Page 142 of Enchanted Queen

“If there is one thing I know about being married to a queen, it is the emotional toll it takes on them. The worries they cannot shut off about their people.” He paused. “I am sure it will just take time.”

Time was exactly why I was here. Esta needed more time before deciding what she wanted, so that was exactly what I was going to hand deliver to her. I leaned back to better look at him, realizing that sounded exactly like Esta. “Can I even want this?” I asked him plainly. “Or will Wylan need me?”

“Wylan will always need you,” he admitted, “but if Dra Skor is where your heart is, then that is where you should go. You’ll always belong here, but it is possible to have more than one home.”

I had been expecting more of a fight from him and Owen. Like the day they cornered me on the beach to convince me to go to Dra Skor.

Krew gave me a shrug. “We can travel between places, you know. Father is gone, may hell haggle his soul. So there is absolutely no reason you cannot go back and forth.”

I was still speechless. Utterly speechless.

“What?” he asked.

“I thought that unless my betrothal to Esta was in the fine print of this peace treaty we are working on, you would not be supportive of this move.”

“The mere thought of being a country away from Jorah makes me want to break out into hives. If your queen is that for you, I will not stand in the way of it. You entrusted Wylan to me. I love you and I want you to be happy, Keir, wherever that may be.” He paused. “You always put everyone first. It is beyond time you choose something foryou.”

I let out a sigh of relief in hearing those words, and then I bared my soul to my brother, leaving nothing out. Every bit of it, from Esta needing to produce heirs for her country, to our night together, to the tensions and hidden threat among the Dra Skor people.

He was quiet for a moment after it was all in the air, then simply stated, “Well if their dragon gene is as dominant as they think it is, then whatever is in yours shouldn’t matter.”

I smiled. He was biased, my brother. Also a giant pain in the ass. And a king. But I loved him. I hadn’t realized how much I needed this. Needed him.

“And should you end up being soul boun?—”

I cut him off. “I won’t get my hopes up.” I paused. “Nor do I care? She is... she is the only person I have felt like this about. Soul bound or heart bound or never becoming bound at all as it seems likely her people will not want her to be bonded to me at all, regardless, it does not matter to me. I just want her.”

“It will not be easy, but we will stand behind you and do whatever we can to help.”

A voice said from the door, “Help with what?” as Jorah and Warrick came in with a plate of warm cookies.

Krew spoke to her telepathically to tell her what was going on. Though I used to feel jealous watching them communicate like that, jealous of the strength of their bond and love, I found it didn’t bother me at all now. I wasn’t bonded to Esta in any way, but we’d started our relationship with her being in my head. I’d been doomed from the very start.

I grabbed a cookie with my nephew while Krew filled her in.

As soon as he finished, Jorah threw her arms around me. I never in a thousand years would have thought that she would be here, hugging me and giving me advice like she had been the last two times I had seen her.

She leaned back to look me in the eyes. “When you find the kind of love that feels like the slow yet beautiful torture of your very soul, you don’t let go. Not for crowns. Not for kingdoms. For nothing.” She paused. “You let it consume you, beg the flames of it to defy all logic and take you, forge you into something new.”

By the time we left for the Harvest Festival the following day, I was back to having hope. My family could take on my worries and fears and remind me of all that was good in life. And Jorah’s words reminded me of some of Esta’s first words to me.

Dragons were forged in fire. They weren’t afraid of the flames.

CHAPTER45

“Adragon?!” Warrick’s voice was brimmed with shock and awe as he played with the necklace I had just given him.

“They have a land and winged version, yes,” I explained. While the dancing and fire started up at the Harvest Festival, Warrick was asking me question after question about my time in Dra Skor. I didn’t mind though; I had already missed out on too much of Warrick’s life.

So I told him the story of how I saved Kian.

Warrick shook his head, eyes wide as I finished telling the tale. “I mean our Enchantment is amazing, but dragons are alsoprettyamazing.”

I scooped him up to carry on my back. “I quite agree, favorite nephew.”

“I am youronlynephew, Keir,” he laughed. After a moment he went oddly serious. “Do you think it will be safe enough some day for me to see a dragon?”

I inhaled deeply. “I hope so. I sure hope so.”