A Pet for the Dragons

144.

ZORGE

I felt more restless after Airka told me to leave her alone. Being with her was a good distraction from our situation, and the thrill of mating was still running through my veins. My dragon wanted more of her and kept pacing inside me, urging me to be with her again until I was satisfied. The only problem was I knew I couldn't have enough of her.

I sighed deeply, trying to push her out of my head. She needed space, and I was going to give her some. All of this was still very new to her. I knew how overwhelmed she got due to all of this.

However, the situation didn't seem to get any better. If anything, everything was constantly going downhill. Radrox still wasn't sure if we could omit ourselves from the Commission, and here, Mavie had not only appointed Ivret in her service again but invited Arika to the Court Dinner.

This was the most troubling part. Court Dinners were famous for all the fucked up things royals did for their pleasure. I'd heard stories of all kinds of slaves being brought to the dinner for the Noble's sick pleasures.

Ivret had been to many such Dinners but seldom talked about them. At the mention of those dinners, darkness would always fill his features, and I didn't have to wonder why. No wonder why he wanted to leave this place so desperately. And only leaving wasn't enough for him because he also gave up his titles.

All that didn't matter anymore. We were back in the same place, but the only problem was that we had Arika with us now, and Mavie had her eyes on her for some very sick reasons.

"Where's she?" Radrox asked, joining me in Ivret's small study. I liked to evade it whenever he wasn't here. He'd been too busy these days to notice I've been using this place.

Radrox gave me an apprehensive look, his body tense. He was the kind to be always on guard. But I swear he slept with one eye open after Arika came into our lives.

"Relax. She's bathing in her room. I went to check on her. She asked to be left alone for a while," I assured him, but his look of apprehension grew.

"Don't let her be alone for too long," He told me gruffly. I cocked an eyebrow at him. He was more on guard than ever.

"Why? Are you scared she'd run?" I asked. "Are you still—"

"No," He shut me down instantly, standing by the huge window that framed the city below. "I don't even trust the air in this place," I grunted approvingly.

"What do we do now, Zorge?" Radrox asked after a long, tense silence.

"You're asking me, brother?" I smiled at him sadly. He looked half defeated, and as much as I wanted to cheer his spirits, I knew it wouldn't make much difference. Radrox glanced at me. I'd grown used to his scar and would hardly notice it, but it looked prominent. Without the scar, he was the spitting image of his biological father.

"We can't let her go to the dinner. They'd be cruel to her," He said darkly, and I swallowed. This had been bothering me ever since the invite came. Ivret had been missing since then which was another thing bothering me. I might've been excessively rude to him.

"You know what? Let's run away to the Forsaken realm. Mavie wouldn't be able to get us there," I suggested. I'd been thinking about this a lot lately, and with everything that went downhill, this idea seemed more and more tempting.

"We wouldn't be accepted there, and it'd be more unsafe for Arika," Radrox grunted. He had a point. It would be only a temporary solution that gave birth to many more dangerous problems.

"Then what should we do? I'm out of my wits today," I groaned, rubbing my head. My horns were tingling, hitting at a headache soon to come.

"All we can do is plan to keep Arika safe at the dinner,"

"And how are we going to do that? We aren't invited,"

"Ivret is,"

"And? You think he can fight the guards if things go south?" I asked.

"Fighting is out of the question. He'd need to use his wits if something went south," Radrox answered darkly. The wheels were already spinning in his head. I followed his racing thoughts, getting lost in them for a while.

The two of us sat in silence for a while, thinking. Hours must've passed with us like that because Arika came to find us soon. I picked up something about her as soon as she entered the room. There was a look of distress on her face, and she seemed paler than before. Or maybe it had something to do with the dress she wore. I scanned her to ensure she was alright.

"What is it?" I asked, turning to her. My dragon stirred inside me immediately, wanting to be with her. Even though it had been just a couple of hours since I'd been around her, my dragon craved her as if we'd been without her for months.

"Did he come back?" Arika asked, her eyes darting around the room. She was looking for Ivret, and it irked me a bit. I wanted her eyes to be on me, only me. The wave of possessiveness that washed over me was too intense. I clenched my jaw and fists as Arika swept her gaze over me briefly but chose to go to Radrox.

"No, we're waiting for him," Radrox answered, holding his hand out for her. She took it without hesitation before he tugged her into his lap. I sucked in a breath as she adjusted herself in my brother's lap, a heated look in her eyes as she glanced at his face briefly.

"I'm worried about him," She said, making me almost groan.

"He'll be alright. You don't have to worry about him," I told her. "He's probably out meeting his old—" I was interrupted as the door to the study flew open. Ivret stood at the door, still in his morning clothes, his hair a mess, as if he'd been constantly running his fingers through it.

"Ivret!" Arika sprang to her feet at the sight of him, and it bothered me more than it should've. The possessiveness seemed to be getting worse with every second, and I wondered how I was going to share her with that imbecile and my brother without ever having issues. "Where have you been?"

"That's not important," He answered, stalking into his study and going straight for the drawer in his table where he kept the particular medicine that immediately washed away all the tiredness. He took out the potion and downed all of it in one go, but not before announcing darkly, "What's important is that we're going to the Court Dinner tomorrow." 

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