Page 31 of Accidentally a Dragon Daddy

Chapter Sixteen

Damon

“My sovereign,” I said solemnly, coming to stiff attention, bringing my right arm up and across my body, fist six inches away from my left pectoral muscle, in the traditional “wing” salute of dragons.

The leader of all dragonkind tilted her head downward slightly in acknowledgment, and I dropped my arm but did not relax.

“Hello, Damon,” she said, the soft velvet of her voice in no way covering the hardened titanium nature of the woman underneath. It took a lot to rule the dragons. “Thank you for coming to see me.”

“I am at your command, as always, sovereign,” I said.

“Of course.” She smiled tightly. “But you’re not here because of that. Are you?”

“Probably not,” I conceded. “But it would be nice if that were the case.”

The smile broadened slightly for a moment. “I’m sure it would. But no, I have no current mission for you. You know well what this is about.”

I only nodded. Sometimes it was best to keep quiet.

“So, tell me about it.” Her green eyes bored into me. “Tell me about her.”

“Elanya?” I said. The question didn’t require an answer. “Um. What about her?”

Jade fire glittered in the depths of her face, and I swallowed nervously. I didn’t want to tell the sovereign about Elanya’s current situation. But I had to say something. Of course, the sovereign didn’t know about the baby. She only knew I had challenged Dayvin for her.

“I know her,” I said abruptly, feeling more confident than before that I could steer the conversation away from Elanya’s condition. “I met her. On my last mission, in fact.”

“Met her?” One eyebrow arched above a dancing green circle.

“Yes. We, ahem, that is, she was where I was. It worked out.” I shrugged, the motion almost too casual and familiar to use with the leader of all dragons, but at the moment, it was warranted. “Truthfully, sovereign, I never expected to see her again. Perhaps I overreacted when I saw her with Dayvin.”

“Perhaps.” Thoughtful eyes lingered on me for a moment before I was beckoned with a finger to follow the sovereign as she walked out of her day office and into the hallways of the palace.

“So, let me get this straight. You fought Dayvin for her. When you could have just signed up to select one of the humans.”

“I wouldn’t have done what I did for any of the other humans,” I said defensively. “I didn’t even really realize what I was doing until I did it.”

The intense scrutiny from my supreme leader was unexpected, and I nearly shrank away under her gaze. But that wasn’t in my nature. I stood as tall and strong as I could, doing my best to not let my discomfort show. Not that the sovereign needed me to cower to know I wanted very much to be anywhere but in her presence.

“Did you now,” she murmured. “Well, in that case, I suppose you’ll have no issue returning her to Dayvin?”

“No!” I said sharply. Too sharply. “Please, my sovereign, let me apologize. That was … unbecoming of me.”

“It was,” she agreed. “But I will let it slide.”

Phew.

“If you tell me what else it is about her that you aren’t letting on.”

The bottom of my stomach dropped out. She knew. She knew! But how? It was impossible. Nobody had known until I told Elanya.

“Interesting,” the sovereign said, watching my face. “You truly don’t want to tell me. Why is that?”

“I … am unsure of what your reaction will be,” I said slowly, knowing I would have to tell now.

We turned left, heading down a set of stairs. She was taking me to the royal archives, I realized. Why?

“Something tells me it’s not just my reaction you’re unsure of. You don’t like whatever you’re hiding.”

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