Tempting The Dark King [Enchanted World Series Book 2]

Chapter 3

A small whimper escaped her lips as she hid her face on the space between Rhol's neck and shoulder. Bouts of tears overtook her as she imagined how disappointed the Lord Mage would be with her. She didn't get to talk to her mate the way she wanted to. She was so disappointed.

Rhol's tattoos whimpered with her and caressed her lightly as if they tried to sooth her. Rhol himself was so still she wondered if he was still there with her.

Her questions were answered when she felt the thick hand go up into her hair and caress the white locks with incredible tenderness. He started moving, his heavy boots knocking with purpose on the marbled floor. He never let her go and Lyrah didn't loosen the tight grip she had around his neck. If she did, she was afraid she would sever the contact with his tattoos that seemed to have a mind of their own. They touched her face as if to rub her tears away. Some were around her arms and she also felt them on her back. They were warm and comforting and she doubted people could tell where one body started and where the other finished off.

“Bring some hot food and drink to my quarters.” She heard him instruct and frowned.

When she looked up, she discovered she wasn't back home. She was in the black fortress of the Jinn King.

It was breathtaking and magnificent. It was made of what looked like black crystals and they pulsed with power. It was amazing and mesmerizing. She gasped as she looked at the low-hanging crystal chandeliers and the interesting art works around the hallway. She saw several females moved about, some dusting off furniture while other drew the curtains and put on the lights. Her eyebrows arched lightly as the King Jinn took her into the far end of the fortress, up the impressive stairs to a large room that had her dazed for a couple of minutes. 

When the door closed behind him, he didn't release her. He just kept on holding her until the last of the shudders passed through her.

“Are you quite done?” He asked her, his eyebrow arching up in question but Lyrah saw the slight twitch of his lips and that unfamiliar tightening of her gut occurred again.

They were incredible. Her eyes were stuck there for a moment before she recalled what he had asked her. “Aren't you taking me back to my Realm?”

“With the fit you just pulled?” He grunted. “Besides, you are still too weak to travel.”

Lyrah swallowed hard as he placed her softly on his large bed. It had tirk sheets that glowed in different colors depending on the angle to looked at them. Tirk was a very expensive fabric found in the Realm of Water. It looked like fish scales and was very rare to get. “I should apologize for my behavior. I guess I was a little overwhelmed.”

As he moved away, his tattoos hissed in protest at the severed contact. He rolled his shoulders with a snarl and they silenced.

Lyrah, too, felt cold all of a sudden. She rubbed her forearms just as someone knocked lightly on the door. Rhol eyed her and waved his hand on what looked like a fireplace. The fire roared as he went to open the door.

Lyrah heard the clanging of glass-ware and her stomach betrayed her. She bit into her lower lip and hoped that Rhol didn't hear the growling mess. The aroma of food filled the air and she looked away quickly as he placed the tray on one of the stylish tables.

“You shouldn't thank me yet since my plan to take you back to the Realm of Spells still stands.” He turned to her and frowned. “What are you doing here?”

Lyrah's heart stuttered when he looked at her even though he was being very mean to her at the moment. “You never came for the conference--”

Rhol sighed irritably. “I sent my reasons why—and it's a good thing I didn't attend it.”

Lyrah inhaled sharply. “We would have stood a better chance against the dragons if you came.”

Rhol's eyebrow arched up tauntingly. “So, you believe in your mate's abilities to come to your rescue?”

Could a male be more infuriating? Lyrah narrowed her eyes at him. “It wasn't me who needed the rescuing, it was the entire Realm. I think you forgot that I'm a royal blood Mage.” She wasn't gloating but she hated the fact that he was belittling her abilities to defend herself.

“I had more pressing matters right here than play who was most feared with people who don't even give a damn of what is happening around them.” Rhol said softly and cursed out then asked. “Why was Tyran so careless!”

“If you were in his position, you would have done the same thing.” Lyrah found out that she always had the need to defend her brother's actions because she had been there all the time he struggled alone. She had seen him in the worst of states trying to figure out what he could do so that everyone believed him. “The only wrong thing my brother did was to try and defend his Realm, defend his people and what he got from everyone else was nothing but blame, scorn and distrust.”

“And so you decided to travel all the way here to what—persuade me to align with him?” Rhol asked incredulously. “Take a look around, dirani peeta! I think I have enough problems of my own.”

“This is not just about the dragons or Ron.” Lyrah assured him. He must have noticed it too. “I thought it was just about greed and power and there is something else here. You know that too, don't you?”

Rhol walked to the large window on the other side of the room and looked blankly out. He was never going to answer her but Lyrah understood his silence. He knew this was more than just a meaningless war.

Rhol couldn't bring himself to admit it but his little mate was much more intelligent that he thought. He heard the rumors that she could sense things others couldn't and bring back to life what was once thought dead. She was most powerful, as powerful as her brother yet to him she was the most infuriating female he had ever met. He still couldn't shake the feeling that she almost died braving the forests of the Realms of the Dark. He couldn't even imagine what would have happened to her if Herik and his brothers hadn't found her in time.

Holding her in his arms only showed how small and fragile she was. It was like holding a baby, afraid that there were so many things around that could harm her. Why did he get such a mate? They were so incompatible. Where she was light and compassionate he was dark and ruthless. What he needed was a dragon or a phoenix female but not a royal Mage!

His tattoos hissed in protest and he heard the loud gasp that escaped Lyrah's lips. When he turned to her, he noted the terrified look she had and realized he had unleashed his tattoos through his fury. The large black tentacles solidified and scaled the walls around him like snakes moaning eerily and slithering around him like something straight out of a horror movie. He calmed down and his skin rippled as they re-attached themselves on him again.

The tattoos were a Jinn's greatest weapon against an enemy. They were as part of them as an arm or a leg. They were poisonous or soothing when the need arose. When his tattoos went out to comfort Lyrah while she cried, Rhol felt the gesture right to the core. They reflected the purest of emotion and Rhol was terrified when they tried to sooth her. Was that what he felt deep inside?

“It's dangerous for you to be here.” Rhol muttered as he walked to the other side of the room to put some space between them. As he did so, he took in her beauty.

She had a delicate ivory and cream complexion. Her eyes were large and black as the starless midnight sky. Her face was oval and her lips were full, pink and moist. Her silvery-white hair cascaded down her slender shoulders in waves like silk in the moonlight. She was small and delicately boned female but she was curvaceous in all the right places. Her breasts were full and high and he could see the tight n*****s underneath the thin scooped-neck blouse she had on.

Rhol clenched tight fists against him. He could not deny the allure of her but he didn't want her. He didn't want such a weakling as a mate. The faster she healed, the faster she left the fortress.

You could always poof her back home. A voice taunted inside his head. Just like the most powerful Mage, the Jinns could flare from one place to the other disappearing behind the wall of smoke of fire because of their fiery nature. It was a faster and safer way to move around. He could take Lyrah back within a split second but he still had a lot of questions for her....something ticked inside his head.

“You are a royal Mage—why didn't you just flash here? Why take the long way?”

“I have never been to the Realm of the Dark before.” Lyrah assured him.

Rhol hummed lightly and crossed his hands on his chest. Every instinct told him to scoop her off his bed and flash her back home but looking down at her fragile body, she looked much better on his bed than anywhere else. “If the Aryan brothers didn't find you--”

“But they did.” Lyrah cut him short then paused for a moment and Rhol knew what was to come. “How did you protect four Nosferatu for centuries without others finding out?”

He heard the subtle admiration behind her words and wasn't prepared for the warmth it brought into his soul. Rhol remembered the first time he found Herik and his siblings living in the caves like the ghouls.

He took his warriors to scout out the caves closest to the cities to make sure the ghouls didn't bring trouble and he heard a cry like that of a baby. He still remembered the cold terror he felt when he found the baby alone inside a cave that could as well be infested with ghouls. With the way the baby cried it was only a matter of time until the ghouls sniffed her out.

Rhol remembered holding the squirming baby in his arms, her eyes locking with his and her shock and curiosity silencing her wails as she eyed him. For the longest time they stared at each other and at the moment, Rhol was dumb-founded to discovered that it was not a Jinn baby. Herik and his brothers attacked shortly after; Leon using his telepathy to cripple them with high pitch sound waves while Stef bombarded them with emotions of terror and dread. Rhol was disoriented and for a while he wouldn't do anything until he saw Herik's black claws and the white saber-incisors gleaming in the sun as he came in for the kill. They were quite young, just a little out of puberty but their strength was that of a honed warrior. They were no match for an ancient though and Rhol battled the young Nosferatu while he carried the baby in his arms. He wore them out until they couldn't fight anymore then rounded them up and threw them in the dungeon.

He remembered sitting for the longest hours with Eva in his arms. When she cried, one of the helpers fed her or cleaned her but they always returned her to him. She fell asleep several times in his arms and even then he didn't want to put her down. She mesmerized him with her purity and innocence and when she opened her eyes, he saw all the way to her soul and there was nothing more pure to him than this baby. Reluctantly, he had to deal with her brothers. The threat to the king's life was punishable by death. Neither of them knew who he was and when he laid his eyes on them once they realized that, Rhol had never seen so much fear in a living-breathing being. He saw what happened to the Nosferatu when they were captured and knew that the youngsters believed he was going use them for their blood. 

He wanted to let them go so that he never had to see that terror in their eyes again but he knew it was only a matter of time until they were discovered and slaughtered. Instead, Rhol kept them in one of the underground quarters. He fed them and worked slowly to earn their trust. The Nosferatu stayed there for several weeks being taken care of by the helpers. Everyone was sworn to secrecy about their existence.

Instinctively, the Nosferatu thought about running away and hiding from the world but instead, Rhol made a deal with them. He assured them they were free to go but that they would never find a safer place than his fortress especially since everyone feared entering the Realm of the Dark let alone the Black Fortress. He gave them a choice to brave into the world which was foolish or align with him in turn earning his protection.

It wasn't a hard choice for them especially with Eva being so young.

Rhol had never asked anything from them throughout their existence in his Realm and they were comfortably settled in the Shalarian District once Eva was old enough not to need a caretaker. She still maintained her purity even when she was grown. She still mesmerized him and he was ready to fight the entire world to keep her that way.

“Who would dare to tread into the dark forests of the Realm of the Dark to discover such secrets?” He arched his eyebrow at her. She, of course, did but it was by dumb luck that she survived.

Lyrah's lips twitched even in the situation that she was in. “There are rumors of what creeps in the dark forests.”

“And every one of those rumors is true.” Rhol assured her then sighed. “Eat and get some rest. I have business to take of. I wish that you don't roam around the fortress alone. I have guardians that are not—pleasant to unfamiliar faces.”

Rhol saw the spark of terror enter Lyrah's eyes and bit back a laugh. Since everyone thought him dark and dangerous, it was only fair to exploit the traits and use them to his advantage. Lyrah was very safe to roam his fortress but he didn't want her lost. He wanted to know where she was at all times. “Keep the doors locked.” As he spoke, he let dark tendrils of smoke escape around his arms and legs. “I'll see you later, dirani peeta maiyan.”

Lyrah's eyes widened as he disappeared in a whirlwind of black smoke—but not after he managed a wink at her.

Lyrah touched her hot cheeks and breathed in hard. She moved from the large bed and limped over to the door. She clicked the door closed and turned to the untouched tray of food. She was terribly hungry and her bruised leg started aching again. Eva wasn't there to look at it in case she needed to change of bandages and she couldn't go out to look for someone to help her after Rhol's strong warning. With a sigh she settled back on the large bed and pulled the tray over. She could perform a healing session on herself but she would pass out before she even finished it because the energy flow, not only did it suck out the life in her but also sedated the person who it was performed on. She wasn't strong enough to do it so she just had to do with the normal and agonizingly slow process of healing naturally. Lyrah pouted as she bit into the succulent fish fillet. She was strong and neither Rhol nor Tyran could say otherwise.

Tyran shielded her for the most of her life. He protected her and made sure that there was nothing that was out of her reach. At times she tried to understand him because it was just the two of them and like him, she didn't think she could live if something happened to him but Lyrah trusted in her brother's abilities and powers. She believed that he would always find a way out of a tight situation. They were a lot alike yet because she was female and had a smaller body, very little was expected of her.

She got into a lot of trouble and it was one of the reasons why Tyran sent her to the Great Hall but now with conflicts erupting in all parts of the enchanted world, it was dangerous to return there.

Lyrah wondered if he had already found out that she was gone? He must have. Like her, he always sensed when something was wrong though the sense was much stronger in her. Was he already looking for her? She had to work fast if she wanted to be successful with Rhol. He was a difficult male and she didn't have the patience to deal with him but he was the only one who truly believed and understood what was happening. Though it wasn't the best idea to go to him and get him all angry with her, she thought it was the right thing.

After finishing her meal, Lyrah limped around in search for the bathroom and finally found it. It had the biggest bathtub she had ever seen and it was clean and sparkling as if it had never been used. She reached for a clean towel and locked the door behind her. She couldn't resist the temptation of a nice long bath especially after her attack in the woods. Though Eva had cleaned her up and she had a change of clothes, the nauseating smell of evil-tainted blood and flesh still lingered on her like a second skin. She could still hear the horrid screams and the cracking of bones. She could still feel the cold claws raking down her leg. As if in protest, her wound ached to the beating of her heart.

She sighed and pushed the terrifying thoughts aside. She was alive and safe in the Black Fortress. That was all that mattered.

Shedding her clothes, Lyrah ran the taps until the water was just right then stepped into the hot, frothy water and let it work its way into all the aching parts of her body, soothing and relaxing the taut muscles. 

The water caressed every part of her body and it reminded her of the warm violet tattoos that sought out to comfort her when she was in distress earlier. Her face reddened when she remembered the tight grip she had around Rhol's thick neck. His skin was warm and comforting, his scent was pure sin and wicked to the core. He brought out emotions she had never had before which were the primal instincts of a mate.

She didn't want to have those feelings for him especially when he made it very clear that he didn't want her there. She too didn't want to be around him. She only went all that way to try and get him to help Tyran.

How could she live with such an overbearing and infuriating male. He looked down upon her and saw her weak and fragile. He forgot that like him, she was of royal blood and that she was the next in line for the Realm of Spells throne. Did he also ridicule Queen Malenna and the dead Queen Seranis? Lyrah was going to show him that she was as good as the rest of them if not better.