Page 9 of Betrayed By Dragons

"We will," Jianyu agrees. "But some of us have responsibilities to tend to."

Rafe opens his mouth to respond, but I cut him off. "All of us do."

I stroke Rafe's arm. Jianyu is drowning in responsibility, it's true, but Rafe's had his own fair share of fires to put out--no pun intended. Most of the fires involve King Haoyu's incendiary rhetoric. The Stone King is definitely blaming the attack on the summit on the Fire Kingdom, and he's not dropping the old grudges he has against Rafe, either.

One corner of Rafe's mouth lifts, but there are shadows in his eyes. He allows me to deflect, though. Curling his hand around mine, he asks, "How about you? How was your day?"

Well, I walked right into that one, didn't I?

The same frustration I felt at lunch still lingers. I'm not progressing fast enough; I don't understand my powers, or why they were given to me, or what it is precisely that I'm meant to do.

And I can't go into details about any of it with them.

"Fine." Avoiding his gaze, I fiddle with a button on his shirt. Casting about for something I can talk about, I land on, "Jett thinks you two should give me self-defense lessons."

"Oh, really?" That gets a sly smirk out of Rafe. "I could see that." Innuendo deepens his already sexy, gravelly voice. "A little light sparring?"

A shiver trembles its way through me. "Something like that."

"It's a good idea," Jianyu says.

"Tomorrow afternoon." Rafe nods like it's all decided. "I'll put you through your paces."

He makes it sound fun.

"Okay." I walk my fingertips higher up the placket of his shirt, approaching the enticing triangle of golden skin beneath his collar bones.

A darkness enters Jianyu's tone. "Tomorrow afternoon, I have to meet with the finance ministers."

"It's fine." Rafe doesn't sound disappointed at all. "I've got it."

"You know I would," Jianyu says. "Just..."

I turn inside their embrace. I put my other hand on Jianyu's heart. "I know." Sincerely, I tell him, "I get it."

He takes my hand and raises it to his lips. "Thank you."

I hate the self-recrimination in his words. The conflict burning through our bond. I wish again that I could draw more of it out of him. That he would open up, and that we could connect on a deeper level.

Changing the subject, Jianyu lifts a brow. "And how were the etiquette lessons?"

Right. That's our cover story for my sessions with High Priestess Fang. She's giving me a crash course in Stone Dragon culture to prepare me as Prince Jianyu's mate. The story isn't a lie, but it's also a far sight away from the truth.

A dark pang of regret fires off in my heart. How can I blame him for not opening up to me, when I'm keeping secrets from him, too?

"Fine," I tell him breezily, looking down at our joined hands.

"Oh?" Rafe prods.

I love that he's perceptive and accepts no bullshit, but it's also really inconvenient at times.

I shrug and direct my gaze back at Jianyu. I'm not lying when I say, "It's not as if me knowing more about Stone Dragon customs is going to make your father accept me."

Jianyu's mouth draws into a hard line. King Haoyu has barely spoken to me the entire time I've been here. Jianyu's spared me the details, but he's made it clear that his father is angry about the situation. A part of me can't blame him. The king hoped for a politically expedient marriage for his only son. Instead, said son came home with a girl from nowhere, who also happens to be bonded to a prince from an enemy kingdom. The whole thing is impossible.

But Jianyu refuses to give in. Cupping my cheek with his hand, he lifts my gaze to his.

"He'll come around."

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