Page 218 of The Forbidden Dragon King
His troubled gaze meets mine over Aurelius’ shoulder.
What is wrong with Aurelius’ back?
Panic thrums through me.
Aurelius’ expression clouds. “Put my robe back on. I’m ugly. I knew that no one would want to fuck me, ruined as I am.”
“Stop being such a bloody idiot. You look like a fucking god, and that comes from me, an actual god.” Daire’s expression is tight. “But these scars… You must have been whipped severely for…”
“Years.” Aurelius’ hair tumbles across his face; I can’t see his eyes. “All my life, I’ve been beaten like a dog. I need to be controlled, or you saw me, I become evil. I didn’thave someone to pull the whip from Caligo’s hand. Uncle insisted that Caligo was tougher on me than the other cadets. They weren’t princes; I needed to be held to a higher standard. Yet now look at me…”
“Aye, look at you,” Daire sounds like cold death. I startle out of my hazy, happy place. “Are you afraid to lose control to thevillainousGolden Dragon inside? Are you sure that you haven’t been fed lies all your bloody life? That’s how the Seelie see us Unseelie, but is the snow of winter worse than the sunshine of summer? Who gets to judge?” He shoves the folded pile of clothes, sending the dagger tumbling toward Aurelius. “Power isn’t good or bad. It’s how you wield it. So, take back bloody control of yourself and prove it.”
Aurelius snarls, snatching up Hadrian’s Dagger, before twirling to Daire and holding the sheathed blade to his throat.
My heart stops. “No.”
At the same time, my heart breaks because now, I can see why sadness sparked through my bond with Daire when he saw Aurelius’ back.
Scars upon scars are layered from Aurelius’ shoulders all the way to his ass in a spectrum of reds and silvery pinks. Tears prick at my eyes, as I study the crisscrossing pattern of pain. They don’t make him ugly, in the same way that Daire’s scars don’t.
Each lash is evidence of what my Alpha has endured and survived.
Yet is he strong enough to take down the sorcerer with the most powerful magic in the realms, his uncle?
“I am controlling myself.” Aurelius moves his mouth close to Daire’s ear. “If I wasn’t, then it would be thebladeagainst your neck. And you would be ash.”
“Like the rest of my Winter Court.” Daire’s eyes behind his mask are wild. “Aye, finish me, the last of the Unseelie royal line, as you want to destroy Lanlin, last of the Royal House of Sin. Isn’t that what you dreamed about achieving,Hadrian?”
I hiss out a breath.
Aurelius grabs Daire by the hair, wrenching back his head and pushing the dagger harder against his throat. “I. Am. Not. Hadrian.”
“Nay, you’re not only him,” Daire replies. “But you’re never going to win this dance against your uncle and the Council, until you accept that he’s part of you just like death is part of the Unseelie. It comes before the rebirth, as winter comes before spring, and night before dawn.”
“I am also not you.” Aurelius’ eyes flash. “I am the dragon in this cave. You should?—”
“Worship you?” Daire taunts.
Growling, Aurelius pulls the knife away from Daire’s throat. Then he tugs Daire by his curls, throwing him to lie next to me.
Daire laughs, savagely. “There you are,Emperor. I see you.”
Aurelius casts him a furious gaze, before caging me.
He slides one of his thick fingers into my pussy. He’s still holding Hadrian’s Dagger. The golden dragon hilt gleams between us.
Power…temptation…mine…
The curse tingles across my skin, whispering seductively.
I moan, as Aurelius adds a second finger and then a third, scissoring and stretching me.
Daire licks and kisses over the wolf Omega Mark on my shoulder, before pushing himself up onto his elbow.
He brushes his wing across Aurelius’ cheek. “Prove that you possess that dagger and not the other way around.”
He slides his wing down to tap the sheathed blade, a sacrilegious move for a fae. He pushes the knife down, until it’s resting between my thighs.
