Page 22 of Dragon's Surprise
Your Highness? Why was the omega addressing Rhene like that?
Fergal chuckled. “I take it you’re not used to such formalities, eh? Shondra is addressing you the way one should the consort of a king.”
Right. He was Erwan’s consort here, not pack alpha. “Sorry, I didn’t realize.” He turned to the poor omega, whose cheeks had grown red. “I’d love some tea, please. Thank you. And sorry. I didn’t mean to imply you did anything wrong.”
She sought eye contact with Fergal, who smiled at her. “She’s not used to alphas apologizing. Yet.”
Yet? What did he mean by that? “You don’t apologize to others when you screw up?” Rhene asked.
“Oh, I do…but I’ve only been king for two months, so they’re not used to me yet.”
“Your father was different, then?”
Fergal’s smile faded. “My father was a complicated man with many terrible traits and weaknesses…and history will have to be the judge if his good sides were enough to redeem him. That’s not up to me to say.”
“You seem young to be king,” Erwan remarked.
“Twenty-six, so yes, I am. I wasn’t due to follow in my father’s footsteps for another hundred years at least, but an ambush had taken his life and that of my uncle. The dragon slayers murdered them.”
The dragon slayers? They hadn’t come across them since that night of the attack. “I’m so sorry to hear that,” Erwan said. “We had a run-in with them as well last year. The Murphys came to our aid.”
“The Murphys helped you?”
“Aye, and no, we don’t understand their reasons either. And by the way, it was Cladhaire who tipped them off about my location.”
“You don’t refer to him as your father.”
“He doesn’t deserve that honor. He tried to kill me and have me killed, and I know he has blood on his hands from murdering others. That makes it hard to bestow any parental titles upon him.”
“Fair enough.” Fergal looked at them expectantly.
Rhene took a deep breath. “It all started when one of the omegas in my pack went missing.”
For the next hour, he and Erwan talked, explaining everything they’d experienced since the day they’d met. Fergal asked clarifying questions, and in the background, Gregor was listening too, but if Fergal trusted him, they had to do the same.
When they were done, Fergal whistled between his teeth. “Holy shit, that’s quite the story.”
“But you believe us?” Erwan asked.
“As the White Dragon, you’re incapable of deceit, but even without that, I would have. If only because it’s far too convoluted and fucked up to come up with on your own.”
Erwan chuckled. “Thank you?”
“I thought shit was bad in my clan, but this is taking things to a whole other level.”
“Trust me, we weren’t trying to make it a competition,” Erwan said dryly.
“No, I didn’t think you were.”
Rhene leaned forward. “Our biggest challenge is that we still feel like we’re flying blind. Because Erwan was kept away from any knowledge and we couldn’t trust the Murphys, we have big gaps in what we know.”
“I know the feeling. We have been trying to piece things together as well, but we still have a lot of questions.”
Rhene frowned. “We?”
Fergal waved with his hand. “Gregor and I. He’s the only person in the whole world I trust, and I mean that literally. No offense.”
“None taken. I like you and am willing to give trusting you a shot, but we’re still a long way from trusting you with our lives.”