The Dragon Who Loved Me (Dragon Kin #5)(74)

“There is another option,” Varro said, his voice nearly a whisper from the shame of the words he was forcing himself to speak. “We now have something Vateria wants. Needs, even.”

Gaius shook his head. “I’m a bastard, Varro. But I’m not that big a bastard.”

“Yes, but—”

“To turn Annwyl over to Vateria wil be giving that snake exactly what she wants. I can’t do that. I won’t.”

“Not even for Aggie?”

“I’m doing it for Aggie. There are some things she simply won’t forgive me for. Giving Vateria anything is definitely one of them.”

“Then what do we do, old friend? The mad queen is not leaving.”

The pair stared at each other. Then they leaned far over so they could see past the cave wal and into the cavern in which the queen and her guards were waiting. They watched the royal as she sat quietly, staring off at nothing in particular. Around her, her guards chatted, looked worried, concerned, anxious. But the queen didn’t seem to have any of those emotions. She just sat there.

Then, al of a sudden, she slowly turned just her head and looked at Gaius and Varro. Al Gaius could see were vibrant green eyes scowling at him from behind a stringy mass of light brown hair. The friends immediately sat back.

“She’s what we’ve always heard, Gaius,” Varro warned. “She’s crazed.”

“Shit.”

“What?”

“She’s coming in here.”

And she did, forcing her way past Gaius’s guards and into his private chamber. “Wel ?” she demanded, folding her arms over her chest.

“Wel what?”

“It’s a simple enough deal, Rebel King. I get your sister.... You help me stop Thracius. What are you not grasping? Gods, are you slow? No one warned me that you were slow.”

Gaius gripped the sword lying next to him, but Varro caught his hand and held it.

The queen looked at their joined hands, then them. “You two together then?”

“Together? What?”

She focused on Varro. “Can’t you talk to your mate? Get him to see reason?”

Gaius snatched his hand back and jumped to his feet. “Out!” he roared.

Annwyl pursed her lips. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Gaius—”

Ignoring the warning in Varro’s voice, Gaius stalked up to the queen. “Get out. Now.” She stared up at him, then asked, “How did you lose that eye?” Startled by the question and then by Annwyl reaching up to lift his eye patch, Gaius slapped her hands away. So she slapped him back. They were slapping and kicking and shoving each other until Varro got between them.

“Stop it! Both of you!”

Fed up, Gaius headed toward the exit, pushing past his own troops and the queen’s guard. Behind him Annwyl fol owed.

“I’m not leaving!” she yel ed at his back. “I’m staying right here until I get what I want!”

“Then I guess you’re going to die here, female. Because you’l get nothing from me!”

“You handled that wel ,” Izzy muttered, and Annwyl turned on her, pointing her finger in her face.

“Don’t start with me, little girl.”

“Not starting. Simply making an observation, my liege.”

“Just like your mum with that tone.”

“So what are we going to do now?” Rhona asked, proving she was the sanest of the group in Vigholf’s estimation.

“I’m not leaving.” Then Annwyl screamed at where the king had walked out, “Ever! ”

“Gods deliver us,” Rhona muttered, walking away from the queen.

“So we’re just going to stand here?” Vigholf asked. “Until the king you just pissed off comes back in here and changes his mind? That dragon’s never changing his mind.”

“Why not?”

Vigholf frowned and replied, “He hates you.”

“Everyone hates me at some point or another. They get over it.”

“I haven’t,” Rhona snapped.

“Annwyl,” Vigholf cut in. “We have to get back to Euphrasia. We have to help our troops, our kin.”

“If we leave now . . . we lose. Don’t you understand that?”

“No. I don’t.”

“Do not question me, foreigner!” Annwyl bel owed, but just as quickly it seemed the fight went out of her. She rubbed at her eyes with her fists. “I can’t talk about this now.”

The queen walked off, and Izzy motioned to Branwen. “Keep an eye on her.”

The She-dragon fol owed after the royal and Rhona’s pretty human face turned red. “Why is my cousin taking orders from you?”

“That wasn’t real y an order, but if it was, she’d still have to listen to me. I’m the Queen’s Squire.”

“In what world does a squire outrank a private?”

“In Annwyl’s world. Now do me a favor and get off my back.” Izzy stepped away.

“Don’t walk away from me, little girl.”

Izzy spun back to face Rhona, her finger pointed at her. “I am not a little girl. And I don’t report to you, cousin.”

“Not my cousin. Not by blood you’re not.”