What she had done instead was sought a consort, in the hopes of indulging pleasure just once. Prince Novar had declared his love, and she had chosen him to be her consort. While the experience had been pleasant, Shilah hadn’t repeated the encounter to the prince’s distress. He had proposed marriage several times which she had always declined. It was one of the reasons she had never understood Kala’s vision that she saw them married.
The monster in the cage of her mind became so still, the blood chilled in her veins. She turned in the cage of his arms and wrapped her hands around his neck. “I am sure you’ve had other lovers, Lachlan Ravenswood.”
“I suppose with that logic I must spare this prince’s life.”
Though his lips curved with slight amusement, at the heart of it a dark violence had blossomed.
Shilah slapped his chest. “I declare you must.”
“I saw your sister’s vision in the thread of your memories of you marrying this prince.”
The menace in his voice had her mouth drying. “I have no plans to deceive anyone from my world so. And that vision is no more,” she said, a lump forming in her throat. “It has been replaced by death and darkness.”
They stared at each other, and the violence quietened, and an emotion she could not identify in full throbbed along their link, it tasted of loss and pain before it quickly vanished.
“You have a visitor.”
She twisted around to see the Princess Saieke strolling toward them, her waist-length hair rippling behind her like fire. “Perhaps the princess visits you, Lachlan Ravenswood. From our brief meeting, I could tell she held immense affection for you.”
He grunted, and said, “From what I know of the princess’ inquisitive nature, it is you she has come to visit, my mate.”
“Then I shall greet her,” Shilah said with a smile, pulling from his embrace, and walking down the steps leading to the vast, open grounds. She skirted past massive stone structures of carved beasts and did her best to ignore Lachlan’s familiar, Cronus, who was poised atop a hill in the distance, but the dratted creature bounded toward her. Shilah braced herself as its massive body bounced into her, and she tumbled to the ground. She held her self still as it licked her face, baring its teeth.
Laughter rushed from her, and she reached her mind out to his. The patterns were primal, but she sensed the intelligence within it, and that it liked her, and this was its greeting. She stood, and only had to turn her head to stare into its eyes. How monstrous this creature was, but also beautiful. She rubbed her hand atop its head, and it butted her underneath her chin.
With a light laugh, she sauntered ahead, and he prowled at her side, a protecting and comforting presence. There was something ethereal about the beautiful red-haired princess. Shilah smiled at her in welcome, and the princess’s sapphire blue eyes glittered with pleasure as she dipped into an elegant curtsey. Shilah returned the honor and walked with the princess along the cobbled pathway.
“Lachlan Ravenswood believes you are here to see me, Princess Saieke.”
She smiled. “I am. I remembered how unsettling I felt the first time I came into this realm. I’ve been making friends with your sister. Kala is simply wonderful, and I also wanted to put your mind at ease if fear had lingered within your heart.”
Shilah stared at her, assessing the princess’s aura. How different it was to all those Shilah sensed around her. “I thank you for such considerations. You are not a Darkan, yet I can feel the imprint of their essence on your aura.”
“I am the mate of Drac El Kyn.” Rich pleasure, love, and satisfaction were stamped into her voice. “That is the essence you sense within me.”
Curiosity stirred in Shilah. “You are not afraid of his claiming.”
The princess smiled, the radiance of it dazzling, the love pouring from her aura blinding. “I am not. I love Drac with every emotion in my heart, and he treasures me with such depths there are days I still struggle to understand my importance to him.”
Shilah glanced down at the threads leading from her to the man in the distance whom it seemed heard every word exchanged with the princess. He was now in the center of the training circle, a group of ten Darkans surrounding him. He moved with the assurance of a man confident in his skills and at ease with his brutality “Your mating is young?”
“I only met Drac three months ago when the Empire of Mevia hunted me to this realm. He saved me.”
She moved away from him, walking closer to the forest, Cronus by her left and the princess to her right.
“I can feel your fear,” the princess murmured.
Shilah snapped her eyes to Saieke. “You have telepathic skills?”
“No, of course not, but I am able to sense intense emotions through your life force. Your energy is different from other Amagarians, but I still sense it. Lachlan would never hurt you. He…he is different from the friend I’ve come to love, but he is still the same man. Honorable and Kind.”
“I do not doubt it,” she said, moving with lithe speed and skill through the pattern of the princess’s mind, finding a pathway to connect on.
The princess gasped, and her eyes widened. “I just heard your voice in my mind.”
“Forgive the impertinence of the intrusion. It was ill-mannered of me, and I forgot the courtesy we exist with on my home planet. I assure you I am not reading your thoughts. I would not invade your privacy in such a manner. I only went deep enough to project my thoughts to you.”
“I took no offense, I was merely startled. The only person I’ve ever communicated in such a manner with is my mate,” the princess said, with a gracious smile.