Page 34 of The Forbidden Dragon King
War is muscled beneath gleaming armor, which is custom-made for her in ruby encrusted gold and leathers. Unlike Lucius, it looks like she was born in it.
A scar bisects War’s right eyebrow, and her hazel eyes are fierce.
She pushes her mass of wild ash blond hair out of her face. “Fuck off and die in a fire.”
I laugh.
Lucius pulls away from War with difficulty, sidling tolink his arm with mine, as if we’re strolling through sweet smelling gardens at court. “Don’t be annoyed with us, Relius, the thing is that we had this most delightful talk with your uncle earlier.”
I stiffen. “Did you?”
There’s no way that it wasdelightful. I’m certain that it involved Maximinus putting the fear of the Shadow Gods into my friends about something.
But why?
What is Maximinus planning?
A cold ball of dread forms in my stomach. My hands are sweating.
“Aprivateone.” Lucius tosses his hair like we’re talking about nothing important, one of his many Omega tricks, which makes him such a successful courtier.
“Which is why you’re tellingme.”
“Exactly.”
My gaze softens.
Lucius isn’t from the Guild of Spies. Yet he’s my oldest and loyalist friend. He risks his life to pass on everything that he hears.
“It’s about a certainkittenthat you want as a pet,” Lucius says, quietly.
War marches to stand at my shoulder. “He ordered me to kill him.”
I stop in the middle of the street, as the soldiers continue to flow with the heavy march of feet either side of me, and orders ring through the night air.
All I can hear, however, is the pulse throbbing in my ears.
“I can’t allow that,” I whisper.
War and Lucius flank me, until we’re standing in a circle. They’re shielding my words, hiding them as so much is hidden beneath the surface of the Draca Kingdom.
“Why?” War raises her scarred eyebrow. “The feathered scoundrel basically has been begging you to for years. Fuck, he’s been begging thiskingdomto for decades.”
“Your eyes are doing thatthing,” Lucius warns, stroking his hand up and down my arm at the same time that he puts out soothing pheromones into the air. “The glowing golden thing, and I rather like my pretty curly head attached to my even prettier neck.”
“And so do I,” War growls. “Keep it the fuck together, Relius.”
I shudder. My muscles tremble. I bite the inside of my cheek, forcing back the wings that are itching to burst from my back.
Destroy, Hadrian’s Dagger whispers, sibilant and seductive,blood and beautiful shadowed death.
Let. Me. Out.
“No,” I say, louder than I mean to.
Several soldiers nearby stumble in shock, turning to look at me, as if I’m reprimanding them.
My cheeks flush.
