Black Crown (Darkest Drae, #3)(9)

King Zakai and his son were talking to Dyter and Tyrrik. None of them stopped the conversation, and I grinned with my success. Crazy-strong Phaetyn mojo for the win.

Until.

Tyrrik frowned. And then grimaced, blinking to clear his vision. “Ryn? You’re fuzzy. And why can’t you hear me?”

The first time, I hadn’t felt any drain from creating the veil, but as I dropped it a second time, relief trickled through my muscles and down my spine. I stood still, ignoring the startled yells of the others as my knees shook for a moment. Tyrrik yelled my name through the bond, and I winced.

Please stop yelling.

Lani leaned in as I regained my footing.

“Told you,” she whispered.

“Would you like to walk to the forest?” I asked sweetly, but my enthusiasm waned with my new-found knowledge. This wasn’t going to be as easy as I’d anticipated.

Her response was to show all her teeth in what could’ve been a smile, on a very bad day, in a very inhospitable place. Or maybe her expression was meant to bolster me due to its creepy ferocity.

Tyrrik’s fading alarm still seared through the bond, and I jolted as the image of me, or rather what I had looked like to him, struck me. My body looked like an apparition, completely transparent, but oddly still here.

That was . . . new. I’d never gotten an image from Tyrrik before. It’s okay, I just had the veil on, I told him. To Lani, I said, “How could he see me?”

She lifted a shoulder before dropping it. “Maybe it has to do with the mate bond.”

I really hoped that was the case and not a sign all Drae could see me.

Tyrrik’s emotions swung from panic to relief to pride. Whoa.

Time for goodbyes. My throat suddenly clogged with emotion, and I strode to Dyter first. Approaching my oldest friend, I fell into his one-armed embrace, patting him awkwardly when he wouldn’t let go. “Love you, Dyter.”

“Yes, well,” he said gruffly. “Don’t forget to . . .”

He apparently forgot whatever it was I wasn’t meant to forget. I smiled at him through the allergies burning my eyes that were certainly the reason for the tears on my face. “I won’t.”

Prince Zared was next, which was easier. I shook his hand and then turned to his father.

“A safe journey, Most Powerful Drae,” the king said with a wink.

I grinned, my heart warming even more to the aged ruler of Gemond. “Thank you, Zakai. Here’s hoping for no turbulence.”

My joke fell flat, and with no small amount of unrelated dread, I turned to the last man in the room.

Dyter drew the others away toward the door, and I waited until there was nothing more I could wait for. A vice clenched my chest, and my steadfast resolve nearly crumbled when I met Tyrrik’s gaze. His eyes were inky black, but I could feel the emotions storming within.

“Make sure you use the veil while you’re in your Drae form until Lani puts the barrier up again,” he said in a low voice. “And use it all the way back, right up until you’re inside Gemond. All the way inside.”

I rested a hand on his arm. “I know, Tyrrik. I’ll take care of myself. I promise.”

He shuddered at my touch and onyx scales erupted on his chest, peeking out from his aketon and spreading up his neck. His voice deepened, turning part Drae when he spoke again. “I trust you, Khosana. It’s everyone else I don’t trust.” Be careful.

Uncaring that the others would see, I wrapped my arms around his torso and lay my head on his chest. “We can trust Lani. I know we can.”

“Lani, yes.”

Standing at the doorway with the others, Lani called out dryly, “I’m so glad. Can we go now?”

I was going for a reason, I reminded myself. And even though those reasons didn’t seem so urgent, now—proximity to Tyrrik made it hard to reason at all—if I stayed, I’d regret it.

Mum didn’t raise no quitter.

I lifted onto tiptoes and planted a firm kiss on my Drae’s hard cheek. “Al’right, I’m off. See you soon, Tyrrik.”

The brusque farewell might have worked if my voice hadn’t caught on every other word, but I turned and strode away, holding it in like a big girl though it occurred to me that bigger girls probably just had bigger tears.

King Zakai gestured for the guards to open the gates, and I’d nearly reached Lani when Tyrrik’s fingers wrapped around my wrist, halting me.

I let him tug me back around and remained completely still as he grimaced, trying to control his Drae. He closed his eyes and pressed his face into the crook of my neck. His forest pine and smoke scent wrapped around me, and he trembled as he pressed his lips to our mate mark.

I felt a sharp pinch as his fangs lengthened, and I gasped.

“Lord Tyrrik,” Dyter called, breaking the stupor around us. “You’ll need to go with the guards to exit from the other side of the mountain.”

Tyrrik pulled back, and I was nearly overwhelmed with the urge to announce I wasn’t leaving. He broke our contact with a pained grunt, and the compulsion lessened.

Give me five minutes to draw them away, then you can leave, he thought through our bond. At my stupefied nod, he left the room so quickly I barely saw him move.

“So much sexual tension,” Lani murmured.

I wrinkled my nose and noticed Dyter with his eyes closed. Poor guy never seemed to be in the right place at the right time.