Page 21 of Dragons Of Shadow and Sea

"Good?" he asks, as if he can't tell.

"Great."

"I'm glad."

He's quiet for a few minutes, watching me devour everything in sight. It can't be that interesting, but he seems enthralled. Eventually, when I start to slow down, he moves to stand beside me.

"You should know that my mother visited last night."

I manage not to spit coffee everywhere. "The queen?"

"Indeed." He hesitates, and uncertainty colors our psychic connection. "She has a number of concerns about the men who accompanied you here."

Instantly, I'm on high alert. "Are they okay? What's happening? What kinds of concerns?"

I want to smack myself. The moment I saw Malik, I should have asked him about Rafe and Jianyu.

He holds up a hand to stop me from spiraling into a full-blown panic attack. "They're fine."

"Okay, but--"

"Don't mistake me. The situation is grave." His Adam's apple bobs. "My mother's law would have any outsider who stumbles upon our kingdom put to death."

My heart jackrabbits behind my ribs. I open my mouth and start to stand, but again, he interrupts me.

"I have interceded on your behalf," he promises. "Clearly, an exception will be made for you."

Oh, good--his mother isn't a complete monster. Killing someone's mate would be like chopping off their arm or leg. It's basically ripping out a piece of their soul. Anyone who could do that to their son would be truly evil.

"But for them?" I ask, my voice cracking.

"We're working on a solution. For now, she's agreed that they will live."

I knew there was a reason my heart wasn't ready to be intimate with him yet.

My vision blurs, and my eyes sting. "And I'm supposed to be what? Grateful for that?"

"Yes." He says it so matter-of-factly. Then he seems to hear himself, and he pinches the bridge of his nose. Dropping his hand, he shakes his head. "No. Of course not. But it's better than it could have been."

"Well, excuse me if I'm not bowled over by Your Majesty's generosity." I'm being a rude little shit, but I can't help it. "I need to see them. Are they still in that tiny cell--"

"No. That's what I was trying to tell you."

"Then--"

"They can't be allowed to go free. Not yet."

"But they will be?"

My heart aches. I hate being this distant from them. Unable to touch them and hold them and just be with them.

"I don't know," he tells me, nothing but honesty in his tone and in the connection between us. "But I'm working on it. These things take time. You have to understand--you are the first visitors to our kingdom in a decade. We were...unprepared."

"Right." I exhale through my nose, trying to calm myself. I knew I would need to be patient, but I didn't realize it would be this hard.

"I have managed to have them moved to more appropriate accommodations."

I blink hard, shocked. "You have?"

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