My jaw drops. How did I miss that? “No way.”

  “Yes,
way.”

  “But I’ve met Jesse tons of times,” I argue. “I can always recognize shifters.”

  “He said he took something to hide it,” she replies.

  Ah. Back when I was casing the Valhalla Ball, Pieter had hooked me up with something that helped me pass as a fox-shifter. If a Norm can masquerade as a shifter, the opposite is probably true.

  “Why are things complicated?” I frown at her. “It’s not that unusual for Norms and shifters to date. Unless you don’t want to?”

  “Of course I do,” she responds indignantly. “It’s just complicated. Let’s talk about something else, okay?” A look of excitement takes over her expression. “You’ll never guess what happened. I got a scholarship! I’m finally going to go to cosmetology school.”

  “Bea, that’s awesome!” I match her enthusiasm.

  She grins happily. “Apparently the advisor I talked to at the school last year recommended me. It’s enough for tuition and living expenses, can you believe it? I won’t have to work fulltime while going to school.”

  I know I should feel bad about withholding the fact that the money came from me, but I don’t. Not even a little. I know my bestie, and if she finds out who her benefactor is, she won’t touch the money. She’s stubborn like that.

  “That’s so great,” I gush. “You’re going to kick major beauty school ass. At least if you turn someone’s hair pink, it’s trendy. No beauty school drop-out…” I sing the last of that on a giggle. Wine buzz activate!

  “Frenchy was way ahead of her time,” Bea says sagely.

  We chat for another couple of hours, laughing and gossiping about everyone we know. At some point, I tell her to hang on while I get another bottle of wine from Bastian’s cellar. Finally, I glance at the clock and realize it’s after one in the morning. As if seeing the time flips a switch, I suddenly feel exhausted.

  “I better get off here,” I slur. “I have a ma—a meeting in the morning.” I could smack myself for almost slipping and mentioning my magic lessons. It’s much safer if Bea knows nothing about my training.

  “A meeting?” Bea gets a dirty little smirk on her face, her voice turning naughty. “Is that what we’re calling sex nowadays?”

  “Oh, shut up. Next time, you’re going to tell me what’s up with Jesse.”

  She fakes a pout. “You were supposed to forget about that.”

  “Nope.”

  She waves at me, and I wave back, spilling some red wine on my sheets. Ouch. Frau Ziegler’s not going to be happy with me.

  “Talktoyoulaterbye!” Bea says and ends the call.

  I close my laptop and crawl under the covers. Wine always makes me horny, and tonight’s no exception. I get out of bed, pull on my robe, and make my way to Rhys’ room. I quietly slip inside and take in his sleeping form. His hair is tousled, his chest bare. Nothing but a sheet covers him from the waist down. I discard my robe and crawl into the bed beside him.

  His arm automatically circles me, and he pulls me against him. I relax into his hold, loving his warmth. “Hello, love,” he says, his sleep-roughened voice sending a skitter of desire through me.

  I wriggle my ass against his growing erection. “I’m drunk and horny,” I giggle. I stroke his cock through his shorts. “Want to do something about it?”

  He laughs. “You certainly are drunk.” He kisses my cheek fondly and then gets out of bed. He goes into the adjoining bathroom and returns with an aspirin and a glass of water. “Drink up,” he says.

  I do as I’m told. When I’m done, he takes the empty glass from me, and comes back to bed, pulling me close to him. “Go to sleep, love.”

  6

  Casius

  To no one’s surprise, Aria is painfully hung over the next day. She doesn’t wake up until noon, and when she drags herself down to lunch, she looks like hell.

  “Why do I drink?” she groans. “Oh God, my head.”

  I probably shouldn’t laugh, especially when she gives me a death glare. “I blame you, Casius,” she says. “Talk to Bea, you said. It’ll be fun, you said.”

  Okay, I can’t hold the grin back. I laugh out loud at her expression. “You drank a bottle of wine, and it’s my fault?”

  “Two bottles.” She lays her head down on the dining table with a moan. “I went through the first one too fast, so I decided to sneak down to Bastian’s cellar and grab another one. I’m such an idiot.”

  Rhys chuckles. “You don’t have to sneak down, love. If Bastian lets you drive his cars, he’s not going to mind an incursion into his wine cellar.”

  “You missed your lesson,” Mateo says, trying for sternness and failing miserably. “I was going to start you on healing today. And you didn’t show up for sword practice either.”

  “Do you want me to handle a sword in my condition?” she mutters into the tabletop.

  Valid point. I give her a fond look and turn to Mateo. “She might hurl when the food shows up,” I point out to the mage. Mateo’s a great believer in learning some lessons the hard way, but it seems cruel to watch Aria suffer. “We wouldn’t want that to happen.”

  “Oh, fine.” He closes his eyes and mutters something under his breath.

  “What the…?” Aria sits up in shock. “Did you just magic away my hangover?”

  “Just this once,” he says to her. “You’re on your own the next time.”

  “There’s never going to be a next time,” she vows fervently.

  Bastian shakes his head, amused. “I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve asked Mateo to do that for me,” he says wryly. “Yet he’s never once magicked away my headache.”

  “You’re not as charming as Aria,” Mateo quips, and then his expression turns serious. “I heard from Christina right before lunch. She’s got the results of the analysis of the spear.”

  Aria looks up. “The spear that almost killed Erik?”

  Mateo nods. “You were right in your suspicions,” he says to Bastian. “It was coated with a poison of some kind.”

  “And the knife that the Norm muggers threw at you?” I glare at Valentini. “You downplayed that incident pretty well but let me guess. It was also coated with the same poison.”

  “It was,” he admits with a grimace. “Christina says she’s never seen anything like it. In her tests, it temporarily prevented someone from reaching for their magic.”

  Bastian frowns. “I’ve never heard of something like that before. If Zyrian has access to it…”

  “That’s the thing,” Mateo interrupts. “Christina knows as much about dragon magic as I do. Erik was stuck, unable to shift back into his human body. I couldn’t reach for my dragon. The shifting magic is innate in us. Nothing should be able to disrupt the transformation.”

  I have a very bad feeling about this.

  Rhys raises an eyebrow. “What are you saying, mate? That it might not be Zyrian?”

  Aria groans. “Seriously? A new enemy? Kill me now.”

  Mateo gives me an amused glance. The moment I see his expression, my suspicions are confirmed. He suspects the alchemists. Fuck.

  “Not exactly,” he replies. “Kioko is difficult, as are the rest of the alchemists, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call her an enemy.” His lips twitch. “At least, not until a dragon slept with her and didn’t call her the next day.”

  Aria turns to Rhys. “You ghosted her?”

  Rhys raises his hands. “It wasn’t me, love,” he protests. “I’m too smart to mess with Kioko. She scares me.”

  I exhale in a long sigh. I’m not proud of getting involved with the alchemists. “It was me.”

  Aria’s eyes widen. “Casius?”

  I can’t make out her reaction. “We dated casually for a month,” I mutter. “I assure you, it wasn’t serious. We were both using each other. She wanted dragon blood, and I was fascinated by the way the alchemists were able to use magic, even though they have none of their own.”

  She fixes her gaze on me. “You’re hundreds of years old, Casius,” she
says mildly. “I’m assuming you have a past. I don’t care about your exes, not unless you’re still hung up about them.”

  Phew. “Not even a little,” I reply emphatically.

  “Is she still hung up on you?” Bastian asks bluntly. “The alchemists have never been very cooperative. If we want answers from Kioko Yone, and she’s still nursing a grudge, she’s even less likely to answer.”

  “She’s not likely to be helpful,” I reply. “The alchemists guard their knowledge like treasure. They don’t share.”

  I’m used to knowing the answers, but even though I know more about alchemy than the others, I don’t know enough. But Kioko Yone, the Head of the Society of Alchemists, knows more about potions and poisons than anyone alive.

  “Why would the alchemists want us dead?” Bastian frowns. “It doesn’t add up. Kioko Yone and the rest of her kind keep to themselves.” He takes a deep breath. “What if they’ve decided to ally themselves with Zyrian?”

  Mateo looks grim. “That’s not good,” he says. “Derther Roth said that the Dark Dragon’s power is waning rapidly, and the evidence backs his theory. So far, Zyrian’s avoided making a direct move against us. But if the alchemists are working with him…”

  “Then we’re actively at war.” He looks at me, worry etched on his face. “We need to talk to Kioko.”

  Rhys cuts in. “Tell you what,” he says. “What if Casius sends her a message? In the meanwhile, tonight I’ll head down to the bar that Mateo was at. Poke around. Ask a few questions. See if I can find out anything about the Norms who attacked Mateo.”

  “I want to come,” Aria says promptly.

  “Sure thing, love,” Rhys grins. “It’s date night. Let’s kill two birds with one stone.”

  I sigh again. While I’d prefer that Aria stay in the castle, she’s proved that she can take care of herself.

  The truth is, no matter how I’d like to deny it, our mate’s destiny is wrapped up in the curse. And though I don’t particularly want to talk to Kioko, I will do anything to keep Aria safe.