Legend of the Forbidden

by J. F. Jenkins

  “This is fancy,” Ethan said as he looked himself over in a mirror nearby.

  “It's a grand affair. Of course it is,” Tyson said, and adjusted the jacket.

  “So your meeting yesterday was weird? That's what Dani was telling me when I asked her about it.”

  “Lord Bolton is weird in general,” Tyson explained. “Dad says the guy has always had a little obscure version of the world. I know he upset her, but he was being a jerk. Even I was insulted by some of the comments he made. And I still don't understand the importance of all this. The way he talks about us, it's like we're tools.”

  Ethan shrugged. “You are. You're political tools.”

  “What do you think would happen if we decided to not do it?” Tyson asked quietly.

  “How much do you think Lord Bolton is capable of?” Ethan asked, glancing at him from the side.

  Tyson took off the jacket, now too warm to keep wearing it for much longer. “I don't think he'd do anything crazy. But it's hard to say no to the arrangement when there's no real reason to not go through with it. The way he made the whole thing sound, it was as if…”

  “Hmm?” Ethan asked. “As if what?”

  “There's something going on that he's not telling Dani and me. When I suggested we wait and cancel the wedding, he got mad. Started talking about how we had to redeem our people, and then said 'among other things'. I know there are parts of the story we haven't heard yet, but I can't help but wonder how essential they are. Shouldn't we be told how much is at stake? Especially if they want us to understand.”

  “Maybe he thought he was saving you from stress and pressure?” Ethan said with a shrug.

  Tyson chewed on his lower lip thoughtfully. “Perhaps. Whatever it is, I'm ready for all of this to be over and done with.”

  “Yeah…” Ethan said with a nod.

  “I think we're set here.” He paused. “Do you think it could be possible? To say no? Put my foot down and change it?”

  “It's not like anyone can force you to say 'I do', let alone consummate your marriage with her. Still, you guys are lucky. Since you know each other and all. Maybe it's not strange to you, but for her it's probably confusing. So are you sure you want to throw this whole thing away? What do you think will happen to you both? I mean, your people have one way of doing things, and hers another. How do you think she'll find another spouse?”

  Tyson scowled. It was just like Ethan to think logically about everything, and not from his heart. What would happen to Dani? There were no Elite men for Dani to pick from. What would happen to her was his biggest concern. She was the only female dragon. How many dragon men would try to take advantage of that? Tyson and Dani had gotten to know each other normally and naturally, just like the way of the Terran. All of the things Tyson would have done with a human girl, he was doing with Dani. Except for one thing: the kiss.

  When a Terran man proposed to a Terran girl, he did it through a kiss. It was the only way for a man to know for sure if they should go through with the whole thing. If the woman wanted to be with him, she would accept the kiss and wedding plans would begin. If she rejected him, it generally meant she did not think him worthy of marriage, and he was too flawed.

  “I keep looking at it from the wrong angle,” Tyson said. “I see her like I imagine I would a sister. She lacks something. The sex appeal maybe, I'm not sure. It's so hard to say.”

  “You don't think she's attractive?” Ethan raised an eyebrow, and Tyson got the sneaking suspicion that Ethan thought he was crazy.

  Tyson could only shrug. “She's beautiful. But she doesn't make me want to be with her. I don't think about her the same way I do…” He stopped, not wanting to say Maya's name. He wasn't sure how Ethan would handle the thought of Tyson looking at another woman. If he already felt guilty enough for doing it, then that was probably a good sign.

  For a moment, Ethan only watched his friend. “You're curious, and you can't help wondering, but be careful how much wandering you do while you get your head together.”

  “Yes, I know. I can't go and bed anyone or anything.” Tyson knew that. Every dragon man knew that.

  “Have you even tried to want Dani like… that?”

  “No, I haven't. I guess I should give it a shot, huh?” Tyson glanced at Ethan.

  The young man nodded, slowly. “Yes,” he whispered. “Kiss her, and tell me what it's like.”

  Tyson let out a heavy sigh. No wonder he thinks I'm so lucky. He's in denial, but he loves her back.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Maya watched as Dani tried on several different wedding dresses. So far the count was at ten, and it'd been about three hours. One dress Dani absolutely loved, and the others were all her mother's suggestion. For the most part, Maya felt out of place despite Dani's efforts to try and include her.

  “Do you think this is a little much for a beach wedding?” Dani asked as she swirled in a strapless dress that had a rather long train and a poofy bottom with a lot of bustling. She had to hold the dress up against her chest since she didn't quite have the curves to keep it secure on her body, which caused Maya to hold back a laugh.

  “For a beach wedding, I think it is, yes. You'll drag it through the sand too much. I think you should do the first one you tried out,” Maya said in an attempt to help her sort-of friend. After all, it was Dani's wedding, not her mother's, and if she was happy about the dress, then maybe she'd be happy about the whole thing.

  Dani faced her mother and folded her arms in front of her, still squeezing the dress against her. “See? That's exactly what I was thinking.”

  “But how do you know you'll be getting married on a beach?” her mother protested. “It's so pretty, Danielle, think about it.”

  “I'm getting married on the beach. That's something I'm not bending on.”

  “Let's ask your dad what he thinks.”

  Dani sighed and stepped out of the dressing room to show her father, who was waiting in the hallway. “Mom likes this one.”

  “And you don't?” Maya heard her father ask. “Let go so I can get a better look.”

  “I think it'll fall off if I do.”

  “Then you can't get it. Something tells me it's not going to be appropriate.”

  Her mother rolled her eyes and peeked her head out the door. “It'll be altered to fit!”

  “Mom, no!” Dani said, and walked back into the room.

  The whole exchange made Maya think about home. She'd never been away for so long. Her mother had always been more like a best friend, so it made her miss her terribly. What would shopping for her wedding dress be like? Would they do it together? Or maybe her mother had a dress of her own to pass down? From what she understood of her parents’ wedding, there weren't a lot of formalities. The whole thing had been a whirlwind romance of sorts. Her parents had run off to elope as quickly as possible. Maybe Ethan's mom has a wedding dress to pass down.

  Dani's father called out through the door, “Let her get the dress she likes, honey.”

  With a sigh, her mother handed the first dress back. “Okay, we'll look at this one again.”

  “Thank you,” Dani said, and started to take off the strapless dress with a great deal of enthusiasm. “Once this is done, we can get dresses for you guys.”

  “Hmm?” Maya raised her eyebrows. “You guys?”

  “Yeah, you and Mom.” Dani glanced over her shoulder at Maya and smiled. “I figured you could be in the wedding. It's normal to have another girl be a part of the Terran wedding to witness the whole thing. You're kind of the only girl my age I know. Unless you don't want to, of course.”

  Maya smiled a little, but felt a bit guilty given her brief moment of stupidity with Tyson. “I would love to, but can we talk? Just the two of us, quick?” She glanced over at Dani's mother, not wanting to confess the whole thing in front of her too. Maya was already scared enough of Dani's reaction.

  Her mother shrugged and kissed Dani's forehead. “I'll be waiting with your dad. Maybe seein
g it from a new perspective will sell me too.”

  Once the woman was out the door, Maya took in a deep breath to collect her nerve. “So I told you I would do some research when it came to Tyson. I've concluded he likes aggressive women. I'm pretty sure he's into you too, but he's waiting for you to make a move.”

  “A move?” Dani asked.

  “Yes, well, from what I know about Terran, the girls don't wait around for the guys. At least, that's what all the Terran movies are like. Come to think about it, any movie the normal humans make reflects it. The dragon culture is the only one that practices such primitive dating rituals. I mean, in the sense that the girl has to wait for the guy to come and take her away,” Maya explained, but she was still dodging what needed to be said. “Anyway, I bring this up because I made a move. I shouldn't have, and I pray you forgive me, but at the time it seemed like a good idea.”

  Dani stared at her with a mixture of awe, shock, and confusion. “What do you mean, made a move?”

  “We kissed?”

  “Oh…”

  Not quite the reaction Maya had been expecting, and she didn't know how to take it. Was Dani jealous? Mad? Okay with it?

  “I am really sorry,” Maya whispered.

  “Why?”

  “For some reason, I wanted to see what he would do if he was advanced on. Maybe break him out of his shell or something,” she explained, hoping Dani would understand the logic.

  Dani shook her head. “No, I mean, why are you so sorry?”

  “Because he's your fiancé.”

  “I know, but you didn't mean any harm, and it's not like it meant anything to either of you. Maybe it's better he give it a try, so he can get some confidence. Good idea,” Dani said with a small smile.

  Maya couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was being congratulated for kissing another woman's man? Was there something wrong with this girl? Or maybe she's looking for a reason to get out of this whole thing after all?

  After a brief moment of quiet, Dani glanced over her shoulder at Maya, still smiling. “Can you zip me up here?”

  She reached toward Dani, and pulled up on the zipper at the back of her dress. It was simple in design. It had thin spaghetti straps covered in silver jewels, and an empire waistline that flowed into a chiffon skirt with a small train. Under the bust was a jeweled band decorated with a flower pattern. Over the cleavage of the bust was another flower made from the same silver jewels. Absolutely beautiful, and it suited Dani well.

  “Are you sure you're not upset with me?” Maya asked.

  “Surprised, but not upset, no.” Dani shook her head. “Not sure what to think, to be honest, but why dwell on it?”

  “Right,” she said. Then she helped Dani walk out to the waiting room where her mother, father, and now Ethan waited. Maya watched as both the men's eyes lit up.

  Dani's father smiled. “I don't know what your problem is with the dress, honey. I think it's perfect.”

  Maya watched Ethan swallow, and tried to squash her jealousy. That had to be a normal guy reaction, right? Seeing a girl in a pretty dress would make anyone stop to admire the beauty. Still, Maya needed to be sure.

  “Tyson is going to just die when he sees you,” she said with a giggle, glancing at Ethan from the side to see his reaction. She watched him smile, and sighed in relief. Could he want me as much as I do him?

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  All of the hard things were out of the way. Dani was amazed at how much could be done in such a short period of time. The money the Terran nation was providing for the wedding helped of course, and that made the people of Shanrea that much more excited to cooperate with the tight deadline.

  For the first time since the whole planning process had begun, she was truly alone with Tyson, and it felt strange. Things had never felt awkward between the two of them before, and now there was a whole mess of awkward. She hated it.

  They looked for the perfect place to say their vows. She had her heart set on a beach wedding, which was hilarious in a way, since the water still made her so nervous. But she had a lot of fond memories from the beach, and most of them involved Tyson in some way, shape, or form. So why not? It seemed fitting. Plus, it would be more romantic than any place in town. The two walked along the shore. He gazed out at the water, and she down at her fingernails.

  “Any particular spot?” he asked quietly, breaking the silence.

  She shook her head. “I guess not. It's all beautiful and… it'll be hard for me to leave here. I imagine we'll be living in your home?”

  “With the money we'll be getting, we'll have enough to get a house here and over there. We can see which one we like more,” he said.

  “I'd like that.”

  Tyson stopped walking and faced her. He reached out to grab her hands with his own and stared into her eyes. She'd never seen him gaze at her with such tenderness, and was that other look in his eyes longing? It was hard to tell, because she'd never had him peer into the depths of her soul before like he seemed to be doing now.

  He took in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and leaned forward with his lips puckered. It took her a moment to realize he was trying to kiss her. She had only a second to prepare for it. She briefly tried to reciprocate it, but it didn't feel all too natural. If anything, she wanted to pull away from him, and she didn't understand why. Wasn't this what she had been wanting? For Tyson to notice her, to show he was in this with her. If so, why did she feel so grossed out by it? Like she'd just kissed one of her brothers?

  Frowning, Tyson pulled away and turned his back on her.

  “I'm sorry,” she whispered. “I'll find a way to be better the day of the wedding. I was just caught off guard.” For whatever reason, she felt like she needed an excuse to make up for her lack of experience. After all, he'd kissed at least one other girl besides her. Were there others that she didn't know about? What else hadn't he told her?

  He shook his head. “That's not it. You're fine, Dani. In fact, you're more than fine. You're perfect. I'm not sure why this is so hard for me. But something about that didn't feel right. Am I the only one?”

  “No, it didn't feel right to me either,” she admitted.

  “But I wanted it to…”

  “Same…”

  Tyson faced her again, chewing on his lower lip. “If we can't kiss, how are we going to…?”

  Dani swallowed and shook her head. “We can't go through with this.”

  “But how can we say no?”

  “We can't go through with this,” she repeated, adding more force into her tone.

  “Wow, I didn't realize I was so gross,” he mumbled.

  She laughed. “No, it has nothing to do with that. But you know we won't be happy. How are we going to make this work to begin with? Besides, I think you were onto something when you said this whole thing is just going to add more political fear among all of the nations. If we stick with this together, and get our parents to agree, then we can… we could fight this. They can't make us. There's no way for that to happen.”

  He nodded. “I know you're right. Part of me is scared to go against my lord's wishes.”

  “You can always move here, and he can't hurt you. We'll adopt you.” She was teasing of course. For the most part. It could be done if needed. She doubted there'd be a lot of backlash from her side of things. The only one who so obviously desired the wedding to happen was Lord Bolton. Even Lord Taylor had been more relaxed during his ruling. It's why they had gotten away with not going through with the whole thing for so long. There had to be something in it for Bolton. There was no other explanation for it.

  “This is a huge decision, Dani. Don't you want to think about it some more?”

  “Do you want to try kissing me again and see if it goes better?” she offered.

  Tyson scratched his chin, as if he were considering it, and then averted his gaze to the sand. “I'd rather not, but if you think doing it will help…”

  She sighed and gently touched his cheek with h
er hand. “Did you feel something when you kissed Maya?”

  “I—how—wha—?” Tyson stammered. “S-she told you?”

  “Mmm-hmm.” She nodded with a laugh.

  Tyson's cheeks flushed ever so slightly. “I liked it. Yeah.”

  “Then I think that's your answer on if we should be making such a big decision, huh?”

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  Dani grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. “We can do this. We'll march in, tell him what's happening, and that'll be the end of it. It'll be okay. Don't be scared, and just think, then you can be with Maya or anyone else you wanna be with. You don't have to feel stuck with me.”

  “I'm sorry,” he whispered.

  “I am too. I did try to be what you wanted.”

  “Same, but I know I can't be Ethan. And you need to say something to him fast, because I think he's going to do something crazy soon.” Tyson stroked her hair.

  She raised an eyebrow. “Good to know.”

  Ethan do something crazy? That didn't sound like him at all. He had an adventurous spirit in him, but for the most part he was reserved. There was hardly anything he did without first taking a logical approach. Something he'd tried to use to help her with the dilemma with Tyson, but Dani was learning she couldn't always rely on logic. She had to obey her heart too.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The thought of Dani and Tyson kissing wouldn't leave Ethan's mind. Funny, because Tyson practically admitted to doing something with Maya, which was slightly annoying, but not for the reasons it should have been. Ethan was thinking about accepting the girl's proposal, which technically made her his territory, and instead of focusing on that, all he thought about was how poor Dani would feel when she found out. And why did the idea of Tyson kissing her bother him so much?

  Because she deserves better? Is that it? Yeah, the Terran have a different way of courting, but whatever happened between Tyson and Maya shouldn't have. Does he have no sense of honor? Ethan shook his head. He's the luckiest guy in the world, and he's risking it all for some kind of fling? He sighed. No, that's harsh. He couldn't have done anything awful. But Ethan still believed Tyson to be lucky. He'd kill to be in the other guy's shoes. It would make life so much simpler if Ethan could marry his best friend and have the whole thing worked out for him.