Page 85 of Fated for his Flame

“Take us to the sovereign,” I demanded before any of them could say a thing. “We must talk.”

The guards fell in around us, escorting us to her office. We approached her desk and paused, waiting.

“Jair, please wait outside,” she said, motioning to the captain of her private guard.

“My Sovereign,” the protector pleaded. “Please.”

“I am perfectly safe here,” she said. “Thank you.”

Jair glared daggers at me as he walked past, and I tried to reassure him with only my eyes his liege was safe, but there was no point. He wouldn’t be satisfied unless she was in a protective cocoon twenty-four-seven.

“You’re back,” she said once the door closed, leaving the three of us alone.

“Yes,” I said.

“I was talking to Chloe,” she said wryly.

“Uh, yes, ma’am,” my mate said awkwardly, forcefully unwrapping herself from my side. “I am.”

“What happened to you?”

Chloe shrugged. “Not much you don’t already know, I’m sure. Seth and his friends broke into the palace and kidnapped me. They were using me as bait to lure Silas and the rest of his family into an ambush to eliminate them all in one fell swoop.”

“And?”

“It failed,” Chloe said harshly. “Seth is dead. Your son will be bringing his head back. The house is in disarray, I would assume. Silas mentioned something about killing Caine already. So, that tracks. And so, I’m back here.”

“Indeed, you are.”

My gaze flicked back and forth between the two women as they spoke. I was but a spectator. The question was, though, to what?

“I wish to make a request,” I said, interjecting as the silence lingered.

“What sort of request?”

“I wish for Chloe to be remanded to my care,” I said. “To stay with me.”

“To serve her punishment with you?” the sovereign asked, her emerald eyes sharp and focused.

“No,” I said firmly. “To spend her life with me. Free.”

“She’s a spy,” the sovereign pointed out.

I crossed my arms defiantly. “Is she?”

Chloe shifted uncomfortably. “She’s not wrong, Silas. You don’t have to do this.”

“I don’t care what you were,” I told her, my attention focused solely on a separate pair of green eyes now. The ones of the woman my dragon and I couldn’t get enough of. The woman I wanted to spend eternity with. After having her in my life, I never wanted a moment without her in it. Ever.

“She just admitted to spying on us for her government,” the sovereign said calmly. “I can’t let that pass.”

“She’s not telling us everything,” I argued stubbornly. “She still had this knife I gave her in her possession at Caine’s house. Seth found it on her.”

I tossed the knife on the table for the sovereign to pick up.

“Tell me,” I continued as she turned it over, “if she really was a spy, why would she not give that up? I did wrong by this woman once already when I assumed she was guilty. I’m not making that same mistake again!”

My chest was heaving by the end.

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