Excited and scandalized chatter filled the room.
Grimbold’s booming voice cut through the hubbub, ending the latest council squabble. “Mr. Geoffrey Drake, as legal representative for the Amethyst clan, please return Mr. Brand’s nestlers to him and join us at the table. Mr. Brand, if you and your omega would kindly collect your clutch and stand to one side of the room, I believe we’ll be ready to have the accused transported.”
The council still believed the eggs belonged to Ian, which meant that Sigric had not managed to voice his accusations prior to the hearing. Ian’s heart skipped a hopeful beat. If Sigric hadn’t found a way to alert the council to the paternity of Ian, Geoffrey, and Matthieu’s clutch, they still had a chance. Without Sigric’s cruel influence swaying the council, Ian and Geoffrey’s defense would be that much more effective.
Geoffrey, whose eyes were wide with shock, turned and approached Ian and Matthieu. Hopeful confusion skipped and popped through their mate bond like fat in a hot frying pan, each new burst branding optimism in their hearts.
Everything was going better than they’d planned.
Eager to ensure things stayed that way, Ian went over the approach he and Geoffrey had settled on. Once Geoffrey took his place behind Grimbold, Grimbold would rattle through an overview of the events that had occurred, then ask for clarification. At that point, Ian, who was acting as a bystander, would step forward and offer supplementary details to enrich the council’s understanding of what had happened, and in doing so would reveal the existence of their mixed clutch. There would be outrage, of course. Disbelief, speculation, and, more than likely, harsh words, but Ian was prepared for it all. Like Geoffrey, who was one person while in public and another while at home, Ian would take shelter behind his charming, yet insouciant professional persona. The council would not get under his skin no matter how hard they tried.
Between his charisma and Geoffrey’s vast knowledge of legal affairs, they would win the council over before Sigric so much as stepped into the room.
Geoffrey handed the nestlers over, and once Ian had them in hand, he guided Matthieu to stand near Alistair and Nate. Matthieu leaned in to whisper something in Nate’s ear, to which Nate nodded. Matthieu set the nestlers between them.
As Ian had predicted, once Geoffrey joined Grimbold, Grimbold launched into a brief summary of the events that had led to the emergency hearing.
“And on that note,” Grimbold said as he concluded, “if there are no supplementary details—”
“There are.”
Ian’s heart stopped. He hadn’t been the one to speak.
It was Matthieu, voice charged with conviction, who had.
Matthieu stepped forward, wrenching Ian’s heart out in the process. In the hopes that he could get Matthieu to step back and let Ian take on the council, Ian flooded their mate bond with unspoken pleas.Come back. Don’t do this. I vowed to protect you, and I shall.
Matthieu didn’t listen.
In a panic, Ian stepped forward and tried to grab his hand to hold him back, but Matthieu nimbly dodged his attempt and came to stand in the center of the room. As highly intelligent, clever, persuasive, and sharp as he was, he had no rapport with the council, and he was putting the three of them at a disadvantage.
Matthieu,Ian begged.Please!
He received a single thought in return.I have put my trust in you thus far, mon amour—it is time for you to trust me.
Every set of eyes at the council table stared Matthieu down. Matthieu fearlessly stared back.
“Matthieu?” Geoffrey hissed in a whisper from behind Grimbold, looking frantic, worried, and severe all at once, but Matthieu did not listen to him any more than he had to Ian. He fixed Grimbold Drake with the full intensity of his gaze.
“I am Matthieu Boudreaux, son of Alexandre Boudreaux, and I will be heard.”
The council was stunned to silence. Liu Wei had the gall to snicker. The Emerald clan head beside him smacked him on the arm.
“This is unprecedented.” Grimbold’s gaze flicked from Matthieu to Ian, a forbidding look barely masked behind his impartiality. “Tell us, Mr. Boudreaux, why you believe you have the right to stand before the council?”
“I do not believe anything, Drake—Iknow.In addition to being a Ruby dragon, I—”
“And this is exactly what I was talking about,” Liu Wei snapped, his arms folded over his chest and a sneer on his lips. “These experiments and half-baked ‘discoveries’ have made us too lenient. There are no omega dragons.”
“The research isn’t half-baked,” Harry whispered sadly from his corner of the room. “I have replicatible data…”
Liu Wei appeared not to have heard him. He spoke over Harry, continuing his train of thought. “The Disgrace believes he is a dragon! It’s absurd. I refuse to sit here and listen to such nonsense.”
Anger arrowed through both of Ian’s mate bonds, seething and heated from Matthieu, and steely and outraged from Geoffrey. Ian, who believed he might have the only level head in the room, stepped forward and tried to join Matthieu before he did something foolish, but Matthieu made it clear he wanted to speak alone. He stalked across the room to the council table and slammed his hands down in front of Liu Wei, stunning everyone to silence.
“You, dragon,” Matthieu growled, leaning forward so that he was nose to nose with Liu Wei, “will keep your opinions to yourself and listen to me.”
No one spoke. No one dared look away. Liu Wei, whose temper was as rich as gold itself, said nothing. Then, eyes wide, he did something Ian would have never believed, had he not been there to witness it himself—Liu Wei sank back in his chair and conceded.
