Page 36 of Dragon King’s Bullied Mate

“What if his father found him?” The words cracked apart the moment they left her mouth. “What if Boden saw the guards take me and thought Beckett was vulnerable enough to grab?”

“I’ll agree that Boden is an evil man.” Sherrell’s expression darkened immediately. “But we don’t know that he has his son.”

“But we don’t know he doesn’t either.”

The panic she had been barely holding back all morning finally broke through her defenses. Lyra pressed both shaking hands over her face as tears burned hot against freezing skin because she had promised Beckett over and over that no one would take him back there again.

She had promised, and now he was gone.

Sherrell wrapped steady arms around her shoulders while the baker quietly turned away to give her what little privacy he could inside the small shop. Lyra could barely hear anything over the roaring terror inside her own head.

“I can’t lose him,” she whispered brokenly. “I can’t.”

“You haven’t,” Sherrell said firmly despite the worry in her own voice. “We’re still looking.”

Before Lyra could answer, the sharp ring of the bakery phone cut suddenly through the room.

All three of them froze.

Meren glanced toward the counter, unease flickering across her face before she reached for the receiver. She answered cautiously.

A pause followed.

Then her expression changed abruptly as her eyes lifted straight toward Lyra.

“It’s for you.”

Chapter 15

Mikael

Mikael had intended to be gone before dawn fully broke across the mountains. Remaining inside the castle while Lyra fled farther from him with every passing hour had become unbearable in a way he could neither explain nor control. He had scarcely finished putting his boots on when hurried footsteps echoed through the outer corridor. The doors to his chambers swung open hard enough to strike the stone wall behind them.

Malaya entered first with the snow still clinging to the long braid that hung over one shoulder, while Dr. Martin followed several paces behind her.

“You should still be in bed,” Dr. Martin snapped immediately, his expression sharpening the moment he saw Mikael already dressed for travel. “I haven’t given my consent for you to travel yet.”

“You don’t need to,” Mikael replied while his attention had already fixed itself entirely on Malaya. Something in her face told him this was not routine information.

He didn’t read danger or betrayal. It was something else.

Malaya crossed the room quickly. “I returned as quickly as possible.”

Mikael stepped toward her. “You found information about Lyra.”

“You already know her name.” She rolled her eyes. “Why am I not surprised? And yes, I did.”

The words tightened something low in his chest before he could stop it. For the entire night unease had stalked him relentlessly because part of him had remained unable to silence the suspicion planted there by Dag’s increasingly strange behavior. He had wanted to believe her innocent, yet his dragon’s relentless fixation on her had only made him wary of his own judgment.

He braced himself for hidden alliances or manipulation. He was fully prepared for proof that her kindness had merely been a carefully crafted lie. Disappointment had already started to build.

Instead, Malaya stared at him for a long moment as though deciding how best to deliver news she herself still struggled to understand.

“There’s nothing bad about her. Literally nothing. No evidence of deception on any level,” she said at last. “In truth, Mik, I could scarcely find anyone willing to speak about her without becoming emotional and all for the good reasons.”

Silence settled heavily through the chamber. Mikael frowned slightly. “Explain.”

Malaya removed several folded sheets from her satchel before continuing. “The villagers describe her as the woman who quietly leaves food outside empty homes during winter shortages. Several families believed the church had been helping them until they discovered she had been using nearly all her earnings to buy flour, medicine, and firewood.”