Finally, after a matter of seconds, Alexander seemed to give up on propriety, murmuring into Ashley’s shoulder as he pulled her into him. “Fuck it.”
In that single second, it seemed like she would find some sort of relief, like the two of them would find their ecstasy together. It was the only thing she wanted.
There was a knock at the door. The kind meant to let her know that someone was there. A second later, Emma’s voice filled the air.
“Ashley, the door is locked and the tailor wishes to resume his work,” Emma called, and Ashley swore under her breath, wishing that she had never heard of the tailor and that pants were an acceptable outfit to wear to a ball. All this period bullshit was starting to get her. And yet, still, she smiled just slightly when she heard a chuckle beside her, the low sound of Alexander’s voice resonating in the bottom of her stomach.
“Apparently, we must say goodbye,” Alexander said as he took a step back from her, looking like he regretted it, and yet he was still able to find the humor. Ashley appreciated that about him because it was so rare that the men in her life were able to find humor in anything, but still, she watched him with the slightest frown, allowing her hand to touch his face as he drew away. The urge to relish in the feeling of his skin on hers was strong but it was impossible. “Fuck Emma and fuck the tailor.”
“I wish,” Alexander whispered, and she smiled at him. Ashley dared to take a risk, just one, and leaned towards Alexander to make a demand of him.
“Find me at the ball,” Ashley said, making clear that this wasn’t one of those optional requests. This was a demand. He was to show up there because if he didn’t, she wasn’t sure if she could go through with it all.
Alexander looked at her with interest before he nodded. He understood that his presence was necessary, required, even. His eyes trailed over her body as he finally stepped away from her, giving the slightest bow.
“As you wish, my queen,” Alexander said, and Ashley couldn’t deny the way that his words resonated in the back of her skull, a pleasant murmur. The idea of being his queen was enticing, and she couldn’t help how her fingers balled at her sides, her heart skipping a beat as she looked at him. And then, feeling like she had no other option, she dove towards him, capturing his jaw once more before he could escape through a passage at the corner of the room. She took his mouth with hers. With that single motion, she claimed him, reminding him that he belonged to her and her alone at the end of the day.
“Mine,” Ashley dared to say, her voice making clear one thing: it wasn’t a questionable fact. He belonged to her.
And honestly? She couldn’t imagine giving him up for anything, even her supposed mate, the Diamond King whom she hadn’t met. Ashley didn’t know how the rules of dragon society worked. She did know that if she weren’t allowed to have Alexander, she would likely do exactly what Jack Tracey had done and choose her own path, regardless of what her brother thought of her.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
“The moment is finally here,” Val reminded her, tapping on the back of her shoulder to remind her to stand up straight, and probably mentally running through the list of etiquette that he had told his sister repeatedly in her bedchamber earlier as he looked at her with skeptical eyes, very obviously having his own opinion on the situation, but not stating it to anyone.
Ashley was glad that he didn’t say anything. She was glad that she hadn’t seen any of the other nobles. She was glad that she had been kept out of the spotlight for much of the day, if only because it gave her more time to think about Alexander, and to come to her own conclusions.
And what conclusion did she come to? The one she dared not say to her brother, her maid, or anyone? Well, it was the fact that she was going to escape. She was going to find Alexander, take advantage of the fact that he knew more about the situation than she did, and ask him to leave with her. Only then, when she had done that, she’d truly be free, and able to love exactly who she wanted to love. But to do that, she needed to make sure that shearoused no one’s suspicion. First and foremost, her brother, who watched her like a hawk.
He had given her a brief run down as to what the Dragon Games actually were, though. She hadn’t actually listened to him. She had secretly been living out her own fantasy in the back of her mind, one where she and Alexander rode off into the sunset on the back of a motorcycle, though now that the apocalypse was here, they would likely ride into the sunset on the back of a horse.
Whatever they rode away on didn’t matter. None of the stuff that her brother was telling her finally mattered. She didn’t care about the logistical stuff regarding the dragon society because she was going to leave it. She was going to leave it with Alexander. They were going to escape whatever disaster impacted the world. They would slip away to some quiet corner in the middle of some town that no one paid attention to. They would live out their best lives, basking day after day in each other’s comforts, and eventually, they would get married or whatever the equivalent was for dragons.
There was no denying that Ashley’s dreams were just a little bit teenage girlish, but there was also no denying that she wanted them badly and that she wasn’t going to give in until she got them. She kept herself sane with all those dreams and sat there thinking of how wonderful Alexander’s kiss had been, how unforgettable his lips were, how she didn’t care about the Diamond King or anything he had to offer her. She had fallen in love in a matter of days.
This made her current situation tentative because it was very likely that if she had turned to her brother and told him that she had fallen in love with someone, he would have choked her with his bare hands. Especially since he was trying to really get across to Ashley one thing and one thing only. How important it was that they leave a good impression.
“We need our allies more than anything at this point in time. We need more allies, really. Especially while they’re claiming territory. Our land isn’t profitable, at least not profitable to the point that we can support our kingdom. Therefore, we need to start making friends, and friends who can give us valuable land,” Val said, emphasizing the fact that they technically didn’t have that much money, even though Alexander had already told Ashley that the people were overtaxed. Ashley looked at the castle around her with questions in her eyes, questions that she knew that her brother would never answer.
Instead, Ashley decided to dive into questions that he would actually answer.
“Is there anyone who I’m not meant to talk to?” Ashley asked. Her brother turned green. Obviously, there were.
“Our relationship with the Ruby Kingdom is rather sensitive now. We’re not exactly the best of friends. Therefore, it is imperative that you not be seen talking to Jack, of all people. And he’s aware of that,” Val said, but they both knew that just because Jack was aware of something didn’t mean that he would truly follow through on doing the right thing. Ashley could only nod, realizing that Jack was a troublemaker at heart. He was trying to convince her to join a revolution that would undoubtedly end up hurting her brother in some way. Jack probably wasn’t the best person to be seen with at any time from now on. Neither, she supposed, was Elliot or Emma.
Still, Ashley had never had a defined list of people she wasn’t meant to talk to, and she swallowed at the realization, having never really felt like she had to maintain a social standing quite like she had to now.
Ashley and her brother stood in a room alone, tucked off to the side. It was one of the royal sitting rooms, a room that was only for the royal family. Val had made that point clear to her, emphasizing it when she had wanted to bring her maid with her,and the look on his face made the fact that he wanted to talk to his sister alone all the clearer. He had said to her that if he wanted to talk to her where others could hear, then he would have talked to her in public. But as he took her into that room, she had to know it was important. And important, it was.
“No matter what anyone says, no matter who it is that asks, you do not lead anyone to the maze. You will not enter the maze at all. You do not so much as look at the maze,” Val demanded, his voice making clear just how serious he was. There was not a single doubt in her mind that if she were to defy him, he likely would have killed her. He’d full-on shift into dragon form and kill her, making her pay for betraying him.
Whatever he was currently hiding in that maze wasn’t something he wanted other people to see. It most certainly wasn’t something he wanted other people to know about. Ashley nodded, if only to set him at ease. She wanted her brother relaxed and sure that she was going to do as she was told. It would make escaping much easier.
“I understand,” Ashley said, though she didn’t really understand the depth of what she was saying or how important it all was. All she understood was that she was going to obey this one request of her brother, if only so she could preserve what little would remain of their relationship in the end. She gave her brother an obedient nod, willing herself to stay steady.
It was with that one obedient nod that Val nodded at his sister and made the decision to start moving forward, taking her arm in his to lead her to the door. Everything about him changed then. He was far more regal, like the king he was meant to be. His eyes were hard, implying that he knew the weight of who he was. Ashley was the tiniest bit envious of her brother, if only because there were no secrets for him. Yes, it didn’t seem like life was all that easy for him, but there had to be a sort of freedom in knowing everything.
