“So what exactly is going on here?”

Zinc looked up in surprise as his mother, the queen, entered the room where he’d been waiting at Leanne’s bedside.

“What do you mean what is going on?” He kept his tone neutral, his gaze focused on Leanne’s peaceful expression as she slept.

“It’s not what we expected,” the queen said quietly, taking a seat on one of the chairs next to the bed. “It truly is good to see you, but when you brought your mate back, I wasn’t expecting her to faint. Or for you both to be dressed so… interestingly.” She gestured at the dirty tunic and pants he was wearing, that he’d been wearing in the dungeon.

He still didn’t know what to tell his mother, and he kept his thoughts blocked so she couldn’t see them.

She didn’t really need to know that her son had been kidnapped while on Earth and held by a crazy she-dragon who wanted to rape him. Or that his mate was a human who had been imprisoned and mated him only to save his life.

Or that his mate didn’t think they were permanently mated.

He hadn’t meant to trick anyone, he thought, stroking his thumb over Leanne’s knuckles as he held her fingers in his hand. He couldn’t have lied to her even to save his own life.

He’d simply been delirious and misunderstood her question.

That was all.

He let out a deep breath. “It has been a difficult couple of weeks for us, but luckily, we are both fine now.”

“Hm.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs regally. She was tall, like all the dragons in Drakkaris, and could be quite a formidable presence, even without the crown that currently rested on her perfectly coiffed, gray-haired head. “We did contact the oracle and your friends, as you requested.”

“And?”

“They are relieved to hear that you are okay. Apparently, they lost contact with you. Although, the oracle couldn’t tell me anything else.”

“I see,” Zinc answered noncommittally.

His mother stared at him intently. “It seems it was good that I negotiated with the oracle to put a portal in your ring so you could come back when you found a mate.”

Zinc nodded. It was all his mother had requested when Zinc and the rest of the dragon guard had left to find mates.

“Of course, I am a bit worried about how you were faring on Earth. Though, I can see you don’t wish to talk about it.”

“I’m still figuring it out,” he said. “Our arrival was a little… sudden.”

“I could tell that by the way your mate fainted.”

“It’s been… a hard day for her. I’m sure she’ll feel better when she wakes.”

The queen stood and walked to the bed, looking down at her. “I’m sure.” She smiled warmly. “She seems to be a wonderful woman. I can’t wait to properly meet her.”

He stood to give his mother a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you. For understanding. For being patient.”

His mother drew back, holding his hands in hers. “I only want what’s best for you.” Then she released him. “I’m going to head downstairs to see your father. Unless there’s anything else you want to talk about.”

Zinc hesitated. A part of him wanted desperately to tell someone exactly what had happened, how complicated things were between him and Leanne.

But he couldn’t tell his mother that he’d been mated in a desperate moment to be saved from imminent rape or death. That reduced what he had with Leanne, what he felt for her, to simple necessity, and that wasn’t the truth at all.

“No. I’m fine,” he said, giving her a little wave and turning back to the bedside. “Nothing to talk about.”

“That’s too bad,” she said. “Because I think a friend of yours had hoped otherwise.”

He jerked his gaze back to the door as she closed it, and he wondered for a moment what she meant.

Then the door swung open, and a very welcome face appeared in his doorway.

Tall, broad shoulders, blue-gray hair, deep-blue eyes. Reading glasses perched on a slim nose.

“Cobalt.”

The man swept a bow. “At your service, Your Majesty.”

Zinc crossed the room in a few steps and closed Cobalt in his arms, clasping him in a manly hug that made the quiet man grunt slightly.

When they separated, Cobalt held Zinc at arm’s length and looked him over. “It is good to see you well, Your Highness.”

“Just Zinc for now,” Zinc said. “After all, I’m not taking the throne yet.”

“But you will now that you’ve found your mate,” Cobalt said, walking over to the bed and looking down at it. “She is beautiful.”

Zinc suppressed jealousy at another dragon even looking at his mate and took a seat in the chair he’d been in before, gesturing for Cobalt to take the other.

“So where have you been? What has happened to you? We have been trying every day to find you. Completely panicked.” Cobalt pushed the glasses up on his nose, a habit acquired from constantly spending time reading human books on Earth.

“I was kidnapped, as you know,” Zinc said. “I can’t say a lot about it because I was fairly delirious, but apparently, the lady dragon was planning to mate me.”

“That evil bitch. To gain access to Drakkaris?”

“Perhaps,” Zinc said. “Not that I ever would have gone along with it.”

Cobalt looked at Leanne again, puzzled. “If you were in captivity, how did you end up mated?”

“Uh, well, that’s kind of a long story.”

Cobalt crossed one leg over the other. “I’m here to help you. If all I can do is listen, that’s what I’m here for.” He grinned slightly. “And you know I love a good story.”

Zinc sighed but knew Cobalt was probably the best person to talk to about something like this. No matter the situation, he could see it logically.

As he explained the situation, he saw Cobalt’s expression turn more and more amazed, and by the time he’d gotten to them leaving through the portal and coming here to Drakkaris, he was sitting back in the chair, looking slightly dazed.

“So she did all that just to save you?”

“Yes.”

Cobalt shook his head. “That is incredible. She is an amazing person.” He smiled. “As deserving of our king.”

“She didn’t know I was a king. Or believe I was from a different planet, apparently.”

“Well, she must have known enough about you from those few days if she was willing to make such a permanent choice with you.”

“Uh…”

“What?”

“She didn’t exactly know it was permanent.” Somehow, Zinc seemed to have left that out.

“How?”

“Because she asked when I was delirious if it could be reversed, and as I wasn’t lucid, I gave some nonsense answer about being the king and being able to do anything I wanted.”

“Oh.” Cobalt sat back. “That is quite a pickle, as the humans would say.”

Zinc laughed hoarsely. “Humans. I am mated to a human.” He looked at her tenderly. “Truly, I could never have chosen a more perfect human, even if I had been given a choice.”

Cobalt was quiet. “Do you think she wants to reverse the mating? What will you do if that’s the case?”

Zinc shrugged. “No idea. What do you suggest?”

Cobalt thought it over for a moment, gray eyebrows furrowed. “I suppose you just have to win her over the same way you would have won her if you’d met her outside a dungeon. Get to know her better. You know, like the other dragons did with their humans.”

“That makes sense,” Zinc said, giving Cobalt a pat on the back. “It’s good to have you here. Speaking of which, was Chromium angry?”

“No, of course not. Like all of us, he was worried about you. Worried we had failed you. That your poison would take you…”

“Thanks to Leanne, it didn’t.”

“Right,” Cobalt said. “Because of that, I’m completely committed to helping the both of you however I can.”

Zinc heard a knock on the door and sat up abruptly. “Who is it?”

“A servant. Your father is asking for you, Your Highness.”

Zinc shook his head. “Don’t know why they insist on calling me that. I’m not king yet.”

“But you will be. At least, most of them have grown up thinking as much.”

“Leanne may not want to stay here.”

Cobalt put a hand on Zinc’s shoulder. “Your life has been spared. Why not take this one step at a time from here on out? Be grateful for the gift you’ve been given and find out more about the woman who gave it to you.”

Zinc relaxed slightly. “You’re right.” He rubbed his hands over his face. “I wanted to wait for her to wake up, but if the king is calling me…”

“I will go with you to meet the king, and we will ask the queen to wait here for your mate so she doesn’t wake up alone.”

Zinc nodded. “That’s actually a great idea.”

“And when she does wake, I will help you teach her our customs, help you figure out ways to win her.” Cobalt wiggled his eyebrows. “You can learn a lot of things from books, Zinc.”

Zinc felt blood rush into his neck and cheeks and exhaled harshly. “I’m sure you can. Now let’s go before the king has to call again. You know he hates that.”

Cobalt barked out a laugh. “Yes, sir.”