“It’s not that,” I said, my voice barely a whisper, but I couldn’t speak my fears. The last time I’d been in Aurelia, I’d run. I made a vow as I held my reflection: I was done running.
I’d face my fate, no matter what—or who—it was.
A knock came at the door and I ripped myself away with a frightened glance in its direction. As Leisha went to answer, I smoothed my hands down the thick material of my dress, even though there wasn’t a wrinkle to be found. I shouldn’t be nervous, but my hands trembled. Immortals mated all the time, for bloodlines, to increase power—both political and personal—and to ally powerful shifter clans. I was hardly the first woman to face an arranged binding.
Even knowing so, my heart tripped over itself as Lord Blaque stepped through the door, impossibly more handsome than hours before.
I hadn’t had the time before to truly look at him, but as he spoke quietly with Leisha, I studied the man who was to be my future mate for the first time without panic clouding my thoughts. I could tell he reached over six feet at his full height. If we were standing face-to-face, he would no doubt tower over me. His tan leather coat was several shades lighter than his caramel skin and stretched over the broad expanse of his shoulders. A cape of the same hue billowed from his back. The sleeves of his coat were adorned with cuffs of curious thick scale-like armor. Soft breeches a shade lighter than his overcoat cupped powerful legs and disappeared into boots fashioned from the same material as his cuffs. It was a far cry from the ragged, bloodstained beast he’d been when we first met; I’d give him that.
His ice-blue eyes lifted to mine as I completed my examination and though I wanted, very much, to look away, I forced myself to keep his gaze. Thick, dark brown hair brushed his forehead. His face was as regal as my own. Feline eyes and a patrician nose were framed by the two slashes of his cheekbones and punctuated by the full line of his permanently smirking mouth.
He didn’t seem like the monster rumor claimed him to be. If I knew nothing about him and had any inclination to be bound to another, he’d make a fine mate. My eyes caught on those lips. He may be a monster, but he was a beautiful one. If he hadn’t been promised to me, he would have had no trouble finding another female to be his.
I had to stop thinking about his lips. I shook myself and remembered we weren’t alone.
Two men stood at his back, though I knew from many accounts he required no protection. He waved them away and Leisha scurried after, leaving us alone. I’d spoken with servants in Gideon’s service about the goings-on in my absence and about Rhysander, but they could tell me little. The only thing I knew for sure was that as the last of his kind, he was the rarest of all shifters. As the oldest, his authority wasn’t a question, but a certainty. It was why my father had chosen him, after all.They didn’t have to tell me about his former mate. Everyone knew what happened to her.
Rhysander was a dangerous man, and he was tasked with being my protector. But who would protect me from him?
“Good evening, Elena,” came his deep voice. He hadn’t missed my blatant perusal because he gave me one of his own. I ached to cross my arms over my body to block his view, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. “I’ll escort you to dinner.”
His remarkable composure grated on my already frayed nerves, but I nodded despite my body screaming to run in the other direction. I made it across the room without stumbling and placed my hand in his, stifling a gasp at the unnatural heat emanating from his skin.It was as though he was lit from the inside out with an eternal flame.
He placed my hand on his forearm and guided me through the door. His two companions, who were waiting in the hall, followed close behind as we wound through the castle to the dining hall.
Lord Blaque didn’t speak, and I refused to lure him into conversation, so the walk to the hall was silent and rife with all the unsaid words and thick with tension. Normally, I’d take my meals in my room to avoid the whispers and stares from the others. When he and I entered the crowded hall, all conversation ceased, and all eyes turn to us.
Uncaring or unaware of the attention, Lord Blaque led me to a high table where Seleste and Gideon were seated. The former shot me a covertly scathing look and the latter, a pleased one. I took my place next to my brother gratefully andplanned to ignore my future husband on my other side.
But ignoring a man like him, I learned, was impossible.
Seleste surged to her feet. “Lords and Ladies,” she announced in her simpering voice. “I’d like to make an announcement.”
My stomach clenched on emptiness. I hadn’t had a moment to prepare. I’d forgotten how the royals liked to put on a show, and Seleste most of all.
“As Queen.” Was I imagining things, or did she put more emphasis than necessary on the wordqueen? “It is my great honor to announce that the arranged alliance between the Dragon-Clan and the Avians will take place tomorrow. To my everlasting pleasure, Lord Rhysander Blaque will be bound to Princess Elena Darkmoore.”
She preened under the raucous reply from her captive audience; Seleste was always so much more gifted at commanding the attention of a group than me. Once the furor died down, she nodded and pressed a hand over her heart. “Not only will Princess Elena be joining the Dragon-Clan, but the Ursine alpha, Lord Darius, and I will also be bound. These alliances will further strengthen the shifters against the growing threats from the humans. In these dark times, know that we will stop at nothing to keep our people safe!”
My mouth had gone dry. I longed for a glass of wine, a sip of water, but the guards who tested my food for poisons had yet to appear. Lord Blaque was silent at my side and I was doing my best to ignore him. Did he dislike the humans as much as the rest of the Immortals in Acasia? Having spent so much time surrounded by them, healing them, I realized over the past three years that we weren’t so different.
Most other Immortals didn’t agree. The worst of us thought of them like pests that needed to be exterminated, or pets for entertainment. The vampires to the west saw them as cattle, something to feed on. It made me shiver to think about how they had great labyrinthine tunnels underneath the desert floors with human blood slaves shackled to feed on. I’d heard they used them for sport, setting them free to chase and capture.
Even the Fae, who kept to their easterly territory called the Vale, thought themselves above the humans. Like the vampires, they considered humans as playthings and loved to experiment on them with their ancient magick. I’d even heard of the Fae who thought it funny to trick humans into twisted contracts even more frightening than my own. My thoughts on humans, like my inability to shift, was something I didn’t discuss with other Immortals.
Lord Blaque didn’t seem like he’d disagree with the rest of the Immortals. He clapped along with the rest of those in the dining hall, his face as impassive as ever. What had he done that had let Seleste be rid of him without much of a fight? Knowing what I do of her, I would have thought she’d draw blood at the thought of losing something she considered hers. As Queen, it would have been a priority for her to marry the male from the next powerful line to beget more powerful queens.
Instead, she fawned over a man on her other side—Lord Darius—I presumed. He was a big, beefy man with palms the size of dinner plates and a brown beard threaded with red that was longer than my hair. Seleste twined her fingers in it and murmured to him in a low, seductive voice. It was no wonder she had so many suitors. Unlike me, she was glamorous, sensual, and vivacious. Again, my thoughts went back to the man at my side. Why had he so easily agreed to be bound to me instead, all those years ago?
“Something on your mind?” he asked, as though he could read my mind.
Before I answered, I took my time ordering my thoughts under the pretense of observing my surroundings as though checking for eavesdroppers. “Why did you agree to it?” I asked. “Being bound to me. You could have married the Queen. Become the King. You’re wealthy, I know, but you could have had power. Connections. She’s a powerful shifter and no one would have held you to the agreement you made with Father.” The last may have betrayed more of my own insecurities than I would have liked.
“I’ve no need for more power,and no interest in being King. What I need is a wife who can produce an heir.”
My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth at his candor. “An h-heir?” I stammered. Whatever I had expected him to say, it wasn’t that.
“You’re of good breeding and despite your lack of a shifter form, you’d be a credit to the Dragon line.” His gaze shifted from studying the court to me, and I wished I hadn’t encouraged his conversation. “With the confirmed alliance between our two clans, it should stem the threat of uprising from the humans.”
