Chapter 31
KIEREN
The bloody portal. My breakfast has gone cold in the half hour I’ve stared at it.
I’ve not come up with a decent plan for telling her why my dragon wanted to carry her off.
Because I haven’t touched her yet. Because we’ve been putting off the ceremony, and now we need to put it off even longer. What we need to do is—
“You’re looking glum this morning.” Evander swipes a handful of bacon and sits down in his seat. I raise my eyebrow at him. Not using a plate in the dining room will send our ancestral into a spiral. “What Leopold doesn’t know won’t hurt—”
“Good morning, gentlemen.” Leopold puts a plate under Evander’s bacon, and I laugh.
“Oh, you can still smile. Good to know, prince.” Evander rocks back in his chair, but one stern look from Leopold has Evander dropping back onto the Oriental carpet.
I glare at him before turning to Leopold, who’s back, placing another cup of coffee in front of me. “Have you seen Raine this morning?”
“I believe she’s in the vault.” He glances at my uneaten food. “Can I get you something else? A sandwich, perhaps?”
I furrow my brow. “She’s in the vault. We’re to go to the village.
” I’m up and out of the dining room before anyone can answer me.
I’m through the grand atrium and down the corridor to the south wing and the vault.
My intuition says to pause and knock on the door, but I’m too worked up that she went to work instead of meeting me in the dining room as I had stated.
The lights are off. The workmen aren’t here yet. I had Leopold call the company and hold them off until later in the day. There’s no glow from the alcove where she’s made an office. But she’s here. The room scents of thyme and chamomile.
“Raine?” I take another step in.
There’s a low snore from the alcove. I step lightly toward the soft noise. Her cheek’s flat on the desk. I step over her discarded shoes beneath the alcove’s arch. Her ankles are crossed, her arm fully extended over the desk, and her fingers wiggle.
I want to touch her so badly my bones ache.
Fucking portal—Thessari—not being aligned for proper power until Monday.
Things in the realm are spiraling, with a lot coming to a head at the same time, most of it revolving around our lack of a mate, but there’s a rumor that the Firested are up to something.
Another attack has something to do with the portals not working right.
At least, that’s what the Rivulet delegation that had dinner with my parents last week said.
I don’t know. But no good will come from it.
Rumors and finger-pointing lead to nothing but battles. It’s the way of the older generation.
My hand hovers over hers. When her head moves, I pull my hand back.
“Oh . . .” She blinks. “Oh no . . . I fell asleep while editing pictures I took of the . . . What time is it? Don’t say morning.”
“Breakfast time.”
“I said don’t say morning.”
“Which is why—”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to miss our dat—meeting . . . outing.” She combs her long dark hair through her fingers.
“You haven’t slept the day away.”
She stands, smoothing down her shirt.
“How much sleep did you get?”
“I . . . What time is it?”
“Six-thirty.”
“Two hours. Last I checked, it was four. I really meant to go back to my room.”
“Well, that’s where you shall go now. And we can go this afternoon.”
“I can’t sleep all day?”
“I assure you, you can.” I wave my hand in the direction of the door, taking a large step backward. “Do you even know what a day off is?”
“Do you?”
“Touché.”
She smiles at me, and damn if I don’t like it too much.
“It’s fine. I’m used to not sleeping. I’ll have a cup of coffee, and we can be on our way.
” She’s practically running down the south hallway, her feet padding softly over the floor.
It’s not hard to keep up with her. She’s tall, but my legs are longer.
She bounds up the stairs and to her suite.
I don’t stop at the threshold. I’m not sure what I’m doing as I follow her into her bathroom.
She reaches in and turns the shower on, then turns back to me, one of her eyebrows arching. “I’m just going to take a quick wake-up shower. Cold water brings me back to life.”
“I’m more than well-acquainted with a cold shower, Raine.” I shouldn’t be here. Not when I need to take a cold shower of my own that has nothing to do with waking up.
Warm laughter flows from her. “Really, Keiren? When have you not gotten exactly what you wanted? Wait, don’t answer that.” Her hands wave frantically in front of her.
The first time I laid eyes on her, I wanted her out.
The prospect of having yet another candidate in our home for six months was too much to bear.
The last one was more than dreadful. But then, I’d been in scale when I’d scented Raine, and my dragon had raged at me.
I should have known the other night that something might happen.
I’d thought the experience of the last candidate had placed lava in my veins, but then Raine’s made a lava of another kind. Damn, I want her.
Staring at her now, she might be the one.
I want to peel her clothes from her and taste her lips.
Push her against the marble wall and make her scream my name.
The steam from the shower isn’t the only smoke in the room.
Tendrils swirl above my head. My dragon likes the idea a lot.
There’s a twitch in my hand. I want her.
“I thought you said you were taking a cold shower.”
Her fingers flit through the rushing water. “I’ve changed my mind. Do you ever do that, Kieren?”
“Lately, a lot more than I ever thought I would. And more than I will ever admit to.”
She steps forward, her palms facing toward me. I want them on me. She’s urging me out of her bathroom. I need it more . . .
“I’ll leave you to it.” I step out of the washroom and into her bedchamber. Her bed’s still made from yesterday. I sit on the edge. I haven’t gotten much sleep myself in the last few . . . weeks. I kick my shoes off while I wait for her.
I love the simplicity of life in Crest Wing. No electronics work there. Here, we’re all attached to devices like humans and shifters are.
I check in with my assistants. I’ve cleared so many days this quarter, it’s like I’m not really a functioning part of the team anymore.
I set my phone on the bed next to me and arrange the pillows.
But soon my eyes are heavy and I’m dreaming of flying.
Flying with a dark blue dragon at my side.
It’s one I don’t know. He’s smaller than any Crest Wing dragon I’ve ever seen.
Not a dragonet, though. The ocean blue dragon dips down into the valley.
The mushrooms are back. Growing like they did in the olden days, days long before me.
Days before the Thessari. My mother used to tell me before bed, how her grandmother told stories of the valley being bright green, the air crisp like a fall apple.
I turn, and the little dragon is gone. The mushrooms too.