The Dragon King (23 page)

Sophia

My father’s image came onto the large wall screen in the secured conference room of Drake Security, and I felt both love and anger. Thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about altering my scent, so I only concentrated on my facial expressions.

“Father. It’s good to see you again. I hope you’re well?”

“I miss my daughter, Sophia. My life is incomplete.”

“I will soon marry Aaron Drake. This is going to happen with or without your blessing, but I’d much prefer it happen
with
your blessing. I want you to walk me down the aisle. Is there a way we can get from here to there, Father?”

“I will never accept you wedded to someone other than a Swan, Sophia. You are royalty.”

“I know you’re aware he has a swan form. He’s the Swan king in Faerie, and I believe this qualifies him to be my spouse in the human world.”

He was quiet, so I struck during a vulnerable moment. “Did you authorize the Eagle King’s foiled assassination attempt on me?”

“Rumors, Sophia. He knows you’re important to me and would never…”

I interrupted with a shout. “I was
there
, Father! It isn’t a rumor! He tried to kill me, and would’ve succeeded if Abbott Hamilton hadn’t rescued me at the last possible moment. Vincent had his hands around my throat, choking the life from me! Not only that, he tried to kill me in front of you on Shining Rock Mountain! You saw it with your own eyes!”

“It was a misunderstanding on the mountain, he was going after your Dragon, not you. Tell me what happened during the assassination attempt, it has to be another misunderstanding.”

It hadn’t been a misunderstanding on the mountain, but I’d get nowhere arguing the point so I told him the story. “We left Abbott Hamilton’s place of business around three in the morning. We were less than a block from the building, not yet to a main road, when cars came at us from all directions. I smelled Eagles and Owls. Aaron was doing a good job of fighting them, but there were so
many
. I used my stun gun, and had pulled my real gun out to begin using it when the Eagle King came at me and knocked it from my hand. Aaron was on the other side of the car, fighting to get to my side, when the Eagle King wrapped his hands around my throat. The world went fuzzy and then black. Someone heard the fighting and told Abbott, and he flew to us and saved me. Aaron was in the process of getting to me, and likely would’ve managed it in the next couple of seconds, but with Abbott there, no one stood a chance. They killed most of the attackers, but the Eagle King flew away.”

My father looked doubtful, so I said, “I’ve seen Abbott question people, to see if they’re telling the truth. I know you have a Master Vampire on your side. Have him question the Eagle King, so you can find out for sure.”

“I can’t help but think you’re playing the divide and conquer game, Sophia. It breaks my heart for us to be at odds with each other.”

“Then let me live my life, Father. I’m a grown woman and I’ve kept myself alive despite your
allies
trying to kill me. Would you rather us be estranged for the rest of our lives, or would it be better to find a way back to each other?”

He didn’t look convinced, so I took a breath and told him, “Then hear me now, Father. If you manage to force me back into captivity, I will never,
ever
forgive you. You have one way back into my life, and that’s by allowing me to make my own decisions. Now, the choice is yours — am I in your life or out of it? I’ll call you again tomorrow at the same time.”

I disconnected the call, took four steps, and sat heavily in a chair. I’d wanted to stand to talk to my father, but I hadn’t realized my knees would go weak when I faced him.

I looked to Jonathan first, and he said, “Great job, Your Majesty.”

We’d come to an uneasy truce, where he spoke to me as royalty when in private, and called me Ma’am or Sophia when in public.

I looked to Aaron and he said, “If anything will change your father’s mind, that will.”

I shook my head. “I’m going to send the email. The one about you telling me what he was like when he sat on the eggs, see if I can soften him a little more.”

He nodded, I looked to Jonathan who also agreed, and I read through the email and made a few small changes to include pieces of our conversation so it would look as if I’d just written the entire thing.

When I’d sent it, Aaron looked to Jonathan and said, “Sophia and I have something to do down the hall, it should take around an hour and then we’ll be ready to go home. Feel free to spend the time in the workout room or the range, we’ll find you when we’re ready.”

Jonathan hugged me as I rounded the table, telling me he was proud of me for standing up to my father. I noted a strange look on Aaron’s face and debated asking him about it, but followed him to the interrogation room instead, stopping at the bathroom to empty my bladder so I wouldn’t pee all over myself while we did this.

I knew what to expect, knew it was going to hurt, and hoped I could keep from begging him to stop, this time. I followed as he led
me to a soundproof interrogation room, designed for questioning supernatural prisoners. I was afraid Aaron’s idea of interrogation might involve things he learned from Mabel, so I chose not to ask why it had to be soundproof.

He closed and locked the door, helped me take my clothes off, and then bound my wrists and ankles in steel cuffs designed to hold someone in an X shape.

He stood before me, leaned down, and kissed me, his lips forcing mine open, his tongue invading as his forehead touched mine and his hand went to the back of my head. I felt energy going into the chakra at my forehead from the front and back, and kissed him back as I screamed in pain.

Electric charges surged through my brain, lighting up every nerve pathway at once until I thought I might die. He moved his hands to put them around my throat, and pushed energy into my throat chakra. He stopped kissing me now, the pain too much for me to handle him at my mouth, but he kept his body pressed against mine because we’d learned this helped me handle the torment.

He moved down my body, forcing more energy than I could hold into my heart chakra and then solar plexus. I begged for a break when his hands went to the front and back of my lower abdomen, but he pushed his fiery strength in once again without pausing. I knew why — doing it all at once gave the biggest benefit to pain ratio. Still, I only wanted a few
seconds
to catch my breath.

I understood on a logical level he was expanding my capacity so I could hold more magical energy and thus would be able to defend myself better, or manage more teleportations or longer levitating while in Faerie. I knew we needed to do this, and he wasn’t cruel when he did it, but he understandably had to distance himself from my screaming and begging in order to do it. I wished I was strong enough to take it without pleading for him to stop, and entreating for only a few measly
seconds
to catch my breath, but I wasn’t.

The chakra he was about to push energy into is tied to creativity and reproduction. It includes the womb, which means my clit lit on fire as he pushed energy in. I fought the steel restraints, though I knew I had no hope of breaking free, and I screamed and begged and promised him the moon for only a few seconds of respite so I could get on top of the pain and not feel drowned by it.

The five chakras he’d just filled are all aimed front to back, but he was about to do the first and last chakra, and these two are directed up and down. He put one hand on top of my head, put two fingers inside the entrance to my vagina, and forced energy into me yet again.

Electricity filled me from the base of my spine to the top of my head now, filling all seven chakras at once as Aaron pushed it in faster than I could let it out.

If filling them individually had been a ten on the pain scale, this was a seventy, and I was certain the entire building should be able to hear my screams despite the soundproofing.

I was near passing out from the pain when he finally stopped, and he put a homemade piece of candy in my mouth designed to help sooth my throat from the screams. He released me from the shackles and carried me to the edge of the room, where he sat on the floor, leaned against a wall, and held me in his lap until I began to recover.

He was never impatient after working with me, and always held me until I was ready to get up. When I did, I walked to the shower in the corner of the room. Not all interrogation rooms had them, but this one had what amounted to a showerhead with a drain under it, and no extra walls. Aaron followed me, took his clothes off, and washed me. All I had to do was stand and let him take care of me.

We weren’t completely finished, but as the conditioner was setting on my hair he pulled me to him and fed energy into my entire aura, not just my chakras. It felt good for a few minutes, all warm and snuggly, however, as more came in than I had room for, it grew uncomfortable and eventually began to hurt. He knew the instant I could take no more and stopped pushing it in as he kept holding me, telling me how good I’d done, and how I’d held more today than last week.

He rinsed my hair and dried me with a super-soft towel I was certain most prisoners didn’t get.

As he helped me dress I told him, “Thank you.”

He misunderstood and said, “You’re tired, Soph. I don’t mind helping you dress.”

“No. I mean, yeah, thanks for this, but I was originally talking about helping me increase my capacity. I wish I could take it without begging and screaming, and I can’t imagine how much it must hurt you to have to do it. I’m not sure I’d be strong enough to hurt you like that, even if I knew it was really helping you in the long run.”

“I begged and screamed when it was done to me, too. Don’t be sorry. Besides, when we have kids, once they’re teens you’ll be doing it to them when I can’t be home to do it. The first and last chakras are handled a bit different when you aren’t working on a lover, but the overall procedure is the same. I’ll do it most of the time, but there’ll be times it will fall to you. I already know you’re strong enough to do it. You’ll hate it, and will probably take them out for ice cream later, but you’ll do it.”

“Do I get ice cream?” I asked with a smile. “I never knew this was a possibility, before.”

* * * *

Jonathan was in the workout room, but immediately came to us as we stepped in, telling us he was ready when we were.

When we got into the car I finally decided to ask Aaron, “You didn’t look happy when Jonathan hugged me earlier. Is there something we need to talk about?”

Aaron didn’t look at me, but stayed focused on the road. “Nope. It’s my issue, not yours, and I need to figure out how to deal with it.”

“If we’re a team then I need to know about your issues.”

He glanced into his rear view mirror and I had a feeling he and Jonathan were exchanging a look, but I kept my eyes on Aaron. He finally asked me, “What do you know about Dragons? The old stories?”

“You mean about them guarding their treasures? Knowing if even one tiny piece of their hoard was missing when they returned?”

He nodded but didn’t say anything, and I worked it through in my head. “I’m your treasure? You don’t like other people touching me?”

“Like I said, it’s my problem. You’ve spent a lifetime without touch and I will
not
take that from you. You need friends, and you need touch from your friends.” He glanced at me, then back to the road. “Though, I have to warn you if I ever see anything that looks romantic, you’re liable to see the famous Dragon temper.”

“Right back at you. Swans are known for their tempers, being territorial, and being incredibly hard-headed.”

He glanced at me with a smirk, then looked back to the road to say, “Wouldn’t have you any other way, Your Majesty.” He looked into his rear view mirror and told Jonathan, “I miss calling her Princess, sometimes, though I’m happy she’s My Queen, now. I know you’re her friend, and I don’t want you to stop hugging and touching her as a friend, Jonathan. I meant what I said — it’s my problem and I’ll deal with it.”

“Thank you, and sometimes it’s hard for me to not call her Princess, too.” Jonathan told him.

I turned to look at him and said, “Why do you insist on speaking to me by my royal titles, but not Aaron? He’s Dragon King and Swan king, after all.”

“It’s complicated, Your Majesty. Your father set things up so there was a layer of separation between us. I’ve tried to take away the layer, but it just doesn’t work.”

“Do you think there’s a spell or something in place, to keep you from seeing me as anything other than royalty? Someone to protect and not get close to?”

“If it’s a spell, I don’t understand it. I
changed
and let you pet me, and you and I’ve had some great philosophical conversations, where I’m not afraid to disagree with you. It all feels natural, but it’s so hard for me to refer to you as anything other than royalty.” He shrugged. “I’ve done a lot of soul searching to be sure I’m not a Trojan horse, but if there’s a way for you to double-check, it won’t hurt my feelings.”

I looked at Aaron, who told him, “We’ve already done so. You’re safe, Jonathan. You won’t bring harm to her.”

I turned my head forward again to see why we were turning off the road before we reached home, and laughed as I saw we were at an ice cream shop.

Aaron

I expected Sophia to be a bundle of nerves the day of the Ball, but she was so calm it was a bit troubling.

I’d heard the rumors about her being Unseelie. She was born in the winter, came to power in the winter, and was crowned by the Winter Queen.

Having both the Summer and Winter Queens at her ball had gone a long ways towards quieting the worst of the rumors, but they were still persistent. I hadn’t decided yet whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. I’d survived many a situation simply because my enemies were terrified of me, and while I wanted to see Sophia as light and good, it might serve her better to be feared.

Though, Titania was also feared, and she was seen as being the “good” sister.

Nevertheless, Sophia’s calm the day of the Ball reminded me a helluva lot more of Mabel than Titania.

In fact, with her father having accepted her formal invitation, it’s possible I was more nervous than her.

There were stipulations on his invitation, which Sophia had requested Mabel decree. Still, I worried. After all, I’d once confounded a “only if you don’t intend or wish harm” proviso by making the plans for ill before I accepted the invitation, and then wishing them well just before I RSVP’d, and thereafter.

Jonathan was exceptionally good, and while I didn’t entrust her safety to him entirely, he’d earned my respect. Since neither Isaac nor Abbott could come to Faerie, I had every cat in my employ working at the ball. We also had Jonathan, as well as her palace guard.

Nathan would be there as well, which took a huge load off my shoulders. At eight hundred years old, Nathan was old by human standards but still a baby next to Abbott and me. Still, I trusted him with my life, and with Sophia’s life. As Lion King, he was the king of all changeling cats on the planet. Sometimes I thought he might be king of all cats, period. I’d seen wild cougars walk up to him in the wilds of Tennessee and North Carolina, and I’d seen house cats practically bow to him.

The Captain of the Swan Palace Guard was the kind of Fae who turned into a housecat when he crossed into the human world. Nathan had personally vetted him for me, told me he was loyal to Sophia, but the Captain wasn’t known to me personally so it was hard for me to trust him with my mate’s safety. I had no one to recommend Sophia replace him with, but until I got to know him better I would continue to worry about his loyalties.

“You arranged for Madeline’s escort while in Faerie?” Sophia asked me.

“One of Nathan’s lions will stay with her. She’ll be safe even when not around us,” I assured her.

“Since she’s blood bonded to a vampire, it took a little finagling with Mabel before I could arrange for her invitation.” She rolled her eyes at me. “For some reason, Mabel only allowed it once I let it slip Madeline had been my whipping girl.”

I grinned and asked, “You let it
slip
?”

Sophia shrugged and gave me a mischievous smile. “Based on what you’ve told me, I thought she might be intrigued. Not my fault it worked.”

I touched her cheek, her lips. “This smile is new. I like it.”

Her eyes were clear, happy. “I like it, too. I never felt this kind of joy before. No matter what happens tonight, I know what true happiness is now and I’ll never settle for anything less.”

I felt my brows draw together. “You’re expecting him to capture you? Keep you prisoner again?”

“Not expecting it, but I know it’s a possibility. I’ve done everything I can to make it a great party, and we’ve done all we can to keep me and the guests safe. We’ll have the Summer and Winter Queens, you, more than a dozen of your people, Jonathan, my Palace Guard…if things still go to shit then at least we’ll know we did all we could.”

“Your right shoe, your bra, and your purse all have a GPS chip. If you’re kidnapped and taken back to the human world, I’ll find you. If they put you in a cave, as I did, I should be able to see the route they take to get to the cave’s mouth, at least. None of the chips are line-of-sight, as the ones in most cellphones are. They’ll work even if you’re locked in a trunk and taken somewhere.” I watched her carefully as I told her, as there was a chance she could take it the wrong way.

“I wish you’d talk to me about these things as you’re doing them, Aaron. I’m not upset with you for doing it, but a little miffed you didn’t talk to me about it before installing them. What if I’d changed my mind about the shoes? And you should know I don’t intend to carry my purse around all evening. It’s just what I’m carrying to Faerie so I’ll be able to touch-up my makeup if necessary.”

I didn’t say anything, and she asked, “Why doesn’t Nathan like me?”

“He doesn’t dislike you, but he doesn’t want to get close to you, yet.” I caressed her cheek and wished I could wipe the hurt on her face away. “I trust him with my life, and with yours. He’s been hurt by death, a lot, and tries to only get close to people who are long lived. While things are in flux he’ll be distant, it’s his way of protecting his psyche and I’m not of a mind to insist he get close to you until he’s ready. Once the danger to you has passed, if he’s still keeping his distance then I’ll push for him to at least talk to you and get to know you better. I promise, Soph.”

“It’s just…he’s so close to you, and I want to get to know him, too.”