Dragons Realm (34 page)

Prince Damian nod­ded and stepped aside.

And as Dante turned to exit the room, the oddest thing happened: A white owl swooped down out­side the bed­room cham­ber, perched in the win­dowsill, and hooted three times. Mina gasped at the blatant con­firm­a­tion of the omen, and Prince Dante sucked in a harsh, know­ing breath. As he passed through the threshold, through the door­way, he turned around, placed his palm over his heart, and mouthed the words
I love you
, and Mina’s soul swelled with emo­tion.

She watched him as he made his re­treat, star­ing at his lithe, grace­ful back, and then she jol­ted, sit­ting up­right.

Blessed Spirit Keep­ers
, there was a second pres­ence walk­ing be­side him, a strong, power­ful male with the bear­ing of a prince and the stealth of a dragon. The haunt­ing pres­ence placed its ghostly arm around Dante and braced his shoulders proudly, and Mina couldn’t help but no­tice that their strides, their hair, even their proud mas­cu­line physiques were vir­tu­ally identical.

It was Des­mond Dragona.

The ghost turned around and smiled, and in an eth­er­eal voice he breathed: “Be­hold, the greatest king to ever rule the Realm.”