“Not often,” Shtamakarein replied offhandedly. “It’s considered beneath me. I have more important things to do, and a personal dislike for it, if you must know. But this time, my father specifically asked me to do it, so I couldn’t have refused even if I’d wanted to.”
“Why did he ask you?” Graham asked, half because he wanted to keep his attention away from the poison in his blood, or rather, distract Caelyn from the pain it was causing.
“Come now,” the draechen prince answered, “surely you can figure it out on your own. He doesn’t trust me, at least not completely. He knows something went wrong when you escaped. I’m not someone who’s easily deceived or beaten, and he realizes that.”
That actually made sense. The situation was far more complicated than Graham himself had dared to believe. In a way, Graham didn’t understand it. He couldn’t figure out why, in spite of everything he risked, Shtamakarein was helping them.
Over Shtamakarein’s shoulder, Graham smiled at Caelyn. His mate’s eyes were swimming in tears, but he smiled back. Suddenly, their situation no longer seemed so grim. What Graham had told Caelyn was a dream and a hope, nothing more, but they still had a chance to reach it. He had to believe that, because the alternative was inconceivable.
Chapter Twelve
For a long time, Caelyn had been in a privileged position, enjoying the comfortable security of being allied to draechen and watching as the rest of the world, those not so lucky, suffered. He had hated it with every fiber of his being and had wished to do something about it, even if he hadn’t known what.
Today, though, the wheel of fate had turned, and he was the one on his knees in the face of a gathering, weak and defeated. As the guards carried him into the throne room and dumped him on the floor, Caelyn looked around, only to see what seemed to be like hundreds of faces staring down at him, observing him with both lascivious and disgusted interest.
More soldiers brought Graham, depositing him next to Caelyn. His mate looked worse than he actually felt. In fact, Karein’s efforts had been so thorough that Caelyn would have been seriously concerned if not for the mate bond.
But Karein had explained that all of this needed to be done for the final part of the plan to have any chance of success. Caelyn himself had suffered some minor injuries, which seemed far more serious than they were.
The result was gratifying, or at least Caelyn thought so. The empress, who had been sitting on her throne, tsked lightly. “It seems like you got a little overenthusiastic, my son.”
The words themselves might have seemed reprimanding, but they weren’t, not really. Caelyn didn’t know the draechen emperor and empress well, but he was pretty sure they weren’t warm parental types. In fact, he suspected this was the first time the empress had called Karein “son” in quite a while.
Nevertheless, Karein played along. “You have my apologies, Your Majesty. In my anger with the enemies of the empire, I overstepped my boundaries.”
“It’s quite all right, as long as they can still perform,” the empress said.
“The ninth caste is full of rutting beasts,” Karein answered, his voice dripping with cool disdain. “They can perform.”
A small pause followed, during which the large red dragon made his way toward the thrones. His large tale swished on the marble floor like a whip as he positioned himself straight in front of Caelyn and Karein.
He must have said something through his mental abilities, because Karein stepped back and ordered, “I live and die by your command, Majesty. Jertan, Goyan, come here.”
Two draechen appeared from the crowd, so imposing and huge they almost rivaled Karein’s size. “You will fight the wolf. Should you defeat him, you will both share the wolf’s mate. You’re not allowed to kill either of them. Begin.”
So Karein had been right to fear that something else would occur to the emperor. Caelyn released a soft whimper. He couldn’t fathom his mate being able to face both those two draechen, win, and still preserve the illusion that they’d been tortured by Karein.
He opened his mouth, intent on protesting, on somehow stopping this. Karein gave him a look that silenced him, but he wasn’t the one who spoke.
“Do you understand, mutt?” the empress asked. “You need to defeat these two soldiers.”
At that, Graham struggled to his feet. “And if I win, you’ll let me and Caelyn go?”
“Oh, the dog speaks. Wonders never cease.” She shook her head and replied, “Don’t be ridiculous, mutt. You’ll die either way. But you’re being given the chance to do so with honor.”
Caelyn got up as well, but didn’t address the empress. Instead, he forced himself to speak to Graham using their bond. The disruptor still kept him from focusing, but he’d managed to circumvent it, which at least allowed him to speak to his mate. “Graham, this is hopeless. You can’t possible hope to defeat them. Let me—”
“No,” Graham interrupted him. “Don’t even say it. I will die before I allow them to touch you.”
That was the problem. Caelyn feared that his mate would perish, that they wouldn’t get the chance to follow Karein’s plan, their only hope to get out of this place.
“Don’t be afraid, angel,” Graham said, taking a deep breath as he scanned his two opponents. “Just trust me. I can beat them. You are my strength, and they don’t have that.”
Caelyn pushed back his own apprehension and focused on his bond with Graham. The situation seemed desperate, yes, but the draechen underestimated Graham. They underestimated the mate bond between Graham and Caelyn.
Steeling himself, Caelyn opened his heart and believed. “Yes,” he replied. “We can do it.”
It was the last thing he managed to say before Karein pushed him back and away from his mate. Meanwhile, someone released Graham from his shackles, supposedly to give the battle a measure of equality. “Let the battle begin,” he shouted.
The crowd of gathered draechen cheered, obviously eager to see the proud werewolf being torn apart and his mate humiliated. They moved back, giving the future combatants space in the center of the throne room. Since it had been built specifically to allow draechen in shifted form to move around with ease, it wasn’t hard. Hell, it almost seemed like half of a generous-sized Elusian mansion would fit in this one room.
The entire thing was almost surreal. How had Caelyn never fully acknowledged the reality of the brutal nature of the draechen? How did they have the nerve to call Graham’s people animals when they were so much worse?
But this wasn’t over yet. He and Graham were together in this, and Caelyn would not let these cruel people separate them. He never should have doubted the power of their bond, even for a second.
Caelyn forced his way past the disruptor. It hurt like hell, and he couldn’t mold his energy in a spell of his own. However, his instinctual connection with Graham allowed him to pour his strength into his mate.
The change in Graham’s stance was so subtle that no one except Caelyn could have noticed it. Graham didn’t even acknowledge it in any way. He remained completely motionless, just watching the two draechen he was supposed to fight.
The wait paid off. At first, the soldiers in question just circled around Graham, as if looking for weakness in Graham’s defenses, but then, all of the sudden, they both lunged forward, one from Graham’s front, the other from behind. They moved so quickly that Caelyn thought evasive maneuvers were likely impossible. Somehow, though, Graham managed. He melted into his wolf form, freeing himself from his clothes and dancing away from his attackers. The two draechen ended up clawing at empty air.
With twin roars, the two draechen turned toward Graham, now furious. Graham faced them bravely, and Caelyn held his breath, waiting to see what would come next. All the while, he kept feeding his power into the bond, helping Graham insofar as he could.
Unfortunately, the size of the throne room allowed the draechen to assume their secondary forms. The air blurred as the two soldiers began to change. Caelyn noted the delay, bu
t so did Graham. With a howl, he lunged toward the draechen closest to him, interrupting the process midshift. The soldier fell back with an oof that sounded quite animalistic indeed, and Caelyn gasped as Graham had done. The man in question seemed dazed, but caught somewhere between his legged form and his dragon one. His face had reshaped itself, growing longer, reptilian, and he’d sprouted scales. He was also much larger than before, but Graham had attacked so fast that the change hadn’t been complete.
Even the empress seemed shocked by this development. She released a soft noise, but the emperor lifted a claw, not allowing any interruption. Taking the offered opportunity, Graham sunk his fangs in the draechen guard’s flesh.
But all this gave the second draechen time to complete his own shift. Where the tall soldier had stood, a large blue dragon appeared. An ice dragon, if Caelyn remembered correctly from his lessons. Most draechen were aligned with either ice or fire, although there were a handful of those who had a connection to earth or wind. Caelyn didn’t know where Karein fit in that picture, but he did understand quite well that one spell from that ice dragon could easily incapacitate Graham.
As if meaning to make reality Caelyn’s worst fears, the ice dragon roared again. This time, a torrent of ice emerged from his fanged snout. But before the blizzard could strike Graham, Caelyn’s mate quickly pulled back. The motion caused him to effectively tear off the flesh he’d held in his jaws. Caelyn suspected it wouldn’t have been a lethal injury, as draechen were resilient and their scales thick. The hold Graham had managed to get on the fallen draechen had been limited. But unfortunately for the soldier in question, his companion proved to be overzealous. The ice dragon missed Graham, but he hit the body of his fellow fighter.
The crowd grew restless, fidgeting, now clearly uncomfortable and no longer so certain of what they’d thought was inevitable. The ice dragon seemed even more enraged by this show of distrust. Summoning another spell, he blew the ice at Graham, but once more, he was too slow. Graham managed to escape it at the last moment.
Caelyn did his best to support his mate, but then, Karein squeezed his shoulder. The gesture could have meant anything at all, even a reassurance. However, Caelyn read a warning in it. If he pushed it, if he pushed himself too much, the emperor would notice and then, all would be lost.
Sadly, Karein was right. The migraine pounding at the back of his skull was quickly melting into a nearly unbearable ache. But he was reluctant to leave his mate without his help, to allow Graham to fight the ice dragon alone.
“It’s okay, angel,” Graham sent to him as he dodged another icy attack. “You’ve helped more than enough. I can handle him. I have a plan.”
Caelyn obeyed, although the ploy he saw in Graham’s mind terrified him. Graham moved back, drawing the large beast closer to the two thrones. With his opponent in this form, there was very little Graham could do while unarmed. However, the draechen knew it and relied upon it. They didn’t understand that sometimes, brute strength wasn’t enough.
“He’s insane,” Karein murmured as he seemed to understand what Graham intended. “He’ll get us all killed.”
Caelyn just hoped and prayed that it would work, because honestly, he couldn’t come up with anything better. As it turned out, though, it was quite easy. Graham stopped only a small distance away from the draechen emperor. The large red dragon gave him a curious look, but didn’t move. And then, the ice dragon blew another bolt of ice. In his anger, he didn’t realize what he was doing. In a striking echo of what had happened before, the ice headed directly toward the emperor.
Moving faster than the eye could see, Karein got between his father and the ice. He released a grunt as the spell hit him, congealing the upper part of his back. But then, he took a deep breath, and the ice seemed to melt, as if absorbed within his body.
Nevertheless, in spite of Karein’s intervention, Graham’s ploy worked. “Enough of this,” the empress said, leaving her throne. “Both of you, shift back.”
The draechen immediately started to melt back into his legged form. When the change was complete, he fell to his knees, looking horrified with what he’d done. “I–I live and die by your command.”
The emperor must have said something else, because the draechen soldier paled even further. “No,” he answered. “I have nothing to say in my defense.”
A fireball appeared in the clawed paw of the Ornozian leader. Without a sound, he launched it at the unfortunate draechen. A tortured scream echoed in the throne room when the spell hit the soldier, consuming his face and torso.
As the soldier fell, writhing in pain, no one even dared to make a move, obviously unwilling to draw the wrath of their ruler onto them. Karein was the first to act, although he did utter those familiar words before. Lowering his hand over the soldier’s face, he closed his eyes and focused. The fire began to dissipate, leaving behind scorched, mangled flesh. When he was done, he went to the other fallen soldier and repeated the process, this time melting the ice.
More people appeared and carried the injured men away. For his part, Karein didn’t seem to be much worse for the wear, which was quite humbling given that he’d received a blow that would have likely killed anyone else and seriously hurt the emperor.
Meanwhile, Graham changed shapes as well and waited patiently where he’d stopped upon leaping away from the ice dragon’s attack. Once the two draechen soldiers were taken away, the empress turned toward him. “Well, you must think you’re very smart,” he empress said, sounding displeased.
“I do what I can and what I must to protect what’s mine,” Graham replied, meeting her gaze without flinching.
“For that trickery, we should dispatch you right now,” she shot back. “My son’s loyalty saved you. But now, we all require some entertainment. Bring forward the sprite.”
Graham released a growl and took a threatening step forward. “You said that if I won, no one would touch Caelyn.”
“And we shall uphold that part of the deal,” the empress answered, sitting back on her throne. “We will give the sprite to you, one last time. After all, we can say that you’ve earned it. If nothing else, you weeded out two inadequate individuals from our guard.”
Caelyn winced at the words. The draechen soldiers might not have been killed, but the fate that awaited them was likely not pleasant. But this was war, and the draechen were enemies. There had been no other way. They would have gladly killed Graham if they’d had the chance. For that alone, they deserved whatever they got.
More guards ushered him forward, directing him toward his mate. Caelyn couldn’t control himself and lunged at his lover, hugging Graham tightly. Graham caught him, burying his face in his hair and inhaling deeply. “It’s all right,” he whispered through their bond. “You’re safe. They won’t hurt you.”
Only, it wasn’t all right. Caelyn wondered if it ever would be again. Yes, Graham had kept him safe this time, but it was only Karein’s intervention that had prevented a disaster. “I knew something like that would happen,” Graham replied in response to that thought. “There was no way that ice bolt would have hit the emperor, but just the attack is sufficient insult. I admit I’m surprised the imperial guards didn’t act more promptly. The prince shouldn’t have had to be harmed.”
“I think none of them thought this was possible,” Caelyn answered. “Likely, they’ll pay the price for it.”
Caelyn found that the thought didn’t disturb him all that much. Some of these men had families, loved ones, but so did the members of the ninth caste they had oppressed for so long. An eye for an eye. Like Graham’s draechen opponents, they had earned their fate.
Graham released a soft noise and broke the embrace. As he brushed his thumb over Caelyn’s lower lip, he said, “Don’t allow hatred to consume you, angel. You are too pure of heart. I don’t want that to change.”
Caelyn didn’t get the chance to reply to that, as the draechen emperor released an impatient noise. The empress was the one to translate it. “Begin,�
�� she ordered.
The circumstances weren’t arousing in the slightest, but Caelyn had been prepared for that. Licking his lips, he tuned everyone out and focused only on Graham. Graham met his gaze and actually smiled. “Here we are, angel, just the two of us, together again.”
Yes, just the two of them, no more draechen, no more violence, only Caelyn and Graham. Suddenly, hot urgency burst through Caelyn. He crushed his mouth to Graham’s, needing to taste his mate more than ever.
His mate didn’t delay in responding, and as Caelyn parted his lips, Graham thrust his tongue inside Caelyn’s wet cavern. He groaned wildly as he licked, sucked, and explored, as greedy as Caelyn, or perhaps even more so. His beast was very close to the surface, a consequence of the battle that now seemed so long ago. And yet, he was gentle with Caelyn.
Slowly, he directed Caelyn to lie down, never once breaking the kiss. As they knelt together on the floor, Caelyn reached for Graham’s now-erect cock. Having a shape-shifter as his mate came with certain perks, and one of them was easy access to the thing of beauty that was Graham’s dick.
Since Graham had changed shapes, he was now naked, so there were no barriers to keep the werewolf’s body from Caelyn. As he engulfed Graham’s length in his hand, a wave of pleasure swept through Caelyn, half his own, half Graham’s. The pure, raw sexuality of his mate never ceased to arouse Caelyn, making every part of him awaken in need. He found himself moving his hand up and down Graham’s dick in a frantic rhythm, trying to rush Graham along, already earnest and anxious.
Graham broke the kiss, brushing Caelyn’s hair out of his face. “Shh, angel,” he whispered through their bond, “I’ll give you what you need.”
With a wiggle of his hips, Graham freed himself from Caelyn’s grip. Caelyn whimpered, but didn’t protest since his mate started to help him out of his clothes. A small part of him acknowledged the presence of a crowd still around him and balked at exposing himself, but Caelyn didn’t care anymore. Let them see. Let them realize the passion between true mates. Let them understand the reason why Caelyn and Graham were being punished. Caelyn was proud of it, proud of this bond, and of belonging to Graham.
Hyacinth, Scarlet - Werewolf's Way [Chronicles of the Shifter Directive 1] (Siren Publishing Epic Romance, ManLove) Page 20