Page 42 of To Catch a Prince

Still. He was a wild thing; his fire might be useless against her while she wore her maille, but he could still eat her whole. His front teeth were almost as tall as shewas.

Something wet and cold fell on the tip of her nose and she lifted her head towards the sky. Oh, great. It was starting to rain. Time to go back inside, then. She regretted that their playtime had been cut soshort.

The dragon made that funny sound again - not quite a growl, just something to call herattention.

“What?” she asked, turning tohim.

He’d moved a little, curled in a half circle with one of his wings pulledup.

“Oh.”

Timidly, Talia tiptoed to him, uncertain that she’d read him right. She watched him, careful for any sign that he’d had enough of playing with hishuman.

He didn’t make another sound, so she put her palm on hisbelly.

It was very different from what she could have imagined of a dragon. The scales on this side were softer than the ones on his back, as if polished. They weren’t blazing hot; just radiating a deliciouswarmth.

“Well, don’t mind if Ido.”

She sat on the ground, her back against hisheat.

“Once upon a time,” she read, “in the fairCamelot…”

Epilogue

Aboy cameto find him that morning, bearing a message that made him leave the family wing and head to the one place where he’d never stepped foot without being up to mischief in thepast.

Nathos’ office hadn’t changed - it was sparse and clinicallyorganized.

“Your Highness. You’ve been hard to pindown.”

No doubt. He barely spent any time in his apartments, not leaving Talia from dawn todusk.

“These last few days have been full, as you can imagine, but I believe I might have found details about the…matter wediscussed.”

He pointed to a leather-bound book on his desk - bound in blue, which meant that it came from Nathos’ personal collection, the only few volumes Vincent had never managed tolocate.

He lifted abrow.

“Help yourself. Unless books are only tasteful to you when you aren’t permitted to takethem.”

“Youknew?”

The Elder rolled his eyes. “There isn’t much happening in these walls without my knowing,Prince.”

That, Vincent didn’tdoubt.

“We were right to be suspicious. From what I’ve read, Riders do come from the same families. When one sibling was chosen, before the Rift, the other children in the family were watched closely and encouraged to link themselves to a dragon. Sometimes it occurred, sometimes not. But even without the link, they did tend to exhibit the same characteristics as fully developed Riders.” After a beat, he added, “And were often wedded amongst ourkind.”

No surprise at allthere.

“So their entirefamily…”

“It’s not quite as simple. Their parents may be, for all intents and purposes, very regular mages. They simply had the right genes, and mixed together, the result wasextraordinary.”

The Elder was one of the dullest men he knew, but even then, he hadn’t looked or sounded quite so wary in the past. Vincent found himself asking, “Is everythingalright?”

Nathoshesitated.

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