Chapter 24

GOLL

Sitting at the head of the table in the war room, unwilling to receive our unexpected guest in the throne room, I stared at the moon fae male standing at the opposite end of the table close to the door. It was an awkward place to receive foreign ambassadors, but I couldn't step foot in my throne room. The mere thought curdled like acid in my stomach.

I'd been keeping busy with my royal and military councils at this table since the Rite of Servium, so I'd summoned my guest here since I'd barely left the room for weeks. I was almost thankful to the arrogant, foolish ambassador from Issos, staring me down with an unbreakable gaze.

For the first time in a fortnight, I felt something other than hot rage or self-loathing. With the exception of those brief, illusory moments between sleep and wakefulness when I felt her sweet mouth on mine and her hot sheath as I sank into her, I'd known nothing but pure ire. Every morning, I wished I could return to those soft dreams where she wanted me, where I didn't see the tears pouring from her eyes while I fucked her.

So now, I was glad to turn my anger on someone else besides myself. I spoke low and steadily when I finally broke the silence after he'd told me his reason for coming to Northgall.

"Princess Una is well and good," I told him icily. "You may return and tell her brother so."

"Forgive me, my lord—"

"You'll address him as my liege or King Goll," snapped Keffa, standing to the fae's right. "He is not merely a lord."

The fair-haired ambassador straightened his spine, his pale-blue wings stiffening. "Forgive me, King Goll," he began again, "but I've been given explicit instructions to speak to Princess Una alone, to ensure she isn't being coerced to say what she's been told to say."

"By me," I added.

He had the wisdom to keep his mouth closed, his jaw clenching. He kept his hands clasped at his back, his stance erect and formal.

I was debating whether to stand, march across the room, and punch the man in the face or to summon Una before him now in my presence. I had no inclination to allow her to be alone with any man, least of all this dandy of an ambassador with his pretty attire and prettier face.

But the thought of her standing here now and declaring me the heinous monster she knew me to be in front of him made my blood boil and my heart clench.

Suddenly, the door opened with swift force, jarring me to my feet, my hand at the dagger at my waist. It was Pullo, his scowl fierce, as he stormed into the chamber, followed quickly by Ferryn and Meck.

"What is it?" I snapped.

Pullo passed the ambassador, sparing him a quick glance, before striding directly toward me, his long braid swinging at his back. Meck and Ferryn were right behind him, each falling to one knee when they reached me, heads bowed as if awaiting punishment.

"What?" I growled.

Pullo reached me and whispered close to my ear, too low for the ambassador to hear, "She's gone."

My vision hazed with sheer panic at those two words.

"We're looking everywhere in the palace and gardens, but we can't find her."

My gaze snapped to the ambassador, his expression curious and grim. Did he know? Was that why he'd actually come? To help the princess escape and bring her back home? It made no sense.

And yet, surely, she hated me enough to leave me. Had she somehow gotten word to them? In all this time I'd been avoiding her, had she managed to get a message to her kind?

Pullo took a large step away from me, bowing his head. I could feel my magick brimming with fury, electrifying the air around me.

"Keffa. Take the ambassador and hold him in a chamber without windows. I don't want him flying away."

The ambassador spoke with indignation, "You are going to imprison me?"

"Keffa. Now ," I barked, my voice echoing off the black stone walls.

He quickly guided the ambassador from the room, shutting the door behind him, leaving me alone with Pullo, Meck, and Ferryn.

"Explain," I demanded, cold rage chilling my blood.

"Sire," Meck began, looking up at me, "she took a walk in the gardens this morning with Hava then returned to her bedchamber with her. We never left the door. When a maidservant brought a platter for luncheon as she has been since the Mizrah's arrival, she returned from the room with the platter in her hand and asked where the mizrah was."

Ferryn finally met my gaze as well. "We immediately searched the room and found no one. We never left our posts, King Goll. I swear we did not."

I stormed across the room, the three of them right behind me. As we crossed into the corridor, Soryn strode up to me, panting after apparently running to the war room.

"We've caught her scent as well as Hava's. They took the trail heading east through Esher Wood. The Culled are mounting horses now."

That trail ended at the river where she could follow it directly south and across the border into Lumeria. Then back to her home of Issos.

I'd thought I'd known fury before, but nothing had prepared me for the living fire burning through my veins now, searing me from the inside out.

"Soryn, you lead the Culled to get them."

His scowl deepened. "You're not going?"

"Oh, I'm going," I growled. "Havallah will be alone shortly." If they were indeed alone and not being helped by some other Issosian ambassador. "Bring her back. I'll take care of my mizrah."

Without another word, I whirled toward the palace kitchens, the closest exit to the back gardens. Closing off my fury for the moment, but letting my urgency ring clear, I reached out to Drakmir telepathically. We must ride, brother. Be ready.

Everyone stepped out of my way as I stormed down the corridor, through the kitchens, and out the door. Drakmir rumbled a growl, waiting for me in the clearing beyond the maragord grove where he rested when he wasn't wandering the skies or hunting across Meerland.

Keeping our mind-to-mind connection open, I showed him where we needed to go while I launched up his shoulder and into the saddle.

"Fly, Drak!"

Instantly, we were airborne, soaring toward Esher Wood and the eastern trail. Soryn and the entirety of my Culled pounded their way on horseback from the stables from the right of the palace, but my focus was on the trail.

I did not believe she would do this. Even after the Rite of Servium, I didn't think she would hate me so much that she'd try to return to her homeland. She knew that if she broke her vows, I could punish her people. I still had garrisons occupying all of Lumeria. I could slaughter them all with the power of feyfire living inside me.

Especially now, stirring with the hot emotion of bitterness and betrayal that she would do this to me. That she would leave me.

The fury twisted into a spire of pain that nearly choked me. Cold wind gusted against my chest. A rumble of thunder vibrated in the distance, mirroring the storm growing inside me. For a moment, I closed my eyes and let the sensation of flight cool my burning blood. It barely worked, and the fire stoked anew when Drak purred a low growl.

There they were, walking along the trail, almost to the river. Drak knew where I wanted to go. He dove for the well-worn path and banked with beating wings to slow his descent in front of them, then landed to block their path.

Una and Hava jumped in surprise. Hava's eyes widened in fear. As they should. Una, however, looked furious, which only burned me hotter.

As soon as Drak's feet were on the trail, his girth and tail breaking branches reaching toward the path, I climbed down, leaped to the ground in seconds, and strode straight for Una. That was when her expression widened with trepidation. Whatever she saw in my eyes had her taking large steps backward, her black wings fluttering helplessly.

"Yes, Una. Go on." A predatory thrill slipped through my blood, pumping my heart faster. " Run. "

As if the survival instincts built inside her could do nothing else, she did. My body hummed with magick and desire, hardening every part of me at the sight of her fleeing into the woods as fast as she could go.

Then I was after her, letting the maelstrom of emotions I'd been having since the night of the Servium to twist and fly, spurring me on to catch my prey and bring her back to me, back in my embrace where she belonged. The feral desire to bear her down in the grass and fuck her senseless hazed my vision with dark need, to make her understand she could never leave me, to make her know she belonged to me .

She was fast even without the use of her wings, her long legs eating up the forest ground as she dodged around one tree and then the next, her feet crunched on the fallen leaves, her breaths grower louder, her white hair flying behind her. She made a whimpering sound in her throat as I inched closer and closer, a similar sound to the one she made when she writhed and came beneath me in the throne room.

By now, I was furious and fucking rock hard when I took the last step to close the distance and wrap both my arms around her waist. Her wings pinned between us, hanging down toward the ground, she kicked with her legs and struggled against me.

"Let me go, Goll! Stop this!"

Her writhing body and hypnotic scent only amplified the inferno building inside me. I planted my feet and buried my mouth in her loose hair close to her ear. "You dared to leave me? My mizrah? The one the gods chose for me. You swore an oath, Una ."

"I wasn't leaving you," she panted.

"Just taking a leisurely stroll to the river where you might catch a passing ferryman who could take you straight into Lumeria, I suppose."

"What? No." She jerked and struggled again, obviously feeling my hardness pressing into the cleft of her ass. If I wasn't so furious with Hava, I'd want to thank her for sewing these trousers for her mistress.

With a quick movement, I whirled her around and tossed her over my shoulder then marched back toward the trail.

"Not this again," she grumbled. " Goll! I wasn't leaving."

I scoffed, not dignifying that with an answer.

"You can put me down. I won't run."

"Fucking right, you won't. Not ever again." I was going to make sure of it.

She beat on my back with her fists. It only made me harder. "I wasn't leaving you, you imbecile."

"Right." I retraced our steps back to the path with increasing speed. "You crept secretly out of the palace without your guard because you wanted to simply walk in the woods all alone with your handmaiden."

"I was going to Dragul Falls."

"Why?" I snapped, rounding a tree that put us on a wider game trail. We were almost back to the eastern path where I'd found her.

She didn't answer. Her silence made me angrier than her hot words. I stopped at a thick-trunked esher tree and flipped her upright, setting her on her feet. She staggered back, her palms bracing on the wide trunk. I crowded her close, sinking both fists into her unbearably soft hair, cradling her skull with my knuckles.

Pressing my body fully against hers, I tilted up her face so that I could see those beautiful eyes, wide and accusing. "Do you think you can so easily break your vows to me?" I hissed, my mouth close to hers. "Did you think I'd simply let you go?"

Her hands came off the trunk and wrapped around my forearms, her rounded nails digging into the thick fabric of my winter shirt.

"I was seeking something I did once when I was fifteen. I didn't find it before I was taken into N?kt Mir's dungeon and tortured near to death," she spat angrily. "I thought I could find it now that I was within my rights to be in this territory."

I couldn't process what it was that she sought so many years ago and still sought, my mind spinning with other questions.

"Why didn't you simply come to me? Ask me? I would've taken you."

Now it was her turn to scoff, a slender brow arching with mockery. "When might I have spoken to you? I haven't seen you in weeks ." She was furious, her face burning with rage. At me.

"You got what you wanted," she said more softly, hurt rather than anger lilting her words. "Then you disappeared. I suppose it is the way of all men. Or is it only kings who use their women then cast them aside? Have you found someone new already, my liege?"

The mockery was back in her voice, but it was mixed with sharp, sorrowful pain. I flinched. I had done that. I had caused that look of bitter sadness.

My fists tightened in her hair, cradling the base of her skull. "I have done nothing every day but wish for you to be in my presence. I wanted to summon you day and night, then I would force myself not to," I grated out through clenched teeth. "Do you want to know why?"

She said nothing, her dark lashes growing wet as she blinked quickly, emotion welling in her eyes.

"Because I was afraid of what I'd do to you if I got you alone again. I know how badly you despise me for forcing you into this union. And I saw the pain and grief on your face when I fucked you. But Vix save me," I growled, holding her ethereal gaze, "none of that matters when you're near me. All I want to do is bury myself deep and get lost in the oblivion of your body. When you're near, I care about nothing but wanting that soul-shaking sensation again of being so deep inside you. This craving is pure madness," I whispered against her lips and closed my eyes.

She said not a word, letting me brush my lips against hers and that sliver of a taste sped my pulse. I nipped her bottom lip with my fang. She gasped, opening her mouth. I took advantage and slanted mine against hers, sinking into her sweetness.

I groaned at the heady sensation of kissing her again. She didn't protest so I went deeper, stroking my tongue inside. She whimpered and tilted her head back farther, letting me taste her sweetness. I ground my hard cock at the juncture of her thighs, causing her to make that little moan in the back of her throat.

Did she want this, too? Impossible.

I drank in the pleasure of her silken mouth, fighting the desire to strip her here and take her on the forest floor. Gods, she was divine.

Then the sound of pounding hooves nearby snapped me from my trance. She stared, her expression unreadable as I eased back. Slowly, I unclenched my fists from her hair then gripped her wrist and tugged her to follow. Thankfully, she did not fight me.

We came out onto the path right as the Culled were surrounding Hava, who hadn't moved since we'd left. Drak lifted his head when he sensed me. I didn't speak to Soryn or Keffa as I rounded to Drak's side and lifted Una by the waist.

"Climb up," I ordered, but she was already pulling herself up by the loops in the leather strap that wrapped his girth. I climbed up after her and slid behind where she straddled the saddle.

"Drak," I barked.

He turned from the circle of horses and took a few steps along the trail then lifted off into the air. We rose above the snaking river and Dragul Falls before turning back toward N?kt Mir.

As dark clouds billowed closer, my attention snagged on a streak of lightning between us and the palace. I was calculating if we would make it before the rain caught us. It would be an ice storm, no doubt, pouring out of the north. Then something else caught my attention and held it hard—the distinct scent of feminine arousal.

I tightened my arm around her waist and pressed my mouth to the skin of her neck. She uttered that delicious whimpering sound and arched into my embrace, her ass pressing into the crotch of my pants.

"You cannot ever leave me," I murmured, remembering the stark, horrifying fear I felt the moment Pullo had said she was gone. I grazed my mouth along the side of her slender throat, licking and tasting her sweet essence.

Her hands came back to my thighs, clinching and holding tight as she bent her head so that I might kiss her neck more easily. I trailed my open palm down her corseted top to the lacings of her trousers and slowly slipped the lacings free, opening the flap.

"You can never leave," I murmured again, a madman on repeat.

"I won't," she said breathily, squirming as I slid my hand into the opening of her trousers.

I trailed my fingers over her thatch of hair, parting the slick folds beneath, stroking gently. She gusted out a whimper.

I mounded her breast with my other hand. "Never, Una," I commanded.

Her hands clenched on my legs. "I won't," she repeated, her eyes slipping closed as I kissed and licked her silken skin.

I stroked a slow circle around her tight bud, relishing the heady sounds of her heavy breathing and her hips slowly rocking back against me.

A sharp crash of thunder made her jolt in my arms, pulling us both away from the dizzy arousal simmering between us and the dangerous storm spiraling closer. But I wasn't having it. I needed her right fucking now.

"Hold on," I yelled over the sudden rush of wind and first drops of icy rain.

She gasped as I slipped my hand from her open trousers and held her tight around the waist, connecting to Drak's mind, telling him where we needed to go.

He roared and instantly banked a sharp right, cutting across a sheet of freezing rain as a streak of purple lightning lit the sky.

Una screamed and pressed back against me, her hands still clenching my thighs. A primal satisfaction sank into me when she sought my protection, even in this small way. I wrapped both arms around her and cradled her in the curve of my body.

"I've got you," I promised her.

Drakmir beat his wings then spread them wide, letting them soar toward the rocky outcropping leftover by the eruption of Vixet Krone thousands of years ago. These low mountains that circled the back of Silvantis had no name, but they served to shelter many a beast. Specifically, the cave where Drak now landed had been our favorite escape when we were out hunting together or in the early years I was in hiding.

The mouth of the cave was wide enough for Drak to curl and rest out of the weather, but I'd added a few small comforts for myself deeper in the narrower part of the small cavern. The rain and wind still pelted us hard at the entrance as I helped Una down without slipping and falling.

"This way." I urged her to follow me deeper inside then ignited a ball of feyfire in my palm.

Drak heaved a growling sigh as he curled at the entrance, blocking out most of the crashing storm with his giant body. He settled in a ball, tucking his long neck and head around him, his tail curling inward.

After finding the thatched bedding still there, I made sure no other creature had decided to make this cave home while I'd been away. As always, the smell of dragon kept it clean and untouched by wild animals. Pulling out the lantern with the blue coal, I lit it. Instantly, it's dry warmth filled the cavern. I snuffed out the feyfire in my palm and set the lantern on the cavern floor near the bedding.

Unhooking my Meer-wolf cloak, I spread it out over the bedding, fur facing up, then I finally turned to look at Una.

Her face sparkled with a few drops of rain, her hair damp but not wet through, though it was mussed wildly by the wind. She was the most stunning creature I'd ever seen.

"Una," I called to her, bringing her attention back to me since her gaze had been wandering the cave. "Take off all of your clothes."