Page 17 of The Forsaken Heir

“Indeed. It happened when I was nine, only a couple months before I turned ten.”

“You were so young,” Elle said, her brows knitting with confusion and sadness. “What happened?”

Dragons had incredibly long lives. For one of us to die as young as my mother had from something other than an accident or battle was rare beyond words.

“She fell ill. An intense fever wracked her body. None of the magical healers we brought in were able to stop it. She slowly succumbed to whatever was ravaging her,” I said, but purposefully left out the prevailing rumor that the Laurent family might have poisoned her in some way.

I didn’t believe that, nor did Father, but many of the noble houses had espoused that conspiracy in the years since her death.

“I’m sorry,” Elle said, putting the brush down. “Should we ride?”

Happy to get to a more pleasant line of conversation, I grinned at her and raised my hand. Two large men strode out of the stables, each holding a saddle.

“I thought you might want to,” I said.

Ten minutes later, after the horses had been saddled, Elle and I trotted across the grass to explore the grounds. After going a few hundred yards over the rolling grass lawns, she turned in her saddle, her face alight with happiness.

“This is easy. I thought I’d have a hard time,” she said.

“These are our best horses. They’ll do all the work as long as you let them,” I said.

I nudged Shadowfax along until I walked beside her.

“I really am sorry about your mother,” Elle said. “That must have been difficult for you.”

Her words, simple and heartfelt as they were, struck me hard.

Growing up as the prince and rightful heir to all of the world’s dragons, it had been the most natural thing to push my mother’s death to the back of my mind and continue with my studies.

Father had been heartbroken, but even he’d kept his emotions in check.

All these years later, and I’d never truly been given the time to properly mourn her.

Elle’s deeply apologetic gaze told me she wasn’t performing lip service.

She really did feel bad for me. I felt seen in a way I’d never experienced before. Strange.

“Thank you.” I cleared my throat. “Loss can be difficult. Uhm, have you ever experienced anything like that?” I paused, wincing at how blunt the question was. “I don’t want to pry. You don’t have to answer that. I’m sorry.”

Her eyes grew distant for the barest instant, but then that sarcastic smile returned. I breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn’t overstepped.

“Loss? Oh, you know, just the normal stuff.” She slapped her hand on her thigh. “My phone or car keys every other day.”

I chuckled along with her joke, but there was something about the way she quickly diverted the conversation toward humor that made me think she was hiding a deeper pain she didn’t want to discuss.

Perhaps she and I were more alike than I’d realized.

A dragon and a wolf could be similar, much as many of our kind wanted to argue otherwise.

Elle ran a hand down Artax’s neck and looked back at me, a mischievous smile on her lips.

“How fast can he go?”

“Pretty fast, but if you’ve never ridden before, maybe we should?—”

“Go!” she shouted and jammed her heels into the horse’s side.

Artax took the signal and shot off like a dart. Elle’s musical laugh echoed across the mountain valley as she raced ahead.

“Oh, damn,” I muttered under my breath, then urged Shadowfax onward.

Soon, I managed to catch up to her. When I looked across at the woman, there was no trace of the terror I’d expected. In fact, she was almost exultant in her happiness.

“This is amazing,” she shouted at me over the sound of the wind and thudding hooves.

She was obviously unskilled at riding, but her powerful legs kept her in the saddle. I should have been worried for her, but her exuberant excitement brought a smile to my own face.

“Follow me,” I said, spurring my own horse in front of hers, leading her deeper into the meadows and fields that surrounded our house and the low mountain it was built into.

For the next ten minutes, we ran. Elle got more and more comfortable with the beast the longer she rode.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had so much fun.

The life of a prince was somewhat glamorous, sure.

We went to court and hobnobbed with the other nobles, and our fortune also allowed us to mix and mingle with human celebrities and politicians, but that wasn’t fun.

In fact, the death of my mother had been the de facto death of fun in our house.

Father and I loved each other and we had a close relationship, but when she died, happiness, for the most part, had died with her.

Even Rasp and Vincent, fun-loving and goofy as they were, never brought out laughter like this in me.

When we cantered to a stop at the entrance to the gardens, Elle leaped off her mount, her face flushed and smiling. She was incredibly graceful for a woman of her height.

I dismounted and walked toward her, unable to stop grinning. “Who are you, Elle Laurent?” I asked before I could stop myself.

Her smile dimmed, and she averted her eyes.

“Sorry,” she said.

“No! I didn’t mean that as a bad thing. You’re so…” I shook my head in wonder, unsure how to continue. “So amazing.”

Her eyes slid back to meet mine, and that familiar heat bloomed in my chest again—my chest and a bit lower. For a moment, I imagined her astride me, those beautiful breasts spilling out of my hands as I stared deep into her eyes. I shook that thought away and swept a hand toward the gardens.

“Come on,” I said. “Let me show you this. We still have a bit of time before tea is brought down.”

“Okay.” Her eyes narrowed slightly as she watched me, and her lips twitched at the corners as if she’d read the dirty thought that had run through my mind.

I showed her around the gardens. Even in the autumn weather, everything still flourished and bloomed, mostly due to magical interference. Roses, lilies, and tulips were all lush and bright even in the cool air. Trellises rose up along the pathways with clematis and climbing hydrangeas.

“This is crazy,” Elle said. “Our family had a garden sort of like this, but we didn’t use magic to keep it blooming throughout the year.” She shrugged. “Wolves control much smaller wellsprings. I guess we have to be more judicious in our usage.”

“It is a benefit,” I admitted, plucking a bright white gardenia and handing it to her. “It’s all shrinking, though. All the wellsprings are.”

“Because of technology?” she asked, spinning the flower between her fingers. “That’s what everyone always says.”

“It is,” I said. “The fae agreed. The humans are basically creating their own magical world, and it’s drowning out the ancient one. It’s exciting, but sad.”

“How so?”

“Hard to explain.” I sighed and pushed aside a low-hanging vine to walk beneath.

“They’re destroying the planet, but they’re creating amazing things.

I remember my father talking about when they landed on the moon—something not even the most powerful magic we had could accomplish, and they basically did it with sliding rulers and computers the size of a building.

From there it only sped up. I feel like, if they don’t fuck it all up too much, they could finally create a true utopia.

Of course, that would be our luck. A perfect world with no wants or needs, and dragons, wolves, and fae won’t be around anymore to see it. Like I said, exciting but sad.”

“That makes sense,” she said. “I never really thought about it that way. I guess I’ve lived with humans so long that their world has become my world. It’s all prevalent enough that I don’t even notice anymore. But when you say it like that, I see your point.”

“Ah, Prince Aurelius,” Titus said as we rounded a corner. “Just in time. Your afternoon tea.”

He swept a hand toward a table where two porcelain tea kettles sat with cups and saucers.

A small tray held lumps of sugar, a pitcher of cream, and a three-tiered serving tray with an assortment of finger sandwiches, savory and sweet pastries, and petit fours.

My stomach rumbled, and I realized I hadn’t eaten since the impromptu dinner party in Elle’s suite the night before.

“Thank you, Titus,” I said, gesturing for Elle to take her seat.

As she settled herself, I pulled Titus aside. “Any word from Karinius?”

Titus shook his head sadly. “Nothing of worth, my lord. He still awaits his audience with the Laurent family.”

I sighed in exasperation. “Very well. You may leave us.”

I took my seat opposite Elle, taking up one of the steaming hot kettles and pouring the water into the cups. Elle chose a tea bag and dunked hers.

“This is kinda fancy,” she said, then winked at me. “ Bougie one might say.”

I added cream and sugar to my tea. “What’s the good in being a prince if you can’t be a little bougie?”

She tilted her head to the side. “Fair point.”

“What do you do in the human world?” I asked. “Do you have a job or go to school? If you weren’t taken against your will, then you must have a reason.”

She stirred her tea for a few seconds before answering, her smile slipping a notch or two.

“My family and I… have different ideas about things. We’ll leave it at that. As for what I do, I work in a sewing shop.”

“You like to sew?” I asked. Spending the day with needles and thread creating something sounded incredibly relaxing. More relaxing than dealing with the tedium of ruling.

“Sort of. I’m still learning. I like it. And the people I work with are really nice.” Elle chuckled as she placed a few finger sandwiches on her plate. “The lady who owns the place is always trying to set me up with guys.”

A strangely savage jealousy surged within me. The mere thought of another man with Elle filled me with discomfort and a twinge of sadness. Imagining another pair of lips on hers made me want to growl.