The Dragon Queen and her mates.

"Where are you taking me?" Bree asked as Cian continued on his merry way to god knows where. She wanted to stop, halt and ignore the man altogether, but guess what? Her curiosity got the best of her, and she couldn’t stop herself from following the man. She wanted to see what the man wanted to show her.

He whipped his head so fast that Bree was sure that he cracked a few bones in his neck. She had to suppress the wince at the sight of his neck that was twisted at an inhuman angle. Was this something that sirens could do? Twist their limbs as they wanted? If so, it was not the kind of sight that she would ever get used to, like, ever.

"If I do that, then what will you do for me?" he asked with a glint in his eyes, which Bree was sure had been muted just a few seconds ago. Sure enough, he was unhinged.

"I am your queen. Answering me is your responsibility if I ask you something, isn’t it?" She remarked with a brow quirked up.

"Of course, you are right about that, your majesty. But there is something that you are forgetting—your throne is in danger." The man cupped his cheek and whispered as if he were telling her a secret. "So, unless you want to care about the petty things, you can follow me and see what I am going to show you."

"Can’t you all be normal for once?" Bree sighed. She wondered what kinds of sins she had committed that she ended up in this situation. Surely, she must have burnt a city down for her to be caught in this dilemma. It was bad enough that these men were more troublesome than others, but to think that their madness had reached another level when she was not paying attention.

"Where will be the fun in that?"

"Leaving a normal life?"

"Are you trying to spell boring?" He got so close that Bree had to sidestep, but his shoulders still bumped into hers.

"Back off."

Bree glared at the man. She didn’t like that he was trying to get so close to her when she had not given him permission to do so.

"Ah, your majesty. I really want to defrost that layer of control that you have over yourself and see what lurks beneath that preppy and proper surface of yours."

Bree felt her teeth clench. When she was living in her own world, the cause of trouble arose because many believed that she was too prim and proper and it would be fun to ’ruin’ a nerdy nun like her.

"I am not a prude."

"Whatever you say goes, your majesty."

"Just what the hell is your problem?"

"Me?" Cian pointed to himself. "The one who seemed to be crowded with issues is you, your majesty. Compared to you, I am still a bit free."

Bree flared her nostrils, and her fists clenched tightly. Of course, she knew that she had a lot of issues. The fact that she couldn’t return to her own world was the biggest one of her issues and then there was the fact that she was being pushed down by the followers of her dead half-brother.

She closed her eyes and sighed. But no matter what kind of issues she had, she couldn’t become a disappointment.

Suddenly, a warm breath fanned against her, and she immediately backed off. Her eyes snapped open, and she looked at the man in front of her. Cian had his head tilted. He was practically rolling on his heels as he looked at her. "What are you going to do, your majesty? Are you going to hit me? If that is the case, then you can do it. I will not get angry after all; with your soft hands, how bad could it be?"

Bree really wanted to smack the man but she unfurled her fingers because she didn’t want to break her fingers. The man looked like he was made of chiselled rock; if she hit him, she was sure that she would be breaking her fingers and nothing else would happen.

This man was unhinged, and for some reason, he was not even bothering to pretend in front of her; maybe it had something to do with the fact that both of them were in the same situation. One where she was just as unhinged as he. Maybe that made him believe that the two of them were the same.

"No? That’s not quite right." The sparkle in his eyes lost all of its shimmer. They once again turned into two muted orbs.

Blue on white.

White on—

Bree closed her eyes as she tried to refrain from thinking of those old memories that made her sick to the bone. When she opened her eyes, Cian had walked away. Now he was heading toward the end of the garden. If she was not sure that was where his mansion was, but why did he bring her here? As far as she knew, this arrogant prince didn’t like it when anyone trespassed on his land, did he?

Against her better judgment, she slipped behind him. Not that she really had a choice. Ahmar was gone; he must be back in a while, and by then, if she didn’t follow Cian, there was a very good chance that the man would take her to his mansion by force.

She walked toward the mansion and followed the man inside the building. She had to admit that even though the predecessor of this body was not a good person, she was at least quite talented when it came to art. Cian’s mansion was really beautiful, just like its owner. The building seemed to be made from crystal rather than marble and then there were also the many gems that were embedded in the countless statues.

She stopped at the entrance just as Cian walked over to the large couch and threw his weight on the sofa and languidly leaned back with his arm thrown back and legs wide apart enough for her to —