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To put it mildly, Rush wasfucked.
So the past few days he’d gone on horseback, seeking out the sorceress and coming up empty. He refused to throw away two years of hard work to complete the spell. To right all the wrongs in his life. Aura had a purpose and he wouldn’t be thwarted by a pretty face. If she hadn’t walked out of the party with Dzmitry, if she had returned to him on his throne, he could’ve pleasured her and gotten the need for her behind him.
“What?” Rush snapped when Joff continued to stand silently across the desk.
He held out a silver tray with a letter bearing the Starnight seal, and Rush froze at the sight of it. “An urgent letter arrived for you.”
Rush dropped the quill, splattering ink all over the parchment, to snatch it from Joff. He ripped into it and scanned the harsh, slanted writing of the King of Starnight.
As I’m sure you’ve heard, the future Princess of Starnight was taken by a dragon.
“As I fucking know,” Rush muttered under his breath. He mumbled lines from the letter, his eyes narrowing further with each word. “Terrible news, etcetera, etcetera. How long ago did this come?” he asked Joff without looking up. He’d expected it when Aura was first taken, not after all this time had passed.
“Just now, Your Majesty.”
There was no chance the king only sent this to inform Rush of his misfortune, so he skipped down a bit, past the sob story to Starnight’srealpurpose.
The captor is a dragon shifter witnessed by the entire wedding party. With how few black dragons there are and the animosity between yourself and my son, it’s safe to say we know who the offender is. I’ve spoken at length with my advisors and there is only one solution to be had. Return the lady before we’re forced into a war neither of us want.
Rush snorted. “Neither of us? I wouldn’t mind burning your court to the ground.” If the King of Starnight knew what had happened between him and his son, he might understand how much Rush desired to set their palace on fire.
But there was one issue with the threat. As little as Rush feared a conflict with Starnight, he couldn’t have Pax arriving at his doorstep just yet. No—when the bastard came to Moonstone, it needed to fit the plan. The momentprecise. If Starnight showed up to claim Aura before the spell was complete, everything would be ruined.Hewould be ruined. More than he already was.
What if that fucker Dzmitry had told someone at the party who Aura was before his death? Was that the reason the king had reached out after all this time? Pax could be on his way to the Moonstone Palace at this very moment.
The dragon snarled inside him. His mouth tasted of ash and smoke, heat filling his belly. Aura wouldn’t be going anywhere. If he had to hide her deep in his palace and find someone who resembled her to present to whichever diplomat arrived, he’d do it and slaughter them if he had to.
“On second thought,” he mused aloud and met Joff’s gaze. The valet raised his brows in confusion. “Postpone my meeting with the lords.”
Rush didn’t wait for him to respond before storming through the palace. “You,” he snapped at Tanix who stood guard near the front entrance. Rush might not be back in time to meet Aura in the gardens, but she could be left to wonder. She needed to remain safe, though—now more than ever if Starnight thought to threaten his court. “Three guards on her at all times while I’m gone.”
“Your Majesty.” It was half acknowledgment, half question, but the guard would get no further information.
The moment Rush was outside in the gardens, he shucked his clothing. He released a breath and his dragon rose to the surface, the beast begging to be freed. Obsidian scales pressed through his skin. Bones shifted. Eyesight sharpened.
Then, finally, massive iridescent wings burst from his back. His dragon let out a relieved, piercing screech. Itdidfeel good to stretch those muscles, but there would be plenty of time for that on their flight across the border. He cracked his wings and leapt toward the sky. Wind hissed over his scales as he sped into the clouds with thoughts of snapping Pax in half.
Gravel crunched beneath Rush when he landed in the center of the Starnight palace courtyard. Guards wearing bright blue uniforms shouted for him to halt while they nocked arrows in his direction, and courtiers raced from the open square with terrified shrieks. He blew a harmless spark of fire from his mouth just to fuck with them as they scurried through arched doorways before shifting back into his other form.
Horrified gasps came from every direction. Rush wasn’t sure if that was because of the shift or that he now stood in front of dozens of nobility with his bare form on display. He smirked and strode straight for the main palace entrance.
Inside, gold glittered across the walls, embedded between floor length mirrors. A large scrolling chandelier hung from a ceiling, painted to look like a starry night with its dark sky and glistening white orbs.
“Goodness!” an older woman exclaimed while clasping her mouth, scandalized.
The man beside the woman shielded her eyes. “Sir, what are—”
“Your Majesty,” Rush corrected. He gave the man a once over, taking in his size and shape. Though he was old enough to be Rush’s father, they were roughly the same size. “Notsir.”
The man sputtered wordlessly.
“Now, give me your trousers.”
Red burst into the man’s cheeks, his lips pursed tight. “I most certainly will not! How dare you—”
Rush was in his face a moment later. “The King of Moonstone dares to do anything he pleases. Now give me your trousers before I demand your shirt as well.”
“The King of Sin?” The woman whispered at the man. “Sauli, do as he asks.”
