by Zoe Chant
A warm, firm lump against her leg settled the matter. It was orange and purring. She didn't have to be able to see it to know it was Toblerone.
"How long was I out?" she asked weakly as Tessa helped her lift the glass of water to her mouth. Her hands trembled and her arms felt limp.
"Two days. We weren't sure—" Tessa pressed her lips together, to stop the words or to prevent them from quivering, Melody wasn't sure. "Anyway," Tessa went on in a more normal voice, "Ben and I have been staying at your father's place while we waited for you to wake up."
It touched her deeply that they'd come. "What about Gunnar?" He must have survived, he must have. My father was there; I don't remember it well, but I do remember that. Surely he would have made sure that Gunnar survived. He must have survived ...
"He's here," Tessa said, and Melody's stomach unclenched in relief. "Well, not precisely here here. Your father wanted him—uh—"
Melody pushed the half-empty glass of water away as her stomach knit its walls together all over again. "Tessa. Where is Gunnar?"
Tessa cleared her throat. "Did you know your dad has a dungeon? Because I didn't."
"He put him in the dungeon?" She started to climb out of bed and immediately got tangled up with the covers and her own weak legs. It was embarrassing to have to slump on Tessa while the spots stopped dancing in front of her eyes.
"I don't think you should be out of bed yet," Tessa protested. "You almost died."
Anger was a remarkable motivator. She managed to wobble to her feet, clutching at Tessa's round, pregnant body for support. "I can't believe my dad put my mate in the dungeon. I'm going to kill him."
"In fairness to your dad," Tessa said, putting an arm around her to stabilize her, "Gunnar kind of volunteered to put himself down there. Nobody quite trusts him, and there was some question of—uh—"
"I trust him!" Melody snapped. "I wanted him here! That should be what counts." She used furniture and Tessa to pull herself toward where she hoped the door was.
"There was some question of how you got the dragonsbane in the first place," Tessa said.
She sounded embarrassed. As well she might. Melody turned a withering glare on her friend, or at least the closest thing she could manage while she was dressed in nothing but a nightgown, unable to see anything except a giant blur, and using her death grip on Tessa's shoulder to keep from falling on her face.
"People think Gunnar gave me the dragonsbane?"
"He said he didn't, but I'm not sure your dad and Ben believe him."
"I am going to kill them," Melody decided. "No, first I'll let Gunnar out of the dungeon. Then I'll kill them." She made another attempt for the door, but her human crutch was rooted firmly in place. "Tessa, so help me—"
"I will help you, if you'll put some clothes on," Tessa said. "I know how I'd feel if it was Ben down there. At least sit down for a minute, before you fall down."
"I guess ..." Melody wobbled and sat down abruptly on the edge of the bed. "I guess I could do that."
Tessa brought her a silk robe from the closet. "You know they're just trying to look out for you."
"I know," she sighed. "I expect this sort of ridiculousness from Dad. I thought Ben had more common sense, though."
"If it helps any, I think Ben likes Gunnar." Tessa helped Melody put an arm into the robe. "I don't really think he wants to, but he does. Ben's always been a pretty good judge of character. Speaking of Ben, he and your dad need to know you're up—"
"They can twist in the wind for a little while yet," Melody declared heartlessly. "First we get Gunnar out of the dungeon. Then we let them know I'm not dead."
She almost changed her mind when she lurched out of the bedroom, leaning on Tessa, to be confronted with an expanse of polished marble floor that looked approximately a mile long to her bleary eyes. She'd forgotten how huge Darius's mansion was.
"I'm not quite sure I know the way," Tessa admitted. "This place is a maze."
"I know the way. Just tell me what wing we're in."
"Uh ... he said he put you in the Daffodil Room."
"Really? Okay, that means east wing ..." She turned around. "This way. Onward."
They had to stop a few times along the way to rest, taking shameless advantage of benches that were probably intended to be ornamental. Melody took them down a servant's stair to the basement level, which was older-looking and much more utilitarian than the main floors of the house; it was primarily used for storage. Tessa picked up some self-assurance here, led them through the wine cellar, and opened the secret door to the dungeons with a confidence that indicated she'd already been here a few times.
The women stepped through the swinging section of wall into a square stone passageway. "My father spares no cliché," Melody muttered, glancing at the fuzzy blobs of lamps set into recesses in the rough-cut walls, and Tessa laughed.
Melody just hoped the lamps were electric. Her father was odd and old-fashioned, but he was smart enough not to risk a fire in the subbasement for mere ambiance ... she hoped.
Maddox, her father's bodyguard and manservant, was sitting outside the lone occupied cell in the cell block. He stood up quickly, laying aside a book; Melody had to stop herself from tracking it with her eyes, trying by habit to focus through her nearsightedness to read the cover.
"Melody?" said a familiar, beloved voice, and all thoughts of books fled her mind.
She pushed away from Tessa and stumbled to the bars of the cell. Gunnar scrambled to his feet and pressed against the bars, reaching through. They hugged as desperately as they could with the bars in the way.
"You're all right," Gunnar breathed. He brushed her face with his fingertips before pulling her close again. "You're all right."
"I'm still pretty far from a hundred percent, but I think I'm going to be okay." She pressed against him, as if she could melt through the bars and into his arms. "And you—" She'd already felt the bulk of bandages under his shirt. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? They made you stay in here if you're hurt—"
"They didn't make me," Gunnar said quickly. "Well, your dad kind of ... implied I might be happier here. But it's okay. If you didn't make it, I didn't really ..."
He trailed off. She was glad he hadn't finished. "I'm fine," she declared, "and you're fine. Or at least we're both going to be." She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him.
"Maddox," Tessa said in a no-nonsense tone, "let him out."
"Not without the boss's say-so," Maddox ground back at her in his bass rumble of a voice.
"Maddox, the boss isn't here, but I'm here. Which of us are you more worried about?"
Melody was intrigued to find out which way this battle of wills was going to fall, but had no chance to learn. "Actually," said a quiet voice said from the corridor, "I am here." Darius stepped into view, hands clasped behind his back and face calm. If he had any emotional response to the fact that his daughter who had been on her deathbed just recently was now up and moving around, it didn't show—though admittedly she was only getting the broad strokes of expressions right now by squinting at people's faces.
"Daughter," Darius said, and was that perhaps relief in his voice, despite his efforts to hide it? "I see you're up and about."
"Yes, and I see Gunnar is in the dungeon," Melody snapped. "Let him out."
Darius nodded to Maddox, who stepped forward with the keys. "Oh, and I brought you something," Darius said casually, holding out a hand to Melody.
She couldn't tell what it was until her hands closed over familiar glass, plastic, and wire. "Oh, thank God," she murmured, fitting the glasses to her face. Finally she could see. Darius was smiling slightly. "Where did you get these?"
"I've taken to keeping a spare set on hand, should you need them while visiting."
She'd only started wearing her glasses around him recently; up until that point, they'd both pretended that her eyes were perfectly 20/20. Melody gave him a highly suspicious look, but just then the cell door opened with a clank, and s
he turned to throw her arms around Gunnar properly this time.
"You're okay," she murmured, pressing kisses to his stubble-scruffed cheek, to his lips and nose and neck.
"I'm okay." He held her close. He must have showered since the fight, because his clothes were clean and he smelled of soap and, ever so slightly, of dungeon.
He could have smelled like a pigpen for all she cared. The important thing was that he was alive and okay. Her conviction from earlier was still with her. Gunnar, I choose you. No matter what. Through storm and fire, through my family's disapproval, I will always choose you.
Right now her family was looking uncomfortable and somewhat guilty. Ben had arrived with her dad, and she shot him a glare past Gunnar's shoulder, hoping he could read the unspoken subtext: I expect this of Dad, but I thought better of you.
He seemed to understand; there was apology in his slight smile, and then, as he took in the way they were clinging to each other, a long-delayed comprehension seemed to dawn. He went over to put an arm around Tessa's shoulders, and his pregnant mate leaned against him and kissed his cheek.
"I was so worried for you," Gunnar whispered into her hair. "It was all I could think about, how you'd collapsed and I couldn't do anything about it."
"It's all right. It's not your fault in the slightest. No matter what some people think." She directed this in Darius's direction.
Darius looked like he was on the verge of saying something, but just then Tessa interrupted them with a small, surprised gasp. She wobbled away from Ben and sat down abruptly on the chair Maddox had vacated.
"Tessa?" Ben said, alarmed.
Darius asked at the same time, "Are you well?"
"I'm fine," Tessa said slowly. She pressed a hand to the swell of her pregnant belly. "I just ... think I had a contraction."
Chapter Fifteen: Gunnar
If there was one thing Gunnar hadn't expected from this day, it was getting caught up in the whirlwind surrounding the delivery of Darius Keegan's first grandchild.
Tessa insisted, at first, on being taken to a hospital—loudly and at length—over the top of Darius's protests that he had excellent medical facilities at the mansion and could have the best doctors brought at once. When Tessa stopped for breath (and another contraction), Ben pointed out that it was a long drive to the nearest hospital, or a slightly less long but considerably more uncomfortable flight on dragonback.
"I'm not due for another two weeks," Tessa protested as they led her upstairs. "Look, there's time to get to a hospital. It's my first child, and I haven't been in labor very long ... I think."
"You think?" Melody, Ben, and Darius all said at once.
"Well, I've been having some ... aching, I guess, while I was watching over Melody. I didn't want to say anything because I've been having mild false contractions for weeks, it's a thing that happens—will you two stop looking at me that way," she snapped at Ben and Darius, one of whom was attempting to support her on each side. She shoved Darius away unceremoniously and claimed Ben's hand with her own. "Guys. Do I look like an invalid? Knock it off. I—oh—"
She stopped walking with a groan, and pressed her fist into the small of her back. Ben supported her and gave Darius a desperate look over the top of her head.
"I shall summon a physician," Darius declared, and hurried off.
"I'm not overly comforted by the word 'physician'," Tessa said as Ben helped her to an ornamental bench. "His knowledge of human medicine is more recent than 1890, right? He does know there are medical specialities? Just, I'd rather not have him show up with a proctologist for the delivery of my firstborn."
Melody gave a small laugh. She was leaning on Gunnar, a few steps behind the others, with his arm around her waist to support her. "I don't know how she gets away with it. Nobody can push my father around the way Tessa does. She's got a knack." She glanced up at Gunnar. "I hope the idea of a dragon father-in-law doesn't terrify you."
"I think we've both dealt with worse things than that," he said, leaning down to kiss her.
In the middle of the kiss, they both heard Tessa give a yelp, and Melody broke away and turned to her friend. Ben was looking frantic.
"Tessa, what's wrong?"
Tessa looked up at Ben and Melody with an odd expression on her face, somewhere between embarrassment and satisfaction. "Er ... I think my water just broke on your dad's thousand-dollar bench."
"Good timing," Ben said. He sounded cheerful for the first time in days.
***
"Darius," Tessa said between her teeth, as the white-faced OB/GYN examined the facilities in what appeared to be (to the extent that Gunnar could tell) a modern, state-of-the-art hospital suite in one of the mansion's wings, "when you said summon a physician, I wasn't aware summon was a code word for kidnap."
"No one has been kidnapped," Darius declared, looking slightly more ruffled than usual. "This woman is one of the finest obstetricians in the world, and she owes me a favor. She has been aware for some time that I might cash it in on the delivery of my grandchildren."
"Still, I doubt if she was aware that you might also show up in the middle of the night, grab her in your claws, and whisk her off to your secret lair in the mountains."
Darius's eyes narrowed. "She is aware that such things are a hazard of dealing with dragons. And she does know about dragons."
"Well, she sure does after one carried her off in the middle of the night!"
"Even before that," Darius said with dignity. "I made sure of it, so that she will be able to handle the situation in case there are unusual complications during the birth."
"Unusual complications?" Tessa's voice rose in a shriek, and she seized Ben's hand in a grip that made him grimace. "This baby is going to come out human-shaped, right? Right? Darius?"
"They usually do," Darius said.
"Usually?!"
Gunnar grinned and gave Melody a gentle tug, steering her away. "Looks like they've got it handled here. You want to lay down?"
"I'm actually feeling a lot better. The longer I'm up, the better I feel." She did have more color in her face, Gunnar was relieved to see. "Wait, wait," she went on, pulling away. "I need to find out if Tessa wants anything."
"Go lay down, Mel," was Tessa's answer when Melody asked about it. "I'm fine here. I have Ben, Darius, and all his minions at my beck and call. Go get some sleep. Gunnar, make her go sleep."
"Yes, ma'am," Gunnar said, grinning. This time Melody allowed herself to be shepherded out. "You gonna lay down now?"
"I don't want to," Melody protested. "I'm not that tired. Mostly what I want is food. You?"
"Food sounds great."
"One advantage to Dad being as loaded as he is, all we have to do is call down to the kitchen and they can have whatever we want brought up to our room. What do you want?"
Gunnar's mind went instantly blank. They'd been feeding him in the cell, but the food had tasted like ashes while he didn't know if Melody was going to be all right. Now he realized he was starving. "Uh ... burger?"
"We can do better than that. How about the biggest, juiciest, rarest rib-eye you've ever seen?"
His mouth watered. "Make it two and you've got a deal."
Not long after, they had a meal fit for a king—or at least a wealthy dragon—spread over the yellow-and-white bedspread in what Melody told him was called the Daffodil Room. "All the guest bedrooms have a theme," Melody explained. "If the yellow bothers you, we can move over to Pine or Sage or Bluebell."
"This is fine. It's cheerful." He looked around at the cream-colored carpet, the furnishings that looked like they probably came from fancy lines of furniture with fancy furniture-style names, and the door standing open to a bathroom with a huge Jacuzzi and an expanse of white-and-yellow tiled floor. "This is like some kind of fancy hotel, more than a house."
"We could sleep in a different room every night, if you want to. I used to enjoy doing that when I'd visit Dad a kid."
Gunnar flushed and shook his head. "I woul
dn't want to. It feels like ... too much, you know? I don't need it. This one room is nicer than anywhere I've ever been. Anyway, no sense making somebody have to change the sheets on all those beds and clean all those rooms if we don't need to."
Melody's eyebrows went up, and she thoughtfully forked up a piece of triple-layer chocolate cake with little chocolate curls on top. In addition to the steaks, she'd had the kitchen send up what looked to Gunnar like some of everything; there was more food than even a couple of healing shifters could eat. "I never thought about it that way before," she said.
"You mop enough floors, you can't help thinking about the people that mop the floors, even in a place like this. I mean, someone's gotta polish all that marble out there."
Her face lit up in a smile, and she reached out to curl her fingers over his wrist. "Gunnar, you're not only a good person, I think you're the best person I've ever known."
"I'm not," he protested, looking away.
Her fingers remained on his wrist, pressed gently like a benediction. "You are, though. Everything you've been through, everything with your brother and the life you've led—it could have made you hard and cold. It could have made you like Nils. But all it did was make you kind. You don't want other people to be hurt the way you were hurt."
She found his lips with hers, and for awhile the food was forgotten in gentle kissing and nibbling, relearning the shape of each other's mouths.
Eventually they came up for air, and more dessert. In between feeding each other chocolate-covered strawberries, Melody asked hesitantly, "Do you mind if I ask about your, um, legal situation? Do you know what's going to happen to you now that Nils is—um—now that he's no longer—"
"You can say dead," Gunnar said gently. It seemed to him that it should hurt more than it did, but when he prodded at thoughts of his brother as if probing a healing injury, all he found was a sad, resigned grief, not the acute pain he'd feared. "I talked to your brother a little bit while I was in the, er ..."
