by Viola Grace
Black hair with silver and gold streaks flowed to his waist in a loose wave. His skin had the bluish sheen that the water folk often had, and his expression was pure irritation.
“Why don’t you save yourself and tell her to come with me?”
Trin stepped toward him. “Do you threaten me?”
He nodded, and his men closed around her. “I do.”
She stood and flared her wings out, using the tip of the right one to draw a drop of blood from his neck. “Right back at you.”
His eyes widened, and he backed up, but her wingtip followed. “You are not a quartz dragon like the others have been saying.”
She released her wingtip and dismissed her wings. “I am not. But... guessing is fun. Keep guessing. As for Apraxa, she is a woman who has grown up loved and supported. She has built an empire that could grow across the world. That is her passion, her creation. Don’t get in the way of that and you will get along fine. Find ways to help her, and she will make you her true partner in every way.”
He blinked with multiple lids. “I don’t understand.”
“She is under the impression that you want her businesses.”
He frowned. “That was her mother’s suggestion, not mine. I will take her any way I can get her.”
Trin smiled and walked over, placing her hand on his wrist. “Tell her that when you are in front of her, no matter who is with you, just be forthright and leave the ego behind.”
He slowly smiled. “You would be an ally?”
“I am her friend, but if you are what is best for her, you have my support. However, cross her or make her cry and I will use my wingtip to carve you into sushi.”
The men with him were standing back, respectfully, but one of them grinned.
Trin smiled. “You are the brother, I am guessing?”
His long dark hair slid forward as he bowed. “I am. Well spotted.”
“Good. Stay serious, and if you could turn your backs while Apraxa and your brother speak, it would be for the best.”
He bowed. “As you wish, my lady.”
She nodded. “So, now we wait.”
She waved at the table. “Help yourself to the food and drink.”
The two men who were with Apraxa’s male smiled and walked right past her toward the food.
Trin smiled and looked toward the storm dragon. “So, what is your name? I will need to be able to recognize it when Apraxa cusses you out.”
“Romak Drmor Aleghehar Wixenor.” He smiled.
“Trin Lem.”
He took her hand and bent his head over her knuckles. “It has been a pleasure to meet you, Trin Lem. Thank you for your advice on Apraxa.”
“No problem. Your other option is to just kiss her, but she might bite.”
His smile was conspiratorial. “I will consider that Plan B.”
They remained in companionable silence for the remainder of the time, and he and his men left her at the chime.
Trin was getting restless. She didn’t like to be boxed in, and this was definitely getting on her nerves.
She paced, and her next batch of suitors arrived. They introduced themselves, one after the other, and she nodded, but she was beginning to suffocate with all these dragons around her.
When one of the men spoke, asking her a question she hadn’t heard before, she smiled.
“Did you just ask me what I was looking for in a mate?”
The man nodded. He was golden, his scent was from an area surrounded by sun-baked clay. “It seems to me that if I don’t find a mate here, I might want to take into consideration what a woman might want in a mate.”
She searched her memory and smiled. “It is a good question, Nolesander Kreelo. I would say, that what a mate wants, what anyone wants, is to have their mate be the best that they can be, and in turn, she will do her best. Together, they lift each other up, and they are both much stronger than either could ever be apart.”
The other men had begun to stare at her, and some of the arrogant façades that had developed over the waves of fawning women in the other cubicles faded at her blunt words.
“Dragons control this part of the world because we are wise and even-tempered. That said, I have met a lot of jackasses since my dragon woke, and many others are known and reported on around the world. Dragons have tremendous power, but it doesn’t make us innately better than humans or other shifters. It merely means that we have more to control and that control is what can lead to arrogance. It also means that when a dragon goes wrong, it can destroy their family, friends, and all around them. Keep that in a part of your mind with every heartbeat, every step, and every word you speak to those around you carries the weight of what you are. When I thought I was human, when they marked me as human, I had a human’s freedom to speak whatever came into my head. I knew that those words could hurt, so I tempered them. I did that with no power, no innate right to obedience. I could still make folk quail before me, just with words. My first meeting with a dragon was with a frustrated female whose insecurity caused her to lash out. I was able to answer back, but it cost me my humanity and all that it meant to me.”
The dragons behind Kreelo were staring with wide eyes.
“So, just be the man that you would want your mother to have had in her life or your sisters or your nieces, aunts, and friends. Act in a way that makes them proud to stand next to you, knowing that you have done all you can to be worthy.”
A silver dragon asked, “What about the women? What do they do for us?”
“We are the ground under your feet. The house that you take shelter in. If you undermine a woman, she will become the sliding sands of the windswept desert. She is made of the same stone but has been shattered so many times that she can no longer reliably support you if you need it. Keep her safe, keep her whole, and you will live a long and happy life.”
The young man asked, “What if we don’t get along?”
“That is easy. Let your dragons talk. Go somewhere, you shift and she shifts, and your dragons will compete for dominance or come into a treatise. When you return to human, you will understand what is going on and how you should proceed. We are not alone in this, our dragons make this choice, and we learn to live with it.”
Kreelo smiled. “It isn’t romantic.”
She thought about the first time that her dragon had identified Brommin as the pretty one. “It has its moments.”
“That is why the courtship is so important. Once our dragons make up their minds, the human parts of us have to make up for the suddenness of the decision.” Kreelo smiled.
She reached out and took his hand. There was a shop, the scent of herbs, and a woman with brown and gold hair. The scent of magic was in the air around her, and it was tinged with the scent of fascination. “Oh, so you...”
“This is for my father. My dragon has already chosen.”
Trin smiled, suddenly at ease with what was going on. “I wish you luck, Nolesander. Keep in touch after you find your lady’s heart. I suspect that she is holding many secrets.”
“Her father hates the dragons, so yes, I am guessing that I have a battle ahead of me.” He smiled and the corners of his eyes crinkled. He was looking forward to the fight.
The chime rang, and her amused gathering left.
Torm was in the next group, and he looked nervous and determined. “Lady Lem, I am glad to see you.”
She grinned. “Have you seen Meadra yet?”
He shook his head, and the other men with him looked confused.
She chuckled and took his hand. “It will be fine. You are her dragon’s choice. No one else is even visible to her eyes. It explains your fixation. You were close to what you wanted, but I was not it.”
The other males were all of a higher draconic ranking, but aside from greeting them politely, she had no interest when they reeled off their accomplishments.
She was waiting for the next group, and Torm smiled. “It is horrible in its way. The waiting.” He squeezed her hand, and
she realized that she was still holding it.
“You do realize that after the final choosing and the binding, you are going to be my uncle or my stepfather, depending on which version you want to embrace.”
His eyes widened, and he laughed. “I look forward to it, niece.”
The chime rang again, and he and the others left.
She paced back and forth again as she waited. They had to be near the end. Brommin had to be close.
When the last group came through, there were only three of them.
She cocked her head. “Are you the last?”
They nodded, confused. “We are. This is the last round. We have seen the other females.”
That was it. It was the final straw to an evening of frustrations. She spread her wings and left her cubicle, searching for her mate.
Chapter Eight
Her dragon offered up extra senses so that she could follow Brommin.
The glow of his aura was up and on the fourth floor, so she smashed through one of the twenty-foot windows of the ballroom and headed outside.
The sight of him through a window, bloody and chained, filled her with fury. She dove for the window, wrapping her wings around her at the moment of impact.
She stood in the space in front of Brommin and glared at the ten younger males who were carrying weapons. “Why?”
One of the bolder males in his early twenties snarled. “He won’t even consider one of our sisters. You are a filthy human-born dragon. Abomination, you shouldn’t even exist.”
She cocked her head and smiled grimly at them. She lashed out with her wings and cut the chains from Brommin. He got to his feet, and he murmured, “Don’t kill them.”
She nodded, and her dragon took over.
When she held up her hands and spouted diamond claws, three tried to run for the exit. A swish of her wings and the door closed.
She grabbed and grappled with each of the men, some attacked her wings and learned how sharp they were, her claws cut faces, one by one until each of the ten who had hauled off her beloved were marked and stained by their complicity in the evening’s work.
Brommin began knocking heads together, and eventually, they were the only two standing. He came to her and wrapped his arms around her. “I am sorry that this happened. I expected them to attack you, not me.”
She sighed and pressed her head to his chest. “I still choose you.”
“Good. We might have a few minutes left. Hold tight and pull in your wings.”
She let him cradle her in his arms, and he spread his wings, walking to the window she had shattered and launching them into the night and back the way she had come.
He cruised through the window of the ballroom and directly toward her cubicle. His landing was a little rough, but he was there in time. She held him tight, and the other men didn’t ask what had happened.
When the chime sounded, she was still in his arms. The walls of darkness dissipated, and those gathered were exposed.
Brommin walked to the couch in the corner, retracted his wings, and he settled down.
She looked at him and winced. His cheek was swollen, his eye was red, there was a cut on his lip that went from top to bottom. “They hurt you.”
He smiled. “I will be fine by dawn. Thank you for coming for me.”
“I don’t know how important it was for you to be here, but I knew you would never avoid a chance to have me in your arms.”
“Never. If they hadn’t gotten me by surprise, I would have found my way to you in every grouping.”
“And thereby driving the organizers insane.”
He sighed. “Just as we are doing now. You are meant to be talking with others.”
She sighed and pressed a quick kiss to his lip, exhaling gently, and her dragon added a certain something. She pulled his head toward her and kissed the swollen side of his eye, pressing light and tiny kisses along his cheekbone. She sat back and watched as the marks of his injuries faded and healed before her eyes.
She was quite pleased with herself.
He smiled. “I am not surprised. You are going to be the most powerful dragon of our generation. What do you plan to do with it?”
She smiled. “Open that extra shop, and then, we will see what comes.”
“Nothing more?”
“Maybe work on that archive, making copies. There are things in there that the female dragons need to know, and if I can get that across with a pamphlet campaign, I will do it.”
He squeezed her, and other heads around the room were staring at them.
Trin glanced around and sighed. “It looks like we are going to have a lot of uphill work ahead.”
Meadra stepped toward them, blocking some of the faces. Torm formed an additional brick in the fence. Soon, several of the folk she had spoken to that evening, including Apraxa and her would-be mate. They shielded them effectively from the gazes of those in the room.
“It will be different tomorrow night. Tomorrow, your dragon will be announced when your name is spoken. They will at least be more respectful to your face after that.” He whispered it in her ear.
“I don’t want respect, I just want to be left to my own devices. My dragon demands her mate, and you are...”
He sighed. “It is hard to define, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Very.”
“As long as you choose me tomorrow night, I can help you.”
She grinned. “There is literally no one else on my mind.”
They sat for a moment more. Brommin smiled. “Nice dress, by the way.”
“Thank you. You are looking smudged but very official tonight as well. How are the parts that they bound with chains? Why didn’t you just sprout wings and snap out of them?”
“It does not work that way for me. Not all of us are made of diamond.”
Apraxa’s mate whipped around, and he stared for a moment before she elbowed him in the ribs, and he turned back around.
“Since we have privacy...” Trin looked at Brommin and pulled his head down for a kiss.
They continued to kiss until Brommin paused. When Trin’s hearing came back to her instead of the roar of passion in her ears, she heard nothing.
“Is your mother standing right behind me?”
Brommin’s lips quirked. “My father. So, not as bad as it could be.”
“My son, why are you manhandling one of the choosers?”
“Lord Lefarge, how nice to hear your dulcet tones.” Trin pivoted on Bromnin’s lap as carefully as she could manage considering their proximity.
“I have found a number of novice guards in one of the upper rooms. They were all marked with three claw marks on the cheek. There were also chains and a scattering of those beads that you are wearing.”
Brommin kept his arms wrapped around her. “Do you think it has anything to do with her?”
The senator came over and murmured quietly. “It has everything to do with her. The scent of both of you was all over those men. Did they kidnap her?”
Brommin helped Trin to her feet, and he stood behind her. “No. They took me, Father. They wanted to keep me from making this essential meeting. Without Trin’s pre-approval, I would not be able to appear at tomorrow’s ball. I was shackled above, so she came and got me.”
“Right. Well, that is a different matter. Thank you, Lady Lem, for going in search of my son. I will deal with those who attacked him. Of course, you made them easy to spot.”
Trin smiled brightly. “My dragon tells me that those wounds won’t heal. She can grant them healing, but the scars will remain.”
“I am still not sure that you are, what everyone thinks you are, but the evidence is adding up.”
Trin looked at the small army of those willing to defend her privacy, and she sighed. “Yes, it really is.”
The vehicle that took them home was the senator’s private karros.
Meadra still had a dazed smile on her lips. Her first kiss with Torm had been rushed, but it had been intense.
Apraxa was a little bemused. Whatever her would-be-lover had said was sinking in.
Trin was both exhausted and exhilarated. The young men she had wounded would be dealt with after tomorrow’s ball.
They were delivered back to Creata and Vasic’s home without anything eventful happening.
Creata’s first words reminded her that the evening had been fairly eventful. “Trin, do you realize that your gown is spattered with blood?”
Trin looked down and winced. “Mirbella is going to kill me.”
The once white and iridescent gown was now the victim of snapped columns of beads and spattered with blood.
“She will have to wait until tomorrow. For tonight, I have a meal prepared. You can all get out of your gowns and into sleepwear, and then, we will discuss as much as you are able to.”
Trin nodded and didn’t hug her friend. No one needed to be smeared with blood after ten in the evening.
“I get the hint. Pyjama party it is.” She headed upstairs, leading the other two.
A light scrubbing and a nail brush later, she was free of blood, dressed in a nighty and robe that Creata provided for her guests, and sitting down with the other ladies drinking herbal tea and eating small sandwiches.
Creata asked the question. “Well, how was it?”
Meadra cleared her throat. “Better than expected but stranger, too. There were dragons from all regions and some from overseas.”
Trin gave her a wry look, and Meadra smiled. “I am not giving away any secrets. Just vague descriptions.”
Creata leaned forward. “I am married with a baby, I crave as much vagueness as I can get.”
Apraxa sat back and smiled. “You are seated in a small space, and suddenly, four male dragons walk through the wall and introduce themselves. They stand there and talk at you, not to you, and then, a chime rings and they move on to the next female.”
Trin chuckled. “And then, there is that exciting moment when a stranger from a strange land tries to attack you, and you have to defend yourself.”
Meadra smiled. “Or the curtains come down, and you are in the lap of your chosen male.”
Trin blinked and then realized that no one had seen her. None of the females or males had seen her take off, they had only seen her in Brommin’s lap, spattered with blood.
