Page 62 of Billionaire Dragon King’s Rejected Mate

“More than I probably should.”

“Definitely.”

Randi shot her a look, though a reluctant smile tugged at her lips. “But it doesn’t matter.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s going to be king,” Randi said simply, the weight of that truth settling between them. “And I have a life back in Tampa, a future I was building, something that’s mine. I can’t just give that up like it doesn’t matter.”

“And he can’t be part of that life?” Bryn asked gently.

Randi hesitated. “I don’t see how,” she admitted. “His place is here, and I’m not…” She gestured vaguely around them, at the shop, the people, the world that still felt only half hers. “This.”

Bryn studied her carefully before responding. “Being a queen isn’t a prison, you know.”

Randi let out a quiet, skeptical laugh. “It kind of looks like one from the outside.”

“It’s not,” Bryn said firmly. “It’s different, yes. There are expectations and responsibilities, but there are also freedoms, and influence, and the ability to actually change things in a way most people never get the chance to.”

Randi fell silent as she considered that.

“You wouldn’t lose yourself,” Bryn added. “Not unless you chose to.”

Randi looked down at the booties still in her hands. “I don’t even know who I’d be here,” she admitted.

“Maybe you get to decide that.”

Randi glanced up, caught off guard by the certainty in Bryn’s voice. For just a moment, the idea didn’t feel impossible, just something she hadn’t reached yet.

“Come on,” Bryn said suddenly, her brightness returning. “Let’s look at the blankets before I buy everything in here.”

Randi laughed. She set the booties down as she followed Bryn deeper into the shop.

For a while, they let themselves forget everything else and simply existed in that small, soft world of tiny clothes and shared laughter. They slipped easily into the rhythm of being sisters again.

Eventually, arms filled with far more than they had intended to buy, they made their way toward the exit, still talking and smiling.

Until Randi slowed.

Bryn nearly walked into her. “Don’t stop like that.”

Randi gestured with her head. “Those aren’t the guards.”

Men stood in the doorway. Not shopkeepers or guards, just strangers, positioned with deliberate precision. They blocked the exit in a way that was far too intentional to be coincidence.

Randi’s grip tightened instinctively around Bryn’s arm as her pulse quickened.

“Stay close,” she murmured under her breath, her voice low and steady in a way that surprised even her.

One of the men stepped forward and smiled, but there was nothing kind in it.

And just like that, the warmth of the afternoon vanished and was replaced by something sharp and dangerous that made it impossible to pretend that everything was fine.

Chapter 25

Chance

Chance had never liked waiting, but he had learned over the years that there was a particular kind of patience required of men who intended to take over something. It was the kind of patience that demanded stillness even when everything in him strained toward action.