Page 18 of The Dragon of her Dreams

“What are you doing in here?” My father’s voice was so new to me, and yet so familiar somehow.

I mutely nodded, because there was no answering that question.

Damon walked up to me, and as I stared into the flickering flames of the fire, his shoulder pressed against mine. “Tell me what’s going through your head.”

It sounded like a command, and yet I heard the question behind the tone. “I... don’t know,” I said, then added, “and that’s not my cowardly way of lying, because I really... don’t know. It’s blank inside my head and cold. I feel lost.”

“You’re afraid,” Damon said, “And that’s understandable. You spent your whole life on the outskirts of the city when you should have been in the palace. You were born a bastard when you should have been a prince.”

I rolled my eyes and turned to the man I should have called my dad all these years. “I was never meant to be a prince.”

Damon lifted his hand and stabbed me in the chest with his finger. “Well, that tattoo says otherwise. You can hate me all you like—fight me all you want—but as a man who has felt the pull of a fated mate in my life, I can tell you, son, you’re not winning this battle. Even if you are stupid enough to run away from Vanya.”

I glared at him and pushed his arm away, my temper flaring in my frustration. “I’m not stupid. And I don’t run.”

“Then get back out there,” Damon said with a head flick towards the door. “Go and show those royal, uppity asshats that you’ve got more class than all of them combined.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. I didn’t have the guts to tell him that not only did I not have the class, but also did not I want to go out there again. But I’d done lots of things in my life that I didn’t want to, and this was going to be one of them. A man always rose to the occasion, even if it killed him. “Okay, fine. I’ll go back out there and smile and pretend like everything’s fine.”

Damon chuckled. “Well, you don’t need to pretend anything. Just don’t run, okay? And maybe speak to Carlak. You might just find he may have a similar story to share.”

“And Carlak is?”

Damon sighed. “Carlak is the Crown Prince of the Black Mountains—Marienne and Erik’s eldest son.”

And he has a similar story? That, I’d like to hear.

I nodded my head at him. “All right. Introduce me, please.”

Damon nodded and turned toward the door. “Then come.”

I followed him, though it irked me to do so, back into the fray, the heat, and the noise. There was nothing like the sound of dozens of people talking and music pounding in a room that still somehow seemed too small for so many personalities.

Damon made his way to the edge of the room where three young men stood, all a few years younger than me. “Carlak, this is Jaegar,” Damon said, nodding between us. “I told him you’d tell him about what happened on the triplets’ twenty-first birthday, while I deal with Stavrok. I’ll be back.” Damon turned on his heel and left me with three men, probably all princes.

I forced a smile to my lips. “Hi, I’m—”

“You’re Damon’s son,” Carlak said, nodding his head at me, then indicated to his side. “This is my brother, Anthony.”

“Nice to meet you both.”

Anthony held out his hand to me.

I reached out, not willing to refuse an introduction to the Prince of the Black Mountains. But the moment my hand connected with Anthony’s, I was thrown into the future. I gasped as my eyes slid shut, and a vision projected into my mind of a castle bedroom. Vanya was there, lying on the bed, crying out in pain. It was immediately evident she was in labor. Her belly was huge and swollen, and there was an alarming amount of blood on the bed.

“No!” I said out aloud and tried to pull my arm back.

“Wait!” Anthony grabbed hold of my arm with his other hand, unwilling to let me go.

My heart pounded in my chest as I waited to see if my mate was going to die. But the door opened, and I watched myself as I raced in, followed by Lucy and another woman I’d never seen before. Then people surrounded her, and I watched as Vanya pushed and strained a child into the world. A squalling, crying, happy baby that was lifted straight onto their mother’s chest.

My heart swelled and tears burned in my eyes. There I was, a woman in my arms and a new baby to live for. A family.

My own family.

Anthony finally released me, and the vision faded.

“No...” I whispered as my waking vision returned and I was back in the real world, my future now nothing but a hazy image in my mind. “How...”

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