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The hiss that stirred in her mind was a dark wave of heat.
Do not shut me out Drac, even when you rage. Her mind brushed against the coldness of his and her stomach clenched in hard knots of fear at the resolve of death that she felt. The snarl of anger that echoed in her mind had her jerking her gaze towards him.
“This is the very reason I did not want you with me, Princess. I travel into unchartered lands, dangerous lands. My only focus should be Tehdra, but now your safety is of paramount importance to me. The fear that you feel is abhorrent to me.”
“I fear because of what I felt from you. Your rage is too…cold. We must observe protocols upon entering the Kingdom of Nuria, my love. To enter with the shadows is too damning for the Darkage. We cannot slip in and out.”
Explain.
She inhaled at the soft command, gathering her thoughts.
We cannot slip into Nuria to spirit Tehdra away and be discovered with weapons in a kingdom such as Nuria without an invitation. Our status and reason for entry would not have been declared at a sentry entrance. War or our death would be a certainty. As Princess of Boreas, I will be admitted, but we must follow protocol.
“I will not allow Tehdra to suffer while we waste time observing protocols, princess.”
And this was the reason she knew her presence was necessary. Her mate did not understand the subtleties of court life. He was a primal force she still did not understand fully. Dangerous, he was so very dangerous. But he was hers. And she would do all to protect him and the dream he had for his kingdom. “And if we are discovered?”
His mien shuttered and savagery slithered against her senses. You cannot kill them all, Drac.
Chilling silence. Then he spoke, “We cannot observe protocols. If we offend, then it must be so. We must reach Tehdra before the hunters.”
“Hunters?!” Saieke bit into her lips as her memory stirred of a conversation between them a few weeks past when she was falling into everything that he was. “At the great lake, you mentioned hunters. Darkans lost to the evilness of their beast are known as Senjis, and you have hunters that…hunt and kill these Senjis.”
Yes, princess.
She swallowed as the import of it sank into her being. The Darkage had people that hunted their own kind when the beast took control. She now understood why as she entered the great hall with her weapons he had grabbed her and moved with such speed. Guilt lashed at her. Saieke did not want to hinder Drac. She only wanted to lend her status and powers to rescue Tehdra. “Can you stop a hunter?”
“If the hunter reaches her before us, Tehdra will die,” he said with such resolve Saieke did not doubt it.
Her throat tightened. “Can we stop the hunters if we reach her before they arrive? Is it one or many, how will the hunters know that Tehdra is lost to madness?”
They will feel Tehdra’s loss to her demon and will be drawn to the hunt. Can I stop them? We will see.
“Surely they will understand that Gidon sent you.”
“Hunters carry the seal of the King. They have absolute authority from the King to execute any of our kind that are deemed too dangerous. I assure you a hunter is already on the way.”
“One?”
The coldest of gaze clashed with hers. “One.”
The power implied shook her. Saieke swiftly catalogued their options. To enter a kingdom such as Nuria without permission was such a breach, she could hardly fathom how they would extricate themselves from it if they were ever found. Could they enter undetected and reach Tehdra and administer the elixir before the hunter? To follow protocol might take hours that they did not have. “Can we enter Nuria undetected?”
“You doubt me, Princess?”
She lifted her head and stared in his eyes for seconds that turned into minutes as she recalled his foray into Boreas for her. Drac had entered their council chambers, where the most influential body of her kingdom met, undetected. A feat that should have been impossible but he breached several levels of her kingdom to reach her without their sounding the gongs of alarm. A soft smile curved her lips. I do not doubt you, my mate. Can you feel her?
Her link to me has been severed. I seek her mind and cannot find it.
“We are at Nuria,” she said as her enhanced eyesight picked up the warriors that manned their borders. There are hundreds of warriors at the sentry gate, Drac.
Brace yourself, Princess.
Her heart lurched as darkness closed over them and everything became a blur of shadow-space. The speed Drac moved with was unfathomable as he cloaked them in shadows, moving past hundreds of warriors going deeper into Nuria. Nothing sensed them as he leashed his beast’s power and shiktred moving with the shadows, undetected, into their lands.
Chapter Twenty
Bound in several valnetium chains, Tehdra raged. Massive wings unfurled from a broken back. Scales rippled, coating and un-coating Tehdra’s form as if they could not decide if they wanted to stay or disappear. Vicious fangs protruded from her mouth, and charka bled from its eyes and mouth. When the scales retracted, what appeared to be a painting covered her entire back. Stripes of black lashed on her exposed stomach, and when he peered closer, he realized they were claws. The ink on her body seemed to depict the thing trying to break free from the shackles of Tehdra’s body.
