Chapter Seventeen
“Hello, Vynessa.” Professor Sinetar leans into the palatial marble doorway with a haughty tilt to the corners of his lips. Well, at least he’s not treating me like a queen. He’s not standing stiffly at attention, as if waiting for me to snap my fingers and order him to bow.
“You’re my royal tutor?” I ask in disbelief, gaping up at my professor who has been so unprofessional and inappropriate—the furthest thing from royalty I can imagine, aside from … Well, me.
“I’m whatever you want me to be,” he says. “Advisor, tutor, professor. You’re a long way from knowing all you need to know. I’m the one to get you there.”
His eyes rove over my body like he’s intimately familiar with its every curve and crevice.
The memory of our encounter in the library plays through my mind—his promise to discipline me later, his closeness as he stood at my side, so close I couldn’t help but look at the bulge in his pants…
And then the asshole way he dismissed me.
“Is that right?” I ask, looking up at him through my lashes. As usual, bravado fills me when he’s near. He brings out my irresistible urge to flirt every time.
“We can start whenever you’re ready,” he says. “You’ve got a lot to learn.”
“I hope you’ll teach me everything you know,” I say, letting my eyes explore him as thoroughly as he did me.
“I’m up for the challenge.”
Pax clears his throat behind me. “Whenever you’re ready, Princess, I will escort you to your sessions.”
“I noticed you got my gift,” Sinetar says, ignoring my guards entirely. “You looked ravishing in it.”
For half a second, I don’t know what he’s talking about, and then the evening flashes through my mind. Queen’s Day. His apology note. The dress made of gems—probably real gems, now that I think about it. Sinetar appearing in that alleyway, then pushing me under the bar.
“I did get it, and thank you,” I say, smiling back at him. “Though I would have accepted your apology without the gift. Thank you for the dress, though, and for saving my life.”
“Let’s get moving,” True says in a flat, hard voice. “We have a lot more of the palace to show you.”
“I would like to speak with Master Sinetar in private.”
Only Sinetar is happy with this arrangement, and True all but flatly refuses my idea, claiming it’s a violation of his right to protect me from all parties. To this, Sinetar lazily points out that I’m the heir to the dragon throne and can have whatever I like.
I give True an awkward, apologetic glance, since I would never pull rank on him like that.
But before I can say a word, Sinetar grips my waist in the most presumptuous manner and pulls me through an exit onto a stone veranda overlooking a view that I could never have imagined in my eighteen years of life in the village.
Snow topped mountains stretch out, ridge after ridge, as far as the eye can see.
Snow clings to pine boughs, glittering like the gems in True’s dragon form.
Yet somehow I’m not cold standing here next to Sinetar. Wind whips around us, but it seems to miss us entirely. Our footsteps echo as we near the edge of the balcony made of swirling chocolate-and-gold stone. Above, the moon and stars shine down, bathing the world in an unearthly glow.
“They won’t be able to hear us here.” Sinetar stops and turns to watch me, almost warily, as we stand there. He’s beautiful as ever, and I can’t help but notice how young he looks and how old he seems.
“Is this some kind of trap?” I ask quietly, hoping Sinetar will hear me, but the dragons who are watching us from the windows won’t.
His dark brows shoot up his forehead. “Trap?”
“I mean, am I going to get coronated and then be stuck here for the next thousand years, like the queen?”
He rubs his chin, making a scratchy sound on the stubble. “That was her decision. It doesn’t have to be yours. You’ll be queen. You can do whatever you like.”
“Anything I want?”
Professor—apparently Master—Sinetar gives me a sideward glance. “Within reason, of course,” he says. “You may do anything befitting a queen.”
I roll my eyes. “Professor. I’m so unqueenly it’s not even funny. I’ve never done anything befitting a queen in my life.”
“Your life has only just begun.”
“And yours?” I ask. “How old are you?”
He stares up at the stars. “Over a thousand years.”
“Okay then,” I say, my head spinning with that knowledge. “If you’re my guide, can you give me a quick rundown of what befits a queen?”
“Anything in particular you’re worried about?” he asks with a cocked eyebrow.
“No,” I say. “Anything you’ve got. I don’t know how to do this whole queen business.”
“First of all, it wouldn’t hurt to stop calling it that,” he says. “You’re ruling a kingdom. It’s not something to be taken lightly.”
“You’re right,” I say, feeling like a child who’s been scolded for speaking during an adult conversation. “It’s just a big change. I haven’t come to grips with the reality of it all just yet.”
“It’s refreshing, to be honest,” he says, his fingers skimming down my bare arm and making me shiver with heat.
“You may speak to me as you wish in private, which is hard to come by as a royal. Always remember, Vynessa, there is a spare here at court. You have a sister. But the only way she could become queen is if you were to die.”
The very idea hits me in the gut and sinks deep inside me.
Pax wasn’t warning me to watch my tongue about my duty as queen so I’d be considered respectful and polite.
He was warning me to watch what I say because the dragon court might replace me if they don’t think I’m jolly-go-princess, happy to serve.
And what would they do with me then, if I’m unfit to be queen? Throw me back out in the world to be murdered by this Sun King like the other heirs?
I shiver at the thought.
The wind whips around us, sending flags and banners cracking in the wind. The windows behind us moan, and the gale howls, but I still don’t feel a thing.
“Are you doing that?” I ask after a minute.
“Of course,” Sinetar says, squaring his shoulders with pride. “I’m a wind-caster from the Sky Clan. We can direct the wind channels. We’re also the fastest and strongest fliers of all dragons.” He drops his voice and leans in. “You can ride me sometime if you don’t believe me.”
“Oh, I believe you,” I say, feeling a little lighter with his teasing, which I’m guessing is his intent. A tendril of heat coils in my core at his crude words, the way it always does.
“You did listen during my lectures, didn’t you, Vynessa?” Master Sinetar asks. “I went over the dragon clans in class.”
“Of course,” I say, which is only halfway true. I tried to pay attention in class, but it’s hard to listen intently to a person when you’re daydreaming about them railing you over a desk. I close one eye. “Sun, Moon, Sea, Ice, Smoke, Lightning, Stone, and Flora.”
“And Sky,” Sinetar says with a wry smile.
“We’ll work on those. But basically, each clan still exists, although some are more rare than others.
Your job will be to produce an heir for each clan, one of which will be the next queen.
It’s a system that has kept equality among dragonkind for thousands of years.
Not all clans are friendly, so forming alliances will be essential.
There’s one kingdom that might need to be kept out of your mating rotation—a kingdom that doesn’t want peace or equality. ”
“Okay,” I say slowly. “If I do this mating thing and produce the required heirs, then can I go home to my family?”
He considers me, and I see something in his strange light eyes, pity maybe. Then he shakes his head. “You’ll need to stay out of the way of ordinary humans and let them live their short lives without interference. Besides, it’s not safe for a queen out there. Your place is here.”
“You don’t get to tell me my place.”
“They are not your people anymore,” Sinetar says, taking my elbow and guiding me back toward the palace. “They never were, but you were allowed to think so. Now, you know you’re a dragon, so you’ll leave behind your old life. The future of dragonkind rests on your shoulders, Vynessa.”
“What about my studies?” I ask. “I want to learn, not just sit around making babies all my life. What about my family?”
“Don’t worry,” he says. “Once you find a proper male from each clan to breed you, you’ll leave an egg in that clan’s keeping until they are hatched. When your time comes, one will take the throne from you.”
I balk so suddenly I almost trip on my own dress, and Sinetar takes my other arm so I won’t fall.
But my legs seem to have locked up, and my head is spinning.
The doors to the veranda burst open, and True sprints toward us, the wind slamming into his side so hard his hair comes free of its mooring and whips out like a flag, streaming past him as he fights against the force.
The wind only dies when he’s feet away, his arms catching me when I begin to sway.
“Princess. Are you all right?” he asks, his forehead creased with concern.
“I’m going to have to mate with nine dragons?” I ask, a note of hysteria creeping into my voice. “I’m going to lay eggs?”
“Of course,” Sinetar says with an amused smile. “What did you think you’d do, give birth?”
“Mother of mermaids,” I mumble, my head spinning. “I wanted to lose my chastity this year, not get gangbanged by a dozen dragon dicks.”
“Give her space,” True growls at Sinetar, supporting me when I crumple into his strong arms. “Back off and let her recover. It’s too much to take in right now.”
“Don’t coddle her,” Sinetar says. “A queen needs to be tough.”
“She’s not a queen yet,” True growls. “She’s still the princess, and a week ago, she was a human for all she knew.”
“She was never a human. Vynessa was born to take the throne,” Sinetar says.
“I—I’m okay,” I say, forcing myself to stand, though I’d rather spend another minute in True’s arms. Okay, that’s a lie.
I’d rather spend the rest of the night there.
We may not have become as close as I am with Pax, but I trust him too.
Though I don’t know him well, I know that he’ll protect me no matter how surly he seems on the surface.
Now I know why he was so protective all that time.
He did a damn fine job, even if he was kind of a dick about it.
True brushes the hair back from my forehead, his eyes searching my face. “Are you all right, Your Highness?”
His arm is tight around my waist, and I focus on the pleasure of his body pressing against mine and the gentleness of his fingers as he tucks my hair behind my ear.
I’m supposed to be acting queenly, but right now, I don’t give a damn.
I want to go back to being roommates who hung around in our favorite worn-out shirts and ate burned hotcakes together.
I want to sit on the porch and drink coffee and read books in companionable silence with him.
I want to be his roommate, not his queen.
“If you’re at my command, then I command you to call me Vynessa again,” I say, smiling up at him.
His jaw tightens, and his throat works. His eyes take on their usual, detached watchfulness. “I cannot do that, Your Majesty.”
“Please,” I say, raising my hand to cup his cheek.
His short beard is softer than I imagined, his skin cool and soothing to the touch.
“It’s the only thing that will get me through this.
Having you and Pax here with me, so things feel almost sane, almost normal.
I need that, True. Can you do this for me? ”
He swallows, his eyes softening. “For you,” he says softly, his gaze dropping to my lips.
I want to kiss him so bad I think I’ll do it right there in the veranda, in front of Sinetar and my whole entourage. But before I can, he draws back, releasing me.
“Perhaps we should let you get back to your room for a rest,” he says, straightening his uniform. “You haven’t slept all night.”
“Maybe later,” I say. “Sinetar has more to teach me about this place.”
True frowns, but then he bobs his head in acknowledgement. He can’t argue with me anymore, now that I’m a princess and he’s my guard.
I realize with a start that he has to do whatever I want. They all do.
Hmm, this might get interesting.