Chapter 18 #2
Ashley was never the kind of girl that wanted jewelry, and she didn’t know the value of most of the jewelry that the women she knew wore.
But she did know a diamond when she saw one.
Or, thought she did. It might just be cubic zirconia, for all she knew.
Whatever the stones were, she knew that the carriage decorated with a blinding number of stones had to belong to the Diamond Clan.
Which meant things had gone from bad to worse. Wasn’t it the Diamond King that everyone said was her mate? The man who hadn’t even bothered to meet her at the banquet that night? The one who hated her brother? The one people were plotting to replace as her mate?
She thought about how odd it was that her brother had invited so many dragons to his realm. Weren’t dragons supposed to be grumpy and territorial over what they considered theirs?
“With my luck, he’ll know that I’m around just by feeling alone.” Wasn’t that what someone told her? That shifters could sense when their fated mates were in the general vicinity? Which utterly sucked for her.
Ashley closed her eyes and willed herself to vanish from sight, holding her breath as she did so.
Or, at the very least, she hoped she managed to spot a kind soul amongst the crowd of people out there.
Too bad willing and wishing didn’t work and there were no kind faces amongst the crowd. Ashley was completely alone.
Ashley resigned herself to the idea of being found by her mate, to the idea that he would be pissed, that he would look at her with nothing but malice in his eyes, that he would make clear that she had disappointed him just by being in the village, not the castle where she belonged.
That was when the universe decided to throw her a bone.
Or at least what seemed like a bone. Ashley would consider any sightings of Alexander a bone, or a boon, because she couldn’t deny that she was completely attracted to the man, her whole body seeming to gravitate towards him whenever she came across him.
The fact that she saw a hint of that dark brown hair that undoubtedly was his and saw the outline of his shoulders moving through the crowds felt like a miracle.
Ashley couldn’t believe it. And when she blinked, he was still there.
So close, still there and almost within her grasp.
“Alexander!” Ashley made the daring decision to say his name, almost cringing at the realization that it could have been a grand mistake on her part, but then the moment he turned to her, all thoughts were lost. All she could focus on was him.
Him and the surprise on his face. Him and the way that looked pleased to see her.
Him and the fact that the whole world seemed to orbit around him.
If this was how she felt about a simple servant at her brother’s palace, then Ashley was afraid of how she would react when she actually saw her mate?
What if she didn’t react to him the way she did to Alexander?
What if she met her mate and then found out she couldn’t feel anything near for him what she felt for Alexander?
And what if her mate figured that out? There was a chance, after all, that the Diamond King would want an actual doting wife, a mate that would treat him in the highest regard, the same sort of girl that Ashley had watched men go after when she was growing up.
The same sort of girl she was very quickly realizing she could never be.
Not if she was looking at a butler the way she did now. Not if he consumed her whole mind and every ounce of her being in this way, her body wanting nothing more than to be near him. And the moment he said her name?
“Ashley,” Alexander said, and something about how he said it made her whole body flush with warmth.
Yeah, that got her. She couldn’t imagine a world where she was mated to someone else. Whether she was promised to the Diamond King or not, this man was her mate. No other would do. She didn’t care what the customs in this place were, or how it would topple her brother’s plan, this man was her mate.
When she found herself captured by Alexander in a few swift steps, her heart skipped a beat. He looked at her with so much concern that it made her smile, despite the fact that he’d caught her.
“Alexander,” she repeated, much to his amusement.
“Why are you outside of the castle?” This wasn’t exactly the romantic response that Ashley had been hoping for, but it was a start. She slid into place at Alexander’s side, looking up at him with consternation.
“I have been led outside as part of a plot. A very odd one. The people who took me out of the castle said they were trying to prevent another plot, one that just so happens to involve my mate and the Dragon Games,” Ashley explained.
She didn’t worry about the red flags she’d picked up on when it came to him, even if she should.
The way he made her feel was all she needed to know about him.
He was her true mate, and he would never hurt her.
Would he? At the same time, she didn’t want to get Jack in trouble, if he was being honest about the plot to usurp her brother’s plans.
“And who were these people?” Alexander asked, his brows knitting together as he leaned in close, his lips brushing at the skin next to her right ear. “And what do they think is happening?”
The feel of his lips on her skin made her blood surge in her veins, and an ache started low in her belly.
She wanted to pull him deeper behind the shop, kiss him, and find out what she’d been missing, but he pulled back to look at her, his thumb coming up to brush at her lip. That certainly didn’t help matters.
“What?” She finally asked, making him grin down at her. She thought her brain might explode then, but he just shook his head and gave her the most alluring smile she’d ever seen. Fuck. She couldn’t think like this.
Ashley took a deep breath and pulled back a little, hoping the distance would bring back her brain function.
“Oh right, the plot. They think that someone is working to replace my brother’s chosen mate with someone else, and if I understood it all correctly, replace one of the dragon kings.
Or maybe it was to take over all the kingdoms,” Ashley’s brain definitely wasn’t working, but then he stepped away and something else jostled out of her memory.
“But I think Valys has a similar plan, to take over all the kingdoms, I mean.”
She stopped, hating the way she blushed as she realized how much she was stumbling over her words and what she’d revealed about her brother.
Best to keep going, though, and maybe he’d forget that part.
“There was something else about a prophecy, but they wouldn’t explain much to me about that either.
Which is how most people treat me here. They only feed me enough information to make me curious and that’s about all.
Alexander leaned in towards her, his body pressing against hers and Ashley suddenly couldn’t ever imagine denying this man anything, or any part of her.
The way he inhaled her scent, his nose moving up her neck and towards her mouth, before he pulled away, made her wonder if he was some kind of Casanova, and if he did this with all the ladies, but something told her he didn’t.
That all of that barely controlled sensuality was all for her and she wanted to lick up every bit of it. And him.
Ashley swallowed hard, knowing she was on the verge of doing something really stupid like kissing him, so she forced herself to look away from him.
“I have to get out of this place. I’m going to lose my mind, and maybe my life, if I don’t.
” Alexander pulled her face back to his with his fingers on her jaw.
He looked down into her eyes, making her a promise before he even spoke.
“I will never, ever, allow that to happen, Princess.”
“Oh,” was all Ashley managed as she smiled up at him.
Alexander was something that she couldn’t have.
Ashley was well aware of that, just as she was well aware of the fact that her life had changed drastically.
Just because she was attracted to this man didn’t exactly mean that she was destined to be with him.
She knew that, but she couldn’t help but want so much more from him.
Besides, knowing better didn’t stop people from making mistakes.
“What else can you tell me, Princess,” Alexander asked in a low grumble that made her want to clamp her thighs together.
Fuck, he knew how to make her melt for him. She didn’t speak until she knew she could actually get the words out, instead of the ‘take me off and fuck me until we can’t stand up’ that she wanted to say.
“All signs point to someone wanting to rig the Dragon Games and force another mate mark on me in a chance to find their way to the winner circle. It has something to do with their being one dragon king or something like that. My brother seems overly concerned with the Opal crystal, and he’s had a bunch of local nobility over to talk about it.
I’m fairly certain that has something to do with the Dragon Games.
Maybe he’s made a deal with someone. Maybe he’s afraid that they’ll go back on their promise?
I’m not exactly sure, but honestly, I can’t help but be just the slightest bit afraid. ”
“Rightfully so,” Alexander said. And then, because the world could use a little realism, Alexander did the one thing that Ashley supposed she should have expected him to do: he offered to take her home.
“Well, if you’re done conspiring, that is,” Alexander said, and there was something about his voice that made Ashley remember that no matter how much she wanted it to be, Alexander could never truly be her friend, because he was loyal to her brother, his employer.