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“I know you wanted to come alone, and I can leave, but you looked as though you needed something to drink,” he said with a boyish smile and handed her a glass.
“It’s fine. Perhaps I could use a bit of company after all.” Aura scooted over, making room for him. She caught a whiff of apple cider as he sat closer to her than she desired.
Dzmitry ran a hand through his thick brown hair and drank the entirety of his glass while she watched the liquid swirl in hers.
He leaned back against the bench, then let out a puff of air. “I’ve never been to one of the king’s parties. I didn’t realize they were so—”
“Sinful?” She laughed softly. “This is my first too.” When she was dancing, she’d secretly hoped it wouldn’t be her last. The guests were kind and it was more freeing than she would’ve expected until she’d seen Rush watching her intently while touching another woman’s mound.
“You might say that I’m a little confused,Aura,” Dzmitry said slowly, his deep brown eyes studying her intently. “You broke the engagement to Prince Pax by letter after fleeing Starnight because he was having sex with other women, yet you are in Moonstone with the King of Sin who doesn’t give his heart to anyone. Not only that, but he was just pleasuring another woman in front of you.”
Aura tensed. Dzmitry knew her true identity. How? Had she seen him before in Starnight? Perhaps at one of the dinners she’d attended at the palace? She couldn’t let him know that she feared his discovery, feared what would happen to her family if Rush knew, so she forced a smile. “Mmm, but who says that I’mwiththe king just because I’m here in his palace? I’m only visiting. He can do whatever he wishes.”
“My uncle told me the king never brings a woman to his parties, and yet you were by his side after being stolen away on your wedding day by a dragon. I think we both know who that dragon is.”
Aura needed to be careful of how she worded things since she was trapped here. But even if she confessed everything to this stranger, what could he do? Start a war between the two courts? For now, her family was safe and that was what mattered most. If she were rescued and returned to Starnight, she might be in a worse prison. One where she was shackled in marriage to Prince Pax if his father demanded it.
“You must keep quiet that you’ve seen me. My heart is freer here than it would be in Starnight,” Aura finally said. “The king helped me realize things I should’ve already known.” She stilled at her own words, realizing they were true. Rush may have taken her against her will, but he saved her in a sense.
Inching closer, Dzmitry’s arm came around her shoulders and a shiver crawled up her spine. “What about you? Can you do anything you wish?”
“I did come out here, did I not?” She tried to move over, but her thigh met the edge of the stone bench. Aura’s heart pounded nervously against her sternum when his other hand grazed her collarbone.
His too-hot breath brushed her neck as he spoke, “I can’t wait to fuck you while you’re wearing this dress. But first, you will kneel before me like you did the king and suck my cock.”
Fury stormed through Aura. She jerked up from the bench and tossed the wine from her glass in his face. “If you wanted me to tumble you here, you should’ve said so earlier and I would’ve saved you the effort,” she spat. “I think I’ve had enough fresh air for this evening, you ass.”
As she spun on her heel and started to walk away, Dzmitry’s hand clamped around her mouth like a vise, the glass falling from her grasp, the soft dirt preventing it from shattering loudly. He hauled her to his chest while she writhed and ground out in her ear, “You shouldn’t have done that. Now you’ll lick every drop of the wine from my face, or I’ll gut you and claim the Moonstone King did it when I return you to Starnight for the reward.”
Both terror and absurdity coursed through her. Did this foolish man truly believe she cared if he blamed the king for her death? It didn’t matter though—she didn’t want to die or find out what else he would do to her before he murdered her.
Another form pushed out from behind a tree near the edge of the rose garden. She recognized his thinning hair and peppered beard from earlier at the party. The Lord of Uleis. Dzmitry’s uncle, Vikram.
Her eyes bulged as she attempted to urge him with garbled words that were trapped by Dzmitry’s hand to get his nephew to release her. Yet when he spoke, hope dissipated.
“The carriage is waiting for us.” Vikram adjusted the cuff of his shirt sleeve. “We’ll fuck her as soon as we clear the gates. You can have a go at the little whore first, but we need to leave now. The hawk shifter is slinking around the gardens.”
Aura kicked her foot into Dzmitry’s shin and bit down on his hand. “Bitch,” he cursed, but didn’t relinquish his grip on her.
Even with her squirming, he easily hauled her through the shadows of the gardens. She didn’t see Astor anywhere, and for the first time, she wished he would’ve been there.
As they approached a large chestnut carriage, true fear coursed through her. It wasn’t only what Dzmitry’s uncle had said about them taking her unwillingly, but that she would fall into a deep slumber once the carriage left the palace grounds. Would they still slide their cocks into her sleeping form? Why hadn’t she brought the knife she’d taken from the kitchens? Why hadn’t she smashed the glass of wine against the bench, then stabbed the bastard with it instead of walking away?
“Where’s the coachman?” Dzmitry whisper-shouted at Vikram.
A tall form rounded the carriage, wiping a bloody dagger on his silver tunic, and Aura relaxed at the sight of him. “Oh, he’s dead,” Rush purred.
Both men stilled and Aura’s gaze fell to a burly man on the other side of the carriage, resting in a pool of blood seeping from his slit throat.
The lantern light illuminated Rush’s blazing, molten silver eyes as he stepped toward them. “And just where are you planning to take my property?”
Aura was too relieved to curse him for calling her his property.
“Your Majesty,” Vikram stuttered. “She belongs to the Prince of Starnight. Our duty is to bring her to him.”
“No, she belongs tome,” Rush seethed. With quick reflexes, he lunged forward and sliced with his dagger clean across Vikram’s throat, making a wound that mirrored the fallen coachman’s.
A gurgled sound escaped Vikram as he slumped to the ground. He grasped at his throat with desperate motions until his body grew still.
