I lift a brow. “And here I thought you’d still be angry that Ebron is leading the team.”
Prince Gareth tucks his long dark hair behind one ear. “We’ve accepted that as long as Ebron is here, the females will only follow him. We’ve changed our tactics to accommodate a new leader.”
“I’m not sure if I should be flattered or insulted.”
Prince Lucien leans close to me, green eyes filled with amusement. “Be flattered.”
“It’s that easy?” I ask.
“It’s that easy,” he repeats.
And the way he’s looking at me… it’s far more than just a little friendly.
“I better go.”
As I start to walk away, Prince Lucien grabs my wrists, “Why not stay and have a drink with us?”
I look back at him, shocked. They want me to have a drink with them? All three men are staring, and my stomach does a little flip. For some reason, I feel like I might know where this drink will lead, and it scares me. There’s just something between me and these men. Something that I can’t escape from. Part ofme wants to just dive in and figure it out, but the other part doesn’t feel like I can handle this, and whatever I’m going to face tomorrow.
“Another time,” I say, and he releases my wrist, looking disappointed.
I can feel their gazes on me as I turn down the hall and head for my room, and the feeling lingers as I walk down the dark, quiet halls. Torches flicker on the walls, creating pockets of light and pockets of shadows. My gaze darts around the shadows that dance in all directions, while my mind wanders back to the princes.Should I have gone with them? Should I have had that drink?
Regret flows through me. I pause and almost take a step back, then shake my head. I made my decision. I need to stick to it. It’s already late, and I need to be in top shape for tomorrow.
My thoughts slip back into a warm place, a place where I had that drink with the princes. And then maybe a few more drinks. I wonder what they’d be like drunk. Maybe Prince Gareth would smile. Maybe Prince Alaric would loosen up. And Prince Lucien? He’d definitely make me laugh.
Someone grabs me and throws me against the wall. I go to reach for the dagger at my hip, but there’s already a knife pressed against my throat. I blink, feeling stupid. If I hadn’t been so lost in my own thoughts… fuck!
The torch light flickers and moves, and Tesson’s face comes into shape before me. The harsh lines of his face that everyone back in Pennyvale thinks makes him look so handsome. The darkness in his gaze that has always held a cruel, sharp edge.
“What are you doing?” I ask him calmly.
Too often I’ve found myself in dangerous situations, but I often didn’t know what I was dealing with or who I was facing. In this situation though, I know exactly who I’m dealing with. Someone without a moral compass. Someone whose soul is asdark as tar. It’s not just that I think he’s capable of hurting me, I know he is.
“Fuck you,” he tells me, gritting his teeth so loud I can hear it.
“Okay. Fair enough.”
“You’ve embarrassed me for the last time, Harper. You know that? I’m not going to put up with it ever again.”
I keep my voice steady. “I hadn’t realized I’d embarrassed you.”
He scowls. “You’ve been traipsing around with the princes, denying me as your fiancé, making an absolute fool of me. I’ve told everyone who will listen that you’re mine, but not a damn one of them respects that I’m the man who owns you. They all see the princes’ claims as the valid ones.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” I say quietly.
“I don’t just feel that way. That’s what’s been happening,” he tells me, scraping the blade against my throat while I try not to flinch. “You saw the chance to climb the ranks to ‘princess,’ and being the gold digging whore that you are, you went right for it, leaving me in the dust.”
“Tesson, you know my parents were clear about us no longer being engaged long before I became engaged to the princes. Even before that, you know that I didn’t want to be engaged. Nobody has misled you.”
“The fuck you haven’t!” he shouts. Then he quiets his voice as he looks to both sides of us. “You’ve become the lone female dragon rider. A woman of legend. But you’re my woman. No dragon claim is going to change that.” Then he presses the knife closer to my throat. “And don’t even think about calling out to that dragon of yours. I’ll kill you the second I get a whiff of him.”
I bite my lip, trying to decide what to say. “So, what do you plan to do?”
He flashes the knife. “I plan to take you to a chapel in the city, marry you, consummate the marriage, and then everyone will just have to accept that I’m your husband.”
His plan is completely insane. First of all, I can’t think of a scenario where I would ever actually say marriage vows with Tesson. After all I’ve been through, Tesson is hardly as big and bad as he thinks he is. And that’s ignoring the fact that no one in their right mind would marry us when they saw the knife to my throat. What’s more, when I get far enough from the academy to put some space between me and Ebron, so he doesn’t lose it and do something crazy, I will absolutely reach out to my dragon and tell him what’s going on, and then have him tell the princes. Which will lead to them charging in and killing Tesson before he even knows what’s happening.
