Emergence

Chapter Four

Sunlight slanted across the bed from the wall of glass stretching the length of the bedroom. I groaned and turned away. The suite had cost me a small fortune, but the tint simply didn’t work. Every morning, fierce heat and light woke me as it struck my pillow.

Twisting in the wide bed, I grabbed another pillow and dropped it on my face. The cool darkness brought a sigh…and something else. A scent, warm, spiced, the lingering trace of the man who had shared my bed.

I jerked upright. The bedroom stood empty, silent, and my heart squeezed. Had he slunk off into the night? I fell back into the deep softness of the mattress and dropped the pillow back on my face. Under it, I scrubbed my hands over my face and tried to believe that his not being in my bed made leaving him so much easier.

I had my few hours of luxury before an envoy came for me…so I planned to soak in the decadent round bath until I wrinkled. My gut twisted. The heels of my palms pressed into my eye sockets, and I let out a string of quiet curses. Nothing, not even the thought of the envoy, dulled the memory of Kaden-I shivered with vivid memory-and his mythoi finding every single one of my body’s sweet spots.

I expelled a slow breath. At least the memories would keep me warm through the long days of scouring the land and seas for pockets of power the dragons harnessed with their seal. I threw the pillow to the floor and kicked the sheets back with more anger and frustration than I intended. Sunlight splashed across my warm, naked skin, and I stretched, finding little kinks and unexpected stitches…but it was time to put my stranger from my mind. Our night was over.

I rolled off the bed and planted my feet in the deep carpet. My toes curled, digging in. I had to face the new day, but all I wanted to do was curl up in the wide bed and imagine Kaden was wrapped around me, hot, strong and simply mine.

I pushed myself up and padded through the long dressing room to the bathroom. Soft light eased away the darkness, and the air brushed damp and warm against my skin. He’d showered. The hint of expensive cologne lingered. Even though it was a brand provided by the hotel, I knew, breathing it in, that Kaden wore it.

I gritted my teeth. Now I was being annoying. I’d had my fun-more than my fair share of it-and it was time to forget it and him. “ Bath. Optimum temperature.” The rush of hot water filled the room, and I found myself at one of the sinks, staring into the large, bright mirror.

I dragged at a tired-looking cheek. The time above the mirror said just after eight…which probably meant I’d had about three hours of solid sleep. A soft laugh escaped me. I reached for my toothbrush, leaned against the cool sink and used the brush to scour my teeth. I spat and rinsed. Time to lose an hour in hot water and bubbles.

I sank into the bath, sighing as the water lapped over my skin. Steam rose into the cooler air. I let my head fall back, my eyes closing. A sigh escaped me. I tried to let my thoughts float, to find nothingness, but they drifted to thoughts of the First Dragon. His envoy would find me and haul me before my new master, who would want to look over his latest acquisition. I snorted as I soaped my body. I was certain he’d be unimpressed. A gryphon had bred with a human. Diluting the gryphon breed was severely frowned upon, or so my father had told me. It was why he’d had charge of bringing me up, after all.

I sank beneath the water, running my fingers through the tangles of my hair. The action broke my thoughts. No, I could change nothing about my future anymore than I could escape the mythoi bound into every cell of my body.

I shampooed and dunked before I erupted from the hot water, gasping for air and wiping my eyes clear.

“Happy birthday, Jaime.”

I yelped, thrashing through the water to stare at the man standing in the open doorway. Kaden. My heart leapt, my pulse spiking with the raw excitement of seeing him. He hadn’t left-then what he said hit me. I frowned. I was positive I hadn’t shared that piece of information with him. “Happy birthday?”

Water sloshed as I turned to follow his progress into the room. The soft light played into the smooth darkness of his hair and over an expensive suit he hadn’t been wearing the day before. I blinked. And it really wasn’t fair. He looked…edible. I swallowed and tried not to see the glorious pulse of his shadow, the nebulous stretch of wings I knew were achingly soft and would brush against my skin with cool promise.

I ran a hand over my wet hair. “Did you charge that suit to my room?”

Kaden leaned back against the long mahogany shelf built around the two sinks. His eyes narrowed. “You don’t have any money.” His lips lifted, but it wasn’t a smile, and my chest hollowed. Something had shifted, and I didn’t know what. The first threads of panic ran through me. “Why would I drag you further into debt?”

I sank into the water, the rim of the bath hiding my nakedness from him. “I’m not in debt.”

“No. But all of your assets became the property of Lord Sinon.” He glanced around at the smooth, gleaming marble lining the walls of the bathroom. “Is there something you’re hiding from him?”

The threads of panic thickened and coiled in my gut. Had he played me? Was his name not on the register because it was a false one? Because the man and the mythoi shadow who had pleasured me so thoroughly was a dragon? I wiped a shaking hand over my wet face. The old newspaper photographs had been blurred, grainy. Was he…? “You’re Lord Sinon.”

Kaden’s feature’s hardened, and he pushed himself away from the sink. His shadow sharpened, forming a vast arc of wings and talons that dimmed the room’s soft light. “What?”

Thoughts raced through my brain. How the hell was I supposed to address the First Dragon? My father had never been rigorous in instilling the precise etiquette of the more powerful mythoi. I fixed my gaze on the white enamel of the bath and willed my heart to ease. Barely minutes into my service to him and I’d already screwed it up. “I’m sorry, Lord. I didn’t mean to offend-”

His fingers gripped my chin, jerking my face up to his. Something flickered in his gaze. Anger and another emotion I couldn’t name. “Do I look like a dragon to you?”

Fury and resentment burned under his words, and I could only stare at him, reluctant to answer. But it seemed he expected me to say something. “I don’t know what you are, Lord.” Kaden’s mouth thinned, and I tried not to remember how he’d kissed my mouth, my neck, my throat… I sucked in a breath, and my eyes burned. “Lord, I-”

“I am not a lord.” His voice, low, restrained, did little to ease the fear tightening my belly. “If you address me as such I will have no choice but to give you to my master’s enforcers. They will beat the proper responses into you.”

What the hell had happened to him? He wore the same face as the man I’d slept with, the man who’d held me so fiercely I thought I’d break. “Kaden…”

“I’m the envoy, Jaime. Remember that.” He released my chin and stood back. He ran a hand over his hair, his eyes fixed on the floor. A muscle pulled hard in his cheek. “Now get out.”

“Turn around.”

His soft laughter ran a shiver through me. It sounded…normal…after that strange burst of anger. He tilted his head. Amber eyes fixed on me, and the first flare of desire warmed them. “Why would I do that?” He drew in a breath, his gaze following my body under the clear water. “I’ve done a lot more than look.”

He didn’t affect me. He didn’t, so it was the cool air that made my nipples peak. “That was last night. This morning I’m delivered goods.”

Kaden held my gaze for a long moment, and my heart pounded. Whatever was going on with him, I didn’t understand. Was he angry at me or at himself? Then he turned on his heel and presented me with his broad back.

I pressed my wet hands to my face and held down a groan. I’d just spent the night with the First Dragon’s envoy. My gaze flickered over him. I hated that he was beautiful, that my gryphon still appreciated the indefinable power of the man. “Did you plan it?” I winced. I hadn’t meant to speak, but the question found its way out of my mouth anyway. Anger curled in my stomach. All his lies worked through my memory. Hell, the bastard had made me feel sorry for him. “Have a lot of fun at my expense?”

Kaden pulled in a breath, his shoulders lifting. “Get out and dry yourself.”

I pushed myself up and stepped gingerly onto the stone-tiled floor. Cool air prickled my skin, and I shivered. The towels were stacked on heated rails, and I quickly wrapped one around my body, tucking it over my breasts. I wrapped another around my dripping hair and felt marginally warmer. The bitterness at what Kaden had done was still a sour burn in my mouth. “And that’s all the answer I’m going to get?”

“Neither of us will discuss what happened.”

I gripped his arm, yanking him around to face me. “Are you fucking with me?” A cynical laugh escaped me. “Again?”

“Last night.” The muscles in his jaw flexed, but the hard gold of his eyes didn’t flicker. “Last night was what it was. This morning, I’m a menial to the First Dragon of the British Isles, and you’re his property. We both belong to him.”

“That’s my answer? You screw me seven ways and this is simply the eighth?”

“I didn’t plan…” His fingers hovered so close to my cheek I could feel their heat, almost feel the light pressure of his fingertips against my skin. My chest hurt. Anger and now this. What was he playing at? “I had to ensure that my master’s latest acquisition made it to him in one piece.”

“So you picked me up and kept me occupied. Nice.”

I pushed past him and padded into the long rectangle of the dressing room. Mirrors reflected me back, the reddening of my skin from the hot water and the flushed pink of my cheeks from the desire I had to seriously harm Kaden Rhodes. A door of the wardrobe slid open at my touch, the first of drawers it hid easing towards me. I pulled out underwear, and the drawer closed.

I wriggled my way into my underwear and dropped my towel to the carpeted floor. The rail held the last of my clean clothes, the ones I’d bothered to unpack, anyway. I’d wanted to make a good impression on the envoy…and that idiotic fact made me laugh as I took the smooth skirt from its hanger.

“Did your father teach you nothing?”

I looked up from buttoning the skirt over my hip. If he was going to be shitty, then so was I. “Such as?”

Kaden blew out a quiet breath. “This isn’t a game.”

“Then what the hell is it?” I yanked out the black silk top, shook the towel free from my hair and pulled the top over my head. “You knew exactly who I was.”

“Your breakfast is waiting.” He strode into the sitting room with obviously no plan to discuss anything about what we’d done. My gut cramped. And I thought my morning had been a disaster at Kaden’s leaving me without a word. Yes, his still being in my suite was so much worse.

I wiped a hand over my eyes, denying that they burned. He hadn’t hurt me. Pulling in a deep, calming breath, I straightened my shoulders. So what if I’d had sex with him? I’d enjoyed it. And so what if it wouldn’t happen again? Even if Kaden had fallen to his feet and professed undying love, Lord Sinon would never allow the relationship and it would cost us our lives to defy him.

I rolled those thoughts over and over in my head, willing them to sink in. It didn’t help that Kaden had opened the long expanse of glass that looked out onto the wide, wooden terrace. A sharp breeze from the river whipped through the room, ruffling his hair as he leaned against the open frame, a mug in his hand and his profile gilded with sunlight. He was beautiful…and power flowed from him. This man was a menial to the First Dragon? How impossibly powerful was Lord Sinon if a man like Kaden called him master?

That unnerving question forced me to sit at the table and pour myself a steaming cup of tea. I stirred in a thick run of milk. Sipping it, I let its heat ease the tight ache in my chest. Yes, I’d be a fool to antagonize such a powerful dragon. My gaze fixed on the man at the window. Almost-whispers in my mind and a rise of warmth that had nothing to do with the tea in my hand told me my gryphon stirred. She watched Kaden and gloried in him. To her, the defiance would be worth it.

I willed my gaze away and focused on the arrangement of dishes, food that forced my stomach to knot. But he hadn’t declared anything. I was a project to be kept occupied. Nothing more. No, Kaden Rhodes wasn’t worth losing my life over. And that knowledge hurt a lot more than it should.