Royally Exposed

by Catherine Banks

  “I’d like you to come back and train with us,” he told me. “There’s a lot of skills we can teach you that Rhys can’t show you when the others are around.”

  That sounded slightly terrifying.

  “Okay.”

  “You’re serious?” Rhian asked, appearing out of thin air.

  “Rhian, what have we discussed about you questioning me?” Emrys asked her.

  “I’m not questioning you, father. I’m questioning that you’re actually going to teach her family secrets. She’s not his mate.”

  “Rhian, come here,” Rhys ordered her.

  I thought she might argue, but she followed him as they walked away from the crowds to a secluded area that was still within our sight. She had her arms folded across her chest defiantly, but as Rhys spoke to her, she slowly lowered them. He didn’t appear to be yelling at her or angry, since his face was relaxed and he kept occasionally smirking. She glanced at me and then looked back at him and nodded once. I thought she would come back, but instead she shifted and flew away.

  “What was that about?” Andras asked Rhys.

  “Just some brother sister heart to heart,” he told us. “You ready to go?” he asked me.

  I nodded.

  “If he tries to keep you away again, just text me and I’ll send a team in to steal you,” Emrys called after me.

  “Thanks!” I called back and waved to him.

  Rhys sighed and handed the boxes of bread to me. “You fit in way too well here.”

  “You should be happy that your family likes me so much. Well, not your mom.” It actually stung quite a bit that she seemed to hate me, even after I had opened up to her.

  “She’ll learn to love you. She’s very protective of me.”

  He shifted and we flew back to the apartment instead of taking a car from the mansion. I was going to ask him why, but relaxed on his back and watched the city fly by beneath us. Millions of people lived here with different lives and different circumstances. What would they be doing if I hadn’t moved here?

  The wind pressing against me was cold, and I was glad I had worn a jacket, but it wasn’t helping my face any. Rhys’s body beneath me grew warmer and I lay down on my stomach, pressing my cheek to his warm scales.

  “Thank you,” I called as loudly as I could. A deep rumble beneath my cheek was his response. He landed on the roof of the apartment building and I slid down his foreleg, landing on my feet with the boxes still safely in my arms.

  “That was fun,” I told him as I waited for him to shift back. “I think they’d be fun to be around, once they aren’t so negative.”

  “They’re always negative,” Rhys said and tried to grab the boxes.

  I spun away from him with a smirk. “No. You have to pay the fee.”

  He caught my body with his arms, caging me in against his body. “Okay.”

  I tilted my head back and he brushed his lips across mine gently.

  After releasing me, he took the boxes I offered, opened the door and started down the stairs to the second floor toward my apartment.

  “Jolie,” Rhys called.

  I stopped in front of the door that opened to my floor. “Huh?”

  He set the boxes down and asked, “Did you mean what you said to my mother?”

  I nodded.

  “Are you still considering breaking the bond?”

  His fists were clenched, and he stared into my eyes with a frightening intensity.

  I turned and took his hands in both of mine. “I know I’m not worthy of you four. I know this, but I am selfish. I don’t want to give you up. The thought occasionally flitters across my mind, but I’ve decided that I will not break the bond. I love you and hurting you by breaking the bond is not something I want to do. To you or to me.”

  “How can I show you that you are worthy of us? What do I need to do to prove that to you?” he asked. Gently, he stroked his knuckles down my cheek.

  “Self-esteem isn’t usually an issue for me,” I admitted to him. “I like to think that I am practical about how I look. But, when it comes to being the mate of not just one prince, but four? I’m just a weird human girl who plays games too much. That doesn’t sound like someone fit to be your mate.”

  “What should my mate be like?” he asked.

  “Strong. Fierce. Powerful. Someone who will produce heirs for you. I don’t know if I want children. And if I do decide to have children, I’m going to have to worry about there being four of you who need heirs.”

  “Heirs aren’t a deal breaker,” he told me.

  “It’s still something to consider. Right now, it might not be a deal breaker, but what about in five years or-”

  “I love you. I want you at my side for the rest of my life. I want you as my life partner.”

  “Well, the rest of my life. You all live much longer than me. That’s the other issue. If we become mates, my death is going to be so much more painful and-”

  He stepped back from me and sighed. “I really wish you wouldn’t talk about your death like that.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like it is a sure thing.”

  “Everyone dies, Rhys.”

  “Yes, but you make it sound like you’re going to die soon.”

  “I could. You know what my life has been like. I’m always in danger.”

  He picked up the boxes and opened the door for me. “You are a handful.”

  I expected to find at least one of the others in my apartment, but it was empty. “Where is everyone?” I asked Rhys.

  He set the boxes on my counter and I quickly stole two more pieces of bread while he dialed one of their numbers. He held the phone up to his ear for a bit and then looked at it strangely before dialing another number. He repeated the process again.

  “They’re not answering. That’s not like them.”

  “Do you think something’s happened?” I asked nervously.

  “Yes, but the issue is figuring out what has happened,” he whispered and then began furiously typing on his phone. After a minute of silence, he said, “Oh, shit.”

  “What is it?”

  “There’s a monster attacking the city. They’re out there trying to stop it.” He showed me a photo of the three of them standing in front of what looked like a huge ogre with tusks as big as their bodies.

  “We need to go help them!” I yelled and moved towards the door.

  “You’re not doing anything. We can’t risk you getting hurt,” he told me.

  “I’m not staying here. If you try to leave me behind, I will just follow you at a distance.”

  Our defiant stares met and I could practically see sparks between us.

  “Fine, but you have to promise to use your scales and shield. And stay out of the way,” he ordered me.

  I nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  He growled, and we hurried back to the roof where he shifted and we flew to the park. Rhys set me down a few blocks away, but still within eyesight of the fight. I stood against a building and set scales over my heart and the back of my head and formed a shield like Nico had taught me.

  Deryn was in warrior form and I watched in disbelief as he used his claws to crawl up the back of the giant ogre and began tearing into his back. The ogre bellowed and tried to grab Deryn, but he dodged the ogre’s attempted grabs easily.

  Nico fired a few different spells at the ogre, making it drop to one knee. Fox used his sword to cut at the ogre, but I could tell that the sword wasn’t doing much damage, despite Fox’s skill.

  Rhys dropped from the sky in his dragon form and wrapped his mouth around the ogre’s throat. The ogre yowled and tried to pry Rhys’s mouth open, but his sharp teeth dug in. The other three increased their work, taking advantage of Rhys’s immobilization of the ogre.

  A small child wandered by me, mesmerized by the fight and out into the street. I ran out to the child as her mother screamed and grabbed her. I glanced up and screamed at the hell hound’s snout right in front of my face.

>   What was a hell hound doing here? They were only able to come to this side with a demon’s summoning, but I didn’t see any demons around.

  Deryn slammed into the side of the hell hound and sent it flying into the side of the building where I had been. I wrapped my body protectively around the child and then picked her up.

  “Hey, beautiful,” Deryn said, then ran to continue fighting the hell hound, which was definitely not down yet.

  “Don’t get hurt!” I ordered him.

  “Yes, my queen!” he called back and punched the hell hound on his nose. The hell hound made a terrible, high-pitched squeal of pain, sounding just like a dog when it’s hurt.

  The child’s mother ran to me and I dropped my shield so she could take her. “Thank you!” she yelled and hugged her child to her. “Thank you, so much.”

  “Jolie!” Nico screamed at me.

  I spun around and had just enough time to put up the shield around the mother, child, and me before the ogre slammed into it with his fists, trying to squash us.

  “Fuck you!” I screamed at him.

  “Let us out!” the mother screamed.

  “I’m protecting you, you moron,” I growled at her and backed up slowly, keeping her within my shield as we moved towards the building’s entrance. Once there, I dropped my shield so she could carry her child inside to safety.

  The ogre grabbed me in his giant hand and screamed in my face.

  “Jolie!” Nico yelled.

  “I’m fine!” I yelled back and stared into the ogre’s eyes. “Put. Me. Down.”

  The ogre snarled at me and tried to tighten his grip around my body, but I’d changed everything below my neck to scales. He looked confused a moment and then threw me as hard as he could towards the park.

  “Rhys! Incoming!” Deryn yelled and ran slightly behind me.

  Rhys shifted just in time to catch me and wrapped his body around mine, so that when we landed, I landed on top of him. We slid several feet and then he released me.

  “You okay?” I asked him.

  “I told you, you should have stayed home.”

  “That child would have been killed!” I yelled at him.

  “Now is not the time!” Nico reminded us, his staff glowing as we faced the ogre, the hell hound who had tried to attack me, and two goblins.

  “What the hell is going on?” I demanded.

  “A portal was opened to the other realm,” Nico said. “I’ve been trying to close it, but it’s taking me a while.”

  “Can I help?” I asked him.

  “Come touch me,” he ordered me.

  “This is not the time for that,” Rhys growled at him.

  “Jolie,” Nico grunted.

  I rushed to his side and placed my hands on his bare forearms. Our connection opened and suddenly, I felt Nico use the connection to take magic from me. I gasped in shock and my grip tightened on his arm.

  “Protect them!” Rhys ordered Deryn and Fox.

  “You don’t have to tell us,” Deryn growled and punched the hell hound back.

  “Almost there,” Nico whispered and I could see it. It was a faint, shimmering oval in the air in front of us. It looked like a tear, but on the other side, I could see fire and several dark bodies moving. How many more would come if we didn’t close the portal?

  “Nico,” I whispered, feeling lightheaded.

  “Almost,” he grunted.

  I would pass out if I let him keep taking my power. I had to do something.

  The necklace! I took one hand from Nico’s arm and wrapped it around the necklace. Instantly, the power poured through me and into Nico. It felt like lava pouring through my veins, and I would have screamed if I had been able to breathe. His back arched and he gasped, but quickly recovered and used the power to close the portal. Once it was closed, I dropped my hand, breaking contact with Nico, and fell in the grass onto my butt.

  “Shit, that hurt,” I growled.

  “Not out of hot water yet,” Rhys growled.

  I turned my head and watched Deryn and Rhys pummeling the ogre with their fists, pushing it further and further away from me.

  “I got this,” Nico said, his eyes glowing with power and his feet floating above the ground. He pointed his staff at the ogre and it disintegrated instantly.

  “What the-” Rhys gaped.

  “Did he just-” Deryn asked.

  “Yeah,” Rhys replied.

  Fox picked me up and carried me away from the park and towards our building. “Are you alright?” he asked me

  “Tired,” I whispered and leaned my head against his shoulder. “Siphoning the magic from the necklace to Nico hurt. A lot.”

  “Are you still in pain?”

  “No.”

  “How was your day at the dragon’s den?” he asked.

  “No. No. You had a giant ogre attacking you. You tell me what happened first.”

  “Not much to tell,” he admitted. “We were walking home from Deryn’s pizza parlor and the ogre and hound started attacking people. We kept them from hurting anyone, but we weren’t really making any headway until you and Rhys came.”

  “His mom doesn’t like me,” I told Fox softly.

  He kissed the top of my head. “She hates everyone, especially if they have contact with her precious baby, Rhys. She’s always favored him and in her opinion, everyone is worthless and has no business talking to him.”

  “Emrys had me show them that I could shift into a dragon and his family thought it was to explain the consequences of the mistake Rhys had made, so that they wouldn’t repeat the mistake.”

  I hadn’t realized how much their reactions had hurt my feelings until talking to Fox. He was great at listening and I could really open up to him about anything.

  “You’re not a mistake,” he told him firmly. “I’m sure Rhys already told you that his family is super negative in general.”

  “Gavin was the only one who liked me.”

  “I’m sure Andras liked you too,” Fox replied.

  I looked up and saw his smirk. “Rhys went all ‘Deryn’ on him for draping his arm across my shoulders and saying he would protect me if I visited without Rhys.”

  “‘Went all ‘Deryn’?” Deryn asked. “Why is my name being used as a verb now?”

  “Because you were the first one to get super jealous,” I explained.

  “I have every reason to get jealous,” Rhys said, the rest of them having caught up to us at some point.

  “No, you don’t.”

  “If I didn’t set the ground rules now, he would be doing everything in his power to steal you from us,” Rhys assured me.

  “Oh, yes. Because I’m such a prize,” I said and rolled my eyes. “You’re all so ridiculous.”

  “He’s most likely right,” Fox said.

  “Hey, you’re supposed to be the neutral party here,” I grumbled.

  “Right. Sorry. So, what else happened?”

  “I ate a ton of food. I bought a few presents. And, Rhys announced me as his girlfriend.”

  Fox stopped walking so abruptly, I almost fell out of his arms, but he held on to me. “You did what?” he asked and spun around to face Rhys who was looking rather sheepish at the moment.

  “Well, it just sort of happened. I wasn’t planning it or anything,” Rhys admitted.

  “You announced her as your girlfriend?” Nico asked.

  Rhys nodded.

  “You asshole,” he growled.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked them.

  “We can’t all claim you as our girlfriend,” Nico informed me. “So, right now the clan, and whoever they tell, thinks you’re just his girlfriend.”

  “Which means, that we aren’t supposed to touch you as freely as we usually do,” Fox said and set me on my feet with a scowl at Rhys.

  “I’m sorry. She was walking with my brothers and I wanted to touch her, but I couldn’t and it was driving me insane,” Rhys told them.

  “How do you think I feel every time she com
es to the pack?” Deryn growled at him.

  “Guys, this isn’t a conversation for outdoors,” I whispered, noticing that we were growing an audience.

  All four of them resumed walking, storming by me and glaring at each other, even Rhys was glaring. Oh boy. I’d definitely stirred the pot on that one. I had no idea they would react that way or that what they said was true. Whoops.

  Chapter 3

  “How could you do that?” Deryn growled at Rhys as he paced back and forth in front of my television.

  “I apologized and told you that it wasn’t on purpose or premeditated.” Rhys said again.

  “This changes everything!” Nico yelled at him.

  “No, it doesn’t,” he said. “You three can announce her as your girlfriend too.”

  “That lie will crumble faster than elf bread,” Fox snapped.

  “It’s not technically a lie,” I said, finally joining into the conversation.

  “What?” Fox asked.

  “You guys are all, technically, my boyfriends. We aren’t married. We aren’t mated. Yes, we’re bound, but aside from that, we are dating. So, really, we are boyfriend and girlfriend.” Not that I liked the idea of people hearing that I had four boyfriends. The humans would definitely get the wrong idea.

  “If we tell them that, we might as well tell them that you’re our queen,” Nico argued. “It will spread to the news faster than wildfire.”

  “He’s right,” Rhys agreed solemnly.

  “And why aren’t we telling people that I’m your queen, again?” I asked softly, waiting for one of them to blow up.

  None did.

  “Because, it could make you an even bigger target. By hurting you, they’ll be hurting us, and they will use that to their advantage,” Nico explained.

  “Won’t they do the same with me as Rhys’s girlfriend?”

  “No, they won’t think it will hurt him. Piss him off, sure, but it won’t physically or emotionally hurt him for a girlfriend to be killed,” Nico said, blunt as ever.

  “Glad girlfriends don’t count for anything,” I muttered and reached for a sweet bread, but Fox smacked my hand.

  “We’re going out to eat. You’ll ruin your appetite,” he told me.