Darklis
“I think we lost them,” Darklis said as she peered around a corner.
Behind her, Liev – Prince Liev, she had to keep reminding herself – leaned forward, leaning over her to inspect the street beyond. Darklis swallowed, hoping the hitch in her breath wasn’t as obvious to him as it was to her. They weren’t even touching, but the warmth of his body so close to hers was almost unbearable.
But does he know? Does he remember?
Darklis felt a stab of pain deep in her heart. Liev had said nothing to show he had detected their mated bond – nothing at all. Was it possible that the portal had wiped it away, along with their dragons?
Can anything wipe away a dragon’s mated bond? Is that even possible?
Her dragon was gone. The place within her chest where her dragon had always been was now empty.
Will I ever get her back?
Gritting her teeth, Darklis forced the thought from her head, forcing herself to think rationally.
Even if Liev didn’t know they were mates, she did. That had to prove that the mated bond wasn’t entirely gone, didn’t it?
It wasn’t much, but it was enough for her to hold on to for now. And she was used to holding on to hope, even when everything seemed utterly hopeless.
“I think you’re right,” Liev said after a moment, before he drew back. Darklis missed his heat almost immediately. He shook his head, his blue eyes blazing. “Those men should never have spoken to you in that way. I am sorry I didn’t stay to defend your honor, as I should have.”
Despite the situation, Darklis couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “It’s fine, I promise you,” she said. “And anyway, I can’t say I’m used to men defending my honor. I usually just defend it myself.”
“I didn’t meant to imply I doubt your capabilities,” Liev said at once.
This time, Darklis laughed.
Where’ve you been all my life, tall, hot and chivalrous?
The mated bond was, of course, pulling at her heart every time Liev spoke or moved. But Darklis was fairly certain she would have been in deep trouble over him even without it. His dark hair and bright blue eyes were a striking combination, and the Drakos clan ceremonial robes he wore did absolutely nothing to conceal the breadth of his shoulders and the musculature of his arms. She wasn’t exactly short, but Liev towered over her.
And aside from that, he gave off a sense of such strength that it immediately made Darklis feel safer just being around him.
Given how she had grown up – in constant danger, never knowing when Erik Lukich might decide she was no longer useful and could be disposed of – safe was a feeling she was still getting used to.
“It’s fine, you didn’t,” she said, smiling. “And I appreciate it. You can clearly handle yourself.”
Was it just her imagination, or was Liev... blushing?
No, that couldn’t be right.
Liev was the most ridiculously perfect specimen of a man she’d ever seen, and a prince besides. He obviously didn’t blush.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice soft. In the next moment, however, he seemed to shake himself, his Adam’s apple dipping as he swallowed. “But it seems you know a lot more about this... place than I do. What do you suggest we do next? Getting home – or at least contacting our families – seems to be the most important thing right now. After that...”
Liev trailed off. Darklis knew what he was thinking.
After that, they could only hope that somehow, their dragons would come back to them. After that, perhaps they could begin to find out how that manticore had managed to get into Drakos Castle, and what it had done with the treasure it had stolen.
Darklis gave herself a shake. Already, she could feel her practical side beginning to take over. Their situation was... was...
Quickly, she deleted the word terrifying from her thoughts. She’d been in terrifying situations before, and this one didn’t qualify. No one was actively threatening her life at this moment. Erik Lukich wasn’t here. She was free, and she was with Prince Liev of Clan Drakos, who was strong, handsome, hot as hell...
And my fated mate.
Again, she quickly pushed the thought away. He didn’t seem to remember. It was something else they would just have to deal with later.
“First of all, I think we’ll need to get some money,” she said. She eyed his robes, hoping it wasn’t too obvious when her gaze lingered on his chest and arms. “I don’t suppose you carry any around with you?”
Liev shook his head. “No. We don’t have any need of it, usually. And I certainly didn’t imagine I’d be venturing outside the castle today.”
Darklis grimaced, not that she had really been expecting any other answer. “Me neither. I left all my stuff in my purse, which is in my room at the castle.”
Cocking his head slightly, Liev raised a surprised eyebrow. “So you often mingle with humans?”
Darklis nodded. “Of course. My brother Stefan’s mate is human, and my cousin Isaak has a human mate as well. I spend time with their families. I kind of like human society.” She grinned, gesturing to the busy street beyond. “Besides, don’t you think it’s exciting? All this hustle and bustle?”
Liev frowned slightly. “I... haven’t decided yet,” he said after a moment or two. “It certainly does smell different.”
Darklis laughed. “I suppose that’s true. But I still like it.”
After so many years shut up in darkness, the busyness of the streets of human cities was almost soothing.
“How do you suggest we get some money?”
Darklis frowned. “Well, we could try panhandling. But that seems dishonest. Neither of us really needs the money. And I’m not sure we’d get a lot, looking like this anyway. Or with this jewelry on.”
She raised her hand to show Liev the dark green emerald that glittered on her right hand. It was her personal piece of the Novak hoard – the treasure she carried with her always, to make sure she’d never be so far from the source of her clan’s powers that she wouldn’t be able to shift.
It was a beautiful stone, but relatively small as far as personal hoard items went. Dragons could sometimes be extremely ostentatious about these things: Darklis had seen diamonds as big as an egg, gold chains that wrapped six times around the wearer’s neck, and hair clips encrusted in sapphires and opals. But it just wasn’t her way. The small emerald ring was all she needed.
All I need...
Looking down at the ring, Darklis bit her lip.
“I suppose, since we really do need the money, I could...” She swallowed. She really didn’t want to do this, but their options were limited. “I could always pawn my ring. It’s not worth a lot, but we could get something for it, I’m sure.”
“Pawn it?”
Darklis looked up, surprised. Liev sounded absolutely horrified.
“You mean, trade your personal hoard item in exchange for money? No. No, that’s not possible. I won’t allow it.”
Darklis shook her head. “It’s okay – I can come back for it later. Hopefully. I mean, it depends on the terms of the loan, but I’m sure it won’t take us more than a week to –”
“Please, don’t do that. I couldn’t allow you to make such a sacrifice. Not for any reason.” He drew in a deep breath. “If it’s jewelry they want, then I can offer this.”
Darklis’s eyes widened as Liev pulled back the sleeve of his robe to reveal a glimmering gold circlet around his wrist, studded with rubies and diamonds. It was a beautiful piece, and it looked absolutely priceless.
Liev held his arm up. “I could offer this, could I not?”
Darklis nodded, feeling as if someone had knocked the breath from her lungs. “Yes, you could,” she said. “But Liev, I can’t ask you to give up your personal treasure either – especially not when it looks as rare and precious as that. This ring... it means a lot to me, and of course it’s quite valuable. But nothing like your circlet.”
“But isn’t the more money we can get the better? There’s more at stake right now than my personal piece of the hoard.”
“Perhaps,” Darklis said. “But if it’s too valuable the pawn shop won’t take it. They may worry they won’t be able to sell it for what it’s worth if we don’t come back. And rings are easier to sell than men’s jewelry. Human men don’t often wear it.”
Liev frowned a little, but he didn’t argue. “If a ring would be more suitable, I have one of those as well.” He held up his hand. A simple golden band encircled his left ring finger. The flat outward facing side was embedded with a small diamond, and was engraved with a design that Darklis recognized as the crest of the Drakos Clan.
“It is the ring that designates me the heir to the Drakos throne,” Liev said quietly. “It’s an ancient ring – I believe it was passed down from the very first Drakos prince. One day, my own heir will wear it.”
His voice was soft as he spoke, looking down at the ring. It was understated and classy – everything that dragon hoard items usually were not. It was just the kind of thing a human man would wear as a wedding ring.
“It’s a beautiful ring,” Darklis admitted reluctantly. “But Liev, I can’t ask you to do that. That ring has been in your family for hundreds of years.”
“You are not asking me to do anything,” Liev said, as he began to twist the ring from his finger. “I’m offering. We need to get out of this situation, and as I will not allow you to exchange your personal hoard item, this is our only choice.”
“But –”
“You said we could get it back, didn’t you?” Liev smiled as he held the ring out to her. “I trust your bargaining skills. And you know more about this place than I do.”
Darklis swallowed heavily as she reached out to take the ring from him. Sure, she’d spent more time around humans than he had – but she was still far from an expert. She’d grown up around dragons. She had a lot of human friends, but she was still getting used to them in many ways.
“I’ll do my best,” she said, as she closed her fist around the ring.
It didn’t take long to find a place to pawn the ring. It seemed they had arrived in one of the seedier parts of the city, and small shops offering payday loans and pawnbrokers weren’t exactly thin on the ground. Darklis didn’t feel she could entrust Liev’s ring to any place that looked too suspicious – but on the other hand, it was hard to ignore the stares they were getting as they walked. They needed to get into some normal clothing, fast: if the guys who had attacked them had given the police a description, they certainly wouldn’t be too hard to find dressed as they were.
“This place seems okay,” Darklis said, peering into the window of a pawnbroker’s. “And they definitely take jewelry. Let’s see what they’ll offer us.”
Pushing the door open, Darklis and Liev found themselves in a shop that seemed somehow much dingier and run-down than its façade had suggested.
Blinking in the darkness, Darklis looked around. Misgivings rose up within her.
Stop being so silly, she told herself. We’re here now, and really, we need to get out of these clothes...
“Can I help you?”
She looked up at the sound of a voice from the back of the shop. A large man stood behind a wire cage, regarding them suspiciously.
“Yes,” Darklis said, pushing aside the last of her nervousness. “I – I have something I’d like to pawn.”
She hoped she sounded like she knew what she was doing, though the man’s hard gaze, his eyes running up and down her figure and clearly taking in her outlandish clothes, wasn’t helping.
“Oh, yeah? What would that be?”
Darklis licked her lips, glancing at Liev. But he only nodded to her, encouraging.
“This ring,” she said, placing it on the counter. The man raised an eyebrow and snatched it up with his thick fingers, holding it up to the light.
“This a real diamond?”
“Yes.”
The man let out a low snort, which Darklis supposed meant he didn’t actually believe her.
“Hmm. I could move this if I had to. Lotta young idiots getting married these days.” The man turned the ring around in his fingers a few more times, squinting at it. He seemed to be looking at it much harder than he needed to, Darklis thought – but maybe he was trying to convince them he was giving it a fair appraisal.
As he turned the ring, however, Darklis heard him suck in a breath as if surprised, and then his head flicked toward her, eyeing her clothes once more.
“You aren’t from around here, are you?”
There was a note of suspicion in his voice that set alarm bells ringing in Darklis’s head. And if there was one thing she had learned, it was to trust her gut when it told her things weren’t quite right.
“No,” she said. “We’re in town for a friend’s... birthday party. It’s fancy dress. As you can see.” She grinned, gesturing to her clothes.
“Yeah, pretty fancy all right,” the man muttered, turning his eyes back to the ring. “You need somewhere to stay?”
Darklis opened her mouth to say they were fine, when it struck her that it may not be a bad idea to have a recommendation for some low-cost accommodation.
“We’re fine for a couple of nights,” she said, trying to inject her voice with as much new-in-town enthusiasm as she could. “But now that we’re here, it’s like... wow! It’s New York! There’s so much to see. We might want to stay on for a few extra days.”
“Mmm.” The man seemed distinctly unimpressed. “Well, you still feel that way, check this place out.”
Taking one hand from the ring, he reached down to flick a card across the counter to her. Picking it up, Darklis read the words CHEAP ACCOMM, followed by an address.
She resisted the urge to grimace. Sure, it wasn’t going to be the Plaza, but they were hardly in any position to be picky just now.
“Thanks,” she said, slipping the card into one of the deep pockets of her robes. “So, do you think you’re interested in the ring?”
“I’ll give you five hundred for it,” the man said. “Come back in a week or it’s sold. Deal?”
“Five hundred? Five hundred dollars?”
Darklis glanced over her shoulder as Liev’s voice sounded from across the shop. He strode over to them, face darkening.
The man scowled. “Look, if you’re not happy with it, you can go elsewhere. But no one’ll give you more than that. Maybe if you hadn’t tried to sucker me by saying it was a real diamond –”
“It is a real diamond.”
Darklis could see Liev was getting a little steamed. His blue eyes flashed, jaw muscles clenching.
“And it’s worth a lot more than five hundred dollars,” he said. “It is a family... a family heirloom, passed down from generation to generation. I’ll not have you –”
“Look, it’s just a loan, buddy. This is collateral. You’re not selling it to me. You want your precious ring back, just come back in a week with the money. Plus interest, of course.” The man glowered. “That, or get out of my shop.”
“We’ll take it,” Darklis said quickly, before Liev could get out another word.
She tried to cast Liev a meaningful glance, but he wasn’t looking at her.
What I wouldn’t give for my dragon right now...
If her dragon had still been within her, she could have sent Liev a psychic message telling him to calm down, and that the man wasn’t insulting his family’s honor. He was only trying to drive a hard bargain.
But then again, if they’d had their dragons, they could have just shifted and flown home. If they’d had their dragons, Liev would know that he was her mate.
She swallowed, pushing the thought away.
“Five hundred is fine,” she repeated. “And we’ll definitely be back to pick it up. With the interest.”
“Yeah, sure,” the man grunted, not taking his eyes off Liev. “I’ll write you a receipt.”
Still glowering, he turned away and began scribbling on a piece of paper behind the counter. Taking the opportunity while he was distracted, Darklis touched Liev on the shoulder, moving him to a dark corner of the already dark shop.
“Hey, calm down,” she whispered, glancing back to the counter. “He’s not insulting you. He’s just... he’s just a dick.”
Darklis rarely swore, but the word she’d heard Josie, her cousin Isaak’s mate, call some of her more annoying co-workers rose unbidden to her mind.
Liev blinked as if startled, before a small smile began to creep across his lips.
“A dick, you say?”
Darklis couldn’t stop the small giggle from escaping her mouth. Liev was so proper, his accent and manner so polished, that it was strange to hear him use a word like ‘dick’.
“Yeah. Kind of,” she said, smiling, as she glanced toward the counter, hoping the man hadn’t heard them. “But he’s giving us money, so knock it off, okay?”
Liev inhaled sharply, and for a moment, Darklis thought she had offended him. Certainly, there was surprise in his clear blue eyes as he looked down at her. But then, he smiled.
“As you wish, Darklis. I will knock it off.”
“Hey, if you want this money, come and get it now,” the man called out gruffly. “Or if you’ve changed your mind, come get your shit and leave.”
At once, Liev bristled – his muscular shoulders bunched up, his jaw tightening again. Darklis held her breath, before reaching out and pressing her hand against his arm.
Immediately, Liev seemed to become calmer. He let out the breath he’d been holding, and glanced down at her.
“I have knocked it off, Darklis. I promise.”
It wasn’t only relief that made her grin as he spoke.
She went to the counter as the man snarlingly counted out five hundred dollars in tens, twenties and fifties. The paper was ragged and dog-eared, but it was money.
“Thanks,” she said as she picked it up, folding it over in her fist. Her robes didn’t really have any secure pockets.
Speaking of...
“Hey,” she said, turning back to the man. “You wouldn’t happen to sell secondhand clothes, would you?”
***
“All right,” Darklis said, as they stepped out onto the curb. “After buying the clothes, we have four hundred and fifty dollars left.”
She carefully folded the notes before tucking them into her jeans pocket. Swallowing, she raised her eyes to look at Liev’s face – not, she told herself, allowing them to linger on where the worn denim of the jeans he’d bought hugged his muscular thighs, or the way the casual shirt he was now wearing did nothing at all to conceal the hardness of his abdomen and chest. And as for the way the worn brown leather jacket they’d found clung to his shoulders, hanging off them as if it’d been made for him...
Darklis only just stopped herself from shaking her head to clear it. Now wasn’t the time. Sure, Liev was distracting as hell in those clothes, but Darklis was pretty sure Liev would be distracting even if he were wearing nothing but a hessian sack.
“What do you suggest we do now?” Liev asked her. “You said the other members of your clan have human mates – is it possible we could make contact with them? Explain the situation?”
“It is,” Darklis said slowly, thinking. “Not Stefan, my brother, though. His mate Holly is about to give birth, and they’ve returned to our ancestral lands for it. They’ll be totally off the grid for now. Isaak and Josie are out of the country – Josie’s a big-shot university professor, and she’s giving a talk in Greece about her conservation efforts. So I don’t know how to get in contact with them right now.” She frowned.
“My younger brother Magnus has a human mate as well,” Liev said. “But she lives in Drakos Castle now. I cannot contact her.”
Darklis smiled at the mention of Magnus. “I remember Alanna!” she said brightly. “She writes to us from time to time. I’m so glad things are going well. I mean... considering.”
Darklis knew she wouldn’t have to go into any more detail than that. While it had been clear to anyone who looked at them that Alanna and Magnus were a perfect match, it didn’t change the fact that Alanna had been raised as a dragon hunter – or that her father was the Lord High Hunter, who had assigned Alanna the task of slaying Magnus as a rogue dragon.
Of course, things had gone very differently to how anyone had expected, and Alanna and Magnus had turned out to be fated mates. Even things between mates could be rocky, Darklis knew. She couldn’t help herself from glancing up at Liev, her heart clutching in her chest.
But if Alanna and Magnus can get past that inauspicious start, then surely...
Surely, Liev would remember? And then things would be okay?
Maybe you should just tell him, a voice in her head said – which, if Darklis hadn’t known better, she would have said was her dragon.
Don’t be so stupid, she quickly thought. Now’s not the time. Not when we don’t have our dragons, when we’re stuck here with no way to get home, when he doesn’t even remember, and not when he’s a dragon prince, who’s probably already betrothed to a dragon princess...
Darklis pulled herself up short. She hadn’t even thought of that last one before now. But now that she had... well that was how these things worked, wasn’t it? Royalty married royalty. It didn’t seem too far-fetched that he might already have a bride-in-waiting.
Liev would need a wife who could bring him riches, political advantage, power in her own right... and Darklis was fairly certain that she, even as the sister of a clan leader, could do none of those things.
The Novaks had almost been wiped out not so long ago, their hoard severely depleted. There wasn’t a lot she could offer in a marriage to a dragon prince.
And in that case, maybe it really was for the best that he didn’t remember they were mates.
She swallowed. Her heart felt heavy within her.
“Darklis? Is everything all right?”
She glanced up to find Liev looking down at her, concern in his eyes.
“Yes, yes, of course,” she said quickly. “I was just... thinking.” She tried to focus herself on the problem at hand. “So I can’t contact either Holly or Josie, and you can’t contact Alanna. And honestly, it’s getting pretty late.”
It was true. It had already been late afternoon when they had... well, arrived was one way of putting it, Darklis supposed. Now, it was early evening, the sun sinking lower, casting long shadows between the buildings.
“Is there a way we could travel to your family’s lands?” Liev asked.
“Perhaps,” Darklis said. “But it’s a long journey – they’re clear across the other side of the country. I think the money we have left over would be enough to buy bus tickets to get us to the right state, but then we’d have to get through the desert in our human forms – I mean, assuming that we don’t get our dragons back in the next couple of days.”
“Days?” Liev sounded surprised. “How long is the journey?”
“Two days, I would guess,” Darklis said. “I’m not certain.”
Liev glanced up as a car drove by, loudly sounding its horn.
“Can we not obtain a car, perhaps?”
Darklis grimaced. “My license is back at Drakos Castle. And anyway... I only got it six months ago. I don’t think anyone would hire us a car even if I had it.”
“Then we must take this bus, as you say,” Liev said. “But do you think it’s possible that our dragons may come back to us as we sleep?”
Liev sounded so hopeful that Darklis wasn’t certain how to respond for a moment. But then, thinking about it, she realized that perhaps he could be right.
“I’ve read a lot about spells and enchantments that wear off overnight,” she said slowly. “Especially ones involving transformation. Sometimes that’s all it takes – sometimes you need a full moon, or for someone to cast another spell while you’re asleep, or sometimes it’s true love’s ki–”
Darklis cut herself off abruptly. Don’t say things like that!
“Anyway,” she continued on quickly, hoping Liev hadn’t noticed. “We don’t know what kind of spell was cast by the portal. Maybe it’s only temporary.”
“If the manticore jumped through it too, it seems we can assume that it too lost its power to shift,” Liev said. “Would it have willingly jumped through if it thought it would lose its shifted form permanently?”
“Good point,” Darklis agreed. “That doesn’t seem likely – though I suppose we can’t rule out that maybe it didn’t know, or that it was desperate enough that it did it anyway. But that’s a pretty drastic action to take. I know I’d rather just get caught than lose my dragon forever.”
“Well, for our own sakes then, let us decide the effects are temporary,” Liev said, and Darklis wondered if he truly felt as certain as he sounded.
But does the alternative really bear thinking about?
No, she quickly decided, it didn’t.
“We will stay here for tonight. If, as you say, spells wear off with sleep, we may find ourselves returned to normal in the morning,” Liev continued. “If not, in the morning we will look into purchasing these bus tickets. We will find your brother and his mate. And from there, we will know what to do next. Does this sound like an acceptable plan?”
Despite herself, Darklis found herself reassured by Liev’s certainty, even if she knew he couldn’t actually be certain about anything.
All her life she had lived with uncertainty – sometimes not even knowing if she was going to live to see the next day. To have someone who, even in these circumstances, seemed to know what to do, how to take charge, to make her feel safe...
Darklis felt a warmth in her belly that wasn’t only to do with the fact that Liev was so stunningly handsome.
“Yes. Yes it does,” she murmured, not daring to look up into his eyes. Clearing her throat, she took a deep breath. “Wherever we stay, it’ll have to be cheap.” Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the card the pawnbroker had given her. “But luckily, I think I know just the place.”