“I am Val,” he said authoritatively. “And you are Her Royal Highness Princess Amelia Anastasia Arlov Tannagen the Third, Heir Presumptive to the Diamond Kingdom. Or Ashley, as you’re used to.”
It was clear that he wasn’t exactly a fan of her new name, but? If the other option was… whatever he just managed to prattle off, then Ashley would rather keep her current name instead. If only because she could actually pronounce it, and the idea of her, of all people, being a princess of all things?
She couldn’t get used to that. Even as she looked away from him to stare out the window at the world that she could hardly believe was real once more, she couldn’t help but wonder when she would wake up.
Girls from her world didn’t exactly pass out in the middle of their living room and wake up in a castle. In fact, Ashley was pretty sure that she was more likely to pass out and wake up in a jail cell than she was in an actual castle. That’s why she’d initially thought that she was in a cell of some sort.
“You know, people from my part of Tennessee pass out and wake up to drug charges. They even pass out and wake up to the meth that they’re cooking boiling over. They pass out and find themselves in an even worse situation somehow than they were in before. They most definitely do not pass out and find themselves ushered around the corners of a castle by a far too beautiful man who happens to look like me and has long, glistening blonde hair that’s exactly like mine. That just doesn’t make sense, and I’m kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop, for you to reveal that this is just another one of my weird dreams. To wake up on the couch and find my dad standing over me, laughing at the fact that I’d been so tired that I fell asleep on thecouch.” Ashley paused finally, looking over at him. He nodded, his long, elegant index finger tapping at his chin as he thought.
“It’s not a dream, Ashley. Now pay attention. Our grandfather was Silas Tannagen-- one of the most powerful dragons to ever walk this earth and one of the founders of the Dragon Court. A man who had communed with gods themselves, or at least he did when he was still alive. He is the man that all dragons aspire to become, a king amongst men and one of the most powerful dragons to ever exist. The fact that he passed in only his 4th century was a great tragedy, as was the tragedy of our father’s early passing. However, some may argue that that may have been more of a blessing than a tragedy,” Val said, subtly hinting that he was amongst the many who counted their father’s passing to be a blessing.
Ashley’s eyes narrowed in response, and she couldn’t help but wrinkle her nose, silently wondering what sort of man their father had been. If he’d been her real father, to incite such a response from her brother. Her reaction did not go unnoticed. Val caught sight of her and immediately took advantage, using the situation to explain exactly how Ashley came to be in Ned’s care.
“Our father was not a good man, unfortunately. Though many dragons would have considered the birth of two children, twins, to be a gift, he saw you, and he immediately knew that something was wrong with you, that you weren’t like me or any of the others—not that that is a bad thing, not at all, just that…You weren’t born with the same innate ability to use your magic as I was, and in a family like ours,” Val averted his eyes and swallowed, almost like he was still afraid of what the consequences of such a failure might have been.
“Our mother was heartbroken. She’d always wished for a female child, especially considering the amount of power they exert in the political sphere. Unfortunately, our father orderedyou to be disposed of and handed you off to one of our Vargard Knights, Edward Bennet, his personal guard. The man you know as Ned. But instead of doing as he was expected to and fulfilling his job as a knight of the Royal Army, he stole you away and hid you from our parents, vanishing from sight. Ever since, there’s been whispers that you survived, though our father claimed that Edward was ashamed of what he had done and that he had harmed a member of the Opal royal family. I, however, knew better. I saw through our father’s lies, and I knew that you were alive. The moment that I saw the opportunity to seize power, I took it, and I had people searching for you. I made it my life’s mission to find you and recruited Jack Tracey to look further than we’ve looked before.”
“Jack fucking Tracey,” Ashley murmured, unable to stop herself from saying the man’s name, mainly because the mere mention of him flustered her. There was something so disarming about him, but also something so frightening.
“He was once the heir to the Ruby family, one of the few families that we were able to make ties with. But unfortunately, he did something so vile and disgusting that he was denounced, no longer able to claim his royal title. After that, one of his distant cousins took the crown, which makes it all the more important that I continue to secure our reign with your entrance into society. We need allies, and we need them quickly. Now that I’m in power, I’ll be free when it comes to claiming territory. Especially on the eastern coast of the new world,” Val said, which did absolutely nothing to make her feel secure.
“Did you just say you wanted to trade me for more power?” She was fairly certain that’s exactly what he’d said. So, now she was back to sex trafficking. Great.
As usual, good ole Val ignored her question. He was so strange.
But, then again, what he’d said wasn’t half as strange as the reality of where they were headed. Ashley continued walking behind him, finally realizing that a large, rather imposing set of doors stood in front of the two of them and that they were slowly getting closer and closer. Something that didn’t seem possible when, regardless of who this man was, he had stated that he was taking her to her father Ned. Shouldn’t he be leading her to a small, run-down room? The kind that was typical for people of low stations? They weren’t usually kept behind large, heavy doors that were far too ornate, carved with dragons, and hosting two round, perfect opal knobs, were they?
Of course, places like this shouldn’t exist at all, so what did she know about what these people did, or didn’t, tend to do? Maybe she was in a coma, after all, and this really was one of her dreams. When Val opened the door, all thoughts about comas drifted away.
Only hours ago, maybe days, possibly days because she wasn’t certain how long she’d been unconscious, her father had been a rundown, broken man. The stroke had left him weak and withering away. For years, he’d worked hard to provide for her, and when they’d go into town, people whispered behind their backs. He had put up with people staring at him like he was a criminal, assuming that he’d abducted Ashley because a girl with such pure blonde hair and bright blue eyes could in no way belong to a man like him. His skin was rough and ragged, that was leathery from years of sun exposure. He’d always looked like he’d been dragged to hell and back, and that was one of the things that Ashley liked about Ned. Any man that looked like him worked hard to provide for those he loved and his appearance proved it. Fancy boys didn’t exactly impress her.
That wasn’t the man she saw when those doors opened. “Dad?”
Ned turned to face her fully, dressed in a suit of armor, looking younger than he was, looking refreshed and relaxed. He stood in the largest room she’d ever seen, but none of that mattered. All she could see was him. She half expected a celebrity to pop out of some hidden place and tell her she was being punked.
Instead, Ned dropped to his knee the moment that she entered the room, his face looking solemn as he bowed before her, resting his head on the hilt of his sword. Ashley almost told him to stop putting on airs because he was acting like he was actually meant to have a sword instead of a rundown truck and a secondhand toolbox. Ashley could only blink in confusion.
“Princess Anastasia…” Ned said, like he hadn’t referred to her as Ashley or Ash, occasionally even Asher to make fun of her, her whole life. When she was really little, she probably would have traded heaven and earth to be called princess, but now? Now, she could only look at him with furrowed brows, not fully understanding what was going on.
“I know you must have your questions, but with the Night of the Howls having only just occurred,” Ned said, like the words that he was saying at that moment were making sense, and she had heard of the night of the whatever. She could only blink, becoming more and more confused by the moment and wondering when the fuck everything was going to go back to normal.
“All right, you win, I’ll bite. Can someone please tell me what the hell y’all mean by the Night of the Howls? Because I’m confused,” Ashley said, and then, like she’d asked the most offensive question ever, the room went silent. A heavy, impenetrable silence. The kind of silence that made just about everyone uncomfortable.
Ashley looked from the strange man who claimed to be her brother to the man who had raised her, searching for an answer.Again, both of them averted their gazes, avoiding her eyes and acting like they couldn’t actually answer her questions. That was awfully strange, since they were the ones who had brought up the whole Night of the Whatevers. Howls, wasn’t it?
Then, as if he knew that she was expecting him at that moment, Jack Tracey appeared, wearing a smirk. Ashley swore on all she held sacred, that if one more man smirked at her, she was going to scream.
“The Night of the Howls is a complete and utter disaster that our families set into motion, and it’s currently in the process of wrecking much of the world, which is why your brother has been so kind as to ask that I bring you to him. You know, to make sure that his bartering piece is safe,” Jack said, and, from the look on Val’s face, it was the one thing he wasn’t supposed to say.
Chapter
Six
“What, are we in the business of lying now? Or are we going to tell her the truth? I thought you wanted to be an honest man, Val,” Jack said, his voice low and gruff as he practically dared the other man to respond to him, stepping out of the shadows of the room at that moment and managing to capture Ashley’s complete and utter attention.
She barely realized that she was currently in a throne room, of all places. But none of that mattered because Jack Tracey was so captivating that she couldn’t look away from him. There was something about his dark features and his overly confident way of holding himself that just sort of drew her in. She couldn’t help herself. Her eyes followed his every move, which was probably a bad move on her part, seeing that her supposed brother happened to look very irritated about the whole situation.
Jack didn’t help matters by standing in the large ornate room like he was the owner and not Val. The look of glee Jack wore only made it worse. Val’s face was quickly moving from irritation to anger. Ashley had to smother a giggle with her hand, as shewondered, yet again, if she was losing her marbles. Or had lost them completely and she was in the land of the delusional?
