15. Lira
15
LIRA
I ’d rather die than leave with Prince Pyralis. If I had to resort to kicking him in the balls to get away, I would. I didn’t give a damn if my parents got upset with me.
Please tell me that dragon prince isn’t causing your anger right now. Tavish’s voice popped into my head.
Not wanting to be distracted, I opened my mouth to tell Pyralis where he could go, but my father cut me off.
“She will not be leaving with you.” Father slammed a hand down on his desk. “Our agreement is that you will marry on her twenty-fifth birthday. We have over two and a half years before that happens, and she will remain here with us until then.”
“Unacceptable,” Prince Pyralis snarled. “In the last twelve years, while she’s remained under your protection , my betrothed grew up on Earth, was kidnapped by an Unseelie wildling, and returned to Gleann Solas—and we weren’t informed of her return—with fated-mate markings all over her, which can’t be hidden. I fear what else will happen if she remains under your care .”
Father’s nostrils flared. “How dare you come into my kingdom and castle and insult me in such a way? She is my daughter , and I’m the best person to protect her. If she remained with you, I suspect she’d be dead with how much disregard you’ve given her until this moment.”
This whole time, I thought my parents were the worst people to watch after me, but I could only imagine what would’ve happened if I’d somehow gotten stuck with the dragons. A shiver ran down my spine at the horrible thought. The dragon prince is demanding that I leave with him, but Father is telling him no. At least there was that.
“I disrespected you?” He laughed bitterly, smoke puffing from his mouth. “Ever since our alliance was sealed, you’ve pretended we shouldn’t have a say in the princess’s protection—something I should’ve been involved with, but you didn’t bestow that consideration on me. She’s old enough to wed, and I can ensure she remains protected and unharmed. She is the woman who will bear my children and future heirs to the throne, and I refuse for that plan to change.”
Chest heaving, Father gritted out, “Are you insinuating that I would try to find a way out of the agreement?”
“Not insinuating.” Prince Pyralis lifted his head and stood with his feet shoulder-width apart, clearly wanting to intimidate. “I believe I’m being clear. You have no control over her and are struggling with what needs to be done to get her to behave the way a princess should.”
Laughter choked me, and I sputtered, “That doesn’t sound like treating someone as if they’re your treasure.” I lobbed his words back at him, and they left a sour, bitter taste in my mouth. I didn’t want to be anything to the dragon prince, especially not his treasure.
He shook his head. “Treasures must be polished, treated, and, at times, molded to ensure they retain their value or increase in worth.”
My stomach roiled. I wasn’t a person to him. I was property that he planned to use as he pleased. A shudder ran through me. “Clearly, you don’t know me very well.” I wouldn’t change for anyone.
“Courtesy of your parents’ subpar upbringing.” His jaw clenched. “Had you remained in Gleann Solas, I would’ve had that privilege.”
Ew. The idea of him hanging around when I was a child had a sour taste filling my mouth.
“That’s enough,” Mother spat as a breeze swirled in the room. “Everyone, stop fighting because Prince Pyralis is right about one thing.”
Father’s head jerked in her direction as my heart stopped.
“ He should be leaving.” Mother pointed right at the dragon prince to ensure everyone knew exactly who she meant. “But not with Lira. Lira stays here. We haven’t agreed to modify the timeline of the promise, nor will we. The way you’re trying to change the terms isn’t how agreements are modified, and you know that better than anyone.”
“I didn’t say I would marry her ahead of schedule.” Prince Pyralis glowered. “The only agreement we came to is when we’d wed, not where she’d live. As a child, she would obviously stay with her parents, but you handed her off to guards and sent her to Earth. Now that she’s returned as a woman, there is no reason she can’t come with me, especially since her future is set by my side.”
Agony shot through the bond, indicating that Tavish had gotten injured. Between the pain, rage, and fear emanating from him, I had no doubt he was trying to escape from his chains.
I won’t leave with him. I’d rather die than go anywhere with that scaly ashbreath, I connected, wanting Tavish to understand my resolve.
Neither of those options works for me, sprite, he growled through our connection, his anger boiling hotter than ever before.
“Hestia and Brenin,” Father commanded. “Prince Pyralis has overstayed his welcome. Please escort him from Gleann Solas.”
I inhaled sharply. I hadn’t expected Father to do this. I would’ve bet he’d hand me over in fear of angering the dragons. If we went to war with them, I wasn’t certain we would win. Their population was slightly smaller, but in beast form, they were fifteen times bigger than in human form, had razor-sharp talons, and could breathe fire for miles.
Still, Pyralis didn’t have a choice since he was the only dragon here.
The dragon prince fisted his hands. “If you force me to go, I will return with larger numbers.”
Father pivoted around the desk toward the prince and extended his wings at his sides. “I wouldn’t expect anything less, but this conversation is over. You need time to cool off, and I want to spend more time with my daughter. As you pointed out, she’s been gone for the last twelve years, and I want to use these two and a half years to get to know her again before she leaves for Tìr na Dràgon.”
If the moment hadn’t been so tense, I’d have run over and hugged Father. Everything he’d done to piss me off since I arrived vanished. Father is forcing the dragon prince to leave without me. He just commanded the guards to escort him to the kingdom’s edge.
The uncontrollable rage mellowed, but Tavish’s fear held on strong.
Thank Fates, but this is a temporary reprieve. He’ll be back with his own guards, hoping your father won’t risk a battle with them within his kingdom.
That made sense, and Prince Pyralis had already stated as much. At least the imminent threat has passed.
Despite the deep scowl, the prince bowed his head. “You’re right. I must be on my way.” If I hadn’t seen the expression on his face, I wouldn’t have known there was a threatening edge to the words. But between the flush and the faint scales thickening his skin, there was no doubt he wanted to eat us all.
Wings fluttered behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder to find Eiric standing next to Mom. Eiric’s head tilted back as she took in the dragon prince.
I wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen a dragon in person. Seeing one like this, on the verge of a shift, was almost more fear-inducing than seeing one in full dragon form. The merge had the hair on the nape of my neck rising with uncertainty about what the prince’s next move would be.
She needed to get away from this and find safety.
“Eiric, call the most experienced guards. We need them to line the halls,” Mom whispered, and Eiric looked from the prince to Mom.
After a second, Eiric nodded and rushed off toward the prison, where most of the guards were stationed with Tavish and Finnian there.
I watched the dragon prince stroll from his spot in front of the window toward me. I sidestepped, allowing him access to the door, not wanting to slow his exit in the slightest.
Yet he paused at my side.
“Until we see each other again, my gem,” Prince Pyralis said with a toothy smile.
I gritted my teeth, fighting the urge to step away. Bile inched up my throat, but if enduring his patronizing gaze prevented him from becoming angrier, I’d do it. His scowl vanished, and his brows furrowed.
Good. My nonreaction caught him off guard. I needed to not flinch at his proximity to help reduce the urgency of my needing to relocate to his kingdom.
“Hestia, please remain here with the royals,” Dad said and kissed Mom on the cheek. “I’ll get a few other guards to go with me.”
I mashed my lips to prevent myself from smiling. Mom hated Dad telling her what to do, but when she moved to stand next to me without arguing, I realized there was something more going on.
“After you, Your Highness.” Dad bowed to the prince and gestured to the hall.
Prince Pyralis’s back tensed, and my pulse pounded against my skin as I wondered what the dragon might do.
After a few tense moments, the prince exited the room. His footsteps were slow and steady, and he and Dad disappeared from sight.
Mother, Father, Mom, and I kept our gazes on the door as if the dragon prince might reappear, but after several minutes, I couldn’t hear the footsteps anymore, and Mom shut the door.
“Are you all right, Lira?” Mother asked, flying over the desk to me. “I can’t believe he treated you so poorly.”
None of the disgust and criticism I’d seen since I’d returned was present in her eyes, and they softened as she examined me.
“I’m fine.” I placed my hands on her shoulders to reassure her. “He tried to manhandle me, but I didn’t let him.”
Father tilted his head. “Manhandle? Did the prince believe you were a man? Did he check to see if you had a penis?”
I blinked, processing if I’d heard what I thought I had.
“She meant thornclutched.” Mom chuckled and patted my shoulder. “Despite forgetting our fae heritage, Brenin and I took protection jobs on Earth and trained Eiric and Lira on such measures. Now that things are getting settled, we can begin training Lira with a sword again.”
Little did she know I’d already been brought back up to speed with a sword, but I suspected informing them of that and why would make things worse for Tavish. Instead, I focused on something of much more importance. “How long until he comes back with his parents and other dragons?”
“It’ll take two days for him to travel back to his land, and then he’ll need to rest and inform his father, so about a week.” Mother nibbled on her bottom lip. “His desire to take you before your wedding is completely preposterous. He should know that we don’t want you to leave our side until then.”
“He doesn’t believe we’ll follow through on the agreement. You heard the beast.” Father crossed his arms and frowned. “In the meantime, I want guards on watch at all hours. He could return, hoping that we won’t expect him. The dragons are not to enter our kingdom until I invite them. I won’t tolerate the disrespect of them showing up at our door again without notice, which brings us back to the larger problem—the veil is partially down due to the Unseelie presence here because we didn’t feel the dragon’s arrival.”
I took a slight step back. “The dragons were blocked from coming here too?”
“No, but we included magic in the veil so that if a dragon crosses into our land, we’ll be alerted. That didn’t happen, which is why Pyralis showing up at Caisteal Solais’s door surprised us.” Father rubbed his temples like he had a headache coming on. “We’ll need to do something with the nightfiends if their presence is impacting the veil that much.”
“But we can’t kill Tavish.” Mother placed a hand to her mouth. “Otherwise, Ardanos magic will become unbalanced—unless he’s borne an heir since the Unseelie’s exile?”
My anger and resentment toward them slammed back into place. “He doesn’t have an heir. After waking up to find that his parents had been murdered by Seelie and he’d been kicked out of their home, he’s been trying to prove himself to his people and help them survive.”
“Murdered by Seelie?” Father scoffed. “Is that what he’s told you? That we’re the evil ones who killed his parents? How absurd.”
Here we were again, playing with words to evade the truth. Did he truly believe I was ignorant enough not to have caught on, or was it second nature, and he wasn’t aware of what he was doing?
“Not only that, dear, but he’s got you believing you have a fated-mate bond with him. I doubt he’d be honest about an heir. Did you ask him directly about that?”
I wanted to stomp my foot, but the impact wouldn’t be strong, seeing as I’d already broken both heels. “When he and I completed our bond, he told me he was a virgin. He said those exact words.”
“Then we need to determine an alternative. We don’t want to release him so he can regain the throne at the ruins. We need the Unseelie to stay disorganized.” Father headed back to his desk and removed a map of Ardanos from the bookcase. “Hestia, go coordinate the patrols and guards while I determine another location to keep the nightfiend.”
I swallowed, unsure what to do next.
“Lira, I need you to remain in your room until we know the ashbreath has officially left. I don’t want you out in the kingdom until patrols are in place and we’re certain it’s secure.” Father gestured to the door. “We won’t have as many guards here, so I need you to stay in one place.”
Even though I hated to be controlled, I didn’t want to argue with him. In my room was exactly where I needed to be to get Tavish out before they moved him. With every breath I took, things got worse for us. But at least the guards’ presence would be thin, allowing us an easier way to escape.
Father watched with an arched brow. He expected me to fight him.
“Of course, Father.” I bowed slightly, listening to what Mom had recommended earlier. I needed to lull them into a false sense of security.
The corners of Father’s lips rose, and he exhaled with relief.
“Aw, there’s our little girl.” Mother sighed and kissed my cheek. “Once your father and I are done strategizing, we’ll make sure the three of us spend more time together. Just give us a day or two, and then we’ll make sure to focus on you.”
The last thing I wanted was their full attention. Still wanting to play along, I nodded. “I understand. I’ll leave you to it.”
I spun around, and Mom left the room with me.
At the intersection where she’d split off toward the prison and I’d go back to my room, she took my hand and said, “I was proud of you back there, Lira. I think all three of you need that time together your mother just spoke about.”
“We probably do,” I said, agreeing in the only way I knew how without lying. “Be safe. I don’t want you getting harmed.” Then I headed to my room to wait for the perfect time to escape with Finnian and Tavish.
I’d been going over my plan the entire afternoon and evening. Gaelle had brought my lunch and dinner to my room so I wouldn’t leave, and I felt like a prisoner again, like when Tavish first brought me to Ardanos.
The only thing that kept my sanity in check was Tavish and me strategizing the entire time. From what he could tell, only one guard was watching them now. If I could distract the guard by giving him something that held his attention long enough to steal the key from him, I might be able to reach Tavish and Finnian before the guard noticed. As long as I could free them before the guard caught me, we should be able to take one guard down without alerting anyone else to our escape.
It wasn’t a good plan, but it was the best option we had.
Because of that, I didn’t eat the coveted sunberry tarts that only the highest of fae had the privilege of eating. Taking the sunny-yellow-filled pastry and wrapping it in a leaf, I headed to my door and opened it. No one was guarding my door or the hall. Right now, everyone was busy securing the kingdom, which worked to my advantage.
I flew down the hallway, heading straight to the prison. From what Gaelle had said, Mother and Father had locked themselves in the royal study to strategize, so I wasn’t worried about running into them.
A guard stood with his back to me, facing the opening that gave a clear view of the area west of the castle, searching for trouble.
I continued down the path.
When I found the lone guard in front of the holding cell, some of my worries passed.
He was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. He didn’t even hear me land right in front of him.
Good. All of the experienced guards were watching for the threat of dragons.
I cleared my throat, and his red eyes popped open almost comically.
He took in a quick breath. “Princess Lira. You’re not supposed to be here.”
“Oh, I only came to drop off this pastry.” I held up the dessert. “Then I’m heading back to my room. With everyone gone, I thought you might like a snack.”
He licked his thin lips. “Oh. That’s nice.”
A tingle on my neck made me feel as if I were being watched, so I glanced over my shoulder but didn’t see anyone. Great, I could add paranoia to my list of growing problems.
“Here.” I handed him the pastry, and when our hands touched, I held on to the sweet a little tighter than necessary.
He tried to take it from me, but some of the sunberry oozed down his armor.
“Oh, Fates!” I exclaimed, getting closer to his right pocket. I released the pastry and bent down, grabbing the edge of my gown as my left hand slipped into his pocket. When my fingers brushed the cold metal, I shifted my weight into him, lifting the key while raising my right hand to dab the sunberry off him with my dress. “I didn’t mean to make a mess.”
“It’s armor, Your Highness.” He smiled reassuringly. “It’s easy to clean.”
I clutched the key in my hand and placed it behind my back before I stopped dabbing his armor with the hem of my dress. “Right. How foolish of me.” Sweat pooled in my armpits.
“The tart makes it worthwhile.” He beamed.
“Good.” I took a few steps back, angling my left side away from him. “I should get back to my room. I hope you enjoy it.”
“I will.” He lifted the tart and took a big bite.
Satisfied, I turned and flew back to my room. My wings wanted to move way too fast, but I forced them to flap at a reasonable speed as if I weren’t in a rush. Still, I couldn’t relax.
As I passed the intersection of the two hallways, someone grabbed my arm and yanked me toward them.