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But it wasn’t Willa. When the door opened, it revealed a frowning Twig. That frown quickly vanished, turning into a smile, before Twig seemed to realize something had to be wrong for Taylor to be there at this hour of the evening.

“It’s almost midnight. What’s going on?” he asked.

Taylor shook his head. “I just wanted to check in on you.”

“Why? Something happened, right?”

“Something happened,” Taylor confirmed. “You’ll find out tomorrow.”

Twig watched him for a moment. Taylor expected him to push for answers, and maybe he would’ve given in and told Twig what he wanted to hear. No one had forbidden him from talking about it, but he was sure Killian would want to be the one to answer Twig’s questions.

“All right,” Twig said gently. “Well, as you can see, I’m fine.”

“I can see that. It’s a relief.”

“So whatever happened tonight wasn’t good, was it?”

“It will be good. But it had me thinking about you.”

“And you worried,” Twig murmured.

“I was, but I see now I had no reason to be. You should go to bed, though.”

Twig looked amused. “Maybe you should go to bed too. It’s late.”

“You’re right, it is, and I was heading toward my rooms. I just wanted to check on you first.” Taylor didn’t want to leave, but he also couldn’t stay. He decided to take a chance and reached out, gently running his fingertips down Twig’s arm. It amused him that Twig leaned into it, but he didn’t mind. It would be different from his other relationships, but that didn’t mean it would be a bad thing.

Twig blinked, and his cheeks turned a slight purple. It looked good on him, and Taylor made a mental note to do that again. Actually, he wanted to do a lot of things, just to see what kind of reactions he could get out of Twig.

But not tonight.

He lowered his hand and took Twig’s, lifting it to his lips, gently kissing his knuckles before letting go and taking a step away. “Good night.”

Twig nodded but didn’t say anything. He looked a little dazed, and while that hadn’t been Taylor’s intention, he was pleased with himself.

There was no way for Twig to ignore what Taylor wanted now. He was going to think about what had just happened for a while, Taylor was sure of it. He would fret over it, obsess a little bit, and he’d definitely think about Taylor.

And hopefully, Taylor would know how Twig felt about all of this soon.

Chapter Eight

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TWIG OFTEN FELT OVERWHELMED these days. Before he’d gotten Killian’s attention, he hadn’t been important. No one paid attention to him except his mother, and he hadn’t realized how much his life would change after Killian decided he wanted them to be closer.

Or at least, in theory. So far, the two of them hadn’t spent a lot of time together. Killian was trying, but he had a lot of things to do. He was king, and he had two young children. He had a consort. All of those things took precedence, and that was fine with Twig. He’d never actually expected the king to give him much attention, no matter what Killian had said.

But it wasn’t Killian’s attention that Twig had now. No—now that news had come out that Pearl had been exiled and that Alatar had been arrested, everyone was watching Twig. They knew he was the reason for all of it. They’d poisoned him, and they were paying the price.

Twig knew there was more to it than that. Yes, that was the reason Killian had been able to act, but he’d needed to deal with Pearl for a long time already. She was dangerous to the throne. She wanted it, and she didn’t care who she had to hurt to get it. She probably wouldn’t have hesitated to kill Killian if she’d been able to, but of course that wouldn’t have put her on the throne. Killian had a consort, and even though Hedley was human, most clan members wouldn’t have minded if he’d taken charge. From what Twig knew of Hedley, he probably wouldn’t have wanted to, but he would’ve done it anyway. The throne belonged to Killian’s children, and until they were old enough to take his place, Killian or Hedley would rule.

That wasn’t something Pearl would have accepted. It would’ve been dangerous for the children, which was one of the reasons Killian had needed to act. Now Pearl was out of the picture, at least momentarily. There was no doubt she wouldn’t stand down. She wanted the throne, and she was willing to do a lot to get it. She wouldn’t let something like exile stop her. They’d see her again, and Twig couldn’t say he was looking forward to it.

Just like he wasn’t looking forward to all these people watching him wherever he went. He hadn’t realized what would happen when he decided to get some food from the dining hall. As soon as he walked in, everyone had stopped talking and eating and started staring. He moved as quickly as he could, grabbing whatever looked good and throwing it on his tray, eager to leave the room. He hadn’t initially understood what was going on, but then he’d heard the whispers.

He’d already known what had happened to Pearl and Alatar because he was a council member. People were only finding out now, though, and they wanted answers. Who better to give those to them than the dragon who’d been involved in all of it?

Except that he didn’t have any answers. He decided he had enough food when he saw a group of three dragons coming toward him. He didn’t know who they were or what they wanted, but he wasn’t going to risk it.