Page 69 of Fated for his Flame

No, that wasn’t going to be my end.

“Let’s go,” I told the guards. “Take me to wherever you’re taking me.”

Their hands closed around my upper arms like vices. I wasn’t going anywhere.

Behind me, Silas just watched me go.

It was over.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Silas

I stared at her fading back, watching every step she took until she rounded a corner. Not once did she look back. Instead, she marched with her shoulders back and her head held high.

Like a dragon.

Every exhale threatened to knock me over like a circus tent that had lost its poles. Caving inward as all stability was lost. Which was what she’d been to me in a way. A stability I’d never truly had but was only just realizing I’d always wanted and longed for.

My dragon bleated sorrowfully.

“Yeah,” I said to the empty hallway. “I hear you. This sucks.”

The suddenness of it all was shocking. I was still trying to process the revelation that Chloe was a spy. It made sense. Why wouldn’t the CIA try to infiltrate the island? They should. I would have if I were them. And what better person to latch onto than the heir to one of the most powerful houses in the kingdom?

Of course, they had no way of knowing I would choose her. Did they? I leaned against the wall with one arm, thinking furiously. Had I ever met her before? Was there any way this could have been avoided? Who knew what sort of damage she could have caused us by being allowed to report in.

I stiffened in alarm.

The knife.

“Silas!”

It was Caine.

The temptation to ignore him and head off after the guards was high. If she still had the knife on her, she could cause some serious harm if she tried to use it to escape. The guards wouldn’t be expecting it. After all, she was just a human. Why would they think anyone in the Isles would be stupid enough to give her a dragon-scale knife?

Because only an idiot would do that.

“I’m not done with you,” Caine continued, oblivious to my growing rage at the entire situation. “Get back here. We still need to deal with you and what you’ve done.”

My dragon coiled around my mind as we slowly turned to stare balefully at Caine and his greasy hair and arrogant sneer. He was old, but there wasn’t an ounce of fat on him. The muscles pulled at his too-tight clothing, which I was sure he wore thinking it would emphasize his physique. Instead, it made him look bulky.

“Caine,” I growled, storming down the hallway.

“What?”

“Shut the fuck up,” I snarled, shouldering him out of the way.

He followed me back into the sovereign’s office, still seething at my actions.

“I want—”

“Enough,” the sovereign said sharply.

Caine’s jaw snapped shut at the stern rebuke. I didn’t bother to look over at Caine, though I certainly enjoyed picturing his face. That was as close as the sovereign got to telling someone to shut up. It had to irk him to hear it from first me and then our ruler. Perhaps he would actually listen.

Before the sovereign could speak up, however, footsteps sounded outside the office. A moment later, someone entered. I forced down the groan threatening to escape.

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