Chapter Ten – Eyrl

Time flew by quickly as Eyrl continued the preliminary work of putting together the proposal for his project. There was a lot of talking and surveys and other such things, but he made very good progress. Lily seemed to be more comfortable than she had been at the palace, too. They flew together almost every day, and every night they spent wrapped up in each other's arms. Sometimes sleeping, mostly not. They didn't have sex every time. Many nights they stayed up into the wee hours of morning, holding one another and talking. It felt . . . paradisiacal.

Eventually, though, he received a summons from his mother telling him to head home at once. It was odd for her to be so official about it, so he immediately ordered the crew to prepare to head home. They left after promising to return as soon as they were able.

Once they were back on Bronæl, Eyrl immediately went to Xæm, certain that something terrible had happened. He was escorted to her chambers, where she, Efira and several other of her ladies-in-waiting sat at a meal. Upon seeing him, the queen stood.

"Everybody out."

Eyrl's brows rose at the look on his mother's face. Her jaw was clenched, eyes narrowed, nostrils flared. Her shoulders were thrown back and her hands were fists. Efira shot him a smirk as she passed him and he repressed the urge to glare at her. Instead, he bowed to his mother.

"I returned as soon as I received your summons. Has something happened?"

"Oh, it most certainly has." Xæm strode forward and grasped his shoulder. "What are you doing? Your position is precarious enough, and you go out with the human to a prison? You should have informed me of your plans. I would have stopped you before you got yourself into trouble."

Eyrl tensed. He'd never heard so much emotion in his mother's voice before. "What are you talking about?"

"You have been accused of running an unsanctioned social experiment."

His jaw dropped. That was why Efira had been smirking like she had! He snapped his mouth shut as his fires hissed. He tasted smoke on his tongue and tried to swallow it back down. It would not do to lose his temper. His muscles tensed, and though he tried to relax, they wouldn't.

"I was performing no experiments," he said. "I was following protocol, receiving volunteers for an experiment – should it be approved."

"You were not authorized even for that."

Was she serious? His nostrils flared as he struggled to dampen his flames. "Mother, the laws are clear. A researcher doesn't need permission to put together a research proposal. I was following—"

"It doesn't matter!" A puff of smoke escaped Xæm's mouth. She inhaled deeply and shook her head. "It doesn't matter. The accusation has been made and an investigation ordered. Until the truth is revealed, you are not to leave your chambers."

"So you are putting me under house arrest?"

Xæm didn't respond. She didn't need to. Eyrl struggled for a moment, trying to think of what to say to change her mind without being overly emotional. Nothing came to mind, so in the end, he merely bowed to her and strode out. Quom waited outside the room, Efira with him. The dragoness sneered at Eyrl and he ignored her.

"Bring Lily to my chambers," Eyrl ordered Quom. "There is something I have to tell her before word of it spreads."

Quom looked troubled but nodded. Eyrl didn't speak again until he was in his chambers. There, he allowed himself an outlet and slammed his fist into the wall. He was trying to improve the lives of his people and this was what happened? Were the boards really so terrified of a dragon sitting on the throne that they would turn to such treachery?

Before long, Quom brought Lily to him. She smiled nervously at him. The free-spirited, relaxed female he had seen on the prison planet was gone, reverted back into the shy, timid creature that she was at the palace. Well. If he was found guilty, at least that was a bonus. They could live in a prison and he would be free to embrace his beast, and she wouldn't have to live in constant self-censorship.

"What's going on?" Even her voice had a tremble to it. "There are guards outside and they almost wouldn't let me come in."

Have they barred him from his mate? Eyrl snarled, baring his teeth. He fought against the flames scorching his belly. "Give me a moment."

Lily nodded and sat on the edge of the bed. The prince paced from one end of the room to the other, moving as much as he could to burn the excess energy that filled him. Eventually, he was calm enough to return to her side.

"I've been accused of an unsanctioned experiment. I followed procedure, but clearly, someone is looking for an excuse to unseat me."

Lily's eyes widened. "Is this the corruption you told me about? The boards using a lie to dethrone you?"

His gaze darkened as he considered it. There was a possibility that some of the board members would use any tiny fault in what he had done to say he needed to be arrested, but he believed there was more honor in them than that. Certainly, they'd look at his notes and speak with the prisoners and know he hadn't done anything illegal?

"I started teaching some of them to dance," Lily continued, twisting her hands. "Will they say that was illegal? It's not like they can use the dance as part of the rehab . . . except maybe they could be teachers. Oh, god! Did I get you arrested?"

"No. No, it certainly wasn't that." He kissed her forehead. "This wasn't you. It was someone who wants to discredit me."

Lily's gaze darkened. "Then I bet it was Efira."

"Efira?"

His mother's lady-in-waiting certainly had no love for him and was very clear about not wanting him to be on the throne, but to go this far? His brow creased doubtfully. How would Efira even know what he was doing? While it wasn't a secret, he hadn’t spoken at length about wanting to implement a rehabilitation program. He didn't broadcast where he was going and what he was doing.

Of course, she didn't have to know to accuse him. The dragoness was his mother's favorite, and she had some claim to the royal lineage. So distant as to be next to useless, but still there. When they were younger, Efira would often tell him that they should mate so she could be queen. Those suggestions stopped as soon as the two of them learned what mating actually entailed.

"Why do you suspect her?" he asked eventually. Had Lily noticed something about her that he hadn't?

Lily shrugged, her scowl deepening. "She looks suspicious."

Eyrl's mood lifted. He had to turn away to stop himself from smiling. Even if the situation wasn't very good, the fact that the suspicion would fall on Efira because of what she looked like . . . But he didn't want to upset Lily, so he swallowed down his laughter.

"I think we'll need more than that," he said.

Lily wrinkled her nose. "Yeah. But I bet she's behind it."

"Maybe she is. Maybe she isn't. Now. Let's talk about your project. Just because I'm embroiled in this doesn't mean you should stop." He squeezed her hand. He'd have to hire an advisor to help her with it. With him being investigated like this, he couldn’t take any risks with her. Zaner wasn't a researcher, and he had to make sure they were following the letter of the law.

After several hours, Zaner and Quom came to his chambers. Zaner ushered Lily out to have a meal, while Quom gripped Eyrl's shoulder. His manservant waited until the two females were gone before he shook his head and let out a smoke-filled breath.

"The boards want you gone."

Eyrl stood. "They will see that I did nothing wrong and—"

"Zaner and I were questioned about your activities on the prison world. No matter what we said, there was someone who twisted our words to make you look guilty. A few members protested the treatment you were receiving, but every vote had the majority against you." Quom's blood-red eyes darkened as his nostrils flared. "Not all of them want you gone, but the majority does."

"They can't."

"If you're found guilty—"

"I didn't do anything wrong." Eyrl pulled away from his manservant. "I followed the law and I'm the queen's only heir. Unless they want to dismantle the monarchy—"

Quom shook his head. "Efira has made an official bid to be adopted into the royal family."

His mind flashed to Lily's suspicion of the dragoness. Maybe she wasn't so off. He let out a puff of smoke and shook his head. "I am not going to let this anger me."

"I am. She has no right—"

"No, she doesn't. But it's happening, and I am not going to give them more excuses to get rid of me." Eyrl closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. "Logic. We have to approach this with logic." He snorted. "And I suppose I should start working on my justification."