by Celeste Raye
Heather side and turned toward her. “I know. I just don’t know how I feel anymore. It’s so weird. It’s like he’s the perfect guy, but he’s a dragon. Also, I would have to decide if I wanted to stay here or not. If not, how could we be together? He’s a king here. I mean he’s the king here. That’s a lot to consider, isn’t it?”
Yes. It was. Not just for Heather either. Christy had not considered, not until that very moment, that Blake too was a king in that world. There was no way they could work out; she knew that. She wasn’t ready for what he wanted, and all he wanted from her was her reproductive organs anyway. But if he did want something more, and she decided she did too, how could that ever work out between them?
She knew she should be comforting her friend at the moment, not thinking about Blake, so she said, “Do you have feelings for him?”
“I’m really afraid that I do. I have no idea how he feels about me though.”
Christy said, “He’d be a fool not to care about you.”
They gave each other an impulsive hug. Christy said, “I mean it. You know, you’ve always thought you weren’t good enough or that you didn’t deserve something, and it’s always infuriated me. You’re the best person that I know.”
Heather surprised her then. “I’m not the only one who doesn’t know how awesome they are. I mean, come on, all you’ve ever done is try to prove yourself over and over again to people that aren’t even around for you to prove something to anymore.”
Christy’s face contorted in a grimace. “Ouch. What brought that on?”
“It’s just that it’s true. You always act like you have to work twice as hard as everyone else. That nothing you do is good enough until it’s absolutely perfect and then, even after it’s perfect, you act like it’s still not good enough. You work yourself half to death trying to prove a point, to prove that you belong in that company. But I don’t know who you’re trying to prove that point to. It worries me; it worries me because I’m your friend and I love you, and I hate to see you do this to yourself.”
She was right. She was like that, and her insecurity was often crippling despite the façade of self-confidence that she portrayed to the world. She said, “What do you think is going to happen if the Orcs do declare war? I mean, if we can’t get back home before then?”
What she really wanted to know was if Heather even still wanted to go home. She had a sinking feeling that she didn’t.
Heather said, “I don’t know. I’m scared though. It’s crazy because I should be scared that I’m going to die here if we don’t get home but really, what scares me the most is knowing that Max is going to fight them. He could die.”
So, could Blake. That knowledge hit her like a brick aimed right at her chest. Blake had been in other battles, and she knew that, but she also knew that he could die. The Orcs were deadly and terrifying, and the dragons were very few in number. There weren’t that many humans either. Could they really mount any kind of actual defense against an army of Orcs?
She didn’t know how to comfort her friend, and she didn’t know how to stave off the sudden anxiety that swirled through her being at the thought of Blake having to go up against those vicious beasts either. Instead, she just hugged Heather as hard as she could.
She said, “You spent the night with Max again?”
Heather said, “I keep trying not to. I swear to God I keep trying to avoid him, but it’s like...It’s like...It’s like he’s a magnet or something. Like he just draws me in, and I can’t stay away from him.”
“It’s a small castle.”
They both burst into laughter. That laughter covered up the confession that wanted to come from Christy’s lips. That she felt the same tug and pull toward Blake. That she didn’t know how to stay away from him either, even though everything within her said that she should.
Blake was a complication; complications had always frightened her. Complications always sent her running. Not the kind that came from having a difficult job filled with complications, no. She loved those complications. It was the personal ones, the ones that tied her emotions up in knots and made her question everything that she was doing and wanted that frightened her.
Blake was definitely wreaking havoc on her emotions at the moment. She did know how she felt about him and she damn sure had no idea how he felt about her, which was a complication all by itself. That he was nothing like anyone she had ever known was hardly surprising. She had never known a dragon before. That he made her question things that she didn’t want to question: her career, how much she truly loved, that apartment in the city, and whether or not she wanted a real relationship. It frightened her to the point that she was seriously considering going back down to the door and trying to press her way through it.
That brought their earlier conversation up and she said, “Blake said the door only opens from our world. I don’t know if that’s true though. I did open it but all I saw was the forest. He said whoever goes through it has to really want to go through it.”
Oh shit. Her heart sank. Was it possible that the door did open from this side, from this world? Had she opened it to see nothing but forest because she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go back or not?
There was a knock on the door. Christy turned toward it and then glided across the floor. Her hands found the knob and she turned it, opening it. The human woman named Marlene that she had met the day before stood there smiling at her. She said, “There you are. I was hoping the two of you would keep me company.”
The last thing on earth Christy wanted to do was hang out with this woman. She glanced over at Heather. Heather lifted her shoulders in a shrug that indicated that if Christy was down, so was she. Great. Leave it all up to her! Christy looked back at Marlene’s smiling face, meaning to make some excuse, but then she didn’t. “Sure.”
Marlene moved backward along the hall and Christy and Heather exited the room and followed her. Marlene said, “I’m working on trying to replicate coffee. Blake told me that you were fairly...upset when you discovered that there is no coffee here.”
Heather said, “I think she was more upset over the grease fire he started on the stove.”
Marlene said, “You can never let a dragon in the kitchen. They will mess it up every time.”
The matter-of-fact tone in Marlene’s voice lightened Christy’s mood. A laugh spurted from her mouth. “I don’t how we got that burned on flour off that stove.”
Marlene said, “Oh, it’s had worse on there.”
They came to a door at the end of the hallway. Marlene opened it and then moved down a set of stairs. Heather and Christy looked at each other, shrugged, and followed. The staircase was winding and very steep. The banister was very smooth, the wood worn from centuries of use. The light was dim but good enough for them to see that the staircase turned and turned and then turned again. Eventually, they came to a landing and then from the landing they stepped into what appeared to be the basement of the castle.
Christy said, “Oh this is creepy. It looks like a torture chamber. It is where they used to keep the dragons? In dungeons?”
Marlene smiled as she led them through the wide room littered with long tables and chairs, bookcases filled with various tomes, and pretty rugs that kept their footsteps from echoing across the floor. “No. I imagine they saw enough dungeons back in our world.”
That piqued Christy’s interest, and fast. “What do you mean?”
Marlene led them to one of the long tables. A whole lot of beakers and glasses and various spices and other objects lay upon it. “Well, I mean that in our world most of the dragons that are here now were once prisoners. They weren’t always in favor with the king. In fact, at one time they were all sentenced to death. They were held in the dungeons. At least the men were. Max and Blake’s fathers both. Aura was held in the tower, you know, the one where they held all the royal prisoners? As I understand it, if that war had broken out and they had been so needed, she would’ve lost her head.”
&
nbsp; Christy welcomed the chance to think of anything except Blake. “Aura? What did she do to end up in the tower?”
Marlene began to lift the herbs from the table and snipped the stems off them with a pair of deadly sharp shears. “Well, she plotted to overthrow the king of course. She had her reasons. They were, from what I hear, pretty good ones too.”
Heather burst in with, “I have to know. I’ve never asked Max because...Well, it just seems rude. How old are they?”
Marlene set the herbs that she had been trimming to one side and picked up another bunch. Her eyes held no expression. “In all honesty? I don’t know because time is so different in our worlds. I’d say at least a thousand-years-old in our time. Here? Maybe five-hundred, six-hundred-years-old.”
Heather muttered, “I never thought I’d date an older man. I never really thought I’d date a man that old.”
Christy ignored that. She asked Marlene, “Why did you want to come here?”
Marlene handed her a bunch of herbs and a pair of the shears. “Just trim them like I am if you don’t mind.” The light bounced off the end of the shears. “I came because I heard the stories and I knew this was where I wanted to be. I never felt like I belonged in our world. I was always kind of a hippie I guess, and a solitary practitioner of magic. I wanted to find a place that was simpler, someplace where I had enough space to be me.”
They continued to trim the herbs. Heather asked, “So, you’re a witch?”
Marlene said, “Over there I was a very weak witch. Here, my powers are magnified.”
Christy surveyed the herbs in her hands. “Are we helping you with a spell?”
Marlene said, dryly, “No. You’re helping me make pesto.”
Heather’s mouth fell open. “I beg your pardon?”
Marlene said, “You know, pesto. Oil, basil, oregano. A few other things mixed in and presto, pesto.”
She grinned as she said the last two words and Christy found herself hovering on the edge of laughter too.
Heather gave the herbs in her hands a dubious glance. “Why do you want pesto?”
Marlene said, “Because it is delicious. Also, the cook is great, love her, mean it. But she has been using the same recipes for at least a thousand years. I’m doing my best to convince her to make something new. I’m hoping to whip up a batch of fresh egg noodles and pesto before she gets into the kitchen, put it on the table for dinner tomorrow, and get everyone to say they like it before she can snatch it off and throw it out the window.”
Heather looked bemused. “Why would she do that?”
Marlene rolled her eyes. “Because she’s a kitchen tyrant. She honestly thinks things have to have marzipan and almond pastes and all meats must be stuffed, preferably with other meats, to be good.”
Christy set one bunch of the herbs aside and began trimming another. So, we have to make a lot of pesto is what you’re saying.”
Heather said, “And you can’t make it in the kitchen because she would catch you.”
Marlene said, “Exactly. She thinks I’m down here creating magic, and she’s right: I’m making pesto. I have to tell you if there’s anything more magical than the big bowl of fresh noodles loaded down with pesto and maybe a couple of diced tomatoes and a little bit of chopped onion, I have not yet found it.”
I want to stay here. Those five words flashed into the field of Christy’s vision like they were lit up in glowing neon lights. She did want to stay. Not just for Blake, but for herself. She wanted to be there. She wanted to know what it would be like to be herself and nobody else. To not have to get up in the mornings and put on that face that would get her through the day. To not have to pretend to be happy when she wasn’t. To not have to smile when men walked by and patted her on the ass and called her honey or sweetie even though she was one of the company’s best and brightest employees.
But the truth was, she had been pretending to be self-confident, brilliant, funny, and happy for so damn long that she had convinced herself that she was. And in everyone else’s eyes, she was. She had everything she had ever dreamed of. One of the best things that it ever happened to her in her entire life had been the day her mother had walked into that apartment that Christy had gotten for herself and said, “Oh honey, you finally did get yourself a place right where you always wanted to be.”
Those words had been high praise coming from her mother. Her mother, who had found the love of her life and taken off to the other side of the country shortly thereafter. Her mother, who called maybe once a month but only if Christy called her first and left a voicemail for her asking if she was all right. Her mother, who had always put herself first and who had never seemed interested in her daughter. The mother who always told her she was pretty but who had never told her that she was smart.
Heather’s hand stilled Christy’s. Christy looked down to see herself holding a ragged and somewhat chopped bunch of herbs. She blurted out, “I’m sorry. I was thinking of something else.”
Marlene said, “It is fine. The stems were off. Half the chaplains done. No worries. You just did the next part of the job a little early, that’s all.”
Christy stared at her. Then she asked, “Did you ever fall in love with any of them?”
Marlene said, “Course I did. I am mated to one.”
She was? That was something that Christy had not known. She looked at the table, wanting to ask a million questions but not daring to. If she did ask this question, she would be giving her own heart away, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. She could not trust anyone, not even Heather, with how she felt at that moment. She couldn’t trust herself with that knowledge either.
Heather said, “How much pesto does it take to feed a table full of dragons?”
Marlene gave them a mischievous smile. She produced several large mortars and pestles from below the table as well as a large jug of oil. “A whole lot. I hope you girls have been doing your upper body workouts.”
It was going to be a long and difficult process, pounding that enormous bunch of herbs into the delicious and savory sauce that Marlene craved so much but Christy welcomed that labor. She was frustrated and anxious and beating the hell out of something was probably just what she needed to do.
Chapter Nine
Blake spotted Christy the next morning; she was clearly headed somewhere, and he moved fast, catching up to her just as she was about to head up the staircase. “Good morning.”
She gave him a wary look, “Morning.”
He said, “I was hoping to see you in the kitchen this morning.”
“I was there.”
Yes, and clearly, she had gone early enough to avoid him. He had seen the signs that showed she had been there: the tea kettle on the stove, the cup in the sink. Her smell still in the air. She’d drunk her tea and bolted, but was that because she was avoiding him or because she had just gotten up too early and he had gotten up too late?
He said, “Oh. Sorry I missed you.”
She shifted from foot to foot. She kept one hand on the bannister, and it was clear she wanted to go. He cleared his throat and added, “Listen I was…do you want to go on a picnic?”
Her eyelids blinked up and down. “A picnic?”
He said, “Yeah, you know, food, a basket, a blanket, wine…”
“You had me at wine.” Her lips curved upward. “I didn’t know you had it here.”
“Are you kidding? We have great wine. The only reason nobody’s offered you any is because there’s some notion that in your world water’s the only thing people drink. Well, that and coffee.”
“We do tend to love our water, especially if it’s bottled or whatever.” Her grin was sunny. “But wine…I could really go for some wine.”
He sent her a wicked smile, “You want it now?”
Her tongue stroked across her bottom lip, and all of his senses lit up like someone had thrown flame at his skin. She said, “Yes, but no. I promised Marlene I’d help her again today and I don’t think being drun
k would be a good thing.”
He let his smile lift the corners of his mouth high as amusement struck him. “Is she trying to come up with some recipe that will topple our cook? You do know the cook is a dragon, right? And I don’t mean just a dragon in the kitchen either; she’s a dragon. Also, Marlene’s playing with real fire. The last time she pulled a stunt like the one I’m sure she’s about to pull, the cook singed Marlene’s eyebrows off. So, you should be careful.”
Christy’s hand flew to her face like she was trying to make sure her eyebrows were still intact. “Oh shit. That’s…um. Yeah. Okay. I’ll make sure she doesn’t mention my name. Besides, as far as I know, she’s mixing up potions. I’m just grinding the herbs for her.”
His amusement just grew as she spoke. “Yeah, let’s go with that. But also, maybe we should have our picnic around dinner time, just to be sure you are safely out of the cook’s sight and fire line.”
She gave him a smile that was not only impish but friendly. “So, you are trying to save me?”
“And I have wine.”
“That’s a pretty irresistible combination.”
“You already said yes.”
She nodded. Her smile did not fade. “I did. I’ll see you at…where should we meet up?”
“How about on the side of the courtyard, where the tables are?”
“Great. I’ll be there.” She headed up the stairs, and he stood there, watching her gown press itself across her skin and then release again with every step she took. His heart beat faster and his rod gave a little twitch that made him have to shift his weight around.
He turned and headed for the hall but was stopped by Max and Aura. Aura wore an expression that said they had to talk, right then. Blake looked at Max and saw lines of worry carved onto his face. “What’s happening?”
Max said, “We have to go on a mission. We need to see where the Orcs are and try to get a good idea of just how far into our territory they have come.”
