Page 9 of The Dragon of her Dreams

“Yay-ger,” she answered, sounding his name phonetically.

“What if this Jaegar is meant to be king, Dad? He is the first-born eldest son. What then?”

The whole room fell silent, and I turned back toward the fire. I’d dreamed about my mate again last night, and it was the hottest dream I’deverhad. We’d enjoyed sex in a hot, steam-filled shower. And the things he’d done to me... I’d never experienced such things before. I was still mentally reeling.

“What are you thinking, sister?” Anselm called out.

I shook my head, unable and unwilling to share my inner most thoughts.

Not now, not ever!

“What’s wrong, my daughter?” Dad asked, reaching out to touch my arm. “Surely, regardless of what happens, this won’t affect our kingdom, so what worries you so much?”

Oh, God... he’ll be here soon.

I couldn’t tell him I feared that Damon’s bastard son was my mate. So, I did the only thing I could do. I continued to lie. “I’m just worried about the party, Dad. This was meant to be a celebration forus, for everything great that has happened for our family, and now this... scandal...” My concerns made me sound more conceited than I was, but I couldn’t reveal my suspicions.

“Don’t you worry about it,” our father said, tugging me in for one of his bear hugs. “I’ll make sure that no one else finds out who Jaegar is, and I’ll ask Damon to introduce him as a friend of the family. We’ll keep the gossip to a minimum, I promise. All right?”

“All right, Dad,” I said, closing my eyes and relishing my father’s strength. I’d never known anything but unconditional love as a child. I couldn’t imagine how Jaegar had grown up, knowing he was the bastard of the king and not being able to tell anyone. Kayla was right. It would have been a difficult life to endure.

I pulled back from my father’s embrace and shifted the conversation slightly. “You know, there must be something in the Northern genes. With this son of Damon’s, and Dymitri and Lucian being the sons of the old king, they seem to have sons everywhere they go.”

Mom laughed, her eyes twinkling.

Dad smiled. “You know, you might just be right, sweetheart.”

“Does anyone know when Jessa’s coming home?” Kayla asked. “Is she flying over with Marienne on the day? Or earlier?”

There were only two days until the party, so unless she came today, she wasn’t arriving early enough for me.

“They’re all arriving the morning of the party. Marienne, Jessa and the twins are travelling by carriage,” Mom said. “It will give us time to catch up before the other guests arrive and we can get ready together. The party starts at six, and although my original thoughts were to have a large sit-down dinner, I was told that a mingling party would be better. With lots of... what did you call it, Kayla?”

“Finger food!” Kayla said with a grin. “Though the way you guys do finger food puts every human restaurant I’ve ever seen to shame.”

I managed a half-smile through the stress that was squeezing my chest. “Our men eat a lot,” I said.

“Which means most of the finger food is just meat on sticks!” Kayla joked, though she was frowning as she looked at me, as if she were seeing something more.

“Well, there’s only a few days to go,” Mom said, clapping her hands.

The doors opened, and the servants all came in with dinner. Pots of soup, baskets of freshly baked rolls, and overflowing platters of crisp roasted vegetables and succulent meats. My father’s all-time favorite spread.

“Let’s eat,” Dad said, taking Mom’s hand and leading us all to the table.

We sat, were served, and began to eat. My stomach was gripped by anxiety, which meant I struggled to force anything down. But to avoid bringing further attention to my inner turmoil, I managed some clear, vegetable soup and a generously buttered bread roll, which for me wasn’t bad.

“Are you feeling, okay?” Kayla asked from the place where she was sitting opposite me. We were at the far end of the table so Kayla could get up and attend Rocky if she needed to.

“Of course,” I answered automatically. “How are you?” I glanced at Kayla’s plate to find she only had some potatoes and bread. “Why aren’t you eating?”

Kayla raised an eyebrow at me. “Why aren’tyou?” she countered. “I can tell you’ve lost weight again—and I know it’s not to fit into some dress. What’s wrong?”

I glanced over at Anselm, then back to Kayla. She was paler than normal, and her lack of appetite was unusual. Kayla was all curves like Mom and Jessa. She also wasn’t drinking. Her wine glass was filled with water, which although it was not unusual for her to abstain from alcohol, it was creating a trail of clues I couldn’t ignore. “Are you...” I didn’t want to say the words “pregnant again”, but from the way Kayla immediately colored bright red, I knew it was true.

“Don’t tell anyone, please?” Kayla whispered across the table. “I don’t want to take any of the attention away from the party.”

I gaped at her. “Don’t be silly!”

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