Page 89 of Phoenix Falling
Demetri let out a low whistle. “And Risk is supposed to be in a jail cell.”
Yes, that was definitely a smirk. “Well, she won’t be when Raine gets here, not if we want Raine’s trust.”
And Lyris would get what she’d been fighting for since Risk had arrived at the lair. She’d vented to me during the day while the others slept.
Demetri was wiping a hand down his face as if he’d just heard the worst thing imaginable. “You’re pulling the king’s”—he dropped his voice to barely a whisper—“mateout of a jail cell without his permission?”
“I’m not his mate,” Risk said.
“Yeah, Grim said you were delusional,” Demetri shot back. “Keep telling yourself that, but I have to warn you, it won’t get you very far.”
The fiery look Risk gave him shoutedstubborn,but she clamped her mouth shut.
Lyris ignored the sidebar. “Not only that, but I’m bringing Risk with us when we enter the dining hall. Once she’s been introduced to the clan just like the others, Sun won’t be able to take her back to jail.”
I considered that for a moment before bursting into laughter. “Good God, Lyris! I knew you were sneaky, but that… It’s diabolical.”
“I know.”
Demetri’s frown said he wasn’t as Team Lyris as I was. “This move also puts you in the line of fire, Valkyrie. You need to stay out of this. It’s between Sun and Risk.”
She stepped up and brushed a kiss across the edge of his jaw. “I appreciate your concern, but I’m a big girl, Dragon. Sun has handled this all wrong, and I’m not going to take the abuse of one of my females lying down. Besides, if he wants his mate to actually accept him, someone has to run interference.”
“I’m not his mate.”
Risk wasn’t a shifter, but she could definitely growl; she was doing it now. I sent her a sympathetic glance.
“Come on, Risk,” Lyris said, gathering her charge. “Let me introduce you to some of the other females.”
As the two walked off, Demetri eyed them, his gaze troubled. I sidled up to him and put an arm around his waist. He gathered me close, ignoring the looks we were getting from around the room.
“Sometimes Lyris scares me with her daring,” he admitted. “Sun is our king now, not just a prince, and not merely our friend.”
“I don’t know.” I eyed the two females as they talked to Tabby and Helen. “Something tells me she is more than up to challenging him. Challenging power is a healthy thing, you know; Sun shouldn’t get to dictate everyone’s lives, right or wrong, with no one speaking up.”
“I know you Americans believe that.” He tapped my nose. “But why does it have to be my twin doing the challenging?”
I chuckled. “Because she’s badass. Remind me never to get on your sister’s bad side,” I teased my mate.
He shook his head, looking resigned. “Don’t worry. I have a feeling if it came to a tossup between you and me, Lyris would be on your side all the way.”
I grinned up at him. “You think so?”
“Absolutely.”
I couldn’t help myself; I pushed up on tiptoe to brush a kiss along Demetri’s full lips. When I would have stepped back, he took the kiss deeper.
A throat clearing next to us broke the moment. Lyris. “Time to go!”
A couple of the Warrior’s Council shifters had arrived. They escorted us through the empty halls. All members of the clan had been called to the dining hall for the announcement, so there was no one to follow our progress along the way. Eventually we ended up near a set of double doors I assumed led into the chosen room given the number of voices beyond it. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach.
Demetri squeezed my hand. “Sure you are ready for this? Not going to change your mind, are you?”
He was joking, but even he couldn’t hide the trace of anxiety underlying his words. I was a truth seeker, after all. I could hear the slightest emotion underpinning his question. I took his face in my hands and brought him down to me. “Not a chance.”
His grin was lost in our kiss.
The introduction and announcement of the coronation and our matebond ceremony was all a blur. There were gasps—whether surprise or dismay, I wasn’t sure—when Sun talked about Demetri and me joining as a mated pair, but other than that, I didn’t register most of it until he released us to mingle. Demetri brought Clara and me over to the buffet to fix our plates. It seemed so silly, these intense beings with superhuman powers having something so mundane as a buffet, but the food smelled wonderful. And being served by the big warrior seemed to make Clara fall as much in love with him as I was.
