To Love a Prince (Knights of Valor Book 1)(8)

This was the first time she’d seen the crest in person, the first time she could touch it. The gold dragon was a symbol of Dracor. God of justice. Righteousness. Integrity.

Tamryn worshipped the Dragon God and embraced His ways. While books had taught Auburn about Dracor and his role in the Holy Trinity, most people in Qumaref did not pay homage to Him.

Auburn suspected that had much to do with Rashalee’s influence. The goddess of envy, lust, and greed had a strong foothold in the desert kingdom. While most would say they worshipped Thalia, little of Her mercy or compassion illuminated Qumaref.

Whispers among the sultan’s court said the Dragon God was unforgiving, and those who worshiped Him were even more unyielding. It’s why Tamryn hadn’t been their first choice of trading partners.

But her visions had never been wrong, no matter how unlikely they seemed. They’d shown her over and over that her only chance at freedom, her only opportunity to have a family and a child of her own, was if she followed Dracor’s path.

The vision of a boy dressed in a red tabard bearing Tamryn’s gold dragon flashed through her memory, and her chest tightened. The child’s face was alight with youthful enthusiasm. He was so happy, so proud, and he called her momma. She squeezed a pillow to her as she yearned to hug him.

Tears filled her eyes. A family, a home, a child who loved her. A child who was free, and who’d never know slavery. That’s why she’d made sure the sultan had picked her to dance. Why she’d risked her life to see the Tamarian delegation. Why she would do whatever it took to please the foreigner beside her.

She wanted to bring the boy from her visions into the world.

Eli brushed away an escaped tear.

Pressing a hand to her chest, Auburn stifled a gasp. “I’m sorry, master. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I’m a light sleeper. One of my many bad habits. And don’t call me master.”

“What would you have me call you?”

“Eli’s fine.”

“Eli, do you want me to help you get back to sleep?”

“How would you do that?”

“We were taught...” Her cheeks colored. “Taught that after pleasure, men like to sleep.”

Eli caught her hands before she could do anything with them. “Taught you that, did they?”

Auburn glanced up at him, and her breath caught in her throat. By the gods, he was handsome, especially with his hair tousled from sleep. Handsome, motivated, and unforgiving. A whisper of desire tempered by apprehension skittered down her spine. “A good slave allows you to sleep, waiting quietly for you to awake so we can serve you again.”

“Do you believe that nonsense? Or do you speak it because you were taught that would please me?”

Auburn paused, unsure the answer he wanted.

The prince thumbed over her lips. “I prefer partners who are willing. Eager. Demanding.”

Confusion knit her brows. “Of course I’m willing. You’re my master.”

“You recite the words they taught you, but you don’t mean them.” She opened her mouth to speak, and he touched a finger to her lips. “If you believed them, you wouldn’t want to escape to Tamryn.”

Auburn turned away from his penetrating blue stare. It didn’t matter what she believed. Her visions had shown her the only future worth having was in Tamryn.

He brushed away another tear. “What else did they teach you?”

“I’m fully trained as a consort to serve my master and bring him happiness. I can sing, dance-”

“I saw that last night.” Eli brought her fingers to his lips.

Excitement mingled with fear and both slid along her nerves. “I can play several instruments. Speak, read and write your language as well as Qumarefi, Elven, and Dwarven.”

“Very useful,” Eli said. “Few have such language mastery.”

Color warmed her cheeks. “I’m glad that pleases you.”

“The truth, for once.”

She stared down at her hands. “I was also given instructions on how to touch my master, how to use my hands and mouth, how to offer myself to him.”

“Instruction? No practice?”

“I’m chaste. For the sultan to give you anything less as a gift would be an insult.”

Eli let go of her hands and pulled back from her. Desire and something else, something that almost looked like fear, teased across his face before he locked all emotion behind his expressionless mask.

He was distancing himself, erecting a wall between them. She reached for him, but decided against it and folded her hands in her lap. “You can teach me. I learn quickly.”

“I’ve seen your tears.”

“They weren’t about you.”

Eli stroked her cheek. “Don’t bothering lying. I was born doing it.”

“I didn’t think Dracor allowed Tamarians to lie.”

“Royal courts are much the same all over the world. Tamryn is different in some ways, and very much the same in others.”

He was withdrawing, pulling back more than just physically. She didn’t want him to leave her, to distance himself and retreat under the icy fa?ade he wore.

Her pulse raced as she closed her eyes and touched her lips to his. Heat bloomed as his lips move against hers, the warmth sliding through her and erasing everything that wasn’t him. Madness, perhaps, but it was intoxicating and left her wanting more.