Smolder (Dragon Souls)

  Marina held her breath; nails digging into her palms as she waited for him to make his choice.

  His expression had been like stone, so she had expected to be rebuffed, already thinking up a new way to reach him, but as her shoulders slumped, hope flickered on that handsome face, a face she could kiss all over until the end of time. At first, she thought she imagined it. Then flicker was replaced with wary acceptance.

  A snarl of emotions swelled in her heart and near choked her. So powerful was the sensation thrumming through her veins, she thought she would burst.

  Koen held out his hand and she took it, their fingers entwining. “You read people well,” he said gruffly.

  “The power of observation. It’s a gift of mine.” Humility had never been her strong suit, and she suspected it wasn’t his either.

  She could dig it.

  He visibly braced himself. “So, princess, what is it you want to know?”

  Marina licked her lips, the excitement of coming that much closer to what she now wanted drying her mouth. “Nikolai and Daniil are both dragon lords, high ranking, and you’re above them. You told me you were king.” She placed a hand on his arm. It flexed under her palm, and warmth infused her cheeks. She stared into his face. “Who are you Koen?”

  “Koen Raad of House Raad, dragon king of the Twelfth Dynasty.”

  Her lips twitched. He said it like to be such was a misfortune. “Why did you come to this dimension?”

  “Hiding.”

  She was going to end up slapping him if he continued with the stunted replies. “From… .”

  He looked away. “The Empire.”

  “You ran away from your responsibilities as king?” It didn’t sound like him at all.

  He shook his head. “Emperor.”

  Alrighty. They were doing well. Neither of them had started shouting or cursing or biting. The future was bright. “Cut the monosyllabic answers big guy. I need you to explain, because I’ve worked out as much as I can on my own, and I haven’t got all night. I like my sleep.”

  Koen tightened his hold on her hand. His fingers engulfed hers, and the touch sent bolts of heat straight to her heart. Befuddled at the rapid pounding of the organ in her chest, Marina worried what would happen to it if he rejected her.

  “Don’t turn me away,” she said in a small voice. “Talk to me. You don’t have to feel the same, but you at least owe me an explanation.”

  Koen tugged on her hand and she followed him. “Let’s get you settled for the night.”

  Marina didn’t get the same closed off vibe she usually got from him, more thoughtful, so she didn’t protest when he started back to the cave. She would have given anything to know what he was thinking.

  Back in the cave, the fire was burning low, and Daniil and Nikolai watched them enter with wary expression tinged with anticipation.

  Koen strode over to the bedroll they had slept in earlier. “Daniil, Nikolai,” he greeted then added, “Get out. I’m readying Marina for bed.” He paused. “There’s a body by the lake. Burn it.”

  Both men immediately, went to the door. No questions as to why there was a body, but fully accommodating that they would have to deal with one.

  “Nice night for flying,” Nikolai said merrily, stripping off his clothes.

  “The blue dark,” Daniil said, his own trousers dropping to the floor. “There is nothing sweeter to fly in … ah! Apart from storm in the Ice Realm, of course.”

  Smiling, listening to them chatter and undress, Marina enjoyed the view. And there was much to enjoy.

  “Should I be jealous?” Koen asked.

  Her response was to wave a hand at him, eyes far too busy elsewhere. She sighed dreamily when Nikolai and Daniil’s golden backsides disappeared around the bend. Koen clasped her chin and turned her head. His finger tapped under her chin to close her mouth.

  His eyes burned, and his lips pressed into a thin line. “Woman, you try my patience.”

  “You’re telling me that if two women starting undressing you wouldn’t take an innocent peek?”

  “There was nothing innocent about how you stared.”

  She beamed. “True.”

  He breathed hard through his nose, and Marina swore she smelt smoke.

  “You sleep much as me,” she pointed out, trying to avoid another argument.

  He smiled widely. It made her chest tight. “Just when I’m healing. You sleep a lot.”

  He crouched, and took off her boots, setting them aside carefully. Marina watched his bowed head, the way his shoulders were tensed, and wondered what was coming next. He tugged her jeans down and those too were carefully folded and placed on top of the boots.

  He settled back on the bedroll and patted the space between his legs. He didn’t need to ask her twice. She hurried over to him, and dragged the covers over her bare legs. She leaned her head back against his chest, and waited.

  Frankly, the last few minutes Marina had considered her behavior saint-like. She was being patient to be rewarded, and she sensed the time was nigh. She all but squirmed with excitement.

  “My dimension,” Koen began, “Tzion, is split into two kingdoms separated by a wasteland called the Barren. The Kingdom of Fire is where I was born. It is built at the base of a cluster of volcanoes and is home to the Drackai. Across the Barren, in the frozen tundra of the east are the Wyvrae, dragon lords born in the Ice Realm.”

  She nodded her understanding as she snuggled closer to his heat and his lovely masculine scent.

  “The Ice Realm is led by the woman who wears the Frost Wreath, and the Kingdom of Fire is led by the woman who wears the Blood Crown. The queens fight for the honor to lead these kingdoms in a tournament called Aver, called when a new queen must be crowned.” He shifted, his discomfort increasing. “In the old days, both kingdoms were forever at war. In a bid to stop the bloodshed, a breed of dragon called a phoenix defeated both queens in combat and demanded their surrender. They agreed on the caveat their kingdoms were overseen by the phoenix, a dragon known for his great strength and compassion. The two kingdoms became one Empire, joined by a treaty of peace for the sake of the prosperity of their people. Whenever a phoenix is named Emperor there is peace in the land.”

  Marina suddenly had a thought she had completely forgotten about before. Her heart was sinking rapidly. What if Koen’s reluctance to take her with him was because of another woman? “You have a dragon mate,” she whispered, convinced this was the true reason why he had resisted her.

  Koen jerked.

  In Marina’s mind, a guilty start instead of heartfelt denial was response enough. Tears sprang in her eyes and a sob tore from her throat.

  She lurched forward, but Koen was already lunging for her. He grabbed her ankle and dragged her backwards, flipping her onto her back beneath him. She struggled under him, trying, and failing to knee him in the groin.

  “Marina,” he barked. “Stop it. I have no mate.”

  She stilled. She was drawing back her neck to head butt him, but this made her pause. “You said you were a king and you’ve been talking about queens and a woman called Tatiana.”

  “All phoenixes are kings from birth. Tatiana is my sister.”

  She narrowed her eyes, suspicious, but mollified. “Seems you guys have queens, kings and princesses in abundance.”

  “There are ever only two queens, one king or an Emperor and his Empress. There are many Drackai and Wyvrae princesses and princes from the unions, but they are merely a step above court gentry. High princesses, offspring of a phoenix and his mate is rare. There have only been two others before you.”

  Koen held Marina’s arms by her sides and his groin was pressed to hers. Grudgingly, she admitted she liked his weight, even if he was using it against her at that moment. He eased off and pulled her up by the grip he had on her arms.

  Him on his knees, Marina on her butt, they stared at each other.

  “Are you done?” he asked.

  She grunted and pulled her arms away
. If he was waiting for an apology, he wasn’t getting one. He was taking to long with his explanation and giving her mind ample time to run in crazy circles. “Carry on then.”

  He rested his hands on his knees and from the way he breathed out slowly, she knew it cost him not to snap at her. “We believe dragons with the potential to become phoenixes are born all the time, and they are of course birthed from Chosen.”

  “Chosen?”

  “Women who can withstand the dragon flame. They are the mates to the dragon lords in our realm.”

  Marina blinked. “Chosen into dragons too?”

  “No. Only males have two forms. The women have dragon-like tendencies. Highly aggressive, heightened senses and instincts, but their form is fixed human. There are one or two stories in the imperial archives of a dragoness, but it has long been believed that it was merely a poets flowery description of a particularly fierce dragon mate.”

  Marina opened her mouth to say how typical it was only the men in his world could turn dragon, but quickly closed it again. It wasn’t down to Koen that nature had decided only the males would be able to shift from dragon to human and it would be inane of her to go there.

  “Do you know why the women can’t turn dragon?” she asked instead.

  “There are legends. The most widely accepted is that at the beginning of all things wild dragons fell in love with a tribe of human warrior woman here on Earth. They gave them the power to talk to them mind to mind. The women trusted these creatures and protected them from any harm. After some time, they wanted to be together, to love with body and mind, but of course, such a thing is not possible. The women prayed for answers and the dragon goddess heard their pleas. Already worried so many dragons cared so deeply for humans, she offered the women an exchange. They could each have one year with their dragons as man and wife if they traveled to Tzion and threw themselves into the volcanoes as sacrifices to her. They agreed. When the women were gone the dragons grieved, but they were able to carry on because the women of the tribe bared them sons and daughters. The males turned into dragons. The females were born immune to dragon flame and were gifted with their mothers’ strength and passion.”

  “That story sucks,” she concluded. “Why did the women pay for the love? Why not the dragons?”

  Koen shrugged. “It is a legend many in my world believe to be true. To explain our origin.”

  “So we’re supposedly descendants of this warrior tribe and these wild dragons?”

  Koen nodded. “There are hundreds of thousands of wild dragons in Tzion. They react differently to Chosen and dragon lords than they do to normal humans.”

  “Differently?”

  Koen smiled. “They do not try to kill them.”

  He settled back, his heels tucked under his bum. Marina lay down flat and stared at the cave ceiling. The dark brown rock was craggy and she could see the hole Koen had created when he tussled with Daniil.

  “Once Aver is done two queens remain standing,” Koen continued. “They rule until one queen dies and Aver is called again.”

  “What about you? How can you be a king without a kingdom?”

  “I am born king, all phoenixes are, but we are destined to fulfill the original agreement between Fire and Ice. To become Emperor and oversee the peace.”

  “Okay. So when do you become Emperor?”

  “When my Empress claims me.”

  Marina leaned up on her elbows. Things were getting mighty interesting. “And who would she be?”

  Koen cleared his throat, uncommonly fidgety. “To be eligible to be Empress you must be a queen.”

  “So either the Drackai queen or the Wyvrae queen can be our mate?”

  “They must hunt me. Whoever catches me and subdues my dragon in combat can claim me.”

  “You have got to be kidding me.” Marina pushed up. “They hunt you like an animal?”

  Koen nodded. “They fight each other. They are allowed to use their armies to run me down. They use my family to lure me out. Nothing is beyond them, and they never stop no matter how much damage or pain they inflict.” His voice was strained. “They only time I can be around the gentry without fearing for my life is during official ceremonies. They are not allowed to touch me then.”

  Marina swallowed. “Koen, when I found you, and you were wounded… .”

  He looked away. “They Drackai queen came close. The closest anyone ever has.”

  She felt sick. Koen was hunted so that these women could become Empress? There were warrior queens out there fighting for her man? “The queens kill each other?”

  “It is our way. They destroy each other to eliminate competition during the hunt. It is a small window between queens dying and the hunt being suspended so Aver can begin once more. That period of time is dangerous for me. I hide, and it’s why I came here, it was the last place I could think of. The Wyvrae queen is dead and the Drackai queen found my hiding place.”

  “These women must love you very much to–”

  “They do not love me,” Koen protested vehemently. “They wish to be Empress, nothing more. I could never be with a woman who wins my hand by forcing my to heel. It is against every instinct I have to submit.” He towered over her, his presence restless and agitated.

  “Koen, as horrible as it all is none of it explains why I can’t go back with you?”

  His face crumpled. “To be with me you would have to compete in Aver. You would have to win a crown–”

  “And then we could be together,” she said softly. Marina took his hand in her and placed her other hand on top. “Don’t you want that? You drive me crazy, but I’m beginning to see that I don’t want to be without you. So I have to fight a few crazy women. It could be worse.

  “You don’t understand,” he whispered. “Women die during Aver. The contests are perilous, they are difficult to ensure the women who are crowned are as fierce as their ancestors.”

  There wasn’t even a heartbeat’s pause when she replied. “I can do it.” Marina finally saw her life with clarity.

  Her mother had always been so strong, so capable. Her mother had been an Empress of Tzion. Her mother had competed in Aver, won, and claimed her dragon.

  It explained why she had never let Marina fail anything. Why she had pushed so hard. Marina didn’t believe her mother ever intended her to go her whole life without knowing the truth but once they came here they were stuck. Almeria had always been fair, and if there would ever come a time when Marina would need to fight for what was hers, she made sure her daughter had the physical and mental tools to face the challenge head on.

  Marina laughed she felt so giddy. “Koen, I’m telling you I can do this.”

  “Even if you do you would have to hunt me.”

  She frowned. It as clear that part was a real problem for him. It couldn’t be pleasant to be a man and to be made to feel like a commodity by a scary group of women. Koen needed his mate to love him for him, not because he could make her an Empress.

  “Well, I would have thought you’d make that bit easy for me,” she confessed. “You want to be caught by me, don’t you?”

  “Not possible. I have to fight you, and you must subdue me. You must fight me, and win.”

  “If I don’t win?”

  “I kill you.”

  Chapter 10

  Marina tried not to look petrified, but she failed miserably. “Ah,” she said. “Right. Um, you could try not killing me. That’s ah … well. Let’s just say, between us, non-homicidal tendencies are generally considered attractive in a male for a girl my age.” She held her hands up and smiled tremulously. “Just a thought and suggestion.”

  “This isn’t a game Marina.”

  She giggled hysterically. “Oh, believe me, I know. All that really messed up … just … really fucked up shit aside, you need to trust me, Koen.”

  He lay down and opened his arms to her. “Come here.” It was a command she was tempted to offer her middle finger too, but, no, she wanted to cuddle too, g
oddamn it.

  Marina considered for rebelling and demanding he talk to her for another second or two, even if just to stop making her look so needy, but the strained look on his face convinced her he couldn’t take much more sharing or her wrong-headedness. She allowed him to dance around the issue for the moment, feeling the same desire to be in his arms. Tucking herself into him, Marina fiddled with the silken mass of his midnight hair, and smiled when he burrowed in her chest. His arms enfolded her, really got her snuggled down, and his heavy weight settled on her possessively. All that yummy, warm and smooth male flesh gave her the goose bumps.

  She had a lot to think over. No wonder Koen was so cagey and goddamn moody. He’d had a hard life, always running, and hiding from what should be a glorious future. She couldn’t imagine having to suspect everyone of betrayal, or worrying about where she could go without attracting undue attention. Marina enjoyed her solitude, coveted it, and to have to stolen from her from people who didn’t really want to spend more time with her, just take stuff she had, was a fucked up thought.

  She wanted to save him from that. She could save him from that. Marina felt … not exactly prepared for what Koen had described, but equipped. She was strong enough in body and mind to do what was needed. It would be hard, but nothing worth it would be easy.

  Marina woke with a start with Koen’s name on her lips. She turned to her side and squinted at the sting at the corners of her eyes. She placed a hand on space beside her and it was stone cold. She sat up rubbing the sleep from her eyes, sorrow heavy on her heart.

  Booted feet came to a stop beside her, and she tipped her head back to see Nikolai staring down at her sadly, trying to smile. She couldn’t stop the tears, but tried to smile through them to cheer him up. Nikolai’s face was too sweet to look so distressed. “He’s gone, isn’t he?”