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“I would’ve protected you too,” I say, turning to face Natalia. “I wanted to, I just couldn’t see you past the fire.By the time I got sight of you, you were already shifted and I figured you could protect yourself then.”
“Wait,youtook down a dragon?” Stellan stares at me with wide eyes.
King Basilicus clears his throat, taking a seat at the head of the table. “I would like to hear the whole story from the beginning.”
Natalia tells him everything, leaving out no detail of the experience. It all happened so fast that even I missed details that she caught. Though, she wasn’t having blinding white fire shot at her so she was able to see more than I was. My focus was on protecting Jason and myself.
At the end of the story, King Basilicus looks thoughtfully at me, and I wonder what he thinks about what happened. He’s spent a lot of time with Father over the years, so he probably knows more about fae than anybody at the table. I shift my attention to Stellan. He remains quiet as he looks between Jason, Natalia, and me. I wish I knew him better so I could read the expression on his face.
“I didn’t know fae had defensive or offensive magic,” King Basilicus finally says, breaking the silence. “I thought most of your magic was more… nature related.”
“It depends on the fae.” I give him a vague answer because I’m not sure if he knows the truth about me. I keep it to myself, not wanting the dragon shifters to see me differently. I don’t think I could handle it if they started hero worshiping me like the fae do.
Stellan stands from his chair and holds his hand out to me. I accept it, letting him pull me to my feet. Once I’m standing, he doesn’t let go like I expect. Instead, he just keeps a firm grip on my hand.
“Wisteria and I are heading to our room,” Stellan says, his tone final, not leaving any space for argument. He tugs me toward the exit.
I turn, waving to his family with my free hand. “I’ll see you later.”
“Next time Stellan ditches you, I’ll teach you how to surf,” Evander yells, but Stellan pulls me from the room before I can respond.
He cocks an eyebrow at me in question. “Did Evander seriously just offer to teach you how to surf?”
“Uh, yes. We’re friends,” I say, sounding more confident than I feel. Evander did admit that he likes me, so I assume that means we’re friends.
“My brother doesn’t really have friends.” Stellan slows down his quick pace. “He’s a bit of a loner. I kind of assumed he’d spend the next few months, maybe even years, completely ignoring you.”
“Really?” My eyes widen. “Because he’s hilarious. I find it hard to believe he doesn’t have a ton of friends.”
Stellan opens his mouth, closes it, and opens it again. “Strange,” is all the says, then tugs me along faster again.
The way we go to his—our—rooms is a different path than I’ve been taking today, but it’s a lot quicker. I’ll have to remember the way we came. This house is like a maze that I haven’t yet figured out.
As soon as we get into our sitting room, Stellan drops my hand and runs his fingers through his hair. He lets out a long breath as he looks at me. “I’ve been worried about you since I found out what happened. I thought—” his voice breaks as he shakes his head. “It’s my job to protect you.”
Protect me? The thought is so absurd I almost laugh until I see his serious expression.
Of course he would be worried. Our marriage may just be for an alliance, but alliance is important. If something happened to me, the fae would be outraged.
I take a step closer to him, hoping to reassure him. “It’sokay. You didn’t know a dragon shifter would try to attack. I’m still unsure if they were after me or Jason. It all happened so fast.”
Stellan cocks his head to the side. “Didn’t the dragon come directly at you?”
“Yes.” I nod. “But Jason was with me.”
He watches me, like he’s waiting for me to explain further, but I’m not sure what he expects me to say, so I just stare back at him.
“Where was my sister during the attack?” he asks.
“We were on the beach together,” I answer. “She was sitting maybe six feet away from me, but Jason came and sat in my lap.”
“My nephew let you hold him?” His eyebrows knit together in confusion.
“Yes.”
He sucks in a sharp breath. “You don’t get it. Jason doesn’t letanybodyhold him, other than our family. Sometimes he won’t even letmehold him. He typically only stays with Natalia, Andrew, or my mother.”
“Oh.” I chew on my bottom lip. “He sort of just walked over and plopped down in my lap. I just figured he was friendly.”
