Chapter 498

I sit up straighter, surprised. "The one with the crown?" I ask, a little horrified at the idea. "Or - the one next to him?"

"The one next to him," Ben says, nodding seriously, and I feel a whoosh of relief - because the one with the crown...my wolf raises her hackles at his memory. There was something wrong with him. But the one next to him - I suddenly remember the pulse that went through me when our eyes locked. Not a mating bond – no, I'd recognize that anywhere – but...a connection.

A real one I can't explain.

"Did you find out who he is?" I ask, excited.

"Of course I did, Ari," Ben says, leaning back in his chair and waiving a dismissive hand at me. "What do you think I did all midwinter? Actually, Rafe is the one who told me who it was."

"Really?" I ask, my eyes going wide. "Does Rafe...know?"

"No, only you know," Ben says, looking at me a little hard, and I nod quickly to reassure him that I'm keeping the secret. The stakes are high, after all, on this one. "But...I asked some questions about the Atalaxian delegation and got enough information out of him to figure it out."

"Well come on, Benny," I growl, smacking the table between us and making him laugh. "Spill! I'm dying here!"

"All right, all right," he says, leaning his arms on the desk and grinning at me, I think enjoying himself more than he has in a while now that he has someone to talk to about this. "His name is Elias. He's the son of a minor Atalaxian Prince named Calvin, their third child."

My eyes go a little wide at the name, because I recognize it.

"What?" Ben asks, frowning at me.noveldrama

"My mom knows Calvin, I think," I say, nodding eagerly. "She really likes him - her one friend in Atalaxia.”

"Yes, that's what Rafe said too," Ben says, nodding. "Which gives me hope. It's hard enough having a mate who is Atalaxian - if his dad is cool enough that your mom likes him, hopefully Elias has some progressive politics as well and doesn't like...hate women. Or himself, for being gay." My face falls into a grimace then, thinking of how horrible it must be to grow up liking people of the same gender as you in a world where that's a crime punishable by death. God, Elias - I don't know him at all, but my heart already goes out to him. And for Ben's sake on top of that, I want to do everything I can to help.

"So, what are you going to do?" I ask quietly. "What are we going to do?"

"We?" Ben asks, raising his eyes to mine a bit.

"Benny, you know I'm going to do everything I can to help you find your mate and keep him safe," I say, a little fiercer than I usually am, putting my hands flat on the desk between us. "But I'm also sure that your clever little clockwork brain," I point a finger at his forehead now, turning it in a circle like the shifting gears of a complicated machine, "is already turning with ideas. So? What do we do?"

Ben beams at me then, I think liking the metaphor as well as my instant, open offer of aid. But he sighs deeply and drops his eyes when he starts to think on what we're up against. "Obviously, I want to get him out of there, Ariel. If anyone finds out about our bond - even if he is a minor prince or whatever they will make an example out of him. But...I mean, I don't even know if he wants to leave - would he give up his whole nation to start a new life here, with me? I mean, he'd be a...traitor to his world. To his family."

My wolf turns anxiously in my soul at the mere idea of it, because if I had to choose between my mates and my country...

God, I don't know if I could do it.

But then again, my country loves and supports me and wouldn't kill me if my mate was a woman instead of a man. It is different. I bite my lip, torn.