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She lifted her face. It was nearly as red as her hair. “Yes, he was good and gentle. He’s a brute but not with me.”

“Was it just the once?—”

“Thane.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “Fine, fine. It’s not my business.” If he were a female and not her king, she might open up, but in all honesty, he didn’t want to know details as much as she didn’t want to tell them. If there wasn’t a problem, he didn’t care what they did. He glanced back. “I better get over there before they start fighting.”

“Yeah.” Piper turned on her heel and went for a walk in the opposite direction.

He wasn’t surprised when Katana set her bouquet of flowers aside and followed after her. It seemed to be in her nature to comfort people, and even if she and Piper weren’t close friends, it didn’t matter.

“Good job, both of you.” Thane shook his head at Fennan and Leif. They stood with their backs to each other but not far apart. “You’ve upset her, and she doesn’t deserve that.”

Fennan threw out his arms in exasperation. “I just don’t understand where I went wrong. We were close. I knew she cared for me for years, loved me even, but I wasn’t ready for a long-term commitment.”

“Which is exactly why you don’t deserve her now,” Leif said, and stomped off.

“And you are ready now? Or is it just the thought of her being with someone else?” Thane asked.

“I love Piper. The harder I fight for her the more she pushes away. I thought that’s what she wanted. She wanted me to want her back and I do.”

Thane looked up to the top of the massive wall. It’s what she wantedbeforeRonan came into the picture. “I had to let Layala go and hoped she would come back to me. She didn’t. But you have to do the same, and if she comes back to you then it was meant to be. If she doesn’t then there is someone else for you. It hurts, Fen, it hurts worse than you can imagine, but then one day you wake up and go about your morning and find you forgot to think about her. And slowly days go by where the ‘what could have been’ hurts less and you find joy in things you used to like again, and soon you can think about her without a pit in your stomach. Then you get to the point where you just want her to be happy even if it’s not with you, and a while after that you really don’t think about her at all. Then you get hope. Hope that you won’t be alone forever.”

“Shit, Thane.” Fen groaned and ran his palm down his face. “But I don’t want you to be right.”

“You can keep fighting with her, Fen, but it’s not getting you anywhere, and it will destroy any friendship you have.”

He was quiet for a moment. “You won’t be alone forever, Thane. You could be with anyone. You’re a literal god-king.” He let out a short laugh. “It’s ridiculous how much of an advantage you have over the rest of us.”

Thane smiled. “It does sort of make me an asshole, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Fen said, and they both laughed until the shadow of a dragon blocked out the sun. “I guess the smoke worked. Now all I have to worry about is Ronan burning me to death with dragon’s fire.”

A branch snapped and the silver-haired Prince Ronan emerged out of the woods with his mute friend Dax. “I’d only dothat if I thought you were an actual threat, Fennan.” He smiled. “Welcome back to dragon territory, boys.” Dax made a few hand gestures to Ronan, and he laughed. “Dax said I should make you tonight’s dinner. Roasted elf is a delicacy.” He turned in a half circle and found Piper and Katana walking their way. “There she is. I’ve been waiting a long time to see that pretty face.”

Flushing, Piper picked up her pace and, in a few strides, Ronan closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her thighs and lifted her. She giggled and held onto his shoulder. “Hi, dragon prince.”

“Hi, beautiful elf.”

Chapter 28

THANE

The first place Ronan brought them to was the huge arena where he and Layala had fought Ronan’s brother, Yoren, the eldest dragon prince, for the Scepter of Knowing. The memory of the red rose petals floating all around them as they stepped onto the sandy circle came to mind. He could almost hear them chanting now. This time they sat in a special walled-off area, mid-level as spectators. He was glad not to be a part of the show this time.

A table filled with refreshments, raw and cooked meat, piles of fresh fruit, and a small tabletop gold fountain of white wine made his empty stomach grumble. Ronan hadn’t said why they were here, only that there would be entertainment while they talked.

A breeze came through the balcony to the arena, along with the stamping of thousands of feet as dragon shifters filed into the rows. The chortle of a crimson, horn-tailed wyvern sat perched on a wooden platform in the center. It raised its large head and sniffed through wide nostrils. Someone from the stands tossed a large bird leg at it. With asnap, it caught it in its teeth and swallowed it down, bones and all. It flapped its wings and let outa roar. A chain hooked around its ankle kept it from coming for the crowd.

Katana’s hands wrapped around the stone railing that overlooked the arena. A breeze gently blew her long blonde hair blanketing her back, and the sun gave her tanned skin a glow. He’d seen her in whites or blues but today she wore a coral, thin-strapped dress that complemented her features. He noticed himself watching her too closely but couldn’t seem to stop. He caught his thoughts drifting to places they shouldn’t go, like if she wore any underwear under that silk dress. There were no lines anywhere on her curves. The back of the dress revealed enough that he knew she wasn’t wearing a bralette.

“Why do you keep wyverns?” Piper asked, thankfully pulling him out of his inspection of Katana. What was wrong with him? She was Valeen’s sister and off-limits. “Are they your pets?”

“I suppose you could call them that.” Ronan stood at her side with his back to the wyvern. “Kane is the reigning champ. There’s a match soon so the place will be packed.”

Leif and Fennan were at the table dishing up their plates. His redheaded brute of a Raven stacked his higher than was appropriate for a royal setting. Not that he could really blame him. Leif was from a smaller village in Palenor, and he hadn’t been raised in court to know proper etiquette. But at least they’d been given the time to change and wash. His long hair was even combed and half-tied back.

“You… make them fight? For entertainment?” Katana balked, pressing a hand to her chest and frowned. “That is barbaric.”