Page 40 of Dragon Unleashed
Her jaw drops. “Are you seriously telling me that I spilled my pumpkin spice latte and inadvertently freed the king of all dragons?”
“I’m not a king yet,” I remind her, amused by the way her eyes have widened to saucers. She’s clearly impressed by my title, and while the females at home annoy me with their adoration, Paige is different. My beast finds her awe very flattering. He wants her to think he’s special. He wants her to like him too.
It’s the most childish, ridiculous feeling I’ve ever felt—and I can’t seem to make it stop.
“So, you’re a prince,” she breathes as if to herself.
“I am the eldest prince. The Nemos heir to the throne of Astronia.” I try not to notice my chest puffing a little as I give her my full title. Paige simply gawks.
I wait, my dragon hoping for more compliments. Instead, she groans and drops her face into her hands.
“I can’t believe this,” she says, her words muffled by the fact that her palms are pressed to her lips.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“This is horrible,” she says and looks up again.
“That I’m the heir?”
“Yes,” she insists as if I’m being slow. “You’re not just an escapee from a story; you’re the main character! The fucking hero of it all! If I fuck this up... No, not an option. I have to get you back before anyone realizes...”
“Paige,” I say, watching as she spirals inward, muttering to herself words I don’t understand about destruction and stupidity. “Paige,” I say again. “Paige!”
“What?” She breaks off from her tirade, blinking at me impatiently.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I say.
“Right.” She sighs, but her expression tightens, and I know whatever she’s about to tell me isn’t going to be good news. “So, remember how I told you about a thing called the Extrication?”
“Yes. You said the escapees were hunted down and destroyed. That’s why we have to lie low.”
“Right. Well, what I didn’t tell you is that it wasn’t just my book that was destroyed. There were quite a few that suffered the same fate as mine.”
“This is why the escapees were trapped here.”
“You don’t get it. As the main character of your story, your life, while here in the Athenaeum, is tied to the life of your book. To the life of your very world. The books, and the worlds inside them, were destroyed at the moment of the escapees’ death.”
She watches me, waiting for me to understand. I run her words through my mind again, and then it clicks. Her concern makes perfect sense. Perfect, horrific sense.
“If my book is destroyed, or if I am killed, my world perishes with me.”
“Yes.”
I can feel my dragon rising, ready to meet any and all threats with the flames of its wrath, but I force it back. This is no place for that kind of rage. Not with Paige staring at me with those round, innocent eyes and the walls of her tiny bedroom closing in on us both, and nothing has changed, anyway. My beast would protect Paige at the cost of its own life. I know it as well as I know my name.
She watches me, clearly waiting for a reaction.
“We’ll need to be careful,” I say finally and settle back against the headboard again.
“That’s it?” she asks, still eyeing me. “That’s all you have to say?”
“What else is there? I’m here now. The damage is done.” She winces, and I regret my word choice immediately. “That’s not what I meant.”
“It should be,” she says. “I really fucked up. I’m sorry. You’re important in your world. I’m sure people are losing their minds looking for you right now.”
“My mother, yes,” I admit. “But only so she can parade another potential mate before me. Leo probably thinks I’ve run off and hidden from her attempts.”
“Your mother is helping you look for a wife?”
