Dalton, Tymber - Fire and Ice [A Triple Trouble Prequel] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (4 page)

The blond one said, “I am Stribog. I hereby pledge allegiance to the death to King Elsleng.”

The dark one followed. “I am Svarog. I hereby pledge allegiance to the death to King Elsleng.”

Stunned, the king took Stribog’s sword and touched the tip to one shoulder, then the other. “I hereby accept your allegiance and decree you to be a knight of my kingdom.” He repeated it with Svarog. “Now stand, both of you. I wish to see proof of your claims of being dragons.”

The men shared a glance. They quickly disrobed and, with a shocked gasp from the other knights, they shifted into dragons before them. Stribog turned into a beautiful bluish-green dragon with a long neck and tail. He lowered his head to the floor, at the king’s feet.

The king smiled, then laughed. Svarog, now a reddish-orange dragon of stouter build, followed suit. “I see what I see.” He looked at his other knights. “Do my eyes deceive me?”

Stunned, the other knights slowly shook their heads.

“Return to us, my two newest knights!”

The dragons shifted back into their human forms and began dressing.

“So now,” the king said, “the question is, do the rest of your kind, and other shifters, pledge allegiance to me as well?”

“We can speak for the dragons when we say yes. We do not speak for other shifters, but it is our understanding that they wish no humans harm. They only wish to live their lives in peace. They will ally with humans and other shifters against the cockatrice threat. There are more on the way, and they can speak for themselves when they arrive.”

“Very good then. I hereby decree that from this day forward, unless proven to have committed a crime, no shifter except a cockatrice shall be molested by humans. They shall be allowed to live in peace as long as they are living peaceably.”

The knights nodded.

* * * *

Zachary and Zaria were quietly talking in their chamber when her maid knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Zaria called.

The woman walked in, her head bowed. “Beg your pardon, but your father wishes you both to join him in the large drawing room.”

The two exchanged a glance. “Both of us?” Zachary clarified.

“Yes, sir.”

A chill settled over his soul. “We will be right there,” he said.

The maid curtsied, then left them.

Zaria looked frightened. He hated that. He wanted her to feel nothing but joy and love in her life.

He also hated that he felt frightened. Tales of more massacres had filtered to them through the servants’ whispered discussions in the scullery and back corridors. How much truth could be found in the stories had yet to be determined.

He grasped her hands in his and squeezed, raising them to his lips to kiss them. “My sweet, beautiful Goddess. I love you.”

She smiled. Their usual ritual, even though they both knew their love would never take flesh in this life. “I love you, too, Zachary. I always will.”

He nodded. “In every life.”

“In every heart.”

“Forever,” they whispered together.

He helped her stand. “Come. We cannot keep the king waiting.” Arm in arm, they headed out the door to whatever fate awaited.

* * * *

She’d never seen so many of her father’s knights gathered in one place before. Not even at the annual games.

That they all bore identically grim expressions didn’t bode well.

She squeezed Zachary’s hand more tightly. “Father? You summoned us?”

He nodded and walked over to them, standing behind them, his hand on each of their shoulders. “We are suffering from dire times, my child. Many of the prophecies are finally coming to fruition. There is evil advancing across our lands.” He lifted his hand from her shoulder and motioned two strangers over.

She stared, entranced by the handsome men. One, with blue eyes, blond hair, and a fair expression. The other, exact in build, but with swarthy skin, amber eyes, and brown hair. Her heart fluttered at the sight of them. She’d never seen men so handsome before.

The two men dropped to one knee before her and bowed their heads. “The Goddess, Zaria,” they said together.

With a speed she never knew he possessed, Zachary drew the sword from the scabbard of the knight closest to them and stepped between her and the two strangers, with the point of the sword at the throat of the fair one. He also seemed to have grown nearly a foot in height.

“You get no further,” his voice boomed, “unless you prove to me you are the ones.”

Neither stranger moved, but the fair one spoke. “We follow our prophecy, Watcher.”

“Do you promise to protect her?”

The darker one spoke without looking up. “With our lives. We swear it.”

“Then say it. Speak the words of the prophecy.” He pulled the tip of the sword back so both men could look up at her.

Her heart melted. With a set of blue eyes and a set of amber eyes both impaling her soul, the men spoke in unison.

“Forever in our hearts, eternity in our soul, our one and true we shall cherish and love and defend. Everything we have and are, is yours. But this we swear, our love will never waver, and we will protect you forever and forever, with our lives, we swear to you we will.”

She suddenly felt faint, swooning. Somehow, without losing his sword, Zachary caught her with one arm and kept the strangers away from her.

With her arms draped around his neck, she met his gaze, which suddenly appeared very, very sad. “What happened?” she whispered. “Who are these men?”

He handed the sword off to her father and caressed her cheek. “The prophecy must be followed.” He kissed her forehead. “In every life.”

She closed her eyes and realized that her future lay with these two strangers. Already, the pull of the two strangers in her soul couldn’t be denied. “In every heart,” she responded.

“Forever,” they both said.

Zachary made sure she was steady on her own feet and motioned the two men closer. “What are your names?” he asked.

Neither man looked at Zachary, their eyes only on her. She realized she couldn’t take her eyes off of them, either. Both were stunningly handsome, and taller than her by nearly a head.

“Stribog,” the fair one replied.

“Svarog,” the swarthy one said.

Zachary took her hands in his, and with a final, tender squeeze, he placed her hands in theirs.

The breath rushed from her. It felt…so right. In a different way than Zachary being with her all the time.

She looked at Zachary. He nodded. “It is the prophecy, Goddess.” He stroked her hair, then spoke to the men. “She will take you to her chambers.”

“But where will you sleep, Zachary?” she cried. She’d never spent a night apart from him. The thought frightened her a little, although a new feeling of pleasant anticipation grew deep within her at the thought of these two men being her husbands.

“I will find other quarters. I will have the maid move my things. These are your men, as the prophecy said. If we are all to live, if our race is to survive, then we must follow our fate.”

He turned to the king. “Sire, call the abbot in to bless their union.”

The king looked shocked. “
Their
union? Surely you can’t mean
—”

Zachary stepped in close. “Sire, are you saying you will defy Baba Yaga and the prophecies and condemn us all?”

All the knights’ discontent grumblings over the latest development immediately silenced.

Zaria fell silent, too. That Zachary dared to stand up to her father surprised her most of all. He seemed different, changed. Hardened.

Her father’s gaze narrowed. Then he slowly nodded. “Aye, you are right, Zachary. We were warned of this.” He looked at her. “Daughter. Take these two men to the antechamber hence.” He motioned to a small doorway off to the right that she knew led to his private sitting area. “Talk with them. In ten minutes, I will summon you to give me your decision. You alone have the final say.”

This was racing too fast. “Wedding? To them both?” She studied all the faces surrounding her and felt the world go black as she fainted.

Chapter Four

Zaria came to in Zachary’s arms, aware that she was lying upon the chilly flagstones. “What happened?” she asked.

Zachary stroked her face. “You fainted, Goddess.”

Stribog and Svarog anxiously looked down at her as Zachary helped her sit up. “I’m all right.”

Her father, now standing with the frowning abbot, spoke up. “We need to settle this, Zaria. Are you truly all right?”

She nodded. “I’m fine.” She looked at her two suitors again as Zachary helped her to her feet. “I think we need to go talk.”

Zachary kept his arm around her waist until he guided her out of the room and into her father’s chair in the antechamber. The two dragons hesitated at the doorway. When Zachary tried to step away, she held fast to him.

“I love you,” she whispered. “I do not want to lose you.”

He sadly smiled and stroked her cheek. “I love you, too, Goddess. But there are prophecies to heed.” He knelt in front of her. “Do not fear what your heart tells you. Follow it. Do not worry about me. I will always be here for you. In every life.”

She sadly smiled. “In every heart.”

“Forever,” they whispered together. He stood and kissed her on the forehead. Then he walked to the door and motioned the two dragons in before he stepped out, shutting the door behind him.

She nervously looked at the two dragon shifters. What should she say?

They knelt in front of her, staring up at her in wonder and love. “Goddess,” Svarog said, “we never believed the prophecies until we saw you in the flesh. Please believe it when we say we love you.”

Stribog nodded. “Absolutely. We are rarely in agreement on anything. On this, we agree. You complete us.”

She’d never been with a man before, and yet here were the two most handsome men she’d ever laid eyes upon, and they wanted her. “I’m scared,” she whispered.

They both nodded. “So are we,” Svarog admitted. “We are afraid you will refuse us.”

“What? No! Why would I refuse you?”

“Because we’re dragons,” Stribog said. “We are not humans.”

She shook her head. “That doesn’t matter to me.” She opened her arms to them and they both laid their heads in her lap. She stroked their hair. Stribog’s blond hair was slightly wavy. Svarog’s straight, dark hair felt softer, finer.

A warm wave of energy seemed to wash off the two men, a loving glow she wanted to spend the rest of her life basking in. This felt right.

“I have never been with a man before,” she bashfully admitted.

Both men looked up, smiles on their faces. “We will have fun teaching you,” Stribog gently said.

The men looked up at her. She kissed Stribog, then Svarog. As she looked into their loving eyes, a sense of peace the likes of which she’d never before experienced settled over her. This was her fate.

These men were her fate.

In their hands, they held the future of their people.