"Cyril has been after our father's throne, Kai's throne, since he first shifted. He ruled over one of the many branches of our kingdom but it wasn't until he killed his own father and took over ruling his people that he made his intent clear." Henrich leans back in his chair with a sigh. "This is merely the first time he's been successful in almost eradicating our people."
"Has Ivan talked at all since he's been here?" I wiggle a little to get more comfortable, which causes Kai to practically groan so I giggle like an idiot at the most awkward time because my mate is still hard as stone.
Milos and Henrich roll their eyes in unison but Andrej just gives me another lip twitch.
I like that he's happy for us.
But he's also sad.
Sad for himself.
Apparently, Andrej doesn't believe he'll ever have what Kai and I do and that breaks my heart, but I won't tell him now that I know for a fact his mate is in Ashland, we just haven't met her yet.
"The scum refuses to speak," Andrej grunts. "Talks of nothing but Cyril taking Kai's throne and how we shall all pay. Nothing useful despite my… efforts."
I grin. "I am so glad the rules of interrogation don't apply to us dragons."
Andrej gives me an evil, barely there smile and nod.
Which makes him even more handsome than he already is.
Man, I mated into a fucking stellar gene pool.
Kai chuckles behind me and my smile grows. "Well, you may not have gotten anything out of that sorry excuse for a dragon but he wouldn't shut the fuck up when we had our visit."
All five of them lean toward me but my dad speaks. "He shared their plan with you?"
"Sort of. He was more or less bragging, totally convinced he was going to bait Kai by using me, kill us both then attack while you were all mourning the loss, but Ivan gave me just enough to get a good idea of what they plan to do." Then I scowl. "And that fucker admitted to being the one to kill all those shifters twenty years ago, to kill Jesse Adler and… and Mom."
My dad shoots up from the table and tries to barrel past us but Andrej and Karel grab him and basically slam him back into his chair.
"I'll fucking destroy that motherfucker!" Dad's eyes flash white, his pupils go diamond-shaped before they do it again and little wisps of forest green smoke float from his nostrils. "That piece of shit killed my Claire! He murdered my mate and the mother of my child! That bastard stole twenty years of my life!"
Karel drops his forehead to dad's temple and holds him in place. "That bastard also murdered my beautiful Agáta, my sweet sister Dominika, my nieces and our king. He will pay for this and much more but now is not the time. I promise you brother, our loved ones will be avenged, but today is not the day."
Dad's eyes find mine, latch onto my stare for a few beats before he starts to regulate, calm down, and accept what was said to him.
Then he nods. "Right." He nods again. "Right. Not today but soon. Soon that motherfucker’s skull will be sitting at your family's altar right next to Cyril's and we will all have vengeance for the love we have lost." Dad's eyes close as he takes another deep breath then covers Karel's hand on his chest and gives it a squeeze.
Which makes me laugh at another wildly inappropriate time. "Are you guys boyfriends now?"
Both men's heads whip in my direction and I laugh harder.
"Despite what you may think, peanut,"—my dad glares at me—"dragons are incredibly affectionate and feel our link as the same kind pretty deep. It's like we're all one big family."
"Sooo, does that mean I just mated my brother or...?"
Every single male in the room scowls at me, even Kai because I can feel it burning the back of my head.
"Jesus, Josephine," Dad grumbles as Karel and Andrej return to their seats. "I know you didn't have the chance to grow up in a clan, didn't get to experience what it's like to have the family and unity it provides but I didn't mean for you to take me so literally!"
I giggle and shake my head. "I know what you mean. Each clan is very different and unrelated but because we're all dragons we have a connection that makes us all touchy feely. I get it."
"You are such a pain in the ass sometimes," Dad huffs. "We aren't touchy feely, we just..."
"Love big and show it?"
Dad smiles because that's something he's always said to me, always enforced no matter where my head was at.
