Page 38 of Brutal Dragon King

I need to prove to myself that the palace’s child-bearer, theslave,is but a measly human who has no effect on me. With that determination in mind, I rise to my feet, dismissing the servants who rush toward me.

“Prepare the breakfast table for my brothers,” I order the servants as they keep their heads lowered. “Part the doors for me.”

One servant scurries to the front entrance of the palace, parting the doors to prepare for my exit. My chin is held up high, as boldly and confidently as ever now that I’ve decided I won’t let a human affect me this way. Everything in my world must be righted, and this will only prove that what occurred between us means nothing.

It shouldn’t, after all.

At least, that’s what I firmly believe until I spot Althea Waters and prove myself wrong.

As soon as I lay eyes on her for the first time in almost four days, my breath is stolen, stopping me in my tracks until I’m frozen in place. My heart beats rapidly and uncontrollably, and my ears ring with a faint beep.

What’s going on?

She has her back turned in my direction, and all I can see are the waves of light brown hair cascading down her shoulders and reaching the peaks of her rear. I gulp when I feel a surge of awareness coursing through me when I’m reminded of the way I handled her that night. She’d become my own personal ragdoll, and I’d used her the way I wanted to.

I lift a hand to my collar and tug it as I remember to take a breath. As the air returns to my lungs, so does my determination to bear in mind that Althea is just a human slave here in the kingdom, not some ethereal creature who deserves this kind of pining from me. I’m snapped out of my daze, still unsettled by how much she affects me, but mentally chanting that she has no hold over me anymore.

That’s when I noticed that she isn’t alone. The two men on either side are wearing the colors of their kingdoms,

My brothers stand in front of her, one licking his lips as he strokes his chin, the other ogling her through speculatively narrowed eyes. The sight of their dark eyes on her has my stomach churning, my blood coursing with a sudden bout of anger and, irritation and possessiveness all wrapped up in one dynamite package that has me fuming on the spot.

A steady growl rumbles through my belly, my hands curling into tight, readied fists at my sides. The jealousy and possessiveness I feel course through every fiber of my being, alighting my pulse with something so primal. I have visions of the things I want to do to her because she shouldn’t be there, alone with my brothers.

A passionate need to go there and rip off her clothes and claim her asmineis alarming. I just tried to quell the intense craving for her by coming out here, but I’m only proving myself wrong. Fuming in one place, the jealousy and possessiveness build into hot, licking flames to my soul, until I’m spurred to take long strides toward Althea.

As if I’m possessed by an unseen force, I grab the back of her neck and pull her toward me, whispering low into her when she gasps.

“What are you doing, slave?” I grate, glancing between my brothers. Both appear smug about my rather violent arrival, Kaidën crossing his arms as a smirk crosses his face.

“I wasn't doing anything,” she retorts boldly, eyes straining to meet mine through the side. “I was just walking around when your—”

To cut her off, I abruptly release her and send her stumbling forward. My brothers exchange approving glances, but something is unsettling about what I just did.

It doesn't sit right with me, a flicker of remorse passing through and blurring the lines of my inner conflict that forces me to not give my brothers the wrong idea.

They don't need to know that their eldest brother, the king of The Spine, has a weakness that is a human.

The only problem is that said human doesn't know how to obey me. She's still as bold as ever, turning treacherously glaring eyes on me, her nostrils flaring as she fumes.

Before she could speak, I put my hand in front of her face.

“Go back to the palace, slave,” I command.

To my detriment, Althea chooses this moment to defy me in front of my brothers.

“No,” she says the single word flatly, her arms crossed over her chest defiantly.

My eyes flare like the pits of hell. “Go back, Althea,” I command sternly, but my firm voice doesn't faze the only human in the kingdom who would dare to defy me.

“I don't want to go back,” she insists, nostrils flaring again, the corner of her lip twitching.

I mask a nervous chuckle with a passing wink at Kaidën, knowing he'll read the gesture like this is some sort of game between my slave and me.

“Are you defying me, slave?” I ask with a raised brow, placing a hand up at the side of my hip to stop him when Jaidën places his hand on his sword.

He's ready to kill anyone who dares to defy the Nayara brothers.

“I would be defying you if I even cared that you're the king,” she says as she rolls her eyes.

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