Hidden Dragon (The Treasure of Paragon Book 7) by Genevieve Jack (best book club books .txt) 📕

The most beautiful female who had ever or would ever live. Why did she love him? How had he gotten so lucky as to have her for his mate?

With a cry of ecstasy, she arched beneath him, her head thrown back, her inner muscles milking him. He gave her everything, their mutual pleasure rising to a crescendo that reached through his soul. He was tissue paper and her light had shone through him, driving out the darkness if only for a moment.

Minutes later, once they’d both come back into themselves, conscious of the world again, he fell onto his side and pulled her back against the length of his body. Curled around her, his lips met her ear. “I love you, Dianthe, with everything I am and everything I will ever be.”

She glanced over her shoulder at him. “I love you too. Always. No matter what this secret is…” She shook her head. “Whatever you see when you close your eyes, it’s never going to change how I feel about you. We can move beyond it. We can face it together when you’re ready.”

He kissed the side of her jaw and closed his eyes. He most certainly wasn’t ready. There was so much shame wrapped up in the memory, layered with pain, weakness, vulnerability. Some of it he understood. Some of it he was only now coming to understand.

He gripped her tighter, his hand forming a fist between her breasts. The garnet ring that held his magic winked at him in the dim light. All the darkness she’d banished from his soul snapped back like an overstretched rubber band and he trembled.

“It’s okay. I’m here,” she said sleepily.

He waited for the dark, crawling feeling to pass, but it didn’t, and when her breath came evenly in his arms, he decided he had to tell the story. She was likely asleep and wouldn’t hear him anyway. He’d speak the words. Maybe it would lighten this weight burdening his soul.

“Our mission started years ago with one and only one goal—recruit enough members to the Defenders of the Goddess that the rebellion would have a fighting chance against the Obsidian Guard.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Dianthe used all her faculties to remain absolutely still. She did not respond when Sylas began to speak. Like a skittish animal, Sylas, she sensed, needed her to remain calm. If she kept her eyes closed and her breath even, with any luck he’d keep talking.

“Colin and I agreed that he’d go to Rogos and live among the elves with the goal of finding rebels among the populace there. We already had representatives from all the other kingdoms, but Rogos has always maintained its neutrality. Their scribes had chronicled the history of the five kingdoms for centuries. Colin wanted to convince them—well, any he could find that admitted disloyalty to Paragon—we needed to act.”

Dianthe remembered that. She didn’t know the details of their plan, but she’d played a part in the general idea of it. She’d also okayed Sylas’s rise to power within the Defenders of the Goddess during Colin’s absence.

“While Colin was in Rogos, I assumed his responsibilities as ARO—Aeaea Red Zone One, the ultimate leader of the resistance. After firming up our support in Everfield over the following months, I traveled here to Nochtbend. That’s why people here know me. Vampires have never had an affinity for dragons. Our peace has been tentative at best. Although Demidicus would deny it publicly, he was loyal to Medea during the witch wars and hates Eleanor. Over the course of the following months, I brought more vampires than ever onboard. Only when my presence started garnering the attention of the Highborn representatives, loyalists to Paragon, did I leave and travel to Darnuith to meet with the witches.”

This part Dianthe was less aware of. Oh, she’d known he’d have to go to Darnuith, but the witches there were notoriously secretive. They had to be, considering their history with Paragon. Aside from dragons, witches were the most powerful beings in the five kingdoms. To say they were dangerous would be putting it mildly.

“It took me months of living with a local innkeeper named Zander to gain the trust of their citizens. He was serving as DBO, Darnuith Blue Zone One, an officer in the resistance, and helped me get a foothold. Together, we grew the resistance in Darnuith to unprecedented levels. Once I revealed my true identity, I felt like the entire kingdom was on our side.

“After so much success, I was on top of the world. By my estimation, the Defenders of the Goddess had a following almost large enough to coordinate a true challenge to Eleanor. I even succeeded in creating a black market for goods moved between Everfield, Nochtbend, and Darnuith to avoid detection by Paragon and the Highborns. The Obsidian Guard couldn’t raid or tax what they didn’t know existed.”

Dianthe could hear the pride in his voice. She remembered those days. He’d stopped home regularly to let her know he was safe. Meanwhile, she’d kept appearances up, participating in the community and passing correspondence to fairy rebels right under their Highborn representatives’ noses.

“By the time I journeyed to Hobble Glen in Paragon, I was overconfident. I’d been recruiting for almost two years. I had a list of people Colin had worked with in the past and took up residence at the Silver Sunset, disguised as a barkeep. At first everything was fine. We were growing. Many of the older dragons are concerned that Eleanor is recruiting younger and younger dragons for the Guard, some of whom have disappeared without a trace. Fighting in the pits has become more deadly as well. When I lived in the palace, I never heard of any dragons dying during a fight. Now it is almost commonplace, especially among the young ones.”

He paused and Dianthe worried he might not go on. It was all she could do not to say something. But she was afraid if she did, she’d scare him from