She balked, giving him a once-over before she could stop herself from being so brazenly rude. “Exercising? Here?”
“I’m attempting to run to the base of the Dark Mountains and back,” he said evenly, pointing one finger toward the hills beyond Hobble Glen. “I didn’t make it.”
She couldn’t hold back a snort. “Why? That can’t be more than twenty-five miles. Must be easy enough for a dragon such as yourself.”
He glanced away, and the truth hit her like a ton of bricks. The cane… He’d used a cane at the coronation. It hadn’t seemed odd to her at the time, considering he’d been recently resurrected. But it had been a full year since then. Was it possible his body was still recovering?
“Not as easy as you might think.” His face fell.
Goddess, she was a steaming pile of vilt dung. Horrified at her own rudeness, she stared, open-mouthed and utterly speechless.
Chapter Five
Fuck! Marius hated that look on her face. Her damned chin was practically on the dirt. This was a disaster. Socialite Harlow would no doubt spread the news about his physical inferiority to every ear in Hobble Glen by the end of the day. Of all the people he didn’t wish to see him like this, she was at the top of the list!
“You’re doing really well,” she finally blurted, and to her credit, the sentiment sounded genuine. The soft, encouraging tone of her voice had him turning to look at her straight on. “I just now put it together. When Eleanor killed you, your body turned to dust. You aren’t just recovering. You have a brand-new body. You have to train it again like you would if you were just starting out.”
“A child,” he mumbled, disgusted with himself. He looked away, shaking his head.
“No.” She shifted on the bench beside him, and he wondered if he was making her uncomfortable. “Not like a child. Like a phoenix.”
He folded his arms. “Don’t do that. Don’t try to placate me with compliments. I’m not the heir apparent anymore. You don’t owe me anything.”
She laughed. “If you think I’m blowing smoke up your ass, you don’t know me at all.”
“I don’t know you at all.” He snorted. “We’ve met at a few functions. Hardly enough time to form an opinion.”
The smile she’d held in place since he’d sat down faded. “Maybe. I suppose you’re right, although it feels like I know you. I still remember exactly where I was when you won your last championship.”
“I’ll let you in on a little secret. It was fixed. No one was allowed to best me because I was a royal.”
She shook her head. “Most of those matches you would have won anyway.”
He narrowed his eyes on her and snorted. She didn’t look or sound like she was patronizing him, but the comment was entirely unexpected. “What makes you think so?”
She raised an eyebrow and turned to lean her back against the bench. “Your balance was impeccable. So many dragons make the mistake of planting their heels. It gives them a more secure base, but with the weight of their wings, they have to sacrifice agility. You always stayed on the balls of your feet even when you were tired. It was your secret to reacting quickly. Even if you weren’t the fastest competitor, you would react the fastest because you were already halfway there. Always moving, always ready. Not a single champion from the past ten years has had your balance.”
Marius was intrigued. He didn’t know many females who enjoyed pit fighting, and even fewer who truly understood anything about the strategy behind the sport. “How do you know so much about fighting? Learn it from your husband?” If she’d watched his matches way back when, she must be married with a few whelps by now.
“Never married. Never mated.” She lifted her chin as if the statement made her proud, although it was highly unusual for any dragon of her age to still be single.
Marius took in the woman beside him. He didn’t run in social circles anymore, but she was undeniably attractive, and before his death, she was a popular socialite. Her family’s money would have been a draw, as would her looks. “Do you even realize how strange it is you’re unmarried, or have I been gone so long that Paragonian traditions have changed?”
She seemed to contemplate that for a moment, her soft smile secretive. She tangled her fingers in her lap before answering. “Traditions haven’t changed. It just hasn’t happened for me.”
They sat in silence for some time. Marius couldn’t keep his eyes off her. He tried not to stare, but his gaze kept drifting to her side of the bench. She was beautiful, yes. Striking caramel-colored hair and amber eyes. But that wasn’t what fascinated him. Her family was once one of the wealthiest in Paragon, yet she was wearing a common, simple dress with frayed cuffs. Odd. Why had she never married? Would it be rude for him to ask?
The clock tower at the end of the square started to chime. He sighed. “Fuck.”
“You have a filthy mouth for a royal heir.”
“Former heir.”
“You still live in the palace.” She raised an eyebrow in challenge.
“I’m an ambassador to the Council of Elders.”
“You have a filthy mouth for an ambassador.”
