Page 51 of Beautiful Beast

Zovai released me slowly, like he could sense the overwhelmed state of my mind. “Do males not share a female any longer? Or the reverse? It is common among dragonkind.”

“No,” I breathed. Never had I heard of such a thing. The scandal it would cause… stars, the scandals that had rocked the court because a woman took a lover after her husband died had occupied the court for weeks on end. This? Some of them would follow the courtier into death at the idea alone.

A knock at the door froze all of us. “Enter,” Sirrus said, never taking his eyes off me.

Idroal appeared. “My lords. Your response.”

Was that my fate? I didn’t know. Surely they had messages to do with more than just me.

The dragon at the door noted how close the four of us were, and no doubt noticed the flush on my cheeks. What would Idroal think if I fell into their beds despite the trap that had been so viciously laid for me?

“I am sorry our meal did not proceed as planned,” Sirrus said. His tone was far gentler now. “We shall make it up to you, and make sure food is sent to your room.”

A dismissal. Every moment I spent in their presence was a duality. Even this, a rejection and a relief. A way out and a disappointment. “Thank you.”

I didn’t dare look back at them as I left, though I felt their eyes on me until the doors shut. A large part of me hoped they would ask me to stay. Give in to their temptation.

They didn’t.

If that message was one telling them to end my life, I didn’t blame them.

The walk down the stairs was no less daunting, and perhaps more eyes were on me than when I ascended. What would it say that I wore their clothes? Did I care?

Varí pounced on me as soon as I opened the door, climbing on my shoulders and shoving himself under my hair to curl behind my neck and purr. “That was… something,” I said, closing the door behind me.

Exhaustion rose like a creeping tide. I slipped into the bed without bothering to undress, Varí curling up beside me.

Food may have been delivered, but I did not know it. I was asleep seconds after I closed my eyes.

CHAPTER TWENTY

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SIRRUS

“What did they say?”

Idroal smirked. “My lords, I am tempted to hold the message hostage in favor of recounting why this room smells of male and female arousal.”

I crossed my arms and gave them a pointed look. “Careful.”

“I am always careful, my lord. The Elders are displeased by your detour. They demand you come to Doro Eche and make your report to them immediately. As soon as you are able to fly.” They looked at Endre with that last sentence.

Endre sat on one of the couches and spread his arms along the back, the picture of ease. I knew better. We were all ready to snap. As it was, I must see to my needs if I wasn’t going to fly to Lena’s rooms and give her what we all wanted.

And he had once again used his power. I felt exhaustion even if he didn’t acknowledge it.

“What a shame I am feeling so poorly,” Endre drawled. “I feel I must recover a while longer before I am to make such a treacherous and draining trip.”

Zovai smothered a laugh. Barely. The flight from here to Doro Eche was one of the easiest on the continent. But I didn’t want to go back to the capital any more than my brothers did. Not while Lena’s scent still clung to the air around us like it needed to remind us she was there.

“Is that what you wish me to convey?”

“Try not to make it sound that smug,” Zovai said. “But yes.”

Endre sighed, and I recognized the set of his shoulders. “Tell them that two flights across the continent and a battle are taxing the limits they’ve imposed on my power. If they insist I be at their beck and call at a moment’s notice, then they must lift that restriction. Until then, I will do what my body and power will allow.”

It was an effort to keep the grim smile off my face. Traitor’s marks could never be removed. The shimmering scar that graced Endre’s chest would never lessen and never fade. But the decrees binding him? Those could be dissolved in an instant by the dragon who created them or one who was more powerful. Much like the binding I set for Soza and Yrre. The magic could be dissolved, but the marks and clipped wings would remain.

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