Then again, why was she surprised?
If the legends were true, Morgen had done much worse than that to her family. Especially her brother Arthur. So why she’d expect her to have any compassion for Maddor, she didn’t know.
This was why Medea had no regard for humanity. Why she viewed them as parasites. Their cruelty was truly spectacular and surpassed only by the gods themselves.
Wishing for a better world for all of them, Medea paused in the middle of the woods as she realized everything here looked the same. A person could easily get lost and never find a way out of the forest. Get turned around and walk in circles without ever knowing.
Yet Falcyn navigated the landscape as if he knew exactly where he was headed. “Where are we?”
He gave her a droll smirk. “A dark and enchanted forest.”
She rolled her eyes at his sarcasm. “Uncalled for. Where are we headed?”
“Merlin’s palace. Since it was the last place we discussed, I figure it’s where we’re most likely to find the others.”
“And you know the way … how?”
“While my powers aren’t up to par, I can still feel the heart, as it were, of this place. Can’t you?”
“I thought it was indigestion.”
He snorted. “Yeah, sure you did.”
But he was right. She could feel those sharp, emanating powers. Had he not been with her, she would have avoided them. Not out of fear. Out of respect. One didn’t walk into the den of a sorcerer without knowing what you were getting into.
With no better solution on how to get out of this place, she followed after him again. “So how did you get hooked up with Igraine, of all people?”
“Dragonvane.”
That didn’t make sense to her. “I thought that repelled you guys.”
“Not bane. Vane. It’s a special scent that mixes amber and musk with myrrh. Sadly, we find it as irresistible as a cat with catnip.”
Ah, that explained it. “You were drugged.”
“I promise you, I wouldn’t have slept with her otherwise. While Igraine was highly attractive, I was well aware of how she’d brutally killed her second husband in order to seduce and then marry Arthur’s father. Given her track record of murdering husbands and lovers, I would have never taken a dip into her pool, had I been in my right mind. No woman is that attractive.” He let out a tired sigh. “Makes me wonder what spell she used on Uther Pendragon. I find it hard to believe he’d have succumbed any quicker than I did.”
“At least you’re in good company.”
“Yeah, the Fucked-Over Club. Hooray. That makes it so much better.”
She popped him on the arm.
Shocked, he gaped at her. “You have absolutely no fear of me, do you?”
“Should I?”
“Given my track record? Yeah, you should. I live to make meals off tender morsels like you.”
Scoffing, she walked right up and smirked in his face. “Have you seen my track record, buddy? Between the two of us, you should probably be the one afraid.”
“Now you’re just trying to turn me on.”
“And that does it for you, huh?”
With a wicked grin, he glanced down at the bulge in his jeans. “Apparently.”
Medea blushed as she realized that he wasn’t joking. He really was turned on.
Even worse? She wasn’t offended by it.
Instead, it sent a wave of unexpected desire through her. And another of great curiosity. One that didn’t really bear investigating. Or thinking about, as it led her thoughts into very dangerous territory.
“So how long has it been?” he asked.
“For what?”
A teasing grin curved his lips. “That long, huh? You can’t even remember what I’m asking?”
More heat crept over her cheeks. “It’s been a while. Hard to cozy up to men you know are only one minute away from death. Especially after you’ve already lost your heart and soul—the last of the good ones.” She gave him a gimlet stare. “What about you?”
“I know exactly how long it’s been since I last slept with someone. I wasn’t asking me about me.”
She snorted irritably at his continued sarcasm. “You’re avoiding my question.”
“I know. And I would like to continue avoiding it, as I just had a nasty altercation over this very topic.”
“Meaning?”
He rubbed at his eye. “I was briefly and I do mean b-r-i-e-f-l-y involved with an Amazon dragonslayer.”
She paused to gape at him. “I beg your pardon … are you insane?”
“Yeah, well, in my defense, it worked out well for both my brothers. They’re quite happily married to dragonslayer dragonswans. In my case on the dating front, not so much. She definitely wanted to skin my hide more than climb it. But she’s the only reason I hung around Sanctuary as long as I did.”
“You were trying to work it out?”
“Not really. Even my masochism has its limits. I was getting ready to leave when you showed up.”
Medea didn’t know why, but she felt bad for him. And a little jealous. But in the end, her curiosity got the best of her as she slowed her stride. “So what went wrong?”
“As long as I was in a human body, she was fine. Sadly, I can’t stay in one. Sooner or later, I have to be what I am. And human’s not it. The moment I shifted and Tis was reminded that I’m an animal, she lost her human mind.”
Medea tried to imagine what he must look like as a dragon. It was hard to think of this insanely hot man with scales and claws. To think of him as a massive beast.
Of course, he was massively large in human form, too. Even his hands were gigantic.
Which made her even more curious.…
“So how is it you can shapeshift? I didn’t think a full-blooded drakomai could do that.”
“Most can’t.”
She arched a brow at him. “But…”
This time, he was the one who paused. He turned to look at her as if he wanted to see her expression. “I can shift for the same reason your father can.”
You’re an ass was the first thought she had, but it was quickly followed by the truth.
A truth that slapped her hard.
No …
Her stomach shrank. “You’re a demigod.”
“Technically, I’m a full god who was cursed at my birth.”
Oh yeah, now an ulcer was starting to form. Either that, or she was getting ready to give birth to a diamond, because her stomach clenched hard enough to create one in the pit of her belly. “What?”
“You know,” he said sarcastically. “Both my parents were gods. My mother made a play for the head of her pantheon, and when his wife found out, she reacted as any goddess would. Sadly, my mother’s powers weren’t what she thought them to be, and she learned the hard way how weak she was in comparison to Shyamala.”
Medea furrowed her brow as she tried to follow his explanation. “Shyamala? I don’t know a goddess with that name.”
“Yeah, you do. You just know her by her more contemporary name. Azura.”
Medea felt the blood drain from her cheeks as she made the most horrific connection ever.
If Azura was the goddess who cursed his mother for dabbling with her mate, there was only one male god who could have fathered him.
Holy fucking shit …
“You’re a son of Noir.”
The king god of all evil.