Page 121 of The Dragon King's Assassin

“Maybe just to tide me over until my food comes.”

I snorted, speared a whole sausage with my fork, and handed it to him. “You came straight here once you had the palace settled, didn't you?”

“They had to clean my chambers anyway.” He took the sausage from my fork and started munching on it happily.

“Yeah, I'm pretty hungry too.” I started to cut into my breakfast pastry but, suddenly, there was a sausage in my face. The very sausage that I'd just given to Taroc. I leaned back and asked him, “What are you doing?”

He was staring at me with an odd expression. “You need to eat. I shouldn't have taken this from you.”

“I was about to eat when you shoved your sausage in my face.”

The pirates snickered again. Teng smacked Ry before he could comment.

Taroc lowered the sausage.

“Is this really happening or is this another cava hallucination?” Wei whispered.

“I'm ninety-nine percent sure this is real,” Lue whispered back.

“And this is why you should have waited to come by.” I waved at the pirates.

“I couldn't wait,” Taroc said. “I've waited too long as it is. The beast inside me is unsettled without you. You saw what I did to my chambers. That's what happens when a mated Dragon rejects his mate; he goes wild. I need you now, Lock.”

“Taroc, I'm really mad at you for not telling me about this.”

“I know, and I'm so sorry.”

“You should have asked me before you did all that. I should have had a choice in this.”

“I didn't even have a choice.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“I told you, my dragon recognized you as my mate. I reacted instinctively, without any conscious decision. Lock, I claimed you before I fell in love with you. Honestly, I was shocked by it. I wasn't trying to take away your choice.”

“What?” I whispered.

“Mating is magical. A gift from the Goddess. She chooses who is right for us. I suppose I could have tried to fight my instincts, but I trust in Ensarena. And she has proven, yet again, to be worthy of that trust. You are the man I want to spend eternity with.”

Under the intensity of Taroc's eyes and words, I forgot to breathe. Suddenly, my body took over, and I inhaled deeply, taking his scent into me. Something inside me clutched at that smell and shivered. It recognized the truth of what Taroc said and the importance of it. Plus, it was the most romantic thing anyone had ever said to me.

“You still should have told me. And you should have believed me when I told you how I ended up in that alley. Instead, you listened to that asshole. You didn't even try to work things out with me.”

“You ended our relationship, Lock, not me.”

“And you kicked me out of the palace.”

“Yes, I did. I was angry and hurt. I'm sorry. I've made a lot of mistakes with you, but I want to correct them. Tell me how to make this up to you.”

Pirate eyes darted back and forth from Taroc to me.

“Promise me it won't happen again. From here forward, you tell me everything, especially if it has to do with me. And you trust me above everyone else.”

“Will you trust me in return?”

“Of course, I trust you, you asshole.”

Taroc grinned. “Then you have my trust and fidelity; I swear it.”

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