The Dragon Queen's Fake Fiancé Read online

  It was another thing that highlighted her deep understanding and caring for her subjects, and made him love her all the more. She was always careful to ensure she didn’t keep people waiting on her, or that she didn’t take advantage of her position like some in power would have done. If anything, she considered herself a servant of her people rather than the other way around. Sure, sometimes she behaved a little brattishly and pouted when she didn’t get her own way—but usually only with the twelve and only in private.

  Like when she’d intercepted her cousin, Calan, as he’d brought his new mate back to the palace, curiosity written all over her expressive face. Knowing she’d have virtually interrogated the poor woman on the spot without realizing how scary she could be full on, Sawyer had been forced to kiss her to distract her… Quickly, he commanded his mind away from that incident as he settled himself in the chair by the door. If he went down that rabbit hole, he was done for. Getting an epic boner for the queen in a room full of weredragons was not an option. Ever.

  In an effort to distract himself, he studied Cadeyra’s blonde curls where they were piled haphazardly, secured with two plain clips. That was the dichotomy of Cadeyra the White, through and through. She had coffers full of the finest jewelry but preferred two small hair clips a small girl had given to her at an official function years ago.

  Now her attention was focused elsewhere, he could study her at his leisure and ignore what was being said. It didn’t concern him so he didn’t need to worry about it. Calan was the twelve’s official representative to the Queen’s advisory staff, not him. Sawyer was simply here in a protective capacity. In case someone with a death wish felt like trying to kill one of the most powerful magical beings in the world.

  She was utterly beautiful. Sawyer watched Cadie, a name he only dared use in the safety of his mind, out of the corner of his eye as he pretended to look out the window. Large golden eyes dominated a heart-shaped face with delicate, elfin features and rose-colored lips. The bottom was fuller than the top… tempting a man to nibble on it when he kissed her, sucking it into his mouth just to hear her moan in pleasure.

  “I need to get engaged.”

  He snapped back to attention and blinked in surprise. What the hell was she talking about… engaged? Engaged to whom and why? She didn’t have any romantic attachments. He would have known about it and ripped the wings off any male who dared to so much as look at her. If she was getting married to anyone, it would be him.

  His growl was loud in the sudden silence of the room. All its occupants, including Cadeyra, turned to look at him in surprise.

  “General?” she asked, her eyebrow raised slightly. “Did you have a question?”

  His mouth went dry and he resisted the urge to look down to make sure he didn’t have a hard-on left over from his daydreams. What had he missed?

  Clearing his throat, he concentrated on Cadeyra, his eyes narrowing. “Why do you need to get engaged?”

  “For heaven’s sake! Do we have to go through everything all over again because your bodyguard wasn’t listening?” Lewis, an officious pain in the ass Sawyer had butted heads with before, burst out. “I thought Duke Calan was the representative of the twelve on this council?”

  Cadeyra held up her hand, a delicate finger extended for silence.

  “The general was stationed in Eastern Europe, I believe, so he may have insights that could be invaluable to us with this situation,” she said, her voice falling just short of chiding. Just.

  Sawyer hid his surprise. He hadn’t realized that she knew anything about his military service. She’d have been briefed when he joined the twelve, of course, but he hadn’t thought she’d have been interested enough to retain the information.

  “Isn’t that so, General?” the queen asked, her lips slightly pursed.

  He nodded, still all out at sea as to what they were talking about. Something about his expression must have clued her in to his confusion because she spoke again.

  “Prince Henrick from Lithandea will grace us with his presence next week, and our ambassador to the country has given us advanced warning. The prince intends to use his visit to court me with the eye to an alliance.”

  Her voice and expression was calm and neutral but he easily picked up the distaste in the backs of her eyes. Irritation surged within him that a backwater prince like Henrick thought he had any chance with a queen of Cadeyra’s impeccable bloodlines. He was more than familiar with Lithandea… he’d been stationed in neighboring Cestrania for nearly a year when there had been unrest in the region. While Henrick’s father, Gustav, was well liked, Henrick himself was seen as spoiled and arrogant.

  “Since I have no wish to ally the house of D’Amnayel with the Ebyas of Lithandea nor spark a diplomatic incident, I need to be engaged before then.” She turned back to the room as a whole. “So, gentlemen, that leaves us with the question… who do we get to pose as my fake fiancé?”

  She had a headache she’d need a mountain of ibuprofen to deal with.

  Cadeyra rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed as the room erupted into argument around her. As she’d expected, everyone in the room had an opinion on who she should get engaged to, all shouting suggestions as loudly as they could. She’d expected them to be… civil? Maybe? Not this free-for-all as they all tried to outshout each other to get her attention.

  But she wasn’t the idiot they seemed to think she was. She knew an engagement to her, even a fake one, was a big thing that would confer a lot of status and perks on whoever she chose. His name would forever be linked to hers, even long after they “split.” She needed to make sure the man in question could handle the media attention both during and after their short-lived relationship, and that he wouldn’t take advantage of his newfound royal connections for the wrong reasons.

  “Maximus!”

  “James Ramsbottom!!”

  “No, it has to be Elijah Williams!”

  She tried hard not to, but she cringed at some of the names being shouted out. They were probably very nice people but… Maximus was vain and totally obsessed with his appearance. She’d danced with him once and he’d spent most of it peering at himself in every shiny surface they passed. James was so boring it hurt. While obviously intelligent, his slow drawl made her want to stick a key in him and wind him up like a clockwork doll. And Elijah Williams…no, just no.

  The son of a lord, he was so ambitious and politically minded that she had absolutely no intention of giving him any extra advantages in life. She did that and he’d no doubt find some way of removing power from the throne in favor of some weird system involving voting. She shuddered. No way for that to go wrong then…

  “Your Majesty, may I have a word?”

  Sawyer’s deep voice was an oasis of calm in the chaos. She looked up to find him standing at her side. Strange how her dragon rarely bothered with his movements. Almost as if the beast didn’t view him as a threat like it did everyone else.

  “Of course,” she said, beginning to hold a hand up for silence, but the small shake of his head stopped her.

  “In private, please.”

  Without waiting for her to agree, he strode from the room, leaving her to trail along in his wake. She followed him as he left the council chambers and walked down the corridor. A small shiver wormed its way down her spine at his hard expression. She felt like a naughty schoolgirl walking into the headmaster’s office. The sudden image of Sawyer bending her over his knee while she wore a schoolgirl’s outfit brought a rush of blood to her cheeks and she scooted past him quickly.

  Where the hell had that come from? She wasn’t into kinky stuff… of any kind.

  For him you could be, the little voice in the back of her mind pointed out. For him, you’d be anything he wanted you to be.

  She had to admit, the voice had a point. She’d been fascinated with the big general since he’d joined the twelve. Her heart had leapt the day he’d arrived and she’d waited eagerly for some sign he was her mate. But nothing. Her
dragon had been as unresponsive to him as every other man she’d met.

  No big deal though… often D’Amnayels never found their true mates, perhaps to ensure they concentrated on their duties to the people instead of being wrapped up in a love bond. But, she admitted to herself, if she were to have a mate, she’d want it to be Sawyer. Keeping that thought safely silent, she gathered herself and turned to face him.

  He stood by the door, blocking the only exit to the room. For the first time since she’d met him, Cadie couldn’t read his expression. Of course, he was always difficult to read. It was no doubt a result of his military training, and she’d been told his upbringing had been rough too. That if he hadn’t gone into the army, he’d have ended up in jail or become a gang leader her blacks would have had to deal with.

  Usually, though, she could at least get an idea of what was going on behind his azure eyes. Not now. Now he stood with his arms folded over his broad chest as he watched her. For the first time in her life she had an idea of what it must feel like to be prey.

  His prey.

  Another delicious shiver rolled down her spine at the thought, but she locked it away and looked at him curiously.

  “You aren’t getting engaged.” His voice was hard, the tone final. That of a general used to being obeyed.

  Out of the blue, her first instinct was to drop her gaze, to agree with anything he said, and that pissed her off just as much as his high-handed comment. Possibly more.

  “Oh, I beg your pardon, General,” she replied, her tone clipped. “I wasn’t aware that the twelve had declared martial law and removed power from the crown.”

  While rare, such a thing wasn’t totally unheard of. Her grandfather, Jenais the second, had been as mad as a hatter and had been removed for his and everyone else’s safety. The twelve blacks at the time had ruled as a regents council until her father had been old enough to take the throne.

  But there was no regents council to remove power from her and no reason for them to do so. Her chin lifted in challenge as Sawyer stalked toward her. His azure gaze stayed locked to hers every step of the way and the tension in the room ramped up to spine tingling.

  “You aren’t getting engaged,” he repeated, coming to a stop so close that she felt his body heat through the protective layer of her clothes, “…to anyone but me.”

  She blinked but refused to look away. Butterflies in her stomach, she processed his harsh words.

  Engaged. To him. Oh my.

  An image of the two of them in bed filled her mind—all that hard muscled strength wrapped around her smaller, curvier body. Him braced over her as she welcomed him into the cradle of her thighs. She caught the small moan before it could escape as her pussy clenched hard at the thought. Heat spread out from her core.

  “You?” To her surprise and approval, her voice emerged firm and businesslike rather than as breathy as she felt. All she wanted to do was say yes—shout it in fact—before he changed his mind, but she managed to hold it in.

  “Why you?”

  She didn’t back down or look away, waiting for his response with bated breath. Given this was Sawyer, she expected tactical reasons or perhaps security concerns. Instead, his lip curled back a little and a growl rumbled up from the center of his broad chest.

  “Because I’ll rip the fucking wings off any dragon who dares touch you and choke him with them.”

  Holy.

  Shit.

  She couldn’t stop her eyes opening wide in surprise at the visceral reply. Fury and something else glittered in the backs of his eyes and she swallowed, suddenly finding it difficult to breathe. She reached out. “Gen—”

  He cut her off with another snarl, snapping a hand out to grab her wrist and stopping her from touching him.

  “My name is Sawyer,” he corrected roughly, stroking the inside of her wrist with the tiniest soothing motion. “Start using it. Not ‘General.’”

  This was personal, she realized suddenly. He was jealous, no, furious, at the idea of her being engaged to another man.

  “Why?”

  This time her voice was low and breathy, the plea of a woman to a man and his eyes darkened.

  “Don’t ask.”

  Chapter 3

  “Congratulations, Your Majesty. Wonderful news, I must say.”

  Hours later, Cadeyra nodded as Lord Patterson, who was at least eleventy billion years old and looked every day, offered his congratulations. After the palace’s announcement of her engagement earlier, a ball had been hastily arranged, and the cream of high society had arrived to wish her and her new fiancé well.

  “Thank you, my lord. I’m sure we’ll be very happy together,” she added with a smile, cutting off further questions as she moved on with the ease of long practice. The art of the mingle was one she’d had to learn early on. It was an essential part of monarch training and she’d never needed it more than she did tonight. Everyone wanted nitty-gritty details of her relationship with Sawyer, but they quickly backed down when she gave them “the look.” It was the one designed to remind them who she was and that while her life was dedicated to the crown, her private life was just that… private.

  Finding herself between groups for a moment, she took the opportunity to take a glass from one of the circling waiters. The champagne fizzled on her tongue but wouldn’t do anything other than make her a little tipsy. Her dragon would burn through the alcohol before it had any effect on her body or mental capacity. Which was great for not getting trashed and making a fool of yourself at official functions, but seriously sucked when you just wanted to get merrily drunk and forget all your problems for an evening.

  She’d barely managed to take a mouthful when she was accosted by another group and she had to put her game face back on. This time, though, it was a bunch of the court ladies, faces wreathed in smiles as the boldest amongst them, Marianna, held out her hand.

  “Come on then, Your Majesty, let’s see it!”

  Cadeyra hid her smile, putting an innocent look on her face. “What do you mean? See what?”

  “The ring!” they chorused and she finally cracked a smile, extending her hand. For a moment, she wasn’t just playing at being newly engaged, it felt real. That was mainly down to the sparkling diamond solitaire that twinkled on her finger. She’d been planning to wear something from the royal coffers, but Sawyer had surprised her just before the ball by sliding a ring on her finger. It was beautiful. With a delicate rose gold band etched with a floral pattern and a clear, glittering solitaire, it was exactly the sort of thing she’d have chosen for herself.

  “Oh, that is gorgeous.”

  “Absolutely lovely.”

  The small group of women all cooed at once as Cadie tilted her hand this way and that. The diamond twinkled and caught the lights of the ballroom, reflecting them brightly. One of the women at the back of the group, Rhadika, pushed her way forward in a rustle of scarlet skirts. Catching Cadie’s hand, she tilted it up to look at the side of the ring.

  “This is a Maisano,” she said with a frown. “I recognize the pattern on the band, but it’s not a design I’ve seen in their collections. And believe me, I know them all,” she said with a sudden grin, the flash of her dragon in her eyes, and Cadie understood. Dragons always had the potential to get obsessed with something and hoard it as treasure. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t always gold… she’d had a nanny once who’d hoarded wooden pegs. Usually, it was a harmless thing, unless of course the dragon was unstable and then it got into mountains of gold territory. Obviously, Rhadika’s dragon liked pretty things from Maisano.

  Cadie blinked as she looked at her ring again. She hadn’t seen a box when Sawyer had slid it onto her finger but how expensive it was didn’t matter. What did was that he’d picked it out for her. The possibility that he’d not just picked it out but had had it specially made caused a warm feeling to spread out from the center of her chest.

  Down girl, she told herself. For all she knew it might not have been made for
her but for some other woman. Sudden, savage jealousy consumed her, her dragon snarling and stomping within at the idea of another woman in his arms… kissing him… touching where she wanted to touch.

  Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself as logic reasserted itself. Even if the ring had been intended for another woman, no other woman was wearing it. Cadie was. Which meant that something had happened between her and Sawyer and she’d let him go. More fool her. He was Cadie’s now… for the time being.

  “Ladies…” a deep voice broke into their conversation. Cadie turned to find Sawyer at her side. Again, he’d managed to sneak up on her without her dragon alerting her as to his presence. He smiled at the small group of women, eliciting a small sigh from someone at the back. “May I steal my fiancée away for a dance?”

  He held out his hand for Cadeyra, and everyone else in the room ceased to exist. Butterflies started up in her stomach again as she slid her hand into his and allowed him to lead her out onto the dance floor. Since this was their first official dance as a couple, the floor cleared.

  “You look beautiful,” he murmured, a smile of appreciation in his eyes as he drew her into his arms. If she didn’t know it was all an act, she’d have thought he really was a man head over heels in love.

  “Thank you.”

  How she managed any response she had no clue. The instant he’d touched her, big hand sliding around the back of her waist to pull her up against his hard body, her brain had scrambled. They’d danced together before, of course, but never like this. It had always been very correct, a proper distance maintained between them, and his closed expression had always made her suspect he was planning the next day’s training for the blacks rather than enjoying the dance.

  Usually, though, he didn’t take to the floor. Not with her. Not with anyone. Instead, he picked a position by the wall, arms folded over his broad chest she wanted to see more of out of his formal shirt and jacket, a permanent scowl on his face as he watched her every move. She’d always thought it was because he hated public functions…