He laughs. “If I get to stay and listen to you for hours, then I am the winner.”
“Flatterer. Very well. What do you wish to know?”
“Everything!” He gestures at my rows of pretty flowers and potted plants with wide, waxy leaves. “How did you find them all here in the desert?”
“Well most of these were brought to me as gifts or given to me by my father. Some were his to begin with.”
“You were close with your father?”
I nod. “He also loved gardening. He had this little bottle made for me.” I pick up the spray bottle and give a squirt of water to the nearest plant to demonstrate.
“Very clever.”
To his credit, Aurelion listens to me give a fairly long lecture on the different kinds of plants in my greenhouse, and he even remembers most of their names and the conditions they need.
“Perhaps you will allow me to share my hobby with you some time,” he says when I am finished.
“What is your hobby?”
“Hunting,” he grins. “Though I often do it from the air, on horseback is almost as fun.”
“I would like that.” A moment passes between us. A soft smile, a joining of thoughts. We have never spent so long together without wrestling through words.
“So what will our next challenge be?” he asks me.
“Are you asking me to give you the advantage by telling you before I tell Prince Noreth?”
He smirks. “Are you going to? I know you want me to win.”
“Oh you know, do you?” That’s more than I know. I wish it was possible for them both to win. I’m certainly not ready to choosebetween them. A sliver of my dream returns, a hot flash of skin on skin and tongues sliding over tingling flesh.
I flush and look away, but before I do, I catch the way his nostrils flare. “And what is my lovely queen thinking of, hmm? What’s made you blush all of a sudden? Are you embarrassed to admit how much you want me already? No need. It’s only natural.”
I can’t help laughing at his words, and I love that he doesn’t take offense.
He closes the distance between us, crooking a clawed finger beneath my chin to raise my eyes to his. “Tell me. I smell something delicious on you.”
Oh no. I had forgotten dragons have such a keen sense of smell.
“In fact—” He leans in, dragging his nose along my neck and breathing in deeply. “You smell… different. Why?”
I push him away, flustered. “I’m sure it’s just all these flowers you’re smelling. But trust you to get carried away.”
A frown settles over his features, and his wings flick out and fold back in again behind him. Before he can pry more, I turn for the door. “It is getting hot in here and stuffy. Let us go out into the courtyard. I have another challenge to announce.”
Interest flares in his amber eyes. “Then lead on and I’ll be one step closer to being your husband.”
Yalina
How did it escape me that today’s challenge was a duel? My heart sinks for Kaelun as soon as Aurelion and I enter the courtyard and see the open area gated off and the tables of weapons laid out.
Beside me, Aurelion lets out a satisfied hum. “A hand-to-hand duel. I approve.”
A moment later when Kaelun enters the courtyard, his face falls and he glances over at me with a pleading expression. There’s no time to worry, though. What’s done is done. Kaelun is agile, he has survived on the streets alone for years. Surely he can survive combat with Aurelion. He does not have to win. This is one of several challenges.
I take my place on the viewing platform while servants hurry over to offer the two princes refreshments. Both of them brush away the offered drinks.
I wish I had paid more attention to the preparations for this challenge. I do not like the look of most of the weapons laid out for the princes.
