Page 50 of The Dragon of her Dreams

Damon smiled, but his gaze said he knew something more. “That’s true, but it wasn’t to begin with. They lived with us—for years, in fact. It wasn’t until we all had children, and Sarah and Katerina had personally acclimatized to our weather, that they eventually chose to live in town.”

I blinked at him, momentarily taken aback. “I, ah, I didn’t know that.” I’d thought they’d lived it rugged and rough like I had.

Damon grinned at me. “Why would you? That was almost thirty years ago, now.”

I sighed and put down my glass, resigned to the fact that this was going to be an uncomfortable conversation. “So, what’s that got to do with me?”

Damon stood up and moved over to the fireplace, bending down to begin the process of building the fire for the night just like any other man. When he was done, he stood back up, groaning softly with the pain of moving. “It’s got everything to do with you Jaegar. Whether you like it or not, you have royal blood flowing in your veins, a royal fated mate from another kingdom, and from what you’ve said, a potential future in the castle that Anthony had already seen.”

I stood up and paced the room, my heart beginning to gallop. I’d been running away from this conversation for so long, unsure I was ready for it. “And?” I said, my chest tightening, “So, that means that this noose around my neck will always be there? That I have no choice in the matter?”

“You always have a choice,” the king said. “But are you ready for the consequences of making those choices?”

I stared at him, then crossed my arms over my chest, an unexpected anger building in my heart. “What are you talking about?”

Long moments ticked by as Damon stared at me before he spoke again. “Do you really think you can reject your fated mate and survive?”

My throat thickened, and I swallowed hard at the solemn expression on his face. He was being deathly serious. He was giving me a warning. “But Vanya would never survive this world. She wants me to be a prince and to live in her father’s castle!”

Damon shrugged. “And? What’s wrong with that?” he asked.

I threw my hands up in the air in frustration. “Are you serious? You knowexactlywhat’s wrong with that! I’m an ice dragon! A man of the North! I’m not living in some pampered, bullshit castle with nothing to do all day.”

Damon raised an eyebrow at me. “You do realize that with all that power comes money, duty, control, and resources? Do you know what sort of changes you could make? What sort of good you could do for our people?”

I opened my mouth, then shut it again.

Damn it.

He was right, unfortunately. It was what he’d done, after all. He’d fought hard when it was required of him, then used his power to help our people. “Fine,” I conceded. “But even if I wanted to help our people, I still don’t want to be king.”

Damon snorted. “Son, I don’t intend to die for at least another good twenty years, and I’m not giving up the job until then. So, how about you don’t make wide, sweeping statements that aren’t relevant yet?”

I glared at him. “And yet your son seems to think I need to make that choice, now. He certainly made it an issue over dinner the other night.”

“Your half-brother,” Damon added, “is young and enthusiastic to have the mantle of crown prince taken off him. He wasn’t lying when he intimated that he wasn’t interested in ruling.”

For fuck’s sake...

Damon strolled over to the door and put his hand on the handle. “Look, son. I amsograteful that you came to us when you did. I only wish I’d known about you sooner.”

“What would you have done?” I asked, my throat thick with emotion as I dared to ask the one question that had plagued me all my life.

The king’s icy blue eyes looked right into the depths of my soul as he answered, “I would have brought you into my family immediately. You and your mother would have lived in the castle, and I would have looked after you the best I could. I would have made you feel welcome and made sure you knew that you were loved.”

Despite my original reservations, I believed him. And it made more of a difference than I ever imagined.

But...

“I still don’t want to leave the North,” I said, voicing my truth. “I can’t do it.”

“Then you better speak to Vanya, because trust me when I say, you won’t survive long without her. Especially since you’ve taken her to bed. That only reinforces and strengthens the intensity of the bond.”

I inhaled sharply through my nose. I didn’t like people telling me what I could and couldn’t do. Not fate, or the king, my father.

Damon held his hand up to wave farewell. “I hope you choose the path that is right for you both,” he said, then took his leave.

Out of pure stubbornness, I stayed in my humble little thatched home for the evening and climbed into my cold, empty bed to sleep away the thoughts that overwhelmed me and the pain that wracked my aching body. But sleep eluded me, and instead I lay on my lumpy, old mattress staring up at the ceiling with nothing more than the ghost of Vanya’s scent and my memories to keep me company through the long, dark and icy night.

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