Page 2 of Fated for his Flame

I tried to make my exit at that time, hoping to slip out unnoticed, but as I neared the entrance to the house, my father’s voice boomed out over the crowd.

“Now, where’s my firstborn? Where’s my son, Silas?”

Covering up the wince and groan that threatened to burst forth from my lips, I turned back to the crowd and my father as he approached.

“What can I do for you, Father?” I asked as he neared.

Warning bells clanged in my head at his smile. My father was a bear of a man. While he gave up an inch of height to me, his giant barrel chest made him seem bigger. Even with the twenty-five-year age difference, he was still muscular to a fault. He smiled often, and frequently, in public, but rarely did he have such a glint to his eyes when he did.

He was up to something.

“I want you to meet somebody,” he said, gesturing to one side.

I froze. No, he couldn’t be so stupid as to do that now … could he?

But as a short, blonde figure detached herself from the nearby crowd, coming to stand demurely at his side, her eyes cast down, a lock of hair falling across her face to partially obscure her dainty, almost elfin, looks, I knew it was a false hope. That was his real plan for the party all along.

“Silas, I want you to meet Lilith. She’s the youngest daughter of Caine and has reached womanhood while you were away.”

I tried to not cringe. While age gaps were quite common among dragons and not all together unusual, nearly twenty years was a lot. More than I was interested in. Besides, while I could admit she was quite attractive with her fair skin, bright blue eyes, small nose, and pink lips, she did nothing for me. Not even with the accentuated bust of her skin-tight cream dress, designed to draw the eyes in and hold them on her newly acquired feminine form.

My dragon noted all that, as did the rest of me, and we stood there. Not reacting. She was not the one for us.

“Hello, Lilith. Long time no see,” I said at last, trying to be polite as the crowd watched and waited. They all knew what was going on.

“Welcome home, Silas,” she said, tilting her head down to appear modest and proper, which I was sure was why my father thought she was a good match. It just went to show how little he knew about me. Give me a real dragon woman, with fire and a spine. Not that submissive thing.

“Thank you.”

“Lilith is your mate, my son. Surely, you don’t want to simply stand there, do you?”

My face creased into a glare as my patience waned and temper flared. “No, she isn’t. Just like all the others before her.”

Irritation twisted his thick features into an expression I recognized all too well. Father was gone. The head of the house was now present. He walked up to me, leaning in close to whisper just loud enough for me to hear.

“Stop it. Lilith is everything you need. She’s well connected, available, beautiful. What more do you need?”

“I need a mate, not a servant,” I hissed back.

“Why must you be like this?”

“Because it is who you raised me to be.” It was the first time I’d thought to use that particular line. My self-congratulations died as true anger glowed in his eyes.

“You are the eldest of my sons. You should have taken a mate long ago. Instead, you insist on playing this foolish game with me.”

“If you bring about my mate instead of a political pawn, I will gladly take her.”

“We don’t get the benefit of mating for love. Or can’t you see that?” he snarled. “Stop living in paradise and do your job.”

I sighed. “Father, you’ve brought a parade of women before me over the years. Not a single one of them has caused my dragon to even stir. If you want to hand over control of the house so badly, then just do so. There is no law requiring me to be mated for you to do so.”

“There is tradition to consider,” he shot back. “It is the way our house operates. You will respect it.”

“Or what?” I said, growing tired of his belligerence.

“For starters, I will kill the proposal you wish to put before the Council. Your little governorship of the human territories we occupy will be dead in the water if you don’t smarten up.”

“You’re a fool,” I snapped in his ear, losing my patience entirely. “That proposal and the power that will come with having one of us in the position is what will save our family.”

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