2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Cyrus

S he's a sight out of a vision, and she's not supposed to be here. Then again, I'm not either.

Stopped at the top of the stairs in my brother's apartment, her eyes meet mine, making something tug in my chest like someone's pulling my heart through my rib cage and into hers. Everything narrows to a single point of focus. My mouth goes dry. The noise of the crowd fades.

She's no longer the innocent looking seventeen-year-old she was six years ago. She carries herself differently now, although there's still something fiery in the way she narrows her eyes, something guarded and abrasive in the way she walks down each step.

She's wearing a teal dress that matches the teal streaks in her loose hair. There's a little stud in her nose that wasn't there six years ago. And a tattoo on her shoulder that bothers me because I don't know if she had it before or only got it recently. I wish I knew. I want to know everything about her.

With each step she takes, I have to fight the urge to step forward, to take her in my arms and claim her right here and now in front of the whole horde and Jeslyn's human friends so that everyone knows exactly who she is to me.

The battle within is torture. She's mine, but I can't have her yet.

I promised myself I wouldn't come back to New York before Finley's twenty-third birthday. I swore it. I'm only here now because Midas summoned me. It was supposed to be safe. Finley's been living in Prague, studying art, and I didn't see any reason she'd come back for a ceremony that's only for dragons.

I didn't realize Jeslyn planned a traditional baby shower at the same time. I should have guessed Finley wouldn't miss anything about her sister's pregnancy. The two of them are close.

Completely unlike me and my brother.

Midas and I have come a long way in the past few years, but things are still rocky at best. Ignoring my duty to the horde now, when my brother needs me, would be a giant step backwards .

So, here I am. At a baby shower that will later become the Blessing of New Life Ceremony at the Gold Horde's Temple.

And there she is, my fated mate. My queen's sister. The woman who stole my heart six years ago, before she was old enough to keep it.

Even now, I'm shackled, unable to pursue her for another two weeks when she'll finally turn twenty-three.

I won't ruin my fragile relationship with my brother, and my king, by breaking the law the second I rejoin the horde after years of being on my own. I need to prove to Midas I'm no longer the petulant youth who challenged him to the throne. That I'm deserving of his sister-in-law.

Why the fuck couldn't she have stayed in Prague for a few more weeks?