by Emma Hamm
The soft sigh in her ear suggested the pixie understood. She knew the pixie had to do things in her life that she hadn’t wanted to do. What woman hadn’t? But this was the greatest of betrayals. To allow a man like this to look at her, to paw at her, perhaps even to put himself inside her...
Lorelei stood abruptly. The pixie held onto her hair desperately, and then tagged along for the ride as Lorelei raced to the balcony and threw the doors open.
If anything could help, it was the fresh air. She took a deep breath of the mountain air that swirled around her. A storm brewed on the horizon. Dark clouds gathered in thunderheads that would give them all quite a show tonight.
Perhaps the other women would seek each other out. Storms were terrifying. But Lorelei refused to be like them. She couldn’t stand to be one of those cowering little girls who hoped the King would look at her.
She stood in silence, watching the storm approach and then arrive. Icy shards of rain dashed against her face, tore at her skin and threatened to throw her back into the room. Lightning illuminated the courtyard and a rumble of thunder crashed behind it.
Still, she stood with her face to the sky. The storm could threaten all it wanted, but it would not scare her. She would not return to her room like a good little girl. She would soak its energy into her skin and she would gather the storm’s power to help her through the hardest battle of her life. The battle she did not want to fight.
The pixie squeaked in her ear, but Lorelei didn’t want to look.
She wanted to stand there and let the thunderstorm fill her with something other than dread or fear. Her skirts plastered to her legs, the fabric suctioned to her skin. Her hair slicked back from her face, although a few wet strands still clung to her cheeks. She shivered in the stiff wind, but it felt good to be alive. And that was exactly what this moment was.
A reminder that she was still alive. That she could survive this no matter what the cost.
Again, the pixie squeaked and tugged on her hair.
Lorelei opened her eyes and stared down the long length of the tower. A gathering of shadows had stopped in the middle of the marble courtyard. She blinked, and a flash of lightning revealed the man who watched her every move.
“Who is he?” she asked, even though she already knew the man’s name.
Abraxas.
The pixie squeaked again, but she couldn’t make out what the little thing tried to tell her. Instead, all she could do was stare back at the man, who was soaked to the bone. Just like her.
Another flash of lightning revealed an image of dark, wet hair that clung to his face. He’d unbuttoned his shirt from the dinner, and the slice of chest that was revealed had a smattering of dark hair. But it was his eyes that haunted her. Those yellow chips of gold in the crags of his jagged features.
“Is he not afraid of the storm?” Her voice rippled with the power she’d gathered from the thunderheads. “He should fear it. All mortals fear what they cannot explain.”
Another rumble of thunder broke their connection, and the cold settled deeper into her flesh. Lorelei left the balcony to seek the warmth of the castle, although she kept the doors open.
She peeled the wet layers off, but didn’t dry herself as she clambered onto the too soft bed. No matter how hard she tried to sleep, she couldn’t.
She stared out the open balcony doors and wondered why a mortal man would have been out in the rain like that.
Chapter 15
Abraxas
“I want it known that I think this is a terrible idea,” Abraxas snarled.
Obviously, the King no longer listened to him. And if he did, then Zander was doing a good job of pretending he’d suddenly gone deaf.
The King wandered through the garden as if in a dream. The long tails of his white and gold suit caught on a few of the rose bushes, but he just ripped the expensive fabric clear. Even the linen suit refused to risk angering Zander.
“Abraxas,” the King called back. “Do you have any idea how to woo a woman?”
“I thought I did, but apparently you’re going to teach me,” he grumbled.
“A woman wants to think she’s in charge. She doesn’t want to be coddled. Nor does she want me to treat her like a child. She wants to be seen as an equal.” Zander opened his arms wide and spun in a circle.
The day was beautiful after that massive storm front that shook the castle windows for three days straight. Abraxas still couldn’t get the image out of his head of a woman in a black dress greeting the storm as though it were an old friend.
A shiver traveled through him. He ground his teeth, trying to keep his mind on the moment. But she’d been so otherworldly, standing up there. A creature from his memories of a time long ago.
Right, he was supposed to be paying attention to the King.
“That advice is the exact opposite of what you said when you first brought the brides here,” Abraxas replied. “Your opinion of what a woman wants changes as quickly as the weather, my king.”
“Ah, but isn’t that the nature of a woman? They are fickle creatures with confusing intent, and even stranger minds. To understand them is to understand the ways of the moon, the stars, and all the planets in the sky. Do you see how mad an attempt that would be? Better to not understand them at all.” He tilted his head back with a laugh. “Surely you know this. A dragon should see other magical creatures and know what they are thinking.”
“Women are not inherently magical.”
“Are they not?” The King lifted a brow. “My dear Abraxas, I do believe you have a lot to learn.”
He supposed there was some truth to that. Women were rather difficult to understand, and they appeared to have connections to the world that men could only dream of. However, that didn’t mean they were magical, like a dragon.
Zander moved too far ahead of him. The King had already reached the red roses while Abraxas was still stuck in the white ones.
“Zander!” he shouted as he caught up. “I still don’t think this is a smart idea. You seem to think that one of them will at least try to save you from this mad assassination attempt, but what if none of them do? They aren’t exactly warriors.”
Except one. One of them was more than qualified to save the King, but Abraxas still hoped she wouldn’t.
“One of them will give themselves up for me. That’s how all the romantics say it works. She’ll throw herself into the line of the arrow, and then I will nurse her back to health.” Zander rolled his eyes. “Honestly, Abraxas, it’s like you’ve never heard any of the famous ballads. There are very specific ways to woo a woman. Obviously, the other way I tried was unsuccessful.”
If this actually worked, Abraxas would swallow his own tongue. “I’m going to take all this as you wanting me to be in the form of the dragon. Just in case one of your potential brides throws herself in front of the arrow, but isn’t as quick as you think mortals are?”
“Precisely. If the arrow gets too close to me, you’ll take care of it. I always knew you would.”
The King walked to the large pavilion at the center of his garden without a care in the world hanging over his head. And what a lovely life it must be to never question that, even though he had set up a man firing an arrow at him, said weapon would never touch his skin.
If only Abraxas were so lucky. Now he had to make sure that he actually prevented the arrow from killing anyone, and that wasn’t as easy as the King thought.
Sighing, he crossed his arms over his chest and watched the King approach a white pillared pagoda. The large columns were randomly framed by marble women who were sculpted with large urns in their hands. During the height of the summer, those urns would pour water into troughs that took the liquid throughout the garden. The irrigation system was as remarkable as it was expensive to create.
The brides who had already sought shade immediately called out to the King. Zander sauntered toward them with a skip in his step and a grin on his face as they all cheered at his entrance.
&n
bsp; This was the environment that the King thrived in. He loved the attention these women gave him, but he also loved feeling as though he were more important than everyone else. And he was that all the time, considering he was the King. But Zander struggled to let that sink into his mind.
He needed constant approval. Constant reassurance that he was the most important person in the court and no one would ever surpass him.
Perhaps that was why he kept Abraxas so close.
“Your dedication to the King shows no mercy at all, does it?” Her voice flooded over his senses like a balm to the fire that brewed in his chest.
Abraxas looked beside him to see that the strange woman had snuck up on him. Lorelei was stunning today in a dress that looked like sea foam. It bubbled around her body, even making small bubbles that popped off her shoulders.
Did she smell like lavender today? Or was that part of the bubbling dress? He’d leaned down before he even noticed what he was doing, all to catch a whiff of her hair.
Abraxas straightened with an abrupt jerk. He needed to put space between them. Somehow. “I thought I was the one who startled you in this relationship.”
“Relationship?” She arched her brow. “You’re the head of his personal guard, and I’m supposed to be his wife. That would be a rather odd relationship, don’t you think?”
Oh, that would dig underneath Zander’s skin like a splinter he would never get out. Abraxas could steal the most beautiful bride out from underneath the King’s nose, and they could fly off into the sunset together.
He wouldn’t, of course. The remaining two eggs of his kind would bear the horrible fate of his choices, and he would never see another dragon again.
“It’s a lovely dream,” he said, making sure she read between the lines of his words. “And one I may entice during my evenings from here on out.”
Did he imagine the way her face softened? How the wrinkles at the edges of her eyes deepened in disappointment for a few heartbeats?
Abraxas might not know a lot about mortal women, but he knew one thing that made everyone feel better. He reached for one of the red roses beside him, one that was fully in bloom and smelled divine. With a quick snap, he pulled it from the bush and twirled it in his hands.
The thorns tugged at his flesh, but even in this form, they couldn’t break through his dragon skin. He took his time stripping all the thorns from the stalk.
She didn’t say a word. Lorelei watched him with rapt attention, her eyes never leaving the rose in his hands.
And when he finished stripping away anything that might harm her, he held the rose out for her to take. “May I?” he asked.
“I don’t know what you’re asking to do,” she replied.
“Do you trust me?”
Lorelei looked up at him with shadows in her eyes. Shadows he knew he hadn’t caused, but that broke his heart all the same. “I don’t think I do, if I’m being honest. I have no idea who you are, and you don’t seem all that interested in answering my questions.”
He sighed. “Right now, I’m trying to be nice.”
“Ah.” She swallowed hard. “Then I suppose I trust you enough for that.”
Prickly woman. Maybe he should have left the thorns. She might have liked them in addition to a beautiful thing like the rose.
Abraxas threaded the stem of the rose through her hair, just behind her ear. He settled the fat bloom and released it carefully, making sure it didn’t fall as he no longer held its weight. “There,” he murmured. “Now there is something in this garden that might rival your beauty.”
“Did you compare me to a rose?” she asked, eyes wide.
“Oh, no rose could compare to you. For a rose is beautiful, Lady of Starlight, but it has no secrets to uncover. No mysteries to unfold. You are a thousand questions and a million truths just out of my reach.”
The King snapped his name from across the garden, and he realized he’d run out of time. He had a job to do. Protect the King from the errant arrow that was going to fly through the air very soon. He couldn’t do that while he was in this form, and for some reason, he didn’t want her to see him change.
Not yet. He didn’t want to frighten her by having her realize too soon that he wasn’t a mortal man. That he was a dragon.
Was it so shameful to want her to himself for a little while longer?
Abraxas dipped into a low bow. “I hope to see you again, Lorelei of Tenebrous.”
Did she flinch when he said those words?
Lorelei forced a smile onto her face. “Just Lorelei, please. And I’m sure you will, Abraxas. We both live in the same building now.”
She had a spine of steel to dare call the Umbral Castle a building. But he’d come to expect that from her. She was daring, and a little on the wild side. He supposed that wasn’t a bad thing after all. Abraxas bowed one last time and then rushed out of the garden to a private place where he could turn into a dragon. It was time to put on a show, apparently, and the King was so certain this was a good idea.
Far outside of the garden, he passed by the young man who had been enlisted to shoot the arrow at the King. His hands shook as he plucked at his bow’s strings, testing them to make sure they wouldn’t fail him.
“Don’t worry, boy,” Abraxas growled as they passed each other. “The arrow won’t touch the King.”
“Can you be sure of that, dragon?”
Yes. Although he didn’t feel the need to explain how or why to this child who had taken a job he feared.
Abraxas snorted. “I’m sure.”
At least his confidence seemed to transfer to the young man. The bowman squared his shoulders and straightened his back, giving the dragon a nod before he disappeared into the hedges. If the plan went exactly as they anticipated, then no one would even see the attacker. Hopefully no one did, considering the archer still wore his Umbral uniform.
If a bride did see him, Abraxas feared the King would have him killed, just so they didn’t find out that the entire assassination attempt was orchestrated for show.
He hated this.
With a swift surge of magic, the dragon clawed its way out of his skin. The blast of magic flattened a few of the tomato plants near him, but nothing that would make the King angry. Beating his great, leathery wings, he rose slowly straight up into the air.
Careful, he reminded himself. No one can know.
Once he was high in the clouds, high enough that he could see the gathering in the gardens, he let himself drift toward the clearing. The King had chosen this giant space so that he could land right beside his self named master.
How impressed would the ladies be to see that their King controlled a creature like him? A man with a dragon was one thing. A man who could control a dragon was entirely different.
Abraxas landed behind Zander and ignored all the screams of fear. The women scattered before him like leaves in a fall storm. Except one. A single woman who stared up at him with a curious expression on her face.
Lorelei remembered him. How could she forget the moment when he’d landed above her? He had made certain not a single arrow had found its mark on the bride he couldn’t have. And that no Umbral Knight would cleave her head from her shoulders.
Maybe he shouldn’t have done that.
The King put his arms up and shouted, “Do not be afraid, my flowers! This dragon is completely under my control. I wanted you all to see him, so you knew you could trust him. If the dragon is ever near you, from now until the end of your days, you will know that you are safe.”
That was a lie.
If the King ever wanted to kill any of these women, then it would be Abraxas who wielded the flame or fang. Every woman here was too high in station for anyone but the dragon to kill them. A few knew it. They gathered together as far away from his wings as they possibly could. They whispered in their small cluster of arms and limbs, praying that the dragon never came close to them again.
If they were lucky, he wouldn’t. Abraxas prayed along with the
m that they would never see his shadow darken their doorstep.
“My father was the first to capture this great beast!” Zander brought his hands together as though he were carrying a sword. “Through might and power, he brought the beast to its knees.”
Also a lie. No one had brought Abraxas to his knees. His father had snuck into the last dragon nursery and slaughtered all the eggs. He’d then had his armies slit the throats of his brethren in their sleep. He’d awoken to a massacre of blood and nightmarish screams as the souls of the dragons disappeared into nothing. All those ancient beings. Lost.
What else was he supposed to do? He’d been the largest. A crimson dragon whose only use was to protect. He had nowhere else to go, and the King had the last three eggs.
“And once the dragon submitted to my father, the man he knew would lead this kingdom into a new age...” Zander drew himself up tall and strong. “He gave my lineage the name of Dragon King.”
That was the trigger. The archer rustled the bushes and poked the arrow out from them. The sunlight hit the tip perfectly, blinding a few of the women closest. And then the arrow was loosed.
It flew through the garden and sliced through the bow in one bride’s hair. No one tried to stop it. No one but Abraxas, who readied his wing for yet another injury.
Except, the arrow never reached the King.
Lorelei, his mystery woman, stood with her arm outstretched. She had a dagger in her hand, although he had no idea where she’d gotten it from, and the arrow lay at her feet in two pieces.
She’d sliced it in half.
Mid air.
Chapter 16
Lore
What had she done?
Lorelei looked at the pieces of arrow split right in half at her feet. She shouldn’t even have a dagger on her person. Let alone use it to save the King. This could have been her moment to see him die in front of her without ever having to lift a finger.