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“You don’t think I know that?” their king growled. “We still have a system of laws which must be strictly followed before judgment is handed down, and if found guilty, they are certainly not executed by being ripped apart. Gather your thoughts and explain, Drac. How did you know the princess was the one being attacked, and why would it cause such a reaction in you?”
Drac grunted, stalking to the windows overlooking the wildness of their kingdom. He wanted the death of the two Darkans held in the dungeon with an irrationality he could not suppress. Even now, he wanted to coat himself in the blood that would pour from them when he was through. Because they hurt her.
Yes, his darkness hissed as they accorded. He knew the men were to be given a hearing before being judged for their actions. They would be given the opportunity to defend their atrocity, then their defense would be assessed by Gidon and the twelve elders who sat on the council, and their fate determined. It was a law Gidon and his father had worked hard to integrate into their society. They now operated with order and respect for the guidelines, and for those who enforced those guidelines. Their kingdom thrived and flourished under the new structure and rules, and Drac had just threatened the structure.
He was the same as Vlad.
Drac was a Mecca, the Archduke of the northern quadrant, and he had broken a cardinal law. Yet all he was concerned about was the princess being healed and safe. “I think she is my mate,” he said in the silence. Saying it out loud did not lessen unease stalking him.
“Impossible,” Lachlan said. “A beast does not reside within her, we would have sensed it.”
“Why do you think that?” Gidon demanded, stalking to stand beside him.
“It’s not possible,” Talon said. “Our people have always mated only with each other. To mate with someone outside of a Darkan is inconceivable.”
“He’s right,” Lachlan murmured. “Our mating is raw and tends to be filled with pain because of the satisfaction we derive from it. To lie with her would be impossible.”
“Impossible yes,” Gidon said, clasping Drac’s shoulder. “However, it would certainly solve the issue of a hearing for how you killed the Darkans that attacked her. The laws that protect the defense of a mate are absolute.”
No it would not...for he would never claim her.
“We are ignoring something critical,” Lachlan said, moving to also stand at the massive windows. “It is the beast in us that makes us mate for life, how can the bond be created without the pri
ncess having a beast? How will lei be formed?”
Drac had thought the same thing the minute he wondered if the princess could be his mate. How would they form lei, the bonding link only mated pairs shared, a connection that was only possible due to the presence of each beast that bonded together through a psychic connection? Having a mate created a weakness that could be exploited, and he wanted no distraction until he found those who plotted against his king. Worse, having a mate such as her was a weakness onto itself. For if she proved to be his, nothing would be more important than protecting her, not even his king’s life, and the very notion was untenable.
“A mating is not possible with her. Each beast soothes each other and keeps the blood thirst quenched. If necessary, we can feed off each other’s essence for strength. That is how it is between Cazara and I,” Talon said.
“It’s not possible that the princess be my mate,” Drac said. “Yet the possession and protectiveness I feel makes no other sense. The taste of her fear and pain is distasteful to me. I cannot feed my darkness from her.”
“I will have to consult with the elders,” Lachlan said, stalking to the doors. “We need to check our histories to see if we have ever mated with one who did not possess a beast.”
“No!” Drac said. “To involve the elders now would cause complications we are not ready for. And all of you are missing the most significant fact. She is the treasured Princess of the Boreas.”
“Kings’ hell!” Talon muttered harshly.
They stood in silence, contemplating the implications of the Princess of Boreas being the mate of a Darkan.
He said nothing of the threat she presented to him. Losing his soul...and murdering his own people.
Chapter Eight
Gidon Al Shra sat on the throne in his council chamber and deeply contemplated what looked like the beginning of a royal cluster fuck of disaster drifting his way. His council chamber—one of the most beautiful rooms in the castle, designed by his mother to help soothe his father’s beast, offered Gidon no comfort.
If his suspicions proved correct, his kingdom needed to brace for war. A thing the kingmaker would relish, using the distraction to unseat Gidon from power. He could use all his wiles and manipulative power and not escape this one. They were so hated; all of Amagarie would fight against the princess mating one of his people.
He lifted his head as Drac stalked into the chamber looking pole axed. That was never an expression Gidon associated with his first enforcer. “I thought you had retired.”
An incoherent growl came from Drac, and Gidon rose, went to the side-table and poured himself some of their potent wine. The snarl from his beast warned him he would need it.
“When does she leave with Lachlan?” Drac demanded.
Gidon didn’t need to ask who she was. “Five days.”
“Why so long? He is the emissary and he is here now, why will they not depart tomorrow?”
“Have you forgotten that she was recently injured?” Gidon softly queried. Was this the effect of being near a mate? He had never seen Drac so rattled.
