Chapter 148: Then I’ll Die A Happy Man, Brother
Draeven’s silence was telling.
His golden eyes burned brighter, showing the raw power beneath the carefully maintained composure.
He was afraid.
This was the real fear beneath all the control, all the restraint, all the careful calculation.
His voice, when he spoke, carried the weight of centuries.
"What if we bond with her and the curse still remains?"
The curse.
The reason they had been searching for the Mother of Dragons for two hundred years.
The reason this mattered beyond desire or possession or the simple hunger of dragons for their mates.
Two centuries without heirs.
Two centuries of watching their bloodline end with them.
Two centuries of knowing that the kingdom would not continue beyond their lives.
Two centuries of searching, waiting, hoping that the prophecy would one day be fulfilled.
"What if she’s not the one, Kaelen?"
His voice cracked slightly, showing the vulnerability beneath the king.
"What if we bind ourselves to her and spend eternity knowing that we chose wrong?"
Kaelen’s expression softened slightly.
There was something genuine beneath the arrogance, something almost vulnerable, something that revealed the man beneath the dragon.
His voice carried a mischievous, dangerous tone, but also something honest.
"Then I’ll die a happy man, brother."
He looked deeply into Draeven’s eyes. "Bound to her. Cursed or not. With her at my side for eternity."
He released Draeven’s shoulder and stepped back.
"That’s not failure, Draeven. That’s victory."
***
Thorne had been watching his brothers volley back and forth for the better part of an hour.
He had been sitting in the shadows, his dark eyes moving from one brother to the other, tracking the argument, understanding the desperation beneath the words.
His patience, which was usually infinite, had worn to a breaking point.
Finally, he stood up.
"Enough. Both of you."
The single word alone was enough to make them stop and turn to look at him.
"You’ve been going back and forth since we arrived without saying anything reasonable at all."
He moved from the shadows into the light of the fireplace.
His dark eyes moved between his brothers.
He looked at Kaelen with an intensity that made even the youngest king seem to shrink slightly.
"And you....all you think about is how to get her laid."
His voice dripped with disdain, with disappointment, with the kind of frustration that only comes from watching someone you respect diminish themselves.
"Aren’t you ashamed?"
Kaelen simply shrugged.
It was the gesture of someone completely unashamed, unrepentant, unbothered by judgment.
The shrug infuriated Thorne more than any defensive words could have.
Thorne’s jaw tightened.
His dark eyes blazed with the kind of fury that suggested his own dragon was very close to the surface.
"Bastard."
He took a step toward Kaelen. "After sleeping your way through every noble daughter and mistress in this kingdom, you still aren’t satisfied?"
He looked at Kaelen and tilted his head.
"Now you’ve set your sights on a girl who we think could be our Mate?"
Thorne looked at him with obvious disdain. "Does that sound normal to you?"
He stopped a few feet from Kaelen, his dark eyes burning with an intensity that rivaled even Draeven’s golden fire.
"Or does it sound like you’re using her the same way you’ve used every other woman in this palace?"
Kaelen shrug his head again and Thorne took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment, when he opened his eyes again, his dark gaze moved between both brothers.
"Our bodies react to Morgana."
He stated it as fact.
All three of them had felt it, the physical response to her presence, the way their dragons stirred when she was near, the primal hunger that came from being in proximity to someone their instincts recognized as significant.
"But our dragons still haven’t claimed her and that is a problem we’ve known about since she came to the palace."
"We haven’t been able to really find out the cause because it would look suspicious. A king obsessing over a servant girl would raise questions we’re not prepared to answer."
He moved to stand before the fireplace, his silhouette dark against the dancing flames.
"But now that she is under our care, now that we have her in our space, under our authority as her ward...."
He turned to face them.
"Now we can finally investigate."
His dark eyes gleamed with the kind of intensity that suggested he had already begun that investigation.
"We can find out why the dragons refuse to officially claim her."
***
Thorne moved back to his seat, sat down and then leaned forward slightly.
His dark eyes moved between his brothers, assessing their reactions, preparing them for what he was about to reveal.
"And there’s something else I’ve been wanting to share with both of you."
Draeven’s expression changed immediately.
"And what is that?" he asked.
Thorne let the tension build for a moment longer.
"Do you remember that I told you I found her with the ancient ones?"
Both brothers nodded.
It had been one of the first reports Thorne had brought to them, Morgana somehow accessing the tower where the three ancient dragons were kept, somehow gaining entry to a place that was supposed to be sealed and guarded.
"I decided to look into what could have caused that," Thorne continued.
He began to pace slowly before the fireplace, his movements deliberate and controlled.
"What could have made them react that way. Act so protective of her."
He turned to face his brothers.
"And I found something about our little human."
Kaelen’s frustration boiled over immediately.
"Stop beating around the bush, Thorne," he snapped. "Tell us what you found."
Thorne leaned forward, his dark eyes intense.
"I don’t think our little human is who we think she is."
Draeven looked at him sharply "What do you...."
But before he could finish what he was saying, the door busted open and Captain Rhen rushed inside.
Rhen was a man accustomed to control, to maintaining the perfect appearance of a warrior-captain, to never showing weakness or panic.
But tonight, he was panicked.
His eyes were wild, his breathing ragged, his movements urgent and desperate.
He immediately dropped to one knee.
"Your Majesties...."
Draeven’s voice cut like ice, sharp and commanding.
"What is the meaning of this, Rhen?"