Page 54 of An Accident Waiting to Dragon

“One less burden for you to carry. You were busy trying to hold a rebellion together and take down a corrupt dragon king without getting us all executed for treason.”

Asher had carried this one alone. For them both.

“Gods damn it, Asher.” The scowl that settled over his friend’s face would’ve made him pause on a different day. Maybe.

“My choice.”

“I don’t give a shit,” Ladon was snarling now. So damn rigid he might as well be carved from the very mountain itself.

“It’s history,” Asher pointed out. “Over.”

It didn’t exactly help.

“Tell me now.” Another command.

Except Asher was done packing. He swung the bag over his shoulder and the room pitched sideways, but sheer stomach-lurching grit righted it after a second. “He was my best friend. His family were like a second family to me.”

“Were?” Ladon asked. “And you think he died because of you?”

Asher shook his head. “There’s a reason I couldn’t tell his family, including Gwen. She’s his sister. I can’t tell you either.”

A blood vow covered not being able to disclose that one had ever been made. Pixie magic was that thorough. And Goran had known that.

“Sister,” Ladon tasted the word. The implications. “The pixie who is your fated mate?”

Asher nodded.

Ladon’s eyes suddenly narrowed. “You knew then she was fated and still didn’t tell her?”

“I…knew she was special to me.” But not more than that. It’d been just a whisper in his mind. Easily shaken off as wishful thinking. Asher took a deep, steadying breath. “But I’m sure now. And I couldn’t tell her then, Ladon.”

Hells, even saying this much was a risk.

He had no fucking clue how he was going to get around the blood oath, but he was going to damn well try. Or die with the truth on his lips.

Either way, he had to end this.

His king jerked his gaze away, looking at the blank rock wall of Asher’s bedroom, but no doubt thinking through the past, what had just happened in Indonesia, and what all it meant to Asher.

He clasped his hands behind his back, his gaze back on Asher and dead serious.

“I will not accept your resignation…yet.”

“Ladon—”

His king held up a head. “You’re on leave for as long as it takes you to do what you need to. Then discuss it with your mate. If she agrees you should resign, I’ll accept it, but she has a home here, too. Tell her that first.”

Asher’s chest clenched around emotions he couldn’t deal with now. All he could do was swallow around the lump in his throat and nod.

Ladon stepped to the side, clearing the way out of the room. “Go get her.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Gwen

* * *

This was the place a spirit pixie lived?

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