What Fire Dragons Treasure - Cristina Rayne Page 0,19

would ever condemn you for trying to protect your son. Never doubt that. Nor will they condemn me for it.”

“No one would come here, of all places, to beg for asylum without a damn good reason,” Emma said. “Just be sure to leave nothing out tomorrow when you talk to the king. Secrets, no matter how well intentioned, tend to come back to bite everyone in the ass.” She grimaced. “Believe me, I know.”

Unfortunately, in Amber’s case, it was an omission rather than a secret that had the potential to make her entire world come crashing down. It was something she had planned to never reveal if she had managed to safely enter Elysia South under the protections of sanctuary with none being the wiser. Yet somehow, Garrett, that utter bastard, had known she was planning to run with Matty and had planned accordingly to thwart her at the worst possible moment.

And now, because of that monster, she would likely have to run again to avoid causing more problems to a kingdom filled with wonderous and kind people that never asked to be dragged into her nightmare of a life. But maybe, just maybe, if she played her cards right, Matty wouldn’t have to run with her. It wouldn’t matter if Garrett tried to finish the job Raphek had interrupted.

As long as Matty was forever beyond Garrett’s clutches, then Amber would gladly consider her life to be a worthy trade.

CHAPTER EIGHT

For what felt like the billionth time in the last five minutes, Amber tugged nervously at the thin skirt of the tunic-dress hybrid that Emma had given her to wear for her lunch with the king and princess as she followed Raphek to what Emma had called the “lifts.” She was so nervous about what amounted to an interrogation no matter how much her new dragon acquaintances insisted otherwise that even the crazy description of the Elysian version of an elevator couldn’t distract her.

Although Amber had wanted to meet the royals dressed in what she felt was something a ton more appropriate than the torn and dirty jeans she had arrived in, she had thought it best that Matty be dressed in his own clothes rather than have Emma either buy him a new outfit or borrow one. She already felt guilty enough taking advantage of their hospitality as it was and damn sure didn’t want to drag yet another unwitting Draknos family into her problems.

Luckily, Matty viewed their trek to the royals’ home as a grand adventure. He constantly tugged at their joined hands excitedly as he pointed out things that caught his attention while they walked down the gray, rock-faced corridors with their dragon…host? Sponsor? Minder? Amber wasn’t altogether sure.

The dragon-shifter had certainly made sure that she and Matty were taken care of from the moment they had entered Elysia South, but was that attentiveness out of true altruism or something else? She hadn’t quite known how to ask without coming across as ungrateful or worse, suspicious, so she said nothing at all rather than risk accidentally damaging her case for asylum. As a result, that uncertainty had sat in the back of her mind all morning like a growing cancer, a dangerous addition to her already growing anxiety about her upcoming lunch date with the royals.

Allowing herself to be lured into a false sense of security at this point was beyond stupid, but within Emma and Sevek’s home, she had been doing exactly that, taking people at face value when she knew how dangerous that was. Consequently, she was now tied into knots over self-inflicted uncertainties concerning the dragon-man walking beside her when she could least afford that kind of distraction.

Raphek was a part of the Royal Guard, after all, as the black and red uniform he currently wore blatantly reminded her. He had saved them, yes, but he certainly owed them nothing more. That he was still with her playing guide was probably because he had been assigned to keep an eye on them by his superiors until the king could decide what to do with them—and wasn’t that thought scary. A monarch’s word was considered absolute law in a true monarchy, wasn’t it? If so, then why the hell was she wasting time fretting about Raphek and his friends’ motives rather than the man who now held Matty’s future in his hands?

If King Dagon decided that granting them permanent asylum would be too politically damaging for his kingdom—she and Matty had broken US law by