“But then again, I thought I didn’t like people like Val either,” Ashley admitted to herself, knowing that at the end of the day, she wanted to like her brother, even if he made that hard to do. This was what made the two other men, obviously twins who were very short, look so hard to her. She could tell just from looking at them that they were the sort of men who would make fun of her when she was a teenager, asking her out just to make a joke of her. The realization that her brother was spending time with someone like that annoyed her. But she’d known all of this about her brother. He wasn’t a good man, and he continually proved that to her. She wanted to tell him off but knew she’d be caught and that would make her far more stupid than him.
“Are you sure that you’re up to the task?” Val asked with doubt in his voice. He looked between all four of them, his gaze as doubtful as his voice. Ashley wondered what he was talking about, what did he want them to do?
“She’s innocent for the most part, which makes things so hard. It’s very easy for other people to take advantage of someone like her, to lead her to the edge of this maze. Someone led her out here yesterday, but before I could get a good look at him, he vanished.”
“Just about everyone wants the Opal gemstone,” the tallest of the four men said. Then he pursed his lips, making his face look crueler. “There have been rumors about you two and about what’s going on in the Opal Kingdom, that you two are different from the other Dragons, that you’re not beholden to the gods?—”
His voice trailed off, leaving Val a moment to answer the questions he hadn’t quite asked.
“People can believe whatever they like when it comes to my family. Whatever happens in the house, the Opal Clan is my business and my business alone. You need only worry about how I’m going to continue caring for the kingdom,” Val said with a tone of dismissal, shaking his head at the very idea of there being something notable, to begin with. It was clear that he didn’t want to discuss the matter further, considering the way that his eyes were mere slits as he looked at the man, a sharp frown pulling at the corner of his lips. “Worry only about paying your taxes on time this year and not spending your money on another frivolous expense like a new thoroughbred. With Ashley around, I can’t afford to be as generous as my father’s been with yours in the past.”
Val paused, looking at the men with a glare before turning to look out at the world beyond the castle. Ashley suspected he was looking towards the Diamond Kingdom but had no way of knowing for sure.
“This is the new generation, and we are the future of the Opal House. If we are to ensure that the Opal House continues and that it continues a legacy to be respected, then we need to start making some adjustments. At least while the public eye is turned to us. Things can go back to normal once the Dragon Games are over and once my sister is settled. Then I’ll have a firm grasp of the Diamond Kingdom, and we can go back to normal. But not before that,” Val said, a certain sort of acidity to his tone thatmade Ashley’s skin tingle. “We need to strengthen our foothold amongst the other dragon societies.”
“We do,” the largest one agreed with not an ounce of doubt in his tone. The way his face morphed as he stood there revealed more than he thought. She saw worry over if they failed. Then fear. It was obvious he was thinking about the consequences of failure. Ashley guessed that meant that her brother, and the things he’d done to take power over his Clan weren’t popular with the other Clans. She’d heard whispers about it before, but watching this man brought it home to her.
“I just don’t know if he is the solution to it all,” the man muttered conspiratorially, his voice indicating that he was speaking about someone else, someone who wasn’t Ashley’s brother. And then, he clarified.
“Perhaps it would be better to have a strengthened connection with the Ruby household, which is already so strong. We could give Jack his kingdom back, return him to power and use him as a connection to your sister in order to reinforce that,” he said, and Ashley knew that he was the most conniving of them all. The one who knew exactly what to say in any situation, and the one who had the most foresight. She tried her best to memorize his face, but he turned away from her, and she was stuck amongst the leaves. “One might argue that it’s better to have someone owe you, one who could not, under any circumstances, defy you. He might risk his own life for you, as well.”
What he said definitely made sense, or at least as much sense as Ashley could make. She wasn’t big on courts and intrigues. She was more likely to stay up late at night watchingTrue Bloodreruns thanBridgerton. But whatever he was saying at that moment, her brother must have agreed because he nodded and knitted his brows together.
“The only problem is, Jack doesn’t exactly want the crown,” Val said, sounding as if he could hardly fathom such a thing. He had likely wanted the crown to his kingdom himself for most of his life and had never imagined a world in which he wouldn’t get it. Staring at these men, plotting the future of others, was a good explanation of why Jack wouldn’t want to be a king, as far as Ashley was concerned. Then, almost like he was summoned by his name alone, she heard a voice at her side.
“They’re discussing me again, huh?” A man murmured in Ashley’s ear, making her startle as she’d been completely unaware of his approach.
Jack Tracey.
Chapter
Thirteen
“You know, I must say, it’s considered impolite to listen in on other people,” Jack said, like Ashley didn’t already know that fact herself. Like he wasn’t standing beside her doing the very same thing at that moment, the corner of his lips turning upwards as she turned to face him.
She couldn’t deny the fact that she did find him just a little bit attractive. Though his cockiness did mean that she would never fully admit her attraction to him.
When her eyes met his, she felt that spark again, the curiosity to know if his lips were as soft as they looked, to know if the touch of his strong hands would be rough or gentle. She loved the glint in his eyes as he looked down at her, even if the twist of his lips was teasing.
He was handsome in a way that she couldn’t describe, primarily because he never gave her the time to pinpoint it. He was the sort of man who was always moving. The kind that you simply couldn’t keep up with. The kind who made Ashley’s heart race, even though she knew that if Jack was attracted to anyone in this world, it wasn’t going to be her. If she had to guess, she’dsay Jack was likely into the kind of woman that caused just as much trouble as he did and probably broke just as many hearts.
Ashley would have to be stupid to ever allow herself to believe that Jack would be attracted to her. But she could admire the view. Even if he had caught her causing more trouble, making her wonder if she was Jack’s type after all and she hadn’t realized it until now. Snooping on your brother and his co-conspirators wasn’t exactly good girl behavior.
“Cat got your tongue, dearest?” He asked, teasing her again, his face still impossibly close. If she breathed too deep, it might be enough to make her lips press against his and he seemed to know that as his eyes dropped down to her mouth.
She knew he could only be teasing her, punishing her for her snooping, even if it was in a fun way. That didn’t stop her from wondering, even if her brother had made it clear he wasn’t her mate. Attraction was attraction in some cases, and Jack? He was definitely attractive.
“Come now,” he said, his voice heavy with teasing, his hand reaching out and barely brushing against hers where it rested on her thigh. “You have to offer me some sort of stunning, witty excuse to the fact that I found you out here, spying on your brother, don’t you, Ashley?”
Ashley loved the way he said her name, but it did bring her back to earth abruptly. He’d caught her spying! But the way he leaned towards the shrubbery, his ear pointed at the group on the other side, telling her that he was spying too.
She felt a giggle bubbling up her throat, but Jack moved swiftly to cover her mouth, as if he knew what she was about to. All she could think about was how that moved her closer to him, of how good and clean he smelled, like expensive soap she’d smelled once in a mall. He pulled his hand away and put his index finger in front of his lips before he grabbed her hand and pulled her deeper into the hedges.
“I’m trying to keep you out of trouble,” Jack said, but Ashley knew that being around him was trouble too. She barely knew anything about him or trusted him. He was a new kind of danger, and he was also far too tempting, which was concerning, to say the least.
“You’re not supposed to be out here, either,” Ashley finally whispered back, certain that Jack wasn’t allowed to listen in on her brother either. Even if he looked at her with a patently false look of innocence.
Ashley’s frown deeper. She wasn’t an idiot, she knew he’d been snooping too, otherwise he wouldn’t have caught her doing the same exact thing.
