Dralle's Bride (Crystal Glass Dragons 4)

11

Dralle

Being in Everglast while she wasn’t there felt wrong.

I’d spent twenty-four years of my life either in this castle or fighting to defend it, and somehow, I couldn’t stand being here anymore. She had to be at my side, or it was pointless.

Annoyed with how needy that made me seem, I might have taken it out on the recruits I’d been training. Making them go harder, faster, with more intensity, I was able to see the future soldiers make some real strides. By the end of the session, half of them were lying in the grass trying to catch their breath, while the rest were standing and doing the same thing.

“Tomorrow, same time,” I released them.

There were some exasperated sighs, but I let them slide. I needed to have Heather back in my hands that night, or I was going to end up scaring off the new recruits. Walking the kingdom’s perimeter, I kept an eye and an ear out for anything strange or unknown.

If Tierner escaped and made it this far, there would be no stopping him.

My shifted form might have been the largest, but he was strong, and he didn’t hold back. Scarily precise, willing to give his all, not holding back from anything- he was a force to be reckoned with. I’d take him down, if need be, but I didn’t want to kill my cousin.

Even if he was the way that he was.

As I walked, I heard someone jogging to keep up with me.

“Rhuron,” I greeted him. My oldest cousin smiled and slowed down to a stop.

“Hey, I saw you jogging, and I wanted to join.”

He was the perfect son to everyone in the kingdom, and I could see why, but it was also annoying. He was well trained, confident, good-looking, and snatched his mate first because he was told about her first. There was a lot of energy coming off of him at that moment, and I wasn’t sure I liked it.

“Any update about Tierner?”

“None.” He shook his head. “They’re telling me the same information they’re telling everyone else.”

I doubted that.

“I heard you’ve found a cute little shifting Seer.”

Hearing him describe her like that annoyed me.

Something about him stuck me in a permanent bad mood.

They never tried to put him in service. He was too important to risk. Maybe it was petty of me to hold a grudge against him for that. Still, we led incredibly different lives for being from the same family.

“Yeah, she’s a mechanic from Ember Abyss.”

“A mechanic?” He laughed again, and this time I really did want to punch him. “Could you imagine a mechanic ruling as queen? That would be fun to shake things up.” He sounded like he was genuinely trying to get along, but at the same time, he pissed me off too much for me to take it kindly.

“She’s got life skills better than sketching flowers, so she has that going for her.”

“Wait, hey now, why attack my wife?”

I gritted my teeth and looked away.

“Oh, I guess you heard then. You’re pissed because the servants are saying that a couple of the fated mates are pregnant.”

My jaw clicked; I tightened it so much.

Some fated mates were already pregnant?

What chance did I stand?