“We didn’t tell you yet, but you’re probably a Yore princess.”
“What!” Phuong pulled away from Olivier’s warm and wonderfully solid body. “What are you talking about?”
“We talked about the fact that you were 100% Yore before,” Gahariet said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Yeah.”
“Well, you might be a Yore princess,” Olivier revealed.
“Why would I be given away if I have royal blood?”
Phuong shook her head. It didn’t make any sense at all. She and her brother had scrabbled to stay alive. What king or queen would do that to their babies?
Phuong bit her lip. They were just spinning her a tale, dangling the idea that she could be a princess in her own right to convince her to stay with them and be their princess…the mother of their children.
She put her hand on her stomach. There was a part of her that would love to have their dragon children.
But they were just too wealthy. She wasn’t meant to be with a Throne, let alone two. They could buy anything and anyone that they wanted. Besides, she didn’t know what exactly they wanted.
“Just quiet your mind and listen to your heart. You know who you are, deep down. We will support you in any way that you need, because we’re bound, heart, mind, and soul, forever.”
“You’ll see it if you just open yourself to the possibilities.”
What did they know about optimism? They’d lived a charmed life. They always had enough money. They hadn’t had to escape from an orphanage and scratch out a living.
Phuong glared at them, but she said nothing.
Gahariet was aware enough to know to back off, so he got to his feet and grabbed the back of Olivier’s sleep shirt.
“We’ll leave you to rest. Just yell if you need us.”
“But I…”
Gahariet pulled Olivier out of the room.
“Goodnight, Phuong.”
26
Wandering
Phuong
When Phuong woke up the next morning, she realized that she hadn’t left, as she’d intended to. The nightmare had definitely thrown her plans off.
As she got out of bed, she yelped at the feeling of the cold stone floor. Of course dragons would live in stone castles. Wood was a bad idea.
What was it like to raise a baby dragon? She might never know. She was Yore through and through. Now that her implant was gone, she needed to explore the side of herself that had been locked away for so long. There had been a black spot in her mind for a long time. In her most vulnerable moments, she asked the stars to get rid of the implant.
And now, not only was the implant gone, but she was told that she was a princess — a royal Yore.
She didn’t know if she believed the dragon twins. She felt drawn to them, sure, but she didn’t know if she was ready to mate them for life. She wasn’t that old. But she was afraid that her body, which got a little wet when they were near, would push her towards accepting the two of them as her mates.
She threw open the wardrobe in her beautiful room and put on one of her dresses. She had too many, more than she could ever reasonably wear, and she chose the one on the end, blue with silver and green shot through it. At least the silver matched her hair.
She pulled it over her head before going down the stairs. She followed her nose to the breakfast room.
As soon as she entered it, an attendant poured a glass of wine at her table. She had only just sat down when the twin dragons came into the room.