He bent his head into his hands. “Oh, fuck!
“Your Majesty?” Isak turned to look at him again.
“I'm fine.” Rian looked up and around.
I followed his stare. We were deep within the Rucholden Forest, and I hadn't even noticed that we'd entered it. My heart still raced, but it was slowing fast. Especially when I saw how greatly Rian's hands trembled. I reached over and took one.
Rian's grateful stare shot to me and he repeated, “I'm fine. Keep going.”
“Yes, Sire,” Isak said, but he didn't sound convinced.
“It will be all right,” I said to Rian, keeping my voice down.
“I changed my mind. Stop the sleigh,” Rian said.
The driver pulled on the reins and brought the horses to a halt.
“I need to speak with Galin alone,” the Dragon King said.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” the knights said in unison. “We'll go out of earshot, but we must keep you in sight.”
Rian grunted, his stare never leaving my face.
The knights climbed off the sleigh and trudged through the snow, one to either side of us. They did indeed face us, but they were scanning the area and were far enough away that we had a little privacy. Or at least the illusion of it.
“Galin.” Rian turned to face me. “I saw the terror in your eyes.”
“I can handle it.”
“I know you can. You're brave.” He pulled off his gloves and cupped my face within the hood of my cloak. “I see these violent reactions as more proof of who you are to me, but I don't ever want to see that look in your eyes again. I swear to you, I will never hurt you. Not even if I were to lose myself to my dragon entirely. If anything, I would hurt anyone who threatens you.”
I put my hands over his. “I know. I'm not afraid of you in that way.”
Rian turned his hand to hold mine then lowered our clasped hands to the blanket. “Then what? How did I frighten you?”
“I don't want to be enslaved by you.”
“I would never—”
“You just threatened to hunt me down.”
“But not to enslave you.”
“What would it be?”
Rian swallowed visibly. “Not that.”
“Then what? If I ran from you, you'd hunt me down and—”
“Don't!” Rian snarled, his hands clenching on mine. “Don't talk about running from me. It's not going to happen, so this is a silly conversation. Meaningless.”
I went still.
Rian's breathing got rough. I waited for it to even out. We both did.
“Can we pretend this is part of our game?” Rian asked at last.
I considered this. My fear, true fear, had shocked me, but if I was prepared for it, if I looked upon it as a game, it might be enjoyable. That kind of fear can be sexy. And I had no desire to run from Rian, so, as he said, my fear was pointless. Honestly, the only thing that would make me leave him now was finding out I wasn't his mate. Or a complete personality shift.
