His left eye twitched—a secret wink. The rascal.
“It's different with every Dragon,” Ellas said blithely. “Some of them know right away, sometimes it can take months. But the latter is rare. Usually, it happens within a few weeks.”
“What happens exactly?”
I cleared my throat. “Here we are.”
My knights, who'd been marching ahead of us, opened the doors to the royal apartments. I stepped through, then waited inside.
As Ellas came abreast with me, I gave him a quelling look.
“He's asking,” Ellas whispered. “What am I supposed to say?”
“Nothing!” I hissed. Then I smiled brightly as Aras came through with my parents. “Mother. Father. I have you in this room over here.” I led my parents to a guest suite. “You don't have a balcony, but the window has a great view.”
“This is lovely, Lyran,” my mother said. “Absolutely lovely.” She went up to the four-poster bed and ran her hands over the silk comforter.
Everything was done in pale blue and cream to make my mother happy without making my father uncomfortable. As she wandered into the bathroom, my father grinned at me.
“Nice. Very nice,” Father said.
“I'll leave you to rest,” I said.
“I mainly want a bath. But I'm also hungry.”
“I'll send for some refreshments.”
“Thank you, Son.”
“It's good to have you both here, Father.” I left the suite, closing the door behind me.
And found Ellas talking to my mate.
“—you should be patient,” Ellas was saying.
“Uh, let's get you settled now, Ellas,” I said.
Ellas hurried away from Aras with an, “Sorry, excuse me.”
Aras frowned after him, then trailed after us.
I got Ellas into his room just as the luggage arrived. There was a little shuffle as the staff distributed the bags, and then the doors were closed, my guests tucked in their rooms to unpack, and I was alone with my mate.
My suspicious mate.
“Ly, you've never told me exactly what happens when a Dragon finds their mate,” Aras went straight for the kill.
I shrugged and said, “It's different for each of us.”
“I understand that, but there must be some sort of standard or you wouldn't know, right?”
“Oh, we know. There's no mistaking it. We feel it.”
“Oh.” His shoulders fell and with them went my heart.
I chucked Aras under the tuft of fur on his chin and teased, “Are you disappointed? You know there's still time. You could be my mate.”
“You know, you can be a real ignorant bastard sometimes, Ly,” Aras growled and stormed away.
