by Abigail Owen
Stares and whispers followed the two of them as Brand led her past most of the shops to the glass-door entrance of what appeared to be a classy restaurant. Italian food, by the name—Il Dragone. He held open the door and waved her to precede him inside.
“But we just had Italian at Hershel’s,” she whispered as she sidled by Brand.
He didn’t respond, but his mouth twitched.
Inside was all white linen tablecloths, gleaming silverware, and candlelight. A single intimate table for two was set in the middle of the room. However, she and Ladon weren’t the only ones there. Six or seven men, as well as one woman, stood behind the king in a semicircle, their appearances reflecting a mix of the human side of their heritage. Her mother had once called it the most beautiful gift human dragon mates could give to the clans, and in the face of Ladon’s group, Kasia had to agree. The only features they shared were the lean builds and blue eyes consistent with their clan, though even their eyes varied in shade.
Kasia hesitated. She recognized several of these dragons, and not just from the platform earlier today, but from her visions. Had fate always meant her to end up here?
Ladon waved her over. Brand, in the meantime, took up a position standing just inside the door. Could the others feel the tension rolling off both of them? All Kasia could think about was how he’d just helped her come an hour ago.
She tried to forget he was there and focused, instead, on her host. As she approached, the woman stepped closer. “Kasia, I’d like you to meet my sister, Arden.”
The female dragon from her honor guard earlier.
Beyond the same jet-black hair and olive-toned skin, there was little family resemblance between the siblings. Smaller, and not just in height, Arden Ormarr was delicate, with chocolate-box pretty features made more exotic by eyes the color of the sea in the sun. Her smile—a real one that reached her eyes, unlike her brother’s—was full of kindness that shined in a way Kasia had rarely experienced in her life.
Maybe she’d misjudged the female shifter?
What had Kasia flummoxed, though, was she’d seen this woman before many times.
Arden held out a hand to shake. “Pleasure to meet you.”
“I feel like I already know you,” Kasia replied as she grasped her hand, having to resist the odd urge to hug her.
Arden raised her eyebrows and shot a quick glance at Ladon. “Oh?”
“Since I’ve come into my powers”—so much easier to put it that way than connect it with her mother’s death—“I have visions. You’ve been in several.”
Beside her, Ladon straightened, suddenly harder and less relaxed, like if she touched him he’d be hewn from stone. One or two of the men around him stiffened as well.
His eyes went hard and cold, revealing a hint of the ruthless ruler who’d taken his crown by force. “Visions?” Ladon asked. “Of what?”
Kasia shared a glance with Brand, but that was a mistake, only reminding her of other visions. Ones she wanted to forget. She jerked her gaze back.
She had spent the parts of the trip when they weren’t being attacked or she wasn’t going up in flames debating what to share with the king and his people, finally settling on telling them about anything Brand already knew. He would probably share it all, anyway.
She watched Ladon carefully and gave a small shrug. “The future is my best guess. I can’t control them, I can’t hear anything, and up until I met Brand I wasn’t even sure what I was seeing was real. But he was in some of them, too. So were several of you”—she glanced at the wall of men behind him—“and a few others. Most haven’t come true yet, but they’re happening faster now.”
Ladon looked to Brand, who didn’t react. Neither did the men. “I’d like to hear more about what you’ve seen, maybe tomorrow?”
Kasia nodded—not that she’d be telling him about the latest one. Ever.
Arden also caught the shared glance between men and jumped in. “That’s really cool.”
Kasia grimaced. “I guess. When they come on, they come with fire that I can’t control and a full-body migraine, but a vision is why we escaped some wolf shifters on our way here, so they have their uses.”
“Maybe you’ll get better at them, and they can help Ladon win this war.” Arden’s enthusiasm stood in stark contrast to her brother’s suspicious reserve. Arden leaned in, curiosity shining from her wide eyes. “What was I doing in your visions?”
Kasia grinned now. “Usually nothing. Talking to me, but I can’t hear what you’re saying.”
“Sounds about right,” one of the men quipped. The tallest of the bunch, with his deep black skin, was one of the dragons she’d seen in her visions. She knew he was even more handsome when he grinned. She also happened to know he had a diamond-shaped tattoo over his heart.
“Yeah,” the bald brute beside him jumped in. “She never shuts up.”
He softened his words with a wink at Arden, who scrunched up her nose at him, then turned back to Kasia with a sigh. “Sounds pretty boring.”
Arden tossed a glare at Ladon, who crossed his arms and glared back, though without any menace behind it. “What? You’re blaming me for you being boring?”
“Yup.” Arden tipped her chin up to deliver a stare that dared him to argue before she faced Kasia, rolling her eyes. “He never lets me do anything.”
“But you came to get me,” Kasia pointed out.
“Only because this lot was with me.” She hitched a thumb at the men.
The guys grinned. Most of them, anyway.
“And Ladon thought a female might put you more at ease,” Arden continued.
Kasia watched the exchange between the siblings as well as the men around them with a growing knot in her stomach. They reminded her of so many random conversations with her own sisters. Now she swallowed down the memories and focused on this moment instead, laughing at Arden’s antics.
She shook it off. “Actually, if I had to hazard a guess, I think we’ll become good friends.”
Arden lit up at that, giving Kasia a truly delighted smile that brought dimples out to play in her cheeks. “Fabulous.”
Ladon glanced between them, then sighed. “My intention was to have Arden help you settle in here, but now I’m wondering if she’s going to be a bad influence.”
Kasia chuckled. “Probably the other way around.”
Brand would certainly think so. She gave herself a mental shake. She needed to stop thinking about him. Even if he was standing right there and they’d just…
“Terrific,” Diamond Tattoo muttered, interrupting her thoughts.
Arden’s hand was still on her arm, or Kasia would’ve missed how the other woman stiffened at the word. She gave no other sign, though; instead she laughed. “I like you already.”
“Definitely a mistake,” Ladon said. No smile, but no conviction, either.
Kasia liked this marginally lighter side to the king, making him more human and less of the bloodthirsty, politically hungry tyrant she’d built up in her head.
He placed a hand at her back. “I would also like you to meet my men. These are my personal guard, as well as my closest friends and fiercest warriors.”
The men didn’t make a sound, but they stood taller, shoulders back, heads held high—proud.
“Fallon you’ve already met,” Ladon said.
Fallon winked at her, eyes twinkling.
She nodded at the healer who’d helped her earlier in the day. The shortest of the group—which wasn’t saying much, since he was still at least six feet tall—he also had the kindest smile, one that invited you to smile back and join in his fun. Vaguely she wondered what his mate was like, probably perky and adorable, not to mention feisty to keep his fun-loving side in line.
The next man reminded her a bit of Brand in that he seemed the silent, observant type. Around the same age as Ladon, of
Asian descent somewhere in his ancestry, possibly Japanese if she had to guess, he had a similar hard look in his eyes, which were so dark blue they appeared black.
“This is Asher,” Ladon said. “He is my Beta as well as part of my Curia Regis, Viceroy of Security.”
Asher nodded, and she returned the gesture.
Next Ladon stopped in front of Diamond Tattoo. “Reid is Captain of my Guard. He keeps this lot in line. He’s also on my Curia Regis, as Viceroy of War.”
A good-natured grumbling rose from the group as she nodded at the man.
So this guy is the badass of the group. Got it.
She didn’t voice that opinion, though. The other men wouldn’t appreciate the observation. The bigger question was, did she share the vision she’d had of Reid and Arden with her soon-to-be good friend, or not?
“This is Duncan. He’s our other mated man of the group.”
The loud, brash, bald one with skin so pale he could try out for the invisible man, grinned at her. He was missing a tooth. Shouldn’t that have grown back? His mate must be something else.
The others were Wyot—a quiet, dark-skinned man who seemed to be the steady one of the bunch—as well as brothers Ivar and Rainier, one a dirty blond, the other with darker hair, but with identical grins to go with their bright blue eyes.
The men nodded, though some, like Reid and Asher, with more reserve than others.
“We’ll make ourselves scarce,” Arden said as she took a few sideways steps toward the door. “I thought a formal introduction would be helpful before we just start randomly showing up at your door.”
“I see. And why would you all randomly show up?” She glanced at Ladon.
He took her hand, tugging her around to face him. “As my personal guard, they will take turns guarding you as well now.”
Kasia scowled and let go of his hand. “I don’t need babysitters.” She glanced at the men. “No offense.”
Duncan guffawed. “None taken.”
“We’re under a constant state of attack. Mostly small skirmishes, and none have made it inside the mountain yet. However, I expect that to increase as word of a phoenix leaks out, and I’m not taking a chance with you.”
Kasia crossed her arms. “Am I a prisoner?”
“Your Grace.” The quiet correction came from Asher.
“Excuse me?” Kasia said.
“He’s your king. You address him as ‘Your Grace,’” Asher clarified, expression not giving an inch.
A quick glance at Brand showed no help from that corner, so she turned back to Asher. “He’s not my king. Not yet, at least.”
Six glowers met those words. She definitely wasn’t winning friends with that comment, but she refused to let them think otherwise.
…
Brand stood by the door and did his damnedest not to put himself bodily between her and the angry shifters forming a wall in front of her.
If he could, he would’ve turned his back to them. Hell, if he could, he wouldn’t be here in the first damn place, especially not after the way he’d helped her climax in her room. But Ladon had asked him to stand as Kasia’s personal bodyguard, taking the majority of the shifts with her until the mating. The idea being he’d bond with Ladon’s other most trusted warriors gradually.
Just his fucking luck she’d get herself in trouble within five minutes of meeting them. She’d have to get herself out of this, because he needed them on his side as much as she did. Maybe more.
Brand focused on his job. Physical protection only. But not too physical. Dammit. He scanned the people passing in front of the restaurant, but no one stood out. No alarm bells went off, which gave him plenty of time to listen in to the conversation going on inside the room.
Kasia sighed.
But rather than address his men, Kasia turned to Ladon and put a hand on his arm. The men tensed, Asher’s hand going to the knife at his belt, the hiss of the metal against the scabbard audible.
Brand turned and loosed a warning rumble of noise, and the room went dead silent, tension thick enough to wring out of a wet towel blanketing all inside.
Fuckballs. Not his best move.
Ladon gave a single shake of his head, and the men eased off. Sort of. Asher, at least, dropped the blade back into its holder. Brand, however, didn’t relax. He waited.
Kasia slowly lowered her hand, clasping it behind her. “Can I be honest?”
Ladon regarded her unsmilingly. “Yes.”
“Fancy isn’t really my thing, and while I appreciate you trying to put me at ease at this lovely restaurant, introducing me to your…closest friends, I suspect fancy is maybe not your thing, either.”
What the hell? Was that seriously what she wanted to say so earnestly?
Ladon stared at her for a beat, clearly as surprised as Brand, then laughed. A rusty, unused sound Brand had certainly never heard before. “That is definitely honest.”
Even some of his warriors smiled, though not Asher.
Kasia winced. “Sorry. It’s just… Mother kept us under the radar my entire life, working menial jobs, blending in with humans whom dragons wouldn’t notice. We had a garden and raised chickens and ate simply—”
“I think I understand,” Ladon stopped her.
Really? Ladon understood?
She gave an apologetic grimace. “Yeah?”
Ladon chuckled. “Yes. Actually, it’s a relief.”
Kasia straightened, eyes brightening. “Really?”
“Yes. My family didn’t have much, either. I may have come from a long line of upper-class snobs—”
“A lot o’ wealthy arses, if ya ask me,” Duncan said in his thick Scottish accent.
Arden looked heavenward with a shake of her head as the men chuckled. Brand guessed this was a common joke among them.
Ladon ignored the bald warrior. “But the previous king bled this clan dry, giving tribute to Pytheios to keep a false peace.”
Everyone sobered.
He spat that last word, and Brand didn’t blame him. Pytheios’s version of peace was merely fear holding people in a state of inertia.
“Most of the Blue Clan didn’t have much. These shops were dying—a dragon version of a ghost town—mostly closed and people fending only for themselves.”
She raised her eyebrows as she looked around the restaurant as if seeing it through a new lens. “What happened?”
Ladon shifted his stance, and her eyes widened slightly as realization must’ve struck.
“You happened,” she guessed. “Is that what you’re reluctant to say?”
The king spread his hands. “I don’t know how much is me. We’re not giving anything to the Red Clan now, which makes a huge difference but also makes us vulnerable to attack from the other five clans. And if they were to tap the colonies, bringing fighters from over there, we’d be in deeper trouble. We’ve already had to abandon all our other cities, the last in the Swiss Alps falling to Pytheios recently.”
Kasia laid a hand over his, only this time none of his men tensed. Except Brand. “You should be proud.”
“I fight for my people. When they’re truly free, then I’ll be proud.”
Every single one of his warriors gave a murmur of agreement.
Kasia grinned. “Well, I’m proud of you now.”
Ladon sobered and clasped his hands behind his back. The most self-contained, back-the-fuck-off man Brand had ever met, except maybe himself, suddenly looked down, uncomfortable with the praise.
Had anyone ever dared to tell Ladon something like that? Even Arden?
“I like her,” Duncan said.
Ladon looked up. “Thank you. I’ll take any help I can get courting you.”
And there it is. Brand stared. He’d never seen his friend look unsure of himself. Ever. But he did now, and in front of his men, too
.
Kasia also stilled. “You’re courting me?” she asked quietly.
Ladon shrugged, appearing even more uncomfortable. “Someone told me you were a woman who wanted to make up her own mind. As a phoenix, you have to, but I can see that’s true regardless. I’d like to make it easier for you to choose me.”
Kasia knew that not just Ladon’s rule over the Blue Clan would be impacted by her decision. Mating her meant he’d be High King. If Ladon could claim that title, he could shut down the threats from the other clans. Take out the old kings.
There was way more at stake than he was letting on. It was…admirable.
Kasia’s glance drifted in Brand’s direction. “I see.”
“I don’t want to rush you into something—”
“But your people are depending on you, and you need whatever luck I can bring.”
Ladon nodded.
“Can I ask you a personal question?”
Ladon’s dark eyebrows raised. “Yes.”
“Are you in love? Or is there someone special in your life right now?”
Ladon blinked. “You’re worried about taking another lady’s place?”
“Yes.”
“Let me put that concern to rest. There’s no one special.” Ladon grinned, and this time the expression was real, making him appear younger, more lighthearted than the almost frightening countenance that usually faced the world.
Brand could see the impact that smile had on Kasia. Immediately her shoulders dropped, and she gazed at the king with different eyes. Brand couldn’t pinpoint how different, and he had no idea how he knew, but he was positive she’d just decided to like Ladon Ormarr.
Brand refused to explore the dark hole that formed inside his chest.
“What about you? Any men in your life?” Ladon asked.
Brand held still, though he wanted to turn away.
Kasia glanced at him with an emotion in her eyes he couldn’t quite identify.
“There was someone,” she said.
