Blood Oath (The Darkest Drae Book 1)(17)

So callously said. This man was dead inside.

I didn’t want to hear anything he had to say. Ever. He was a liar. No, worse. He was pure evil, rotten from the inside out.

I stamped my foot down on the guard’s instep and shoved the captain aside, then pulled the dagger free from Mum’s chest—knowing the squelching sound as it came out would never leave me—and launched myself at the Drae. He had to die.

He killed my mother.

Irrik grabbed the hand with the dagger, squeezing until it clattered to the floor. I swung my other fist into his gut, but if he felt anything, he didn’t react. Instead, he flipped me so my back was to him. With one arm, he circled my waist, and his other arm wrapped high across my chest, pinning my arms to my sides.

My chest tightened both with my grief and the Drae’s hold. How had this happened? I needed someone to help me understand.

I killed my mother.

The captain laughed. “She’s gone feral. Better subdue her.”

Lord Irrik held me close, and his voice wasn’t entirely human when he spoke to the soldiers next, “Get out.”

His voice resonated through my back, and the three soldiers in the room pushed past one another to get out of the room.

“Just holler if you need any help,” the captain said from the doorway. “She’s a feisty one. Just the way I like them.”

The man let his gaze wander over my body, and I stood numb, unable to care. I glimpsed a horde of soldiers outside before the door closed.

I clenched my teeth. “Let go of me. Now.”

“No. Be quiet.” His inhuman voice was so soft I wasn’t sure if I was hearing it or feeling it.

I twisted to free myself, but his grip tightened. I turned my head and tried to elbow him but couldn’t get any force behind the movement.

Lord Irrik pulled me closer still, and this time I was the one who growled.

“Keep that up and you’ll only hurt yourself,” he said in an emotionless voice.

“You killed her,” I ground out between my clenched teeth, staring at her lifeless body. “You said you’d help her and you—”

“I said to be quiet,” he growled, putting his hand over my mouth. He turned us, his body blocking the view of my mother’s corpse, and put his lips to my ear. “I know you’re in shock, but now is not the time to say something that will get you killed. Your mother just sacrificed herself so you would live. You think she’d want you to throw that away?”

My rage erupted. “How dare you speak as if you knew her?”

The black in the room drew into him, made his skin tingle against mine. Monster.

He whispered, “You should have listened. It wouldn’t have saved your mother, but it would’ve saved you. Now you’ll be going before the king, and I can’t help you there. You need to stop. Right now.”

I wanted to hurt him so bad. I wanted to curl up in a corner and cry. I wanted to wake up from this nightmare to hear Mum comforting me. He was saying all these things, and I didn’t care.

“My breath won’t work on you,” he muttered.

Subdue. That was what the captain had meant. A tiny thrill of defiant triumph ran through me. Irrik couldn’t subdue me.

“Will you pretend?” he asked in the low tone that left me shivering.

“Will you bring my mother back?” I turned to glare at him and had the satisfaction of seeing a tiny crack appear in his impassive fa?ade.

“That’s a no,” he said. “You won’t like the alternative, Ryn. I can make you, and I will if that’s what it takes. Are you sure you won’t help yourself?”

He seemed to know the answer to that without me vocalizing it. Over my dead body would I go along with anything he said. I didn’t care if I died right here on the spot. I wouldn’t lift a finger to help.

He sighed, his chest pushing into my back. Then he picked me up, still facing away from him, and walked me to the door. In a fluid movement, he spun me so I faced him, and then he gritted his teeth as he held my arms down by my sides.

His body boxed me in.

A new fear unfurled deep inside me as he closed the distance between us. He trailed his nose from my neck to my ear, and my insides melted when he growled, a low, throaty inhuman sound. When he lifted from my neck, his eyes were solid black.

“This could have been easy. Remember that,” he snarled. His canines lengthened, and black scales appeared across the bridge of his nose. “Let’s hope it works.”

Shock silenced me as I watched with wide eyes, and my lips parted as I gasped.

“I’m going to kiss you,” he rumbled.

What?

I sucked in a deep breath to scream, and at the same time, I raised my leg to knee him in the groin. But he anticipated my move and pushed his body against mine, pinning me to the wall.

With a glint in his predatory eyes, he covered my mouth with his.

Fire exploded between us. I tried to turn away, but he nipped my lip as he raised his hands to hold my face immobile. I pushed uselessly at his chest. But as the kiss went on, I struggled to remember why I wanted to end it in the first place. His tongue brushed against my lips, and I sighed, returning the tender caress languidly.

He growled again, and the kiss became soft, like the first shadows of dusk. Irrik threaded his hands into my long hair and pulled me to him. I went willingly, wrapping my arms around his neck as we continued our intimate dance.