Eternal Darkness (A Novel of the Amagarians Book 1) (20 page)

***

Saieke woke slowly. She felt warm and pain free and she shifted, loving the cool glide of gossamer silk under her body. Drac lounged in a great chair near the fireplace. She smiled as he appeared before her and lifted her into his arms. Saieke laughed for as she blinked again, she was held cradled in his lap in the
great chair.

“I really love when you do that,” she whispered against the lips that descended
to hers.

Saieke clasped his neck and responded with slow heat. She instinctively brushed her mind against his and stilled. Torment and pain lurked deep because she had been hurt. She leaned back from his embrace. “I
am well.”

He kissed her with gentle thoroughness. He petted, touched and glided his hands all over her body. Saieke came to realize that it was for his benefit as much as it was for her. He needed to feel close to her, needed to really absorb that she
was safe.

She dropped her nose into the crook of his neck. Violent emotions still pulsated deep within him. It hummed and vibrated against her mind. She caressed his thoughts and thrust with hers to be met with the rage of his beast. She absorbed the ferocity of the emotions and reached out to
soothe it.

I feel you
,
she whispered.

Drac’s
chakra
surrounded her in a cocoon of comfort and desire. Possession and tenderness leaked from it and warmed her thoughts. His beast’s rage blossomed and she saw perfectly, the image it had seen when she was on the
ground bleeding.

You
saved me
.

Hot flare of satisfaction and something deeper bled from it that she could
not identify.

You are ours

Yours
, she agreed as she luxuriated in the emotions
they felt.

Lips drank at her once more and she
responded sweetly.

You
are to return to your nation in a few hours

I am to leave on
the morrow
.

No. Lachlan prepares for your departure and you will leave in a
few hours
.

Saieke drew back. There was no hint of softness or a promise for more. She let her consciousness touch his and encountered stillness and awareness from both man and beast. Awareness of what, she was not sure. “
I see.”

“Constant danger lurks in the Darkage. You will return to your kingdom and complete the
honor bargain.”

He said nothing of them together. Unease slinked through her. “How will I
see you?”

He grew distant. “You are my
leika
wherever you are. I will come for you when the
danger passes.”

Saieke’s heart pounded. “When I return you simply cannot ‘come for me’ Drac,” she said. “I am the heir to
my throne.”

Do you want me to
relinquish you?

The king of all help her, but she did not. It was…dangerous, but she wanted him.
No

He smiled and it was such a
beautiful sight.

“There are many that yearn to find a mate. I did not. I understood the beast within us allowed us to mate for life, yet it was not a concept that consumed me like it did others. I hated the very idea of having a mate that could be used to manipulate me. It would be inevitable for me to love her. And if she died…I would become a monster. I could have lost you today…and I would have slaughtered all who played a role. But I do not think I would have lost control as my brother did. My brother had not bonded with his beast when he lost his mate, but I have. I have a deeper understating with my demon…camaraderie if you will. Whether you are a Darkan or Borean…I want you. You are something I could never have dreamed. I’ve found you, and I am never letting you go. You are the Princess of Boreas, but you are also mine. I will come for you when the turmoil of the realms lessens,” he said with finality in
his voice.

That could be years. The second Great War lasted for
fifteen years.

Yes

Pain sliced deep.
I see

You are hunted…and the safest place for you is your kingdom. You were only harmed after you left its protective walls. It is more dangerous for you here. While I believe in my will to suppress my demon if serious harm befalls you…I do not want to tempt it. At your castle, your Queen’s blades will surround you…a shield of protection. In the Darkage, I cannot tell who our enemies are. The elder who attacked you was a trusted
council member.

She shifted in his lap as the implication of danger lurking in the Darkage settled inside her. Danger to him would be something unimaginable to her, yet she’d always felt the dark kingdom was death waiting to happen.
I had no intention of abandoning
my realm.

He kissed the corner of her lips. “I know…but I will not have you visit either until the threat
has passed.”

“That could be dozens
of years.”

Yes.

She closed her eyes.
Do you know why I
am hunted?

The Mevians attacked you to prevent your marriage to the Nurian king. The emperor intended to marry you himself. If that proved impossible, your death would
have sufficed.

She let out a startled laugh that choked off. “You
are jesting!”

She remembered the attack on her way to the gateway and how they had held themselves back from hurting her. Then the sudden shift to kill her in the dark forest when they thought they would have lost her. “I am a royal,” she breathed. “To kill me would
incite war.”

“Your kingdom is without alliance or allegiance. Your people would only
receive death.”

Her soul shook at his words. Her father, the king had desperately wanted an allegiance because he saw weakness where she did not. Yet, if a nation as powerful as Mevia were to declare war with Boreas, they would be in desperate need of an alliance to even resist. She flinched at the implications of her actions for her kingdom. She leapt off his lap and paced. “There is no reason for war; the seven kingdoms have been at peace since the last Great War. My father spoke of rumors of war and that we needed to position ourselves strategically, but I never imagined a nation would simply declare war on us!” she cried raggedly. “We no longer live in dark times. Why would there even be rumors
of war?”

She raked her fingers through her mass of hair. “My father all but sold me to the Nurian king. When I pressed him, he simply said we needed an allegiance. Why not make me privy to the happenings of the court and nations so I could make more informed decisions!” she yelled in the room
in rage.

Drac observed her pacing form and felt satisfaction she was fully healed. She worried for naught. She was his mate, and anything that concerned her was also his concern. Whether or not Boreas had an alliance or allegiance with the Darkage, to attack his mate would be an attack on him and
the Darkage.

If she were a Darkan, she would have been made fully aware of the threats and intrigue that surrounded their kingdom, instead of being cosseted. She was so much in the dark about the webs and deceptions within the seven realms to even ponder why anyone would incite conflict with her kingdom. Mevia could simply decide to take and plunder, and war would be declared. Without an alliance or allegiance, one kingdom could be ravaged and consumed
by another.

“I will have to make my parents aware of why I was attacked so we can prepare ourselves.” Saieke hesitated. “Is it possible they would have been aware and not informed me?” she
asked tremulously.

“It is possible. Your lieges seem more of a mind to protect you than to
inform you.”

She now wondered if she had done the right thing in fleeing. Yet, to not have known Drac was an unbearable thought. “Did I do the right thing
in fleeing?”

She tilted her head as he appeared in front
of her.

“I found you,”
he said.

Saieke wrapped her hands around his waist. She understood. She had endured several attacks over the past few days, had been opened up to a whole new and exciting world, been near death and betrayed her king. Yet, the most memorable thing was that she had
found him.

“I found you,”
she whispered.

His mouth descended and captured hers. Pleasure, dark and stormy, raced through her as he kissed and swung her in his arms. He moved with her. Air wafted across her skin, cooling the heat that threatened to burn her alive. Her caftan flowed and pooled around her skin in a gentle caress. His hands, gentle on her hips, turned her around so that she overlooked
the darkness.

She was on a turret that stood hundreds of feet off the ground. Her breath caught at the sheer beauty of the darkness. With her enhanced eyes, the darkness appeared to her like the grey of a wintertide storm, like
silver moonlight.

Warm lips trailed up her neck, and his heat dispelled some of the cold. He drew the caftan up her legs, bunched it around her hips and made circles with his finger at the insides of
her thighs.

You’re so soft and smooth
.
The thought of you hurt and in pain makes
me crazy
.

One hand glided up and cupped her breast through her clothes.
I ache for you

He ran his hands down between her thighs and cupped her. Pleasure simmered deeper and she
grew damp.

You’re already wet for my touch

Saieke moaned and sagged against him. He flicked his hands and used the heel of his palm to massage her clitoris. Saieke’s breathing
grew ragged.

I yearn for you when I am not
with you
.

He placed her to sit on the ledge. He widened her legs with his hips and stepped between them. He dipped his head and claimed
her lips.

Saieke raised her legs, wrapped them loosely around his waist and caressed him with sensual hunger. She placed her hand under his shirt and ran her hands over the muscles of his back.
I want to see you
she slid into the deep recesses of
his mind.

His
chakra
pulsed with hot desire. She felt along his mind and brushed along the
lei
that connected him to his darkness. She felt it shift, and darker emotions poured forth. Lust and longing tinged
with cruelty.

Saieke

He shifted his psychic hold and released his beast, so that she could learn it. She trembled at the vicious emotions, but softened instinctively and sank deeper into him at the longing
she encountered.

Muscles contracted and scales rippled and formed underneath her hands. She pulled her mouth away from his, when a rip rent through the air, to look at the massive wings
that unfurled.

They were vicious, yet
wholly beautiful.

The scales that covered him were hard and exotic. She ran her hands over the strangeness of them.
You are so beautiful, Drac.
She glided a fingertip over his scale covered back and chest where she drew the tatters of his shirt away. She reached around and traced where his
wings rose.

He shivered and
groaned harshly.

She heard a crack. He gripped the edges of the ledge with hands that were now razor sharp claws. She looked deep into his serpent like eyes and smiled at him shyly.
I think I am falling in love with you. The very idea is improbable, for I have only known you for
five days.

His decadent lips quirked in a smile.
I will treasure you, protect you and want you with me until breath leaves my body. There is no other for me, my
leika
. We may be apart for years, but it will only
be you.

Pleasure, dizzying in its intensity, rushed through her like a tidal wave. She felt man and beast intertwine inside and meld into her essence. She heard his vow and responded.
I am yours, and you are mine to protect and love until breath leaves
my body.

Saieke ran her tongue along his fangs that elongated, and pressed into the tips. Pain lanced at her tongue and blood welled. She twirled her tongue along his fangs and lips and coated them
in blood.

Wings swooped down and covered her completely. His head dipped and his fangs raked against her neck and clavicle. Claws danced up her spine and methodically sliced the caftan away from her body. Wetness gathered between her legs. He nipped erotically at her neck, spilling blood, and she moaned at the raw heat his
touch generated.

He used his thighs to spread her legs wider. His claws clamped down on the ledge, caging her in on both sides. He did not touch her with them. Anticipation had her moaning wildly as she leaned back and encountered the support of his wings. Scales rippled under her arms and she luxuriated at the feel of his bare skin under her hands once more. She gasped as the tip of his cock pressing at
her entrance.

He held her gaze as he slowly entered her. Her body stretched to accommodate his and pleasure flared. She cried when he paused and then with a firm thrust seated himself to the hilt. Sweat glistened on her skin and she panted at the feel of him stretching her
deliciously wide.

She moaned in abandon as he withdrew and thrust hard, with lust and tenderness riding his
chakra
. Pleasure burned, bright and long, high on the turret as Drac loved Saieke until she wilted from exhaustion and hummed deep
in contentment.