I grinned back at him. “Oh, that’s easy. All the porn.”
Rasp sprayed a stream of wine out across the floor as he choked and coughed. Vincent’s eyes went wide with surprise. Aurelius, for his part, understood I was purposefully being a smart-ass and bantered back.
“Ah, yes. The majestic epitome of cinema,” he said, swirling his wine in his glass. “I feel there is a certain elegance in the images they convey.”
He and I looked into one another’s eyes for several seconds before we devolved into laughter. I liked that Aurelius could keep pace with my humor. Most men didn’t get it. A quirky, quick-witted girl was all well and good in a sitcom or movie, but in real life, it seemed like men all wanted ladies who fit into a mold I had no wish to slot myself into. Aurelius didn’t seem to have that issue.
Rasp wiped his mouth and looked at us both. “Jesus, Aurelius, looks like you found someone with the same sense of humor you have.”
“Perhaps, I have,” Aurelius said, then looked at his two friends. “What questions do you have for our guest? I’m sure Elle would love to give you the answers to all the things you’ve wanted to know.”
“Do you guys pee outside?” Vincent asked.
“Excuse me?” I said.
“Well, wolves are similar to dogs,” he explained. “Dogs pee outside. Do you guys pee outside too?”
Rasp and Aurelius shook their heads in embarrassment.
“We use toilets, Vince,” I said slowly. “Like you guys.”
Vince nodded once as if confirming something with himself, then took a sip of his water.
“I always assumed, but I wanted to make sure,” he said. “It was a question that always bugged me.”
“Anyway,” Rasp said. “Who cares about what we want to know? Wolves are pretty well understood. Dragons like us?” he pressed a thumb to his chest. “We’re the ones who are endangered. Is there anything about us you want to know?”
He looked so eager to please that I didn’t want to disappoint him by not asking anything.
“I do want to know something,” I said, turning to look at Aurelius again. “What’s it like being the prince?”
Glass halfway to his lips, he paused for the briefest second before continuing. Sipping his wine, he rolled his eyes toward the ceiling as if thinking. When he was done, he sat his glass down,
“It’s stressful,” he admitted, then glanced at the other two. “But it’s stressful for them too. Vincent here is the heir to the Beatrix family fortune.”
“Dad doesn’t like me,” Vince said. “He thinks I’m an idiot and a disappointment to the family.”
I gaped at him, glancing sideways at Rasp and Aurelius, but neither of them looked surprised or horrified at this admission.
“You see,” Rasp said, leaning forward. “Our friend Vincent’s dad is what I like to call a grade-A douchebag.”
“His father is difficult,” Aurelius agreed, using a more diplomatic term.
Vincent shrugged and picked up a roasted chicken leg to take a nibble. “He can dislike me all he wants. I don’t care.”
Aurelius glanced at his watch and winced. “It’s nearly four in the morning, boys. I think it’s high time we let our guest get some shut-eye.”
“You don’t have to leave,” I said, standing up so fast that a wave of dizziness swept through me. I had to blink a few times to clear my vision. Too much wine.
“It’s fine,” Aurelius said, standing and waving for his friends to join. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
The food and conversation had been so wonderful that I hadn’t noticed the dry, grittiness in my eyes that came with lack of sleep. I knew Aurelius was right, but I still didn’t want the night to end. Strange as it had begun, it had turned into one of the more pleasant evenings of my entire life. At least the most pleasant since I was fifteen, and it had become obvious my family was going to exile me.
“Feel free to sleep in,” Aurelius said as he escorted his friends from the room. “I’ll let you know if my envoy has any word for me on when we can deliver you safely to your family.” He smiled warmly at me. “I’m sure it will be a relief to be back with them.”
“Uh…yeah,” I smiled back, but it felt wooden and forced. “Sure will. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He pointed to a phone beside my bed. “Dial five when you wake. That’s the kitchen. They can bring you anything you’d like.”
“Sure thing.” I lingered at the door as he left, unable to keep my eyes from scoping out the perfect ass flexing in his pants as he strode away from my room.
Once the door was closed and locked, I undressed and turned the lights out. Slipping beneath the cool and crisp sheets, I closed my eyes, wondering if I would wake up back home on my patio, my neck stiff from sleeping in a chair and a ridiculous dream to tell Delphine about. As I drifted into sleep, I thought of
Aurelius again. Those blue eyes. That face. The voice. I fervently hoped this wasn’t a dream.
AURELIUS
Awaking after three hours of rest, I went about my usual morning routine as I waited for the appropriate time to arrive to contact my envoy. First, I scanned the emails I’d received overnight-nothing too pressing. My father would handle and respond to most of them. I headed to the home gym to work out. Typically, I would have simply gotten on a rower or treadmill while watching the news or financial market reports. Today, I headed straight for the free weights. An unsettling anxiety had settled in my chest and stomach.
The strange feeling had nothing to do with our family finances, my father’s coming retirement, or the drama around my trip to the wellspring. No, it was Elle. Since the moment I walked into my bedroom and found her tied to a chair, I’d begun to notice interesting stirrings deep inside my mind and heart. Things I hadn’t felt so intensely in my entire life.
Grabbing a set of dumbbells, I began to curl them, shrug them, and press them overhead. Dozens of reps for a half-dozen sets until a sheen of sweet glazed my skin. I moved on to the bench press, then did a hundred pull-ups. My body was aching in a pleasant way as I did a few sets of squats and lunges, but still her face hovered in my mind, gazing at me from the shadows of my subconscious.
What was wrong with me?
With three hundred and fifteen pounds on the barbell, I lowered my body down, then back up, my legs burning. A dozen reps later, I racked the barbell and wiped my sweat-drenched face with a towel. A glance at the clock told me the morning had progressed far enough that I could try to contact my man, though it worried me that he hadn’t sent an email or text about the situation yet. I’d have assumed the Laurents would want proof of life or something as soon as they heard we had their daughter. Some assurance the big bad dragons hadn’t killed their beloved daughter as recompense for their moving in on our transportation routes.
Grabbing my phone from the counter in the gym, I dialed the number for our official political ambassador. Karinius was the man we sent on the most delicate of missions that didn’t require an actual member of the royal family. He mostly dealt with minor issues within the dragon community and the distant families that were beyond our immediate area of influence. We ruled over all dragons, even in faraway corners such as Florida and Maine and across the seas to the old world as well. Having our own team of proxy delegates helped maintain our influence and control of the ever-shrinking kingdom-an entire hegemony operating below the noses of the human governments.
Karinius answered on the third ring. “Your Highness?”
“Good morning, Karinius,” I said. “How are things with the Laurents? Have you been treated well?”
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