Page 47 of Dragon King’s Bullied Mate

Malaya shared what she had learned from the guards on the hunting trip.

“The top of the mountain.” Lyra looked back at him slowly. “If you fell from the upper cliffs during the storm…” Her voice faltered slightly as the realization settled fully into place. “Then you were poisoned before you fell.”

Neither Mikael nor Malaya spoke. They didn’t need to.

Lyra’s pulse quickened again. “Dag was the last one with you,” she whispered.

Mikael’s expression darkened immediately. Lyra watched his reaction. He had already suspected it long before he came here.

He had only needed to hear her say it out loud.

Chapter 19

Mikael

Mikael had slept in war zones, natural disaster situations, and even in a tiny cave because it had been the only shelter available during a mountain storm, yet somehow the cottage tucked close to the base of the mountains felt stranger to him than any of those places ever had.

Because this place held peace.

Not complete peace, perhaps, because fear still lingered beneath every quiet moment, and uncertainty stalked the edges of every conversation, but there was warmth here that Mikael had not realized he had been starving for until he stepped inside it.

The fire crackled softly while Beckett eventually fell asleep sprawled against Malaya beneath a pile of blankets on the floor. The television murmured quietly in the background as snow continued to drift outside the windows. Lyra moved through the cottage with hesitant hospitality that somehow felt more intimate than the formal rituals of court ever had.

When she quietly offered for them to stay the night because the roads were worsening again, Mikael accepted immediately. Not because of the weather, but because every instinct inside him refused to leave her unprotected now that the truth had finally begun surfacing.

He waited until Lyra disappeared briefly down the hallway to gather extra blankets before he stepped outside onto the porch alone. The freezing air bit at any exposed skin as he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed a familiar number.

The guard captain answered almost immediately. “Your Majesty.”

“I want six men stationed around the village before dawn,” Mikael said quietly. “No royal banners. No uniforms visible to the villagers.”

“Yes, sire.”

“I want two guards specifically monitoring the man searching for Beckett.” Mikael gave him a quick description. “I want to know where he goes, who he speaks to, and whether he attempts to leave town.”

The captain hesitated briefly. “Should Commander Dag be informed?”

Mikael’s expression hardened instantly. “No.” The single word turned the night colder. “You will report directly to me and to no one else. Dag is not to be included in these orders, and if he should find out and attempts to interfere, you personally contact me immediately. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Mikael ended the call slowly and stared out across the darkening forest while unease settled heavily because the decision should have troubled him more than it did.

A king isolating his own commander by issuing secret orders and hidden guards. He hated the distrust that was taking root inside his own court, and yet none of it felt unreasonable anymore. Not after the poison.

By the time he returned inside, Malaya watched him with narrowed eyes from the couch. “You’re doing the scary silent-thinking thing again.”

“I was assigning protection.”

“For the village or for Lyra specifically?”

Mikael didn’t answer at first. “In the village for the benefit of Lyra. We will be here with her.”

Malaya sighed dramatically before turning her attention toward Lyra when she walked back in carrying a tall order of blankets. “Actually, there’s something I wanted to ask you.”

Lyra dropped the extra blankets across the armchair. “What?”

“When you rescued him from the mountain and stripped the wet clothes off him…” Malaya paused thoughtfully. “Did you notice any marks on his body besides the obvious injuries from the fall?”