She scoffed quietly. "I think I'll<i>keep </i>the name, if it's all the same to you." She ignored the warning glare the slavemaster gave her out of the corner of his eye. Teryn had warned him about that one, indeed, she had been nothing but trouble the entire trip to the capital. But she was<i>their</i>problem now, and he'd be able to go back to handling more agreeable stock.<br/><br/>She was braced for some rebuke from the prince at her attitude, whether it be verbal or physical, but even she looked up at the king's calm authority. Being king of a tyrant race, she had immediately thought him the greatest tyrant of all. So far he seemed rather reserved for a fire-breathing despot, even in human form, but she wasn't about to place a shred of trust in him. For all she knew, that quiet and collected nature could be a mask for some hidden cruelty--the same went for his son. She looked back to Rafaele as he stepped aside to allow his siblings to approach, watching him warily. She had seen his type before. Powerful, affluent men who were used to getting what they wanted. In Khitai, most of those men had been able to back up their attitudes with martial prowess. Here among dragons, wearing their fineries and lounging about like well-fed housecats, they seemed soft and nonthreatening. But she knew better than to assume that just because they looked posh in human form that they weren't dangerous in their true forms.<br/><br/>Her eyes also occasionally strayed to the brother lounging on his own throne, the one who had tried to lay claim to her first. And oh, did he look<i>pissed. </i>She suspected her acquisition was just the latest in a string of contentions between the two.<br/><br/>As the rest of the king's brood--and a large brood it was--picked out their new servants, she glanced over as Raffe spoke, her look of contempt briefly twisting into a humorless smile. "'Lucky' isn't the word I would use, dragon. There's a reason chief Teryn got rid of me in the first place, you know." Even with that bit of defiance, she still tensed as his hand came to rest behind her neck, her shoulders hunching slightly as if she wished to shield her throat from his grip.