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He nodded. “The dragon riders are a very old bunch. There are millions of us in this country, and even more outside of the country. We’re loyal to our own, sometimes to a point of snobbery. And I don’t want to be that. I want to be able to enjoy my life.” He ran his hands along his scalp, making the already unruly hair even worse. “I’m up to be King because that’s what dragon rider’s law dictates. The firstborn son of the King in the royal bloodline will take up the mantle once the old King is no more. That’s me. And that’s what our son will have waiting for him as well.”
He didn’t sound happy about that fact.
“Who says you have to give up your life to become King?” I worried.
“Derek is from the noble bloodline. His father was my father’s chief advisor. A trusted member of the dragon family hierarchy. He told my father what to do, how to act, what was acceptable, etcetera. And that’s what Derek will do for me. But…I just don’t want to do that. I like working at the shop on my cars. I like being in my club. Being home with you on weekends. This last couple of weeks has been torture. All day meetings lasting until night has fallen. Hunting the Purists once the sun sets.” He shook his head. “I don’t mind the hunting part. But they won’t let me do that for long. Once I’m officially King, I’m gone. I become too important to lose.”
I turned him by yanking on his hand.
“What makes you think any of your future followers want that for you?” I asked him.
His beautiful gold eyes, bored into me. “Thousands and thousands of years of tradition. Advisors. Brothers. My mother. My sister. You. I have to be that for you all.”
I shook my head. “No. You do that for you…if that’s what you want to do. For us, you just be you. That’s all we ever want.”
He shook his head. “It’s not that easy. Trust me.”
I crossed my arms. “No, it probably is that easy. It’s you that’s making it that hard.”
He opened his mouth, and then shut it again just as quickly.
“We’ll see,” he muttered, turning to watch the dragon as he started to stand.
“If you leave your club, your friends that have been there for you when you weren’t King, then you’ll lose them. Do they know what you’re planning yet?” I asked carefully.
Keifer looked back down at me once again. “No.”
I smiled. “Then if you want my honest opinion, I’d say fuck ‘em. You’re not your father, and this isn’t fourteen years ago when he was King, or even two hundred years ago. This is a new era. You have to adapt to the time. Nobody wants a lazy King. They want one that they know they can count on to handle whatever lays ahead,”
“And Keifer,” I said, smiling, “that’s you.”
“That dragon right there. That’ll be me if I lose you,” he whispered.
I turned to survey the old dragon once again.
“Then we’ll make sure you don’t lose me.”***
Keifer
Blythe’s words ran through my mind over and over again.
That’s you.
Maybe she was right.
I wasn’t the type of person to sit inside and hear grievances all day.
I was an action man.
I liked to get my hands dirty working on cars.
I liked to run outside. I liked to fight with Declan. I liked to shoot skeet and hunt.
Which begged to wonder…why was I going along with the wishes of another when that’s not what I wanted?
As I looked down at Blythe, her sleeping body cuddled close to mine, I knew I had a lot of decisions to make.
Starting right here.
And I would be the best father and, very soon, husband, I could be.
I opened up the box I’d kept in my pocket since two days after I’d met Blythe, and studied the diamond ring.
It was a simple band…from the outside.
On the inside, I’d had inscribed the dragon rider’s code.
Free. Hard. Forever. Until the last breath.
And I felt that that described the love I felt for Blythe to a T.
“What are you doing on my back?” Blythe mumbled sleepily, not opening her eyes.
A smile tipped up the corner of my mouth as I looked at her face.
So peaceful.
The moonlight reflected off her face perfectly, allowing me to see the light dusting of freckles on the bridge of her nose. The delicate black lashes of her eyes resting on her smooth cheeks. The sweep of brown hair that surrounded her beautiful face and trailed along her shoulders. The black satin nightgown that’d ridden up over her butt, giving me just a teasing glimpse of her sweetness.
“Your ring,” I murmured. “I was trying to decide whether to just put it onto your finger now or actually ask you.”
“Ask me,” she whispered huskily. “The answer may surprise you.”
