The sentence punched him in the chest.
Ryker: champagne. Kael: crimson silk and diamonds. Maddox Drakencrest, King of Dragons: a lecture about trespassing so dry Sterling would have been proud.
The gods were laughing. He could hear them.
His dragon roared behind his ribs.
Mine.
Around them, the ballroom carried on, five hundred conversations pretending they weren't eavesdropping on the Dragon King getting verbally kneecapped by the same woman who casually shattered his record.
What killed him was the delivery. If she'd been cold about it, he could have worked with that. She had said it with warmth. A little humor. Like she was letting him in on a joke that everyone else already understood.
She felt sorry for him. Again. Like the king of the largest empire in the world needed to be let down easy.
DIGNITY REMAINING: Presumed dead.
EGO: Last seen functioning at diplomat row.
