I laugh as I push the door to my room open. Rauk follows, unsurprisingly. It doesn’t escape my notice that I laugh so much easier and more often than I used to. I know that has everything to do with the man behind me. “We’ll see,” I tell him. “Okay, so where’s this dress I’m supposed to wear for tonight?”
“Close your eyes, and I’ll get it. Elowen said she hung it up in the bathroom.” I close my eyes and wait for him to grab it. Tonight is the official introduction of Rauk’s mate to the entire kingdom. I’ve been dreading it for days; now, I’m just ready to get it over with. “Okay. Open your eyes.”
I open my eyes and take in the dress on the bed. It’s soft white and long sleeved and absolutely see through. “What? Absolutely no way!”
Rauk glances down at the bed and smirks. “As much as I’d love to see that, that’s not the dress.” He nods at the dress I didn’t seehanging from the open wardrobe door. I take in the shimmering dress in shock. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of tiny jewels sewn into the black dress that catch the light and spill color all over the room. “The underlayer is coarse from the jewels; hence the undergarment,” he says nodding at the bed.
“How much is that dress worth?” I ask, feeling sick.
He shrugs. “Let’s just say that we love our jewels here in the Dragon Kingdom.”
“I don’t know, Rauk.”
“Hey,” he tugs my hand, pulling me into his arms. I go willingly. This man has definitely broken down my touching inhibitions in the past few weeks. I used to not be able to handle touch; now I crave it. Well, his touch; I’m still not crazy about touch from anybody else. “Tonight is simply a celebration. I’ve had you all to myself for these past few weeks, and now the rest of the kingdom wants to meet you.”
Even though that’s not exactly true, I get what he’s saying. We’ve sort of lived in our own little bubble for the past few weeks. We’ve spent hours together making up for lost time, talking about anything and everything. During those weeks, Thorne’s been here several times; and I finally got to meet his mate, Trinia. She’s amazing. Right after I finally met her, I reamed Rauk out for not letting me meet her earlier. Well, I also reamed him out for all the people he turned away. He explained that he knew it would take time for me to get used to being here, and he didn’t want Trinia and some of the others to overwhelm me. He wanted me to get used to everything and everybody in my own time. I couldn’t help but appreciate the thought, even if I didn’t exactlylike being hidden away here. But that’s all in the past now.
Trinia’s pretty great; I think she and I will become good friends. Shane and Reneta have been here several times as well, as well as a few others here and there. But I get what he’s saying: I've hidden behind these walls for too long. It’s time to put on my big girl pants and get to know people. “You’re sure I don’t have to say anything, right?” I ask for at least the fourth time today.
He tugs on my hand. “Nope. People just want to meet you. Don’t forget; I’ll be by your side the entire time.”
“The entire time?” I ask with narrowed eyes.
His dark gaze meets mine. “The entire time. If it gets to be too much—”
“Just squeeze your hand three times; I know.”
That’s the sign we both decided on. “Trinia is coming over in the next hour or so,” he tells me.
“Why so early? It’s not until tonight, right?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know; that’s just what she said.” I eye him warily, and he lifts his hands, smirking. “Hey, I’m just the messenger. I’ve got to go check in with Elowen. Come with me?”
I follow him as we head to the kitchen. Elowen is up to her eyeballs in cooking and baking for tonight. Rauk tried to tell her to just let others take care of it tonight, but she insisted. I take in all the men and women helping her and stick to the back wall, so I don’t get in her way. Rauk weaves through all the people and speaks to her for a moment. When he gets back to my side, he snags my hand, pulling me out of the kitchen. “Hey, can we go for a ride?” I ask. One of the things we’ve done a lot of over thepast few weeks is fly together; it’s seriously become my favorite thing in the world to do. It’s been partly to just spend time together; the other part has been to keep an eye on the Southmerians and the Northerners. There have been a few more skirmishes, but for the most part, they’ve both stayed away. Rauk’s pretty sure we won’t have to worry about them ever attacking again, now that they’ve seen our dragons.
“Don’t even think about it,” a new voice snaps.
I turn to face Trinia, Thorne’s mate, as my hope deflates. “Trinia, what are you doing here so early?”
She cocks an eyebrow. “Early? Girl, we’re barely going to have enough time to pull off what we need to before tonight. I was trying to get here earlier, but I had too many things to get done before tonight. Now, let’s go.”
I face Rauk, and he’s already smirking. “Not a word,” I threaten.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I start to pull away and follow Trinia, who’s making a beeline for my room; but he tugs me close, wrapping his arms around me. “Don’t change her too much,” he calls out to Trinia. “I like her just the way she is.” He says those last words while he stares down at me. I smirk and try to pull away, but he only pulls me closer. His lips touch mine, and I sigh against his lips. He kisses me again, pulling me closer.
“Let’s go!” Trinia yells from a few feet away.
Rauk groans, but I push him back. “Duty calls.”
He sighs. “Come see me when you’re ready.” He squeezes my hand one more time and starts towards the hallway that leads to Auri’s room.
“Tell her as soon as I’m ready, I’ll help her,” I call out after him. He nods and disappears into the hallway, and I follow Trinia, not looking forward to this next part. “Are you really sure it’s going to take this long? Shouldn't I just—”
“Yep. Go take a bath.”
“I already had one last night.”
She levels a look at me. “Okay. I’ll take one now.”
