“What is your purpose?” I demanded as metal cuffs closed around my wrists.I tried to shift to throw them off, but there was nothing there. I’d been cut off from my magic in an instant by whatever the cuffs were made from.
They didn’t answer me, just pushed me forward. I fought and struggled but was out matched without my hands. Fucking cowards, couldn’t even make it a fair fight.
They walked me to a part of the palace I’d never seen before and threw me into a small stone room.I stumbled, landing hard on my knees, and nearly slammed my face into the wall with my arms still shackled. I climbed back to my feet slowly and found a heavy door, closed and locked. There were no windows and no furniture.
I carefully lowered myself to a seat to wait.Because I knew exactly what was coming. Or rather, who.
It didn’t take long for the locks to clang and the door to pull back.
As predicted, in stepped the spitting image of Alaric, but he was all wrong. His mouth curled into a sneer, and the lines in his face told me he scowled more than he smiled. Everything about him was harsh. His jaw line, the cut of his clothes, even his stunning eyes.
Where Alaric was handsome, his brother was a force. There was no doubt who was in line to be the King.
“Arkyn.” I got to my feet.
“It’s ‘Your Highness’ to you,” he spat.
I inclined my head in a mock show of respect. “My apologies, Your Highness.”
“You’re the dragon?” he sneered, sizing me up again.
I was a head taller than him and much bigger, but I knew I’d never have a chance at getting to him. He surely had guards waiting behind the door, a call away.
“She is my ryder, yes.” It was possessive and would enrage him, I knew. But she was mine, and I wouldn’t tiptoe around that.
He laughed, leaving me unsure what to do. “Brave of you to return with her.”
“I was doing my duty to my King and future King.” I met his eyes.
He considered my words. “Did you really believe you’d survive after being alone with my future queen for all that time? If I wasn’t being forced to marry her, you’d both be fucking dead.”
My mouth dropped open, and it took my brain a few moments to catch up. “Nothing untoward happened.”
“I don’t believe you.” His gaze flicked from my eyes down to my cock and back up. “But truth aside, her reputation is ruined, and I won’t let anyone disrespect me as such and live.”
“We were ambushed and had to escape. It was necessity, not disrespect.”
He cut me off. “No? She meant no disrespect when she had your cock in her cunt? I’m sure she didn’t. But it doesn’t matter. She can birth me twins, and then I’ll make her watch as I take them out of her arms and tell her she’ll never see them again. Because there are fates worse than death, you know.”
“Please, don’t.” I locked my jaw, barely holding myself back from running at him.I still had teeth and knees.
“Begging for her life instead of your own?”
I ground my teeth, not giving into his toying.
“I have plans for you as well. You’re going to wish you both had died.”
“You won’t be able to keep her from me. We are bonded.” The words were out before I could stop them. “She will know I am here.”
“She won’t. She’s going to think you abandoned her like a coward. My father, in his infinite wisdom, just approved of her becoming your ryder, but that won't happen while I draw breath. They will all think you just ran away when they can’t locate you to tell you the good news.” He smiled, and maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. I didn’t need to taunt a monster into killing me. “But don’t worry about her finding you. We’ve learned a great deal from Kol being captured. How they held him. What methods they used to block his magic and his dragon from him. We have you shackled with magic blocking chains, and that’s just the beginning.”
“What does that even mean?!”
“It means…” He smirked, brushing a little invisible dirt from his tunic in disinterest before fixing me with his deadly gaze. “A little Dragon's Bane won’t kill you.”
FORTY-ONE
CALYTRIX
