I slid into an open booth, watching her maneuver around the restaurant and the way her breath hitched when she saw me. “Well, someone couldn’t get enough of our cooking, huh?” she asked, sliding me the breakfast menu.

Chuckling, I sat back in the booth. “Oh, I’m coming back for something, but it’s not the cooking, Little Mouse.”

Amara smiled. “Cute. What can I get you to drink? Do you like coffee?”

“That sounds good, and I want your sampler platter. I’m feeling really hungry after last night.”

I watched her skin flush red while she took her bottom lip between her teeth. The door opened, brushing her hair off her shoulders in a gentle whoosh of air.

“Dorran, there you are.”

Dear Hades, someone kill me.

My mother stopped beside my booth. How she knew I was here flew past me. Not to mention the female dragon standing beside her with a huge smile on her face.

My dragon grew pissed, and I was right along with him.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. “I’m trying to enjoy my breakfast.”

My mother’s lips pressed into a hard line as Amara slipped away to bring my coffee. “I tried to find you this morning, but you slipped out. I want you to meet Georgina, she is from The East Kingdom. Cousins to the royals.”

I blinked several times, making uncomfortable eye contact with my mother, praying she understood this look meant she better be glad she was a woman and my mother. Otherwise, I would have fought her like a man right then.

I glanced toward Amara as she sat my coffee down and dismissed herself. I watched her hips sway in those shorts and thought about how my mother was ruining it.

“Georgina,” I said, nodding my head. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m sure you’ll attend the ball tomorrow night, right?”

She shifted, her red wings shuttered as if speaking to me made her do it. She was blonde like I said on the invitations, but she didn’t make my dragon purr like Amara.

Amara was small. Portable.

So ... perfect.

“Yes, I’ll be there.”

“Well, I will see you then,” I said, turning my attention back to the table. My mother’s shadow darkened the table as she scooted in on the other side, and gestured for Georgina to sit.

“Mother,” I hissed.

Her dark eyes narrowed to slits. “Waitress!” she shouted. “I can’t believe you’re eating here,” she mumbled. “I’ve lived here for decades and I’ve never—,”

“You and Georgina are more than welcome to leave,” I said, sipping my coffee.

She chuckled. “Dorran is such a kidder.”

Amara reluctantly walked toward our table, not making eye contact with me, and it twisted my stomach.

My mother ordered for her and Georgina, which didn’t surprise me, and then turned her attention to Georgina. “Georgina won the fire shooting contest of 2022.”

Amara dropped off their plates, thirty pain-stricken minutes later, and stepped backward. “Can I get you anything else?”

Georgina gave her a sideways look. “Yeah, you can bring me more tea. If that isn’t too much trouble.”

My fingers clutched the edge of the table, and my dragon fought for dominance against me.

Amara nodded.

“I mean my tea was empty,” Georgina mumbled, taking her first bite.