Eternal Darkness (A Novel of the Amagarians Book 1) by Stacy Reid Page B

enough, he would march on us. Our laws would allow us to declare war on anyone who thinks to take a Darkan’s mate away, yet his law also allows him to war for a queen by blood-oath.” Drac’s beast prowled restless at his assessment.
    If she was his mate and he claimed her, the Nurian king might very well wage war for her, and then Gidon’s reign would indeed start with bloodshed. Drac faltered. It was why he must resist her, why he had not searched for a mate like some of their kind did. If he loved her, claimed her, he would be forever weak for her.
    “To do so would be a folly on his part. He could not win,” Gidon said flatly.
    “Nuria has over two hundred million citizens, twenty million of them warriors. He has more warriors than our entire kingdom’s population. King Ajali’s feats in the second Great War are unsurpassed.”
    “You doubt our might?” Gidon asked in mild surprise.
    “No.” Drac inhaled, tightening his hands on the railing, creating fissures. “My friend, I know you don’t want to start your reign by delivering death to any kingdom. That would transport us back to the dark times. I do not want to take her if she is not my mate and jeopardize our vision for our realm.”
    “Then proceed with caution,” Gidon warned him darkly before he shiktred away.
    Unable to deny the need to see her, Drac stepped into the shadows and appeared in Saieke’ s chamber.
    Worry.
    Pain.
    Regret
.
    They seeped from the princess, the taste of emotions bitter to swallow. She lazed in the massive tub, gently waving her fingers, spiraling water in the air. A sigh slipped past her lips. “I am so sorry, Mother.”
    Ah…he’d found the source of her upheaval. She had been in his realm now for two days, and her kingdom would be beside themselves with fear for their missing princess. She did not understand that when one made a resolve it was pointless to reflect with regret.
    “Drac.” His name from her lips was the softest of whisper, and if not for his enhanced senses he would not have heard.
    His intention to step from the shadows suspended, he drifted even closer. He groaned low in his throat as she stood from the bath, giving him a glimpse of the graceful arch of her back and the smooth firmness of her ass before she drew on a silken robe.
    With a flick of her finger, she removed all water from her body and garment, then flashed to the great windows in the bed chamber, and opened the drapes. She pressed against the cool glass, peering into the void.
    She looked frail and alone. He did not like it.
    He stepped from the shadows.
    She spun from the windows, instinctively bracing for an attack. Terror skittered across her face. A curious feeling of satisfaction filled him when she relaxed instantly. She did not fear him. The very idea of it left him speechless. He could not remember a time when he had not been reviled.
    “You came,” she said, the timbre of her voice husky and sensual.
    “My king advised me that you requested me as your escort for your days in the Darkage.”
    “ I did.”
    “Why?” The question that had been eating at him since Gidon alerted Drac.
    Saieke ran her gaze over his frame in a contemplative caress. “I thought it fair that I get to see you naked as well.”
    Thud
. The beat of her heart slammed into him, arousal flared hot, burning his resistance. His beast stretched and tried to taste her
chakra
, but recoiled as it found no answering beast within her.
    Yet its voice still whispered ours .
    The spicy scent of her arousal wafted through the room. His mouth watered and he almost sank to his knees. “Do you understand what you invite?” he asked, wrapping the shadows around her and pulling her into his space. Her robe floated around her delicate ankles, caressing his feet.
    She lifted piercing blue eyes to his face. “Yes.”
    Impossible
.
    “You are heir to the kingdom of wind and mountains, and you offer yourself to me. Why?” he asked gliding around her, darkly