At that point, they led him downstairs to the great front doors of the school. As he walked out into the bright morning, he saw Shalin standing on the front steps talking to an aged human male who wore the robes of a master.
Although she nodded and made noises as if she paid attention, Ailean knew Shalin was fully aware of his presence.
“Shalin.”
Shalin stopped talking to her teacher and, with a nod, faced Ailean. “Yes?”
He glanced at the guards who grudgingly allowed him to step closer.
“I am sorry.”
Shalin frowned. “Sorry? Sorry about—what are you doing?”
“Doing what I’ve been dying to do since I saw you in the royal archives.”
Before she could even think to ask what that might have been, Ailean’s manacled hands gripped the front of her robe and yanked her close, forcing her to rise on her toes. She gasped and then his mouth was on hers. Startled, she automatically slammed her fists on his shoulders and, if he were actually human, she might have crushed him where he stood. But with a Battle Dragon it was like hitting a mountain. His head tipped to the side and she felt his tongue slip between her lips and into her mouth. She drew her tongue back but his only followed until it had the poor thing cornered. Then it stroked and stroked and Shalin’s human body heated, everything beginning to ache, demanding the dragon finish what he’d just started.
But as she reached for him, Ailean abruptly pulled away. He stared down at her, his eyes wide in shock.
“I never thought…” Ailean shook his head, looking confused. Finally, he said, “I promise, Shalin, I will be back for you.”
Not sure she understood, she asked, “Back for me?”
“It might be a bit, though.” He took several steps back, holding up the chains and manacles that had been clamped to his wrists, only now he held them in his hands. “And, uh…sorry. Think of it as retribution for that bloody ax.”
Ailean dropped the chains and gave her a wicked smile and wink seconds before he took off running.
Watching him bolt down the street, that big grin on his handsome face and the town guards right behind him, Shalin could do nothing more than laugh. Even as the school masters took her back inside the school to calm her “hysteria” after her brutal “assault,” she continued to laugh and laugh as she never had before.
2
“Wake up, brother.”
Ailean felt the bed lift when his brother’s big foot kicked it. His big, cold, lonely bed.
It had been nearly a full moon since he’d had a female in his bed. The father of the woman whose name he could no longer remember still searched for him, so Ailean had taken up residence in his home. A castle buried in a valley between the Taaffe Mountains of Kerezik. He knew he could find a female—many females—to share his bed, but he didn’t want that. He wanted to go back and get Shalin. He knew from that kiss alone the name “Innocent” had been wrongly given. Until things calmed down a bit, however, he’d have to wait to go back to Kyffin. But not much longer. He didn’t think he could wait much longer.
“Go away, Arranz,” he grumbled, turning his face away to bury it deeper into his pillow.
“You did this,” his brother replied in that calm way he had that barely hid a veneer of ruthlessness Ailean appreciated during a time of war. “You need to fix it.”
“I did what?”
“Shalin the Innocent.”
Realizing his brother wouldn’t leave, Ailean rolled to his back but still did not leave his bed. “What about her?”
“You’ve caused her much trouble, brother. And you have little time left to go and protect her.”
“What are you talking about?” No one believed she’d helped him, did they? He would have taken her with him that day if he thought for a second she’d be in any danger. “Are you telling me the city guards are planning to punish her for what happened?”
His brother, a silver dragon nearly three decades his senior, dropped into a chair across from him. “City guards? This has nothing to do with them. It’s your princess I speak of.”
Cringing at the mere mention of her, Ailean snapped, “That viper is not my anything.”
“Someone told her you two have been together. You were seen kissing the little gold outside that human school she attends. The princess seems to think you love Shalin.”
“Love her?” With a laugh, Ailean shook his head. “I don’t know where that fool Adienna got that idea but—”
“She’s sold her, brother.”
Ailean’s grin slowly faded. “I’m…I’m sorry. What?”
Violet eyes stared at him. “She’s sold her. To old Tinig.”
Sitting up, Ailean growled, “The Lightning dragons? She’s sold her to the Lightning dragons?” Their greatest enemies and some of the most dangerous warriors.
“Tinig has nineteen sons.” Like the humans of that desolate place, those in the Northlands bred few females. Instead they stole them from wherever they could find them. “Adienna sent word she had a female to sell. He was reluctant when he heard she was no great beauty, but when he found out Shalin could read and write, he doubled his offer, and they settled on a price.”
“And you’re telling me Shalin is all right with this?” If so, then he needed to speak with her. He wouldn’t allow her to leave her people over this ridiculous situation.
But Arranz shook his head. “Shalin does not know, brother. But I have a lover in the court. She told me all this. She’s always liked Shalin and thinks this is unfair.”
“Of course this is unfair!”
“Then you best get up. The Lightnings are coming for her. I’ve heard they near Kyffin as we speak.”
Ailean tossed off his bedcovers, rage singing through his veins. “How could Adienna do this? Shalin is her friend.”
“That beast has no friends. I warned you, brother. I warned you not to involve yourself with her.”
“I know. I know. Don’t you think I know?” he said, yet again, as he temporarily dragged on leather leggings so he wouldn’t walk through his castle naked. The humans always seemed so flustered by that. “It was barely one night. And trust me, it was not up to my usual standards, because I couldn’t wait to get out of there.”
“You bruised that mighty ego of hers. If you’d crawled back to her on your knees, this wouldn’t be a problem. But you ignored her like you do all the rest.”
“I don’t ignore the rest. I ignore her because she makes my skin crawl.”
Together the brothers strode from Ailean’s bedchamber and down the hall. As they made it to the top of the stairs, the second oldest of the brothers rushed up. “There you are. Have you heard?”
“Aye.”
Bideven shook his head. “What did you do to that poor dragoness?”
“Nothing.”
Bideven had always been the meddlesome worrier of the three, which was why they sometimes called him “Biddy”—which he hated.
“I don’t understand all this,” Ailean continued. “It was a kiss.”
“A kiss in front of everybody in Kyffin, including one of Adienna’s spies. Seems she’s had Shalin watched for years. She’s been sure you two were lovers, but she’d had no proof—until you kissed her.”
“And, brother,” Bideven added, “you seem to forget that rumors have swirled around you and Shalin since the morning after you lay with the princess.”
“Rumors? What rumors?”
Arranz shook his head. “How do you remain so oblivious to all that is around you?”
“Skill.”
“The rumor,” Bedevin continued, “that you left the princess’s bed to track down Shalin.”
“I didn’t track her down. I stumbled upon her when I was making my escape.”
“And that she threw an ax at your head to protect her innocence.”
“That’s not what happened. Although I must admit, the rumors are much more interesting.”
As was their custom since they were young, Ailean
grabbed hold of one brother, Bideven, in this instance, while the other deftly turned and opened one of the windows carved into the stone wall.
“Ailean! Don’t you—”
Using both hands, Ailean chucked his older brother out the window.
Bideven didn’t hit the ground below—for once—and instead shifted midair. “Bastard!” he snarled while hovering outside the window they’d chucked him through.
“You need to learn to be prepared at all times,” Ailean stated simply before Arranz closed the window.
“Whatever the truth, Ailean, your princess believes much differently.”
The brothers quickly walked down the stairs, heading toward the Great Hall and the courtyard.
“She’s not my anything, so I wish you’d both stop saying it.”
They made it out into the front courtyard. The two suns hung low and bright as the wintertime inched toward them.
“You know if you interfere, Ailean, you risk the wrath of the royals.”
Ailean shrugged as he easily stepped out of the way of Bideven’s swinging tail. “I don’t care. It’s like father used to say: it’s one thing to fuck up your own life—”
And with a smile the brothers finished the words together, “—but shit all to fuck up another.”
Shalin, sitting in a field no more than several hundred paces outside Kyffin with her back comfortably resting against a large tree, studied closely the parchments she’d brought with her. Deciphering ancient text remained one of her top skills and one she was woefully behind on. Lately she’d found herself easily distracted with thoughts of a kiss so blindingly intense, she often couldn’t focus for hours.
Now, however, she’d begun to get back into the swing of things. She had no choice. Ailean had not returned for her and that was best. Time with him would only get her killed. So she threw herself into her work, hoping she’d eventually forget all about him.
So completely lost in the moment, she didn’t know she wasn’t alone until she heard a low voice say, “You read?”
She looked up and saw three males in front of her. They all wore black capes, the hoods pulled over their heads. Shalin’s nose twitched. They were dragons in human form. Fully dressed.
Her nose twitched again—but not dragons of Dark Plains.
She forced a smile, trying to remain calm. “Aye.”
“That is a skill we value, dragoness.” The tallest of the three crouched in front of her. She could now see his face and he was…beautiful. She’d always heard the Northland dragons were anything but. They lived in a hard, brutal land and their faces, their bodies, showed that clearly. This dragon bore scars, but nothing that detracted from the natural beauty his body possessed.
But Shalin was no fool. Although the tenuous treaty had been agreed upon at the end of the last war, the North dragons were still considered dangerous enemies of Shalin’s people and had been for hundreds of centuries. They had no overall ruling body and instead lived in kin-related fiefdoms. Again, just like the Northland humans. And, like the land they came from, they were a brutal lot. Cruel—many said heartless—and Shalin would concur, based on what she’d read.
“Sweet dragoness, how would you like to come to a land where you’d be appreciated for your intelligence as much as your beauty?”
She had to admit, that sounded wonderful. Although her “beauty” had never been much revered in Dark Plains but education was hard to come by in the Northlands and they searched for females who could help with that. Just being a beauty meant nothing to the North dragons.
“That’s very kind, but I don’t want to leave my home.”
“We waste our time, brother,” one of them snarled. “Let us just—”
The dragon’s words were cut off when his brother stood and spun so quickly, all the other could do was stumble away.
“We discussed this, brother. It is my rule you follow on this trip.”
While the brothers argued, Shalin slowly stood. She knew something was wrong here, she simply didn’t yet know what.
But she knew no Northland dragon would be this far south without a reason.
The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand, and Shalin quickly called up spells she could use if necessary.
The brothers seemed to come to some sort of silent agreement, and the one she’d been speaking to all along faced her again.
“Sorry for that, Shalin. My brother knows not when to keep silent.”
Shalin gave herself a moment of calm. She felt the bark of the tree against her back. She could hear crows over her head, talking to each other as they did. She smelled the earth beneath her bare human feet and the warm suns over her head.
When she knew her voice was steady, she asked, “How do you know my name?”
Sharp blue eyes watched her closely. “We’ve come for you, Shalin the Innocent. To take you to your new home.” He said it kindly, but Shalin knew if she ran they’d simply drag her back to their lands in chains.
“Let us show you what we can offer someone like you.” He took a step closer and she had to lean her head back to look at him. “I’ll do all in my power to make sure you never regret coming with us.”
Shalin swallowed hard, her gaze trapped by his.
“Brother,” one of his kin said with a chastising tone, “you know the rules. We all get a chance to prove ourselves to the dragoness.”
“I have not forgotten,” he murmured while staring at her mouth. “I forget nothing.”
He stepped back from her and held out his hand. “Come, Shalin.”
Still staring into his eyes, she realized she reached for him. Her hand slipping into his firm, dry grasp…
And like that, he was gone.
She watched the dragon knocked across the field by a blast of flame so hot it almost singed off the front of her dress.
“Battle Dragons!” one of the brothers warned too late and then they began shifting to their dragon form.
Shalin escaped into the woods, knowing if she didn’t move fast, she could easily be crushed before she could shift. She burst through the trees into another clearing. With a thought, she shifted from human to dragon and took to the air. She’d barely gotten off the ground when another set of strong dragon arms wrapped around her from behind, blocking her wings from fully extending.
“Got you!”
She went to spit out a spell until she saw midnight-blue scales on the arms that held her. Shalin looked over her shoulder and started in surprise. “Ailean?”
“I can explain everything.”
What kind of greeting is—
Her eyes widened. “This is your fault, isn’t it?”
“Why assign blame here?”
“Wait. What?”
“No time for answers, dragoness. We have bigger problems at the moment.”
Northland dragons bursting from the clearing and heading straight for them proved him right.
Ailean pushed her away. “Fly, Shalin! Toward Kerezik. Go! Now!”
Shalin did as ordered, turning away from Ailean—barely noticing that the dragon had on his battle armor—and heading toward the land of Kerezik. Although what waited for her in Kerezik, she had no idea.
The first blast of lightning hit him dead in the chest, knocking Ailean back a hundred feet. Thank the gods for his battle armor. The breastplate protected him from the power of their attack. At least until they went for his head.
They sent out another blast and Ailean spun to his left. As the purple bastards took in breaths to assault him again, he unleashed a line of flame, hitting the one in the front. The dragon flew back right into the range of Arranz, who hit him with a breath of flame that shoved him into one of his kinsmen. Bideven swooped up from underneath and took aim at the weakest spot on any dragon, the underbelly. While Ailean’s armor protected him from that, the Lightning dragons wore no armor. Probably because they’d felt safe coming into Dark Plains territory at the behest of the princess.
Too bad Ailean had never been k
nown for following the dictates of anyone but himself. Hence why his time in active duty in the Dragon Queen’s Army had been short-lived. He was too good a fighter for them to take his rank completely, but he was only called to battle when they needed him. Otherwise Ailean had been too much trouble to tolerate among the general rank and file.
The Lightning dragons screamed in agony as Arranz circled around them, his battle sword drawn. “Go, little brother. We’ll follow.”
“Are you sure?”
“Go!” Arranz ordered before unleashing another blast of flame.
Ailean turned and followed Shalin.
Not far from Kerezik, Shalin waited until the blue dragon passed beneath her. Ailean hadn’t told her everything, and waiting until he’d come up with a satisfactory excuse didn’t sit well with her. Besides, she was angry and felt the need to take it out on someone.
Eyes narrowing, she dived into Ailean, crash-landing on his back.
“What the—”
“What did you do?” she demanded, grabbing handfuls of his hair and yanking.
“Ow! Have you lost your mind?” Ailean bellowed, angering her more for some reason.
“What did you do? I know this is your fault!”
She yanked again, knowing how much Ailean the Wicked prided himself on his hair. True, it was shinier and more beautiful than most, but that only made Shalin want to rip every hair from his head!
Ailean headed toward the land below them but, tricky bastard dragon that he was, he waited until the last moment before flipping onto his back. Shalin slammed hard into the soft lakeside dirt, the weight and speed they’d been going pushing her until she slammed into ancient trees half-circling the lake.
Yet even after all that, Shalin still refused to release his hair.
Ailean scrambled off her, not wanting to crush her. She was small for a dragoness and he was bigger than many dragons. Add in his armor, and he could easily crush her.