“Not an option,” Humphrey sneered. “Not before you’ve given me at least half a dozen dragonlings, including a male heir. After that, I may hurl you off myself.” He looked her up and down. “Of course, as long as you are my mate and therefore representing my clan, I will need to have my tailor destroy every piece of clothing you own and design you more appropriate garb.” Ugh. Five-hundred-year-old who had clearly not evolved with the times. And also, Cadence absolutely meant that about hurling herself off a cliff.
“She’s not going anywhere,” Orion said, stepping in front of her. “Because in fact, she may already be fertilized with my eggs.”
“What?” Humphrey gasped in outrage. “You…you bespoiled her?”
“Oh, puh-leeze,” Cadence snorted. “I was bespoiled when I was in high school. And it’s happened several times since. I’m more bespoiled than milk left in the hot sun for a week, in fact, so I’m no good to you. You should just fly on back home.”
“There has been no wedding,” Humphrey continued, ignoring her.
“Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t affect what happened in my bedchamber. The law says that if she is carrying my eggs, then nobody else can claim her, and tests won’t show whether she’s carrying those eggs or not for several weeks. So flap off, Humphrey.” Orion’s eyes glowed red. “Or we can take to the sky right now.”
Humphrey took a step back, eyes flashing blue with anger, and a cold cloud of vapor rushed from his nostrils.
“This is unprecedented,” Humphrey spluttered. “It is outrageous. I shall demand the Elders hand her over to me.” He stormed off, with his men following him.
She was too shocked even to fight over the temperature as Frederick drove them back to Garrison Keep.
“Are you sure you want to go that far?” she asked him. “What will happen in a few weeks when it turns out that I’m not carrying your dragonlings?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Who says you won’t be?” he said with a roguish grin, and then he reached over to the thermostat – and turned it down two degrees.
Chapter Eight
“Play nice with the other children. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Orion said as Frederick pulled up in front of the Lyndvale Parks and Recreation Center.
“Don’t set people on fire if they annoy me, in other words?”
“Exactly. Tends to make a bad first impression.” Orion winked at her as she climbed out of the car.
She headed up the steps, her mind still in a whirl of confusion. After Orion had mentioned that bit about dragonlings, he’d taken her back to the castle and then flown off to deal with some mining business in the north part of the state. He’d been courteous to her ever since then, but hadn’t flirted with her any more.
It had just been flirting, right? Just joking around?
Cadence’s phone rang as she walked into the building. A picture of a daisy appeared on her screen as it rang, so she answered. “Hello, Daisy,” she said.
“I’m twenty months pregnant,” Daisy complained to Cadence.
“Not biologically possible. Next month you will have a baby and I will be Auntie Cadence.” She paused in the lobby, which was decorated in the town’s dragon theme, with oil paintings of dragons in flight adorning the walls.
“Hi, Cadence!” Wynona called into the phone. “Orion didn’t actually have to pay triple my usual fee, but it was very much appreciated!”
Orion had paid the mating agency fee? That was hardly necessary, given that he was just using her as an irritant against the ice dragons. Wasn’t he?
“What would it mean if Orion had only flirted with me but hadn’t made a definitive move yet?” she asked Daisy in a low voice, glancing around to make sure she wasn’t heard. There were people milling around the lobby, and she could see big double doors opened to a room in the back.
“He’s taking it slow!” Wynona called out. “He’s being respectful!”
“I would agree,” Daisy said. “Ryker courted me when we first met. Be grateful that Orion’s not one of those types who just tries to jump your bones the minute he meets you.”
Cadence hadn’t told them about how Orion had agreed to take her in because it would royally piss off her father’s clan. It wasn’t necessarily a great idea to spread the word about that, given that Orion’s subterfuge was the only thing saving her from being hauled off to some ancient ice dragon’s lair to endure a forced mating.
“Yeah, probably. All right, I’ve volunteered for this Fire and Ice Festival planning committee, and I’m about to head into my first meeting.”
“Oooh, that sounds like a great festival! I want to come. When is it?”
“July.”
“Perfect. Junior Harrison will be a couple months old by then. Old enough to travel.” She and Ryker still didn’t know if it would be a boy or a girl; they wanted it to be a surprise. Harriet, Ryker’s mother, was madly knitting and crocheting and sewing in both blue and pink, and she was going to save whatever they didn’t need for future grandchildren.
“I can’t wait to see you then,” Cadence said, trying to sound cheerful. She hung up, not wanting to tell Daisy that she had no idea where she would be in July, or who she’d be mated to. There’s no point in borrowing trouble from the future, her mother used to say. Just take care of today.
The fire and ice dragon planning committees were divided up, with each side doing the planning for their half of the field. Cadence ended up on the fire dragon side.
She was assigned to help out with the food vendors’ sub-committee. She spent the day going over the lists of vendors. She worked side by side with Laetitia, who was the logistics manager for the fire dragons’ committee.
Around eleven a.m., an ice dragon named Katherine, a young woman in her twenties who owned a jewelry design store, walked over to the folding table where Cadence sat with Laetitia. Katherine was carrying a giant bouquet of flowers, along with an enormous basket of sandwiches and pastries, which bore the note, “Don’t want the mother of my dragonlings to go hungry!”
So Orion was sending out a message to the ice dragon community, who would doubtless hear of this; Cadence felt a warm glow spread through her. Orion was thinking of her safety even when he wasn’t with her.
“These are for you,” Katherine said, setting them down in front of Cadence.
“You run along now,” Laetitia said with a severe frown.
Katherine started to back away. Cadence spoke up hastily. “I’m sure that what Laetitia meant to say, in the spirit of Lyndvale hospitality, was thank you, and would you like to join us to eat some sandwiches with us?”
“They do look delicious,” Katherine said, eyeing the sandwiches.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t want to deprive her dragonlings of their nourishment.” Laetitia pushed her glasses up her nose, using her middle finger.
“I ate an enormous breakfast,” Cadence lied. “Most of a pig and half a sheep, actually. And these dragonlings would only be a couple of days old at most, so they’re not consuming much energy yet.” She yanked the note off the basket, stood up, and yelled, “Hey, hello, attention! Orion sent pastries and sandwiches for everybody!”
Dragons, who were known for their enormous appetites, did not need to be told twice. Soon they were all crowded around, snatching up pastries and sandwiches, while Laetitia and Darlene, who was on the ice dragons’ planning committee, stood and glowered disapprovingly at the crowd of dragons mingling, and also at each other.
“There’s two sandwiches left,” Katherine said, and finally she set the near-empty basket in front of them. “Help yourselves!”
Laetitia and Darlene waited until Katherine walked away before glancing at each other.
“I do hate to see food go to waste,” Laetitia muttered, at the same time that Darlene said, “I do love roast beef.”
They each snatched a sandwich, glanced at each other, and sat down next to each other to eat.
“I see your grandlings signed up for peewee ice hockey,” Laetitia
said. “My daughter wasn’t able to carry her clutch to term. Again.” She shoved half the sandwich in her mouth and looked away.
“My condolences,” Darlene said, blinking hard. “That new clinic is supposed to be making a lot of progress. I meant to tell you, your brochures are lovely.”
* * * * *
Frederick came to pick her up around three p.m., and they headed back to the castle.
As they pulled up to the roundabout by the front steps, Darlene saw a big SUV parked there, and half a dozen people were standing outside, yelling. Several of them looked vaguely familiar.
Frederick started reversing the limo.
She rolled down the window to hear what they were saying.
“She’s our family! You must let us see her, or we will complain to the Elders! What are you trying to hide?” they were yelling at several of Orion’s clan members who stood in front of the enormous front door, blocking their entrance.
“Hey! That’s my cousin Maude,” she said to Frederick. “Let me out. I need to see these people.”
“Well, Orion hasn’t authorized—”
“Screw authorization,” she said, and flung the door open.
She scrambled out and rushed up the steps. There was Maude, and her uncle Draken, and her aunt Aurelia. She still had never met them in person, but they’d sent her pictures and talked on the phone.
Nikolai, Cynthia, Alcott, and a group of Orion’s family members were in the doorway, glaring at them and blowing smoke from their nostrils.
“Cadence, thank God you’re all right! Have they been abusing you?” Maude threw her arms around Cadence.
“No, of course not. What are you doing here?”
“We came to rescue you. You’re our blood. No ice dragon should have to live under these conditions,” her aunt Aurelia said, looking around with a glower of disapproval. “You can come home with us.”
“I appreciate the invite, but I can’t. It wouldn’t be safe for me or you,” she said. “Humphrey Leominster is trying to claim me. His clan is much bigger than yours, and my father’s clan is backing him. My presence would put your clan in danger. Oh, and uh, also, I might be carrying Orion’s dragonlings,” she added hastily.
“So it’s true?” Maude looked dismayed.
She patted her flat, very not pregnant belly. “Could be,” she said brightly.
“You people will have to leave until Orion gets back,” Nikolai said to them.
“No, we won’t. We have the legal right to train her,” Aurelia retorted, pulling out a scroll and unrolling it triumphantly.
Draken nodded gravely.
“We need to help you catch up on all the training you’ve missed,” he said. “It’s the only way that you’ll be safe against your father. You don’t know what he and his clan do to females. Our mother suffered our father’s abuse for years, and only left when my brother and I were old enough to defend ourselves, but my brother had a lot of our father in him, I’m afraid. We’ve got other clans allied with us against him; you’ll be safe with us.”
“The fact that she’s carrying the dragonlings trumps your claim on her,” Nikolai said.
Aurelia glanced at her husband.
“We still have the legal right to train her,” she said. “So I guess we’ll just have to do it here. Please prepare a nice suite for us. If you’ve got one,” she added, looking down her nose at Cynthia and Nikolai.
“Nice burn,” Cadence said.
“Please.” Aurelia shot her a look. “We do not burn. I froze them out.”
And they marched up the steps past Nikolai as he spluttered.
“Here? Ice dragons on our land? Absolutely not!” Cynthia said furiously.
“Really? What is she, pray tell?” Aurelia said imperiously, glancing back at her niece. “An ice dragon.”
“That’s different. She’s carrying my son’s young. Maybe.”
“By the way, how long has my family been trying to get in here to see me?” Cadence demanded of Cynthia.
Cynthia avoided her eyes and didn’t answer. Nikolai cleared his throat nervously and hurried back inside. Alcott just stood back and glared.
“And you all knew this? All of you?” Cadence said furiously. “Even Orion?”
Cynthia shrugged.
Cadence felt rage boiling inside her. This was her only living family that acknowledged her. They had tried to reach out to her, and Orion and his family had blocked them because of a family feud that had nothing to do with her, or with Maude’s family for that matter. Draken and Aurelia hadn’t been involved in the fight that killed Orion’s father and crippled Alcott.
“I do not want to speak to any of you,” Cadence said. “And that includes Orion. Tell him that from me. I expect that you will find a place in the castle for my family to stay right now, and I will stay there with them. We’ll be in the south meadow, training.”
She led them around the side of the castle and into the south meadow. It was a ten-minute walk.
Servants brought out trays laden with food and set them out on picnic tables. Dragons were apparently known for their hospitality, too, even when they weren’t fond of their guests.
After their late afternoon meal, Draken and Aurelia and Cadence walked away from the picnic tables and got started with her dragon training.
They started by having her watch as several of her relatives shifted so she could observe the process and also see what her ice dragon would look like. She stood there and watched them with envy.
They made it look so easy. Maude and two of her cousins just kind of shook themselves and melted into enormous dragons; the transformation took about a minute, but she knew they were going slow for her sake.
When Cadence closed her eyes and visualized her dragon as they directed her to, the most that she came up with was a decent covering of scales running all over her body, and a nice sharp curving of her claws. That was it. No tail, no fangs, no ice blast.
“Don’t worry,” Aurelia said to her. “Your dragon genes aren’t fully dominant yet. I’ve seen this before. You’ll get there.” But her worried glance at Draken spoke volumes.
Cadence couldn’t go back to the human world – but how could she fit in here if she couldn’t access her dragon?
Cadence knelt on the grass and tried again.
“Your scales are excellent,” Aurelia said kindly.
Cadence opened her eyes and looked down at her arms. Glittering white scales rimmed with blue appeared briefly, and her fingernails curved into blue talons. She stroked her arm, fascinated by the cool feel and the scales’ hardness.
Then they vanished.
“Well, that’s something,” she sighed. “Is it conceited for me to say my scales sure are pretty?”
“Not at all,” Aurelia said. “Oh, there’s your…er, mate?”
Cadence glanced across the meadow. Orion was approaching.
“I have nothing to say to you!” she shouted. “Family only welcome here, thanks!”
He scowled, turned around, and stalked off.
Chapter Nine
Dinner was served in the Great Hall, at an enormous table that was easily a hundred feet long. There was a tapestry runner that ran the entire length of the table, decorated with dragons and the family crest, and candelabras with waxy white candles.
At both ends of the room were large pink crystal sculptures that were known as Shift Blockers. They were traditionally used as a courtesy when dragons from warring clans met for any occasion.
At least a dozen servants padded around, attending to their needs. They were served platters of whole roast pigs with apples in their mouths, and racks of ribs, and giant bowls of roast vegetables, and pots and tureens of side dishes. Enough to feed a small village – or a couple of angry families of dragons.
Cadence sat next to Orion at the head of the table. Her family sat on the right side of the table, glaring at Orion’s family on the left.
Her family had insisted on cooking half of the meal. Apparently it w
as a matter of honor.
Both sides glared at each other, muttering furiously to each other.
“This roast is overdone,” Aurelia said coldly.
“The aspic wasn’t made right,” Cynthia countered nastily.
“The potatoes are practically raw,” Aurelia said, holding up a fork with a potato speared on the tines.
“You have gold and silver plates on the same table,” Maude retorted. “Nobody does that.”
Somebody coughed the word “Cheat-ham” into their hand on Orion’s side of the table.
“Say Cheat-ham one more time,” snarled Rory, one of Cadence’s cousins.
“Cheat-ham!” Draken snarled back.
“That does it!” Rory leaped to his feet and hurled himself across the table, scattering jewel-studded goblets of wine, and he grabbed Draken by the throat. Aurelia stabbed Rory in the hand with her fork.
Maude threw her plate at Nikolai’s head, and Alcott grabbed his cane and scrambled onto the table.
Orion jumped up. He grabbed Cadence by the arm and began pulling her towards the door.
“Shouldn’t we stop them?” she asked, ducking a plate that came hurtling past her head.
“No, better to let them get it of their systems,” he said. “Whatever happens, they’ll heal. Oh, good one.” Laetitia had come for dinner, and she’d grabbed Aurelia by the arm and bitten her. Alcott was whacking people with his cane left and right.
Cadence couldn’t help it; she started laughing as Orion led her out of the room. Orion joined her, and the two of them headed outdoors, laughing so hard that their sides hurt.
“Did you see your uncle bonk my servant on the head with his soup bowl? Oh, dear lord.”
“No, missed that. But I did see Maude throw a glass of wine in your mother’s face. I mean, can you imagine if we really were mated, what our holidays would be like?”
“Extremely entertaining,” Orion said with a grin. “How did your training go today?”
“I managed to get a little scaly.”
“Oh? Describe it to me. That sounds sexy.”
Dating A Dragon (The Mating Game Book 2) Page 6
