Page 85 of Retrograde

Yeah,right.

Thorn didn’t react and kept talking. “Yes, we’re competing to possibly mate the queen, but it is what is supposed to be best for Thovudin andcheatingisn’t.Usurpingisn’t. She’s queen ruler. Playing it off that she’ll basically birth the next king and one of us will be in charge until then—that’s taking over and the media is eating it up. That’sdangerous.”

“For all of us,” someone else added.

“And it makes idiots bold,” Onyx added. “I’ve told the queen—none of us would have thought Lori would have been the one to pull something like that. It’s time to stop acting like—it’s time to just stop.” He glanced around at the other candidates. “I’m basically done with helping Protesia. You don’t have to worry about Thorn punching you anymore if you step out of line.”

Because he’d put them in the ground. That was obvious from his tone… Unless they were idiots who didn’t get that.

And Eloise swooned, my face flushing as well. He did a double take when he saw that, others catching my reaction as well and clearing their throats or coughing.

Oh, they could stuff it. Yeah, I liked it when someone treated me with respect and fought for me instead of assholes like Wilder.

Shocking, right?

“No more lies. No more bullshit. This is a fair—I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but competition,” Dray said, and gave me an apologetic look but also half shrugged. “I cannot be the only one who remembers the unrest with our families years ago. It wasn’t that many ago and it waspopularto hate on Alpha families.

“We could be back there in a flash after Lori and Kole. One more and—three strikes is a popular adage for areason. So while I hate Wilder gets quietly handled, we all agree we start throwingdown and no more of this. No more—if she only mates because she gets stuck with the fucking leftovers, then all of Thovudin loses out.”

“And no more of this multiple mates demand,” I added. “The public isnotaccepting of that from a woman. You want me to accept more than one? You start working on fixing that because I willnotbequeen whorelike that one story title in a major newspaper. That’s what they print about me regarding this and it’s not even happened. I won’t do it. I won’t.”

“Yeah, I can’t believe how far they’re taking it,” someone grumbled.

That was because they had a penis and had never had to deal with sexism.

They seemed to all accept it and were definitely on board for handling liars and cheats since that benefited them. Wilder’s uncle shot me a few looks and I realized why when Darren started chuffing and practically dragged the man off to the side.

“He was really going to be so stupid as to ask to switch out the candidate, wasn’t he?” I mumbled as I stared after them.

“I think it’s best to not go there for your mental health,” Onyx whispered and moved his hand to my lower back. “Let’s eat. I’m annoyed I only got one shot on Wilder before his uncle elbowed me out of the way and you had your super-secret meeting to start.”

I swallowed loudly, feeling guilty that he didn’t know I had actually called Galan and discussed him coming to visit. I honestly didn’t plan on mating Galan, but… It was a good ploy for both of us.

And I was serious about possibly making Cohen a vassal state of Thovudin. It would protect him and get the ministers under control, and there was a lot we could gain from that deal.

Onyx managed to sneak in to sit with my group, and I basically shrugged it off to the others wanting lunch more thanissues. It was a pasta bar to show the Alphas what their relatives had talked about living in the castle, and it was amusing to watch as they were educated how other cultures and countries enjoyed food.

Some dragons really were just boring.

Onyx chuckled as I built a massive bowl with white sauce topped with salmon and shrimp. I loved a good alfredo and then added more cheese just because I agreed with him that everything needed extra cheese.

But also, I got the treat when I was so stressed from idiots.

“Okay, this is seriously amazing,” Maple praised, having copied me. “I’ve traveled and—we really do need more culinary range in Thovudin.” She glanced over at Darren’s lunch. “Oh, I want tomatoes in mine. Yes, diced tomatoes in a white sauce with salmon and shrimp? Perfect.”

“I thought so,” he chuckled and wiped his mouth before standing. “I’ll get you some.” He told me he would for me as well knowing I would want the same without even needing to ask.

“Something is going on with him,” I muttered as I looked after him. “I don’t know but—”

“But you have enough else going on, darling,” Maple said gently.

I met her gaze. “So something is going on.”

She sighed and shared a look with Fraser.

“We don’t know, but I heard there’s a bit of a shakeup in the Gurren family,” Fraser answered. “Your grandfather started some trouble or something.”

“About Darren being my advisor?” I worried. I’d never even met my grandparents—none of my mother’s relatives besides him really. Not that I could remember. They didn’t believe in… I honestly wasn’t sure.