Deceptive Lord (Lords of Bondage) (31 page)

“
And Brennus?”

“H
e left with Cantorix, Brett, and Brendan.
He never returned.”

The
King
had not mentioned that Brett and Brendan had gone on that mission, which immediately concerned Drest.
“Are you certain of this?”

Ninian looked at him carefully.
“I assume this is not what you were told.
It does not surprise me.
His brothers
were the last ones to see Brennus.
I know this to be true.”

“You do know that his brothers despise him, do you not?”

“Yes.
They never tried to hide their disdain of him.
We cannot rule out their involvement.
It is suspicious
, but we have been unable to determine the truth of the matter.”

Drest turned to face Ciaran.
“Have you any special insight?”

“We believe he is still alive, but we haven’t been able to learn anything of his location.
We are still trying.”

Drest thanked
the druids and they all went to the receiving room, where Eden was waiting.
“Did you have a nice visit with Portia?”

Eden stood and smoothed her tunic.
“Yes, thank you.”

“I could give you permission to cross the portal and search for Brennus yourself, but you would be gone for a month.
We only open the gateway once a month,” Ninian said.

“I could not leave Eden for an entire month
.
She’d be left without protection.”

“Perhaps we could make arrangements for her during your absence.”

Drest was afraid those arrangements would include placement in Taran’s bed.
She could be abducted by an enemy or unlawfully sold to another.
He could not risk it.
“No.”

“Think on it some more and get back to me,” Ninian said.
“If you do not go, I can send some of my people.”

Drest
said his farewells and returned to his lodge with Eden.
Once there, she looked at him closely.
“He is your best friend.
Are you certain you do not wish to go?”

He couldn’t trust anyone right now, even the
King
.
If Brett and Brendan had harmed Brennus and the
King
was covering it up, then the Donovans could be capable of other acts of betrayal as well.
Boadacea had also proven to be untrustworthy.
“It is far too dangerous to leave you alone that long.
Ravenwood is too unstable.”

“Why do you say that?”

He discussed some of his suspicions regarding the Donovans.
He trusted her with that information.
She was supposed to be the enemy, but she had never played him falsely.
He didn’t really stop to think about what that meant.

***

One week later, Drest received a summons to go to Donovan.
The
King
was hosting a
ball.
Attendance was not optional and everyone in Ravenwood had to attend.
Some of the nobles from neighboring kingdoms would attend.
The visiting nobles would share a dance with all prospective suitors.
During the dance, the male would be expected to bite the
female.
If the marking took, the union would become formalized.
Due to the recent difficulties with the marking attempts, many Asstrumnians were bypassing the whole courtship stage.
There wasn’t much point in going to the trouble of courting if the match was not genetically compatible.
Drest wasn’t wild about going to these affairs.
He didn’t want to dance with hybrid females; he didn’t want to touch them or bite them.
He
had to attend, as he
couldn’t refuse the
King
.
He dressed in his finest
linen tunic, bracae, and cloak.
He placed a gold torc that depicted an ancient dragon around his neck.
He
collected Eden
, who had dressed in a linen dress that was unbefitting of her slave status
.
Hopefully, he wouldn’t draw too
much censure for
cosseting her.
As his house slave, she would be expected to attend
the ball
as well.

“I don’t want you to mark anyone.
I cannot be with you if you take a mate,” Eden said.

As a slave, she wouldn’t be able to leave him.
However, he knew another female would disrupt the harmony of their relationship.
She wouldn’t consent to be his willing bedmate if he was mated to another.
He didn’t want a hybrid mate, even though he knew it was expected for him to choose one.
He
w
ould make a half-hearted attempt at marking
.
There would be no danger as long as his teeth didn’t penetrate flesh
.
No
one would call him out for making a
poor effort.
That way, he would ensure his continued freedom without directly refusing.
Sometimes, the passive-aggressive method was the best one to use when dealing with their
King
.
He couldn’t let anyone think that he was bowing to the wishes of his slave.
“I’m not going to take a mate.”

He transported to the ball with Eden.
A servant handed him a dance card and directed him to the ballroom.
The card was filled with names of hybrid females.

“What am I supposed to do while you are dancing?” Eden asked.

He looked around the room and spotted some chairs against the wall.
“Sit over there and wait for me.”
He
wanted to go through the names on the card as quickly as possible.
The first lady on his list was Kambria Kavanaugh.
She was a distant cousin of his.
He found her quickly; she looked like him, except her hair was dark.
“Kambria.
How do you do?”

Kambria accepted his arm and allowed him to pull her onto the dance floor.
“It is good to see you, cousin.
I wish we did not have to endure this pointless endeavor.
My throat is sore from all the bitings.”

“I know.
I’ll not hurt you.”

“Thank you, Drest.
They should let us mate where we will.
I have a lover and I do not care that we are not genetically compatible.
Yet we cannot
be together because he cannot bite me.
It is not fair.”

Her lover, Connal Ward, was one of his friends.
Kambria had ostracized herself when she had agreed to live with Connal as his mistress, but everyone knew the couple was dedicated to each other and in love.
He knew it had to be awkward for them to endure such events.
At the end of the dance, he put his mouth to her throat, but did not attempt to bite.
Kambria preferred it that way, so no one would complain of them not doing their duty.

Connal approached Drest as he was handing Kambria to her next partner.
“Drest, I haven’t seen you in a while.
You should pay me a visit
sometime.
I heard another search party for Brennus is being formed.
We all hope for his return.”

“He is certainly missed.
I will pay you a visit soon.”

“You will bring your woman.
Kambria and I would enjoy the company.”

Drest looked into his discerning eyes.
He knew that Connal was a telepath and he had a way of gleaning information from people.
He couldn’t stop himself from glancing in Eden’s direction.
When he returned his gaze to Connal, the male had tracked the glance to Eden.

“You took a Flourdan lover.
That is more outrageous than anything I ever did.
Definitely come for a visit.
I
do not think I’ve ever conversed with a Flourdan.”

Eden would probably enjoy spending time with another couple.
“Sure, we’ll do something fun, like grill out.”
He scanned his dance card and danced with the next female hybrid on his list.
After th
e
dance was over, he found Boadacea.
She wore a floor length linen dress dyed a deep purple and matching purple sandals.
Her dark hair was piled on top of her head and woven with jewels
and she wore the most elaborate jewelry in the room.
Her gold tor
c
fastened around her neck was encrusted with diamonds
and her arms were covered in silver and gold bracelets
.
She looked very regal and every inch the princess.
She smiled engagingly as he
approached.
She seemed to have no awareness of the way in which she had risked their friendship; the woman was too superficial and self-centered to have such insight.
He
knew he needed to talk to her
.
He took
her
onto the dance floor and steered her to a secluded area.
“You lied to me.”

Boadacea looked at him with an innocent expression.
“What do you mean?”

Boadacea fit the stereotype of a spoiled princess perfectly, and while he had overlooked her faults in the past, her
bratty
attitude now grated on his nerves.
“Don’t play me.
You lied about Eden.
Why did you do it?”

“Do what exactly, Drest?”

He purposely stepped on her foot while dancing.
“When did you turn into a lying bitch?
I thought we were friends.”

Boadacea yelped.
“Your low opinion of me is rather hurtful.
Of course we are friends.
You are my greatest friend.
Who told you about Eden?”

“That’s not important.
I asked you why you lied.”

“I am sorry.
She’s a human and you deserve so much more.
Her sister is the
Deranged Dominatrix
.
That isn’t the type of family you need to be involved with.
She’s just not good enough for you.
Asstrumnians should only breed with other Asstrumnians.”

“That is your father talking.
He taught you that hybrids are superior to any other race.
You haven’t been acting superior, though.
Lying and scheming are not traits of greatness.
You need to open your eyes and stop listening to your father.
”

“How can you defend those Flourdans after what they did to you?”

During the past few days, he had acknowledged to himself that not all of his memories of Avenal were negative ones.
“They were not all bad.
I got along well with a lot of the lords.
They were pretty likeable.”

“Yes, and you liked Eden the most.
I don’t understand it.”

He had a feeling
he could finally get a confession out of
Boadacea
, as her eyes held a look of defeat
.
“Tell me what you did.”

“I didn’t take your memories, Drest.
You wanted to forget her, so Brennus helped you forget.
It was for the best.
You were better off without her.”

“My memories were taken?”

“Yes.
You asked that Eden be wiped from your memory.
Brennus got assistance from the druids.
Those memories should stay wiped.
What would be the point in retrieving them now?”

The situation must have been dire if he had chosen a mind wipe, but he couldn’t get his mind around the
notion.
“Why would I ever do such a thing?
I don’t like the idea of being wiped.”

Boadacea paused and looked at him uncertainly.
“You thought she was dead.
You grieved, but we thought you’d get over it.
You didn’t.
You couldn’t function or cope.
We were worried about you.”

“Why would I think she was dead when she was very much alive?”

“
You thought she died during a dronusfly attack, but she did not.
I helped her escape and returned her to her home.
She didn’t want to be a captive.
She didn’t want to be with you anymore.
She was using you, making you think she liked your lovemaking, when she really did not.
She had been promised to another, a Roman, and she wanted to return to him.
She spoke of her home, how great it is to live in Flourda.
Every woman there keeps dozens of men in their harem.
Flourdan women require multiple lovers and they treat their males like slaves.
They chain them to their beds and beat them when they fail to please them.
Eden wanted to return to that way of life, so I helped her.
You didn’t need a woman like that.
I did you a favor.”