Page 4 of Retrograde

Closing the chapter on my love for him?

Sure thing.

2

Ayao

The chaos after a mating prospect drugged the queen—and apparentlytwice—was beyond insane. The castle was in lockdown and honestly I was impressed but also disappointed it wasn’t like that more often.

“We’ll change that once she’s our mate. Uncle has better security practices and we’ll implement them,”my dragon said firmly.

I mentally snorted. I’d fucked up so badly being honest that she still looked at me like I was shit on her shoes. I’d been too blunt maybe, but it was the reality for people like her. I would have expected she’d known that given how coldly she’d been raised.

She couldn’t really think any of these people would love her and not betray her… Could she? She seemed way too smart for that.

Or so I’d thought when I’d really gotten a chance to talk to her.

But then letting herself be druggedtwice?

Actually not a bad plan. He could have weaseled his way out of the first time, but this was—no chance.

When radios had gone off while a bunch of us were checking out the castle’s facilities and guards had started moving fast, itwas clear something big had gone on. I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t contain their curiosity and headed to the foyer.

Learning that the second son of Sunborough’s Alpha had drugged Sagan to try and start her heat about knocked me over. Yes, dragons could be attracted to each other like people could and yes, it was rather animalistic from what I’d heard, but it wasn’t like instantheat.

It was more like… I had no idea since I’d never experienced it, but from what I knew, it was when we were indragon form!Our dragons were beasts and even they liked each other.

Horror filled me when I learned who it was and I immediately went to Princess Treena when she came in later. She tried to brush me off, but I blocked her, holding my hands up in surrender. “Please, I think I could be a witness to something, and while I don’t know if it’s smart to get involved, get me involved before someone tells me to keep out of it.”

Her eyes flashed shock. My uncle.

Honestly, he was very honorable, but given the situation and we had a good alliance with Sunborough, I had a feeling he would want me to stay out of it. They had video from what I’d already overheard.

“Come with us,” her head of security, Davian, ordered as he nodded for me to follow them.

Two minutes later I was sitting with him, Princess Treena, Benson, and another tiger I didn’t know.

I shot a look at Benson. “Don’t be petty because I’m going to admit to breaking the law.”

“Depends on what law,” he admitted as he crossed his arms over his chest. He sighed when I didn’t budge. “My own guys go to the fights and other stuff, Ayao. If you’re buyingdrugs, we have a problem, but—”

“Cognac,” I sighed, scrubbing the back of my neck. I focused on Princess Treena because she was definitely the most sensible.“My mother’s—my birth mother’s death anniversary is in a few days. She’s a dragon—obviously there are no half-breeds, but her mother wasn’t a dragon. She grew up sneaking cognac in from her home country.”

“And Thovudin has an embargo with them,” she muttered. “So you went to a shady area of Nerthus to see if you could get some on the black market or at least figure out how.” She smiled when I nodded. “That’s actually adorable. We’ll talk later. There’s some wine I want…” She sighed when Davian cleared his throat. “ForSagan. If anyone deserves wine, it’s her.”

She liked imported wine? Nice.

“I found it and paid a lot, so please just let me toast my mom,” I mumbled before looking back to Benson. I told him where. “I saw Lori. He came out of a shop three over across the street. I can show you. It was the shadiest-lookingapothecaryever. I didn’t think—in what world would drugs be sold so blatantly in Nerthus?”

I felt like an idiot when they all looked at me like they were worried about my intelligence.

“Yes, I just heard how stupid I sounded, thank you,” I drawled. “Of course, with the police chief and—fine. I didn’t thinkthatblatant.”

“A lot can be hidden well in plain sight,” Benson muttered. “How did you get the booze?”

“Flowers.” I shrugged when they were confused. “It’s easy to hide a smuggled bottle of booze in a bouquet of flowers. Turn it upside down and—it’s something you normally carry with two hands anyways.”

“That’s pretty genius actually,” Davian noted. “Can you get a team for me to go with and sniff this out?”