Chapter 1, Part 1
*The Dragon Knight and the Coveted is now published. More details about where to find this popular novel can be found at the end of this free excerpt. Thank you, Inkitt community, for being the reason I got this far. I never imagined publishing in my wildest dreams. Sunlight preserve you.
*Sir Keyon*
Despite the disappointed cries from the female onlookers, I pulled my clothes on and strode toward the covered cage we’d used to move the liberated slaves. My team had taken turns shifting into our dragons and hauling the cage across the territory. I’d taken the burden on the last leg of the journey as my soldiers were looking a little bedraggled. Yes, I was the knight general, but if I deemed myself above any exertion, I wasn’t fit to be a leader. How else would a leader know what was possible for their troops if they didn’t lend a hand on occasion?
This particular trip made me realize that it was far more exhausting to move something as fragile as living bodies than anything else. You had to exercise more control over your movements, which put your body in a state of near constant tension. You also needed to stay more alert and aware of your surroundings. I made a mental note to bring more squires on our next den raid; the problem was that we never knew how many slaves we’d find. One of these days, we’d be severely underprepared, and that was a discussion I intended to have today.
Keys jingled and jangled in my hands as I searched for the iron mate to the cage’s lock. The weary individuals inside the container were quiet, just staring at my busy hands. I was grateful they weren’t clawing at the door. I wasn’t feeling up to a good trample today.
Make the women go last so we can stand clear of them, Toast said.
I ignored my dragon and unlocked the door. I waited a moment before opening it to give my traditional short speech to the rescued humans and shifters. “Welcome, Reborn! It may be a citizen’s duty to serve the crown, but today, let the crown serve you! We will provide you with temporary housing, food, medical care, and work until you can support yourselves. Orphans will be placed in foster homes until they can be adopted. If they are not adopted by the time they are of age, we will provide them with employment. School is mandatory.
“Females, women, hatchlings, pups, cubs, children—all are to leave first. Form a line and do not go faster than a walk, please! Any strong individuals are welcome to assist in moving out the injured or elderly; otherwise, we’ll retrieve them last. You will be met with servants on the left side who will give everyone water and food! There is plenty, so do not rush. After, please stand in the designated area until you’re called.” I opened the cage door and let the poor liberated souls begin their second chance at life.
The dry grass crunched under my boots, and I frowned at the thought of the shoeless young walking across it. I summoned a servant to my side and said, “Please roll a large tarp out in the waiting area so they’re not standing in this sharp, dead grass. Please and thank you.” The servant scurried off to perform his task, and I sighed, watching the unloading with satisfaction.
Of everything I’d done in the name of our king, I had to say that this was the project that pleased me the most. Going to war with another country was a bitter experience because you knew you were fighting people who simply wanted to live their lives on their farms or just watch their children grow. Raiding a den full of slave traffickers, however, was a delicious experience. I got to slaughter those who truly deserved to bleed. I’d seen disturbing things in battle… but some of the things I’d witnessed in these slave dens had nearly made me lose all faith in our future as dragon-shifters. Every time I thought I’d seen the worst we were capable of as a species, I was proven wrong in the next raid.
I shook myself out of old memories and brought my mind back to the present. Seeing as how everything was going smoothly, I left the rest of the work for the rehabilitation team. I raised a hand, signaled for my soldiers to retire, and strode across the field to make my report.
I groaned quietly to myself at the crowd that blocked my exit from the field. Throngs of women and female dragon-shifters were huddled by the fences, right where I needed to pass. I grumbled under my breath and pulled my gloves from my pockets. Terror radiated from my dragon, and I fought his urge to take control of my movements.
They’re waiting for us, Toast warned nervously. They always know when we’re coming. How do they always know? Who tells them?
They won’t hurt us, I said for the millionth time. I wanted to look at the maidens, but it would only agitate Toast. Well, maybe I didn’t want to look at them. It was just a tease of what I couldn’t have, what I hadn’t been able to have since I’d turned eighteen so many, many years ago.
Don’t go that way. Go to the other fence. They will swarm and attack!
Not going to happen, Toast.
You wouldn’t know until it’s too late!
Toast, when was the last time a woman attacked us? I asked, and he went silent, but I could still feel his fear. It grated on me. As much as I felt for him, his gynophobia was a cage, and I was trapped miserably in it with him.
I tried leaving by one gate, but it was immediately swarmed by maidens looking to get my attention. It would have been extremely flattering if I was able to do anything about it, but alas, my dragon had been cock-blocking me for twelve years. To say I was sexually frustrated was the understatement of the millennium. I gave the maidens a curt smile and bowed slightly. “Ladies,” I acknowledged and moved to squeeze past them. They sighed and moaned dramatically at my inattention.
I strode down the covered walkway to the palace, wondering if I’d hit a new record for needing to masturbate since returning home. How many minutes had it been?
“If it isn’t the world’s most eligible bachelor!” a mocking voice called out from an intercepting pathway. I sent a very tolerant half-smile to my friend, Leofwine, before aggressively smacking the shit out of the back of his head.
“You’re lucky you’re so good-looking that I can’t bring myself to break your face, Leof,” I grumbled. “One of us has to get laid, and you’re our biggest hope.”
He grinned and rubbed the back of his head like I’d severely hurt him. His white teeth and long fangs flashed brilliantly against his obsidian skin. The bastard was pretty, and he was well aware. He’d probably gotten laid last night. Bastard.
“How’d the raid go?” Leofwine asked as he escorted me to our meeting.
“Rather well, but some of the big players had left before we’d gotten there. It ended up being a den full of grunts and slaves, so it crumbled like burnt paper. We got everyone out alive, thank the Sun God,” I replied and kicked the dirt off my boots before stepping into the castle.
“Feels good to see us freeing those people, but it’s disturbing that these rings continue to pop up,” he murmured thoughtfully. “We’re going to have to expand our team of spies if th—”
“Oh, my darling, Keyon!” a woman’s voice called from the upper flight of stairs, and I groaned internally. Leofwine didn’t bother hiding his dislike for the woman and glowered at the approaching figure. The twenty-five-year-old dragon-shifter flew down the steps and raced to hug me.
Toast yanked me behind Leofwine like a puppet so Princess Gisila couldn’t murder us. At least that was what Toast was certain she’d do. Personally, I didn’t mind Toast’s actions this time. The king’s daughters were all rotten, and I wanted nothing to do with them. Why Gisila thought she’d get a hug this time was beyond me.
Leofwine held his hands up to prevent her from getting past him, and she pouted like a child; she even stomped her feet. What a sexy look.
“Can I help you, Princess?” I asked, slowly coming out from behind my friend. I pretended I’d found a spider on my friend’s back to not only cover for Toast’s yank but also to keep the princess at bay. “You really must stop going into the cellars, Leof, if you’re going to be bringing back all these cellar spiders,” I said to my friend, grimacing as I dusted off his shoulders.
“S-spiders?” the princess shrieked, backing up a dozen steps while picking up her skirts and frantically searching her black curls.
My friend shrugged his massive shoulders. “I guess I’ll send the servants next time,” he replied, not skipping a beat. “They don’t usually go for me. They prefer little things like children and young ladies.” Leofwine never missed an opportunity to create a lie sandwich, and I nodded along in agreement.
“Princess?” I asked again, raising a brow. “Did you need something?” She was pale, and her face was so pinched it looked like she’d been nibbling on limes all day. She shook her head but held her hand out for me to kiss. Oh gods, I hated this song and dance.
Even if I wanted to kiss her hand, Toast wouldn’t allow it. My dragon and I had worked out an agreement where I could place a gloved hand under a female’s without contact and lean over her hand in a bow, but not kiss it.
I sensed that she was about to jerk her hand up to my lips, but I pulled away just in time to give her a nod and walked off with my comrade. Toast was shuddering inside me, as if he’d dodged an arrow that had been aimed at his heart.
Leofwine and I entered the king’s study to make our report and verify our next course of action. Osgar, the king’s personal guard, was standing at his side, and he nodded slightly to me in deference. I nodded back, making Leofwine scoff in irritation. He was always complaining that Osgar never acknowledged him. Aiken, resource management, was sitting on the leather couch on the right, covered in what was probably the entire contents of his desk just minutes ago.
“Welcome back!” King Uhtric exclaimed, smiling happily at me. “From the commotion outside, I take it we were successful with our last raid?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” I replied, smiling back at the old, shaking dragon. “We’ve returned with two hundred and fifty-seven Reborn. They’re being processed and cared for right now. It seemed that the slavers knew we were coming because we only found grunts there.”
“And since this isn’t the first time Keyon’s reported it, I’m concerned we may have a security breach,” Leofwine added, his playful demeanor disappearing under the call of duty. The king nodded at him with a frown.
“See to that, Leof,” he said gruffly. “We can’t let them get away. They’ll grow like a cancer somewhere else.”
“Also, Aiken, would it be possible to get more squires for our next raid? My team was spread too thin upon our return. I’d rather have too many than not enough, especially if the slavers decide to ambush us on the road.”
The dragon nodded and wrote furiously into his notebook. He wasn’t a man of many words, but he got things done. Our king had a gift for assigning the right people to the right duty. I’d always admired that about him.
“We got a visitor from a neighboring kingdom with a special request,” King Uhtric said, handing me a piece of paper. “They’re looking for a slave that may be in our region. She was taken as a little girl, and they’re hoping that our efforts to clear up these trafficking rings will expose her location. They said she’d be… rather hard to miss.”
I looked down at the piece of paper with a description. She’d be twenty-five by now… I had no idea how much she would have changed. Some dragons didn’t even end up with the same hair color they had as hatchlings. I sighed at the task set before me. This would be difficult.
“Is she a shifter? A human?” I asked, and the king’s face hardened.
“I tried asking that, but they wouldn’t tell me. I suspect she’s a shifter, but… there’s no way to know until you see her what species she is. Just do your best, Sir Keyon. You’ll find her.”
I groaned inwardly. Would I?
