Fuck. I’d kicked a puppy.
“Sorry,” I said, though even to my own ears I didn’t sound apologetic. “I’m a littleenragedright now. I don’t know what your situation was. Thank you… forwantingto tell me?” It didn’t sound like a good apology, but Myel looked up with a sad smile and nodded.
God, this man… always so damned understanding. That puppy-dog analogy was really on point. I’d kicked him and he’d come bounding back, loyal to a fault.
I sighed heavily, but it did nothing to relieve my fury, nor the frenetic tension bouncing around like some crazed rubber ball inside me.
“Anyone else have any surprises they want to spring onme?” I asked with an edge to my voice. “Might as well do it now so I don’t have to get angry again later.”
“If Saldrea finds out aboutanyof this, she’ll kill you,” Koar rumbled, voice hushed.
Yeah, because that’s what I needed to hear right now.
Fuck!
Well, let’s add that to the pile of deadly shit I’d stepped in when I’d come to this world.
IZZY
“Didshe suspect anything when she undid the binding on you?” Koar asked.
“I don’t know…” I said, honestly. “She didn’t have a lot of time to take it in, before I escaped. She seemed more upset and disgusted that I was a half-breed.”
“So… she may not know you’re a royal… not yet anyway,” Safir mused.
“I don’t think we can rely on that,” Vyns offered.
Thank you Vyns.
“Whydidshe undo the binding?” Rook asked, sounding like he didn’t want to be involved in this at all. “How did she evenknowabout it?”
“As an elf, she might have sensed it,” Safir said, but Koar spoke over him.
“It was luck or fate, call it what you will. She wished to torture Izzy, wanted to have Neyalim turn her into a frog so she could pluck off her limbs, then heal them, over and over again.”
“Sick fuck,” I murmured.
“Indeed,” Koar agreed. “But when Neyalim tried totransmute Izzy, she couldn’t. That’s when Saldrea found out there was a binding keeping Izzy’s form as it was. After that, she sought to break it.”
“While we’re on the topic, why are you even here? How did you find out about Izzy’s royalty?” Safir asked Koar.
“Her handwriting,” the dragon said stoically. “I saw some of Izzy’s handwriting in her notebook when Saldrea and the others trashed her room. Something seemed familiar about it, so I compared a sample to old written records. Turns out, she has a lot of the same writing inflection as her mother, even her grandmother. After that… I suspected, but I didn’tknow, till you confirmed it just now.”
“Wait,” I said, interrupting. “You rescued me, took those attacks for me, and you didn’t even know for certain I was a princess?”
Also… wow, I did not give the big man enough credit. I’d thought him a relatively mindless thug, but he’d done all that research and meticulous study.
Koar shrugged his massive shoulders. The sheet hanging off him swayed and I caught a glimpse of thick thighs, but nothing more. Did I want to see more? I mean… right now a distraction wouldn’t go amiss, and that huge man’s dong would be one hell of a distraction. Still, not what I should be focusing on right now.
“I knew Saldreawasn’twhat a princess should be… and I had hope,” Koar replied evenly.
Wow.
Hope.
He’d been going on hope alone?
“We can’t trust him,” Safir said, an edge to his voice.
