Dragon Betrayed (Immortal Dragons Book 0) (8 page)

His eyes drifted down to her breasts where his hand was still steadily caressing her.

Belah’s brow twitched. How could he not know she wanted him?

“I’ve let you have control of my body all day, Nikhil. It is still yours. You know the rules, though. I’m queen and empress, so by morning I need to be able to fulfill that role.”

He smiled and dipped his finger into the pot of ointment. With a gentle sweep, he spread more of the creamy substance over her bruised nipples and Belah closed her eyes, enjoying the delicious sensations. She kept her eyes closed when his fingers drifted away from her nipples and trailed an oily path down her belly to her wet cleft. His body hugged hers while he teased her to the point of begging, then he covered her with his body and thrust deep, taking his pleasure simply while he whispered his love into her ear.

She fell asleep, content in his arms.

Chapter Eight

A
fter that night, their nights together became wondrous explorations of his creativity and her capacity to endure pain and pleasure combined. He repeatedly requested that she wear the heavy scarabs on her nipples during the day, but included other secret tortures—things Belah had to commend him for. His sexual creativity seemed boundless, particularly where it concerned driving her to distraction while she sat upon her throne, conducting her kingdom’s business.

It became a challenge to avoid showing any outward sign of how his games affected her. One day it would be the curved dildo he’d attached a leather strap to so it would remain buried inside her all day, rubbing just so against her tender inner flesh so perfectly she nearly orgasmed several times. Another day would be the pair of spiked bands he attached to her upper thighs that sent tiny barbs of pain every time she moved.

She was enjoying just such a day with those perfect bands of pain driving her wild enough to rush through her daily business, when an unexpected cloud passed over the sun, casting the entire brightly lit room into eerie shadows. Glancing outside, Belah still saw the burning orb in a cloudless sky and her jaw set hard. Such a darkness on a clear day could only mean one thing.

Unconscious for the first time that day of the sharp spikes Nikhil’s bands caused her, she stood. From outside the palace, she heard the cacophony of nearby wildlife rushing to escape in the wake of one of her kind approaching. The alarmed whinnies of horses echoed through the hall, along with the thrum of flapping wings as hundreds of birds suddenly took flight. Low chanting of the people of her kingdom reverberated through the air, echoing from all around.

When her brother’s massive, dark shape filled the doorway, everyone in attendance dropped to their knees and pressed their foreheads to the floor, muttering incoherent prayers. The very visible cloud of darkness that accompanied him was likely the reason they cowered. Even Nikhil slipped out of his seat, face stricken with alarm as he prostrated himself on the ground.

“Welcome, brother,” she called to him as he threw back his black hood and strode toward her, his dark, curly hair blowing wildly with some unseen Northern wind that seemed to follow him wherever he went. The darkness clung to him as well, blotting out the presence of every other aura in the room until her brother, Ked, stood before her, towering over her even where she stood on the raised dais where she held court.

He said nothing at first, his eyes narrowing as he took her in with measured scrutiny. Belah’s skin grew chilly under that gaze and she pressed her lips together, preparing herself for the criticism she sensed he was preparing to unleash.

Rather than speak the words she knew were on the tip of his tongue, he said, “We must speak in private, sister.”

Belah blinked at him, surprised. His powers cloaked them so fully he could have easily berated her right where they stood and no one would hear a word of the exchange. He could just as easily have spoken directly into her mind without even arriving here in person. They hadn’t seen each other in so long, the telepathic communication between her and all her siblings tended to dwindle. The power it required was rarely worth it unless they had news that affected each other. For Ked to fly here must mean he had very grave news. Cold dread washed over her as she nodded and turned to lead him through the large door behind her throne.

When they reached her study, which had reverted back to its original purpose now that Nikhil spent every night in her bed, she turned to him.

“Are you going to tell me why you’re here?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Why do I need to speak of things you already know well enough?” His voice rumbled, deep and rough and filled with the darkness of an approaching thunderstorm. His closeness was as disconcerting as always, and the reason others of their kind gave him as wide a berth as the lower creatures did. He knew her secrets without having to be told. He knew all her darkest, guiltiest secrets.

He was the biggest one.

The spikes digging into her thighs suddenly felt like ridiculous, childish toys—an absurd indulgence compared to the stark wasteland of a life her brother had chosen for himself in the aftermath of their mistake. She didn’t dare draw any more attention to the bands than he could already sense. To do so would be to admit the small spike of shame she felt at his very presence now.

Yet his eyes drifted down her body, to the level of the pain she felt coloring her aura where the bands pressed into her, slicing without actually breaking her impervious skin.

“Yes, I do it for him,” she said, preempting his question.

Ked’s mouth twitched for a second as though he were dismayed. Her brother was a void where emotion was concerned—excellent at uncovering it in others, but completely lacking any himself—except when he was in her company.

“You do it for yourself. This much I know because I know you too well, sister. If you had marked him by now, only then would I believe you did it for him. We are selfish creatures when we are unmated, no matter how often you lie to yourself about how generous you are with your pets.”

Of course this was what his visit would be about, but how could he know?

Ked loomed close enough that his breath brushed the top of her head as he stared down at her. He gripped her shoulders in both large hands, firmly but gently. With her own powers, she sensed his barely contained urgency.

His voice vibrated between them, so low it was more of a deep disturbance in the air than an actual sound. “I know because of what we have shared, sister. Did you think our connection would fade the way a bonded human’s connection will fade if you neglect to replenish it frequently enough? Every time he takes you, I taste a piece of what he gives. My blessing made him what he is, but the fact remains that he is Blessed, and so you must mate him or you are cursing him.” With the last statement he squeezed harder and gave her a slight shake.

Belah closed her eyes and let out the tense breath she’d been holding, careful not to release her power, though she had the strongest urge to do just that to try to placate him. When she opened her eyes again, she tilted her head back to meet his gaze. The depth of emotion she saw—love, concern, even that same shared shame—made her want to comfort him rather than make excuses.

“Ked… don’t.”

“Did I make you this way?” he asked in a low voice tinged with worry.

Sweet Mother, that wasn’t the question she needed to hear.

Belah expelled a breath. “Maybe we did this to each other. Maybe Fate had a hand in it. Does it matter now, though? We are what we are.”

She reached up and brushed her hands through the sleek, black fur that covered the cloak he wore—something from another, colder land that stood out among the loose, pale clothing preferred in her kingdom. A garment that reflected the darkness and brutal elements of his own self-exile.

In truth, the pain of their past had faded and she relished the reminder that Nikhil gave her, each spike of pain reminding her of the agony she’d felt when her child had been taken away. But to mate him would irrevocably alter his character. It would destroy the mystery she loved so much, and would incite her need to breed again. The last time she’d loved this deeply, the product of that love had nearly destroyed her—or the loss of it had, anyway.

“You never loved the others, did you?” Ked said, pulling back and gazing down at her.

Belah’s mind filled with the telltale darkness of her brother’s power, digging into her deepest emotions. No matter how far beneath the surface she had buried it, he could find the truth. She shoved hard against his chest.

“Get out of my head! Who I love or don’t love is none of your concern!” She spun away, striding toward the window to try to find some sunlight to clear away the shadows he still pushed into her mind. The intimacy of the contact was too much after so long apart.

The darkness retreated, but Ked followed, pausing behind her. Thankfully, he refrained from contact this time.

“That’s the only way you could mate the others after me, wasn’t it? Because you never actually loved them. Did you think your indifference was a favor to the children you bore? Do you even realize how detached your line has become? This craving you have isn’t isolated. It seeps through the magic connection whether you want it to or not. Your descendants will probably always have similar cravings.”

“Don’t you think I know that? The only child unaffected by my craving was…”
Ours.
The word stuck in her throat, choking her. She hadn’t been this way before. She’d been as normal and perfect as her mother had wished her and the rest of her siblings to be. The child she and Ked had made had been the product of a union that should never have happened among dragonkind, but their son’s origins didn’t diminish the love she had for the child, or the loss when their mother and Fate had taken him away.

She and Ked had both punished themselves ever since, in different ways. She’d been at it for so long that now she craved the pain of her attrition as much as the pleasure she required for sustenance.

“If you love him, mate him,” her brother said. “Make a child with him and let yourself finally heal. At least one of us should be allowed to have a life.”

“Did it occur to you that it may be too late? I
need
what he gives me. Mating him won’t change me. But it will change him, and I need him the way he is now.”

Ked’s gaze dropped to the level of her thighs again, reminding her of the all too present painful pressure. She could sense the train of argument he refrained from speaking aloud. She’d had the same argument with herself countless times since realizing that Nikhil was the one man who truly satisfied her. She could train him again after she marked him, but she would always know he was merely a tamed beast, conditioned by the magic of her immortal mark to do her bidding.

The muscles in Ked’s jaw flexed. Once upon a time, that tension might have meant something different, but now all she sensed was regret. He turned away and moved back into the shadows away from the window.

“I used to fill that need for you, when it wasn’t complicated by… other desires. If he can fill it for you, you have my blessing, but take care with him. His aura is dark—dangerous.”

Belah turned and leaned back against the window sill, regarding him with a perplexed smile. “More dangerous than you? Maybe that’s why I love him.”

Ked’s expression grew more serious. “Keeping him bonded to you too long without marking him is a risk. No matter what he is to you, just know that I am still your protector. That will never change, sister.”

Her protector. The word reminded her of how Nikhil had behaved the night after he’d first started their daily games of secret, sexual torture. In spite of the exhilarating abuses she’d endured at his hand—the bruises and welts she only wished could leave scars—he had been tender at the end, seeing to her care in the aftermath. Did that mean he would be her protector? Beyond being the general that defended her kingdom, would he defend her body, her honor?

If only Nikhil could mark
her
instead of the other way around—the way her brother’s love had irrevocably marked her soul so long ago. With Nikhil she wished for a tangible reflection of the depth of her feelings for him, yet her nature meant she never scarred—nothing could pierce her skin the way Nikhil’s every action had branded her heart and soul.

There may be a way, but she had to be sure—she had never attempted it herself.

“I do want him as a mate,” she said. “This life is a burden to bear alone, you know this as well as the rest of us. But do you ever wish for a partner who can bear the burden for you? One who can take the control away? He lets me breathe. Were I to mark him, I would be shouldering the suffocating burden of his life as well as mine. I want him to mark me instead.”

Ked’s shoulders rose and fell with his heavy breath as he turned toward her. “My burdens are my own to bear. They will never be truly lifted, sister, and neither will yours. Any reprieve his actions give you are an illusion. But if a simple mark will help, for the sake of a memento, I will tell you how to do it. You must make me a promise, first.”

Belah’s heart raced. She ached to be able to predict her brother’s words, but his thoughts were cloaked so well she likely couldn’t even glean a hint if she used her breath to get inside his head.

“What is it?” she whispered.

“You may let him mark you, but if you still refuse to give him your mark, you must give him up. He is Blessed—too long unmated to their bonded dragon and they tend to go mad. He needs your mark as much as you believe you need him.”

He stood silent, watching her and waiting. Give him up? How could she give him up? She wanted to keep him forever! No… she wanted to be
kept
. Which was a thought ill-befitting a dragon. Her brother was indulging her as much as possible already. She would have to decide soon which course to take.

Slowly, she nodded. “Yes. I will either mate him or find him another.” Calmed by the thought, she nodded again. It could work well that way. The power of his Blessing may prevent a weaker dragon’s mark from changing him so much that he lost what she loved about him. Whether or not he would agree to such an arrangement was an issue she would have to deal with later.

“How can he mark me?”

“With your own magic, sister. Your fire is the key.”

With that, Ked grew cloudy and amorphous, and in the blink of an eye, the huge, dark shape that was her brother disappeared.