Kim Knox - Emergence

“Amanda.” Kaden cut into her sing-song tour-guide speech. “This isn’t necessary.”

“It’s the lady’s first visit to London -”

“Amanda…”

The hard undercurrent to his voice peaked my nipples, and I practiced keeping my face calm, serene even, as a pool of heat liquefied low in my belly.

“As you wish, Kaden. Coming in to land. Five minutes. Please, keep your harnesses secured until the engine cuts.” She paused and finished with a sarcastic little, “Thank you.”

A soft laugh escaped me. “Not very deferential.” I lifted an eyebrow. “To either of us.”

“Amanda normally ferries me and humans. We’re more…lax…in our expectations.”

We dropped now, little more than a hundred metres above the glistening Thames. And damn, it was still too high for my nerves. The car flowed into the stream of layered traffic swarming high over the capital city, passing over Southwark and then London Bridge.

We banked left. My heart lodged in my throat. The glass and steel latticework shell of Wormwood Tower, home to the First Dragon for nearly a hundred years, gleamed in the morning sun. Diamond panes of glass glittered sharply, and I winced, the pain cutting deeper than my eyes. It was real now. Completely real. And I could see no way out. None.

I pulled in tighter and tighter breaths, and my skin flushed. Damn it, I couldn’t breathe…

Kaden’s hand covered mine, warm, dry, steady, and the contact calmed me, eased the panic from my body. I closed my eyes, feeling the car pull harder to the left. Willing myself to open my eyes, I found only the twisting roads of the City of London, the heart of financial London, huddling as close to the First Dragon as it could.

The vibrations of the engine changed, roughened, and the bright sunlight cutting through the car dimmed. We passed diamond lattice frames. With a soft thump, the car landed and the engines died. The silence pressed hard against my ears.

I had to move. There was no getting away from what we’d done. I looked at Kaden’s hand over mine. I wouldn’t want to. My trembling hand gripped the harness buckle and pressed. Yes, Lord Sinon, if he realised, would order my execution. I crushed the swift, terrifying surge of panic, working the strength of my gryphon into keeping me strong. “I don’t regret this, Kaden.”

His soft laughter warmed me, and he squeezed my fingers. “I wanted longer.”

The door groaned and lifted, Kaden sliding his hand away. I missed the comforting contact.

He climbed out first, straightened his jacket and ran a hand over his tie. I followed, my boots echoing dully against the granite floor. The car had landed in an angled bay that looked out through the curve of glass to the city far below. I lifted my chin and tugged at the hem of my jacket.

Time to face the First Dragon.

“This way, Lady Jaime.”

Amanda waved me towards a long, black granite desk behind which sat two pure karkadanns. Their shadows stretched thin and nebulous over the ridged wall behind them. Innocuous, barely a trace of their true selves. Yes, they were already ancient when they pressed themselves onto this reality.

My boots echoed on the pale granite floor, and I willed myself to keep my pace even, too aware that Kaden followed me, his expensive shoes clicking. Sunlight cut across the surface of the long desk and gleamed over the Karkadanns’ white-gold, intricately braided hair, the styles a mirror of the other. Cool, professional perfection, their carved beauty was a perfect foil to any approaching the inner lair of the First Dragon. Plus the fact that they could rip off your face and eat it in a blink of an eye.

My gut went into spasm, and I was glad to stop. I curled my fingers into white-knuckled fists for a brief second. I swallowed, my throat tight. “Jaime Dalton.”

Two pairs of pale blue eyes assessed me and found my recently-fucked appearance lacking. I resisted the need to run my hand over my hair.

“Your summoning papers.” The karkadann’s cool voice shot a shiver over my skin.

I held down a low groan. Though at that moment, my crumpled documents would stop the suspicious wrinkling of their noses. I stank of sex, and their refined senses had started to pull that knowledge from the air. I unfolded gold-covered paper on the granite surface, the heavy leaf crackling. The karkadanns glared at the offending paper. With a sneer, one reached out a pale, delicate hand and slid it towards her.

Her palm smoothed it, the other mythoi watching me with cold, hard eyes. “It’s genuine. If somewhat…maltreated.”

“ Rhodes.” The first woman fixed her gaze on Kaden. “Lord Sinon will see her now.”

“Thank you.” He gave a short nod. His hand briefly touched my elbow, and I held down a jolt.

I moved away from the reception desk on automatic, guided by Kaden around the curve of the silver-rippled walls to the mirror-doored lifts. The doors slid back as we approached, revealing a circular interior, brightly lit and as gleaming as the doors. Kaden squeezed my elbow before he walked me into the lift. All right, I had to stay quiet and calm in there too.

I turned and stared at my image reflected back at me. I held down a wince. The stark light cut down across me, showing my blonde hair in a tangled mess and my face bleached white and makeup-free. The gentle surge of the rising lift made me sway. “I need to tidy up a little.”

“Yes, lady,” he murmured.

The lift stopped and the doors slid open with a soft, mechanical hiss. Diamond shapes of sunlight patterned the black granite floor, and yet another wall of rippled silver stretched ahead of us, following the curve of the tower. I put one foot in front of the other and followed the pattern. The City of London spread out below me, a chaotic jumble of ancient and modern, with the layered streams of cars circling far from the tower. My vertigo hit me, and I sucked in a calming breath. Stupid fear of heights. I winced. No, it wasn’t so much heights as an absolute terror of falling.

I glanced up, squinting at the roof to fight the fear that threatened to have me clinging to the nearby wall. The curve of the steel supports deepened, and the thick ring running at floor level proved we were on the top floor of Wormwood Tower.

The dragon’s lair. My father’s joke. It didn’t help right then.

It was insane. My being here, what I had done by mating with Kaden. My gut cramped, and sweat stuck the silk of my top to my spine…yet still my feet took me forward, towards my meeting with Lord Sinon.

“Here.”

Kaden’s voice stopped me short, and I pulled in a breath. The door in the silver wall eased back, and he handed me my case, his eyes always downcast. Even his shadow, glorious with ancient power, hugged to Kaden’s body, barely showed. The pain of who he had to be in this bloody place stabbed at me, and my gryphon stirred. I soothed her and turned away. The door slid shut behind me.

Black floor tiles gleamed, reflecting the line of spotlights in the white ceiling. The air was cool, fresh with a light hint of citrus. Thankfully, no attendants loitered by the gleaming porcelain sinks, and I dropped my case to the floor with a dull clunk. Mirrors reflected me along one wall, a tall woman in a sleek suit, who looked too pale and drawn. I turned away from the image, opened my case and pulled free fresh underwear and my makeup bag.

Within minutes, the woman who stared back at me from the long wall of mirrors wore a mask of calm perfection that could rival the karkadann. And it was a mask. My heart beat hard and fear twisted tight in my gut. I’d washed and perfume clung to my skin. It probably wasn’t enough to fool Lord Sinon, but it could keep me alive a little longer. I hoped.

Kaden was waiting for me outside. A hint of relief flickered through his gaze before he suppressed it. He took the case, his fingers brushing against mine in a brief heart-stopping contact. “This way, lady.”

We walked side by side. Each step felt leaden, and I concentrated on the slow pull of breath into my body, exhaling and drawing the cool, spice-scented air into my lungs again. Kaden’s scent touched me, the hint of him soothing under the sharp soap.

The curve of the corridor stopped, and my feet rooted to the black granite slabs. The vast space of the top of the tower hit, open to the wide blue skies and a view that stretched to the horizon. My heart leapt to my throat. I was too bloody high. Sweat edged my hairline. Kaden put his hand to my elbow, and I stumbled forward. I ripped my gaze from the open glass to the desk that cut across the view.

Seated behind the curved, wooded desk and glaring at me was Lord Sinon, First Dragon of the British Isles. He looked up from the web of information flowing in a stream over his desk. Power shrouded him, his shadow a dark mist against the clear glass.

My mouth dried. I’d seen him in old files I’d dug out when my summons arrived. But those images hadn’t aged well, and the First Dragon was notoriously private. His human sheath was a tall, lean, older man with short silver hair and immaculate suit, holding an ethereal beauty common to all dragons. And he’d always looked that way; even the clippings from the Victorian archives had captured glimpses of his beauty.

He looked away from the glittering stream of data. His eyes, dark and endless, held mine.

Heat flooded my face. The hatred in his gaze was almost palpable. I was so screwed.

Kaden pulled at my elbow, and I dropped to my knees, holding down a wince as my kneecaps hit unforgiving granite. He knelt beside me, his head bowed, his neck exposed. I quickly followed his example, my hair falling in a curtain over my face.

Lord Sinon’s chair scraped back against the floor, rubber dragging against the slabs. The jarring sound shuddered through me. “This is her.”

I bit my lip, keeping my mouth silent. He hadn’t asked a question for me to answer. The click of his heels marked his long strides towards us. My heart beat louder, faster in my ears, and everything screamed in me to run, escape, hide, maybe he wouldn’t find me, maybe Kaden and I could-

“What’s this?” His hard hand cupped my chin, jerking it up. He was a dragon to his core, holding a fierce, ancient beauty that stopped my breath. “What mythoi’s had you?” He frowned, his mouth thin, and I fought to keep the fear under control, not let it show on my face, in my body. “ Rhodes.” His hand snapped away, and I stopped myself from sagging. “You were under orders to keep her from mating.”

“I did, Lord.”

“Really.” A fierce undercurrent cut through his smooth, cultured voice, and I tried not to shiver. “Someone’s stink is all over her, and her gryphon’s fire is…tainted.”

I risked a look at him through my hair. He glared down at a still bowing Kaden, but his chin had lifted and he pulled in the air around him in deepening breaths.

“Teuthras is pushing at my empire. Mine. Contesting my right to harvest energy from mythoi found on my shores. I need every gryphon. Human spawned or not.” He pulled in a harsh breath and exhaled it on a growl. “And she, she’s gilded, been touched, mated with another gryphon.” His dark gaze fixed on Kaden. “With…you.”

Fury burned in his voice now, and I bit hard at the inside of my cheek. Tears stung. Shit. But we knew the likelihood of our surviving was practically nil. Knew it, but the reality was a sharp knife in my gut. Lord Sinon yanked Kaden to his feet, and I bit back a yelp. Panic ran hot under my skin, and my gryphon reared, desperate to defend her mate. I willed her back. If I remained calm, the dragon might spare Kaden.

“Did you think you could fuck one of my gryphons?” Lord Sinon’s mythoi shadow, vast, ancient, burned behind him, sharpening into a terrifying beast, wings arched into the curved, glass ceiling. His fingers dug hard into Kaden’s arms, but my mate didn’t resist, didn’t hold his master’s gaze. Just stood silent, firm. “Take my asset and render her useless?”

Kaden lifted his chin and met his master’s hard gaze. “I forced her.”

My stomach turned over. He was sacrificing himself for me. My hands clenched against my thighs. This was wrong. Completely wrong.

“Forced her?” Lord Sinon lifted a dark eyebrow, his eyes glittering. The air changed, a sharp metallic charge burning against my tongue. Shit. Shit. Shit. My gut cramped as I watched the first ripple of scales grow along his neck and edge his jaw. The fingers gripping Kaden lengthened, knuckles distended and black talons replaced manicured nails. “What kind of idiot do you think I am?” Muscles thickened in his arms, his suit stretching to accommodate his transforming body. “You can’t force a gryphon to mate.”