Page 59 of Heir of Draga

“Make me,” Adelina snarled back.

Roxy gritted her teeth, but no matter how she tried she couldn’t stand.

“Think around the problem, Rox,” Adelina murmured, pressing down harder with her dominance. “How can you accept my control and save yourself at the same time?”

She frowned up at the princess. “Submissives are not as powerful as dominants.”

“Wrong,” Adelina whispered. The weight disappeared and suddenly Roxy felt like she could breathe again. “Nadyah!”

The courtesan gave Roxy an apologetic look when she made her way over to the center of the training room. Varan sat at the table and sipped on a glass of chilled water, smiling at her.

Prick.

“Nadyah is a courtesan, and as such she can dominate even me,” Adelina explained. “She is the closest thing to Asher we have right now.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Varan called out. “I’m pretty sure you’d win that fight with the dark prince after a bit of practice.”

Adelina didn’t look away from Roxy but she smiled softly. “I will show you what I mean.” Then the princess squared off with the courtesan.

The sudden flurry of movement shocked Roxy and she scrambled back as the two fought like vicious little galinas. Both had the speed and skill. Together it was a dance of death and the clash of knives told Roxy they weren’t dulled as they whistled through the air.

Without warning they stopped and Nadyah held a knife against Adelina’s throat.

Roxy knew this was supposed to be a lesson, but she couldn’t stop staring at the courtesan. What a pretty little package for such a deadly thing. She was half in love with her already.

“Kneel,” Nadyah demanded, and compared to that sweet scent of jasmine the princess now had she had no choice.

Her knees slammed into the ground harder than Roxy’s had with the larger difference between dominance levels. Adelina dropped her eyes to the floor and Roxy saw the old princess for a moment.

Then a clawed hand snaked out, grabbing Nadyah’s leg and yanking. Before Nadyah could give another command Adelina had the courtesan underneath her, deadly claws on Nadyah’s neck.

It all happened so fast, Roxy took a step forward to keep the princess from hurting Nadyah, but then she stopped. Adelina would never hurt the courtesan.

“When dominance is used against you and you are alone without another dominant to protect you, you have to find a way around their command, around their wish. The dominant power is meant to make one obey, to prevent unnecessary bloodshed and violence among our own people. Submissives are highly valued for the balance and peace they provide, but some cannot resist their own power and abuse the submissive. So you need to find a way to comply, to acknowledge their strength until you can disarm them.”

It was a world Roxy had never truly seen. She was at the top of the food chain so to speak. The only people more dominant than she were the royals and some of those whose scent was that of the winterflower.

But for cycles Adelina had been the most submissive, not just of the royals, but of most people. Only her rank had given her any real power, and even then she’d been third-born and overlooked until recently.

Roxy had to give her credit for that.

“All right, I’ll catch you and then you can try to use your dominance on me,” Roxy said with a smirk. “This time I’ll win.”

Varan laughed and stood from the table. “Roxy I do believe you’ll be ready to take on any challenger by the time we return to Draga Terra. You aren’t as out of shape as I thought you might be. The last few days you’ve given me a run for my gold a few times.”

Roxy glared when he grabbed Adelina by the waist and tucked her into his side. Just because they hadn’t trained together the last cycle or so didn’t mean she’d been lazing about. Felix had taught her a thing or two as well as Mistress Jael.

She used to think she’d sell all her worldly possessions for Jael to give up her position at the House of Kismet, but looking at Nadyah, Roxy was glad she’d never proposed. Jael had broken her heart two cycles ago and it looked like another courtesan might be able to repair the damage.

Now she wondered if it was because she wasn’t the female’s mate, but the understanding still didn’t ease the pain.

“Princess, we need you on Command. There is something on the scanners,” the captain’s voice echoed through the speaker in the training room.

“Looks like we’ll have to finish training later,” Varan said, frowning at the speaker. “Adelina I know you’ll be getting exercise today, but you’ll have to find something that will make you work up a sweat, Roxy.”

Roxy watched her brother in all but blood lead Adelina out of the training room and down to Command. She wasn’t sure if his jab at the way she’d been eyeing Nadyah had been intentional or not, but it still made her want to stab him.

Nadyah smiled and adjusted her skirts. “Would you like for me to show you some of the courtesan fighting arts, or would you rather go to Command to see what’s so important?”

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