Northern Realm Royal Dragons Shifter Boxset Bks 2-5

by Lisa Daneils

  “You’re an idiot.”

  “I know. It has become a recurring nightmare, that last time that I saw you, and the look of pain on your face. But it wasn’t any worse than the reality of not having you in my life. That’s been its own type of hell.”

  “If you had concerns, you really should have talked to me about it.”

  “You wouldn’t have listened. We had already discussed the problem with your family many times, yet you kept insisting that it was fine. It was never fine, and I hoped that without me to distract you, you would be able to patch it up with them.”

  “No, it got worse afterward.”

  “I’m so sorry, Greyson,” Rhionnan stared at her hands. “It’s far too late, but I really wish that I had been more honest. You would have kept trying, and eventually, we might have found a way together. It feels like since I lost you, everything has been off.”

  “I can’t help you there, princess.”

  Rhionnan looked up into the dragon shifter’s eyes. They weren’t cold and cruel, but they expressed a regret in them that she thought she understood. With a self-deprecating laugh, she said, “I’m a queen now, Greyson, not a princess.”

  “Oh, right,” he cleared his throat. “Old habits.”

  Rhionnan stood up. “I know it isn’t much, but if you want to see me occasionally, and I don’t mean just to protect me, you can visit me openly in the palace now. I would love to have you as a guest. I would welcome you every time you stopped by.”

  His expression switched too rapidly for her to be able to read it in the shadow of the pavilion. “That is most kind of you, Rhionnan, but I’m afraid at this point, distance is for the best.”

  It hurt, but it was no less than what she expected. “I understand. But the invitation will always stand. Even when I’m a wrinkly old woman, you can come see me anytime.”

  “Visit you and your wrinkly old husband. And your strapping children, huh?” He tried to smile.

  “Oh no, it’ll be just me.”

  “You don’t know that. If Cinthia stays, she is going to make sure you get married.”

  “At some point even she will realize that it is pointless to try to push me in that direction.”

  “Good luck with that.” He picked up his jacket and wrapped it around himself, mostly hiding the bandages. “I’m sorry, Rhionnan. Once this is over, I honestly hope that you find happiness. Even if you do continue to stubbornly insist that you are happy when you clearly aren’t.”

  “And I hope you are able to be happy. From the sound of it, you have the bigger burden to bear.”

  He shrugged, “In the end, it doesn’t matter who has it worst. It’s about finding the right way forward, no matter how many times you get side-tracked.” Greyson paused, then he reached out a hand and patted her on the head.

  As he walked away, tears began to roll down Rhionnan’s cheeks.

  Chapter 10

  An Old Enemy

  The next few days were largely uneventful. Greyson spent more time with the humans, in large part because he couldn’t fly, and trying to walk on the roads as a dragon was too difficult to manage. Able to keep a comfortable pace, he walked alongside different men, discussing tactics to fight off the shape shifters.

  Rhionnan would watch him, not able to call him over and unwilling to interrupt him. Their discussion in the pavilion seemed pretty final, and she didn’t want to risk him rejecting her outright. Spending most of her time talking to Cinthia and Clark, Rhionnan tried to keep her mind occupied on what she would need to do when she returned to the palace.

  When there were only a couple of days to go before they reached the palace, Greyson decided that his assistance was no longer necessary. “There’s no chance that they are going to try to attack you this close to the palace. There would be way too many people to resist their advances. You will be fine,” he said as Cinthia tried to convince him to take them all the way to the capital.

  “You promised to make sure we got to the palace safely.”

  “No, I promised to get you to safety. From here on out, the worst you are likely to encounter are bandits and other types of regular humans.”

  “That is still a danger,” Cinthia pouted.

  “You hardly need more than one shifter to contend with other humans,” Greyson replied, giving her a smirk.

  “Watch your mouth, young man, or so help me—”

  He simply laughed, “Keep your threats for someone who will actually feel their effects. You have nothing over me.”

  Cinthia was about to argue, and her eyes went to Rhionnan. Suddenly, she looked deflated. “I suppose you are right about that. Sadly.” Almost as if she were a wind-up doll, Cinthia sat up straight on her horse, a smile on her face. “Why don’t you just see us to the next inn? There is a river you can take where no one is likely to see you. From there, you can shift and be gone from the kingdom. But if you shift here…” She watched him closely.

  “Hhhm, fine. But I am going to leave tonight.”

  Cinthia clapped, almost falling off her horse in her excitement.

  By early afternoon, the atmosphere of the group was fairly high. Since Greyson’s serious injury, they had not even seen another shape shifter. Greyson had scouted ahead a couple of times, largely because he did not want to be spotted so close to the capital as it would have caused a lot of trouble for the group. The men had found him incredibly interesting, and the shifter had ended up being far more popular once he stopped being so contrary.

  “He seems almost happy, talking with the men. Doesn’t he?” Cinthia asked.

  “Almost. He used to be much livelier.”

  “Did he now? He doesn’t seem any different to me. Then again, we were never that close.”

  “Could have fooled me,” the queen muttered.

  “That’s only because you were seeing through a bit of jealousy.”

  Rhionnan waited for a moment. “I’m sorry, did you say I was jealous?”

  “Yes, you were. It seems like that is over, but you still haven’t said what you should have said.”

  “Not this again. There is no chance that he would be willing to try again. I was so cruel.”

  “Have you tried?”

  “I don’t want to hurt him again by bringing it up.”

  “No, you don’t want to put yourself out there because you are afraid that this time he will reject you.”

  Rhionnan frowned, but after counting to ten, she was calm enough to realize that Cinthia was right. “You are right.”

  “Good. Now do something about it.”

  “Does he feel the same way?”

  “You will have to ask him.”

  “Not this again. You already pulled this with—”

  “Well, there is that, but that isn’t the only reason.”

  “Please, I don’t think—”

  “Rhionnan, I can’t read him. Dragon shifters are difficult at best, but Greyson and Aiden have become so adept at hiding their emotions that it is nearly impossible to tell how they feel.”

  Rhionnan shivered, “Was he always like that?”

  “No. Neither of them were. It’s a result of the things they have been through. You hurt him badly. It may hurt you to try to make it right, but either way, you will have nothing but regret if you don’t tell him.”

  “Are you trying to guilt me into confessing?” Rhionnan felt Cinthia was working the situation. Not that it wasn’t working, as she could feel herself beginning to agree.

  Their discussion was interrupted by shouts from the side. The women turned to see soldiers charging out of the woods toward them. Cinthia muttered, “It’s enough to make you want to burn all the forests around the roads.”

  “Matilda,” Rhionnan said, a seething anger obvious in her voice.

  “Your sister?” Cinthia asked.

  “Yes.”

  Sir Clark Newman was already instructing his men into formation. “Greyson, I need you to do me a favor.” His eyes were trained on the charging soldie
rs.

  “I can’t shift here. There isn’t room.”

  “Not that. Please get the queen out of here.”

  “Just because I’m in human shape doesn’t mean I can’t help.”

  “I know,” Clark said, his eyes watching as his men engaged with their enemy. “That’s why I want you to get the queen out of here. There are bound to be others nearby waiting for her to run. They will underestimate you. Please.” He looked down at Greyson. “Please.”

  Greyson paused, his eyes taking in the fight. “Fold in the center and draw them in. You can trap them that way. They outnumber you, but they are not nearly as well trained as your men.”

  “But—oh. Oh! That’s genius!” Clark began to immediately call out orders to his men. He ended by turning to Greyson. “Go!”

  Greyson ran over to Cinthia and Rhionnan. “I’ve been asked to get you to safety, Rhionnan. Cinthia, you can follow too.”

  “Oh please. I have my own plans.”

  “Like what?”

  “I’m going to go get rid of the idiots waiting a bit up the way.”

  “You can smell them?”

  “Yeah. It’s a very pungent smell. I’ll take care of them. You get her somewhere safe.” Cinthia spurred her horse forward and into the woods. Less than a minute later, a wolf emerged, its tongue lolling happily out of its mouth.

  “She looks really happy,” Rhionnan mused.

  “Of course. All she ever wants to do is to make people happy. And getting to take down people who want to hurt her friends is a huge bonus. Come on. Can’t let the people down, not after they entrusted you to my care.” He pulled her off the horse and ran off in another direction.

  As soon as they were hidden, he shifted. Though it had been a while, Rhionnan was well practiced, and was able to easily swing up on his neck. They encountered several small bands, but they were quickly knocked out of the way. Reaching a small, abandoned building, Greyson shifted back into his human form. Taking Rhionnan’s hand, he pulled her into the building.

  Shivering a little, Rhionnan looked around. “This is a strange place for an abandoned building.”

  “Until recently, there was a smuggling group that used it.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I can smell the items they used to smuggle below us.”

  “How do you know they won’t return?”

  “Judging by the smell of the place, it hasn’t been used in over a year. I don’t know why, though.”

  “Do you think they will be alright?”

  “After everything we’ve faced, I’m sure they will be fine. Your sister’s forces aren’t exactly… military.”

  “I don’t know why she is attacking now. Out of the blue. I figured that she would eventually be back, but I had no idea this was how she would return.”

  “That, I cannot say. I don’t exactly have a glimpse into the human mind, you know. She’s your sister, so you are more likely to figure out her motives than I am.”

  Rhionnan sat down and wrapped her arms around her knees. “I never should have left the palace. I’ll bet she got wind of my absence and figured that it was her best chance since we couldn’t take a large contingent with us.” She looked at Greyson. “Our neighbors don’t exactly trust us, so to ensure they didn’t accuse us of trying to do them harm, we took a small group.”

  He simply nodded in response.

  Rhionnan continued, “I mean, she wasn’t wrong. It is rare when I am allowed to go with such a small group, so this was her best chance. But it seems so… strange. If I had just listened to my gut, we wouldn’t have been on this wasted trip. The only good thing to come out of it was seeing you again.” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

  Greyson’s eyebrow went up, but again he said nothing.

  Thinking about what Cinthia had said, the queen decided to say what she had been feeling. “Of course I’m happy to see you again. I never stopped loving you, Greyson. I’ve never even considered any of the suitors because none of them can compare to you.”

  “They would be better for you than I could ever be. When we were together, we were constantly being attacked.”

  “Just like this trip,” she said, smiling at him.

  “Yeah, but with no one else to help us.”

  “But it was the only time in my life since my father died when I was actually happy. I thought if it meant you could have an easier time of it, letting you go was the best thing I could do. I couldn’t watch my stepfather cause your death, and by the time he was gone, I knew it was too late to apologize. I should have tried. Cinthia was right about that. I should have asked you to forgive me because you have been such an important part of my life. I didn’t realize that would continue to be true.”

  Greyson sat down beside her. “Well, you can still ask me now.”

  “Greyson,” she looked at him, “could you—”

  She didn’t get to finish as he threaded his fingers through hers and pulled her into a long kiss. Rhionnan’s head began to spin at the suddenness of it, a part of her believing that it was just some dream designed to torture her. Not wanting to wake from such a dream, she pressed into him. When he finally pulled back, Greyson rested his forehead against hers. “Do you have any idea what you are inviting back into your life?”

  “I’m inviting you back into my life.”

  “Ri, I cannot promise you happiness, just as I could not promise it back then.”

  “I don’t care if the other kingdoms decide to kick us out. If you will take me back, I don’t care.”

  He smiled, his large, beautiful eyes staring into hers. “That’s only one problem.”

  “You have never done anything to hurt me. All you have ever done is protect me, both from enemies and from myself. Just having you back in my life is enough to make me happy.”

  “You give me too much credit, Your Highness.” A half-smile let her know that he was making fun of her.

  “You brat,” she said, giving him a push.

  “You would know,” he replied, pulling her to him again. Placing her head against his chest, he said, “Get some sleep. It’s clear from the bags under your eyes that you have barely slept this whole trip.”

  “Well, when confronted with the worst mistake I ever made, it made me relive all of my stupidity and misery again. Years crammed into a few days.”

  “Again, if you would have been honest…” He let his voice trail off.

  “You would never have listened.”

  “I—” he stopped, then a melodic laugh rang through the abandoned building. “You are right. Damn wolf shifter sticking her nose into our business.”

  “Yeah, making us act like mature adults and being all rational when we were perfectly content to wallow in the pain we had created for ourselves.”

  “To be fair, I didn’t create my misery.”

  Rhionnan pulled back. “Really? I confess that I love you, and you immediately remind me to be grateful.”

  “I did tell you that I wasn’t the best person to make you happy. I’m not known for letting things go.”

  Rhionnan groaned, “Divines, what have I gotten myself into?”

  “You’ll find out soon enough. Now, come on.” He quickly stood up, then pulled her up behind him. “We need to return.”

  “Clark wouldn’t want us to come back until they are done fighting off my sister and her goons.”

  “They are done.”

  Though she wanted to ask how he knew, Rhionnan likewise knew that all she would get was a snarky remark. “I must be a masochist,” she muttered as he pulled her to the door.

  “We have plenty of time to find out about that.” The look Greyson gave her caused the queen’s heart to begin beating rapidly, and she knew it had nothing to do with the excitement of the last hour.

  When they arrived back where the fight had happened, they found that her men had sustained only minor injuries. Her sister scowled at her from the small group of her survivors.


  Clark began to order his men to fan out and take care of any more traitors when Rhionnan and Greyson approached, Greyson still holding her hand. The knight looked at their hands but said nothing as Greyson said, “There’s no reason to.”

  Clark frowned, “We have to make sure that all of them are rounded up so that they can’t plot against her again.”

  “There isn’t anyone else,” Greyson said.

  “We can’t assume that—”

  “Well, it isn’t an assumption. I’m very efficient.” His eyes looked around them until he spotted Cinthia. She scowled at him, causing the prince to laugh in a way that was honest and happy. The men around them looked shocked, but Cinthia simply smiled and turned to the guard closest to her and started chatting.

  Clark clearly didn’t know what had happened, but his mind was stuck on the job. “How do you know that they are all taken care of? What if there are others?”

  “You can believe me if you want, or you can send your men out on a pointless hunt. It’s up to you. Now, if you will excuse me, I’m going to borrow your queen for a while.”

  Clark’s brow furrowed. “Exactly what does that mean?”

  “We have some negotiations to attend to.”

  “Your Majesty, what is he talking about?”

  “The human kingdoms have agreed that the heirs to the dragon kingdoms can choose a human bride. He is allowed to pick any princess that he wants. He’s decided on me.”

  Clark blinked a couple of times. “I’m sorry. I must have suffered a head injury in that fight. I thought that you two—”

  “I told you to let her know, but you didn’t listen. Now you just have to live with it.” Greyson patted the knight on the back, this time much more gently. “I promise to take decent care of her for as long as she lives.”

  “I don’t think that I can allow—”

  Cinthia’s voice interrupted his protest, “There’s no point, Sir Newman. You know how stubborn she is, and he’s even worse. Let them learn the hard way not to be so rash.”

  “10 years is hardly rash,” Greyson chimed in.

  “But you just made up,” Cinthia tried to chide him.

  “Oh, we haven’t started to make up yet.”