by Debra Dunbar
“I just wish he wasn’t such a jerk to me,” I complained.
“He will be less of a jerk Friday, once all the testing is over and the apprenticeship has been decided. Right now he is…” she searched for the correct word. “Stressed….”
Yeah, well me, too.
I thanked Marta again and lingered a bit, going through my notecards and writing down a few additional things. As I headed out to my car, I saw a figure seated on the stone bench that overlooked the sprawling vineyard. It was Catarina Montenegro, stylish as always with a perfectly tailored olive jacket across her shoulders. She seemed lost in thought, but looked up and gestured to me with a smile as I headed past her to my car.
She patted the bench and I sat beside her, taking in the deep green of the grapevine leaves against the lighter shade between the rows, all of it contrasting against the bright blue of the late afternoon sky.
“Admiring your treasure?” I teased.
“Beautiful, isn’t it? It was my father’s before me, and my grandfather’s before his, and soon it will be Bianca’s.”
“Not too soon, I hope.”
She smiled. “My granddaughter helps keep the Melancholy at bay. Eventually I will succumb, but she reminds me so much of my beloved Pierre, of her father, and especially of Guido with his innocent faith in everyone, that I find myself at peace around her. She, more so even than my treasure, is a balm on the grief I feel at the loss of my mate so long ago.”
“When did he die?”
“Nearly a hundred years ago. He grew old and no money in the world could prolong his life beyond the very mortal flesh he was born to.” She sighed. “Our lives have been shortened as we’ve interbred with humans, but we still outlive them considerably. As much as I hate Daniela, I felt her pain at the loss of her mate. He was too young. They had too short a time together. Perhaps that is why she clings so tightly to her son.”
“Bianca need never go through that,” I said cautiously. “Sergio is a dragon, as she is. She’ll not have to live for decades, or even centuries, mourning the loss of her love, sliding into Melancholy because of his absence.”
She turned sharp eyes on me. “My heart aches for her. She is my only grandchild, the last of my line, and I want her to have every joy her heart desires. I want her to feel safe and whole surrounded by her treasure. But just as we all face tragedy with our human mates, she will face it with hers. Even if I were to allow it, the boy’s mother would never accept a match between them. The Sommariva clan would overthrow Sergio and give his treasure to another just as my own cousins would do the same to Bianca. Yes, the two lovers would have each other, but they would quickly die, distraught and in pain, without their treasures.”
“How do you know that? Maybe both of your families would be more accepting than you believe. And with all the human blood in their veins, maybe Sergio and Bianca would be able to survive without their treasure—without your treasure. Perhaps they’d have the strength and ability to find a treasure just as satisfying somewhere else, one that they found and built together.”
Catarina shook her head, turning her gaze once more out to the vineyards. “Perhaps. But humans can be just as attached to their treasures as any dragon. I’m not sure their blood has in any way tempered the dragon that runs through us, even after all these generations.”
I knew better than to push things further. I’d made huge progress today in bringing these two families to peace. Maybe it was too soon to expect any of them to budge on Sergio and Bianca. Maybe with time, the two lovers would find a way to be together.
Although, from experience, I knew that teenagers were impatient. Time might not be something that either Bianca or Sergio were willing to give.
Chapter 23
I’d spent all night holed up in the villa with flashcards and reference books, studying and having Irix quiz me. At midnight I was on the edge of tears and gave up, throwing the index cards across the room and stomping off to cry on my pillow. I didn’t want to go out and find sex. I didn’t want Irix to hold me. I didn’t want anything but to get this over with, fail embarrassingly in front of the other seminar attendees, and have Celio gloat at me.
I was that pretty American girl who wasn’t good enough. All I had going for me was my looks and my willingness to put out.
No. I was more than that. I wasn’t the dumb Barbie-doll slut Celio thought me to be. I was smart. I’d graduated at the top of my class, scored that internship at DiMarche over thousands of applicants. I’d held New Orleans together when that magical group had tried to destroy it. I’d helped Maui when Pele had been one tantrum from burning it all down. I’d saved countless orchards and vineyards in Northern California from the machinations of an evil elf and a pair of plague demons. And here I was, an intermediary between two dragon families.
I wasn’t dumb, I just didn’t have the background that all these other people had. I’d study. I’d do the best I could on the exams. And if this was something I really wanted, I’d work my way up through the ranks, and give this another shot in five or ten years. When someone reaches for the stars, stretches for that tough goal, there’s no shame in failure, only in failing to try at all.
I’d met Daniela early at the coffee shop before heading out to Bergamo. She listened to all I told her about my meeting with Catarina and Marcus and agreed to the terms we’d discussed yesterday. Once again, she said they’d allow Bianca access to and enjoyment of her villa, as well as the right to come into the other towns across the lake. She could have one member of her family with her at the villa, but no more, and those dragons needed to remain there unless they were going in and out of the territory to return home.
But one thing Daniela would not budge on was Sergio. He was still missing. I could see from the dark shadows under her eyes, the way the coffee cup shook in her hand, how worried she was for him, but she declared that she would never give her blessing to any union between her son and a Montenegro. Like Catarina, she said their family would oust Sergio if he married Bianca.
I thought about the problem the whole way to the castle. Peace. And I had no doubt that Sergio would find a way to sneak in and see Bianca. She’d made it clear guests to her villa were her business and hers alone. But how long could they sneak around before someone decided to take matters into their own hands? Bianca’s insistence on seeing Sergio would jeopardize her ability to inherit her grandmother’s treasure, and the same with Sergio. I knew it would be just a matter of time before either family decided they needed to do away with the offending lover.
And then the peace would crumble. The only thing that would hold this together long-term was if Bianca and Sergio separated forever. Or if they ran away. And I got the impression that neither option was a viable one.
As I pulled up the road to the castle, the smell seeped in through the car. Someone must have been burning garbage or debris or something. It made me tense up, reminding me of the way everything had smelled after the dragon attack on Villa Sommariva.
Then the vineyards came into view and I felt as though I’d been punched in the chest. Long strips of black, where vines had been burned to charcoal from what looked like an aerial attack. I put the pedal down, nearly dropping the bottom out of my little rental car when I hit the stones of the driveway at speed.
The house looked undamaged, as did the tower and the winery out back. It seemed that the destruction had been contained to the vineyard. Had it been the Sommarivas? Of course it had! Who else would have flown in to attack the Montenegro treasure? But the question in my mind, beyond the safety of the family, was who had done this? Had Daniela lied to me and retaliated for the attack on her treasure? I remembered her sitting across from me this morning, and just knew she hadn’t been involved in this. There had been no hint in her face that she even knew about this.
But if it wasn’t her, then who? Was there a rebel in her family, someone acting alone against the orders of their family patriarch? And if so, was that person also responsible for Guido’s
murder?
It wasn’t until I entered the dining room that I realized I was the only one here. We had exams today. The place should have been full of attendees frantically studying and waiting their turn to take the written portion of the test, as well as the presentation of our wine recipes. Instead the room was completely empty.
“Oh! Did no one call you and tell you?”
I turned to see a woman I didn’t recognize. She was twisting her hands together, gathering the hem of her shirt up in a knot. Her eyes were rimmed with red.
“No. Is today cancelled?” I asked.
She nodded then shook her head. “Postponed. Until tomorrow. Thankfully we did not suffer too much damage. Only to the vineyards, and then only the oldest vines, the ones we’d already harvested. Minimal losses, and easily replanted next year, but Catarina is devastated. She was not fit…not in a good place to be entertaining humans right now.”
I got the subtext through her heavily accented English. “Is everyone okay? Was anyone injured fighting them off?”
They must be formidable indeed to have repelled an attack before much of anything had been damaged.
“They fled before us,” she scoffed. “Two swipes of the field, and the moment we flew out to launch a counterattack, they were off into the night. Cowards. Weaklings. We will crush them. They will not live to see tomorrow. In truth, they will not live to see the sunset.”
I ran from the castle in a panic for my car. Were they flying right now toward Lake Como? No. They’d want to surprise their foes and attack either under the cover of night, or to come close as humans and switch to their dragon form later. Either way I had to warn Daniela. I was positive she didn’t know about this attack.
And something about the attack was weird. Whoever had done this hadn’t been able to pull together enough supporters to do more than burn a few rows of vines in something that was more approaching vandalism. And this was supported by the fact that they’d fled before they actually had to fight.
I couldn’t let Daniela and her family pay the price for what one or two rogues had done.
Jumping in my car, I navigated the bumpy driveway as fast as I could, speeding up once I’d hit asphalt. It wasn’t until I was half an hour away from the castle that I heard a rustling noise from the back seat and saw a dark head rise up in my rear view mirror.
I screamed and swerved, nearly crashing the car.
“Fuck! Bianca! What are you doing here?”
She was a stowaway in my car. I knew very well what she was doing here.
“I need you to help me.” Her voice hitched on a sob. “They locked me in my room so I couldn’t go. They’re going to attack. They’ll kill all of Sergio’s family and him as well. I need to warn them.”
“I’ll warn them,” I told her. “You need to go back home where it’s safe.”
She did need to go home, but I had no time to turn around and take her there. If I dropped her off along the way could she get home? I was reluctant to leave the girl by the side of the road where she’d be alone and vulnerable if there was an attack. I could call, send Irix over to talk to Daniela, but I was the one that had forged a relationship with the woman and her father. I was the one who had bargained my elven skills for this peace. I wasn’t sure Irix could do more than warn them and put them on the defensive.
Would they go on the defensive? Would they wait in their villa for the Montenegros to rain fire down upon them, or would they fly out to meet them halfway, in the mountains on the other side of the lake? I wasn’t sure if asking Irix to warn them would do more harm than good.
“I can’t go back to the castle. Can you take me to my villa? I’ll be safe there. And it’s mine. It’s my treasure. Take me there.”
She was rambling, her words breathless.
“Bianca, did you see what happened last night? Who attacked, because I met with Daniela this morning and I’m positive it wasn’t her, nor was it done with her knowledge. The only hope I have to defusing this situation is if I can go to her with some way to identify the attackers.”
She climbed through into the front seat beside me. “Two, maybe three at the most. It was dark and moonless last night, so all I saw was the shape of dragons outlined against their fire. They swept the vineyard, doubled back for another strike, then fled before us.”
“Why not attack the castle?” I asked.
She shook her head slowly. “I don’t know. Maybe if there were only a few, they were scared to come that close?”
“They still could have firebombed then ran,” I insisted. “Hit the castle with their initial strike, with surprise on their side, then take out a strip of vineyard on their way out.”
She frowned. “You’re right. It’s what I would have done. And if they had done that, then Grandmother wouldn’t be preparing for war right now. She would have secured and repaired her treasure before venturing out.”
“So maybe someone wanted to lure her out, to have her treasure unattended, or have her among those fighting?”
Bianca shuddered. “I can’t imagine the Sommarivas would want Grandmother fighting against them. She is fierce and strong. You’re right though. Why wouldn’t they attack the castle? The damage they did was to the least valuable part of the vineyard. We actually were getting ready to replace those vines anyway. It’s almost as if they knew what could be sacrificed, the least important and replaceable part of our treasure, and deliberately targeted those.”
I frowned, concentrating on my driving. It was as though they’d smacked the hornet’s nest and ran, as if the goal was to manufacture a situation, an excuse, to get back at the Sommarivas for their attack. It was as though the goal was to get the Montenegros to declare war and annihilate their foes.
“Bianca, do you think it’s possible that it was a member of your family who burned the vineyards last night?”
Her eyes grew huge. “No! Who would do such a thing? Our holdings might not be my cousins’ treasure, but they still have bonded to it. It would cause them pain to harm our family treasure. It would be like cutting off a limb.”
“But if they thought it would serve a greater good? If they thought by getting your grandmother to walk away from the peace table and kill the Sommarivas? And possibly kill Sergio as well?”
She sucked in a breath, then slowly shook her head. “But why? My cousins would be risking their own lives if we go to war. And killing Sergio does none of them good. Whether he lives or dies, I’ll continue to inherit. And I’ll remain childless and unmated. Uncle Marcus’s children will inherit after I’m gone.”
“Will you, though?” I pressed. “Remain childless and unmated?”
She shot me a sharp glance. “What do you mean? I told you that we only mate once and we mate for life. I cannot be with my mate, so I will remain alone. And I will suffer the Melancholy early.”
“That’s not what I mean.” I watched her carefully out of the corner of my eye. “If there is peace, then you will be able to live at Villa Montenegro. You’ll be able to walk the streets of the towns around Lake Como without fear. You can’t tell me that you haven’t thought of this. If you and Sergio are discreet, there is no reason you can’t continue to see each other. He can sneak into your villa, and once you’re an adult, he won’t even need to use the secret passageways anymore. You’ll live there alone, an eccentric dragon hoarding her treasure.”
She sighed. “Yes, but it will be short-lived. When Grandmother dies, I’ll be expected to live at the castle. It will be my treasure as well, and I’ll be expected to live there as part of the family holdings. You heard her yesterday. If I bring Sergio to the castle, my family will drive both of us out.”
“But even then, you’ll still be able to see him now and again. You won’t need to be at the castle every hour of every day. You could still regularly visit your villa and see him there,” I continued.
Bianca nodded. “Yes. I’ll admit that was my plan.”
A plan with a flaw. “Daniela told me that some dragons do
n’t have children, and that most have only one. She said that having two is rare. But when she told me all of that, she was talking about the pairing of a dragon and a human mate. You and Sergio are two dragons. You’ll become pregnant. And there will be no hiding that from your family, or hiding the fact that the baby is Sergio’s.”
She bit her lip. “They know I’m mate-bonded. If I’m pregnant, they will know it is Sergio’s as it could be no other’s. But you’re wrong about the chances of that happening. I’m not a full dragon, and neither is Sergio, no matter what our families like to claim. There is a chance that we will have a child, but equally a chance that we won’t. And we’ll be careful to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“You’ll be careful until you’re not. Bianca, I know what it’s like to love someone with all of your heart and soul. You ache to be with them. You want to build a life together with them. And for many of us, that longing includes the desire to have children. You don’t seem like someone who would be happy to remain childless. Eventually you’d become careless, either on purpose or just from chance, and you’d be pregnant. Then what would happen?”
Sorrow filled her eyes. “We’d be denied our family’s treasure. We’d be kicked out of both of our territories, if not killed outright. Our child as well.”
“Someone knows that, Bianca. I think someone in your family staged the attack in hopes that your grandmother would declare war. And if Sergio isn’t killed in the fighting, he’ll be hunted down and killed later.”
“No!” Tears glistened on her lashes. “I just want to live in peace with Sergio and our treasures. I want to love him, to be with him, to have his hatchling. They’ll never let that happen, will they? Neither my family, nor his.”
“No,” I told her softly. “They probably won’t. I had hopes that with peace between your families, in time tensions would lessen to the point where you might be able to be together.”
“Right.” Her laugh was bitter. “Perhaps in three or four centuries. By then both of us would have withered away from the Melancholy.”
