A Lair So Royal (The Last Dragorai Book 5) Read online

  A Lair So Royal

  Copyright © 2022 by Zoey Ellis. All rights reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  The right of Zoey Ellis to be identified as the author of this book has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent’s Act, 1988. All rights reserved. Except for use in review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part, by any means, is forbidden without written permission from the author.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by any way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the author’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  First Edition: August 2022

  CONTENTS

  Pronunciation Guide

  Couples in order of series:

  1. Khyros

  2. Khyros

  3. Khyros

  4. Azenyah

  5. Khyros

  6. Azenyah

  7. Azenyah

  8. Khyros

  9. Azenyah

  10. Azenyah

  11. Azenyah

  12. Khyros

  13. Azenyah

  14. Khyros

  15. Azenyah

  16. Azenyah

  17. Azenyah

  18. Epilogue

  Discover Myth of Omega

  About Zoey Ellis

  Also by Zoey Ellis

  A LAIR SO ROYAL

  From a dark, magic-ravaged world comes an enthralling new fantasy romance series. Five brothers, last of an ancient Alpha bloodline, each bound by fire and blood to their majestic dragons.

  As head of a celebrated dragonlord clan, Khyros led his brothers to victory and survived the war that almost wiped his kind from existence. Proud and powerful, he is the epitome of a dragonlord… until his dragon disappears.

  For centuries, he has tried to find him, but continuing on without his bonded dragon has fractured his existence.

  Finally, with the help of his clan, he locates his dragon and is shocked to discover a beautiful, fierce female blocking his path.

  Instinctively they clash… a frenzied attraction simmering between them.

  But Azenyah refuses to answer his questions and explain her involvement.

  Furious, Khyros keeps her captive, determined to punish her for the centuries of suffering she has caused.

  And his fury ignites carnal infatuation.

  Soon she is the new source of his torment. Yet his silent prisoner refuses to submit – neither to his demands nor his primal attentions.

  But her own desires betray her.

  As his clan faces a threat that could destroy them, Khyros discovers that Azenyah holds the secrets to save not just his clan but the entire realm.

  Balancing the fine edge between his responsibilities to his clan and his newfound obsession, he refuses to end her captivity, determined to get the answers he has demanded.

  His craving for her consumes his every moment.

  Until he is forced to contend with a power she wields that rivals his own.

  A LAIR SO ROYAL is the fifth and final book in The Last Dragorai, an epic fantasy romance series. This series can be read as standalones but will be better enjoyed if read in order. This book will contain spoilers for the previous books. Includes romance of a dark nature and a HEA.

  PRONUNCIATION GUIDE

  Khyros - KY-ros

  Azenyah - ah-ZEN-ya

  Skartheldryn - skar-thell-drin

  Dragorai - drag-GOR-rye

  Vattoro - vat-TOR-roe

  Dan Askha - dan-AX-ah

  Sethorn - seth-orn

  Uraya - uh-RAY-ya

  Ornendor - or-NEN-door

  Thrakondarian - thrak-kon-DAR-ree-ann

  Mheyu - may-you

  Oshali - osh-SHAH-lee

  Tyomar - tie-OH-mar

  I’mya - im-my-ah

  Nyro - NY-roe

  Zendyor - ZEN-dee-yor

  Elora - ee-LORE-rah

  Yorgynel - yore-gin-nell

  Hatheyla - hath-THEY-la

  Kon’aya - kon-nye-ah

  Yahsariora - ya-sa-ree-ora

  Cadellindyr - cad-del-lin-die-ah

  Trankondar - thrak-kon-dar

  Thrakond - thrak-kond

  COUPLES IN ORDER OF SERIES:

  Nyro and I’mya - A Lair So Sinful

  Tyomar and Oshali - A Lair So Loyal

  Zendyor and Elora - A Lair So Primal

  Sethorn and Uraya - A Lair So Fateful

  Khyros and Azenyah - A Lair So Royal

  1

  KHYROS

  High above his mountain lair, the whip and swish of Khyros's swords was the only sound for miles.

  He jabbed and parried, swung and stabbed, working to improve the technique he had honed over the centuries. At the same time, he cast silent incantations to draw upon magic to keep him airborne as he trained.

  The challenge wasn’t only in keeping himself high above the ground, but also maneuvering his body in a way that would assist his training.

  Most who used magic wouldn’t dare hover in the air as he did, even those considered to be highly skilled casters did not risk it. One stray thought, one moment of lost focus and it was almost impossible to regain it. Khyros had mastered it before he had turned one hundred and the ability had become essential since his dragon disappeared.

  The wind rushed by his ears and flicked his training robes as he twisted, turned, and kicked, even experimented with double spins and forward rolls assisted by magic. He was moving so fast in different directions and angles, he almost didn't hear his brother calling from below.

  "Khyros!"

  Khyros slowed, sweat trickling down his brow, the barbarous frenzy of the practice still charging through his veins as Sethorn approached.

  “Your swordsmanship has improved drastically since I last saw you,” Sethorn said appreciatively.

  Khyros inclined his head, knowing what was coming next. His brother wasn’t fond of how high Khyros traveled, even though he knew the likelihood of him falling was small.

  Sethorn glanced below them and shot Khyros a look. "This is almost too high to breathe, Khyros.”

  Khyros held his gaze. "I need more of a challenge than just training on the ground."

  "I know. I know you are capable, and I understand you need to be able to see your territory easily, but this is too high."

  Khyros lowered his swords, looking down over his territory. Without his dragon, he’d needed to find other ways to police and patrol his land without requiring his brothers to visit with their dragons multiple times a day to assist him. Thankfully, his expertise in Thrakondarian, his mother tongue and the language that magic responded to, allowed him to develop his casting ability to the point it was no longer necessary to say the words aloud.

  Of course, magic couldn’t replace having his dragon to scout and hunt with, but he refused to completely depend on his brothers to manage and maintain what was his.

  His brothers were not completely happy with him using it too often, especially when they traveled on clan business, but they couldn't tell him what to do on his own territory, besides which, he was the head of the clan. Although he appeased them to keep them from worrying, he could do what he liked.

  He returned his gaze to Sethorn and held it on him to remind him of this. Khyros wasn’t one to use a lot of words when a l
ook would do.

  Sethorn sighed. “The meeting is starting soon. I wanted to talk.”

  "I will finish this round and then meet you in my office," Khyros said.

  Sethorn nodded, his relief obvious on his face as he floated down toward the huge grey mountain that housed Khyros’ lair.

  Executing a series of sequences to finish his training for the morning, Khyros pushed everything he had into every blow, forcing his body to strain and his mind to ache. He embraced the burn inside and out.

  Once it was over, he lowered down the side of his lair and stepped onto the ledge of his office. Sethorn had poured them both a measure of the potent liquor zmul and handed a glass to Khyros.

  They both turned to face the ledge and looked out over his territory, a mottled landscape of hills and mountains that stretched into the distance before them.

  “How long has it been now, since he’s been missing?”

  Sethorn spoke quietly, and from the corner of his eye, Khyros noticed his brother glancing at him. “About 700 hundred years,” he murmured back.

  In the silence that followed, Khyros sensed Sethorn’s horror at the realization of just how long his dragon had been gone. Sethorn hadn’t been without his dragon for even one day—none of his brothers had. It wasn’t the way a dragorai lived, and yet Khyros had been forced to be without his for centuries.

  “We’re close to finding him.” Sethorn raised his glass to his lips. “I can feel it.”

  Khyros said nothing. The absence of his dragon was always present between him and his brothers; it was the silent acknowledgment in almost every interaction they had, yet they rarely talked about it. However, in their last meeting, one of his other brother’s mates, Oshali, insisted that she had located him.

  “Oshali is recognized by the Mheyu as one of their best trainees,” Sethorn added. “If she said she found his location, I believe her.”

  Excitement had hummed through the clan, and even his most cautious brother, Sethorn, seemed intrigued with her claim, which wasn’t to be taken lightly considering her lifelong service to the realm’s record keepers, the Mheyu.

  The clan’s reaction did not surprise Khyros. Now that all four of his brothers had found their mates and were all expecting, which none of them thought would happen when the rest of their kind perished in the war with humans, their clan’s extinction was no longer a thing feared, and infectiously high spirits kept buoyant the clan’s hope about finding his dragon.

  However, Khyros wasn’t capable of that, and it wasn’t just about hope. His dragon, Skar, had been bonded to him at birth, just like his brothers’ dragons had been with each of them. Skar was part of Khyros, body and soul, and they were supposed to exist together. It was well-known that if a dragorai-dragon died, his bonded alpha wouldn’t last long without him—that was why they assumed Skar was still alive—but Khyros would have preferred death to his current existence.

  The loss that bore down on him as a result of his dragon’s disappearance was an agony his brothers could never understand.

  He wasn’t unfamiliar with pain. In fact, he welcomed it. Enduring it was a sign of strength and power—a symbol of a life that deserved recognition. But this loss didn’t compare. This was deep and extreme, an ache that pervaded him, deepening into an abyss of torment that consumed him over the past 700 years. Physical, mental, and emotional, it affected every fragment of his being, as if each drop of blood, every ounce of flesh, every thought, and each breath had been created by it. It was a state of being for him and nothing could change it.

  But as the eldest and head of his clan, he had responsibilities. He couldn’t allow it to tear him apart, and therefore tear apart his brothers. As the last remaining dragorai clan, he had to keep them strong for as long as he could, with solid leadership and direction. But with new life on the verge of being born, things within the clan were changing.

  “How is your mate?” he asked. Only a few weeks ago, Sethorn and his mate, Uraya, announced their pregnancy. “Is she doing well?”

  Sethorn’s mouth tightened. “For the last week she’s been craving crushed eggs with heatberries in the middle of the night, and she insists Ornendor is the only one who can the pick the ripe ones.” He raised his glass again, scowling as he muttered. “As if my dragon knows my territory better than me. I was picking heatberries when he was still breathing hot air and crashing into tree trunks!”

  Khyros observed him, his interest peaking. Back when the other dragorai existed, the females had their own dragons that they bonded to and had no need to become so close to their mate’s dragon. However, with all the female dragons gone, his brothers’ mates shared their bonds with the dragons. It was strange to him—somewhat unnatural. In his opinion, no one should be as close to his mate as him, or please her in any way he couldn’t, even his dragon. Not that his opinion mattered—it wasn’t even worth thinking about finding a mate with his dan askha missing.

  “Do you dislike the connection they have?” he asked, curious if his brother had any true aversion to it.

  “No,” Sethorn said immediately. “I like it.”

  That was hard to believe. “Even though she prefers him over you in this instance?”

  At that, Sethorn growled. “She doesn’t prefer him. It’s… it’s difficult to explain.” Khyros waited while he took another drink. “As you know, the bond between alpha and dragon is strong—something to be cherished and revered,” Sethorn said carefully. “But it’s one-dimensional, and you don’t realize it until your mate bonds with you both. I’ve always seen our dan askhas as an extension of us or… a version of us in another form.”

  Khyros nodded. “They are.”

  “So that’s what my mate is getting—an extension of me she is deeply connected to. It cannot replace me, only enhance what we have. Not unlike how I assume it will be with our children.”

  Khyros took a mouthful of zmul from his glass. It was difficult to understand what he meant by one-dimensional, when the lack of that connection caused such agony for him. “The others will be here soon for the clan meeting,” he said after a moment. “Why have you come early?”

  Sethorn turned and walked back into the office, placing his glass on the desk behind them. “Tyomar told me what I missed in the last meeting. Oshali also said there was a magical dead zone in the middle of the Karyllean Ocean?”

  Khyros nodded. “She thinks that’s where Skar is being held.”

  Sethorn inhaled slowly, a hard look on his face, but said nothing. From his expression and demeanor, it was obvious what he was thinking, but Khyros wanted him to say it outright.

  After a long moment, Sethorn spoke. “You know how we feel about Skar’s disappearance.”

  Khyros held his gaze. “Yes.”

  All his brothers were furious and disturbed by it. They swore they would punish whoever had taken him and caused their brother, and their own dragons, such suffering. As blood brothers, their dragons were acutely aware of the eldest dragon’s absence.

  “Now that we are about to find him,” Sethorn continued, “I want you to remember that we, as a clan, intend to fully exact the punishment and revenge on whoever did this.”

  “You believe I am incapable?”

  Sethorn stiffened. “It’s not about capability, Khyros. It is about the heinous attack that this individual has levied on us for 700 years. We all have the right to retaliate; even though it was your dragon, this was an attack on all of us and all of our kind. And I want you to recognize that we all need to contribute to the retribution.”

  Khyros inclined his head. “I understand what you are saying, Sethorn.” He placed his glass down on the desk as well and looked his brother in the eye. “But I will kill whoever did this. There is no question about it. I cannot promise that you or the others will be involved in that.”

  Sethorn held himself tense, as if deciding whether he was going to argue further, but after a moment, he exhaled. “Just remember that we are here,” he said quietly. “You are very
reserved, Khyros, you always have been. And that is one reason why our clan has preserved these centuries with you as our leader. And while we may not have talked about Skar much or what you’ve been going through, it doesn’t mean we feel his absence any less. We do. You are not alone.”

  “I know,” Khyros replied, his voice low. He’d shielded his brothers from the worst of it, but they weren’t stupid—they knew he suffered greatly, and it pained them too. “I know I have not been alone in my suffering, but I have had the worst of it. Let me deal with things in my own way first. There may not be a need for you to intervene.”

  Sethorn was clearly not happy about that, but he couldn’t very well complain. He simply nodded and made his way to the door. “I will see you at the meeting,” he said, before leaving the room.

  Khyros watched him leave. He was completely aware of what Sethorn was trying to do—and he had cleverly skirted around the true issue. His insistence that the clan be involved in the punishment of Skar’s capturer was because his brothers assumed the same thing he did—the criminal had superior skill. They weren’t wrong. Anyone capable of restraining a dragon for this long wasn’t someone to take lightly. The research Oshali had uncovered indicated his dragon was being kept somewhere over the Karyllean Ocean, which was a long distance over water for dragons to traverse. It was also a difficult location to launch a rescue. But Khyros didn’t care about any of that. He would fight whoever it was to the death if need be—over, under, and through land or water. If Skar wasn’t already dead, Khyros would do whatever it took to get him back.