The dragons in the boss’s escort bellowed above the ledges that led to the king’s chambers. Nik waited as Pijeth lowered Joe to the hidden balcony outside the royal meeting space. The large gold dragon grasped the enforced ledge as Joe spoke to him in hushed tones. The dragon nodded in a decidedly human way.
Nik shielded his eyes as the dust kicked up from Pijeth’s massive golden wings as the dragon took back to the sky.
Joe spared Nik a glance before he strode deeper into the caves, eyes down and hands in his pockets. Saying goodbye to Anna had been agony for the new king. Nik had felt the pain firsthand, even though the village they’d flown Anna to was miles away.
Nik followed him inside. “You love her.”
“What of it?” Joe picked up some sort of speckled rock and tossed it to the side. “I need to have someone come in here and get rid of all this.” He waved his hand around the piles of trash and odd trinkets cluttering the floor.
“Don’t change the subject.”
“What subject?”
“Anna.”
Joe finally graced Nik with his attention. “I let her go. Nothing else matters.”
“It’s me, remember? You can’t hide what’s really going on in your head.”
Which was a whole lot of gut-wrenching regret. Nik got it, though. If you love someone, set them free and all that horseshit. Chivalry wasn’t always good for the one being chivalrous.
He picked up a slab of what appeared to be rawhide. Not wanting to think what the hide may have been made of, he dropped it back to the table. “Trying to ignore how you feel isn’t going to work.”
Joe sighed. “It certainly would have been easier if I didn’t have to think about her for the rest of her life.”
The rest of her life? Just how long did dragons live?
“Are you seriously just accepting this? Do you think the dragons will accept this? They’re not stupid.”
“No, they’re not, and you’re right, there are certain expectations of a king.”
And those expectations were pretty damn big. He was king because he brought back a girl. Now he was expected to do something with that girl.
“No offense, but if you lose the throne because you’re a nice guy, then all of this was for nothing.”
Joe threw another trinket over his shoulder. It landed on top of a pile before sliding to the floor. “I have no intention of losing the throne.”
“Then how do you plan to keep it?”
Joe’s gaze carried back to the ledge Pijeth had alighted on. “I’m a king, now, Nikau. Just because I stand here, with you, does not mean my plans aren’t unfolding elsewhere.”