What Fire Dragons Treasure - Cristina Rayne Page 0,21
a bit surprised to see that the layout of Raphek’s place was pretty much identical to Emma and Sevek’s, down to the furniture, placement of the rugs, and globes of lights scattered around the room. Only the colors of the fabrics were different, chocolate browns with accents of reds in the rugs to Emma’s cremes and pastel blues.
“Don’t worry about the midday meal, Raphek,” Princess Briana said as they all sat down on one of his couches. “The king’s staff will be bringing food here shortly.”
“Do you have yellow juice like Emma?” Matty asked the princess hopefully.
She smiled. “You can have whatever kind of juice you want. I’m Briana. What’s your name, cutie?”
“Matthew Johnson,” Matty replied with a grin.
Amber nearly swallowed her tongue. Shit!
“Johnson, huh?” the princess said, though she looked at Amber, not Matty, as she spoke.
There was no surprise in those green eyes. She knew.
“Yes, Johnson,” Amber confirmed, her shoulders slumping.
She paused. Well, no use hiding it now.
“Davis is my maiden name.” She was relieved that her tone of steady and not the least bit defensive.
Princess Briana nodded. “Thank you for your honesty.”
Raphek looked from the princess to Amber, frowning. “What am I missing?”
“Dagon said that you were monitoring the Terrans’ social media after your meeting with him yesterday,” Princess Briana said.
He nodded. “Sevek and I spent all night and morning combing through the internet looking for either videos or just mentions of the incident at the viewing platform, but we both found nothing.”
“The king is currently on a video chat with President Mitchell. Apparently, a few senators are currently raising a fuss about complaints of dragons stealing people from the viewing platforms.”
Amber’s blood ran cold.
“Leading the charge is a senator from Texas. Henry Johnson.”
“Where there’s people, there’s usually at least one person capturing video,” Raphek grumbled. “Did the senator show the president a video of me bringing Amber and Matty through the energy shield?”
“No, and that’s what worries me. The president told Dagon that the FBI have launched an investigation into the complaints. She gave him no details—no names of the missing, no specific evidence. Dagon, of course, has promised the president to do the same.”
It felt as though an invisible hand was squeezing her neck tightly. “You’re right to worry,” Amber said thickly. “He one hundred percent already has the ‘proof.’ He’s already controlling the narrative. It may not seem like it, but this is that bastard’s way of sending a message to me, and me alone.” Amber had to force the next sentence out. “He’s already won.”
Princess Briana’s eyes narrowed. “How so?”
“If the king denies that Raphek reached across the barrier and brought Matty and me into Elysia South, then the senator won’t bother sending the video to the FBI. He has too much of a personal stake in the matter. It would look suspicious. He’ll just anonymously upload an edited version of the video to the internet and let social media do what it does best. It will, of course, leave out his hired thugs running me off the road and then shooting at us. Or me begging Raphek for help. It’ll just look exactly like the complaint the president has already raised with King Dagon.”
“If that happens, then we can kiss years of goodwill between the Rekkan and the Terrans goodbye,” Briana said flatly.
Only the thought of Matty seeing her fall apart kept the tears of despair at bay. Amber, of course, had a plan for this particular kind of worst-case scenario, one she had desperately prayed would never see the light of day.
“Don’t worry,” Amber said. “I won’t let that happen. I’ll—leave the kingdom as soon as we finish here.”
“To be murdered? I don’t think so,” Raphek growled, his tone so menacing that it sent a literal shiver down Amber’s spine.
She was even more taken aback by his eyes that seemed to glow with red flames. It was both beautiful and a bit frightening. More dragon magic?
“He’s right,” Princess Briana seconded firmly. “You told Raphek that your husband has hurt Matty. I would also be willing to bet my title that you asked Emma to borrow something with long sleeves for today’s meeting to hide the fact that you have bruises on your arms that are older than the violence done to you yesterday. A man who would so callously destroy the lives of thousands of innocent people by spreading lies just to placate his monster of a son should not be rewarded for such a despicable abuse of power.”
Amber twitched. She