Page 30 of The Cursed Queen

"I'm not sure. We'll need to get her to the recovery cave at once, then we can examine her," Freya said. She ordered one of the other medics to shift into his dragon form. He did, and with the help of Andriel and the druid knight, placed the princess onto the dragon's back and took off for the sky. The dragon flew north of the mountains where the recovery cave was located.

The rest of us stood there dumbfounded until Lord Igneel cleared his throat.

"I need you five to come with me," he said, including the druid knight, then addressed the rest of our den. "The rest of you, back to what you were doing. We will discuss what to do about our...newest guestsonce we know the princess' condition."

"The druid princess, you mean," Baxus, the shifter who tried to go for the princess and knight, snapped; his crimson eyes flaring with heat.

"She's also one of us, in case the partial shift wasn't clear to your pea-sized brain," Ryu stated flatly, his back to Baxus and his eyes closed.

Baxus scoffed. "Of course, you would defend the freak, considering you're also a dragon abomination."

Now I truly lost all control. Before my brain could catch up on what I was doing, I was a blur of anger and flames that charged for Baxus, tackling him to the ground and pinning him underneath me. I had one knee pressing into his stomach, and a claw that I partially shifted wrapped around his throat. Baxus' eyes shifted but was wise enough not to do so the rest of the way. He grabbed onto my arm, trying to pull my claw away from his throat, but my sharp talons already broke through the skin of his neck. If he pulled away now, his throat would be shredded, and he'd die.

I lowered myself to him, growling as smoke spewed from between my lips. "Say one more word about the princess, or my love, and I will rip your fucking head off your shoulders and stick it to the top of the pole in front of my cave."

"Drayce!" My body shuddered at Lord Igneel's use of my name. Reluctantly, I released Baxus from my hold and took a step back.

Our dragon Lord's sharp gaze fell onto Baxus, who sat up rubbing at his neck, the puncture wounds and bruises already healing. "This goes for all of you here. I'm aware of the destruction the druids have caused our clan. However, we must acknowledge that these four here are safe now because of what the princess and her friend have done. As you all have witnessed, she also appears to be a dragon, which makes her one of us, hybrid or not. We have never once turned one of our own away, and this will be no exception."

I could tell Baxus wanted to protest further, but learned to watch his tongue. Further insubordination would result in him dealing with Lord Igneel personally, and he was someone you didn't want to trifle with.

"As I said before, this discussion is over for now. Everyone, back to what you were doing." At our lord's command, everyone scattered throughout the mountain range. Baxus took a moment longer to retreat, but eventually, he did. All that remained aside from Lord Igneel were us four shifters—the ones who had claimed the princess to be our mate—and the druid knight who seemed to finally relax when he felt he was no longer a target for an attack.

"Lord Igneel, was it?" the druid knight spoke up. "My apologies for bringing chaos to your people with our presence here. This is new for Sera and me as well."

"I assume you didn't know she was a hybrid?" Lord Igneel asked.

He shook his head. "Sir, I doubt Sera herself knew."

"My lord, if I may interject," Andriel cut in. "I had my suspicions that there was something off with the princess. I felt the weak flame within her, but it was hard to determine if she had a dragon in her or not. The medicine she was taking had traces of dragonsbane in it."

"I see. How long was she on this medicine?"

"Her whole life, sir," the druid knight spoke. "She was believed to be weak and cursed, which required her to take the medicine daily."

This was all new to me. What surprised me was how close Andriel seemed to have gotten with the princess. It irked my dragon immensely.

"My lord, I also have a theory about the princess' bloodline that we should discuss behind closed doors," Andriel added.

An ocean of sadness clouded the elderly lord's eyes as he nodded. "I think I know what you're referring to, and you're right, we should talk. Everyone, follow me inside."

He turned and walked back inside the main cavern, with Andriel and the druid knight following behind immediately. Ladon, who had been silent the whole time, seemed to hesitate before following along. That left me and Ryu.

"You didn't have to defend me, you know," Ryu said softly. "It doesn't bother me that much anymore."

"The fact that it still bothers you at all is why I still defend you. Nobody should make you feel inferior for not being a pureblood."

Ryu's expression softened; the faintest trace of his smile plastered on his angelic face had my heart stuttering. "My big, angry hero. Come on, we should catch up."

"W-Wait," I called out to him. "What are we going to do about—"

"We'll discuss that later," Ryu cut in, already knowing what I was going to ask.

Now that we'd found our mate, what would happen to us?

I didn't want to lose him, but I also couldn't deny my dragon the need to be close to our fated mate. At least I knew being in the princess's presence didn't somehow erase all my feelings for Ryu. I wasn't sure that was a good thing. Ryu seemed composed, considering I was mentally struggling to comprehend what this would mean for our relationship. Then again, he was always that way. Stoic, collected, swift, reasonable. He knew when to push his emotions back when needed; it was what made him such a deadly warrior. You never knew when to expect Ryu to strike like the predator he was.

I didn't know how he could put up with my short temper, but I was grateful for it. I hoped I wouldn't lose that.

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