Everlasting Bad Boys (4 page)

With a good-natured shake of her head, Madenn walked with Ailean out to the hall, giving him quick directions. “Once you’re in that part of the castle,” she finished, “go down the hall, all the way to the end, turn left, and the very last door on the right.”

“Thank you.”

“Welcome.”

Ailean followed Madenn’s directions and, as she suggested, he found Shalin in the library. Still wearing that dark red dress and barefoot, she sat on the floor, completely engrossed in a book. She probably had no idea how late the time had grown.

Even more fascinating, she had one of the new batch of black-furred puppies asleep in her lap. When Ailean had taken over this land, he’d begun to breed the animals to create bigger, more battle-ready dogs. They were wonderful pets and companions but could easily tear the limbs off a good-sized man. And had when the situation called for it.

“Shalin?”

“Mhhm?”

He couldn’t help but grin. “Shalin?” he called again.

She finally lifted her head. “Yes?”

“It’s time for evening meal.”

“Evening…” She turned her head toward the window. “Oh. It is dark.”

“Aye. It is. And I’m starving.” He held his hand out for her. “So let’s go feed, then.”

“No.” She waved him away. “I’ll be fine until later.”

“You will?”

“Aye.”

“If you’re sure…”

“Of course.” She ran a hand down the puppy’s back while staring at her book. “This little one will tide me over until I—oiy!” she barked when Ailean reached down and grabbed the puppy from her lap. “He’s mine!”

“Not if you’re planning to eat him.”

“What else would I do with him?”

“He’s a pet, Shalin. A companion animal. If you wish, you can keep him as such. But if you’re planning to eat him—no.”

“That’s unfair.”

“On my territory we don’t eat dogs.”

“You have the most ridiculous rules. You do know you’re not human, yes?”

“I’m well aware of that, Shalin.”

The puppy, now awake, yawned and tried to scramble out of Ailean’s arms and back to Shalin. When Ailean held him tight, he began to cry and paw at his hands.

“You’re hurting him,” Shalin accused, quickly getting to her feet.

“You were going to eat him.”

“Give him back to me,” she ordered as only a royal could.

Ailean moved away from her grasping hands. “Only if you give me your word you’ll not eat him.”

“Fine. I give you my word.”

“Good.” Ailean shoved the puppy back at her and Shalin snuggled him close. “He seems to like you. I’d hate for that affection to be betrayed.”

“It won’t be.” She giggled when the puppy licked her face and nipped her nose.

“Then he’s my gift to you.”

Shalin looked at him in surprise. “A gift? For me?”

“Of course.” He reached over and stroked the puppy’s head, smiling when the little bastard tried to bite his finger off. “While you’re here, I’ll show you how to care for him.”

“No one but my father and mother has ever given me a gift before.” She smiled, and Ailean wondered if he’d ever seen anything so beautiful. “Thank you.”

He cleared his throat and stepped back from her, wondering why he had this sudden, almost overwhelming desire to give her everything he owned and fuck her beyond reason. He’d never felt both tenderness and lust at the same time for anyone and he didn’t much like those feelings now.

“Let’s go in and eat. You can bring the puppy.”

With the puppy and the book she’d never released still in her hands, she peered up at him. “I don’t spend much time with others, Ailean. I mostly keep to myself.”

That surprised him a bit. “But all that time in Devenallt Mountain with Adienna…?”

“I just followed. No one ever expected me to do or say anything.” She gave a devious little smirk. “Very few at court find me very interesting. And I’ve found if I stay unbearably boring long enough, they wander away and stop talking to me altogether. I like when they don’t talk to me. Before I went to school in Kyffin, I could sometimes clear a chamber simply by entering it.”

Ailean laughed, tugging her forward until her bare feet touched his boot-covered ones. “Tragically for you, I haven’t been bored yet. So I know how fascinating you truly are.”

“And you’d know that how? You never let me finish a sentence.”

His own smile fell at the innocent barb. “Are you saying I talk too much?”

“Well—”

“Because I don’t. I don’t talk too much.”

“All—”

“I have things to say, sure. But it’s not like I can’t shut up if I have to. Because I can.”

“O—”

“And do! When I have to.”

Shalin stared up at him once again, her mouth closed.

“Well?” he demanded. “Answer me.”

“You’re right. You don’t talk too—”

“Exactly! Now come on. You can even bring your book if you like and read at the table. This lot will never even notice.”

It was like watching wild animals feed with much snarling, growling, and food stealing. But to make it uniquely theirs, there was also much laughing, taunting, and yelling. Shalin said nothing because she really didn’t have to. With Ailean on one side of her having either a running argument or an animated conversation with his brothers—she didn’t know which—and his infamous twin cousins on the other side, yelling at different family members across the room, Shalin didn’t have to say a word. Instead, she devoured her delicious food, hand-fed the puppy comfortably ensconced in her lap and, much to her delight, read her book. That she would have never done at court. Ever. She’d have been forced to keep up some boring patter to entertain whatever noble sat beside her or she would have had to listen to Adienna softly mock everyone in the room.

Truth be told, Shalin hadn’t had a meal this lovely since she’d lived with her father. He’d always brought work or books with him to their evening meal of a freshly butchered cow or two. They’d eat, read, and barely speak and were both quite comfortable doing so.

The hour had grown late and she’d devoured half a cow’s worth of ribs before she finally lifted her gaze from her book.

“What you reading, then?” one of the twins asked.

“It’s a book on the Northland pirates. The ones who come down along the coast and raid the small towns there.”

“I heard about them. Oh, I’m Kyna by the way. This is Kennis.”

Kennis greeted Shalin with a grunt, since she had a mouthful of food. Shalin had never met the twins before, but like every other dragon in Dark Plains, she’d heard of them, the pair having cut a bloody swath through the enemy during the last battle against the North dragons. They were feared as much by their own people as by their enemies.

“So go on,” Kyna insisted, “tell us about the pirates.”

Shalin glanced at the book and shrugged. “Well, there was this one story that was kind of interesting about how one of the raids went horribly wrong.” Shalin leaned in a bit and proceeded to tell the cousins what she’d read, adding in some additional details about the town and the Northland pirates that she’d read in other books. Since the twins never looked bored the way most others did when she spoke for longer than a minute or two, she kept talking.

“He knew, then,” she said.

“Knew what?” Kyna all but demanded.

“He knew he either had to cut her throat or watch his men die.”

It was the silence Shalin noticed first. Neither Ailean nor Ailean’s kin were ever quiet. Yet for a brief moment she thought that only she and the twins remained. But when she glanced around, she gave a little start of surprise. They were all watching her. If she hadn’t known she had Ailean’s protection, she’d have feared for her very life, the way they all watched her.

Then, finally, from the back of the room someone snarled, “Well…go on, then!”

“Aye,” one of his many—
many
—aunts demanded. “Finish the story.”

A chorus of “ayes” followed and Shalin briefly debated making a run for it.

“You best finish,” Ailean murmured near her ear. “They’ll tear this castle down around us until they get what they want. Besides,” and the smile he gave her nearly had her melting in her chair, “I’m dying to hear the end as well.”

Realizing she really did have their undivided attention and that she didn’t much mind, Shalin continued. “But for the captain neither of those options worked for him. But if he was going to save them all, he’d have to move fast…”

The dinner ended and his family went off on their own, heading out to check Ailean’s territory or simply enjoy the quiet night before the storms came. Storms were blowing in from the east, but it was the rainy winter season in Kerezik, so no one was particularly surprised or worried.

Ailean silently watched Shalin head up the stairs to her room, the puppy in her arms.

“Don’t even think about it.”

Ailean turned away from the tantalizing sight of Shalin walking away to that of his twin cousins, Kyna and Kennis.

“Don’t think about what?”

“Now that is an innocent face, isn’t it, Kyna?”

“That it is, Kennis. That it is. You’d never think he has nefarious plans for Shalin the Innocent.”

Ailean rolled his eyes and laughed. “I do not have any plans for anyone.”

“Not sure I believe that, cousin. Who can resist a female with the moniker ‘the Innocent’?”

“Your lack of faith in me, Kyna, hurts.” He held his hand to his chest. “Deep inside.”

His cousins, two of the greatest Battle Dragons he’d ever known, laughed and each punched one of his arms. He gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the pain.

“They have a point, though, brother.”

Forcing himself not to rub where the twins had hit him, he focused on Bideven, who stood over him. “What are you talking about?”

“You with a fresh, untried female under your roof. I’m concerned.”

Ailean pushed away from the table he’d been leaning against and stood tall. “Concerned?”

“Aye, brother. Concerned. Shalin the Innocent is not like your other—”

“Whores?” Kyna added helpfully.

“Aye. She’s not.”

Ailean felt his rarely used anger growing. “I never said she was.”

“But I saw how you looked at her.”

“I have eyes. I was looking. It doesn’t mean that I’ll—”

“Take advantage?”

“I don’t take advantage. I’ve never had to before.”

“She’s naive, Ailean. Sheltered. She’s never been away from her library and her books before.”

“And?”

Kyna stepped between the two brothers who were now toe to toe. “And she might misunderstand or expect more. More than you’re willing to give. No one wants her hurt. Least of all you, I’m guessing.” She rested her hand on his chest. “You have the biggest heart of us all, Ailean. But sometimes you make the mistake that everyone thinks like you. Or us. She’s not like us. She’s cultured and that, isn’t she, Kennis?”

“Aye. Cultured and soft.”

Kyna brushed her hand against Ailean’s jaw. “Breakable, Ailean. So be careful what you do.”

He took his cousin’s hand, kissed the back of her knuckles. “You’ve a good heart yourself, little cousin.”

She smiled, seconds before she slammed him hard across the face with her free hand. “Don’t try and sweet-talk me, you wily bastard.” But she grinned just the same.

“We’re off, then,” Kennis informed them all, heading toward the door. “We’ll go up north a bit, make sure there’s no other surprises from the Lightnings. We’ll be back later tonight.”

“And if you find more of them?” Ailean asked. “More of the Lightnings? What will you do then?”

Kyna grinned as she followed after her twin. “Then we’ll have more horns to add to the ones already on our den walls, won’t we?”

Ailean turned back to Bideven, but his brother did no more than sniff in disgust before storming off.

“What is wrong with him?” Ailean snapped, knowing Arranz stood behind him.

“Don’t know. He’s been strange all day. So are you going to fuck her?”

Ailean sighed and walked off.

“It was just a question.”

I
t really galled him that his own kin thought so little of him. Thought he’d take advantage of Shalin or any female merely to sate his lust without a care for the female. He didn’t need to take advantage of anyone and it insulted him anyone thought he would.

Passing Shalin’s door, Ailean heard her cooing to her new puppy. Her scent had him pausing a moment. She always smelled so…delightful. Enticing.

His knuckles almost struck the door before he stopped himself.

Gods, I am weak.

Before he did something foolish, Ailean went to his bedroom, stripped, and got into bed. He ignored his desire to crawl back down the hall and scratch on Shalin’s door like that puppy. He’d leave her alone. He would.

An hour into that chant, and the knock on his door came.

He ignored it, hoping she’d believe him asleep.

“Ailean,” Shalin whispered urgently through the door. “I need you!”

When he still didn’t answer, she began banging on the door.

“Hold on,” he snapped, getting out of bed and wrapping a fur around his waist. He snatched the door open, ready to order her back to her own bed when he saw tears streaming down her face. “Gods, Shalin. What is it?”

She grabbed his hand. “I think he’s dying!” Then she dragged Ailean toward her room. Once she got him inside, she dragged him around her bed where her puppy was hunched over.

“Do something!” she demanded, her panic tugging at his heart.

Ailean crouched next to the pup and said, “Well, luv, there’s not much we can do.”

Shalin looked at him with something close to abject horror. “You’re just going to let him die?”

“No. I’m going to let him bring back up whatever he’s been eating.”

And that’s what the little bastard did.

They both moved back, disgusted.

“Oh, that’s vile!” Shalin gasped, covering her nose and mouth.

“That it is.” Ailean glanced around until he found a few rags piled in a corner. He grabbed them and quickly cleaned up the mess while the puppy whined softly and crawled into Shalin’s lap.

“He’s still sick.”

“His stomach ails him, is all.” He took the rags out into the hall and dumped them where the servants could find them in the morning. When he came back in, closing the door behind him, he found Shalin staring down at the pup like she feared he might gasp his last breath at any moment. “Shalin, he’ll be fine. You just have to watch what he eats.”

Ailean washed his hands in the wash bowl before walking back to her side.

“Why don’t you get some sleep?” he asked her, sitting beside her on the bed.

“What if he dies while I sleep? I’ll never forgive myself.”

It took all Ailean’s strength not to roll his eyes. He knew she meant every word. “He won’t die while you sleep, Shalin. He merely ate something that didn’t sit well with him. You’ve no need to fret so.”

“He’s mine. My responsibility. I’ll sit with him until he’s better.”

“No. You’ll get some sleep.” Ailean took the pup from her lap. “I’ll stay up with him so you can rest.”

“That isn’t fair.” She smiled and stood, taking back the puppy. “We’ll stay up together.”

“Uh…”

But he didn’t have much choice, since she crawled into the center of the bed and sat down, her legs crossed so her ailing puppy could rest right in the middle. She patted the space across from her and Ailean reluctantly moved there, desperately clutching the fur covering against him.

They sat silently for several minutes, until Shalin said, “I enjoyed dinner tonight.”

“Good. You, uh, blended in quite nicely.”

“Did I?”

“Aye. They all like you. Oh, and I got word from the ones protecting your father. He’s fine and safe.”

Shalin briefly closed her eyes. “Thank you. I worry about him so.”

“Why? I’ve never met him, but I’ve always heard he’s well-respected.”

“He is. Very well-respected, especially among our scholars. But, he can be a little…a little…” She suddenly smiled. The softest, warmest smile Ailean had ever seen. “He can be a bit befuddled at times.”

“Is that why he’s not an Elder?”

“He and the Elders don’t see eye to eye on much. He never understands why anyone has disputes if they’re not related to something scholarly. He’ll argue for hours over some tiny historical fact or another, trying to prove his point, but he won’t fight for his territory. And without much prompting he’ll just give you his gold. He doesn’t understand why our people can be, as he likes to put it, ‘so bloody violent all the time.’ Eventually even he had to admit that being an Elder was not for him.”

Ailean began to relax, realizing he wouldn’t leave her this night. She seemed to need him, although her puppy was just fine. Besides, he enjoyed her company more than he could say. “And what about you?”

“What about me?”

“I’ve heard it told you intend to be an Elder one day.”

“Intend and will are two different things. I’ve a far way to go before I hope even to be considered.”

“But it’s not what you want, is it?”

And the way her entire body jerked at his question, causing her puppy to whine in annoyance before snuggling back to sleep, he knew he was right.

“Why would you ever think that?”

“Because I see no excitement in your eyes when you talk about it.”

Excitement? In her eyes? Was that even physically possible? “What?”

With a yawn, Ailean leaned back on the bed and Shalin felt a little guilty for not letting him go back to his room. But between her sick puppy and the fact she liked having Ailean around—especially when all he had on was that fur covering around his hips, giving her a delicious view of that chest—she had no intention of sending him away.

Could she do it, she wondered. Could she lure Ailean to her bed? True, she had him in her bed, but could she make him want her? Even she had to admit she’d never been known for her seduction tactics. And she couldn’t bring up the courage to simply pounce.

“When you talk about a library or being alone, your eyes light up. Or when you were telling that story to everyone downstairs. There was excitement in your face and your voice that wasn’t quite there when you discussed becoming an Elder one day. Looked more like you were going to the gallows.”

“That’s not true. I…I’m just tired. I’m not very enthusiastic about anything when I’m tired.”

Although Ailean was a bit correct. The thought of becoming an Elder almost made her queasy. All the politics. All the centaur shit. She’d rather bury herself in a library than face that life on a daily basis. But she’d promised.

Because she didn’t want to think of it any more, Shalin asked, “And what about
your
father?”

Ailean stared at her while he put one arm behind his head and Shalin immediately became fascinated with the way his muscles bulged from the action.
Gods, he makes a beautiful human.
“You know my father, Shalin.”

“I know
of
your father. Can’t say as I met him. Afton the Hermit.”

“He’s had other names. In the past.”

If a dragon lived past his first hundred winters, he or she would start to gather many names over time. It was nothing to be ashamed of, yet Ailean appeared…troubled. “Like?” she prompted.

“Afton the Cruel. Afton the Murderer.”

“Oh.” Shalin pushed her hair behind her ear and she briefly noticed Ailean’s eyes followed her hand while she did it. “Your father is
that
Afton? I always thought the Hermit and the…uh…Cruel were two different dragons.”

“No. Just one.” Ailean’s gaze moved to the ceiling. “He wasn’t always like that, you know. He didn’t earn either of those names until after my mother died.”

Now, that she understood. More than most, she was sure. “My father was lost after my mother died. Inconsolable for a while, and completely lost. She was equally brilliant, you see, and understood him so well, but much less befuddled. She kept everything organized and logical. Now when I go to visit, I find him under desks, behind desks, searching through piles of gold that turn out to be nothing more than brass coins merely painted gold.” She shrugged at Ailean’s smirk. “He can never tell the real from the fake. And I don’t think he bothers to try.”

“How did she die?”

“As only one of
my
parents can. She went out for a snack and picked up a bull instead of a cow. Its horn lodged in the roof of her mouth, piercing it. Nothing any healer did could fix it, and eventually she caught a brutal fever and died.”

“How old were you?”

Shalin thought a moment. “Barely thirty winters. Young.” With the puppy asleep, she rested her elbows on her knees and her chin on her fists, focusing on Ailean. “And you?”

“Eleven winters.”

“Och. You were a babe, Ailean. I’m so sorry.”

Ailean stared hard at the ceiling. “It was my fault, you know.”

“Your fault? How could it be?”

“Because I didn’t stay put. My father took my brothers hunting and I wanted to go with them. So I followed.”

“At eleven winters? Could you even fly?”

“Barely. So of course my father told me to go back home. I did, but I was so low to the ground—unable to get any real height—soldiers spotted me and they thought I’d be fun to hunt.” He suddenly closed his eyes. “They had me, too. Cornered. About half a battalion’s worth.”

“For a hatchling?” Sometimes humans truly disgusted her.

“And then she came. A battle dragon like all the other females of her line. She decimated them, but one of them…one of them had good aim. He wounded her, and though she saved me and destroyed them all, she couldn’t save herself.”

“And your father went on to become Afton the Cruel.”

“Aye.”

“Did any humans survive?”

To her surprise, Ailean opened his eyes and smiled. Truly, the most beautiful thing about him had to be that smile. “Some. You see, my father was gone for days, but three human females found me. All sisters. One a healer, one a barmaid, and the other a servant in the duke’s castle. For three days they stayed with me. The healer, a witch, she tried to help my mother, but there was nothing to be done. So they made sure I ate and soothed me when I cried. Then my father came home. When he didn’t find us in the cave, he tracked us down. He almost killed the women until I stopped him, told him what happened. He left the villagers alone after that. They’d suffered enough, you see. The Duke, his men, they took the villagers’ food and used their women, sometimes even the young ones barely old enough to breed themselves. They left untold numbers of babes of their own lying around but they never claimed them. But that duke and his soldiers—they didn’t survive my father’s wrath.”

“So that’s how your father got his name.”

“Actually…no. No one thought he was cruel then—just angry. Then word spread that the duke was dead and others came to claim the land as their own. But my father always met them first, and he’d kill them all. He was still angry, you see. If it moved, he killed it. Eventually they all stopped coming and my father went into his cave and rarely came out. My uncles, my aunts, they all taught me and my brothers how to fight, how to survive.” He glanced at her and shook his head. “No, Shalin. No one among my kin ever blamed me. At least not as much as I blamed myself.”

“You were a babe,” she reminded him fiercely, annoyed he’d even think otherwise.

“I should have stayed put. I didn’t. And she died, all because I couldn’t fight for myself.”

“Fight for yourself? Ailean you were too—”

“Don’t say I was too young. A dragon can never be too young to learn to protect himself. Not in this world. My sons and daughters will be able to fight from hatching.”

“Ailean, isn’t that a bit of a tall order?”

“No. My brothers and I came up with a training method that will get them started early. My hatchlings will be prepared for
anything.
”

Shalin felt for the future hatchlings of Ailean the Wicked. They wouldn’t have easy lives. Then she frowned for a moment when she wondered who exactly he’d fall so in love with he’d settle down and have hatchlings with. But she quickly pushed the feeling away when she realized it was none of her business.

“Did all this happen here?” she asked, trying to distract herself.

“Aye. Madenn’s kin were the ones who stayed with me. Her great-great-grandmother and aunts. My father wanted nothing to do with any of them. Although he spared them, he still felt nothing for them. My brothers could go either way, but I knew these people needed protection. Human males can’t stay away from unclaimed territory for long. It’s like this overwhelming need they all have to conquer anything they’ve even heard about.”

“So you stayed.”

“Seemed natural, really. I’d already spent so much time with them and they never told my secret. Eventually the entire village knew about me and no one said a word.”

“But didn’t you hate them? The humans?”

“For the actions of a few? No. Doesn’t seem fair to do that.”

He had to be the first dragon Shalin had ever heard say something like that.

“You look tired,” he suddenly told her.

“No. I’m fine.” And to prove it, she yawned.

Smiling, Ailean turned on his side and picked up the puppy from her lap, laying the little fur ball lengthwise on the bed. Then Ailean patted the mattress. “Come on now. Stretch out here.”

“But, the puppy…” Yet she was already stretching out on her side, facing Ailean, the puppy between them, her eyes rapidly closing. The day had caught up with her so quickly.

“He’ll be fine,” Ailean murmured, and she felt him take her hand. “And tomorrow, Mistress Shalin, we’ll discuss his diet.”