The demonic lions shake their manes, padding closer to Lanlin in defense of him.
Lanlin waves his hands, and the moths flutter away.
Aurelius points at the freezing marble. “Kneel before me, Lan.”
TheLanis a deliberate insult; he’s refusing to even address him as a king.
Fury flames through Lanlin’s eyes.
But then, he drops to his knees elegantly like it’s easy and not something that he has been fighting for years to avoid.
The other dragons laugh nervously. Some of them jeer. Maximinus smiles, smugly.
My heart speeds up.
I nuzzle closer to Daire, taking calming breaths of his pheromones. Why do I care that Aurelius is treating my other Alpha like this?
They’re enemies.
I am about to bring down this Shadow Vampire’s kingdom, world, and life. So, why does it matter to me that he’s kneeling?
Except, somehow it does.
Aurelius looks down on Lanlin, who appears quietly composed on his knees, as if it’s a position that he’s well familiar with despite being a king. “All those years, all this fighting, to avoid submitting to the Draca Kingdom.And now, look at you. You’re kneeling for me.”
To my shock, Lanlin raises his head, meeting my gaze with breathtaking earnestness. “I’m not kneeling for you. You’re an irrelevance, Relius. I’m kneeling for my Omega.”
My Omega.
He’s kneeling forme…
The enormity of what Lanlin is giving up to be with me hits me. It knocks the breath from me.
I can’t avoid it, now that I can see Lanlin’s devotion.
What it means.
There are three of us on our knees in this room.
Daire, Lanlin, and me.
Not Aurelius.
Not a single dragon shifter.
Are these empire builders truly the villains? Could they ever have been the good guys?
Uncomfortable, I duck my head.
We may all have our own schemes, but suddenly, it connects me to this new Alpha in a new way that I wasn’t expecting.
The dragons simply want me to betray Lanlin and bring him back as a captive. After Aurelius’ display of what having even a small amount of power over the Blood looks like, I know that it would destroy me to do that.
Yet how can I balance keeping all three of these Alphas safe? And not die myself?
Aurelius growls. “A fucking irrelevance, Lan?”
He leans over Lanlin, as if he means to grab him by the neck.
