Page 29 of Lerin's Bride (Crystal Glass Dragons 3)

13

Olive

We were going to change everything.

I wrote a quick email to my boss explaining just enough for her to not file me as a missing person and grabbed all the clothes and important items I could fit into a backpack. Lerin said we should travel by car to get there. We’d have to fly out on the escape.

I was ready to go wherever he wanted.

The car ride was tense, our hands locked together.

The limo now seemed overly long; we were an easy target if they’d somehow already figured out what was going on. I hoped they didn’t know.

I prayed they didn’t.

“What’s the punishment for treason?” I asked cautiously.

He frowned, looking down at our hands entwined together. “It’s prison for life. No exile. They’d rather keep us caged than chance anyone finding out about the kingdom and ruining it.”

I grit my teeth at the thought.

Was this crazy?

We hardly knew each other, yet we were doing this so suddenly. If we spaced it out over time with careful planning, we might get away with more than we were now.

Then again, more time meant more possibilities of getting caught.

I just wanted to spend my life with him.

I knew that from the first moment I saw him standing on the street outside the bakery. He was the man I was meant to spend my life with, the person that was made for me…my soul mate. Shifters may call them fated mates, but the rest of the world knew the feeling too.

The deep longing—theneed—to always be by someone’s side.

I’d give up anything for that.

They couldn’t imprison us for wanting to live our lives together.

It wasn’t possible.

The kingdom came up faster than I was ready for, and I let out a gasp as we passed through the shield spell. We weren’t going to tell anyone about the kingdom, we weren’t here to ruin the fucked-up tradition of women servitude, although someone really should. Lerin squeezed my thigh, pulling me out of my thoughts, and I realized why.

His brother was in the drive.

“You’re back.” Rhuron sounded genuinely excited as we opened the car door.

“I realized that I hadn’t shown Olive the garden Izzy put together, and she was wanting to see it,” Lerin lied smoothly. His arm in mine was like a bow strung so tight it might snap if someone tried to fire an arrow.

I gave his bicep a gentle squeeze of reassurance.

“Oh, good! I’ll have Izzy come and show you when she’s done convening with the seer,” he explained. “Are you staying another night?” He aimed this question at me.

“Yes, if you’ll allow it,” I smiled.

I hoped Lerin wouldn’t hate me for being polite to his brother. I really wasn’t sure that Rhuron was intentionally bigheaded. After a life of being told you’re gunning for something, you might begin to assume that it was yours.

I couldn’t imagine what that was like.

“Of course, I will,” Rhuron said, beaming. He was attractive, like his brother, but I still preferred the dragon shifter I got. Servants came to take my bag, but I waved them away.

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