Page 31 of Fated to the Grumpy Dragon
“It’s not always about you.” There was a lighthearted aspect to her tone. She was teasing me.
How swiftly moods can change.
“I’m not used to there being anyone but me here for someone to visit,” I replied. “And also, there was that incident with the boat yesterday. It’s unlikely, but I suppose it could have been escalated. So, you can see why I might think so, but—”
I stopped talking as I realized Vicek wasn’t alone. On his back was a blonde woman of slightly above-average height. Ahumanwoman. My eyebrows threatened to rise, but I brought them back down as the platinum-haired ruler of dragons came forward.
“My sovereign,” I said, fist to chest, elbow out straight in front of me, honoring her with a proper salute. “What an unexpected visit.”
She smiled though the look barely touched her eyes and did nothing to soften the hard jade circles. I couldn’t help but think Iwasin trouble.
“Rhyse. May I present my son, Vicek, whom I believe you know, and his mate, Laura.”
“I’m honored to welcome you all to my humble home,” I said. “Though I admit I’m unsure why you have come all the way out here.”
The sovereign caught her son’s eyes. He nodded then faced me.
“Can we talk inside?” Vicek was tall, even for a dragon, and he easily looked over my shoulder at Emma. “Perhaps she would like to take the time to talk with Laura.”
Coming from the heir to the throne, it wasn’t a suggestion.
“Of course,” I said, catching Emma’s eye and giving her a nod, letting her know everything would be okay.
She returned my nod with a confidence I knew very well she did not feel. What were we to do, though?
The three of us entered my house, with Vicek ensuring the door was firmly closed behind us.
“To what do I owe this visit?” I asked, breaching the silence that followed.
“This is about your mission,” the sovereign said.
“To find Vicek’s sunken ship,” I said, glancing at her son.
“Yes.”
I hid a grimace. This was the mission given to me at the outbreak of war. The mission that had held me home and out of the fighting.
“I take it you haven’t had any luck finding it?” Vicek said.
“No. Not yet,” I said unhappily.
“I figured perhaps I could help now that I’m back.” Vicek smiled. “It would be nice to finally have some answers.”
“Speaking of answers,” I said, glancing between the two of them. “Perhaps the two of you could help explain to me why this is so important? Why was a mission to find a sunken ship important enough to keep me home from the war?”
The sovereign laughed. It was light and airy. Genuine. “I guess your friends weren’t happy about that, were they?”
My answering snort was harsh and explosive. “Friends? Ha.”
“You didn’t tell him, Mother?” Vicek asked, looking sharply at her. “Why not?”
“I didn’t want to bias him,” she said. “I wanted to know what he thought before I put the idea in his brain.”
I looked back and forth at the two of them, watching very closely. Alarm bells were going off everywhere in my head. “Bias me againstwhatexactly?”
“Tell him. He deserves to know,” Vicek said with a wave of his hand. “You should have told him already.”
I didn’t react to the irritation directed at the sovereign. If Vicek wanted to talk to her that way, he could.Iwould never dream of it, but then, I wasn’t her son.
