Page 82 of Black Crown

Dark, oily power poured over me, pushing through the shattered blue bands, cracking the remains of my shield as the emerald force flooded into my head.

Ryn—

I latched onto Tyrrik’s voice, screaming his name. My panic spiked and then waned as the Drae-energy of my alpha father swamped me, coating my insides.

My connection to Tyrrik disappeared, followed by my fight. I had a fleeting concern about the hunger behind Draedyn’s determination to own me, followed by a passing thought, now no more than curiosity, about how my father would’ve found me. The darkness of the emperor’s strength swallowed me and my entire world. My sole focus became the will of my alpha.

I was my father’s daughter, and I only wanted to serve him. Ineededto. I had to make up for all the problems I’d caused.

Come, my beautiful daughter, let’s go home.

He thought I was beautiful. I bowed my head in reverence even as a quiet voice in the back of my mind screamed in protest.Yes, Father.

Cover us with your Phaetyn veil.

I pulled the mossy-green net over Draedyn, seeing for the first time that my father carried a passenger. The silvery-haired man sat astride my father between two of his spikes, facing away from me.Hiding,even. He was clearly a Phaetyn, our enemy. My father’s disgust echoed through me. The Phaetyn had to die. All of them.

The traveler turned, and the shock at seeing his handsome face and stunning smile disconcerted me enough that I reared back in the sky . . . though I couldn’t place why I did so.

Or how I knew the Phaetyn’s name.

Kamoi.

28

Istretched out in bed, one of those long extensions with the arms above the head and the toes pointed. The morning movement was my favorite with muscles taut the length of my body; the occasional shuddering spasms were like kisses of life.

Except it didn’t bring a smile to my face as it had in the past.

I threw my arms out, extending my hands to either side of me on the bed before opening my eyes. The sheets were coarse and cold, like burlap left out during a frost. Rough but unrumpled.Unused.

Something was off. My excitement for a new day, the pleasure of a stretch, even the knowledge that something was wrong only produced a mild, blunted emotion. My fingertips felt numb, and although I could move andthink—

“You understand, of course, I had to remain in your mind. You’re far too volatile, and until your will has melded with mine, I will be present, at least in some capacity, daughter.”

I wrenched my eyes open and stared at the ceiling overhead. Matte-black graphite as though the room had been carved into the side of a cliff greeted me, the dull darkness disturbing. Dread rioted in my stomach as I propped my elbows up to sit in the bed, but my head felt stuffed with cotton. The coarse sheet fell down the front of my nightgown, and despite the fact Emperor Draedyn was definitely in the room, my gaze dropped to make sure I was decent.

My shoulders sagged at the plain black nightgown I’d been put in, which covered me from neck to wrist and—I shifted my feet to check—to my ankles. Emboldened by this and very little else, I lifted my gaze to peer across the room.

Draedyn sat semi-reclined, at ease on a black velvet couch. He had one arm propped on the cushioned side. Behind him, a red woven blanket draped across the back of the couch, the contrast like blood on a battlefield.

“Where is my mate?” I croaked, surprised to still have control of my voice. I forced myself to look at my father and tried to ignore the blood-red throw.

“What of me?” Draedyn asked. “You do not want to greet your father?”

He sent an emerald-green pulse out with his second question, and the wave of power swept through the large chamber with such force all reason fled from my mind for the space of two gasping breaths. I straightened—when had I bowed?—and said, “Can’t say I do, really.”

Draedyn grinned, his white teeth gleaming. His garb was as unassuming as the sack-like garments I’d seen him wear in Azule, maybe even the same. His eyes were solid inky black, and he met my gaze hungrily. He sat, unmoving, as I darted repeated glances his way, trying to measure my enemy. His power—I inhaled sharply again—I couldn’t even sense the depth of it. To be so close to the source of this massive force was like falling through a dark cavern and not knowingwhenI’d eventually hit bottom.

“Can you hear my thoughts right now?” I asked, tersely. Where was Tyrrik? Had he reached the boats filled with men meant for the overseas war? I had no memory of how I came to be here. The last I could recall was Draedyn crashing into my side and then here.

Draedyn’s finger twitched on the couch, and a slow smile touched the corners of his lips. “Your mate went after the boats.”

A horrible suspicion entered my mind.

“Yes, he was meant to go after them,” Draedyn answered before I had a chance to finish forming the words into a question.

A trap. I closed my eyes to block out the angular lines of his cruel face. Neither Tyrrik nor I had seen Draedyn coming. But I didn’t care about that. I couldn’t even care for myself or the situation I was in, not yet.

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