Authors: Scarlet Hyacinth
Tags: #Romance
With that good-bye, Sari allowed Sage to carry him toward the imperial wing. It seemed that his tentative peace had finally come to an end. What in the world were they going to do now?
* * * *
Karein walked toward his quarters, doing his best to keep a measured pace and not show the urgency he felt. His people weren’t aware of the bond he shared with Sari. If he suddenly had knowledge that only a mate link could give him, it would be more than suspicious.
His dragon roared at him to get moving. His mate needed him. Sari hadn’t fainted because of shock at hearing about Caelyn’s supposed death. Something else was wrong. But what? Could Sari be sick?
His mind rotated around one single idea. Sari had seemed to be all right for one month, showing no effects to their lovemaking. Karein had dared to believe that Sari was truly immune to his powers. But what if the only thing that had kept Sari going had been his healing magic? What if he’d finally reached his limit, and Karein was slowly killing his beloved?
Was that what Prince Kael had been trying to tell him? The visions hadn’t returned, so Karein didn’t know. But regardless of the reasons behind Sari’s problem, Karein had to see him. He had to hold Sari in his arms, at least, one more time.
“Stop being foolish,”
Sari whispered in his mind.
“I’m just fine. Nothing of importance happened.”
“You fainted,”
Karein answered.
“How can you call that unimportant?”
“It was just a slight dizziness,”
Sari shot back.
“You needn’t go into a panic over something so small.”
While they were arguing, Karein finally reached his quarters. The guards in the area gave him wary looks, having obviously heard about what Akara had done. Karein just kept a straight face and slipped past them and into the room.
Sage was waiting with Sari inside Karein’s sleeping quarters. When Karein stepped inside, Sari looked at him and smiled, although it didn’t reach his eyes. “I guess now, the pretend game is going to start.”
Karein sat on the bed next to his mate and gently reached for Sari. At the last moment, he pulled back. He remained afraid to touch Sari since he could worsen whatever condition Sari had. But the fae would have none of it. He grabbed Karein’s hand, scowling. “Stop this. We have enough problems for you to start doubting us again.”
Karein tried to reason with his mate. “Sari…”
“No, Karein. Don’t.” Sari shook his head, sounding frustrated. “You’re my mate, and that won’t ever change. What do I have to do to make you see that?”
Karein cursed to himself. Sari was obviously upset about having to lie, and Karein wasn’t helping things. “I’m just worried, baby.”
“I know.” Sari took a deep breath and gave Karein a pleading look. “But pushing me away is not a solution.”
He was right. Karein had to control his panic and think. “I’m sorry. You’re perfectly correct. Just…tell me if you feel something is off.”
“If I may, General,” Sage intervened, “it could be anything, fatigue, indigestion…or foul play. There are plenty of people here that would want to harm your mate.”
“That’s all well and good, Sage,” Sari answered, “except I’m a healer. I know my body, and I don’t feel sick. Let’s just worry about what the princess is planning.”
Karein met Sari’s gaze, who stared back at him impotently. “There’s nothing we can do,” Karein answered. “You have to act like you hate me.”
Sari grimaced. After a brief pause, he slid out of the bed and walked to the mirror. Karein watched in fascination as his mate swept his arm over the table that held all their toiletries. “Get out!” Sari shouted with all his might. “I don’t want to see you ever again. Murderer!”
He winced as he said the last word, and Karein had to admit it made his stomach roil, too. But it was the only way no one would suspect Caelyn was actually alive. If the truth came out, it would be worse, much, much worse.
Resigning himself to the inevitable, Karein quietly left the bed. He brushed his lips over Sari’s, his heart clenching.
“I promise I’ll find a way to fix this,”
he murmured through their bond.
This time, Sari’s smile was a little more genuine.
“I know,”
he replied.
“Now go. You’re supposed to be angry, too.”
Karein nodded and turned away from his mate. “Come on, Sage,” he told his lieutenant. “We’re done here.”
He left the bedroom without looking back, all the while very much aware of Sari’s sadness and frustration at the situation. As he stepped out into the hallway, though, he knew there was nothing else they could have done. The soldiers had clearly been waiting for a reaction from Sari, and if it hadn’t come, Karein’s deception would have been exposed.
Furious with himself and, most of all, his people, Karein headed toward his brother’s office. Whatever he did, he couldn’t show the need that burned through him, begging him to return to Sari’s side. His dragon lashed wildly within him, and everyone moved out of his way, obviously afraid. At one point, Karein realized that even Sage was excessively quiet.
He stopped and pulled his lieutenant aside. “What’s wrong?” he asked Sage snappishly. “Are you afraid of me, too?”
Sage seemed to snap out of a trance. “Huh? I mean, I don’t understand, General.”
For the first time, Karein realized something wasn’t quite right with Sage. In spite of his concern for Sari, Karein realized all too well that Sage had become more than an underling to him. He was a friend, and Karein couldn’t let him handle whatever troubled him alone. “What’s the matter? Is it about Sari, or something else? Has something happened to Hanna?”
Hanna was Sage’s twin sister, and the two of them were very close. Unfortunately, she didn’t live in Draechenburg, which Karein knew pained Sage a great deal. Nevertheless, the twins had kept in contact and continued to have a close bond that transcended geographical distance. She was the only reason why Sage would look so out of it.
“I…” Sage scanned the corridor to see if it was safe to talk. Noticing Sage’s need for privacy, Karein guided his lieutenant into a nearby empty room. Once they were behind closed doors, Sage continued, “When we met up with the princess, there was someone with her, a member of naga royalty. I think…I think he’s my mate.”
Karein just stared at Sage. “A naga,” he repeated. He distantly remembered his brother mentioning the arrival of the delegation, but he hadn’t given it too much thought. “He’s second caste, Sage.”
“I know. But he’s a prince, and I’m just a lieutenant. By rights, his position is far higher than mine.”
Karein shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that. Breeding outside your caste is forbidden. You can mate him, but if you do, he will be forced into a concubine position. You’ll have to marry someone else, a draechen.” Not to mention that nagas were chimeras. But Karein didn’t say that since he had a feeling Sage might not appreciate hearing it.
“He’s royalty.” Sage’s nostrils flared. “He’s my mate. I can’t humiliate him like that.”
Karein’s mind whirled as he tried to come up with a solution to this new problem. He could easily understand being kept apart from his mate, especially now. He didn’t want that to happen to anyone, let alone Sage, who had been so loyal to him. “No, you can’t. We’ll think of something.”
Sari’s voice popped into Karein’s mind.
“Tell him to speak to Prince Camden. I’m sure there wasn’t time for him to do so since Sage has been with me. He needs to find out what Camden wants.”
“Talk to him,” Karein told Sage, just like Sari had asked him to. “He must have realized he is your mate as well. Maybe he has an idea.”
“He didn’t show any reaction to me at all,” Sage argued. “Perhaps nagas don’t recognize their other halves on sight, like we do.”
Karein couldn’t be sure one way or the other. There wasn’t much information on naga mating habits. Karein was fairly certain about one thing, though. Nagas didn’t mate in pairs. In fact, the nagas didn’t have a royal couple at all—but a royal triad, currently made up out of two men and a woman.
A draechen would never accept that. Draechen were, by their nature, very possessive, and wouldn’t allow anyone to touch their mates.
“Should I tell him?”
he asked Sari.
“It will break his heart.”
“He’ll find out eventually,”
Sari answered.
“It’s better for him to know ahead of time.”
Karein groaned and rubbed his eyes. He didn’t want to do this. He was horrible at handling emotional situations, which was why he always had to follow Sari’s lead in situations like this. “I’m not sure about whether he realizes you’re his mate or not, but… Well, nagas don’t mate in pairs. They usually have three or more people involved in a relationship.”
Sage’s eyes widened, then filled with cold fire. “No,” he said. “Not for him. He belongs to me. Highness, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go.”
Karein stepped out of Sage’s way and let him pass. He couldn’t ask for Sage’s help now, not when Sage had his own problems to handle.
As soon as his lieutenant was gone, Karein left the room and headed toward his meeting once again. Ironically, his conversation with Sage had calmed him down a little. Perhaps it wasn’t its topic per se that had helped, but rather the realization that nothing had truly changed between him and Sari. They had to hide their love, yes, but they could still speak through their mind bond. In time, he’d figure out a way to free them both of this frustrating problem.
When he reached Hareem’s office, though, his improving mood faltered a little. As soon as he stepped into the room, he saw his mother had already received the news and was waiting for him. The fact that she’d deigned to come here and not summoned him to the throne room was actually quite worrisome. More importantly, she looked very displeased.
“I’m told that your fae threw you out of your apartment,” she said without preamble. “Shtamakarein, we cannot allow this to continue. The month you had at your disposal has expired. You have to force your way into his mind.”
“Now is a horrible time,” Karein replied. “He will fight me and likely shut me out. If I push, I will fracture his mind, and likely, whatever information he has will be lost.”
She glowered at him. “Are you saying you can’t do it?”
“I am a draechen, Your Majesty. As you well know, our specialty doesn’t lie in reading minds. So far, the fae has proven to be quite impressively powerful as my energy draining magic hasn’t harmed him.” Karein allowed himself a frustrated noise. “I was making good progress. Any day now, he would have opened his mind to me. What happened? Who told him?”
The best strategy to escape his parents’ anger was to divert it on someone else. “Apparently, your sister.” Impossibly, Rowenasheb’s expression grew even darker. “She will be dealt with separately for her indiscretion.”
“If I may,” Hareem piped up, speaking for the first time, “I have an idea about how to fix this. As you know, I’m leaving to the States soon. Perhaps Karein could come with me for a few days. It would allow the fae to calm down.”
Karein threw a glare at his brother over his mother’s shoulder. His brother was just using this chance to get Karein’s help for the Taryn issue. The last thing Karein wanted was to leave Draechenburg and abandon Sari in such a bad situation. Not to mention that Sari seemed to be getting sick.
“I’ll be fine,”
Sari whispered in Karein’s mind.
“Your brother’s idea is good, and he does need your help. If you stay now, your parents will only push you to force-claim me, and it would be worse.”
Karein gritted his teeth in anger.
“I should just take you from Draechenburg. We could escape together. No one would ever find us.”
“And then what?”
Sari asked quietly
. “Without you here, there would be no one trying to stop the war, no one to temper the Emperor. We have to stay and fight, Karein.”
“Kael and Talrasar stood and fought, and they died for it. I refuse to allow the past to repeat itself.”
“It won’t,”
Sari answered.
“Have faith in Jenarra and the Overlords. Help your brother and return to me.”
Karein was still musing over his mate’s words when his mother turned toward him. “Do you think that would work, Shtamakarein? Would a brief departure help?”
In her eyes, Karein saw his only possible course of action. “It might,” he answered. “The fae is furious now, but once I come back, he’ll be exhausted by his grief. I’ll be able to tame him.”
“Then go.” Rowenasheb crossed her arms over her chest. “You have two days. After that, you will return and get what you need from the fae. We’re tired of playing games. Break the whore’s mind if you have to. After all, he insulted you today. You have every right to take whatever measure you wish. And if it doesn’t work… Well, wars have been started for less. We’ll suffer more losses, but it’s something your father and I are willing to accept.”
Karein said nothing. There was nothing left to discuss. It seemed clear to him that his parents had made his decision. War seemed to be approaching, no matter how much he and Sari wanted to fight against it. At this point, whatever information Karein could provide would be insufficient. His parents no longer cared about the death of the draechen. They never had, but now, finding a pretext to start the war had lost its importance.
When his mother stalked out of the room, Karein turned toward his brother. “We need to hurry. There’s not much time left.”
Hareem nodded. “What will you do?”
Karein took a deep breath, swallowing around the sudden knot in his throat. “Whatever I have to.”
* * * *
As a lieutenant of the Wyverns and Prince Karein’s right hand, Sage had quite a lot of influence in the palace. Under normal circumstances, he only ever used it for Karein’s benefit, but today, things were different. He unashamedly took advantage of his rank and reputation to slip into the guest wing and past the countless guards who had manifested in the area upon the arrival of the naga delegation.