“Oh, what the fuck is it now?” Aras demanded.
“I can smell him everywhere.”
Aras went still. As I've mentioned a few times, it helped that he had instincts to guide him through his interactions with me. Those instincts served him well. He didn't run, though I could sense that he wanted to. Instead, he held my stare without aggression and said, “I see now that this wasn't the most ideal location for our chat.”
I snarled again.
“All right, that's enough!” Aras slashed his hand through the air.
Oh, fuck. He was acting against his instincts. Not a good idea. My dragon wanted submission, not . . . whatever this was.
He went on as if he didn't notice the rumbling growls slipping past my clenched teeth. “You're the King, and I will give you the respect that deserves—in public. But when it's just you and me, I need to be your equal.”
My dragon paused, as confused as I was. Our mate was speaking gibberish. His words were incomprehensible. Equal? What was he talking about?
“Look at you.” Aras motioned at me. “You're baffled. You have never treated a lover as an equal, have you?”
“Of course, I have!” I snapped. “I'm baffled because I don't understand what I've done to make you feel as if you've been treated unfairly.”
“You've treated me fairly, yes. But not as your equal.”
“Because you are not my equal!”
Aras narrowed his eyes.
Wrong thing to say,the Eye said.
Fuck of!
Another wrong thing to say!I felt her presence vanish.
I didn't care. Good riddance. I didn't need her mouthing off while I was dealing with my mate. I needed to focus on Aras. In particular, on explaining his role. “I'm the King.” I stepped closer to him. “Do you know what I went through to become King?” I asked, my temper cooling even though that man's scent still stung my nose. And my pride.
Aras winced.
“Ah, I see you've heard the stories. Every Dragon kingdom is different. There are rules determined either by previous kings or the dread as a whole. Some kingdoms don't require contestants to fight to the death. My dread is not one of those. And my crown tourney was especially brutal.” I paused, hardly believing I was about to share this with him. It was humiliating, but Aras was my mate, and I desperately wanted him to understand me. He couldn't do that if he didn't know my history. “No one wanted me to win.”
“What?” he whispered.
I sighed, feeling the weight of ruling those who looked down on me. I went to Aras's little dining table and fell onto a chair.
“Ly.” Aras took the seat across from mine. “Are you saying that your people don't like you?”
“Not the entire dread,” I said. “That would be ridiculous. My family loves me. But I'm not the easiest man to get along with.”
“Isn't that the case for all Dragons?”
“In the past, yes. We've mellowed now that we have our Water Magic back, but we used to be temperamental beings. I was especially volatile around those who . . .” I blinked, suddenly comprehending why Aras needed to feel like my equal. “Oh, fuck. I'm a fucking hypocrite.”
Aras snorted a laugh. “Why do you say that?”
“I was about to tell you how the Dragons who thought they were better than me—the wealthy and the nobles—always inspired my ire.” I rolled my eyes. “I couldn't stand them. Couldn't abide the way they looked down on me and my family. And yet, here I am, making you feel less than. I'm sorry, Aras. I don't think I'm better than you as a person. When I said I'm not your equal, I meant that my status is higher than yours.”
“And you're especially prickly about your status because you've fought so hard to achieve it,” he concluded.
“Yes. Aras, I'm going to tell you things that I've never told another non-Dragon. Fuck, I've never said this to anyone. Dragons know because they were there, but I—”
“Ly.” Aras touched my hand. “You can trust me.”
