CHAPTER 48: MARKED AND MOCKED

Orien’s hysterical laughter practically rang across the den.

Meanwhile, Riley sat nearby with half his face marked from Kael’s ministry uniform, looking so sour he could have been used to make juice.

The little dragonling could not stop laughing after hearing the "unfortunate" news.

"You’re actually Uncle’s mate now? You?" Orien asked, finally taking his eyes off his handheld device to gawk at Riley as if he had just discovered some ancient, priceless relic that spoke fluent sarcasm.

Riley shivered at the word mate. It echoed like a death sentence. He seriously considered whacking Orien on the head if he wasn’t one hundred percent sure that doing so would only hurt him instead.

"No. Definitely not." He cringed as he denied the curse, his entire body twitching like it wanted to recoil from the word itself.

"What? You don’t like?" Orien blinked innocently.

Then he tilted his head. "Why? Is it because he hit you?"

"Huh? Hit me? Why would he hit me?" Riley blurted, now fully alert and halfway to offended.

Orien pointed with no hesitation. "Your face. It looks like it’s suffered more than usual."

Riley squinted at him. His teeth ground together as he forced himself to remain civil. It wasn’t the child’s fault, he supposed. Dragons always looked good. Even when kidnapped, they looked suspiciously radiant. Meanwhile, his own face was still recovering from being flattened into the texture of Kael’s elaborate embellishments.

See, earlier, there was a meeting with a specific fae clan. A very lovely clan. Elegant. Glowing. Also, one that had taken a vow of silence.

Riley, who had been doing his best to participate in the earlier debates, was suddenly rendered useless. Because, unlike everyone else, he could not communicate telepathically while sitting in complete silence.

The room had fallen so quiet that the glowing fae around the table looked like decorative night lights.

And Riley, who had been high-strung all day and running on fumes, sat there hearing nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Well, nothing except Kael’s steady heartbeat.

So, with all those factors combined, it was no surprise that the tired aide had fallen asleep. Not just during that meeting either. He was out for the next two.

And when he woke up, curled against the Dragon Lord like a cat seeking warmth, his face looked like a mold for ornamental buttons.

Obviously, anyone would be horrified upon waking up to find their boss inches away from their face. Even more so after realizing they had apparently been sitting on said boss’s lap for a disturbingly long time.

Apparently not Riley. At least, not right away. It took a moment for his sluggish brain to catch up.

The greeting he received didn’t help.

"You drool."

Riley blinked repeatedly, trying to process what he had just heard. "I don’t!"

Kael, with his usual blank expression, simply pointed down.

There it was. A very clear, very shiny wet spot.

"!!!"

"I-I’m sorry. I’ll fix it. Or replace it."

"No need," Kael replied calmly. "We both know that’s nearly impossible. Just prepare to go to the den."

"The den?" Riley asked, still slightly dazed.

Kael raised a brow. "Have you turned deaf, honey?"

Sadly, no. His hearing was perfectly fine, which meant he had heard every bit of that mocking voice loud and clear.

"Sir, what are you talking about? I apologize for not being functional after waking up, but I can resume work if necessary."

"The work day is over. Are you planning on living in this meeting room? If not, then use your legs."

Kael stepped toward the door, then paused.

"Unless you also want me to carry you?"

"!!!"

"No! I can walk by myself. But why do I have to go to the den? Do I still have tasks before I can go home?"

"Going home?" Kael repeated the phrase like it was some foreign language. "Ah. You think you’d be able to go home?"

"Huh? Of course. Am I not allowed to go home, Sir?" Riley asked, his voice climbing several octaves into mortified territory.

"You can try. I just don’t know how you plan on doing that."

Riley frowned. "What do you mean?"

Kael nodded toward the screen near the door. "See for yourself."

And they did.

Kael had told him they could only go out using a different vehicle unless Riley had sudden plans of dying earlier than scheduled.

At first, Riley thought Kael was exaggerating. Nothing felt different. The streets looked the same, the air smelled the same, and no one was screaming his name through the glass.

But then again, he had also been busy napping while the realm exploded.

He did not exactly have the most reliable sense of current events.

That changed the moment they neared his apartment.

He saw the crowd.

He saw the lights.

He saw the one reporter riding an actual flying broom, holding up a banner that said Claim Confirmed?! Human Mate Identified!

And that was the heartbreaking moment Riley Hale realized he had no choice.

He was not going home.

Not tonight. Possibly not this week. Maybe not this month.

But it would be over at some point, right?

That was what he kept telling himself.

It was an understandable concern, though. Because even the employees who normally stayed in the ministry’s employee quarters were staring at him like he was an exotic zoo animal.

He had been hopeful. Really, he had. He told Kael he would be fine staying in the shared employee housing. It was humble. Quiet. Normal.

He was wrong.

Spectacularly wrong.

After nearly an hour of tossing and turning in the standard-issue mattress, Riley could practically feel the giddy anticipation radiating through the walls. He was the topic. The center of the mess. The unintentional spectacle.

He couldn’t take it anymore.

Which was why he left the room, ended up face to face with a certain dragonling, and was now being mocked for having a lopsided face.

Obviously, Riley had no plans of letting this go. Not when the entire day had been a complete disaster.

So he retaliated.

By dragging Orien with him.

"Actually, this is all partly your fault," he muttered while dragging the kid down the memory lane. "If I hadn’t fished you out from their grubby hands, I wouldn’t have had to encounter merfolk in every corner of the district."

"And more importantly, if I hadn’t needed to go to the store at that exact moment, this entire thing wouldn’t have happened."

He slumped against the nearest bench like a man who had seen too much.

Kael was outside, reinforcing the ministry’s wards. This was the only moment of peace Riley had gotten all day. And since he had no one else to talk to, he ended up venting it all to Orien.

Orien, who had previously been giggling at Riley’s cheeks, now looked mildly offended.

"Hey, that’s not my fault. You’re duty-bound as a citizen and as an employee of the ministry to help beings in need."

"Correction," Riley said flatly, raising one finger like a legal disclaimer. "I’m not even officially employed. I’m just a trained busybody with a taser."

He threw his hands in the air. "And now look at me!"

Orien tilted his head, considering the problem for exactly two seconds. Then he smirked.

"Well, what can we do? I guess you’re Auntie now."

"Oi. Have I treated you badly to deserve that kind of curse?" Riley hissed.

Orien only shrugged. "I don’t know. But you did take so long to come back that I ended up hungry."

Riley rolled his eyes, but the edge of his mouth twitched. Orien had been genuinely upset earlier, but now that he’d heard everything that had happened, his mood had improved. Maybe it was the shared trauma. Or maybe he just enjoyed watching Riley suffer.

But that moment of levity did not last.

Not when Riley leaned forward with a sudden serious look and said, "Hmmm. I guess that’s true. But really, I feel like it’s only now when you’d really understand what it’s like to suffer."

Orien blinked. "What?"

"You say that like I haven’t suffered enough," Orien huffed, crossing his arms.

Riley placed a hand on the armrest and spoke in a low, tragic tone.

"Well, Lord Orien, now that things are the way they are, we have a slight problem."

He pointed at the handheld.

"Tell me, how do you plan to charge that when I’m not allowed to go home?"

Orien nearly dropped the device.

He stared at Riley in raw horror, as if the truth had just slapped him in the face and stolen his lunch.

Riley watched the reaction with grim satisfaction.

Now they looked even.