Chapter Eight
The sight of the Dragon King filling that fountain would haunt me. The ache in his eyes, spreading across his beautiful face. Not heartache, but a desire for it. The spiraling water, droplets catching the moonlight to create stars on Serai. His tragic words. How could he express so much while feeling so little? He couldn”t. There was a wealth of emotion hidden inside King Shaleros. I was certain of it. He”d buried it. All the good and bad. He made himself numb. So numb that even when he wanted to feel, he couldn”t. But I had glimpsed the truth.
Back in my guest room, I showered and dressed, then hurried to the dining hall. Our little excursion made me late, but so was the King. And no one ate before the King. I got there only a few minutes before King Shaleros and quickly followed him to his table when he did his nightly wave my way.
The King nodded, dinner was served, and I pondered His Majesty in glances as he filled his plate. Up until then, I”d been playful with him. It hadn”t gotten me far. But I didn”t want to push him down the path of his memories either. He had enough of that for one night. Even if he didn”t feel the pain of his loss, he knew he should feel it. That knowing hurt him in its own way. And I didn”t want him hurt.
I wanted to make him happy. Such a simple, almost trite sentiment. But with the Dragon King, it was a gauntlet thrown in the face of a god.
“Do you dance, Your Majesty?” I asked.
“No,” he said.
“Ah. As I expected.”
He finished filling his plate, then looked at me. “Explain that.”
“Oh, you know.” I shrugged and started heaping food onto my plate.
“If I knew, I wouldn”t demand an explanation.”
“You did indeed demand it.” I chuckled.
“Sebastian.”
I looked at him.
He lifted a dirty blond brow.
“I love how your eyebrows are darker than your hair. It brings out the color of your eyes.”
“Sebastian,” his tone grew irritated.
“Right. You don”t like compliments. Or dancing.”
“I don”t like evasiveness.” The King narrowed his eyes at me.
“What were we talking about again?”
Those beautiful eyes rolled. “For fuck”s sake, Sebastian.”
My heart sped up. That was emotion. He was showing emotion!
“Oh, yes. Dancing,” I went on a bit breathlessly. “I didn”t expect you to dance because of your big feet.”
“My what?”
“Your big feet.” I waved a hand toward his feet. “You probably trip over them when you try to dance. Am I right?”
“You are not.”
“I don”t believe you.”
“You don”t believe me?” he asked incredulously.
“Nope. I think you should prove it.”
The King sat back with a grimace. “Ah, now your deviousness is revealed.”
“Deviousness?” I grinned. “Yes, I can be devious when I want something very badly.”
The King sighed. “How many times must I tell you that I am not interested in being intimate with you?”
“Only a hundred thousand more times. Then, maybe, I”ll get the hint.”
A surprised huff of air passed over the King”s lips—a sound that could also be amusement.
I didn”t draw attention to it. It seemed as if things were snowballing now that the emotional ball was rolling. If I pointed it out, the King would stomp out that snowball. With his big feet.
“I don”t think you want me to stop flirting with you,” I said.
“Oh? And why do you think that?”
“Because you remark on it when I don”t.” I held up a hand before he protested. “There”s nothing to be ashamed of, Your Majesty. Everyone likes their ego stroked.” I lowered my voice to add, “Among other things.”
The King stared at me. “I think I like being shocked. It . . . it”s something at least.”
“Oh, here we go.” I made an exasperated face at him.
“Excuse me?”
“You”re wrong, Your Majesty. You dance. You dance with me verbally every night. I flirt, you stare. I tease, you chide. I go a little too far, and you shut me down. It”s a dance. One I think you enjoy.”
“I assure you, we are not dancing. And I certainly don”t enjoy it.”
“Oh, no, of course not,” I said sarcastically. “Not you, King Shaleros the Indifferent. You can”t enjoy a man flirting with you. How inappropriate! How shocking!” I leaned in to add, “How sexy. And you can”t possibly be sexy. Certainly not! And with another man? No, never! You are indifferent. Removed from things like attraction, pleasure, and fun. No fun for you!”
The Dragon King”s eyes widened. His face had been twitching through my speech, and now went through spasms. He looked like he was about to shapeshift, his skin practically vibrating. Then a miracle happened.
The King smiled.
And it didn”t stop there. As I gaped at the most beautiful smile I”d ever seen, it spread wider, and laughter burst free as if it had been waiting for the gates to open. It lasted only a few seconds, and then the King jerked back and went silent.
The entire hall went silent with him, every eye fastened on the King, and every mouth agape. Including his.
“Now, that was worth every rejection you”ve given me,” I whispered.
King Shaleros started to say something, but only sounds came out. Sounds that weren”t words, no matter how hard they tried. Finally, he managed to piece them together, “That was the first time I”ve laughed in over a century.”
I held back my gasp. It lodged in my throat, threatening to choke me. I knew the King had been stuck in this strange limbo for a long time, but I hadn”t known it was that long. How awful. How tragic. But I couldn”t let him know that I pitied him. That might send him tumbling back into whatever half-life he”d been living.
So, I caught my breath and said, “What a shame. You”re sexy when you smile. And that laugh.” I shook my head. “It went straight to my cock.”
“I . . . what did you just say to me?”
“You heard me.” I looked at him. “You”re sexy when you smile. Well, sexier. You”re damn sexy even with this blank expression on your face.”
“Blank?” He frowned.
“Not so blank now.”
“You know that wasn”t the part I was shocked by.”
“Oh? Which of my parts shocks you?”
“Sebastian.” He shook his head.
“Yeah, I know. It”s my cock. How dare I have a cock and come on to you?”
“Sebastian,” his tone went more chiding.
I grinned and asked, “You still straight?”
“Straight what?”
“Straight heterosexual. On the V team. Or are you feeling a little thrill? It”s all right if you”re just curious. I”d be happy to experiment with you. No pressure.”
“Great Karadas, you go too far.”
I shrugged. “I figured you were ready for it.”
“You once told me I didn”t need to worry about your flirtation. That you know I”m not gay.”
“But you said it wasn”t an issue,” I reminded him. “Is it an issue now?” I grinned. Cocked my head. “Maybe in a good way?”
Shaleros the Indifferent grinned back.
Someone actually cried out.
But neither of us cared.
“I”ve never been with a man,” he said at last.
“Well, I”m a bottom so it”s nearly the same as being with a woman.”
He snorted. “Somehow I doubt that.”
A snort! A snort after a laugh! Oh, that snowball was soon going to be large enough to demolish a town.
“You”re right,” I admitted. “I”m so amazing in bed, I”m in a class of my own. There are men, women, and Sebastian Dahl.”
King Shaleros burst out laughing again. Yup, town-crushing size. He just couldn”t stop now that he”d let go of his control.
I knew the entire room was staring at him, but so was I. The Dragon King was mesmerizing. His entire being glowed. That smile was incandescent. Nothing like it in the whole of Serai. And those fangs. Fucking hot. And sharp. Kissing him would be dangerous. Sexy dangerous.
But the King”s humor quickly vanished. It was as if he remembered he was supposed to be stoic. His glorious laughter died a swift death, then his expression froze, and his eyes went cold. A shiver ran down my spine, and it wasn”t the good kind. Fear. Stark fear. It was a shock to my system. The Dragon King had just been laughing. My body was under that influence. But with one look, he had spun the joy inside me into its opposite.
My breath left me. Had I been thinking that kissing King Shaleros would be dangerous? Flirting with him was akin to flirting with death. That town-crushing snowball was now headed my way. The fucked up part was—it didn”t discourage me. Not in the least. Because underneath my fear was lust. Just as sudden, and just as shocking. Pure, hot, raging lust. Bend-me-over-this-table-right-now lust. I had to be with this man. Had to feel him above me. Inside me. I knew with a clarity I”d never experienced before that the experience was worth dying for. Bring on the snowball. I”m a child of the cold; I can take it.
“Too fast?” I whispered, not daring to raise my voice. But I held his stare and let mine go molten. “It”s all right, Your Majesty, we can take it slow.”
The Dragon King”s eyes twitched. His hands clenched. Then they flattened on the table, and he shoved himself to his feet. His throne/couch made a roaring rumble as he pushed it back with his thighs. At first, I thought it was he who had made the sound.
The dining hall was already silent, but with the King”s sudden rise, it went still. The stillness of a herd of prey sensing an approaching predator.
King Shaleros didn”t look at me. He didn”t speak. Probably couldn”t have if he tried, what with the way his jaw was clenched. He spun away from me, his hair slashing at my shoulder as if to wound me, and marched to the dais steps.
The room came to its feet as the King plowed across the neutral zone between his dais and the other tables. Then he was moving down the central aisle, looking like a ghost. His courtiers bowed to him as he passed—an undulation of people. Behind the King marched two of his knights.
Unable to move, I watched the Dragon King until he left the room. I hadn”t stood for him. I probably should have, but my brain couldn”t process what was happening, couldn”t react. Then the dining hall doors were shutting behind King Shaleros, and every eye was turning toward me.
Well, fuck me.
I heaped food onto my plate, speared a fork into the pile, grabbed my wine glass, and stood. Then, with as much dignity as I could muster, I left the dining hall, taking the same path as the King. I certainly couldn”t stay at the King”s table without him there, and I wouldn”t be welcome at any other table. But I wasn”t about to forgo dinner because the Dragon King got butt hurt over someone piercing his emotional armor.
The courtiers, back in their seats, stared at me as I passed, but I kept my chin lifted and ignored them. The door was a little hard to manage, but as soon as I started pushing it with my back, one of the guards on the other side opened it for me.
“Thanks, man,” I said and sauntered past him.
The guard frowned at me, then into the room, then after me. I kept walking, and as I did, a smile started to spread across my face. I had finally gotten through to the Dragon King. Yeah, his reaction had been less encouraging at the end, but it had begun with a smile and progressed quickly into a laugh. Laughter! That was huge. I”d even say the progress I achieved with him that night was greater than all the progress I”d made in his garden. King Shaleros the Indifferent wasn”t indifferent. Not to me. Not anymore.
And he had shown me what kind of man he was. I had made the Dragon King furious, pushed and poked at him until he got so mad that I thought he might hurt me. But he hadn”t hurt me. Not even in his rage. He had walked away. And even in his fury, there was hope. Because that was yet another emotion he could feel. Everyone thought he felt nothing. But the King himself had denied that. Love. That”s all he couldn”t feel. How he had made himself numb to that particular emotion I didn”t know. But I was going to get him to tell me. Confide in me as he had earlier that night.
Yup. Straight, royal, and indifferent—none of it mattered.
“You”re gonna be mine,” I declared to the image of the Dragon King in my head. Then I lifted my glass to toast myself and drank deeply.