Page 71 of Betrayed By Dragons

"Come on." I tip my head down the hall. As I do, I catch sight of Li again, and I wince at him in apology. "Sorry--they're waiting for us. But I'll find you later, okay?"

The corner of Li's mouth twitches downward, but otherwise, he's impassive. "Of course."

"What was that about?" Jianyu asks, leading me toward the conference room.

"Not sure. He just wanted to talk to me about something."

The second we turn the corner, Jianyu pulls me in and plants a warm, soft, wet kiss on my mouth. It's all too brief, but I glance up in his eyes again and sense the promise there.

"I want to talk to you about something, too." Jianyu raises a brow, innuendo in his tone.

I laugh. "Do you now?"

"Always." He rubs the back of my palm with his thumb.

I love this new lightness to him. I love this new intimacy with Rafe. I just love...

Well.

Them.

My heart soars inside my chest, almost too much feeling there to hold. It was inevitable that I would fall for my fated mates, but it's still a revelation to be this in love.

Regretfully, I pull away.

We make our way to the conference room without any further stops for PDA, which is a shame, but probably for the best. By the time we arrive, Freya's finally managed to establish a connection. Rafe waves us in, then closes and locks the door behind us.

It's just me, my mates, Amy and Jett in here. It almost feels weird--no Li or Atina or Ben or Cael. No Grace. But Freya insisted. The only people on the call are people we're 1000% sure we can trust. My throat bobs as I swallow. As ever, I'm deeply grateful to be counted among that number.

Jianyu looks to Rafe. "We're sure this room is secure?"

He raises a brow, and I hear his implication. No one would put it above the Fire King's security personnel to bug the entire castle.

"I swept it," Jett promises.

From the other side of the screen, Freya smiles serenely. "If Jett says it's secure, then it's secure."

"Hi!!!!" Amy interrupts, pushing in front of Jett to make sure that she's on camera. "I miss you!"

"I miss you, too." One corner of Freya's mouth lifts. Even the stoic Valkyrie isn't immune to Amy's enthusiasm. "Shall we get to business, though?"

"Please," Jianyu says quietly. Rafe elbows him in the ribs, but I'm pretty sure he's equally impatient.

Jett nods. "Go on, beloved."

"I've kept you all in the loop as we've been cleaning up the wreckage and rebuilding the town hall, but unfortunately, there hasn't been much to report. The explosive that blew up the summit was untraceable and generally unremarkable, made entirely of mundane ingredients. But there's been a development."

I lean forward without really meaning to. It feels like everyone's holding their breath.

"Your mother," she says to Amy and Jett, "has been leading a team of magical investigators who've been working in secret to try to glean any additional information. Today, they discovered a faint trace of moonflower crystal residue."

I suck in a ragged breath. Beside me, Jianyu stiffens, and Rafe clenches his jaw.

"No," Amy says out loud. She shakes her head, going pale. "No way."

Freya's mouth is a grim line. "That was our reaction as well."

"But that only grows in the Shadow Realm," Jett reminds us all--as if we didn't know.

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