Basilla laughed. “She has not said, but I imagine she would not be thrilled to hear of it. I can’t bring myself to care, though—all this old enmity between our people is quite silly. As far as I’m concerned, the curse should have been lifted a long time ago. Perhaps if it had, we wouldn’t be stuck in this dreadfulwar.”
Dareena smiled. “I agree. Lifting the curse would go a long way toward mending this old wound, I think.” She was tempted to tell Basilla about the prophecy she’d discovered, but she wasn’t certain it would be wise to trust her with something like that when they barely knew eachother.
Basilla’s gaze turned thoughtful. “You know, I could search the old temple records and see if I can find any more information on the curse,” she said, rising. “I have to go there this afternoon—the head priestess requires me to visit monthly.” She screwed up her face indistaste.
Dareena laughed. “Well, you wouldn’t want to keep her waiting.” She looped her arm through Basilla’s. She walked the princess out, then returned to her room, the two books hidden in the voluminous folds of her skirt. She would study up on the curse’s history, then see if she could find a good spell from that magic primer to practice. She didn’t expect miracles, not overnight, but she needed to find a way to free herself and Alistair before Arolas returned. She had a feeling the prince was looking for any excuse to visit misery upon them, and she wanted to be long gone before he decided to execute them, orworse.
19
By the timeDrystan finally turned in for the night, he was exhausted. With Lucyan, Taldren, and Catriona all gone off to perform various missions, he was the only one left to hold down the fort, and it took everything he had to keep a brave face and not let the courtiers know how much this was all getting tohim.
Drystan collapsed onto his bed, instantly falling into a deep sleep. He wasn’t certain how long he lay floating in the blissful darkness, but gradually, the shadows morphed into a hazy picture, and the next thing he knew, he was looking up at hismate.
“Dareena?” he whispered, reaching up to cup her cheek. She smiled, turning her face into his palm so she could press her lips against his skin, then moved lower down his body. Drystan reached for her, wanting to hold her in his arms, but she pushed his hands away and pulled down his trousers, freeing his rapidly swelling member. Drystan hissed as she took his cock in her small, dainty hands and began to pleasurehim.
“Yes,” he groaned, arching his hips into her as she slid her hand up and down his shaft. Gods, that felt so good. “Please, don’tstop.”
“Mmm,” Dareena purred, lowering her mouth onto his cock. Her hot tongue swirled around the head of his shaft, making him see stars, but something about her voice seemed off. He reached for her, and though his hand should have met dark, silken tresses, he instead felt tightly coiledcurls.
“What the hell?” Drystan barked, sitting up in bed. He blinked hard, adjusting to the darkness, and in the moonlight, Lady Dalmouth knelt between his legs—one of the noblewomen who had come to see him with her father earlier today. She was stark naked, the silvery light highlighting her milk-white skin, and her heavy breasts bounced as she recoiled, no doubt repelled by the anger in hisgaze.
“I’m sorry to startle you, Your Highness,” she said, her eyes wide. “It’s just…you looked so tense earlier when my father and I spoke with you in the throne room. I thought perhaps you were missing Lady Dareena and needed someone to take your mind offher.”
“You thought wrong.” Drystan grabbed her dress from the chair and yanked the garment over her head, then ushered her out of his suite. “Don’teverdo something like that,” he snarled, shoving her into the hallway. “If I catch you in my quarters again, I will banish you from the Keeppermanently.”
He slammed the door in her shocked face and stormed back to his room, shaking with anger. Unfortunately, his cock was still hard and aching—he missed Dareena so fiercely that Lady Dalmouth’s touch had stirred up the longings he’d buried so deep. Sinking onto the mattress, he wrapped his hand around his cock and slowly moved his hand up and down, just as he’d dreamed Dareena doing. If he closed his eyes, he could see her again in his mind’s eye, that combination of innocence and lust on her gorgeous face as she knelt between his legs and worked his cock. He watched as she rose onto her knees, long-lashed eyes closing as she touched herself with her free hand, her fingers growing slick withcream…
“Oh gods,” Drystan groaned as he came, shooting his seed all over his belly. The release was both satisfying and somehow hollow—beating himself off wasn’t the same as coming in Dareena’s tight pussy and planting a babe deep inside her. He hoped the dragonling growing in her belly was safe and not being adversely affected by the anti-dragon spell. The pregnancy was in the early stages yet—if Lucyan could get Dareena and Alistair out of there, they might be able to avoid any lasting damage to thebabe.
That child was the key to lifting the curse. Drystan knew it in his heart as surely as he knew that all four of them were meant to be together. He couldn’t allow any harm to come to that baby, no matter who or what he had to sacrifice to ensure itssafety.
Drystan mopped up the mess on his stomach with a rag, then lay back down to sleep. He was just drifting off again when a knock came at his door, and he quickly yanked the sheet up to coverhimself.
“Who is it?” he snapped, thoroughly irritated. It had better not be another trollop, or he would lose what little remaining patience hehad.
“Catriona.” His sister pushed open the door, a triumphant smile on her face. “We gothim.”
“You did?” Drystan sat upright, excitement pumping in his veins. “The oracle is in custody right now? Where ishe?”
“In the deepest, darkest cell we have,” Catriona said with a cruel smirk. “Capturing him was all too easy—a simple sleeping potion slipped into his drink allowed us to carry him out of the temple without raising the alarm or dealing with any of his foul magic tricks. He won’t wake for some hours, but he’ll be ready for you to interrogate in themorning.”
“Excellent. We’ll do so afterbreakfast.”
Catriona bid him a good night, and Drystan went back to sleep, a great weight sliding off his shoulders. For once, something was finally going right around here. He drifted off with a smile on his face, clinging to the hope that he would get something useful out of the warlock spy, and that, in the meantime, Lucyan was making headway on his efforts to rescue Dareena andAlistair.
20
Alistair groaned backto consciousness and scrubbed away the crud encrusting his eyelids to find himself in the same dark cell he’d passed out in. He still burned with fever, but not quite as bad as before. As his stomach rumbled, aching for sustenance, he wondered just how long he’d been out, and how often the jailers broughtfood.
Gritting his teeth against the pain and weakness in his limbs, he pushed himself upright and looked around the small space. Aside from the bench, there was a chamber pot for him to do his business in and a small jug of water on the filthy floor. Alistair fell upon it like a rabid animal, drinking down half the pitcher in one go. Panting, he sat and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, wondering if he should dump the rest of the water over his head. As a dragon, heat didn’t usually bother him, but this sickness was downrightmiserable.
“Bloody hell,” someone growled. Alistair started—the voice sounded as if it was coming from right above him, but that was impossible. “I’m going to strangle that bastard if I ever get out ofhere!”
Alistair spotted an air vent a few feet above his head. Curious, he stood on the bench, ignoring the wave of dizziness that passed over him, and pressed his hands to the wall to steady himself. “Hello?” he called through the vent. “Who are you planning onstrangling?”
Silence. Then, “My backstabbing whore of a brother,” the voice said. “Who areyou?”
“Alistair of Dragonfell.” He leaned his forehead against the wall and gave a near-silent sigh of relief as the cool stone eased his fever a bit. “I’m guessing you are Prince Ryolas?” He vaguely recognized the voice from when the prince had met him and his brothers in theforest.
