The Warrior King (Inferno Rising #3) - Abigail Owen Page 0,54
mate the biggest prize their kind could imagine? Treasure to be taken and claimed and hoarded. A political lightning bolt that could both electrify their kind or burn a hole through them.
No answers presented themselves to him yet, beyond knowing that she was his. A fact that caused a shit ton of problems and didn’t solve a damn thing.
“We won’t figure this out today.” Rune’s voice pulled Samael out of the spell Meira had cast over him, and he lifted his head to find his old captain watching him with narrowed eyes.
“I agree.” He unwound the lock of hair from his finger, forcing himself to step back from the woman who was supposed to be his queen and not anything else. “Meira must gather her strength to send me to Ararat alone.”
“What?” Meira squeaked the word, then shook her head hard, her curls tumbling about her face. “No. No way. Not unless I go, too.”
He put a hand to her face, and she stilled under his touch. Did she even realize she did that? “I’m not one of your strays who needs protecting. That’s my job. If we lose you, we lose everything.”
She glared at him, eyes swirling a darker blue, swallowing the white with her inner turmoil. “If I lose you…”
She cut herself off, eyes going wide, then shook her head and took a step back, away from his touch, her expression turning suddenly uncharacteristically cool as she guarded her heart, hiding herself from him, and, seven hells, he wanted to chase that look away.
She crossed her arms, the defensive move a jab to the gut, but he forced himself to remain still and calm.
“I can’t do this without a black dragon shifter at my side to guide me and stand up for me.” She canted her head slightly to the left, as though acknowledging Rune’s presence in the room, but didn’t take her gaze from Samael. “You are Gorgon’s most trusted adviser. It has to be you. I… I…” She dropped her arms, pulling herself up to her full height. “I order you not to go without me.”
She did just not say that. Albeit with a waver in her voice, but still. Samael crossed his arms, mimicking his unclaimed mate’s stubborn scowl.
Tyrek stepped beside them, in view but not between them. The white dragon clearly had enough sense not to try that. “Why don’t we pause, take the time Meira needs to rest anyway, and discuss options?”
“Get some rest,” Kasia reminded them all that she and Brand remained distant witnesses to the room. “Gather your strength. Let’s regroup in your morning time. What time zone are you?”
“U.S. Pacific,” Aidan answered when no one else did.
Kasia reached for a button on her side of the console. “Eight a.m. Pacific, then. We’ll call you.”
The screen went black. Meira didn’t even turn to say good-bye to her sister, holding her ground and her glare at him.
“You need to eat,” Samael said. All he could think of to say.
She rolled her eyes, then turned to Rune, her expression shifting to a polite but distant smile. “According to my captain of the guard, I must be fed now.”
Ouch. She really was upset, relegating him to staff, essentially. And that was not at all what he’d said, or even implied.
Despite the two-ton weight that had settled over his shoulders the second he’d learned of his beta’s death, knowing exactly what that meant for him, Sam had to bite back a smile. Meira might be unaware, but she was changing. Growing bolder. As if she’d given herself permission to speak her mind and take a stand. Still sweet, but that core of steel always had to have been there. Though he suspected she didn’t realize that herself.
“Would that be possible?” she asked, her expression softening for Rune. Because Meira would hate taking her frustrations out on an innocent bystander.
Rune’s eyebrows went up, and he glanced at Sam, who shrugged.
“Of course,” Rune said after a moment. “It’s close to dinnertime, and I think Sera’s cooking tonight.”
“She is,” Aidan confirmed.
“At least it’ll be edible, then.” Tyrek offered her an arm and walked her out of the room. Meira went without another glance in Sam’s direction.
Sensing her need for space, even if he wanted to crowd her, make her admit they were meant to be, Samael waited for the others to file out before following.
Except Rune stood outside the door, clearly lying in wait for him. “We need to talk.”