Dragonfly Refrain

by Aimee Moore

  “You’ve had much experience with my people?” Karne asked.

  “Only one. It is of no importance; she’s not important. More will come. Tell me of your people’s lifestyles, and how they might add to my people.”

  And so, the politicking began while I throbbed with torturous desire. After nearly two hours of discussions that failed to reveal any new information to me, Karne finally turned his allure down and allowed me rational thought.

  Caelund was droning on in that pompous way of his. “There will be a feast tonight. A dance; some celebratory thing I’ll be forced to attend in honor of our new Nialae brethren,” Caelund said in a bored tone. “My advisors have insisted upon it as a good show.”

  Karne gave Caelund a condescending smile. “Very well, we’ll attend.”

  “Then tomorrow we’ll go over more treaty ideas, I suppose. If you want. Really, I think it’s stupid because obviously you don’t want to go to war with us, but once again, my advisors forget who among them is King.”

  Oh, if only he knew about the courts amassed outside of this city.

  Karne gave a hearty laugh. “Yes, our lowers can do that from time to time; exhausting. Speaking of exhaustion, I believe Ryelle tires from travel.”

  I followed Karne’s cue as he rose and gave Caelund formal thanks.

  Limping down the plush rug alongside my fake husband, over the singed rug Dal and I had stood upon, I kept my chin high and my face expressionless. Inside, I raged.

  Chapter 21

  Brown Husks And Green Velvet

  “He’s a brat,” I snarled. “And you’re a pig. I will not have you manipulating me like so, in front of the entire human court, no less.”

  I regretted my tirade immediately as exhaustion washed through me. I put my hand to my temple before moving to hang some dresses in the wardrobe.

  Karne gave a light laugh, draped over a chair in our shared room as he was. “Were you more believable I wouldn’t have to employ such measures. A rock would perform better.”

  “I apologize, oh master of lies, I haven’t acquired the skill for manipulation as you have.”

  “Work on it, you can’t expect to survive in my new world as such a naïve fool.”

  “Go to the seven hells,” I spat, dropping the dress I was hanging. “I’ve managed my way right to the top of the Kraw food chain, and your petty Nialae politics are tame in comparison to that.”

  Karne stood then, advancing on me. “You think yourself capable of this just because you’ve managed to tame some lustful dogs? Children of War are just that, Seraphine; Children of War. They are not Children of Politics, Children of Secrets, or even Begotten Brats of Social Graces. They rut, they shit, and they fight. That is child’s play compared to Nialae games.”

  I turned away. “What do you know? The people you speak ill of would find you inferior and cast you aside like rotting meat.”

  Karne’s hand was on my shoulder then, and he turned me roughly, drawing me toward him by the ring around my neck. His allure pulsed at me once before he controlled it again, and I found myself letting off a soft moan as I was handled.

  “You think yourself strong, Seraphine, because up until now, you have been. You’re playing a dangerous game now. A game where all you have is looks and a bluff, and I hold all the power. Nialae won’t challenge you to your face, they’ll let you think you’ve won the argument while they put the battle in your bath and drown you in it.”

  “Let me go,” I whispered.

  “They’ll send someone you love to trap you in a pretty cage and that loved one won’t know what they’ve done until it’s too late. Nialae will give you everything you’ve ever wanted and then watch as it poisons you. They’ll make you throw yourself upon that knife if it serves their ends.”

  “You people are mad,” I whispered.

  “You’re not prepared for what’s coming, Seraphine. I’m the only protection you have in this world now.”

  We stared at each other, his lips a breath away from mine. “You brought me for a reason; let me make my own choices. If I die then I die.”

  Karne frowned at me. “You would still throw your life away because of your love for him.”

  “I’m here, am I not? My time has come a dozen times over. I fear death less than I fear spending my days as your vapid puppet.”

  Karne huffed half a laugh. “What has he given you, besides scars? You continue to throw your heart into a dead man’s grave, Seraphine, and all he has done for you is subject you to animal barbarism.” Karne’s grip tensed and his gaze lingered on my mouth.

  My voice trembled with grief. “Dal unlocked my gift to me. He gave me patience and wisdom. He gave me trust and joy. He gave me nights that made the stars burn and days that defined the notion of heaven. He gave me love. Love that cannot be faked on the ends of puppet strings.”

  Karne tore his hungry gaze from my lips, looking into my eyes as he let me go. “I’ll do as I see fit,” he said, adjusting his overcoat. “If it gets that shard out of your shoulder and the Helegnaur in our hands, then it’s the right thing.”

  I walked to the window, looking out at the sea lapping with memories. I wrapped my hand around the whorled shell of my necklace, tucked under my dress. “Maybe there is no right thing in all of this.”

  Karne’s heat was at my back then. “Fate has been cruel to you. But has it not been kind in giving you a second chance to make a difference to your people? In sparing your death time and again so you can be here?”

  I turned away from the window, skirting Karne and heading for the exit. I paused in the open door. “Perhaps, Karne… Perhaps fate seeks a balance; for after what I had with Dal, it will take an eternity of suffering to pay for something so sweet.”

  I pulled the door closed behind me, glad that he did not follow.

  I swept through the elaborate halls, this time an honored guest. And yet, I felt as naked in my lie as I did in this dress.

  In time I found myself in the lush gardens outside of the palace. Just as the first time I was here with Dal, fragrant red blooms perfumed the air. The smell slammed the memory into me so hard that my eyes pricked with tears. I found the secluded bench Dal took me on nearly a year ago, during our first visit here under the distrustful gaze of the short-sighted council. That night, Dal had showed me his gift, stilling time for me. Fireflies had halted their movements midair, and he’d explained that time was only perceived through light.

  I sat on our stone bench, remembering, as the air took on a chill and the sun began to kiss the rolling hills in the west. I wondered, just like the hundreds of times before, if his death was quick. If he thought of me before he died. Some part of me was angry with him for being so brave in the face of such horror. Furious that fate took away our last goodbye. And another part of me was ashamed at my anger, heartbroken.

  Just when I thought I was finally healing, another piece of Dal would float to me, washing me in fresh sorrow. I lay on the bench and wept for what I could never have. For a world that would never again be right. But more than anything, I wept for the man I would never touch again. The hazel eyes that would never look upon me as if reading me like the open pages of a book. The place of peace I would never have with him, the life we would never live together.

  I must have drifted off, because when I awoke, it was to a man’s deep voice.

  “Sometimes, the rules of the game are clear when we are not tokens within it.”

  I frowned as I looked up. Jacinthe was trimming the blooms in this beautiful place, cutting only the flowers so they fell to the floor with a soft crunch.

  “What are you doing here?” I breathed, sitting up. Cold stole into my bones as I slept, slowing my numbed limbs now.

  “Purpose, always for the wrong thing. Try again, Seraphine.” Another red blossom hit the floor with a swish of petals.

  I swallowed, adjusting my dress to decency. “I don’t understand most of the things you say,” I muttered.

  Jacinthe smiled toward m
e, showing all of his white teeth. “You did. But then the world broke. And now,” he gestured toward the blooms at his feet, “they do not belong. But where will they go, I wonder? Brown husks, green velvet; do they choose? Will the world swallow them up?”

  I frowned down at the blossoms, most face-down in the leaf-strewn dirt. “I don’t—” I sighed, rubbing my eyes, then looked at Jacinthe. “Is my world dying again? Is that what you’re saying?”

  Jacinthe threw his head back and laughed. “Do not let it take you, Seraphine, sometimes we must be one with our burdens for the break to repair.”

  I looked back at the exit to the clearing I sat in, seeing a trail of trimmed blooms on the floor, then back to the mysterious man before me. But he was gone, leaving only his lunacy behind.

  “Madness,” I muttered, getting up to walk back to my room. Jacinthe’s trail of severed blooms led to the last bush by the doors, as if he’d stepped outside and thought to just begin slaughtering the beauty in this place. I shook my head and carried on.

  The heat inside the palace teased into my skin and bones, and I found myself wanting a hot bath. When I got to my room, still wiping wetness from my face, Karne was dressed in resplendent golds and reds, turning in front of the floor-length mirror.

  “Perhaps too much,” he muttered to Yasmil.

  “It is sufficient for the task at hand,” she said back, running a hand over his shoulder to smooth a wrinkle.

  Karne glanced at Yasmil, who lifted her lashes to him. He lifted her chin in gentle hands. “You are, as always, generous with your compliments.” They shared a smile before he let go. “Did you hear what I said about Rhyseth?”

  I didn’t care for politics at the moment. I headed for the bathing room as Yasmil murmured to Karne.

  “It’s time for you to change,” Karne said in a loud voice.

  “For what?” I didn’t look at him as I spoke in a flat tone.

  “The celebration, of course. We are the Nialae guests of honor, you know.”

  “I’m not Nialae, I’m just your arm ornament. Go without me, please, I wish for solitude.”

  I trudged to the bathing room and began to strip off my scant dress. It hit the floor with a swish and a clinking of gems on stone. The door shut in the distance, and I hoped Karne would not return for some time.

  Pinning my hair up, I lowered myself into the pool, sinking up to my lips with a soft sigh. My nose was so close to the water. Could I just sink my head below the surface, into the muffling warmth of the water and breathe deep my death? Would it be quick? Comfortable, like a hot bath?

  “It hurts,” Karne said. “That’s how it feels to drown.”

  I sat up, glaring at Karne. “Stay out of my head,” I growled.

  “Please, I didn’t need to get in your head to see you were thinking about suicide.”

  “You are wrong again,” I said in a flat tone. “Suicide and acceptance are two different things.”

  “Negligible. Come, we must get you dressed to match me.”

  “I told you I’m not going.”

  “You are going because you need to put on a good show with me. A damn good one, too, if you wish to be free of your debt to me. If Caelund or any of the other murderous fools in the crowd suspect our relationship is a ruse then the game is over, do you understand?”

  “I believe the real question is: do I care? And the answer is no.”

  “I will force you,” Karne said in a dangerous tone.

  “That certainly won’t look fake,” I muttered, sinking into the water with an exhausted sigh.

  Then lust pounded into my blood, and I sat up with a gasp. Stars above, the water caressing my body was like a lover’s touch. I ground my nails into the stone. “Turn it off,” I growled.

  “And deprive myself of seeing that body writhe? I think not.”

  “Karne…” I tried to growl, but it was a moan. I was as tense as a bow string, ready to be plucked.

  “Beautiful,” Karne said, beginning to undress.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, eyes wide.

  “Making the best of the situation.”

  Oh no. He was going to – oh no. But oh yes. What was stopping me? Through his allure I couldn’t think clearly. Advantages and secrets to be spilled in the cold throes of pleasure? It all ceased to matter under the weight of the need to be touched.

  Karne discarded his clothing with ease, his nudity displayed before me with careless confidence. He climbed into the pool next to me, muscles rippling with tension.

  “You are going to be late for your ball,” I whispered, afraid to try and move away.

  “I will arrive when I mean to,” he said, drifting toward me.

  “Not like this,” I whispered. “Please.”

  Karne put his hands on my shoulders, pulling me close. “Not like what, Seraphine?” His lips were nearly touching mine and my body was throbbing for release.

  “Not with the allure. Please,” I whispered.

  “I want your word that you’ll cooperate,” Karne growled at me.

  “I can’t think like this,” I breathed.

  Tense moments passed where I was both terrified and excited that he might keep the allure.

  But then Karne let off a long exhale, and his allure died. Tension fled, loosening my posture in his grip as I caught my breath. But the arousal was still there on its own. Not nearly as intense, but a beautiful, naked man was looking at me like he’d die to taste me.

  Karne pulled me closer, his bottom lip grazing mine as he spoke. “I want your word. Complete cooperation.”

  My heart was slamming in my ribs as I untangled the madness of desire from my goals. What would this accomplish? Karne was a powerful man who could give me access to Caelund’s library. I haven’t given myself to a man since Dal. Could I remain cold inside as I gave myself to this one, so I could betray him?

  I let my lips part as I looked into Karne’s eyes, then gave him a slow nod.

  “Finally,” he growled. His lips met mine, teasing at first, tasting and gentle, but then my over-sensed body fired up anew. I kissed back harder, and he gave a superior laugh into my mouth as his hands gripped my arms, pushing me hard against the side of the stone pool. I groaned into his mouth, partly from the pain of my shard being rattled, and partly from raw desire. Karne sat on his knees, pulling my legs around his body.

  He let go of my arm to reach a hot hand down between us, stroking as he kissed me like I was his air to breathe. I let off a trembling moan as climax washed over me at the foreign touch. The sweet release rocked me higher and higher into oblivion as Karne plunged his tongue into my mouth and stroked me with his hand. Something probed my throbbing opening as I came down from my star-strewn ecstasy, and just like all the times before with Karne’s guests, a cold selfishness stole over me.

  Take all of his heart and incinerate it.

  Yes, Patroma’s cruelty tangled with my goals, and I reached between us to position Karne at my entrance. A knocking at the door stilled us, and Karne swore violently as I swam away.

  “What,” he barked at the door.

  Yasmil came in just as I found a good distance across the pool.

  “Karne. Caelund has begun to inquire about you.”

  A shadow of anger passed over Karne’s face, then muttering something in his language, he rose from the pool completely unashamed of his aroused state. “Get me a towel,” he said.

  Yasmil’s gaze lingered on Karne for a heartbeat before she gave a single nod and went to her task, fetching towels for us. I pushed my hair away from my face as I considered her and the role she plays here. What would her allegiance to me mean? Could I balance the friendship of a scorned woman with the affections of the man she loved?

  Karne absorbed himself in various scraps of parchment after he had gestured clothes onto his form, leaving Yasmil to help me dress. I used the opportunity to train my gaze on her every movement. The shift of her eyes toward Karne, the softening of her body language to him, the rigidne
ss toward me. And yet, her expression remained calm and neutral. She was a master of this game. I needed her on my side for this, and I held the one bargaining ship she wanted: Karne.

  My dress, in reds and golds mirroring Karne’s, was once again too scandalous to even be called a dress. It was a barely-there strapless piece in nearly sheer gold that dripped down my body. Swirls of red crisscrossed between my breasts before they began to part down my hips in graceful designs that frolicked at the hem. Somewhere in the back, the glittering red train began at my shoulders and draped low, showing off my entire back before filling out at the bottom to complete the dress.

  A single clasp in the back kept the whole thing from slithering down my body. Gloves of gold hid my Kraw markings. Red shoes laced themselves up my legs when Yasmil gestured at me, and then my hair was twisted up with golden pins in strategic places that sparkled.

  Yasmil turned me to the mirror with brisk impatience. Seven hells, I was a blond now, I kept forgetting. And I looked, once again, like the queen of the Nialae.

  I glanced at Karne across the room, absorbed in some sheaf of parchment, then turned to Yasmil, considering the strategy of my next move. “Take him,” I whispered.

  “We all must learn our place,” Yasmil said in a flat tone, yanking hard on part of my dress that wasn’t falling right. “Even you.”

  “I’m mated to another. Relieve me of the burden of Karne’s desires.” I watched Yasmil as she lifted her gaze to me. For the first time, it wasn’t burning with hatred.

  Karne spoke in a dangerous voice from over by the door. “You wish to trade away my desires, wife?”

  I turned to Karne. “You know I do not truly want you.”

  “I also know that you lie. But you wish me to take Yasmil instead; violate the sanctity of our bond?” His voice was still low and dangerous.

  “There is no bond, Karne.”

  Karne strode over to Yasmil, hauling her against him. Her sharp intake of breath was loud in the stillness of the room.

  “She will have me without complaint. Right here,” Karne said.