Alixor shoots me a dark look. “Very astute, Kaisa.”
I haven’t the strength rein in my expression, so I turn to hide my face.
He sighs, then slips back into the softer skin I know well. “I am upset. I do not mean to take it out on you.”
“Perhaps you should seek out your father,” I say, turning back towards him. “Find comfort and wisdom in him.”
“What about you?” he asks, rubbing his hands up and down the bare skin of my arms. Bumps erupt along my flesh at his touch and he easily accepts it as anticipation.
“I’ll be here and ready for when you return,” I say, working hard to give a suggestive slant to my voice.
Alixor leans in and tracks his nose across my cheek to my ear. “You are phenomenal. What did I do to deserve such a match?”Absolutely nothing, I think as he leans back. “Perhaps I don’t need to see my father. Perhaps I only need you.”
I silently curse myself. I either took it too far in my coquetry or he is simply that eager. “Perhaps some medical attention, as well,” I deflect. “The Sar Dyeus’s power was intense. I didn’t know he could render a man motionless.” His eyes flash with annoyance. “And he dismissed your father from your banquet. I wonder what Lord Selnor would think of the way the Sar Dyeus treated you after.”
Alixor’s hands tighten on my arms. “You are right. I’ll consult my father. Then, I shall return for you.”
“Take all the time you need.” I give him a congenial smile, thinking of my niece and nephew to make sure hebelieves it.
Alixor takes his leave swiftly and as soon as the door shuts behind him I rush to the bed and feel around for the vial. A sound escapes me when my fingers don’t immediately close around it, but another swipe of my hand and I feel it against the tips of my fingers. I pry out the cork and the scent immediately assaults my nose. A curse flies from my mouth and I press the top back on. Waving the air, I stride to the window and push it open to clear the room. I open the vial again, stopper it with my index finger, and tip it. The cork goes back and the droplet catches the light of the sun. Just as I’m bringing my finger to my mouth, the door opens. I go as still as Alixor did when the Sar Dyeus ensnared him with his magic.
“Kaisa?” Alixor’s voice is a terrifying combination of curious and calm. “What do you have there?”
Lie. I need to lie. But what can I say when my heart is beating so frantically I know he can hear it? I press the tip of my finger under my tongue, giving myself time to think. Holding the vial tightly in my fist, I remove my finger and have to swallow a few times around the taste before I can speak. A mild numbing sensation buzzes along the edge of my tongue.
“It’s something to help calm me,” I say, going for some modicum of the truth. “I need to finish freshening up—I didn’t expect you back so soon.”
Alixor shuts the door behind him, the sound of the latch echoing as he crosses the room. His movements are a slow, steady prowl, eyes locked on my hand clutching the vial. “I was informed my father is delivering souls to the gods. I didn’t wish to disturb him in the skies.”
Blood rushes through my veins, heating my skin. He’s in front of me now, gently caressing the back of my hand, then twisting my fingers until I release the vial.
Alixor leans in close, his other hand coming up behind my neck to jerk me to his mouth, crushing his lips against mine, forcing me to open for him with his tongue and teeth. If I wasn’t trying to hide something, a kiss like this would be thrilling—wanted. I’m hoping beyond hope that he doesn’tknow the taste on my tongue and what it means.
Then, he yanks me back hard, putting such little space between us that his hot breath burns my lips. “I havetriedbeing gentle with you, Kaisa. I have tried being patient with you, making you feelcalmandcomfortableand ready to take my seed, and you return my gestures, my affection, with this.” I flinch at the sound of the vial shattering into pieces. “Did you truly think I wouldn’t know the taste and smell of dragonsbane? I will not have yet another female undermine me and forgo her duty.” He snares me around the waist, hands rough, fingers digging into my back.
He crushes his mouth against mine again, hate and pain radiating through the contact, then he drags his cheek across mine, all the way to my ear. “I should kill you for what you’ve done.” He breathes in, deep and ragged, then sighs. “But you have so much potential in you. I can feel it.” He nuzzles his nose forcefully against my jaw. “And I will use it for my brood, even if I have to make you, and then…then, maybe I’ll kill you.”
With another rough jerk, he throws me to the ground. I spin and catch myself with my hands, turning so that I’m crouched in a low fighting stance. He swaggers towards me, laughing, shaking his head. Seeing me take up my position must be wildly amusing for him. I’ll let him think whatever he wants. It will only serve me better. I’m shaking my head, too, my disbelief at war with something Ninon and I always believed. The dragons of Dyeus shouldn’t be trusted. I shouldn’t be surprised at this turn in him, but I am, and my heart is wounded all the same. For me, and for all the women who came before me. Who else has this happened to, if it’s happening to me?
“You may be skilled in taking a dragon out of the sky, but you stand no chance in defeating one in a real fight. Relent, Kaisa. Do your duty. Bend to me easily and I will let you go home and live your life. This will not end well otherwise.”
His words only serve to boil my churning blood, making me dangerous and volatile. I bow my head and relax my body as I stand, keeping my arms loose at my sides. Ilook up at him from beneath my lashes. What other option do I have?
He smirks. “Excellent choice. Now, I would much prefer to do this in an enjoyable manner, for the both of us, but if you fight, I won’t keep any promises. I am getting my offspring from you, Kaisa, one way or another.”
A scream builds in my throat, threatening to erupt in his face. A warning. A promise. Instead, I say nothing. Do nothing. I let him come, bracing myself. Alixor approaches slowly, savoring the moment, drawing it out. He circles me once and I stay still and silent.
“Bear my offspring and return home, Kaisa,” Alixor says again, whispering in my ear, soft and sweet like a lover. “You were made for this.”
It’s in that moment I know. When he touches me, I will kill him. I let him think what he will, because I intend to show him exactly what I was made for.
Then he’s in front of me, his hands on either side of my face, pulling me to him again in a kiss that once might have set me aflame in the best possible way. This kiss makes me want to turn everything to ash. I meet him, throwing years of pent up rage and disappointment into the kiss.
I dive my hands into his hair, gripping and pulling him closer to me. He growls his approval, relenting a step, relaxing his body. My hands fall to his cheeks as his lower to my collar before falling on my breast, the other lowering to cup my backside. I undo the upper stays keeping his jacket in place, the buttons of his undershirt, and expose his bare chest while his arms remain trapped in the binds of his sleeves. He breaks the kiss and pulls back a fraction. “That’s more like the Kaisa I know,” he purrs. “Let me ease your nerves. Let me forgive you.”
He knows nothing and forgiveness is not what I seek. I answer by pressing my mouth against his again and drag my hands back up over his shoulders, fingers digging into his jaw, his neck, before reaching behind me as if to pull loose the tie holding my dress in place. He smiles against my mouth. I smile too as my fingers grasp the pin in my hair. I slip it out. My hair cascades down my back. Hissmile widens, hands coming behind me to twine into the loose waves. I take a wide step back, the motion tugging against his hold on me, and as he moves to follow, I thrust forward back into his space, into his momentum, and drive my pin straight up into his heart.
Alixor roars, and throws me with such force I slam into the wall across the room. “You,bitch,” he snarls, looking down at the pin sticking out of his ribcage. A wispy line of blood trails from the entry point.
