I stuffed one of the burgers we’d made into my mouth and pulled off the apron Cezar let me borrow before tossing it on top his counter.

I missed Chyna like crazy but kept myself occupied most days struggling through whatever ridiculous lessons Cezar or Cherry or Beast’s new adopted kids threw at me. Cooking, cleaning, I was even learning to be bossed around. It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the fact that I knew it may not help me win my mate over at all.

“When are you going to tell her that you’re learning home economics?”

“Home economics?”

“You’re learning to cook and clean. You can make at least three meals now, and you finally learned how to use a washing machine.”

“Keep talking to me like I’m a youngling and I’m going to flame your hide.”

“Someone’s cranky and needs a nap.”

I snarled at him. “Scalywing.”

“Yep. See you tomorrow.” He let out a whistle when a middle-heavy Cherry walked into the kitchen. “There’s my beautiful mate.”

“It smells so good in here. I couldn’t stay out.”

“I was just leaving.”

“You should tell her what you’re doing, Blaise.” Cherry walked over to me and rested her hand on my arm, which elicited a growl from Cezar. She just grinned at him and retracted her hand. “She’s stubborn, but I think it would help if she knew that you were doing all of this for her.”

“It is too soon.”

“I wish you’d tell her anyway. Or let me tell her.”

“You promised.”

“Fine.” She raised her palms in the air. “My lips are sealed.”

“Your lips are delicious.” As Cezar planted a kiss on his mate, I left the happy couple in their happy home and took to the air.

Stepping back from my newly finished wall, I took a long pull from a flask containing Armand’s brew and nodded in satisfaction. I had done well. Of course, I had done well. I’d built the whole house to begin with. Repairing things had never been my strong suit, though. I was more of a tear-it-down-and-start-over kind of dragon. Things change, I guessed. Some things, anyway.

I looked around and felt a consuming bitterness. The whole house was clean. Dinner was prepared and on the counter, cooling. I was taking care of myself. I was doing everything I’d waited a century for a mate to do. It wasn’t hard. I didn’t know why I’d thought it would be so much worse than what it was. I’d also learned that if I kept the house clean, it was easier to pick up. I liked the house neat. It looked better, and I didn’t stumble through trash or piles of clothes. I’d even installed a washing machine and a dryer.

It was all pointless. Why was I going through the work of becoming what I thought she wanted when it would not change Chyna’s mind? She didn’t want me now, and she never would. So, why bother?

I drank more of the brew and went outside to sit in my new lawn and patio chairs. They looked nice with the table I’d built to go along with them. A potted flower of some kind sat in the middle of the table, a gift from Cherry.

“You are lucky I am not an enemy.”

I glanced back at Remy and shrugged. “You say lucky. I say unfortunate. I could use a good brawl.”

“Oh, come, brother.” He circled the table and sat naked in one of my chairs. I made a mental note to burn it later. “It cannot be that bad.”

“It is not. It is worse.”

“Then, go after her. Do something. Anything. Anything other than what you’ve been doing.”

“I have been cooking and cleaning. What is wrong with that?” I nodded to my repaired wall. “And repairing the damage that you did to my home.”

“I did not do that alone.” He watched me drink from the flask and frowned. “Why did you even learn to perfect all those chores if you did not intend to use them to impress your mate?”

“She is gone. I wish everyone would get that through their heads.”

“That is not what I hear. I hear she is returning soon. Her job has been canceled.”

My chest ached deeply. “It will not matter. For whatever reasons, she rejects me.”

“Then make her want you.”

“It is not that easy, apparently.”

“If she does not feel the same way you feel, is she really your mate?”

I growled. “She is my mate.”

He held up his hands. “Okay, okay. She’s your mate. Are you really just going to let her slip away?”

“Were you not up here just a while ago, telling me not to hold her against her will and comparing me to our father?”

“Never. Not really. You are nothing like our father was, Blaise. You are no more like him than I am. If either of us had any doubt before all of this, this should clear it up.”

“What do you mean?”

Remy grabbed the flask from me and turned it up. “The reason I don’t think Mother was Father’s true mate? I saw them once…”

I sat up at the twinge of pain in my brother’s voice. “You saw them what?”

“I saw them in bed. Accidentally. I did not understand what I had walked in on when I was a youngling, of course. I didn’t really understand the dynamics of what I’d seen until I was here for a while, and much older, and could look back with a discerning eye. What he was doing…it wasn’t…something that she wanted.”

My stomach soured. “What are you saying?”

“He was just…using her. Taking what he wanted from her. She wasn’t fighting him, not really…but it was clear she was uncomfortable and not pleased. I know that now. At the time, what I’d witnessed had felt wrong, but I assumed it was just because I’d accidentally walked in on something not meant for my eyes. Now, I know better. If she had been his mate, I don’t think he would have been able to force her like that. He would not have been able to do that to her.” He sighed. “She would have been willing. Think back. Did she ever seem to love him or want him? She always cringed away from him.”

“Why would she have left her family and come to the castle for him, then?”

“Do you really think she was given a choice?”

I stood up and walked away. Looking out at the water, I watched as the protruding eyes of a gator slipped beneath the light green algae-covered surface. “I always assumed they were mates. I never thought to question it.”

“It took me a while. But I have seen lately how Beast and Cezar treat their mates. How they care for them. It is nothing like the way Father treated Mother. You have seen them, too. Can you even imagine Cezar or Beast touching their mates with a heavy hand? They would never do to their mates the things that Father did to Mother. It is not just because their kingdoms were what others called progressive, either, Blaise.

“Just because we did not understand what it was back then or have a word for it does not mean that it was not abuse.”

“That is what we were taught. It is all we know. How can we ever be worthy mates?”

“You are speaking with an unmated brother. I do not know shit about shit.”

I glanced back at him. “Shit about shit?”

He grinned. “It is a human expression that Sky taught me. It means I know nothing. I believe it is natural to adapt to please one’s mate, though. Beast went from being, well, a barbarian to caring for Sky like she is his most precious treasure. She bosses him around now, and he allows it.”

I had witnessed the change in Beast. We all had. Cezar had not changed as much, but he was far less barbaric and more diplomatic than Beast to begin with. “Cherry, too. She bosses Cezar around. I have seen how he does what she asks. I suppose I thought it was just because his kingdom was weak.”

“Apparently, not. Our kingdom was known as a backward, oppressive place. If you ask the rest of the dragons, our kingdom was cruel, tyrannical, and fascist.” He inhaled deeply and blew it out slowly. “They are right. We were the ones in the wrong, brother.”

I rubbed my hand over my beard stubble and squeezed my eyes shut. “Maybe she would have stayed if I’d been different.”

“Do you think you’re different now?”

“I do not know if I am different. I cannot imagine ever raising a hand to Chyna now, but I felt the same before, too. I would rather rip my own arm off. I would rather die than hurt a single hair on her head.”

“And you learned to cook and clean for her.”

“But none of that really matters.” I looked up at the darkening sky. “She does not want a mating with me. Maybe sex, but perhaps not even that or she would not have left. She has probably found someone else.”

Remy laughed. “That hurt you to say, didn’t it?”

I just groaned.

“Fight for her. If she is your true mate, there is no one else for either of you. And it is meant to work out. Fate made one female who is perfect for you, brother. One. Are you willing to let her go?”

“What would you have me do, Remy? Tie her to my bed?”

“I wouldn’t suggest it, but it’s not too late to figure out something that will work. She’ll be back. Figure it out, brother.”

I glared at my twin. If only it were that simple.