Page 57 of Dragon King’s Bullied Mate

Something about the way he said her name instantly raised Mikael’s hackles. “Yes.”

Dag smirked faintly. “Interesting girl.”

Mikael’s expression hardened. “Be careful.” His anger was so focused on Dag’s instant attack of Lyra that the poisoning incident was momentarily forgotten.

“About what?” Dag asked innocently. “Mentioning the woman who used to trail after us through school like some pathetic stray animal hoping for attention?”

The words hit Mikael strangely. An image flashed suddenly through his mind of laughter in a crowded hallway while Lyra stood frozen beside her locker while Dag loudly mocked the secondhand clothes she wore.

And Mikael watched without saying anything. The memory vanished almost immediately but left something sick twisting in Mikael’s stomach.

“It would seem that you sought her out with the sole intention of being cruel to her. I don’t recall her following us around.”

Dag continued casually, clearly noticing the reaction but choosing to ignore it. “Honestly, I’m surprised she became your latest fixation considering how desperate she used to act around us.”

Another flash of Lyra carrying books against her chest while several students laughed after Dag dumped a drink across her shoes with a silent Mikael beside him again.

Guilt clawed viciously through his chest now as more broken memories surfaced in ugly flashes. He wasn’t certain if it was a lingering side effect of the toxins or simply memories that hadn’t mattered for a long time. But each one was worse than the last because Lyra had been right.

He had watched it happen, over and over again, and done nothing. “We were wrong in the way we treated her.”

Dag snorted softly. “At least she finally learned her place eventually.”

Something inside Mikael snapped. The dragon surged violently upward beneath his skin with enough force to make the air in the room abruptly spike in temperature. Mikael fought to keep it under control. Exposing his dragon would make everything instantly much worse.

Dag’s smirk widened. The nearby guards by the door were visibly panicked as they watched their king and their commander at odds.

“Mikael,” Dag said softly, almost mockingly now, “control yourself.”

Mikael’s skin crawled as the dragon roared inside him, furious and protective of the woman Dag had spent years tearing apart for entertainment.

“You do not speak about her that way again,” Mikael growled.

Dag looked utterly unimpressed. Worse even. He looked contemptuous. Mikael suddenly realized with horrifying clarity exactly what was happening.

Dag wanted this reaction, wanted Mikael angry and appearing unstable and out of control.

The realization cut through the rage just enough for Mikael to force the dragon back beneath the surface with brutal effort. Dag watched him carefully afterward, and for the first time Mikael noticed something deeply unsettling beneath the man’s calm expression.

It wasn’t fear or loyalty. It was resentment.

Mikael could only wonder how long it had been there and he just hadn’t noticed.

Chapter 22

Lyra

The weather finally broke sometime the day after Mikael left.

After nearly a week of relentless snow and violent winds, the skies had softened into pale gray clouds with only light flurries drifting lazily across the forest. It should have felt reassuring.

Instead, Lyra found herself checking the windows every few minutes while anxiety sat like a stone in her stomach because Beckett’s father remained somewhere beyond the village and the attack on the king had transformed everything around her into uncertainty.

Even the quiet felt temporary now. Normally she was content staying cooped up in the cottage for days on end. But especially since Mikael had gone back to the castle, Lyra felt herself going stir crazy.

Malaya seemed entirely unwilling to let the mood sink too deeply into dread.

“You’re out of groceries,” she announced while standing in front of Lyra’s nearly empty pantry. “And Beckett has approximately four edible things left in this house.”