Page 16 of Accidentally a Dragon Daddy

“Don’t you think that’s maybe a little over the top, sis?” I asked without averting my eyes from the flight of dragons making their way closer.

“Maybe not immediately,” Jaklin hissed through clenched teeth. “But mixing our blood with theirs? Only a fool would think that won’t lead to our downfall. Humans are weak, brother. You, of all people, should know this.”

Now, I looked at her, tearing my eyes away from the dozen dragons, two-thirds of them carrying a human in their claws.

“Don’t give me that look,” my sister snapped, shaking her head hard enough to send her brown hair flying. The matching pair of eyes hardened to steel as they watched the convoy approach. “I’m not the only one who feels like this. Not even close.”

That part was true. The eight human women who were being carried closer with every second and flap of powerful wings were there on the orders of our ruler. The sovereign had dictated it as part of the terms of the ceasefire.

A ceasefire that had been possible thanks to my efforts. I wondered if Jaklin saw it that way. Did she blame me in part for it? I had my own misgivings about the sovereign’s decree that dragons and humans would mate. But I wasn’t letting myself be driven into a mad rage about it like my sister.

“It wasn’t going to work out with you,” I told her. “You know that, right? He wasn’t your mate.”

“You don’t know that,” she spat. “He cared about me, Damon. Cared deeply. We were falling in love. Then he comes home with her!”

I stared forward, resolutely not letting my eyes complete the roll they wanted to at her petulant, hate-filled tone.

“Vicek is the heir to our entire kingdom,” I reminded her. “He will rule one day. To do so, he must have his mate at his side. You know the laws as well as I do, sis.”

“You’re okay with this?” she shouted, turning on me.

“I am not the bad guy here,” I pointed out, trying to remain calm. “So, you can take your tone and shove it.”

For a second, I thought she would keep going. But rationale prevailed, and she took a deep breath. I tried to ignore how her shoulders shuddered with repressed anger.

“A human woman, mated to the heir to the throne,” she said in a tone that could pulverize stone. “It makes a mockery of everything we are. Even if you take my … feelings out of the equation, I know you don’t like it either, brother. It bothers you. Eats away at you.”

“Maybe,” I conceded. “But I also know where my loyalty is. You should, too, sister.”

“The sovereign is my leader,” she said.

But I wasn’t sure I bought it.

“I can’t watch this farce, this betrayal of our entire race.”

She was gone in a flurry of red and orange scales and wings, leaving me alone on the ledge. Elsewhere, other dragons watched from perches and roofs or higher vantage points in the sky as the first orange and black scaled dragon landed on the palace roof to carefully deposit its cargo.

The human woman lay on the ground as a pair of palace guards came for her. The magic that protected the Dragon Isles from human discovery was still playing havoc with her brain, leaving her more unconscious than aware. I watched as she went below, her black hair with its purple stripe billowing out behind her as a gust of wind swept across the flat stone.

Maybe Jaklin was right. Maybe it was wrong. After all, what right did the sovereign have to dictate who we mated with? Finding a mate was something fate pulled us to. It couldn’t be forced. And because no human had ever proven worthy of a dragon’s mate, what made our ruler think this would be any different? What was she trying to prove?

The rest of the humans were swiftly deposited on the roof. I watched as guards came forward in pairs, bringing the women below where they would take part in the choosing. I’d been offered a chance to be one of the eight dragons who would take a human as his mate, but I’d turned it down.

I wasn’t that much of a believer.

The last dragon touched down, delivering its cargo to the rooftop.

My dragon went berserk as straw-blonde hair spilled across the dark gray stone. I jerked upright, staring in shock.

It was impossible. It couldn’t be. I had to be imagining it.

Wings sprouted from my back, my dragon sending me soaring across the distance. I landed on the far side of the rooftop in a crouch, my legs absorbing the rough impact before I raced across the stone.

“Stop!” I shouted as the pair of guards grabbed the woman to haul her downstairs. “Wait!”

They glanced at me. At the sight of my hard charging, the nearest guard offloaded the human entirely onto his partner and turned to block my path, the silver and black uniform flashing as he moved with superhuman speed.

“Relax,” I said, lifting my hands, palms open. “I’m not here to do anything bad. I just … I need to see her face.”

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