Page 50 of Dragon King’s Duty Bride

“You’re thinking too loudly,” she murmured.

He blinked down at her. “Is that so?”

“Yes.” A faint smile touched her lips. “Your jaw does that thing.”

“What thing?”

“The grinding one.”

He exhaled slowly and forced his teeth to unclench.

“I owe you an apology,” he said.

Her gaze sharpened slightly. “For the attempted abduction or the fall hazard?”

“For doubting you.” The words felt heavier than she did. She studied him, searching. All the teasing left her expression.

“I didn’t doubt you because of the musician,” he added quietly. “I doubted because I am… unused to sharing you with anyone.”

The confession scraped his throat on the way out. They walked a few more steps before he continued.

“I know what you gave up,” he said. “I know this life is not the one you chose. And still you show up for it. For the people. For the girls.”

He tightened his hold unconsciously.

“For me.”

Silence stretched between them, but it wasn’t awkward now. It was tender.

“I never meant to imply you were careless with your vows,” he said. “Sham though they began.”

Her fingers flexed lightly against his collar and caused something in his chest to crack wider. He had been clinging to the idea that she resented him. That she endured him and her smiles were nothing more than obligations.

But she was struggling just as fiercely as he was.

Trapped in a marriage built for diplomacy while trying to find herself inside a crown and trying to find him inside a king. He stopped walking and she looked up at him with surprise and curiosity in her eyes.

“I don’t want this to remain a formality,” he said, the words coming with startling clarity. “I don’t want a marriage in name only.”

Her breath trembled.

“I want…” He hesitated, then pushed through it. “I want a real one. If you’ll have it.” The vulnerability felt like stepping off a cliff without wings.

She didn’t answer immediately, but she didn’t look away either. When she didn’t speak, he kept walking. Emotions circled in his head and he wondered if he had said too much. By the time they reached her parents’ home, the sun was lowering, and he had made another decision.

When her mother flung the door open and gasped in delight at the sight of him carrying her daughter, Lucas straightened his shoulders.

“I’ll be staying,” he announced calmly.

Sia’s brows lifted.

“If that is acceptable,” he amended.

Her father looked moments away from bursting with pride.

Her mother clasped her hands. “Your Majesty, our home is yours!”

“Lucas, please stay.” He glanced down at Sia. Her eyes were soft. Uncertain, but hopeful.