AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Yet here we were. We couldn’t rise above our own opinions and disagreements.
“Let’s all take a step back before any of us says anything hurtful,” Rai said.
“Four of us are equal in this bonded relationship,” Iokul said, siding with Blaze. “It isn’t just one person’s opinion that counts. If we have a disagreement, we vote on it.”
The three of them would vote for me to leave the realm. If I rejected it, would they leave without me? If they stayed, would they resent me? Was our mating bond strong enough to survive everything? And was I a bitch for insisting on having my way?
Insecurity swept over me, and I suppressed a wave of panic.
I couldn’t picture a future without them.
I turned to Jarrod, purposely ignoring my mates, so I wouldn’t spit something out that would aggravate the situation.
Jarrod tried his best not to dart his nervous, yet curious glances between us.
“If Lady Lysandra is determined to rule, why doesn’t she do it from the throne here?” I asked. I knew nothing about this consort. “The Dragon Realm is the center of the Danaenyth dynasty, and she can easily fix the damage in the castle.”
When my ancestors established the Danaenyth dynasty, we named the castle and the towns under the hills the Dragon Realm, where old magic prevailed. Dragons, half-dragons, and humans who had thick dragon blood flowing through their veins, mostly lived in the realm, unable to resist the call of the potent magic in the soil.
Outside the Dragon Realm, there were six cities where the humans who had diluted dragon blood lived. Over the centuries, the cities had also accepted and assimilated pure humans from other parts of the world.
Magic didn’t exactly extend to those cities where technology now dominated.
The six cities were always part of the Danaenyth dynasty, despite my grandfather allowing the humans to govern themselves. They paid tributes and tithes to KingDaghda every quarter toacknowledge Danaenyth royal house as sovereign.
At Jarrod’s uncertain look, I asked, “Has something transpired while I was away?”
“It’s important to the humans that Lady Lysandra chooses to have her new throne in the City ofAmethystinstead of in the Dragon Realm,” Jarrod said. “It signifies the shift of new power and human dominance. She wants to establish herself as the leader of the new age, which puts humans first and above all.
“All six cities back her up, and the humans have the numbers we don’t. KingDaghda hasn’t tended to the realm for a long while. The humans regard him as a relic and menace that needs to be replaced. They’ve wanted one of their own to sit on the throne for a few centuries now. They hold the belief that this world belongs to the humans. They want the end of the dragons.”
My mates growled in distaste.
“KingDaghda burning the castle and deserting the Dragon Realm played right into their hands,” Jarrod said.
“Except, they hadn’t expected the return of the heir to the throne,” Rai said.
Jarrod nodded. “This is a great day for the realm. For all of us.”
I nodded my appreciation. “Lady Lysandra sounds like an ambitious type. I want to know more about her. Is she pure human?”
Jarrod shook his head. “No one knows much about her. One second, she was just there. Then, all of a sudden, the king announced her as his consort. But she isn’t a dragon.”
“She might be the one who sent the assassin,” Blaze said, “if she’s gotten wind of our mate’s return.”
“But no one was supposed to know,” Iokul said.
“Someone obviously knew,” Blaze said. “An assassin ambushed us in the palace, and he was targeting Daisy. Elvey—”
“—stayed behind on Pandemonium,” I said. “He had nothing to do with the assassination.”
I wasn’t happy with his snide tone from earlier, and I wasn’t going to give him a break when he constantly blamed Elvey for everything that went wrong.
Blaze slanted me a sharp look.
Rai gave Blaze’s shoulder a nudge to remind him to tone it down. The lightning dragon had noticed the tension between his brother and me. Iokul seemed to be glad of it, even though he’d taken Blaze’s side when it concerned my safety.
There would always be sibling rivalry between them. They’d competed against each other for nearly a century. After we mated, they wanted my attention and affection even more, though they wouldn’t stab each other in the back. They knew where the bottom line was.
