Heavy is the Crown: A Gothic Grove Novel, page 9
Drago tolerates me here. He isn’t outright hostile, but he also isn’t warm and welcoming, either. He generally avoids me now that I’m healed, but every so often, I catch him giving me that same heated stare he had in the bathroom that day. It’s been confusing, honestly. One minute, I think he might kill me, and the next, he looks like he wants to fuck me. Despite all that, the idea of leaving this place has my entire being rallying against the thought.
I know a huge part of me is hesitant to leave Drago’s because it’s my only tie to Shadow. If I leave, that’ll be the end of it. Despite knowing Shadow has no interest in me, despite the claiming mark on my neck, I still have hope he will change his mind. It’s pathetic, really.
The scent of eucalyptus suddenly floods the room, and I don’t have to turn to see that Drago has meandered in. When he clears his throat, I angle myself toward him. Hair still wet from the shower, the blond strands hanging in pieces in front of his blue eyes, he finishes buttoning up his dress shirt. As I watch his fingers move, my mouth waters and my pussy clenches at the thought of how it would feel to have those fingers inside me.
He looks me over, my unwashed hair, pajamas I have been in for gods know how long, and my makeup-less face. His body tenses at whatever he sees, and for a moment, I worry he’ll kick me out right in this very second. But in the next, concern washes through those brilliant eyes. “What are your plans?” His voice vibrates my core, and I shut my eyes briefly against the sensation.
“This.” I gesture to where I’m seated, book now properly in my hands. “And looking for a job, I don’t have anything left, so I’ll need to start somewhere. I used to bartend and dance before I was taken. I could try to get something like that.”
A low growl emits from him. “You aren’t fucking dancing somewhere.”
Curious, I cock my head at that and watch him take a deep breath.
He frowns. “You don’t need to leave. You can stay here as long as you want.”
I let out a small laugh. “Look, Drago, I know you don’t want me here. I get it. I really do. I’ve invaded your space. I just need a little more time to figure it out and I’ll be gone. You won’t have to deal with me again.”
“Ava, come with me to work tonight.” The way he says my name should be illegal, given I’m his stepbrother's unwanted mate. I open my mouth, but he holds up his hand, halting whatever he thinks I’m about to say.
I blink, once, twice, and then allow my face to form a confused frown. “To your club?” It isn’t lost on me that Drago owns Club Eufori and what that means. That place is notorious, and I have always wanted to see the inside of it. This is the first time he’s suggested I go with him to work.
“Yes. If you like it, you can come work for me.” He says it so simply. “Now, go get dressed for tonight. I’ll wait for you. You’ll find some clothes in your closet.”
My mouth goes dry, and I weigh my options. If it were any other club, I would balk at the idea, given the risk of someone from my home being there, but his club? It might be the safest place for me. And the idea of sitting alone for another night sounds like utter torture. So, I give him a small smile and scramble to my feet, running toward my room.
Drago
(“Rumors” – NEFFEX)
Shooting a text to Kai, I let him know I’ll be running behind and that Ava is coming with me tonight. She’s like a ghost in my home, haunting every portion of it and reminding me that Shadow chose her over me. What's potentially even worse is the strange obsession I’ve developed for her. I find myself watching her damn near all the time, hidden in the dark so she doesn’t catch me. Work has been my only escape, and now I’m letting her invade that space as well.
Seeing her tonight, she looked so broken, and when she talked about leaving, my dragon damn near tore from my skin to keep her here. So, I did the only thing I could think of: offered her a job. Against my better judgment.
A throat clearing has me turning, and I swear to all the gods, my mouth dries up and my cock hardens immediately. Ava stands with long pink hair braided into some mohawk style down the center of her head. “You changed your hair?”
She nods. “I wanted something different. I’ve been blonde my whole life. I needed a change.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask her exactly how she did it, but I get the distinct impression that she doesn’t trust me enough to be honest. “I like it,” I respond simply.
A blush creeps up her cheeks. She's applied smoky eyeshadow and a dark lipstick that pops against her pale skin. Golden heels wrap around her slender calves, exposed by two slits in her black skirt that go all the way up to the top of her thighs. The high waistband covers her scar and stops just below the band of black lace that wraps her breasts.
I stare at her, my gaze traveling all over her body, gobbling it up and storing it in my memory for later. When I finally land on those silver eyes, they are heated, and I have to remind myself to stay put on the other side of the room. “You look beautiful.” The words spill from my lips before I can control myself.
She smiles wide. “Thanks. It’s been so long since I’ve done this. It feels good.”
Indeed, she looks completely different from the girl who was just sitting on the chair. She looks fucking radiant, and I’m regretting my choice to bring her to the club.
We’ll kill anyone who touches her, my dragon rumbles.
She’s not ours, I remind him. But he says nothing. Only growls, low and deep.
I drag my hand down my face, trying desperately to disagree with him but also knowing if someone does touch her, I won’t have control.
“We going?”
I open my eyes and realize she’s crossed the room, her body now positioned directly in front of mine. Her lilac scent invades my nostrils, and by the slight surprise in her eyes, no doubt she just saw my dragon peek through. He’s like a cat in heat, the way he is demanding to be let free. My skin feels like it’s too tight, and my cock is now so hard, I’m fairly certain it’s going to rip through my pants. It’s confusing as hell. So, I simply nod and whirl around, trying to avoid the awkward situation of getting a hard-on for my mate's mate. Jesus, could this get any more complicated?
Yeah. She could be both of ours, my dragon replies.
Fuck.
ELEVEN
There is a rumor that a place of power exists in Hell. It is what the royal family uses to replenish their magic.
– Mori Family Grimoire
Drago
My breath puffs out in front of my face, the heat forming small clouds in the cool morning air. My hands are tucked into the long black jacket I have on over the suit I pulled on this morning, not to stay warm—no, my dragon does that for me—but to appear relaxed. And it is in appearance only. Every part of me is on edge as I wait for the portal in front of me to open. It’s been two months of Ava living with me while we both have the knowledge that we are mates. The longer she goes unmated, the longer we go unmated, the more I see her losing herself.
Shadow not visiting has taken its toll on her. Physically, she’s fully healed, though the scar across her stomach remains. But emotionally, she is someplace darker. She seems alive at the club, but as soon as we are home, the light winks out of those silver eyes. Having watched Shadow lose himself to his own mind, I know the signs, and I’ll be damned if both my mates succumb to their depression.
Mates. Plural. It still baffles me how I managed to gain two mates. Of course, there’s lore around dragons with multiple mates, but nothing documented that I could find. Part of me wonders if it has more to do with Ava’s ancestry than our dragons. The suffering we have all experienced feels entirely unnecessary.
The wind picks up slightly, blowing a few hairs into my face. I take another breath, drawing the chilled air deep into my lungs, before something shimmers in front of me.
The old brick archway leading into Gothic Grove’s cemetery suddenly opens, a cobblestone road and a brilliant amber sky coming into view. The scent of sulfur washes over me as I see two people step through.
“Where is my sister?” It’s not hard to identify this man as Ava’s brother. Even if they didn’t have the exact same silver eyes, their overall looks are nearly identical. His chiseled jaw and disheveled dirty-blond hair are striking against those silver eyes. His leather jacket fits snugly against his muscular body, and I don’t have to touch it to know it’s used for racing.
The portal behind the two men shuts in whirl, and we are left standing back in the cool morning.
“You must be Jackson,” I say, keeping my voice level and unhurried.
The other man steps forward. “He asked you a question.” His face is pulled into a sneer, making the jagged scar that runs from his hairline to his jaw more pronounced. It passes directly through his left eye, which is fully white. The other is dark red. His black hair hangs down past his eyes, almost shielding the scar from view. My dragon immediately dislikes him, finding the scent coming off him rancid.
Untrustworthy, he growls.
I narrow my eyes before disregarding him entirely to face Ava’s brother. “This was a courtesy call—remember that, prince.” I spit his title at him like a curse. “Call off your dog; we are here to have a conversation.”
“Excuse me?” The dark-haired man steps forward aggressively, his power starting to gather around us, insidious and oily in the air. “Do you know who I am?”
My patience snaps, and I pull my right hand out of my pocket, the dark veins appearing. “Do you know who I am?” My skeletal wings flare out behind me, and my eyes glow gold. His own eyes flare with a hint of fear. “Now, let the grownups talk.”
He moves to step forward, but Jackson grabs his arm. “Oisin.” His voice holds a clear command in it.
Oisin jerks his arm free of the prince, his eyes never leaving me.
Jackson crosses his arms, seemingly unbothered by Oisin. “Alright, dragon, you have me. Now, will you tell me where my sister is?” he asks.
I glance toward Oisin again. The man reeks of dishonesty. His eyes shift between us, an anxious energy that is beyond protecting his prince emanating from him. He’s on edge, like someone waiting for their next fix of Eufori.
He is keeping a secret. He is hiding something. Do not tell him anything.
I can’t argue with my dragon. Even I can see he is off.
“I’ll answer your questions when you send your puppy away.” The statement has the desired effect, and rage coats the man's face, redness bursting into his skin at the audacity I must have to demand he leave. It says enough, that he assumes he deserves to know what the prince knows.
Spit sputters from his mouth. “How dare you! I’m not leaving the prince here with you!” he growls. But I keep my eyes on Jackson, who I hope is smart enough to understand his sister's safety is more important.
“Oisin, go back to the palace,” Jackson says. His eyes never leave mine.
A smile creeps over my face. Oisin’s rage turns feral, and for a moment, I worry he’ll lash out, but it’s not at me that he’s glaring. It's at Jackson’s back. This will be very inconvenient if I have to kill this person to save Ava’s brother. The portal opens again, and Jackson turns to look at Oisin, whose face suddenly becomes passive. “I’ll be along soon.”
Without any other option, Oisin walks backward and disappears back into Hell.
Once the portal closes, Jackson addresses me again. “Well, you have me alone. Now, will you answer my questions?”
I nod. “Apologies. I’m fairly good at reading people, and I would not trust that man if I were you.”
Jackson frowns. “Oisin wouldn’t betray me.”
I snort and shake my head. “Your sister is important to me, and I won’t risk her safety. So, you’ll excuse me if I don’t take your word for it.”
His silver eyes narrow toward me as he cocks his head, the wind dancing strands of that blonde hair around his face. “And who the fuck is my sister to you?”
“My mate.”
Ava
I’m not sure when it first started, but at some point between Drago’s revelation of who we all are to each other and disclosing they are dragons and now, I’ve slipped into a dark hole that I can’t seem to crawl out of. It’s as if I spent so long just trying to survive, now that I feel safe, I’m feeling everything that I kept at bay. The only time I feel somewhat normal is when I’m working. I know Drago worries; he’s constantly fussing over me. Part of me thinks it’s fueled by guilt that Shadow refuses to see me.
Drago and I have spent hours talking since that first night, and he’s shared every secret he has, which is how I find myself in the position that I’m in. My own secret of who I am eating me alive.
My stomach is in knots as I look between the step siblings. Ying and yang. Drago with his light hair and eyes, and Shadow with his dark hair and eyes. The other two thirds of my soul that I can’t seem to have. I have been going back and forth in my head for days on if I should tell them who I am. But as I’ve healed, my anxiety has worsened, the walls closing in around me the longer I’m in the open. Drago thinks I'm scared of the prison, that Alexi will take me back. But it’s not him I’m afraid of.
As crazy as it sounds, I was relatively safe in the prison. No one was going to find me and drag me back home. But here? In the open? My brother or one of his friends could easily scent me out now. It’s a fear I hadn’t known prior to being taken, but one that seems to be poisoning my every moment now.
“You dragged me here, what do you want?” Shadow’s voice cuts like a blade, and I don’t have to look up to know the low growl I heard came from Drago in warning. He’s gotten increasingly more protective of me. I don’t know what he said to get Shadow here, but I won’t lie and say I’m not happy to have him near me.
I close my eyes, taking in a long, deep breath, before I open them and take in both of the men in front of me. “I need you both to know who I am.” Neither say anything, so I take another breath, hoping to steady my racing heart.
“Go on, Ava, it’s okay,” Drago says, his voice uncharacteristically soft.
“I’m not from Gothic Grove. I left my home a while ago.”
“So?” Shadow snaps.
“Jesus, rakkaani, let her speak,” Drago says.
“Don’t fucking call me that,” Shadow snarls back. Pain flashes across Drago’s face.
“I’m from Hell!” I blurt out, desperate to stop the altercation between them. The two turn and zero in on me. The only sound that can be heard is the wind outside.
“Why would that matter?” Shadow asks. “I mean, it’s not unheard of for people to cross over.”
I close my eyes for a second, hyping myself up to drop the biggest part of the story. The part that I fear will have them running from me, given what they are. The long history between dragons and Hell is bloody and brutal. Particularly with the royal families. “I left Hell because my father was, or is, the king. My brother is the prince. Which would make me the princess.”
Silence descends for a moment, laying over us like a thick blanket. Shadow blinks once, twice, before he lets out a laugh and shoves his hands through his hair. Drago, however, stays oddly silent, unexpectedly calm after my revelations.
“So, is this your goodbye?” Shadow asks as he paces back and forth.
“What?” Genuine confusion pings through me.
“You're obviously leaving,” Shadow says, tossing the words at my feet. “Why would a royal stay here? You’re done slumming it with us? Got your fill of fucking around, now you can go home to daddy?”
Drago growls low, “Careful.”
I don’t hide the hurt, the pain physically cutting through my heart. “I left because my father sold me off. I wasn’t going to marry someone I had never met who only wanted to use me as a fucking mare to breed children for him, all to gain more power.” I pause as the emotions I’ve kept bottled up threaten to spill over. “In Hell, the royals are the most powerful. We have the ability to open and close the gates to Gothic Grove, among other things. But it comes at a price. The magic, while strong, isn’t indefinite, nor can it be removed from Hell for long. Our priestesses perform a ceremony that replenishes our magic every full moon. Without that, if we use too much, we die. I knew when I left it would be a risk, that I might never be able to use my magic, or die because I used too much. Someone being married into the family could have access to that.”
“Well, that’s fucking ridiculous,” Drago says, stalking off to pour himself something to drink.
I shrug. “It was put in place so no royal would be able to take the power with them and use it against Hell.”
But Shadow continues to look at me, head tilting. “So, the only way to maintain your magic is a ceremony in Hell?”
Nerves rattle my bones as I look at both. This was the part I was dreading, for Shadow’s sake. “Yes and no. Every ceremony the priestesses perform is linked to sexual energy. In a bind, we can feed our magic with sex, but it only provides a small jolt of power. Essentially, enough to keep you alive. But sexual magic with a mate? That would be just as good as if it had been performed by a priestess. If not better.”
“So, that’s why you want to mate,” Shadow growls.
“What?! No!” I yell, rushing toward him, arms outstretched. But he’s moving toward the door too quickly, and Drago wraps his arms around my waist.
“Let him go for now,” he whispers. “He doesn’t mean it; we know you aren’t here to use us.”
Tears cascade down my cheeks anyway as I watch Shadow flee, and then I turn and break apart into Drago’s chest.
PART 2
A PRINCESS AND HER DRAGONS
*this portion of the book picks up directly after the events of book one*
TWELVE
