The tears threatened to spill as it dawned on Ashley that she was currently truly and utterly fucked.
She should have paid more attention in Spanish class, not that this was Spanish. She knew enough to know it wasn’t, but maybe the woman would speak it? Or maybe she’d seen a movie in Spanish?
“Ayúdame, por favor?” Ashley whispered, hoping that maybe there was a similarity in the languages.
“Ayúdame?” The woman’s pretty brown eyes narrowed, and from the way her lips moved silently, Ashley knew she was trying to puzzle the words out. “Ah! Ajuta-ma! Ayúdame!”
“Yes, ayúdame! Help me?” Ashley asked, and a whole slew of other words came out that Ashley couldn’t understand.
Knowing this would be impossible, and not wanting to stay out in the open, Ashley put on a smile and shook her head.
“You know what, that’s okay,” Ashley said with the slightest nod, hoping that nodding was universal in every language andnot the sort of gesture that might get her hung in in this country. With her luck lately, it more than likely was.
Ashley turned her attention back to the village as the woman bid her good day, Ashley hoped, swallowing hard as she did so and willed herself to figure out what to do next. The village was picturesque in that fairy tale village kind of way and very lively. Far livelier than Ashley’s hometown had been. The streets were bustling with people, villagers entering in and out of shops, hardly paying each other any mind as they went about their errands for the day. But Ashley soon realized it was not just villagers moving amongst the crowds. No, it was the honored guests of Opal Castle that were moving as well, having decided to stop by the village on their way into the castle. Maybe they were looking for gifts to bring to the new king?
Ashley could tell who didn’t live there simply by their clothes and the way they held themselves. Their clothing was too delicate for the area. It was all impeccably tailored and made of fine materials. They also had a more modern cut to their clothing if they were more affluent. They likely had the time and knowledge to figure out that the apocalypse was coming and had decided to stock up on designer brands.
Ashley was pretty sure that the average person wouldn’t have thought of grabbing a Louis Vuitton bag when they realized they were in the midst of the apocalypse. But maybe she was just a little biased because she thought of herself as the average person, at least before she had become an accidental princess. But that wasn’t the point. The fact was she needed to hide. These people would probably know who she was so she ducked behind one of the shops in the hopes that she wouldn’t be spotted.
If she played her cards right, there was a chance that no one would see her. If she played her cards wrong, Ashley cringed at the idea of making a mistake in this situation. Especially when her very life was at stake. If she wanted any chance of takingcontrol of her life, she needed to find a way out of the town and this country. She had to find a way back to Tennessee. Which was easier said than done.
It was doubtful that she’d find someone that would speak English in the village. Emma had said they didn’t have Internet in the village so that made it even more unlikely. She probably wouldn’t find help here. Ashley glanced around, trying to decide what to do. That’s when she saw something in the distance that she could hardly believe.
Ashley was never the kind of girl that wanted jewelry, and she didn’t know the value of most of the jewelry that the women she knew wore. But she did know a diamond when she saw one. Or, thought she did. It might just be cubic zirconia, for all she knew. Whatever the stones were, she knew that the carriage decorated with a blinding number of stones had to belong to the Diamond Clan.
Which meant things had gone from bad to worse. Wasn’t it the Diamond King that everyone said was her mate? The man who hadn’t even bothered to meet her at the banquet that night? The one who hated her brother? The one people were plotting to replace as her mate?
She thought about how odd it was that her brother had invited so many dragons to his realm. Weren’t dragons supposed to be grumpy and territorial over what they considered theirs?
“With my luck, he’ll know that I’m around just by feeling alone.” Wasn’t that what someone told her? That shifters could sense when their fated mates were in the general vicinity? Which utterly sucked for her.
Ashley closed her eyes and willed herself to vanish from sight, holding her breath as she did so. Or, at the very least, she hoped she managed to spot a kind soul amongst the crowd of people out there. Too bad willing and wishing didn’t workand there were no kind faces amongst the crowd. Ashley was completely alone.
Ashley resigned herself to the idea of being found by her mate, to the idea that he would be pissed, that he would look at her with nothing but malice in his eyes, that he would make clear that she had disappointed him just by being in the village, not the castle where she belonged. That was when the universe decided to throw her a bone.
Or at least what seemed like a bone. Ashley would consider any sightings of Alexander a bone, or a boon, because she couldn’t deny that she was completely attracted to the man, her whole body seeming to gravitate towards him whenever she came across him. The fact that she saw a hint of that dark brown hair that undoubtedly was his and saw the outline of his shoulders moving through the crowds felt like a miracle. Ashley couldn’t believe it. And when she blinked, he was still there. So close, still there and almost within her grasp.
“Alexander!” Ashley made the daring decision to say his name, almost cringing at the realization that it could have been a grand mistake on her part, but then the moment he turned to her, all thoughts were lost. All she could focus on was him. Him and the surprise on his face. Him and the way that looked pleased to see her. Him and the fact that the whole world seemed to orbit around him.
If this was how she felt about a simple servant at her brother’s palace, then Ashley was afraid of how she would react when she actually saw her mate? What if she didn’t react to him the way she did to Alexander? What if she met her mate and then found out she couldn’t feel anything near for him what she felt for Alexander? And what if her mate figured that out? There was a chance, after all, that the Diamond King would want an actual doting wife, a mate that would treat him in the highest regard, the same sort of girl that Ashley had watched men go after whenshe was growing up. The same sort of girl she was very quickly realizing she could never be.
Not if she was looking at a butler the way she did now. Not if he consumed her whole mind and every ounce of her being in this way, her body wanting nothing more than to be near him. And the moment he said her name?
“Ashley,” Alexander said, and something about how he said it made her whole body flush with warmth.
Yeah, that got her. She couldn’t imagine a world where she was mated to someone else. Whether she was promised to the Diamond King or not, this man was her mate. No other would do. She didn’t care what the customs in this place were, or how it would topple her brother’s plan, this man was her mate.
When she found herself captured by Alexander in a few swift steps, her heart skipped a beat. He looked at her with so much concern that it made her smile, despite the fact that he’d caught her.
“Alexander,” she repeated, much to his amusement.
“Why are you outside of the castle?” This wasn’t exactly the romantic response that Ashley had been hoping for, but it was a start. She slid into place at Alexander’s side, looking up at him with consternation.
“I have beenledoutside as part of a plot. A very odd one. The people who took me out of the castle said they were trying to prevent another plot, one that just so happens to involve my mate and the Dragon Games,” Ashley explained. She didn’t worry about the red flags she’d picked up on when it came to him, even if she should. The way he made her feel was all she needed to know about him. He was her true mate, and he would never hurt her. Would he? At the same time, she didn’t want to get Jack in trouble, if he was being honest about the plot to usurp her brother’s plans.
“And who were these people?” Alexander asked, his brows knitting together as he leaned in close, his lips brushing at the skin next to her right ear. “And what do they think is happening?”
The feel of his lips on her skin made her blood surge in her veins, and an ache started low in her belly. She wanted to pull him deeper behind the shop, kiss him, and find out what she’d been missing, but he pulled back to look at her, his thumb coming up to brush at her lip. That certainly didn’t help matters.
