“Yes.”
“Galin, you've made me so—”
I put my fingers over his lips. “I love you, but love has failed me in the past. I don't trust it. It's not enough. It certainly won't be if I'm not your mate.”
Rian kissed my fingers, then gently moved them away from his mouth. “If you think that, you've never known real love. But it's all right, Galin. I haven't either. We will discover it together.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
An hour later, we were dining in a restaurant at a table beside a window. Rian had wisely chosen a place with a great view of the city but not of the castle. I sipped my hot chocolate and tried to forget about the things my mind had forced me to experience again. In a new, terrible way. I wanted to focus on the love I had just exchanged with Rian. I should focus on it. It was a dream come true.
So why did it feel as if I was trapped in a nightmare?
“Tell me one thing,” Rian said, his tone grave.
I looked at him askance.
“Why shouldn't I kill King Dhrostan?”
I blinked, totally unprepared for the question. Holy fuck, he was serious.
“Just give me a reason. I need you to give me a reason, Galin,” Rian growled. “Because the more I think about your face as you ran—no,fled—from the castle, the more I want to tear that bastard to pieces.”
His words were harsh. Merciless. And yet they warmed me more than the chocolate in my belly. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” His lips softened as he said it. “But that's a reason to kill him, not allow him to live.”
I chuckled. “No, it was just a precursor to this; King Dhrostan is a good man. I consented to everything that happened between us. And it truly wasn't terrible until Rontor arrived. Then things got bad. But I discovered later that King Dhrostan had mated Rontor without telling him, and directly following the mating, Rontor had left the King to be with me.”
Rian's expression went slack. He blinked. “I'm sorry. Did you just say that King Dhrostan mated Rontor without the man knowing it?”
“Yes.”
“That's not possible. They would have been—”
“Three days, yes. They were locked up in the royal bedchamber for three days.” I frowned as I thought back. “Maybe four. I'm not sure. But Rontor thought it was just passion. And there were other issues between them. Some known and some unknown. I was of the known variety. Or became so. The King found out about us, and I found out about Rontor and the King.”
“Rontor was with both of you at the same time?”
“He and I were intimate. He and the King were becoming friends. At least, that's what I thought. The King thought they were becoming more than friends.”
“And what did Rontor think?”
I snorted a laugh. “I didn't know it at the time, of course, but Rontor was on a mission forhisking. Part of that mission was getting close to King Dhrostan so he could destroy him.”
“Destroy him?” Rian's expression went horrified. “Destroy him how?”
“Undermine his rule, turn the city against him, things like that.”
“But why?”
“I don't know. I guess the Ricarri King didn't like Dragons.”
“Didn't?”
“King Dhrostan killed him.”
Rian snorted. “Well, yes. Of course.”
