Page 49 of Dragon King’s Bullied Mate

Mikael huffed a quiet laugh. “You noticed.”

“It’s difficult not to notice when a king looks at someone like that.”

His eyes lingered on her profile as the firelight reflected off loose strands of hair that had escaped her braid, and he realized with unsettling clarity that he had begun memorizing these small details without meaning to.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who speaks to me as though I am simply a man,” he admitted.

Lyra gave him a small smile. “Maybe because beneath the crown, you are.”

Her words hit home. Most people feared him, others obeyed him. Very few saw him.

Yet somehow this woman, who sat barefoot beneath a faded blanket, looked at him more honestly than anyone at court ever had.

Mikael shifted slightly toward her before he could stop himself. He was drawn closer by instinct rather than thought, and when her eyes dropped briefly to his mouth, heat curled low beneath his ribs. His dragon stirred lazily beneath his skin, not restless this time, but warm and deeply attentive.

“You shouldn’t look at me like that either.”

A faint blush rose into her cheeks. “Like what?”

“As though you’re thinking dangerous things.”

“And if I am?”

Mikael held her gaze for a long moment while the fire popped quietly beside them. The air between them grew warmer and tighter with every passing second.

“Then,” he said carefully, his voice roughening, “it would seem we are both in trouble.”

Neither of them moved away, but neither of them continued on with the conversation. When Lyra retired for the night a short time later, Mikael felt the emptiness of the room.

Sleep didn’t come easily, and the following morning arrived quicker than expected.

Mikael woke without the crushing fog that had clouded his thoughts, and although his body still ached somewhat from the fall, his mind felt sharper now, clearer in ways that relieved him.

His memories had started returning. He remembered leaving his horse and searching for signs of a snow cat that Dag was positive he had seen. And then, a sharp sting near his shoulder.

Mikael stood near the kitchen window staring out at the snow while the memory sharpened painfully. He distinctly remembered wondering if a snow cat had circled back and taken a swipe at him.

But no animal attack had followed. Only the fall.

“You remembered something,” Malaya observed from the living room without looking away from the television Beckett was enthusiastically watching beside her.

Mikael nodded once slowly. “The injection.”

Lyra looked up sharply from where she stood near the stove.

“I thought an animal had clipped me during the storm,” Mikael admitted quietly. “I remember the sting now.”

He fully understood the truth with complete clarity that Lyra had saved his life. And not only his own life, but also the life of his dragon. If the poison had fully progressed, if the elements hadn’t killed both of them, the toxins would have.

Mikael dragged a hand down his face roughly and forced himself to step away from the window. Whatever Dag had done, there was nothing he could do right at the moment.

Several minutes later, Malaya became distracted helping Beckett with the television remote after he somehow managed to activate subtitles in three different languages simultaneously.

Lyra took the opportunity to quietly approach Mikael near the hallway.

“Can we talk?” she asked softly.

Mikael’s pulse reacted instantly to the request itself. “Of course.”