Everlasting Bad Boys. Cynthia Eden

didn’t hit the ground below—for once—and instead shifted midair. “Bastard!” he snarled while hovering outside the window they’d chucked him through.

      “You need to learn to be prepared at all times,” Ailean stated simply before Arranz closed the window.

      “Whatever the truth, Ailean, your princess believes much differently.”

      The brothers quickly walked down the stairs, heading toward the Great Hall and the courtyard.

      “She’s not my anything, so I wish you’d both stop saying it.”

      They made it out into the front courtyard. The two suns hung low and bright as the wintertime inched toward them.

      “You know if you interfere, Ailean, you risk the wrath of the royals.”

      Ailean shrugged as he easily stepped out of the way of Bideven’s swinging tail. “I don’t care. It’s like father used to say: it’s one thing to fuck up your own life—”

      And with a smile the brothers finished the words together, “—but shit all to fuck up another.”

      Shalin, sitting in a field no more than several hundred paces outside Kyffin with her back comfortably resting against a large tree, studied closely the parchments she’d brought with her. Deciphering ancient text remained one of her top skills and one she was woefully behind on. Lately she’d found herself easily distracted with thoughts of a kiss so blindingly intense, she often couldn’t focus for hours.

      Now, however, she’d begun to get back into the swing of things. She had no choice. Ailean had not returned for her and that was best. Time with him would only get her killed. So she threw herself into her work, hoping she’d eventually forget all about him.

      So completely lost in the moment, she didn’t know she wasn’t alone until she heard a low voice say, “You read?”

      She looked up and saw three males in front of her. They all wore black capes, the hoods pulled over their heads. Shalin’s nose twitched. They were dragons in human form. Fully dressed.

      Her nose twitched again—but not dragons of Dark Plains.

      She forced a smile, trying to remain calm. “Aye.”

      “That is a skill we value, dragoness.” The tallest of the three crouched in front of her. She could now see his face and he was…beautiful. She’d always heard the Northland dragons were anything but. They lived in a hard, brutal land and their faces, their bodies, showed that clearly. This dragon bore scars, but nothing that detracted from the natural beauty his body possessed.

      But Shalin was no fool. Although the tenuous treaty had been agreed upon at the end of the last war, the North dragons were still considered dangerous enemies of Shalin’s people and had been for hundreds of centuries. They had no overall ruling body and instead lived in kin-related fiefdoms. Again, just like the Northland humans. And, like the land they came from, they were a brutal lot. Cruel—many said heartless—and Shalin would concur, based on what she’d read.

      “Sweet dragoness, how would you like to come to a land where you’d be appreciated for your intelligence as much as your beauty?”

      She had to admit, that sounded wonderful. Although her “beauty” had never been much revered in Dark Plains but education was hard to come by in the Northlands and they searched for females who could help with that. Just being a beauty meant nothing to the North dragons.

      “That’s very kind, but I don’t want to leave my home.”

      “We waste our time, brother,” one of them snarled. “Let us just—”

      The dragon’s words were cut off when his brother stood and spun so quickly, all the other could do was stumble away.

      “We discussed this, brother. It is my rule you follow on this trip.”

      While the brothers argued, Shalin slowly stood. She knew something was wrong here, she simply didn’t yet know what.

      But she knew no Northland dragon would be this far south without a reason.

      The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand, and Shalin quickly called up spells she could use if necessary.

      The brothers seemed to come to some sort of silent agreement, and the one she’d been speaking to all along faced her again.

      “Sorry for that, Shalin. My brother knows not when to keep silent.”

      Shalin gave herself a moment of calm. She felt the bark of the tree against her back. She could hear crows over her head, talking to each other as they did. She smelled the earth beneath her bare human feet and the warm suns over her head.

      When she knew her voice was steady, she asked, “How do you know my name?”

      Sharp blue eyes watched her closely. “We’ve come for you, Shalin the Innocent. To take you to your new home.” He said it kindly, but Shalin knew if she ran they’d simply drag her back to their lands in chains.

      “Let us show you what we can offer someone like you.” He took a step closer and she had to lean her head back to look at him. “I’ll do all in my power to make sure you never regret coming with us.”

      Shalin swallowed hard, her gaze trapped by his.

      “Brother,” one of his kin said with a chastising tone, “you know the rules. We all get a chance to prove ourselves to the dragoness.”

      “I have not forgotten,” he murmured while staring at her mouth. “I forget nothing.”

      He stepped back from her and held out his hand. “Come, Shalin.”

      Still staring into his eyes, she realized she reached for him. Her hand slipping into his firm, dry grasp…

      And like that, he was gone.

      She watched the dragon knocked across the field by a blast of flame so hot it almost singed off the front of her dress.

      “Battle Dragons!” one of the brothers warned too late and then they began shifting to their dragon form.

      Shalin escaped into the woods, knowing if she didn’t move fast, she could easily be crushed before she could shift. She burst through the trees into another clearing. With a thought, she shifted from human to dragon and took to the air. She’d barely gotten off the ground when another set of strong dragon arms wrapped around her from behind, blocking her wings from fully extending.

      “Got you!”

      She went to spit out a spell until she saw midnight-blue scales on the arms that held her. Shalin looked over her shoulder and started in surprise. “Ailean?”

      “I can explain everything.”

      What kind of greeting is—

      Her eyes widened. “This is your fault, isn’t it?”

      “Why assign blame here?”

      “Wait. What?”

      “No time for answers, dragoness. We have bigger problems at the moment.”

      Northland dragons bursting from the clearing and heading straight for them proved him right.

      Ailean pushed her away. “Fly, Shalin! Toward Kerezik. Go! Now!”

      Shalin did as ordered, turning away from Ailean—barely noticing that the dragon had on his battle armor—and heading toward the land of Kerezik. Although what waited for her in Kerezik, she had no idea.

      The first blast of lightning hit him dead in the chest, knocking Ailean back a hundred feet. Thank the gods for his battle armor. The breastplate protected him from the power of their attack. At least until they went for his head.

      They sent out another blast and Ailean spun to his left. As the purple bastards took in breaths to assault him again, he unleashed a line of flame, hitting the one