He grins. “Well, your mom had to teach your brothers how to hunt for herbs. They were bitching about it constantly. I guess digging around in the forest isn’t their cup of tea.”
“Who would have thought?”
“Your parents miss you.”
My heart aches a little. “But they’re doing well?”
“Yeah, all of them are holding up just fine. I actually think they’re really proud of you. They keep saying that they always knew you were special, because you were special long before a dragon chose you.”
“That sounds like them.”
Suddenly, my door goes flying open, slamming the door against the wall at a volume that would rival an explosion. The three princes stand in the doorway, shoulders thrown back, chests heaving, and fists clenched. They look like they’re ready for a fight, not striding into my bedroom.
“Get up,” Prince Gareth orders.
“I’m sorry?” I say as we both sit up.
“Get up,” he repeats.
I look to Prince Alaric, hoping he’ll make some sense of this, but there’s no softness in his expression, just pure and utter rage, which I can’t for the life of me figure out.
“What’s your problem?” I ask.
Prince Lucien’s green eyes are unrelenting. “He needs to go. Now.”
I bristle. “Since when are there rules about men being in rooms?”
“Since now,” Prince Alaric says, each word controlled.
For a second, I can’t help but laugh. “You guys can’t be serious.”
Prince Gareth takes another step forward, the muscles in his jaw working. “Do we look like we’re fucking serious?”
He does. “This is ridiculous. You can’t just go around making up arbitrary rules whenever they suit you, just to make my life more miserable.”
“We’re princes, we can do whatever we want,” Prince Lucien says, in a voice so arrogant that I’m tempted to punch him in his perfectly defined chin.
“Bullshit,” I say.
“Harper…” Prince Alaric begins, a warning in his voice.
“No.” I glare. “You can’t just tell me what to do. I don’t belong to you. I’m not your property. So go find someone else to bother.”
Prince Lucien cracks his neck, looking for a fight. “According to our dragons, you’re ours.”
“Which we all disagree with. You can’t just pull that out because it suits you.”
“Listen, you–” Prince Lucien begins.
Arthur lifts his hands beside us. “Look, Harper, it’s not that big of a deal. If they don’t want me in your room, we can just go for a walk instead.”
“That’s ridiculous–”
“It’s not worth fighting with our royals about,” he tells me, strangely the voice of reason.
“See, there, even he agrees,” Prince Lucien says, dripping with arrogance.
I open my mouth to continue arguing when Arthur gets off the bed. He offers a hand to help me get up, and even though I want to keep fighting with the three idiots, I want to spend time with Arthur more. So, I take his hand, glaring at the princes.
