He rubbed his chin with his thumb. “Yes, more or less.”
“That’s a rather superficial reason,” I said. “To like someone.”
“And?”
“There’s more to life than fun and the pretty things.”
“Oh, so you’re the expert on life, now?” He sauntered away, not bothering with what he’d just done to me. “Enlighten me, Sera Cadriel, on the answers to of the future of Constanria and etcetera, etcetera.”
Prick, I thought. Very handsome prick.
He moved forward too quickly for me to keep up properly, so I had to speed up into a light jog. We made a few turns and climbed down a flight of stairs, before reaching the dining hall.
The dining hall had a creamy interior and a fireplace at the side. Maids were going around putting food on the table. It was a huge feast, with more food than I could eat in an entire month, probably. Exotic cuisine of all kinds was splayed in front of us. Seafood, wild game, stews, and more dishes than I could describe. I wasn’t certain whether to be disgusted or impressed by the insane amount of waste this would generate.
Much of the meat was raw. To me, that looked awful, but I heard that dragons like draerin or stronger preferred their cuts this way—raw in the middle and burned to a crisp around the outsides.
Rylan hadn’t stopped working despite being at the dining table. He was going through some letters and scribbling as he waited for the maids to finish setting up the table. Gaius sat in his chair, grumpy-faced as usual, and Micah had already begun picking food from the plates.
Kael strolled in with his light-footed steps. “Sorry to keep you waiting.” He plucked a drumstick from one of the dishes. It was still raw. He summoned his fire, which overcooked the drumstick on the spot, and began tearing through the meat. “I’m really not sorry.”
“Rylan,” I said, feeling renewed anger rise, “why did you order me to be moved to this place? It’s affecting the vote.”
Rylan peered from his book. He shut it, then set it aside. “Father asked us to keep watch on you.”
“Really? It was an off-handed comment from the king. I’ve been eying this position for years.”
“Take a seat,” he said, gesturing to the empty chair next to him and Micah.
I did as he suggested, even though I wanted my answers first. “I’ll have to ask you to send me back.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do so. You being so far away all the time will make it difficult for us to monitor you, and this is for the sake of the kingdom.”
“How am I supposed to get to work? The Council of Intelligence is more than half an hour’s trek away.”
“We can take turns flying you there. It takes less than five minutes to get there with our wings.”
Being carried by the princes on a daily basis did sound tempting, but all that’d do was attract even more unwanted attention. “Please, Rylan. I can’t have all these people judging me when I’m running for secretary. You yourself should know how easily gossip can skew impressions and elections.”
He set aside his book and picked up his fork. The maids had finished setting the table. “Your concerns come second to the safety of Constanria. I understand why you have them, but with Anatolia’s vision, we know that our nation is in danger, and that all five of us are involved in this danger, somehow. Perhaps sticking together would give us clues.”
“I’ll pick up my things and move back myself.”
“And I’ll send for more servants to bring them back the very next. You can’t run from this.” He cut up his ingor and cooked the piece with fire burning from his left hand before putting the steak into his mouth. Ingor was an expensive meat. The wolflike, white-furred creatures had to be grown under special attention, and were notoriously difficult to rear. Yet the princes were enjoying it as if it were dynfowl.
“I’d prefer it if she did,” Gaius said. “She’s stinking up the whole place.”
“I think she smells rather nice,” Kael replied. He shot me a look that reminded me of a puppy dog’s, like he wanted praise for defending me.
Gaius snorted and continued his dinner. “She doesn’t belong here. She’s lowborn. You know how they are. Slackers who spend most of their time lazing around, complaining about the government and wanting more than they deserve.”
I tightened my fist so hard that my nails dug into my flesh. If Gaius had insulted my teeth, or hair, I wouldn’t have cared. I might have withstood same taunting with regard to my intellect. But those hours I’d spent doing favors for those who mattered, and poring over my work? The insult lit a spark in me that flashed red hot.
I opened my lips to shoot back a retort, but Micah interrupted, “Sera probably does more than you. She’s the youngest candidate for secretary ever recorded.” My mouth was left hanging open. Why would Micah stand up for me?
“Birds of the same feather.” Gaius waved. “You’re probably partially lowborn, too, Micah, that’s why you want to protect your own kind.”
“That’s too far,” Rylan said, dropping his utensil.
Hurt flickered through Micah. He almost seemed to shrink back, then stared back down at his plate.
I probably poked my fork too hard into the potato. “Just because you’re of royal blood, doesn’t mean you should be going around flaunting it. You’re ancient but you have the maturity of a twig. He’s your brother. You shouldn’t be prying open his wounds. Has anybody ever told you you’re detestable?”
“Yes,” Gaius said, crossing his arms as if saying that it was something to be proud of. “But that’s because they’re assholes, too.”
“You’re the one who’s the common denominator. Does it get lonely being so—”
Out of nowhere, Rylan yelped and flung himself from his chair. It was a man’s yelp, but it showed dismay, which was completely out of the prince’s character. His chair toppled over, and bits of food fell from the table.
Kael was laughing so hard that he looked like he was going to keel over. He gripped his stomach tightly.
“Kael!” Rylan yelled. “I told you to stop doing that.”
“What happened?” I asked. Had Kael hurt Rylan somehow?
“It… It gets you every time.” Kael wiped tears from his eyes. “Every. Single. Time.” He tried to pull himself together, but failed, then continued chortling.
Rylan adjusted his hair, which had flown over his face. “Aereala’s sakes, Kael, I was trying to enjoy my dinner.” Rylan stared at the table. “Can you take that away?”
Kael snorted. “You can do it yourself.”
My gaze followed Rylan’s, and there, on the table, I saw a dead bug. A cockroach, in fact, with its fuzzy feelers and spiny legs.
The crown prince was afraid of an insect?
Laughter caught in my throat, and I was trying very hard not to smile. I peered at Micah and Gaius, wondering what their reactions were. Boredom dulled their handsome features, and they weren’t paying Kael’s antics any mind.
“It’s getting old,” Rylan said. “Aren’t you tiring of this trick?”
“No,” Kael said, sighing and adjusting himself in his seat. “Hearing you shriek like a girl is never going to be boring.”
Rylan’s weary gaze traveled to one of the maids. He pointed to the bug, and a maid did his bidding and removed the cockroach.
“And now I’ve lost my appetite,” Rylan said.
Kael waved a large piece of steak around with his fork. He said, mid-chew, “You need to loosen up more. You’re always thinking about politics here, Father there. It keeps you up at night. Sometimes I don’t believe you’re that busy, but your worrywart ways are keeping you up at night.”
Rylan looked at me. “I’ve made sure the maids here would never speak of this. I’ll want the same assurance from you, too.”
“Not a word,” I said. Pity, because I would have had a good laugh with Frederick about it.
Rylan sat back down and picked up his utensils. He wasn’t reaching for any more food, however, and was starin
g at the spot where the cockroach had been.
The conversation lulled for a moment, and it almost felt comfortable. Being with the princes in silence didn’t seem strange to me. It was intriguing watching their little quirks. Previously, they were like foreign entities to me. Caricatures, only there for court gossip and women’s fantasies. But spending time with them up close made them seem more like individuals to me.
Perhaps it was my feminine hormones speaking. It didn’t help that all four looked like replicas of Gaean himself.
“The latrines,” Gaius said, finally breaking the silence. “She’d been covered in shit all day before she got here. Like a pig.”
And that was when I’d had enough. I picked up my wineglass, which was filled with honeyed water, and swirled it in my hand. I narrowed my eyes at Gaius.
“What?” he asked. “Got a problem?”
I picked myself off my seat and strolled over.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?”
Without saying another word, I aimed the water at Gaius. His quick reflexes caught me just in time. His hand touched mine, and there, I felt the same spark and warmth I had felt with the other princes. It seemed wrong to share it with Gaius. The sensation caught him off guard, too, and he stilled. His eyes flashed a dragon yellow.
I used his startle to flick my hand, and the water splashed into his face, soaking him.
He released me, shock and disbelief pulsing from him.
Kael whistled. He gestured at me with his thumb. “I told you she was interesting.”
Gaius inspected his clothes. “You… you just poured…”
“Go to hell, Gaius,” I spat. Prince or not, he’d cut open too many of the wounds I’d tried to stitch up.
He cracked his knuckles. “I don’t usually hit girls.” His jaw twitched.
“Go ahead.” I was pretty sure Gaius could kill me with one punch, but I decided to have a stare-down with him anyway.
A growl ripped from his throat. “Cursed dragons.” He backed off, and I made a victory dance in my mind. It was shallow, but I felt like I’d won, despite my actions being entirely vindictive.
I spun around and rounded the table, back toward my seat.
A growl was still bubbling from Gaius’s chest. “Bitch,” he said, his eyes still yellow and in slits. I’d never seen such eyes before. They were predatory—only hidraes and draerin had them, and I’d been told they only showed when the individual was feeling a surge of emotion that affected their dragon side too strongly.
A twinge of fear birthed in me. Had I truly gone too far this time?
“Micah,” Rylan said, “escort Sera back to my room. I think we’ve had enough quarreling for the day.”
Micah slid from his chair and came up to me. He hooked his fingers around mine and dragged me out of the dining hall.
Seven
We went back down the corridors, with its pristine walls and portraits of previous kings lining them.
“You can let go now,” I said to Micah, whose grip was still tight around my wrist.
He did as I asked, though only after a brief pause. “What were you thinking?” he asked, turning around so he faced me.
“I couldn’t let him keep throwing verbal daggers at me. I’m not some sort of target for Gaius’s words.”
“Gaius is temperamental, and a prince. Nobody’s treated him like that before. He might have gotten enraged and done something he hadn’t meant…”
Doubt simmered in me. “He wouldn’t have hurt me, would he?”
Micah shook his head and exhaled. “No, he isn’t that sort of person, but I think he lost control of his dragon there. He might have accidentally hurt you, which was why I was asked to take you away.” His eyes searched mine before lowering to my lips. “It’s not something we want.”
I raised a brow.
“Never mind.” He stepped back. “Forgive Gaius. He’s not an entirely terrible person.”
“It’s hard to see otherwise.”
“He’s abrasive, yes, but he takes care of us brothers. He always tried to stick up for Rylan when Father got mad as a child, and he stopped Miriel from giving me a hard time, too. He’s just…” Micah leaned on the wall, next to one of the portraits.
“Just what?”
“Narrow-minded.”
“He’s two hundred years old. I’d assume someone that old would have gotten over that by now.”
“He’s been a prince his whole life. Everywhere he went, people saw him as such, and he interacted people with that persona. He’s been in his comfort zone, and I don’t think anything ever pressured him to change. Still, he might look down on others, but I don’t think he’s ever been this mean to anyone.”
“He’s picking on me for no good reason.”
“I think he likes you.”
My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. “What?” I laughed in disbelief. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything so silly.”
“He gets like that when he starts finding interest in people lowborn. He shields himself because one of his first loves wasn’t a noble, and she left him because he was a prince. Or, at least, that’s what Kael told me.”
“Why?”
“She didn’t want the lifestyle that came with being royalty, I suppose.”
I couldn’t fathom that. Everyone adored royalty, or at least respected them. I’d been fighting for a taste of that respect my entire life.
“I don’t want him to like you, however,” Micah said.
I raised a brow. “I still find that notion ridiculous. And why not?”
Micah took my hand in his. He brought it to his lips, and time seemed to stop for a moment. His bright eyes dug into mine. “I think Kael has a point.”
I pretended to laugh, attempting to shrug off what he was saying. “I’m starting to think you four brothers are playing a prank on me, or something of the sort.” His gaze became too intense for me to hold, so I let my eyes wander down to avoid it. That failed to solve the problem, because all I saw was his chiseled stomach. I could feel heat crawling up my neck.
“I don’t talk much, but I think I’ve said more with you in this conversation than most other females,” Micah continued. “How do you do it?”
“You tell me.” I pursed my lips. This was too much for me to take.
“I think it’s because I see a little bit of myself in you. Because I can sense that longing from you, and I can relate to that on such a personal level that it scares me.” Kael smelled of the sea. Micah, however, had the sweet scent of golden honey. Sweet and tempting. “That, and you’re gorgeous.”
Males and their attraction to pretty things. I pulled my hand away and walked onward. “I have a lot of work to do. We should head back.” My stomach was doing strange somersaults, and I needed a moment to breathe.
“I have some time to burn. Do you need help?”
“That’s all right,” I replied, probably too quickly. I second-guessed myself about turning him down. Micah’s abilities would be helpful to my work.
“What are you up to?” Kael said from down the hallway. He sauntered up to us, then swung an arm around my shoulder. “Micah, I overheard what you said.”
Micah cocked a brow. “And?”
“You’re out of luck, ’cause Sera’s mine.”
“Sera never said anything of the sort, has she?” Micah replied, an edge to his tone.
Kael’s arm was heavy. “What do you think, kitty-cat?”
“I think that the both of you are too much of a distraction, and that I have another deadline coming up tomorrow morning,” I said.
Kael chuckled. “She didn’t disagree. I’d say that’s a yes. Since I’m one for games, how about we make this into one?”
I could almost hear the crackle of challenge coming from between them. “All this is unnecessary—”
“What do you have in mind?” Micah said.
“First one to get a kiss from Sera wins,” Kael said.
<
br /> “I’m not a toy,” I reminded him. “Or a game.”
Micah pulled me aside, tearing me from Kael. He pressed me against the wall, and his lips lingered close. I was stunned into silence. Micah hovered above me, his heat on my skin, as if asking for permission, but Kael placed a hand over his brother’s lips and shoved him away. “Not like that. She has to give it to us.”
I rubbed the back of my neck and pushed myself from the wall, feeling an ache on my back. What was that?
“I…” I had to have a talk with Frederick. I mused about what Frederick’s reaction would be over this new development, and an image of him gushing swirled through my head. I was teetering on the edge of squealing. “You might be up for this, but I’m not. I don’t need this on my plate right now. I have a vote to concentrate on, and if you two are constantly flittering about me, I won’t be able to get anything done.”
“What are you going to do when you lose?” Kael asked Micah, completely setting my comment aside. “I think if you lose, I want you go around wearing a hat shaped like a large, phallic mushroom for the next month.”
Micah shrugged. “If you lose, you’ll have to help Rylan’s with his duties.”
“Are you trying to sentence me to death?”
I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and moved away from the two bickering children. “I’m leaving.”
“Not unless you tell us who your favorite is,” Kael said. “We need to keep score.”
“Frederick. He’s my favorite. He’s lovable, and funny, unlike the lot of you, and doesn’t have my heart jumping out of my chest with every other sentence he says.”
They both frowned. Their eyes flickered to yellow, then back.
“Who’s Frederick?” Micah asked, his voice deepening.
Had I just endangered my best friend’s life? “Uh, he’s… He’s not someone to affect this challenge. He’d be more interested in getting into your pants than my robes.”
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