With each step he took toward her, Meira didn’t look away.
Don’t focus on me, he willed her. Others would notice.
At the same time, however, he couldn’t force himself to stop moving or look away himself. Mere feet away, her jasmine scent hit him with the force of a wrecking ball. Sam lifted a hand to reach for her…to do what, he wasn’t sure. Tuck her into his side? Place a hand at her back in a show of support? Lean down and kiss her until she relaxed into him and lost that tension?
Except he didn’t get a chance, because Gorgon stepped directly into his path.
“Ah, Samael,” his king boomed, overjovial. “I was just telling the clan of the service you provided in protecting our queen when I was taken.”
Forced to halt his headlong rush to Meira’s side, Samael blinked, absorbing Gorgon’s words. “I only did what I promised you, my lord. You said to keep her safe if something ever happened to you.”
He could have sworn Meira gasped. Except, visible over Gorgon’s shoulder, she didn’t make a move or a sound. At the same instant, pain cracked through his heart because the words were only a tiny part of the truth. The real truth was he would give his life for Meira Amon. Hell, he’d sell his soul for her.
“Yes, I did give you that order,” Gorgon confirmed, his voice filling the room to the domed rafters. “Because this phoenix and her sisters will be the saviors of our people.”
A murmur passed through the massive hall.
Gorgon continued as though no sound had been uttered. “I made you the Viceroy of Defense for similar reasons, my most loyal of guards and advisers.”
Another soft murmur. Samael’s face, meanwhile, was doing a damn good impression of a stone gargoyle as he tried not to let the guilt visibly show.
Gorgon turned, raising his voice even louder to address the entire room. “Those qualities, the same reason why I now name Samael Veles my beta.”
The king might as well have beaten him over the head with the spiked end of a dragon’s tail. Shock was an electric current rooting his feet to the floor, buzzing in his ears.
Gorgon did not just do that. How was he supposed to do what he intended to do with the title of beta hanging over him?
The murmur turned into more of a low rumble. One of protest. Damn if he’d allow that to pass, though Gorgon made no move to put a stop to it. Pure instinct drove the growl that spilled from Samael, and silence scattered through the room.
They might not approve of him, but he would not allow them to question their king. Stepping forward, shoulders drawn back, he raised his voice. “You may not like a commoner for your beta, but you will respect the king who put me in it.”
Another beat of silence that turned into more of a stretch. And no wonder. Samael rarely spoke when on duty and was rarely seen outside his rooms when off duty. In his opinion, his role was to stand behind the king and protect. The clan didn’t need to hear from him. Perhaps a mistake on his part.
“Spoken like a true alpha, Veles.” Jorsha Sachmis, Gorgon’s Viceroy of the Reserve, in charge of the wealth of the clan and the biggest kiss-ass on the Curia Regis, clapped Samael on the back. No doubt, Samael would receive an invitation to dine with the man. Networking—a facet of the position of beta he could do without. Good thing he wouldn’t be around long to deal with it.
He didn’t dare look at Meira, who stood silently beside Gorgon, her arm linked with his. He didn’t need to. Her worries were his own.
I can’t keep this up for much longer.
Lying to the king, avoiding his mate so that he could let her go, pretending he could still lead these men. Samael sent up prayers that the gods would strike him down here and now.
Gorgon moved to the next group of black dragon shifters standing loosely together. Pulled along by the king, Meira glanced back at Samael, who followed with reluctance dragging at each step.
What are you doing?
Though her lips didn’t move, her voice floated through his head in the softest of whispers and Samael almost tripped over his own feet, lungs cinching tight. He could hardly discern that the thought was hers rather than his own, but his dragon rumbled in his head, enjoying the sound of her voice.
Shit. Being able to hear each other’s thoughts was one of the signs that their bond was solidifying. How was that possible given the ocean that separated them, that he’d put between them himself? Unfortunately, her hair was down, so he couldn’t check her neck to see if his brand had appeared. Because if it had, he couldn’t go forward with the plans he’d formulated.
They moved onto the next group. This time, Meira didn’t look back. In fact, now she seemed to be avoiding glancing his direction at all. Samael tried to convince himself that was what he wanted.
Sam…why won’t you talk to me?
The next flitter of a thought in her voice about took him to his knees, but Meira didn’t pause, and the path he’d set for himself wasn’t going to change.
A step at a time, he forced himself to keep going.
For the next two hours, Gorgon continued on, introducing not only Meira to each group, but also mentioning Samael’s role in her safety and his new role as beta for the clan. Each time they did, the same questions were asked. Where had they been? What had the plan been? The sign that they should move on came when a person in the group they talked to brought up a petty complaint—their trash hadn’t been collected in
