Page 69 of Destiny of the Dragons

Jace cocked his head. “Too much?”

“No, you’re okay.” Mia shook her head. “Just thinking relationships are the harder part.”

“This was the easy part,” Jace said, echoing her thoughts. His hand on her hip trailed fire inside her, and it was all she could do not to press closer against him.

This was the end, she reminded herself. Not a new beginning.

“You can’t actually want to marry him,” Jace said. “You barely opened up to us, and we were much easier to be around.”

Mia sighed. “Of course I don’t. But Mother wants his House tracking spell for our family spellbook.”

“I see.”

“So, how’s the clan?” Mia asked, trying for lighthearted. “Did you make everyone eat their words?”

Please let it be worth it, she thought.

Jace frowned. “I’m doing okay.”

She cocked her head. “Okay? You molted young, you’re filthy rich, and you have the favor of the most famous wizard-painter in the world.”

Jace’s face closed up, and he twirled her around the floor again. “It’s just how it’s done. I’m working my way up the ladder. Someday I’ll be calling the shots.”

“So you understand exactly why I’m marrying Cross.”

“I guess I do, but I don’t like it.”

“That makes both of us,” Mia made a face. “But sacrifices have to be made to achieve our goals.”

“I just wanted to protect you from that,” Jace said. He looked at her like he was burning from the inside. “You see that, right?”

“I do.” She wished she could bridge the gap between them, but it was too much. Too far. “But how much control do you actually have? If your mother wanted you to marry someone you hated for the good of the clan, could you really say no?”

Jace looked away. She’d hid a nerve. “I wasn’t trying to fight.”

“I can’t change how the world works” He gave her a wistful look. “No matter how badly I want to.”

Mia nodded, tears burning in her eyes. It was too much to hope for a better world.

The man stopped singing, and Mia knew her brief time with Jace was coming to an end.

“I just wish Smoke had been here,” she said before she could stop herself.

Jace put his hand on the small of her back. “Me too. Can I watch your friend sing with you?”

It was too much, but Mia couldn’t refuse.

Mia lead him back to their table.

Jace paused when he saw Keyona sitting at their table with another dragon.

“Zian?”

The dragon looked up, and guilt crossed his face. “I thought you’d left already?”

Keyona looked at Jace like she was about to eat him for dinner. “Oh, here’s the fucker that’s been making my friend cry her eyes out every night.”

Mia cleared her throat. “Keyona.”

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