Chapter 3

"Did you enjoy your walk with the Empress Dowager?" Maxim asks me, "I assumed you would like her.  She can be rather interesting."

He's making emperor small talk.  Maxim hits me with his dazzling smile hidden underneath his bristles.  I'd notice by now that that innocence in his eyes is only seen when he talks to me.  When he is addressing Pike or the others he's confident, strong and almost intimidating.  But when he talks to me that wall seems to melt away and he almost seems vulnerable.

"It was fine."

They call it the Paramour Fortress.  It's separate from the Emperor's grand palace south of here.  This was a military facility.

The grounds were beautiful.  They were extensive and like a maze.  Now we are in one tower or another.  The black halls seem to go on forever.  The elaborate designs of the architecture seemed to have been designed by a million artists.  I couldn't appreciate any of it.  Not now.  By the time I get to the door I'm staring at my hands.

"Everything OK?" he asks.

"I'm fine," I respond.

"Tomorrow the roundtable has asked to speak with you," he explains, "I believe they want to make you a squire and turn you into a proper dragon rider."

"I see..."

He nods.  I can tell that he knows something off, but I don't think Maxim is the type to keep going on and seeming annoying.  He's much too careful with me for that.  Instead, he gives me a nod and a pat on the shoulder.

"My suite is right there...if you need me," he assures me, "Never too far away."

I nod and don't say goodbye before entering the suites they'd given me.  They were grand suites.  White linen with golden accents all over the room.  When I walk in I think about being mesmerized for a minute as I'd never seen something so beautiful let alone resided in it.  The Dragonov Empire clearly had money to waste.

But I'm not concerned about the delicacies of design.  I'm concerned about the shadow in the corner.

"Deny it," I address the shadow.

Dread's soul comes out.  He walks slowly, "Deny what?"

"Are you the Nightmare Dragon?  Did you kill my family and burn the Glabber Wilds?"

There is silence and in that silence, I find my answer.  I'm shocked by it.   Dread never really showed any emotion.  Not since the moment, I met him.  No emotion except for anger really.  This was different though.  When I looked at him now I see some sort of angst.  He seems anxious almost.  The longer he stays silent the angrier I get.

"There's so much you don't understand," he explains.

"Murder is simple.  Thousands of people died the day you attacked the Wilds.  Yes or no?"

Silence.

I'm angry now, "YES OR NO!"

There was a pause.

"Yes."

He's not denying it.  I feel weak.  I sit on the bed feeling somewhat shattered that I had allowed myself to be intimate with the thing responsible for destroying my family and countless other families in the Wilds.

Men, women, and children had died that day.  I was sure of it.  I remembered the flames.  I remember the screams.  I remember the nightmare.  And all along this was the dragon responsible for that.

"I love you," he states out of nowhere.

He says it as though it should make it feel better.  He says it as though it means anything at all.

"You barely know me, dragon!"

"I've loved you even before you knew YOURSELF," he roars back.

Only this time the dragon is too far away.  Right now the soul is nothing more than a man.  I'm so heated at that moment.  I'm so disgusted with him.

I want to hurt him but I don't know how much the soul would hurt if I hit it.  Its physical body was in the dragon pit.  So I do the next best thing.

I storm out of the room.

"Watch this," I instruct him.

"What are you doing?"

I walk down the hallway and make my way to Maxim's room.  I knock a few times.  I turn back around and sure enough, I see Dread staring looking at me seeming confused.

"Nikolai?" Maxim asks.

He must have been asleep.  He lifts his head.  The sight of his dark, disheveled hair, eyes glinting with longing in the lamplight, the gorgeous spread of his shoulders, shirtless, tapering down to the narrow thrust of his hips, made my prostate ache deep in my belly.

"I don't want to be alone tonight," my voice purrs in the darkness full of enticement, vigor and a sense of teasing that causes his breathing patterns to alter.

"You wouldn't dare..." I hear the Dread's voice say.

I don't look back.  I don't want Maxim to know that he's here.  I want him to think he's alone but when I lean over to step into Maxim's personal space I can almost hear the Dread freak out.  I touch Maxim on his arms.  His veins on hands are visible as though he'd just had a hard physical workout.   In the taverns, in Nair, so many men avoid showing their emotion.  They didn't want to seem weak or sentimental. Nevertheless, with Maxim, that slight embarrassment, brings us closer.  I notice when I kiss him on the lips how his cheeks turn red making me feel as though he'd wanted it.

I look in the corner of my eye.

The Dread was gone.  He couldn't take it.  He couldn't take seeing me with Maxim.

What starts as a way to piss off the Dragon turns out differently though when I focus back on Maxim to see him aggressively pulling me into him.  He is staring at my lips.  He kicks the door shut and stares at me for a few seconds.

"His soul can only travel so far. Usually only in the presence of the rider. It can be here now."

"It's not," I grab his hand and place it on my ass.

Maxim breathes heavy. I hear him mutter a soft quick "shit" under his breath.

"This is treason, you know?" he asks, "Dragonriders are not allowed relationships with anyone else without their dragon's permission."

"Do you care?" I ask.

He seems so nervous. He is this well-behaved knight-in-training and I'm the bad tavern wench getting him caught up.

He hesitates, "Don't you?"

I answer his question by kissing him again.  I can tell regardless of how shy and slight he was before, that he loves being aggressive because almost immediately he scoops me in his arms and carries me to the bed like a toddler.

The shy guy is gone when it was a race to take off each other's clothes the fastest. We are in our undergarments in no time.  Before I can complete my undressing he manages to place me in a position I can't get out of and take control.

"We should stop. Your lips though..."

"Don't stop."

"I have to. It's just... maybe just a taste. Our dragons aren't here. You look perfect, just like that," he assures me staring at my body like it's a work of art.

For that moment I didn't have the Dread on my mind.  Not even in the least.  Slowly he spreads my cheeks and looks up at me asking permission. I guess he really was training to be some sort of knight.  He was so chivalrous.  I grab my hand and push it on his lowcut dark brown hair until his lips are pressed up against my asshole.  He puts my legs up and his tongue enters me licking me as though I was the best meal he had in his life.

That's when he stands up.  My mouth drops when he takes off his pants.

"Oh my god."

For someone so humble and almost shy, he was working with some sort of monster.  I didn't even let him sit on the bed before I pulled down his pants, got on my knees and told him I just wanted a taste. When he realized what I was doing, he got nervous all over again perhaps about the dragons.

"Is he here?" he asks, yet again freaking out.

Here he was about to risk it all for me and I didn't get it but for some reason, it turned me all the way on.

"No."

That's all he needed to hear. After about 10 seconds, he picked me up, threw me on the bed, and said he needed me now.  He thrusts himself into me with his massive dick and I squirm on the bed feeling the bedsheets rip up from underneath me.

~

He holds me after.  Not my shoulders, nor my abdomen, but he holds my ass.  He gives me a kiss on it afterward.  Right in the hole.  I can still feel the burning sensation from him using that gigantic dick on me.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?" he asks.

He had done his best to be gentle.  He didn't rush.  He took his time and even now was massaging my hole with two fingers.  I'd assumed he'd known that this definitely was an issue in his time past.

"I'm fine, now that I'm with you."

"I'd like nothing more," he states, "It's just Skyscreamer wakes up in about an hour.  She usually wants me to go hunting with her.  If she were to see you in my bed..."

I'm shocked when he says it.  He sits up gently looking at me with that soft shy Maxim look.  I am shocked at what he is insinuating.

"You're kicking me out?" I ask.

Silence.

I can't believe it.  I get up at that moment feeling heavy in my chest.  He was kicking me out.  I get to the door before he swings me around and slams me into the door.

"I don't want you to leave, you know that," he states, "Just, please.  Sit.  Just for a minute.  We still have some time together.  Any time around you is good for me."

I want to storm out and be upset with him.  I'm offended that he's suggesting I leave but when I look at his face I see pain.  When he's around Pike, Maxim is this soldier.  He portrays nothing but strength and discipline, just like Natasha, but with me it's different.  The way he looks at me makes me feel like there are layers to him that he's not letting anyone see.

Maybe that's why I sit back on the bed, slowly.  I try not to look at him but it's so difficult.  Maxim is just perfect in his own way.

"You should talk quicky," I state, "Wouldn't want to upset your dragon."

He's staring at the ground almost embarrassed and when I dig at him, I could tell that he's uncomfortable having this conversation.  He puts something over his gigantic dick.  Even now, with me being upset at him, I love how humble he is.  I knew men in Nair whose dicks were half the size of Maxim and not nearly as pretty looking but whipped it out every moment they could.  It was as though Maxim truly didn't know just how handsome and perfect he looked.

I didn't get it.

He crosses his arms, "Your dragon isn't the only jealous dragon.  By their nature, dragons are jealous.  I heard you through the walls screaming at your soul.  You know that he's the Nightmare dragon.'

"You know?"

He nods, "I recently found out what the Black Dread did from Pike while you were walking with the Empress.  The sad thing is it's not uncommon.  Tamed dragons rarely rage, but they will if they find out their paramour is with another."

"Rage?"

"What happened to your mother, I assume. A dragon will burn down cities if it's betrayed by its paramour."

"I'm not his Paramour."

"Not yet. You are lucky you know.  They are going to ask you to be a squire and train to be a paramour.  That's why they brought you here.  You can refuse if you'd like.  This life.  It's a curse.  You know.  It's a goddamn curse..."

I see a heaviness over him at that moment.  Past the perfect six-pack, broad muscular chest, chiseled biceps is someone who just seems so unsure in life.  I can see it all on his expression as he turns towards me.  He looks so complicated.

"If it's a curse then why did you do it?  Why accept the dragon?"

"I was raised in the capital.  Here, being a dragon rider isn't only an honor.  It's a duty.  My Uncle Pike was my father's younger brother.  When my father never became a dragon rider, he was shunned by the family."

"That's so sad."

"Is it?" he asks, "You know where my father is now?"

"No."

"He's happy with my mother.  The love of his life.  He married without having to ask permission.  Do you know that even if a dragon rider did get married they'd only be allowed to have sex with their partner twice a year at most and only if the dragon allows."

He's saying all this with a straight face.  It's more than saying it with a straight face.  He seems saddened by it.   I remember walking with the Empress Dowager and how sad she seemed to me.  This wasn't a blessing.  This wasn't what it looked like.

"No dragon is going to tell me what to do and who to love."

"Pike said that was exactly what your mother said...before the Black Dread burned her alive along with everyone in her village."

He was being blunt.  I knew he was passionate at that moment.  He was trying to make a point.  But damn...

"I see..." I started looking at the door, "I should go."

"Wait, I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't upset me," I state shaking my head, "I just have a lot to think about."

"Wait..."

"What?"

He grabs me around and then he pushes me up against the wall. There is this passion in his kiss.  Something so abrasive. So strong.  I can tell this is something that he's fighting against.  Even his body is showing it.

"I'd never thought I'd be the one to commit adultery against my dragon," he explains, "But I don't regret what happened just now.  It can never happen again but just know...I don't regret it.  I never will."

~

I can't sleep that night.  I still feel Maxim against me.  I still feel his lips.  I still feel him inside of me.  I wake up in a wet heat wishing that I wasn't alone.  But I am.  He's too afraid to be near me right now.  As I wake I hear a rumbling.  Something strange.  It's almost like an Earthquake.  I run out into the hallway and I'm shocked when I see someone sitting out there.

Natasha.

She seems unaffected by the sound of the Earthquake.

"What was that?" I ask her.

The squire looks up at me.  She has a very defined and controlled nature about her.  She has long black bangs that cover most of her eyes.

She doesn't greet me with a smile but when I come out she stands almost as though she was in a drill unit.  She crosses herself in some sort of salute and I don't think to remind her that I'm not yet a soldier in the Dragonov army.  Natasha has dark eyeshadow that you can barely see through her bangs.  Her eyes are, from what I can tell are this beautiful golden hue and her skin is a peachy color.  She's not the type of girl who cared about her looks. She seems so well put together that when I come out of the room disheveled I almost feel embarrassed.

"Your dragon," she states, "He's gone into a rage.  He's attempting to escape from the underground lair."

Fuck.  I look at her and she looks at me.  I wonder if she knows that I may have done something to provoke the dragon.  I wonder if she suspects it.  If that is the case she doesn't ask.  She just stares at me.  I can't read her emotions.   I wonder how long she's been sitting outside of this room waiting for me.

"He's not my dragon! I'm not his paramour..."

"You trying to convince me, the dragon ... or yourself?"

"Can he escape?" I ask.

There is another aftershock.  This one is harder than the other.  From where I am in the tower adjacent to the dragon lairs it feels like the floor is vibrating a bit.  Again, this doesn't phase Natasha much at all.

She shakes her head, "The lair he is being held in is built with Dwarf engineering.  Dwarven architecture is quite resistant, even to dragons.  He will not escape."

If she wasn't here to get me to calm my dragon down and stop him from escaping then why was she here?

"Can I help you?"

"I've been sent to escort you to see the Roundtable?"

"Now?"

"Now."

Shit.  My heart is racing.  I felt like I wasn't ready.  I'd barely just woken up.  I needed to at least get some advice on how to treat these people.

"Where's Maxim?" I ask.

"He's gone with Skyscreamer to the Capital Mountains to copulate."

"To what?"

"To copulate," Natasha states more like some sort of mechanical device than a true human, "It means---"

"I know what it means," I cut her off.

It just hurts.  It shouldn't hurt.  Maxim wasn't mine.  He literally belonged to his dragon.  He'd told me about it yesterday, pain in his eyes and all.   Still, I feel jealousy.  I wish I could rage like a dragon.  I wish I could rage for Maxim like the Black Dread was raging for me at that moment, but I can't.  No one would care.  I had no power.  Not without the Black Dread.

But what was my alternative?  I could go back to Nair and be used as a cumrag for travelers for the rest of my days.

Or I could become some loveless warrior destined to be remembered and fated to be lonely.

"I can give you some time to get yourself together," Natasha states looking me up and down, "I assume you need it?  Then I'll escort you to the Round Table,  Nikolai."

"Call me Nik."

Natasha seems confused, "Why would I do that?"

"Well, we met in Nair.  You're one of the closest things I have to a friend here."

"I'm not your friend," Natasha states bluntly, "I never will be.  However, I did respect your mother.  She was one of the rare women to sit at the Round Table.  Because of the respect I have for her, I'll give you some advice."

"What?"

"Stay away from Maxim. Please your dragon at any cost. Whatever thing you have going on with Maxim...it's not worth it."

She was warning me.  What was up with all these warnings?  It just felt like the Empress Dowager all over again.

I nod, "OK."

"Hurry up.  I wouldn't keep the Round Table waiting."

I nod.

No.  Of course not.  They needed their answer.

"I'll be there shortly..."

~

The room with the leaders of the dragon families is stuffy.  It's nothing like I thought it would be.  No grand beautiful room with elaborate paintings.  No.  This is a war room.  It smelled like ash and sweat.  A map is in the middle of the table with the entire world on it.  All the way South are the ruins of the Glabber Wilds and North are the Lands of Cold and Frost.

Speaking of cold and frost...the stares I'm getting from these people are chilling.

"So all the commotion is true.  The son of Nicoletta Glabber has returned," one of the men at the table states. He is handsome with white hair. The way he looks at me makes me almost shiver.

"Hello—" I start off. Too light. Too weak. No that won't do.  Immediately I adjust to a thicker heavier tone, "HELLO!"

The white-haired paramour snickers at this. The others not so much. The stares range from extreme curiosity to complete disdain. A red-haired man at the very top of the table seems to be a little bit of both.  He glares at me.

"In the capital, all the paramours, mistresses and squires kneel in front of an emperor."

I hadn't known he was an emperor.  I had assumed an emperor would wear a crown or something.  Looking at him, he does seem a lot like the boys I'd met the day before.  He looked like the princes.  He had dark features and these intense eyes.  His hair was the color of a sunset sky; Yellow at the roots but a hot red at the tips. What stands out the most are those eyes.  It's like midnight in those eyes.  I'm fucking terrified.  He can hear me breathing.  He knows I'm nervous.  He seems to feed off of it.  He stares at me and I'm already starting to breathe hard.

I think about kneeling but I'm so nervous that I just stand there looking stupid.

What the hell is wrong with you, Nik?  Kneel!

I used to get these kinds of stares back at the tavern, but this wasn't that.  There are so many intimidating looking knights in this room.  They all are looking at me.  They are judging me.  I might as well be naked right now.

"He has his mother's bravery," the white-haired man states giving me a curious look.

A heavy set man with arms the five times my size says, "Or stupidity.  I'm not sure yet."

It's Raisa strangely who says, "With all due respect, Emperor.  He's not a squire.  He hasn't agreed to be one as of yet."

"Nonsense, the black dread chose him," Paramour Pike challenges Raisa.

"I refuse," I state.

They all look at me with confusion.

The emperor looks at me with an angry look, "You can't refuse the black dread.  And you can't refuse me.  You see that seat right there? The empty seat.  That is your mother's seat.  She was supposed to serve on my Roundtable and marry me.   She refused.  I won't keep getting refused by Glabbers."

I look at the empty seat.  The seat of House Glabber.  Even before he says it I see the name etched out on the wood. This was old fucking wood too. I literally can smell how old this room is along with half the knights in here.  It was permanent.  It's eerie in a sense that it's been empty all these years with no one to fill it.

"I won't..." I respond.

The dragon killed my family.  I didn't want to see the dragon again let alone be bound to it for the rest of my life.

There is a commotion in the room.  You would think I had spat on the emperor by how they are reacting.  There is one Paramour who jumps up and almost makes a mad dash to me screaming, "He refuses to ride and he refuses to kneel."

He says it again and again.

He refuses to ride!

He refuses to kneel!

He refuses to ride!

I see a Glaive in his hands almost as tall as the column in the room. He sweeps it across the room as an act of aggression!  Luckily they stop him.  It's Raisa who walks over to me gives me a hard look and just shakes her head.

She mutters the word, "Apologize, kneel and accept the position as Squire.  I'm warning you----"

I was tired of these warnings.  I was tired of these threats.  I'm scared to death.  Sweat is trickling down my forehead and into my shirt, but I'm not going to do something I don't want to do.  Seeing how I felt about Maxim changed everything.  I would be giving up on so much by becoming a dragon rider.

"No..."

"They will kill your dragon if you don't.  If you can't tame him, they have no use for a wild dragon."

"I don't care, Mistress Raisa."

The Black Dread deserved whatever he got.

The emperor gives me a look, "Come here, boy."

I don't move.  I'm an idiot.  It's a matter of minutes before two of the big knights walk over grab me by the back of my collar and bring me to the emperor.  As I approach the emperor.  He glares at me.

"Yes, sir?"

"Open the window..."

"OK---sir..."

"I'm not a sir. I'm your highness."

"Yes, your highness."

"What do you see?"

"A dragon sir."

Sure enough outside of the big white windows, there is a dragon.  A white dragon that was the color of frosted snow.  Its eyes were white.  Its wings were white.  It glides over by circling the castle walls as though waiting for something.

"Say sir one more goddamn time boy."

"I see a dragon, your highness."

"Not just any dragon.  That is the Imperial Dragon, my personal dragon.  Can I tell you a story, Nikolai?"

He is glaring at me as he returns to his seat.  I stand at the window looking at the dragon.  I nod slowly...too nervous to say anything.

"Yes."

"I wasn't supposed to rule. I was the youngest of all my brothers and had the smallest dragon.  She is small but you know what sets her apart?"

"What?"

"Accuracy."

"I don't get it."

"When I grew of age, I had a coo.  I decided I'd take the throne for myself.  My brothers were powerful and they had big dragons, big and black like yours.  I gave them the opportunity to kneel to me.  They were family after all.  `Kneel'---I warned them. Do you think they took that opportunity? To kneel to their young brother, disinherit themselves and be exiled?"

"No, sir."

"No of course not," he responds almost immediately, "They made their dragons fly overhead and spill out warning flames, so uncontrolled it started a wildfire.  I was unmoved.  `Kneel'---I warned them.  They raised their weapons with all of their allies to attack me.  Big weapons. Bigger than the Glaive That Paramour Dominic was going to swing at you. Big and scary. Still, I was unmoved. `Kneel'---I warned them one last time.  My dragon had arrived.  There were some who kneeled but not my brothers.  The Imperial dragon is so accurate that those who kneeled were saved from death, but my brothers were engulfed in her white flames."

My mouth gets dry.

This person...this so-called emperor had stolen the throne and murdered his own family members to get there.

That was his mandate to rule.

He wasn't born into it. He'd taken his mandate by fire and blood.

"I see."

He turns to me and he says, "Kneel---Nikolai Glabber."

I kneel at that moment just in time because there is a flame that roars into the room.  It comes into the room like some sort of fire thrower!  I'll never forget the sound.  A regular fire didn't make a sound but dragon fire did.

CRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOSH!

Another second and I would have been incinerated!  When the flames subside I look out of the window and see it.  The Imperial dragon is half a mile away but has the accuracy to aim the flame directly at me without scorching anything else in the room. Not even the window sill. Somehow, she knew what her master wanted her to do.  They had some sort of connection.

I look over at the Emperor.

The heavyset Paramour Dominic——the one who came at me with the glaive——- seems to be smiling from ear to ear, "Well done, Emperor Cicero.  He's pissed himself..."

I look down.  I hadn't noticed it.  Sure enough, I had pissed myself.  The near-death experience had taken over my bowels and my trousers are stained with pee.  A few laugh but others just stared.  That included Raisa and the unnamed paramour with the white hair. A part of me wished they'd laughed.  It was preferred to them looking at me like I'm some pathetic nobody not worth the change in facial expression.

The Emperor gives me a look, "Go back to your quarters.  I'll give you the night for you to rethink joining my army and serving me.  But I want you to remember something...Glabber."

"Yes, your majesty?"

"House Rurik has a saying.  It's the reason we've stayed in power over all of the houses for all these years.  That saying is simple: Those who don't kneel... burn."

~

I'm back in my room.  I refuse to leave even though Natasha comes to my room to offer me food.   I'd had to walk through the entire palace smelling of piss.  Word had gotten out, no doubt about what happened.  I'm in the room and I feel almost like I'm in a prison.  I never thought in my life that I'd miss Nair so much.  I never thought I'd miss the tavern so much.

"Crying won't help," a voice states.

He's there.   Ouroboros.

"I want to be left alone."

It's almost as though he was in my head.  They explained that anywhere I was, his soul could appear.  Right now he is at the edge of my bed.   He feels so real being here.  I can feel his heat.  I can see the creases he leaves in the sheets.  He keeps staring at me as though ready to say something but not getting it out.  I can't tell what his expression is.  Anger.  Regret.  Pain.

"Alone with your misery."

"Better than alone with the murderer of my family."

"Dragons don't murder. That sounds ridiculous.  Does a tiger murder it's prey?"

"So now you are a mere animal? Sounds more like you are more of a killing machine. Murderer or killer...people died because of you."

He seems irritated, "You humans are so fragile. If I wanted tales of gloom and doom I would have fucked an elf."

"It's not too late."

"You hate me, but you belong to me.  I am a generous dragon.  I am willing to forgive your transgressions with Maxim."

"YOU are willing to forgive ME?" I ask the dragon, "Fuck off!"

This dragon destroyed my entire family. My entire race. Literally.

"You are surrounded by enemies.  Do you think they'll let you leave?  You---the only one who can communicate with one of the strongest weapons in this world?  They won't let you go.  No one can protect you.  But me."

He was so into himself.  He thought he was so grand.  I look at his pompous face.  With the dragon, I can't tell expressions but his soul shows it all.   Even though he was the size of a man right now he had the ego of someone who was bigger than life.  He had the ego of a giant.  He knew what he was and he wasn't afraid to throw it in my face.

"Fuck...you.." I tell him, "I hope they kill you when I refuse again tomorrow."

"Get up."

"No."

"Get up and do what I say now and after---if you want, I'll release you from your burdens."

"What?"

"I'll never visit you again," he explains, "I'll choose the Emperor's son."

Was this some sort of trick?  This dragon had gone out of his way to bully himself into my life and just this easy he was willing to give up?  Just like that?  It had to be something else going on.  I look at him and I get a little confused.

But I agree.

I wanted him out my life. No matter what it took.

I get up and follow the soul.

~

"I have help in the Capital."

"Help?"

"I can't tell you who it is," the dragon explains.

"You're keeping secrets."

I turn and start walking away. He squints grabbing at me in the way he likes to do to control me. As he does it someone walks past seeming confused on why the hell I'm wrestling myself.

"Are you OK?"

She's staff in the fortress. I can tell by her gray uniform and the cleaning materials.

"Tell her to fuck off or I'll hunt down her entire family and burn them to a crisp," the Black Dread says.

"I'm fine...just had an itch."

"Ok have a nice day."

"If she interrupts us again I'll swallow her and leave her dried bones on a mountain too as a warning to future intruders."

No wonder he was called the nightmare dragon.

"You aren't touching her bones. Not if I have anything to do with it."

He looks down at me challenging me with those eyes of his, "You don't tell me what to do. I'm the dragon. Now hurry up!"

I give him a look. We are still walking.

"Are we meeting your so-called spy?"

"you're lucky you get anything from me. You still are resisting being my paramour even after the mating ritual."

I sigh, "What did this `friend' have to tell you?"

"My friend has been spying on someone for me.  Click the wall three times...a secret tunnel will open."

I do what the dragon's spirit says and hit the wall three times.  The wall in the halls of the fortress opens up.   I go through the secret tunnel and start walking.  I turn and realize that Ouroboros is not with me but as I walk I start to hear sounds.

Talking.

It was a familiar voice.

"He pissed himself," the familiar voice says, "I would have paid money to see it.  Everyone's talking about it.  The dirty black wild that pissed himself."

There is more laughter.

He's not alone.  I look through a small opening and see that it is Prince Alexander Cicero.  I should have smelled him even through the walls.  He smells like expensive perfumes and walks around with a cape so long it sweeps the ground.  For a nice looking guy he made the foulest faces.  I know he's talking about me.  I can hear the hatred in his voice.

"He's not worth it," the person tells him.

"Do you think he's as handsome as me?"

"He's ugly," the person replies to Alexander, "As you said.  He's a dirty Wild.  And he's under my spell.  Once he lets his guard down, I'll remove him...permanently.  And you will have the Black Dread all for yourself."

"You would do that for me?"

"I'd do anything for you.  I love you, Alexander."

That's when I see the face of the person that is threatening my life to help Prince Alexander get what he wants.  I'm more than shocked when I see who it is.

"I love you too," Prince Alexander states with a kiss, "Maxim."

 

To read the next chapter in advance go to www.crushedcrown.com