Page 5 of The Dragon Queen

“Look…” Ged said as we walked upstairs and down the hall to the dressmakers. “This is all my fault, that’s what I’ll tell the prince… king.”

Males are protective, Glimmer said, drawing closer.It is in their nature, but it is ours to lead.

“What is your fault, exactly?”I asked, pitching my voice low as maids walked past.

Each one was dressed in perfect white dresses, mob caps covering their hair. They bobbed us small curtseys as we passed, something that had me nodding as we moved past. I wanted to be polite, but couldn’t help but search each girl’s face. Which of them were here because they were loyal to the throne and which were selling information to Marcus?

“That…” His hands rose, but he was forced to shove them down again as a footman passed by. “You walked into that situation unprepared. It makes sense that it went as badly as it did.”

I jerked back as if stung, blinking as I stared into his eyes.

“Badly…? I know I’m not exactly schooled in the art of being a queen. I assume Raina had quite the apprenticeship and moved into the position as if born to it, but?—”

“Your Highness.” A woman in a beautiful gown appeared in the doorway, dropping a deep curtsey, but it was the pin cushion strapped to her wrist that let me know who she was. “You’re here for your fitting? Please come in.”

“I need to go and see Draven.” Ged shook his head slowly. “Let him know that the traitors weren’t the only ones stealing dragons last night. You and the little queen, you’ll be safe here.”

I didn’t get a chance to argue. He waved a couple of guards over, reassigning them to my door before striding off down the hall.

Hours later,I was perched upon a stool, my bare feet clinging to the wooden surface. It felt too small and too rickety to support my weight. This was made worse by the fact that each time I flexed my thighs to get a better grip, the seamstress hissed in disapproval. She couldn’t say anything, because her mouth was filled with the pins she was using to shape lengths of golden satin to my body. Her displeasure was plain, though. That was fine, because I was feeling similarly unhappy with this state of affairs. I’d worn dresses because I needed to when attending the queen’s ball, and again when we’d had dinner with the rebel dukes, so I could be forgiven for not finding the process of having another dress made for me a pleasant one.

“Where is she?” a masculine voice called from outside the room, the seamstress and I turning at the muffled sound. A low, feminine voice offered an explanation, but whoever he was, he wasn’t satisfied with it. The door to the room was wrenched open and a maid and Flynn stumbled inside, both of them stopping dead still to stare up at me.

We were utterly doomed.

Draven was sure we could hide the nature of our relationship from the court and the people, but one look from Flynn made a lie of that. Those bright blue eyes burned into mine with a fire that rivalled Cloudy’s. The seamstress spat out the pins and I felt every single one of them fall onto the soft carpet.

“You can’t be in here! The queen-in-waiting is not decent.”

“Your Grace…” the maid said with a sharp look at the seamstress, and it felt like those two words stabbed into me like the pins had all morning.

Flynn was not yet confirmed in his position, but it was only a matter of time before he would be installed as Duke of Skane. Draven would not be able to resist having a sympathetic lord of one of the largest duchies in Nevermere, especially with the Duke of Harlston marshalling his forces at the border.

“I understand that you wish to speak most urgently with the queen-in-waiting, but if you’d just allow her the time to dress,” the maid said in a low but urgent tone.

He wouldn’t, I knew that, and so did he. Those blue eyes glittered with a dangerous light, those full lips twitching as he took the mess of the room in.

“Thank you for your counsel…” He turned to the maid and she bobbed a curtsey.

“Laurel, Your Grace.”

“Laurel, but before Pippin was the queen-in-waiting, she was my wingmate. There’s no need to be concerned for the queen’s welfare.” He nodded to me, a rakish smile starting to spread. “We’ve had to strip down and wash in rivers, scramble to find our uniforms when the sergeant wakes us up in the morning.” He winked at me. “There’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”

Laurel did not want to accept this answer, I saw that in the way her hands twisted in her apron, the seamstress looking at Flynn like he was a wild animal let loose in the castle. But if he was an animal, he was a lion, golden, beautiful, and intent on getting exactly what he wanted.

“Leave us.”

If I’d ever doubted that he was a duke’s son, I didn’t now. That note of command, used without raising his voice for a second, was one that could only come from someone raised to expect to rule over others. The two women curtseyed again, then rushed out the door. I shook my head when it shut with a click before jumping down from the stool.

“You know they’re going to go running down to the kitchens togossip about what they’ve just seen,” I said with a sigh. “The story would’ve changed to me tearing the dress away to reveal my adulterous body to your licentious eyes before noon.”

“Mm…” Flynn prowled closer, running a hand down the line of pins on one side of my body. “I do like the sound of that.”

“Flynn…”

He plucked one pin out, tossing it aside to join the others, then another.

“You say my name like that, right before you’re about to reach your peak, you know.” His voice was a lion’s purr.

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