Blood of Two Crowns (Hallowed Fates #2)

Chapter 32

Chapter

Thirty-Two

MAREINA

H eads turned, double-taking as Ataraxus led me through tunnel after tunnel inside the mountain. Despite the frigid temperatures outside, it was balmy and warm inside. We passed through a cavernous dining hall where hundreds, if not thousands, of drankonati dined.

I craned my head backwards to look up at the ceiling before returning my gaze to Ataraxus. “Why am I here?”

His features tensed with remorse. “I’m not one for dishonesty, and I’d be loathe to begin our relationship on lies, so I’ll risk your wrath and be honest: Azrael made a bargain with me.”

Relief washed over me that this male actually told me the truth. Ataraxus’ expression softened with apology as he continued. “He asked me to keep you distracted and sated.”

I quirked an accusatory brow. “And what do you have to gain from this bargain?”

Ataraxus’ gaze somehow turned both dark and reverent. “ You mean other than you?”

My breathing hitched as something pulled tight between us. If it was anyone else, I’d fucking gut them where they stand, but for some reason, I felt powerfully compelled to do the opposite.

“When he initially approached me, I thought to convince you to open a portal for us. To leave this place. Not the whole of Vassileo, just the drakonati, but…”

His words drifted and I was left holding my breath. Ataraxus shook his head as if deciding whatever he was about to say.

“… Anyway, I should clarify: I have no desire to keep you here against your will. Though I do wish more than anything, you allow me to remain by your side. And I would also like to have my healers remove that cursed rhyton Azrael buried in your chest. Until then, I would ask that you allow me to persuade you to bring me back to Bellorum with you…”

I opened my mouth as if it would conjure a logical reply, just as my gaze caught on a giant male with a leashed collar around his throat as he walked by. All dressed in fighting leathers, three females trailed behind the leashed male. Gaze drifting across the dining hall, I found several more leashed males peppered throughout—often several males to one female, sometimes the reverse, but only the males were leashed.

Were these slaves? Prisoners? How strange they’re all male.

“The drakonati keep slaves?”

Sex slaves it would seem.

Ataraxus frowned. “Slaves?”

I inclined my head towards the nearest leashed male. Ataraxus followed my gaze, bursting into a hearty laugh. “They’re newly mated. We’re a matriarchal society. Every newly mated male, as a display of their undying love and devotion to their females, wears a leash and collar. Usually for an entire moon cycle, but sometimes for longer. It depends upon each mated pair.”

My brows had taken residence somewhere uncomfortably close to my hairline. Ataraxus’ lips twitched with amusement. “I nearly forgot that’s not custom to anyone in Bellorum.”

“Have you been there?”

“I was born there.”

Realization dawned on me. Hades. The drakonati genocide.

Ataraxus gave me a sad smile in confirmation that made something in my chest squeeze tight with sorrow.

“How did you survive? And how did you get back here?”

Rationale told me Azrael before he answered.

“You probably know her, actually. I owe her my life...”

Her?

“Queen Zurie.”

My jaw hit the stone floor so hard it was a fucking miracle it didn’t shatter. “Zurie?”

Ataraxus’ eyes dipped to where my lips were parted, and I didn’t miss how his pupils flared wide. Again, my logical mind admonished me as my body arched ever so slightly towards him as he curled a finger under my chin.

My heart thundered in my chest in anticipation.

Gods, when was the last time I’d been kissed?

Instead of kissing me, the male gently closed my mouth before brushing a thumb over my bottom lip. The action proved to render me equally stunned. And aroused.

Ataraxus’ nostrils flared, bestowing me with that luminous grin again before he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my forehead in a way that seemed so familiar it stole my breath. His words were murmured in a low voice against my forehead. “This is Kismet, Mareina, and you make it all worth it.”

Sometime later, we reached a large set of stone doors, and Ataraxus turned to me, wearing a look that didn’t suit him. He gave me a sheepish grin, only one dimple making an appearance, as he opened the doors to reveal a beautifully appointed bed chamber that boasted a thermal bathing pool in a far corner.

My eyes stuttered as they landed on… a grand piano?

“The drakonati build pianos in hell?”

Ataraxus chuckled. “Not in this hell, unfortunately.”

My brows lifted. “Sooo…”

“So I stole it.”

“From who?”

Ataraxus smirked. “Azrael.”

My head tipped back in a surprised laugh. “How wildly endearing.”

This male bargained with Azrael to kidnap you, my rational mind unhelpfully provided as my intuition batted the thought away.

Ataraxus gave me a feline grin. “You have a choice…,” he announced from beside me as I took in the warm setting. A live, crackling hearth illuminated the space, decorated with furs, red and gold artfully woven rugs, and a bed pallet that looked cozy enough to die in.

A choice…

As far as I could remember, that was perhaps the first time in my entire fucking life that anyone had ever actually given me a choice instead of attempting to force their will upon me. And despite the fact that logic would tell me to kill, something inside my already aching heart blossomed just for him.

He dared a glance at me. “You can either bathe in here, in the privacy of my room, or you can choose the far less appealing option of utilizing the communal baths. Admittedly, they are quite stunning and perhaps more elaborate than this, and I understand if you feel safer amongst a crowd.”

My brows pinched with something very near disbelief. I’d had countless males attempt to force themselves on me. A handful of which had succeeded when I was hardly more than a youth before I’d gained the skill and knowledge of how to protect myself…

Never had a male so brazenly given me a choice.

I trained my features neutral even as my heart swooped like a butterfly against the winds of a storm. “And… if I were to choose to bathe here in your rooms…”

Ataraxus’ heated gaze held mine, belying his longing.

My heart pounded violently as I found the courage to finish my sentence. “… and asked you to join me…”

He hesitated for several moments, studying each and every one of my features like they held the answers to life’s great mysteries.

“I would deny you nothing, Mareina.”