“Your Majesty?” Aras called.
“I'll just be one moment!” I slammed the door and spun to face my friend. “Don't say a word to him about the mating.”
“Holy fuck! So you are mated?” Ellas asked.
“Yes, but he doesn't know.”
“He doesn't know?” Ellas burst out laughing. “Didn't he notice the extraordinary amount of essence you coated him in?”
“He thought I had great stamina, and he doesn't know the difference between mating essence and cum. He's a Hulfrin.”
“Stamina?!” Ellas hooted.
“Shut. UP!”
“Sorry.” He kept chuckling. “But why haven't you told him? Lyran, he's your mate. He needs to know.”
“He's also the man who's going to obtain a very important relic for me, and I can't have him thinking he can slack off because we're mated.”
Ellas blinked. “Are you fucking serious? You're not telling him because of a job? A fuckingjob?”
“It's a very important job. As in winning a war important.”
“So it's to be war, then?”
“Yes. The nobles sent a force to attack me, and I killed all of them. Two of my knights were involved.”
“Fuck me,” Ellas whispered. “I knew they hated you, but I never thought they'd go against Dragon law.”
“I sent the rest of my knights back here with the pieces.”
“The pieces?”
“The remains.”
“You mean the bodies of the traitors you killed?”
“Yes.”
“In pieces?”
“Yes.”
“You tore them to pieces?”
“What are you not understanding, Ellas?”
My best friend snorted. “How many, Lyran? How many attacked you?”
“A lot,” I said dryly. “Aras helped. He watched my back. He even killed some of them. I think my soul helped with that.”
“Fuck. Me.”
“Get your mind out of my pants, you scoundrel. I'm mated.”
I said it so dryly that it didn't register as a joke with Ellas for a few moments. Then he burst out laughing again.
“Come on,” I said. “I need to finish talking to my parents so they can pack.”
