Dragon Chains
Page 10
Oh hell. She had no idea and, per twin swapping rules, shouldn’t lie. “I don’t recall exactly, but I have a lot of contacts all over the world. Pretty sure someone I know mentioned a website.”
“I see. And what, exactly, were the contents of this posting? What attracted you to the job?”
Knowing Emily, that answer was easy. “Money. My mother has a lot of medical bills, and we didn’t have a way to pay them.”
“We being you and your identical twin sister, Katy?”
“Yes.” He knew her name. Knew Emily had an identical twin. Katy shivered. What else did he know?
“Excellent.” Erik motioned one of the giant blond men forward with a slight wave of his wrist. The man came forward and handed Erik a business-sized manila envelope.
Erik opened the flap and withdrew a stack of paperwork that looked like legal contracts. After a quick glance at God only knew what details, he handed them to Katy.
At first glance, the paperwork appeared to be the same contract Vector and Ryker had tried to get her to sign in his office. Same gorgeous dragon symbol at the top. Same type of paper. Without reading a word, she looked from the paperwork to Erik’s expectant face. “What is this?”
“This, Ms. Toure, is a contract with exactly the same terms offered to you by Ryker, but for ten times the payment. I will also repay the advance you and your sister used to pay for your mother’s rehabilitation facility and private nursing.”
“What?” Katy nearly came unglued. Ten times the money? Hadn’t Emily said her deal was a lot of money? Coming from Emily, that could only have meant millions. And Erik was willing to pay ten times that amount? What the hell?
Erik leaned forward, clearly gaining confidence with each moment of her silence. “As I said, the terms are identical. We will be legally married at once. I will introduce you as queen of my clan at an inaugural ball. We can tell the other clans Ryker did not properly woo you.
Once we’re married, you will provide the clan with at least two children within the first five years via IVF; no sexual contact between us is required. You, as the mother of my children, will be cared for by the clan. My top financial advisors will take care of the children’s assets, of course, until the eldest child comes of age at twenty-five. You will have a beautiful home—several, actually—more money than you can imagine deposited into your personal account, and two beautiful children to love without the problem of an irritating husband around. I assume this pleases you?”
Dumbfounded, Katy could only think of one question. “Children need their fathers. Why wouldn’t you be around?”
“Just like Ryker, I await the executioner.”
Erik held out a pen. With shaking fingers, Katy took it from him and settled back in her seat.
“Two children?”
“Ms. Toure, of course I would be thrilled if you decided to carry additional heirs, but I am honoring the original agreement offered to you by Ryker. Should you wish to have additional children after my death, I am sure the frozen embryos will remain viable for some time.”
IVF? Frozen embryos?
Katy’s head began to pound. She rubbed her temples to ease the pain as she considered Erik’s bizarre proposition, or rather, Ryker’s deal with Emily. Her sister agreed to marry Ryker, but never sleep with him? A marriage in name only? Have his babies via IVF? And stay in Italy, at his estate, for twenty-five years?
Katy’s head spun dizzily. Ryker was going to be executed?
She was going to vomit, the tequila choosing that very moment to rise from her stomach like a fire snake eating its way up her throat.
Unbuckling her lap belt, she stood and made her way to the toilet in the back of the plane. Luckily, even private jets were laid out in a way that made the small room easy to find. Locked inside, she stared at herself in the mirror and tried to recognize the woman staring back at her.
Her hair was still gorgeous, the hairstyle Ryker’s servants had spent over an hour creating, perfect. Her make-up had been artfully applied. She looked beautiful. The engagement ring on her finger sparkled like black fire surrounded by a ring of starlight. The dress she wore was unlike anything she had ever imagined. It hugged every curve, made her look...like a queen.
Mia Regina.
My queen. Not a charming endearment. A freaking title.
Fumbling with the water spouts, she managed to turn it on and splash a bit of cold water on her cheeks and neck.
Inaugural ball? Like the event at Ryker’s estate tonight? The people, all looking like they’d come straight from a fashion catalog? The pendant worn by Ryker’s mother? The crown?
“Emily, what have you done?” she whispered to the mirror image of herself. If she had her cell phone, she would call her twin this instant and curse her into next week. But she had no phone. No identification. No passport. No money. And everyone on this jet thought she was Emily Toure, future wife of Ryker. Future mother of his children.
For a price.
“No.” She stared the woman who looked exactly like Emily in the eye and told her again. “No. I’m not doing this. Not even for you.”
Decision made, Katy made sure she didn’t look as unsettled as she felt and walked back to stand next to her seat. The contract and pen rested in Erik’s lap.
“I am sorry, Erik. But I cannot accept your offer.”
“You drive a hard bargain, Ms. Toure.” He smiled as he spoke, clearly unperturbed. He stood and held out the paperwork. “I’ll make it twenty million and one child. Please, Ms. Toure. My clan, too, has given up hope, and the dragon chains will not hold us much longer.”
Straightening her shoulders, Katy made a decision.
“Erik, please, sit. I have a lot of questions. And then I have a story to tell you as well.”
“Ask. I will tell you anything, min dronning.”
“What does that mean?”
“My queen.”
14
Monday, Island of Sørøya, Norway
* * *
Cursing the daylight, Ryker ground his teeth and shifted the car Vector had acquired for them into high gear, the tires squealing as he took a sharp curve. Half a day to heal, just over three hours in the jet to Hasvik, and then a half-hour drive. Erik certainly knew how to hide from humans. His estate was on the clifflike shores of Noregr, although the humans had renamed the land Norway. His castle had been built between two small villages on the island of Sørøya. The entire island was home to just over a thousand humans.
“Send us over the cliff into that fucking ice water and you’ll have to wait another day to heal before you can get to her.” Vector’s blasé protest of his driving had the desired effect, and Ryker slowed to a reasonable speed.
Well, reasonable for a dragon who would have much preferred flying directly to the castle in full view. Staying hidden from the humans was not something his dragon cared about at the moment.
Ryker snarled. “I am going to disembowel him. Tear out his throat. Slash him to pieces and bury him alive.”
“He’s a king, old friend.” Crammed into the back seat, knees nearly to his chin, Alrik’s amusement served to irritate.
“He took my mate.”
“Technically he did not. He escorted a female business associate from your estate,” Vector pointed out. “No one knows she is your true mate, not even the lady in question.”
Ryker’s dragon roared in fury at Vector’s truth. He winced, his head about to split in two with his dragon’s anger. “Do not speak of it. I am barely keeping him at bay.”
“Even with the dragon chains?” Alrik asked, and it was not lost on Ryker that he was not asking as a friend but in his role as executioner.
“Yes.”
Alrik sighed. “Well then, hurry the fuck up.”
Ryker clenched his fists around the wheel, increasing the vehicle’s speed once more. The car’s mapping system indicated they were still twenty minutes away on winding roads that passed nothing but seaside cliffs and empty countryside.
“Fuck this,” He slammed on the brakes and pulled the car to the side of the road.
“You can’t. It’s broad daylight,” Vector pointed out.
“You may not regain control of him.” Alrik’s statement about his dragon was more worrisome than breaking the rule about not revealing themselves to the humans. If someone wanted to punish Ryker for risking discovery, they could try, but he had won his place as king centuries ago and no one dared challenge him for leadership. He was the fastest, toughest, most dangerous dragon in the clan, and he was not spending another moment driving the slow human vehicle when he could be there in a quarter of the time by flying straight to King Erik’s estate.
Ryker opened the door and stood on the open road. There were no cars, no humans for miles. He had to applaud Erik; the king’s northern estate was remote, desolate, and built on the cliffs for easy defense. Perfect for a dragon. Ryker’s estate in Italy had once been the same, but that had been in ancient times, before modern cities, and humans invaded every bit of exposed earth.
The thought enraged his dragon even more. They were guardians of the planet, of nature, of all life, yet the billions of humans had overcome their best efforts. Now the dragons operated from the shadows, doing what little could be done to save humanity from itself.
Humans need to die, Dragon insisted.
Your mate is human, old one.
Katy can live. The rest need to die. Like Erik. I will destroy Erik.
Erik is a dragon.
He is a dead dragon.
Fuck. His dragon was in a bad mood. And Ryker was about to turn him loose.
Vector and Alrik both climbed out of the car on the passenger side and looked over the low rooftop. Vector crossed his arms and leaned over the top of the car. “You sure about this?”
“My dragon is very sure,” Ryker answered.
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Alrik grinned and slapped Vector on the back. “You worry too much. Erik is an ancient, nearly as old as Ryker. He can take care of himself.”
With a growl, Ryker’s dragon took over and initiated the change. Seconds later a shimmering black dragon three times the size of the sports car stood on the road, testing his wings.
Vector sighed. “We’ll meet you there. In the car.”
Dragon answered, his telepathic voice a loud boom in both his companions’ minds. No. By the time you get there, we’ll be gone. She comes with me.
“This isn’t your territory. Where will you take her?”
Dragon would have laughed if he weren’t so eager to get to his mate. He’d been alive for centuries. Explored every part of the world. He knew the air and the mountains, the forests and the rivers. Earth, all of her, was his home. Airport. Tomorrow. Dawn.
“Fine. Don’t be late, Ryker. If you aren’t back in control and at that airport with Katy by sunrise, it won’t be a friend coming for you,” Alrik warned.
Dragon didn’t bother to respond before he launched into the skies. If his mate refused him, he would welcome the executioner’s blade.
Deep within, the human part of him agreed. One way or another, the chains must come off. Their torment would end.
Katy: it’s me, katy. new number. long story. where are you?
Katy: why aren’t you answering me? Whatever you do, don’t go to the palazzo. call me.
* * *
Katy sipped at her breakfast tea and tried to ignore the awkward silence at the large table. Erik and the twelve Guardians—which he’d told her were other dragon shape-shifters in his clan—sat around the table packing away food like starving giants. Erik had eaten little and continued to study her with a pensive expression on his face.
What was he thinking? She’d asked him hundreds of questions, and he’d answered them all. She wasn’t quite sure she believed him, wouldn’t think twice about dismissing his claims if she hadn’t seen those dragons fighting over the water with her own eyes.
She glanced at each person at the table in turn. The Guardians on the private jet knew everything, had overheard her discussion with Erik. Her confession.
When she told Erik about the plan to switch places with Emily, he had actually thrown back his head and laughed. “You think you can fool a dragon so easily?”
Even now, she stared at him, irritated. “Well, your kingship, we didn’t know about dragons.”
What a freaking mess.
“I want to see it,” Katy blurted before she could change her mind.
“See what, my dear?”
“Your dragon. I want to watch you shift, or whatever you called it, into your dragon.”
All movement at the table ceased as if by magic, every single one of them looked like they’d turned into stone with her words.
Erik turned his head to look out one of the many floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over a large stone courtyard, took so long in answering that Katy started to squirm. It was the only movement at the table.
“Very well. Come with me.” Erik walked away from the table and out onto the courtyard through a large set of enormous double doors. Knowing what she knew now, she wondered if the doors were wide enough to accommodate a dragon.
Outside, the cold wind coming off the water cut through her borrowed jeans and sweater. One of Erik’s many servants had brought her a selection of nightgowns, clothing, and shoes upon their arrival at the estate late last night. Katy had pulled on the warmest pair of flannel pajamas she could find in the stack of offerings and crawled into bed.
Erik’s castle was far north. As in, the-air-smelled-like-ice far. The ocean waves below crashed against the rocks menacingly, completely opposite the warm waters outside Ryker’s estate in Italy. The air itself was damp and cold and made her bones ache.
She missed Ryker. Which was stupid, because he’d been lying to her the entire time. He was, technically, still engaged to marry Emily. And he was a shape-shifting beast who wanted to impregnate her sister via IVF and then kill himself. Or, have someone called The Executioner kill him. That’s what Erik called the man.
No, not man. Elf. Not only was she supposed to believe dragons were real, but dark elves, light elves, werewolves. She’d stopped Erik there, her brain refusing to compute.
“I’ve totally lost it; that’s the only explanation for all of this,” Katy mumbled under her breath as she walked behind Erik. Finally, he stopped in the center of the stone courtyard.
“Please, step back. Once I have shifted, you may approach. Slowly. My dragon knows and has agreed to allow you to see him.”
Was she supposed to thank the dragon? She had no idea. Backing away, her heart racing like a rabbit’s, she kept going until Erik nodded that she was at a safe distance.
“Do not run, Katy. My dragon loves to hunt.”
Was that supposed to be funny? “Not funny.”
Erik chuckled and then closed his eyes.
For a few seconds nothing happened. Then everything happened at once. The man she knew as Erik, in his much more casual pants and turtleneck sweater, shimmered like a phantom before a strange light blocked her view of him. Almost like fog, only made of light instead of mist. She couldn’t see anything for the space of a heartbeat. And then?
Katy gasped. Standing before her was a dragon made of silver, his scales sparkling like small, interlocking pieces of chrome on his back, darkening to a more matte stainless-steel color under his chest and the bottom sides of his wings. Only Erik’s warning kept her feet planted on the ground, every instinct she had screaming at her to run.
Eric’s claws were black and longer than her arms, the tips sharp as knife blades. His eyes were bright blue sapphires that sparkled like brilliantly cut gemstones with a dark, slanted pupil in the center.
Not human. Nothing even close to human.
Dragon eyes.
“You’re beautiful.” The words were hone
st, but Katy’s shock was real. She hadn’t been imagining those flying creatures out over the water, like she’d half convinced herself at least a dozen times on the way here. They were real.
Dragons were real.
I am dragon.
The voice came from inside her mind, and she held her breath, listening for more.
You may approach, human.
So, it wasn’t her imagination then. This creature was actually speaking to her with some kind of… what? Telepathic power? Telepathy? How was that possible? And in her native language?
She answered her own question. Because he was a dragon. Magic. Right?
Moving forward slowly, Katy completely forgot about the cold, her half-broken heart, Ryker, marriage contracts, and her sister. The world faded away as she approached the most beautiful creature she’d ever seen or even imagined. Hand outstretched, she was shocked when the mighty beast, at least four times her height, bent down low and rested his head on the stones so she could reach his face.
The teeth and jaw were a bit too much for her to handle, so she walked a few steps closer and reached for the spot below the dragon’s ear where she knew her neighbor’s cat liked to be scratched. Her fingertips came to rest on the dragon’s cheek, and she grinned as heat flowed into her from the contact.
“Do you breathe fire?” she whispered, unsure of her voice. Erik was, after all, a creature of pure fantasy. Magical. Legendary.
In response, the dragon made a huffing sound, and small flames shot from the dragon’s snout as if she had asked a stupid question.
“I’ve never met a dragon before. I didn’t mean to offend.”
The dragon leaned toward her again, bumping her hand just like a demanding cat wanting attention.
Proceed, human.
“Of course, Your Majesty.” Katy couldn’t keep the nervous giggle out of her voice as she rubbed the dragon’s cheek, right below his ear. For about a minute he held perfectly still. A low rumble began, moving through the stones and up into the soles of Katy’s feet.
Was he purring? Or maybe rumbling like the elephants did, the tone so low human ears couldn’t pick up the sound?