Page 17 of The Alliance

“I guess.” Glimmer was already heading to the door. I could feel him wanting to leave but I waspretty sure it wasn’t to get away from me. We were very comfortable around each other.

I followed him out and down the corridors. He was confident leading me, which I wasn’t at all surprised about. I’d bet Glimmer had been walking the corridors of our castle long into the night to learn his way around.

He headed straight for the dining room, which made sense, and I could hear people gathered inside, eating.

Kingsley was positioned slightly back from the rest of the group, standing to attention. He hadn’t relaxed around us yet.

I had to give the man credit for even being there. No way would I walk into aridire’s house, even if they all assured me personally that they wouldn’t hurt me. My body would rebel against the mere possibility.

Glimmer walked straight over to him and Kingsley looked at him, then looked over Glimmer’s shoulder at me.

“You got caught, huh?” he asked.

Glimmer pouted and cuddled into Kingsley’s arms, winding his own arms around his mate’swaist so he could lean against him. “Something like that.”

Kingsley chuckled. “I told you they weren’t allowed to fly.”

“Theysaidthey were.”

Kingsley met my eyes again and there was something in them, the merest flicker of a challenge. I smiled, trying not to let my dragon rise inside me at the sight of aridirestudying me. I tried to focus instead on the fact that my best friend was currently hugging thatridire, that he was inside our territory and wasn’t a threat to us.

“They tricked him good and proper.”

I had to clear my throat, since it had got a bit clogged up at the prickling sensation of being so near to a dragon-hunter. My dragon was a little more present inside me than usual, waiting for a challenge, waiting to surge out of me and protect my family.

Kingsley nodded and turned his eyes away from me, back to Glimmer. I relaxed just a fraction.

He’d only been waiting to see if I was angry about the children riding his mate like a fairground ride. He was ready to protect his mate, that was all.

I could understand that.

In fact, I was looking round for my own mate. I could smell him so I knew he’d been here not long ago. Following his scent, I found him in the kitchen with Alfie. He was showing him how to boil eggs.

Seren spared enough concentration to kiss me good morning but then he turned back to his cousin. I stood back and watched, fascinated by the way Seren moved and the way Alfie seemed to genuinely be learning from scratch.

When they were done, Seren said, “Now you carry those out to the table so everyone knows you cooked them.”

Alfie picked up the tray and began to carry it out but he stopped when he got near me. He shuffled from foot to foot.

“Um, hi,” he said.

“Good morning.”

“Yes, um, good morning. I was wondering whether, um, never mind.”

I gave the kid a smile. He might be a golden dragon and a clan elder, but he was still so young. It seemed hard on him to have so much responsibility so early on.

I thought I’d try to help him out, asking for whatever it was he wanted.

“Is there anything you want to do today? Seren and I can arrange it for you.”

“Well, I did wonder…”

“Yes?”

“Do you think Anthony still wants to see Blaze in his fire form? Because, um, he can do that. Blaze won’t mind. And I won’t mind, either.”

My heart almost melted with how sweet the kid was. Before I could answer, Seren bounded over and said, “Anthony is going to love that! He’s been asking us questions since we visited and got to meet Blaze, but we can’t answer them all. He has so. Many. Questions.”

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