“I’m not leaving you here alone, Chyna.” Cherry stood over me with her hands on her hips. Damned if everyone wasn’t trying to boss me around. She and Cezar had insisted on staying the night with me, but the next morning, I was feeling much better.

“I’m not listening to you and Cezar go at it like a couple of horny toads for another night. Thanks, but no thanks.”

“I’m not comfortable with this. Someone tried to hurt you. It could have been intentional.” Cherry blinked away tears and shook her head when she saw me start to object. “No, don’t say it. It wasn’t an accident. If someone didn’t pour gasoline all over that little hut you were going into, how did it get there?”

I stared up at the ceiling and reminded myself that she was my sister and I loved her. “Cherry, no one could have known that I’d go in there and drop a lit match. Hell, I haven’t even lit that lantern for months. If that was a murder attempt, it was a pretty damn feeble one if you ask me.”

“Don’t say murder!”

Groaning, I shook my head at her. “You’re being a little overly dramatic again.”

I shot Cezar a pleading look, and he stepped forward and wrapped his arm gently around Cherry. “I think it’s time we go, mate. Chyna will be okay.”

Cherry looked like she wanted to argue with him, but then a faraway look came over her face and she nodded. “Okay.”

“What? What was that? Did you deliver some dragon form of Xanax to her?”

Cherry narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re lucky I love you. We’ll leave you to your own devices tonight. But not until after I’ve cooked you something and done the sheets in your guest room.”

“You don’t—” I stopped myself. “Actually, yeah, do the sheets.”

She giggled as she passed by her mate and trailed her hand over his chest. “Come help me, big dragon.”

“Come on, guys. If I have to hear you two fooling around one more time, I’m going to hobble out into the swamp and pray that something does kill me.”

“Alright, alright.” Cezar held up his hands. “I will do the sheets, and Cherry can cook you something.”

“I’ll do the sheets. Your cooking is better.” Cherry rubbed her belly. “And I always add too much salt to everything. It’s making my ankles swell.”

I reached out for her stomach and blinked back tears when she moved closer so I could rub a spot over my future niece or nephew. “I love this little dragon egglet, but I’m tired of your salty cooking, too, Cher.”

Cezar laughed and nodded. “Thank god I learned to cook.”

Cezar busied himself in the kitchen while Cherry disappeared down the hallway to take care of the bedding. I stayed quiet for a bit, thinking about Cezar cooking.

“Why did you learn to cook?”

He looked up from rummaging through the fridge. “I was hungry?”

“I guess Blaise never got hungry enough.” I said it lightly, not meaning to insult his friend. I wasn’t sure I wanted to open a can of worms right then, either. I’d been doing everything I could to stop thinking about him. Wasn’t working.

“Ah. Your question is not about cooking, is it?”

“No, it is.” I busied myself pulling my hair up into a ponytail. “I was just curious.”

“Sure.” Cezar grabbed a pot from the pot rack over the island and looked up at me. “A little history lesson?”

I maneuvered on the stool so I could face him more. “Yeah?”

“In our old world, the place from where we came, we each belonged to different kingdoms. There were many, a bit like this world with its countries. Each kingdom was, is, unique. My kingdom, and most other kingdoms, had progressed and made changes with time. Dragons live long, long lives, but our species is not all that different from your kind. With each new generation, some of the older beliefs got modernized. None of the kingdoms had reached where this world is currently. Not before we left, anyway, but many kingdoms were on their way. One kingdom, however, was run for many years by an evil, brutish dragon king. A sadist. He was much feared and was dubbed the Demon King.

“His kingdom, his subjects, did not progress, mostly because he forbade change or growth. The Demon King preferred to rule through tyranny and oppression, and his younglings were groomed by him to rule in a similar manner. They were taught his brutal ways, yet they did not possess the dark heart of cruelty the way their father did.” He looked at me pointedly.

“Blaise?”

“And his twin, Remy.” Cezar sighed. “They came to this world still very much believing in those old ways. They’ve grown and changed much, perhaps as much as they can—without a reason to change more, that is.”

“History lesson over.” I didn’t want to hear that he thought I could give Blaise that reason to change. I didn’t want to hear anything else to make me hate myself more for leaving his house and him.

“Blaise is rough around the edges, Chyna, but I have known him for many years, and I am certain he is a good male. I believe he would do anything he needed to do to please his true mate.”

“What are you making?” I hobbled over to the recliner in front of the TV and plopped into it, fiddling with the remote.

“Spaghetti. A lovely dish that did not exist in our old world.”

“No spaghetti? What a shit hole.”

Cezar laughed out loud, like I’d hoped he would, dissipating the tension. “You are humorous.”

“But I’m funnier, right?” Cherry winked at me while walking up behind Cezar and slapping him on the butt. She trailed the scent of laundry detergent.

“Of course, mate. I was just telling your sister about some of the ways the old world was lacking. In some kingdoms more than others.” Cezar kissed my sister and smiled lovingly as they locked eyes. “And the worst part of all was that it lacked the amazing, breathtaking beauty of my mate.”

I fake gagged, but Cherry preened. Her smile was so radiant it was almost too bright to look at. She wrapped her arms around him and sighed. “How did I get so lucky?”

Tears burned the backs of my eyes as I stared a hole into the TV, desperate to blot out the happy lovefest going on in the kitchen. I wished they would leave already so I could be alone. I needed time to lick my wounds in private and think about all that had happened. In such a short period of time, a matter of days, my whole world had upended itself, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever be the same.

“Chyna? You okay?”

I put the recliner foot down and stood up. I’d taken to using a crutch to keep the pressure off my bad foot. I grabbed it quickly. “Um, yeah. I’m good. I just need to go…to the bathroom.”

I knew that by the end of my pathetic sentence, they could tell I was having trouble holding back the floodgate of tears, but they didn’t follow me. Cezar made sure to keep Cherry at his side so I could have a few minutes to myself, and for that I was grateful. I shut myself into my room and sat at the edge of my bed trying to get it together.

I was beginning to realize that things would never go back to the way they were pre-Blaise. Old Chyna was gone. She’d wanted to jumpstart her life, like Cherry’s, and it had started all right, with a momentum all its own.