Deryk (Dragon Hearts #2)(18)
The Mikhailov family served and protected the Romanov dragons, they did not fraternize with them or any of their friends. The fact Deryk and Bryn Pendragon were the first friends of the Romanovs Izzi had ever met made her behavior tonight doubly damning.
But her father’s reason for calling her had absolutely nothing to do with the Pendragon brothers.
Chapter 7
“Which one of the Romanov brothers is Vaughn?” Deryk prompted as he drove the two of them back to the Mikhailov Palace.
“The youngest.” Izzi had no idea how old Vaughn actually was. Like the Pendragons, the Romanovs brothers all seemed to have stopped aging in their mid-thirties. She only knew Vaughn was the youngest because the two of them had long shared an affinity as the baby of their two families, often sitting together and lamenting over their overprotective older brothers. “He has blond hair and green eyes,” she supplied as Deryk looked none the wiser.
He scowled. “Good-looking bastard.”
Izzi could hear the note of jealousy in his voice. “All the Romanov brothers are handsome.”
His mouth tightened. “Have you and any of them ever—”
“No,” Izzi assured him quickly, not liking the dangerous edge she could now hear in Deryk’s tone.
She had known the Romanov brothers since she was born. It would have seemed slightly incestuous to have ever thought romantically about any of them. Which didn’t mean she hadn’t noticed how good-looking they all were. A woman would have to be brain dead not to have noticed that!
“Were you and Petrov lovers?”
She frowned at Deryk. “This really isn’t the time for this conversation,” she dismissed impatiently. “All that should concern either of us right now is that Vaughn has been attacked.”
Deryk knew that, and he was as worried as Izabella was by this assault on the youngest of the Romanov brothers. He knew Bryn was also concerned by the timing of it. Vaughn had been attacked within a day of their own arrival in Russia, which didn’t look good for the Pendragon brothers. Especially as Deryk had been missing when it happened.
But right now, all Deryk could think about was whether or not Izabella and Petrov had been lovers. “I need to know about you and Petrov, Izabella.” The thought of her and the Russian together intimately bothered him so much, he was in danger of crushing the steering wheel in hands that were threatening to shift into claws and talons.
He could feel her eyes on him as she answered. “Not that it’s any of your business, but no, we’re not and never have been.”
Deryk’s relief was tangible; the tension in his shoulders relaxed, as did his hold on the steering wheel.
“But that doesn’t mean I have any intention of being intimate with you either,” she added firmly.
Deryk scowled his displeasure. After a millennia and a half of taking what he wanted, when he wanted it—taking who he wanted when he wanted them—patience was not a part of his nature. It wasn’t a part of any dragon’s nature.
But it seemed it was something he would have to learn if he wanted to please his reluctant mate.
Which wasn’t easy for him when Izabella told him it wasn’t his business whether or not she’d had lovers. He didn’t liked that at all. And neither did his dragon.
He sighed deeply. “I should warn you before we get back, the likelihood is that the Romanovs are going to think that either Bryn or I are responsible for this attack on Vaughn.”
She drew in a sharp breath. “Why would they think that?”
He shrugged. “Has anything like this ever happened before?”
Her brow furrowed. “Not that I’m aware, no.”
He nodded, having expected that answer. “The friendship between our two clans is still tenuous. We haven’t built enough of a relationship yet to completely trust each other.”
“And that’s enough for them to think either you or your brother attacked Vaughn?”
“Dragons don’t always take the time to think before they react,” he murmured.
“Really?” Izabella gave him a pointed glance. “But there are seven of them and only two of you.”
Deryk shrugged. “We don’t always calculate the odds either.”
“But you were with me tonight.”
“And Bryn spent the evening with the Romanovs. So which one of us do you think they will suspect of having attacked Vaughn? Don’t worry about it, Izabella,” he soothed as she still frowned. “I’m perfectly capable of defending myself if I have to.” Although he was seriously hoping to avoid the situation deteriorating to out-and-out war between the two clans.
All was in uproar when they reached the Mikhailov Palace, dozens of lights on all over the building.
As soon as they stepped out of the car, Izabella told Deryk she was going to the kitchen in search of her parents, leaving him to enter alone through the front door.
Servants were rushing to and fro in the huge marble entrance hall, but one paused long enough to direct him to the sitting room where four of the Romanov brothers were pacing the ornately furnished room. Bryn stood silent and brooding, and alone, beside one of the windows.
Deryk felt four pairs of dragon eyes turn toward him as he went straight to his brother’s side. “What the hell happened?” Bryn hadn’t been able to tell him much on the phone earlier, except Vaughn Romanov was down and to get his ass back to the Mikhailov Palace now.