51. The Winter Nectar

Rina arrived at the the log cabin where Oliver used to live. It was a place hidden within a marsh, sitting at the edge of King’s Harbor. The area was rarely visited by anyone, and too difficult to navigate.

She had taken a small carriage instead of flying directly there. The skies were heavily monitored by the Royal Garrison; she didn’t want any extra attention from Eros or Dagen.

“Pull over,” she ordered the chauffeur and flipped a gold coin into his hand. “You never took this trip.”

The chauffeur often escorted lords and ladies to several places they didn’t want people to know about. He didn’t even raise an eyebrow. He simply took the coin, then went back the way they came.

Rina walked around a small hill, encircling the marsh, then cut straight on a path that led to Oliver’s cabin.

When the house was in sight, she heard a strange noise echoing from afar. The area was usually restrictively quiet, but now it was rumbling chaotically, like there were many people around.

She stood on to the front wooden steps of the house, the floor creaking as she moved. A stone slipped beneath her foot, and she almost tripped over. With intense curiosity, she snuck around to observe what was happening at the back of the house, which bordered the other side of the hill, overgrown with dense trees.

Astonishingly, Rina saw an entire army of armed wolves camped on the lawn. Pitched tents were everywhere, as far as the eye could see. It was beyond her comprehension. Wolves were forbidden from entering the dragon realm. If a wolf was so much as discovered in the kingdom, they would be sentenced to execution by fire. But camping here, right on the edge of the dragon capital, was too outrageous a provocation to be ignored.

Her surprise quickly transformed into rage. Rina needed to find Remus and ask him what the hell was going on. Without his consent and leadership, werewolves wouldn’t dare enter the kingdom, much less be able to find such a perfect place. *They could easily attack the capital whenever they wanted to!*

She made her way into the house. It was a complete mess, nothing like the standard that Oliver and Remus would require. They were always neat and elegant. Everything needed to be placed exactly as it should be. Their collection of art was haphazardly strewn about, cushions on the floor were covered with wine stains, leftovers sat on the table and chairs, and all the plants were dried out.

Right then, Rina heard an argument from a guest room around the corner. The voices belonged to a couple she was certainly familiar with. She put the diary inside a cabinet drawer in the living room, then slowly walked towards the room, making sure they couldn’t hear her.

“I just can’t stand it anymore!” Oliver anguished, standing beside an open window, “Look at my house! I’m surprised it’s still standing!”

“Lower your voice,” Remus warned, “It’ll soon be over. We’ll make our move later tonight! ”

“I can’t stay here for another minute! You know I need everything to be orderly!” Oliver complained, “And they…” he lowered his voice to whisper, so quiet that Rina could barely hear him, “that werewolf king even put the crossbreed in my suite! I’m still going to have to sleep there after they’ve left!

Remus held Oliver in his arms, consoling him. “Well, you can’t expect him to fuck her out in the open with the others—he’s a king, after all. I promise, after tonight, after the wolves have helped me take the throne and everything’s settled, you can move into the palace with me.”

Oliver rolled his eyes. “Right, like Eros would agree to us being together. There’s no way he’ll give us formal acknowledgment.”

“It won’t matter what he thinks by then, darling.” Remus kissed Oliver on the cheek. “I’ll be king. I’ll decide who I want to be with in the palace. If he tries to stop me… I’m not sure what I'll do to him.”

“Good luck then, I hope it won’t come to that,” Oliver said, “But I really need to go now. This mess is suffocating me. I’m going stay at my sister’s place in the city. Come find me after you’ve accomplished your plan…”

Rina quickly hid away in another room across the hall. She was in no mood to waste her time on small talk with Oliver. He looked rather blankly around his living room, shaking his head in disbelief, then left the house for good.

Just as Rina was prepared to interrogate her brother, the strong, crisp scent of spice hit her as she stood in the room. It was him. She swirled around and saw his drop-dead gorgeous grey eyes. Fenris, second prince of the werewolves, was standing in front of her, leaning against the wall with a wicked smile crossing his lips.

His smile made her breath catch in her throat. Fenris took a step forward, menacingly. “And what are you up to?”

“I want to talk to my brother,” Rina said, hastily backing up. “It’s insulting for you all to camp here in such a…” she couldn’t breath as he took another step closer, “such a blatant way.”

“I agree,” Fenris said, scanning her from the tip of her nose down to her cleavage, “But, dragon princess, there’s nothing you can do. You can’t stop your brother, or what will happen in the palace tonight. ”

Rina swallowed, her heart beating fast, “You don’t know that.”

“Oh, but I *do*. You may only return to the palace when the sun rises.” Fenris traced his fingertip along the side of her thigh, up her hip, then her waist. He took a sip from the flask in his pocket, then kissed Rina, softly.

Rina was completely captivated, incapable of controlling her mind or body. Fenris had just snuck something sweet into her mouth with his tongue. Their kiss suddenly grew passionate, and she had to allow the liquid flow down to her stomach. His scent was enthralling, his skin cold as ice, and his dangerous charm was impossible to resist. Rina began to soberly question what he had made her drink.

She felt her tongue soon go numb from the dazzling movement of his. She was pinned against the wall. His finger wavered between her legs. She was terribly wet, wondering if it would be appropriate to take him to bed so soon. As she thought, a grisly feeling struck her, and she realized that she couldn’t utter a sound. Her voice was frozen. Her lips and tongue gradually became rigid, and her limbs went stiff. Within seconds, Rina was unable to make any movements, other than blink.

Fenris withdrew, caressing her face softly. “Don’t worry too much, dear. The winter nectar won’t hurt you, just makes your body stop moving. I’ll come back to you after I banish your family.” He couldn’t help but chuckle. “And I’ll give you the antidote after present you to your citizens and announce our sacred union. That’s what you expected from me, right? My darling mate?”

Rina couldn’t say anything, but she tried to not blink. She wouldn’t let him have that wicked pleasure. As her reasonable senses came back, she grew furiously upset and worried. *How could she be stupid enough let a fucking wolf prince seduce her?* The kingdom and her family were unknowingly facing tremendous danger. Remus was fooled by a disingenuous promise from her cunning mate. *He’s making a terrible mistake. Why did he trust the werewolves?!

Satisfied, Fenris scooped her up, threw her over his shoulder, then walked out of the room. Rina glanced over to the guest room where Remus and Oliver were talking earlier. The room was empty. *Where the hell did he go?

Fenris walked across the living room into another hallway leading to the main suites, where he stayed at night. They walked past a row of large windows facing the open field of tents. Right then and there, Rina saw Dagen.

Her second brother seemed to have arrived at the same time as her. His face was incredibly bruised and swollen. Blood stained the corners of his mouth and eyes. A group of werewolves dressed in dark cloaks dragged him to the area where they stored the pigs and sheep. The toughest-looking shoved Dagen into the largest empty cage and locked it from the outside. Just as they turned to leave, the scar-faced dragon prince stepped forward.

In silence, the werewolves watched him walk toward his captured brother. As Remus stood in front of his brother, Dagen looked up with the most hateful look Rina had ever seen on his face. Remus seemed unfazed by Dagen’s disrespectful expression and simply reached out his hand.

He muttered something that Rina couldn’t hear. Then Dagen yelled something back at him, but ultimately gave in. He took a shiny golden badge out of his jacket and handed it over to Remus. Remus took the badge, then entered the largest tent on the field, presumably where Olcan was mourning his dead son. Dagen spit on the ground, cursing loudly. “You’ll regret this! You fucking asshole!”

The werewolves burst into a fit of laughter.

Fenris took Rina into a large comfortable room, connected with several private bedrooms. He put her down on the bed and put a pillow behind her back. “See you soon, my darling dragon princess,” he said with a wicked smile, then locked the door as he left.

After Fenris left the room, a strong sense of regret weighed down on Rina. She shouldn’t have been so reckless, allowing her raw desire to dominate her behavior without reason. Just as the reality of her current situation began to set in, she heard the sound of crying float in from the other room connected to hers. The door was accidentally left open a narrow crack, just enough to peek into the room from where Rina was sitting.