Ivo couldn’t keep the smile off his face now that he had gained his freedom from the tailor’s. He steered Miro over to Fredrick’s bakery, picking up a few pastries for Vitki. The man was carrying his child. He deserved a bit of spoiling.
As a spur-of-the-moment decision, he grabbed a bouquet of spring flowers from the vendor right outside the bakery. He wasn’t sure what Vitki would think, but maybe he wouldn’t see the flowers as too girly.
“Is for Vitki?”
Ivo felt his face flush. “Yes.”
“Is good. Vitki good man.”
“He is.”
“Is…” Miro frowned as if searching for the right word. “Vitki very serious man. Needs someone to make happy.”
“I agree. Vitki can be way too serious sometimes. And hopefully, I’ll be able to make him very happy, but that needs to stay between us until after I accept the throne. I don’t want whoever is after me to go after him.”
“Da.” Miro nodded. “Is good.”
“Miro!” someone shouted.
Ivo glanced up to see Yuval running toward them. His heart climbed into his throat when he saw the anger on the man’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“Something has happened to Vitki.”
Ivo’s throat thickened with tears. “Where is he?”
“He’s in your chambers. He collapsed. I don’t know what happened to him, but—”
Ivo dropped the flowers and pastries to the ground and took off running just as fast as he could go. They hadn’t told anyone about the baby, so Yuval wouldn’t know that something could have gone wrong.
Ivo was still worried that someone would try and kill Vitki to get to him. If he had eaten something aimed at taking Ivo out or… Ivo just didn’t want to think of the possibilities, but they flew through his head anyway.
It felt as if it took forever to reach his rooms. Ivo absently noted that he wasn’t out of breath, and had to wonder about that. Was it due to his newly awakened dragon abilities?
“Vitki!” Ivo shouted as he raced into the room, Yuval and Miro hot on his heels. When he didn’t see Vitki in the living room, Ivo ran to the bedroom. He wasn’t there either. He made a quick check of the bathroom before hurrying out to the main room again.
His gaze was instantly drawn to the unconscious man on the floor. “Miro? Wha—”
“He will be fine,” Yuval said. “A small headache, nothing more.”
“You?” Ivo gasped. “You did all of this?”
“Quite ingenious, don’t you think?”
“Why?” Ivo didn’t get it. “What did I ever do to you?”
“You lived.”
When Yuval pulled the trigger, Ivo fully expected to die. He had a mere second to say a prayer that Vitki and his child would be okay before he felt the bullet slam into him…and fall harmlessly to the floor?
What the hell?
“No!” Yuval shouted as he pulled the trigger again, and then again and again.
Ivo felt each bullet slam into him, but it was like getting hit with a rubber band. There was a momentary surprise, but no pain. Each bullet fell to the floor without even staining his shirt.
Ivo glanced up at Yuval when the man shouted and threw the gun. It bounced off Ivo’s chest before falling harmlessly to the floor. “So, this isn’t working out for you so well. Got anything else?”
Ivo was pretty much making this up as he went along. He had no idea what was going on, but he could feel a stirring deep within him, and was pretty sure this was all due to his dragon.
