Page 92 of I Dream of Dragons

“You should always be on your guard.”

Peeling back the covers, I climb onto the bed, still in his jacket and my ruined finery. “When I wake up… will I find you or Jai beside me?”

A flash of what looks like hurt goes through his dark eyes—but it can’t be, right? I’m imagining things—and then a slow smirk tugs on his mouth. “We’ll fight over you. And may the best male win.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

RAE

I wake up in a bed, tangled in sheets and coverlets, daylight slanting through the tall window. Squinting, wincing at the pounding in my head, I turn resolutely over and pull the covers over my head.

Then I pause mid-movement.

Jai.He’s asleep, seated on the bed beside me, chin to his chest, muscular arms folded over his chest, his back to the headboard.

Where are we…?Oh wait.

This is my bed. I recognize the room I was given after the first trial. But that was… many days ago, and then there was the second trial and…

The memories filter back and I suppress a flinch as the panic and fear tear me apart again, as I swim and dive and haul Jai out of the water, as we flee from the attack of the draks and take flight in the sky.

Oh Gods…I sit up, letting the coverlets fall to my lap. I’m wearing Jai’s black jacket, my ruined gown pooled around me. As I shift, I ache deep inside and another memory hits me.

The terrace.

Phaethon.

Shit.

Turning my head, I give Jai another look. He’s fallen asleep with his long legs slightly apart, dark hair falling in his eyes like always, and…

His chest bare.

My mind goes sort of blank. A common occurrence around Jai, especially a half-naked Jai, and now I’m not ruled by painful arousal—that is, not yet, though I’m quickly getting there—I can really appreciate his physique.

Those cut muscles, the long neck marked with dark swirls flaring into broad shoulders. The bulging biceps. The chiseled pecs with more dark marks and those lighter lines that spill down to the hard planes of his stomach, encircling the dip of his navel. It’s an eye, but it seems to shift as I gaze at it, making my head hurt.

It doesn’t detract me from my ogling, though, and I take in every hard line and plane, every dip and hollow so perfectly outlined even in rest.

With his dark, messy hair and sharp jaw, the marked cheekbones and soft mouth, that incredible body taking up essential space, long legs encased in black leather and tall boots…

I have seen the looks both fae and human women cast him, their sighs as he walks by, their whispers of “Athdara!” and “delicious” they breathe behind their hands.

Like Phaethon said, he’s so handsome, darkly sexy, he sure has his choice of females.

But they also fear him. They fear his magic, his closeness to the king… and Phaethon’s cruelty. I’ll never forget that when I first met him, he told the guards to feed me to the fish. I know now that it was Phaethon speaking and that Phaethon didn’t care for me then.

Does he care now?

“I have respect for you.”

I scoot closer but hesitate to touch him. I want to trail my fingertips over those dark marks, over his lips, over his long lashes, then down his neck to his muscular arms.

I have no recollection of his arms around me during the night. Phaethon isn’t much for cuddling, I suppose. Was he the one asleep beside me during the night?

And now? Is he going to be Jai or Phaethon when he wakes up?

“We’ll fight over you.”