Page 145 of Rescued By The Dragon

“Don’t Dorran,” his father hissed. “She’s a siren—,”

“She’s my mate!” he shouted, his voice vibrating off the stonewalls. The dominance he portrayed melted me to my spot. His strength was evident in every syllable he spoke. “You tried to kill her because she isn’t a dragon. Because you were pissed that others would fight to protect her. I needed your help and you brushed me under the rug. Your son. Why should I take any mercy on either of you? Tell me why I should take these keys,” he said, pulling them out of his pocket, “and let either of you out?”

The silence dripped down my skin like an acid leak.

Dorran waited for either of them to speak, but they didn’t answer. How could they?

He chuckled humorlessly. “You have nothing to say to me? To Amara?”

His father looked up at me. The pain and shame there were evident. “I’m sorry, Amara. What I did was wrong. I just wanted what was best for my son.”

Dorran scoffed beside me. “Amara may forgive you, but I don’t—,”

“Dorran,” I whispered.

He glanced down at me with hate-ridden eyes. “You have to forgive them. They are your parents—,”

“I don’t have to do anything,” he said.

“Dorran,” his mother whispered, wrapping her hands around the bars. “Please, Son. It’s enough that you’ve taken the throne from your father—,”

“He won fair and square,” his father said, a defeated look on his face. “This is all my fault. I listened to you—,”

“Oh, so it’s my fault?” she said. “Great. Blame me for everything.”

His father leaned back until his back was flat against the bench.

Dorran walked over to his mother’s cell. “You apologize to Amara or you’ll be down here with Father until I feel gracious enough to let him out.”

His mother’s gaze slid toward mine and held. I could see the defiance across the room. The fact that I wasn’t a dragon clung to her like a second skin.

She had no idea I had no powers anymore and still was too stubborn to apologize.

“You’re not going to apologize for treating my mate like a leper?”

She glanced down at the cement floor. He laughed humorlessly and walked back over to me. “Then stay down here and rot.

His mother became vocal again as we stalked up the stairs. She begged and pleaded to be let go, while the sadness I felt for them began to sink away.

Dorran stalked angrily up the stairs and onto the main floor of the castle.

The tension in his back was wound tight, his muscles moving under his tanned skin as he braced his palms against the wall and let his head hang low.

There were employees of the castle moving about, but none of them dared to question his mood. “Dorran,” I whispered, sliding my palm up his back. “I’m fine—,”

“You were hurt because of them,” he hissed, turning to look down at me. “I swear to you that I will never let another person put their hands on you.”

Dorran’s emotions were all over the place. He went from pissed to sad with the flip of a coin. “I believe you,” I whispered. “I believe you’ll keep me safe, Dorran. Now I need you to believe me when I say that you need to forgive your parents. You don’t have to like them or even spend time with them, but you need to give them your forgiveness. They could die, and you’d never be able to forgive them. You’ll carry it around like a shell of regret.”

Dorran closed his eyes, his big body moved as he breathed in deeply. “Not today, Amara. I’m not forgiving them today.”

I grabbed his wrist and gestured toward the bridge. “Why don’t we go home? Toby is waiting for us. I’m tired. You look tired, and you need to calm down.”

“I am calm,” he mumbled. “I could have ripped their wings off I was so mad.”

I pursed my lips. “There will be no ripping of anyone’s wings today, Dragon King. Take me back to the house. We both need to relax.”

Dorran walked with me up the stairs and down the hallway. We walked out onto the bridge. The September air whipped at my skin, bringing goosebumps up my arm, and down my body.

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