Chapter 9
Harper
Arthur and I are lying on my bed. His arm is behind my head as we stare up at the ceiling. Everything feels better. Like the world is a little brighter. Like the birds’ songs are a little louder. That’s how it’s always been with Arthur. And I absolutely needed this in my life right now.
“What’s Tesson doing right now?”
I smirk. “I asked my friend Roland to keep him busy for as long as possible.”
“Nice. I had enough of that turnip on the trip over.”
Laughing, I grin at him. “I’m so glad you came.”
He shifts a little. “I wasn’t going to just abandon you after I heard Tesson was coming. I just kept thinking how much shit he would put you through, and how miserable it would be to deal with him, and I knew I had to come here and be a buffer.”
“Well, I appreciate it,” I say, thinking about how pissed Tesson was when we’d just walked off and left him outside the dining hall. “Why did Tesson come here though? Just to make me miserable?”
“Nah, after you left on the dragon, the whole town was talking about you, and Tesson went from shock to bragging about how he was engaged to you. Your parents basically set up a meeting with him and his parents and let them know the engagement was off. From what I heard, he did not take it well. He basically said that he knew if he came here, he could convince you to go forward with the engagement. Your family was very clear that that wouldn’t change anything, but he decided to come anyway. ”
“Fucking prick.”
“Exactly.”
“How’s the family doing?”
He grins. “Well, your mom had to teach your brothers how to hunt for herbs. They were bitching about it constantly. I guess digging around in the forest isn’t their cup of tea.”
“Who would have thought?”
“Your parents miss you.”
My heart aches a little. “But they’re doing well?”
“Yeah, all of them are holding up just fine. I actually think they’re really proud of you. They keep saying that they always knew you were special, because you were special long before a dragon chose you.”
“That sounds like them.”
Suddenly, my door goes flying open, slamming the door against the wall at a volume that would rival an explosion. The three princes stand in the doorway, shoulders thrown back, chests heaving, and fists clenched. They look like they’re ready for a fight, not striding into my bedroom.
“Get up,” Prince Gareth orders.
“I’m sorry?” I say as we both sit up.
“Get up,” he repeats.
I look to Prince Alaric, hoping he’ll make some sense of this, but there’s no softness in his expression, just pure and utter rage, which I can’t for the life of me figure out.
“What’s your problem?” I ask.
Prince Lucien’s green eyes are unrelenting. “He needs to go. Now.”
I bristle. “Since when are there rules about men being in rooms?”
“Since now,” Prince Alaric says, each word controlled.
For a second, I can’t help but laugh. “You guys can’t be serious.”
Prince Gareth takes another step forward, the muscles in his jaw working. “Do we look like we’re fucking serious?”
He does. “This is ridiculous. You can’t just go around making up arbitrary rules whenever they suit you, just to make my life more miserable.”
“We’re princes, we can do whatever we want,” Prince Lucien says, in a voice so arrogant that I’m tempted to punch him in his perfectly defined chin.
“Bullshit,” I say.
“Harper…” Prince Alaric begins, a warning in his voice.
“No.” I glare. “You can’t just tell me what to do. I don’t belong to you. I’m not your property. So go find someone else to bother.”
Prince Lucien cracks his neck, looking for a fight. “According to our dragons, you’re ours.”
“Which we all disagree with. You can’t just pull that out because it suits you.”
“Listen, you–” Prince Lucien begins.
Arthur lifts his hands beside us. “Look, Harper, it’s not that big of a deal. If they don’t want me in your room, we can just go for a walk instead.”
“That’s ridiculous–”
“It’s not worth fighting with our royals about,” he tells me, strangely the voice of reason.
“See, there, even he agrees,” Prince Lucien says, dripping with arrogance.
I open my mouth to continue arguing when Arthur gets off the bed. He offers a hand to help me get up, and even though I want to keep fighting with the three idiots, I want to spend time with Arthur more. So, I take his hand, glaring at the princes.
“It looks like we’re going on a little walk. And if it wasn’t obvious, you’re not invited.”
Squeezing Arthur’s hand, I drag him out of the room and past the three glaring men.
Arthur is tense every step of way, as if he’s expecting a fight.
I want to explain to him they’re mad at me, not him, but I’m too busy marching our asses out of there.
I don’t stop until we reach battlements, the walkways on the walls surrounding the academy, and then I finally slow.
“Whoa,” Archer says, letting out a deep breath.
“Yeah, I don’t know what the hell has gotten into them. I mean, they’ve always been assholes, but I don’t know what their specific problem was today, with you being in my room.”
“You said they’ve always been assholes?”
I give him a look, debating about how much to tell him.
“Basically, they’ve been complete jackasses since the day I showed up.
They’ve made it really clear that they don’t think a woman, or a commoner, should be a dragon rider.
And they feel they’re more entitled to having Ebron as their dragon, given that they’re men and princes.
” I roll my eyes. “They absolutely melted down when I was dancing with another dragon rider. When I tried to leave the bar with a random, nice guy, they chased him away and basically dragged me home. Prince Gareth sat outside my room all night when he thought I was going to fuck one of the other men here. They’re seething because my dragon plans to choose their dragons as mates, which I guess in this crazy world means that I’m going to end up married to the princes.
It’s just… it’s a clusterfuck. I swear, those three make absolutely no sense to me. ”
He lets out a low whistle. “So, they have a thing for you.”
I stiffen and look at him like he’s crazy. “What? No. Did you listen to a thing I said?”
The wind blows his dirty blond hair around his face as he spins to face me. “I heard every word of it. Those three have it bad for you.”
“Wh-what in the world are you talking about?”
His brows rise, and I hate when he looks at me like this.
Like I’m missing the obvious. “I’m a man.
I understand men. You have always been absolutely horrible at understanding men, so I’m going to say this slow enough for you to understand.
Those three are walking around peeing on you like dogs, trying to make sure that no other men so much as look your way.
And the reason they were freaking out about me being in your room is because they thought we were fucking, or going to fuck, either of which they weren’t about to tolerate, because you’re theirs. ”
“N-no.”
“Yes.” He continues walking, and I have to scramble to keep up. “They don’t want other men looking at you. They don’t want other men talking to you. And they sure as hell don’t want other men touching you.”
It feels like my brain has just stopped working. I try to apply his assumption to all the situations I’ve dealt with with the three princes, but none of it makes sense. They… like me? They’re jealous?
“You don’t know them,” I say, even though my thoughts are still racing. “They’re not like other men. They’re jerks to their core. It’s just all this dragon hormone stuff pulling us together and making us feel things that we don’t really feel.”
“Uh huh.”
I punch him lightly. “Seriously.” As I speak, I become more sure of it. “They don’t like me. I actually think they hate me. There’s no way their actions are fueled by jealousy.”
“Yeah, because men waste a lot of time torturing women they’re not into.”
I open my mouth, then shut it.
“And they totally just had nothing better to do than go flying into your bedroom when I was in it. Because they totally care that much about who the woman they hate is banging.”
It’s hard. I honestly don’t know what to say. “But it’s been more than that.” Then I go on to explain Prince Alaric punching me during our one-on-one fight, Prince Lucien pulling down my top for everyone to see, and the names they’ve been calling me.
His mouth pulls into a thin line. “They’re assholes alright. Assholes I’d kick the crap out of, you know, if they weren’t princes, bigger than me, better fighters… all that.”
“So, you see, they don’t like me.”
“Oh, they still like you. Like a boy pulling a girl’s pigtails, which is honestly fucking sad, because they should have grown out of that shit by now, but they still like you.”
“Seriously, it’s impossible.”
He doesn’t look convinced. “Has anything romantic happened between you?”
I think of the tense moments I shared with all three men. Images of Prince Gareth's body close to mine fill my mind. Of the touches and looks between Prince Alaric and I. I even think about nearly having sex with Prince Lucien in the kitchen.
“Well…”
Arthur grins. “You know I’m not a warlock. I don’t have any mystical powers, so how do you think I guessed that?”
“I don’t know.” And I try not to pout as complicated thoughts and feelings wash over me.
He pulls me in close, resting his chin on top of my hair.
“I hate to say it, Buttercup, but those princes have it bad for you. And if I were to make a smart guess, you have it bad for them too. I don’t know if it’s the whole dragon-human connection, but your life might get a hell of a lot easier if you just accept it. ”
“What if you’re wrong? How do I know for sure?”
He pulls me back from him, grinning, his eyes sparkling in that way that means trouble. “We can test it.”
“Test it?”
“What are you doing tonight?”
“Tonight there’s another ball,” I tell him, thinking about my unpredictable schedule.
“Perfect. I’ll go with you to the ball tonight, and I’ll make sure you know one hundred percent for sure how the princes feel about you.”
“How are you going to do that?” I ask, staring at him in confusion.
That smile of his turns wicked. “Trust me.”