by Amelia Jade
True, she’d ignored him and treated him rudely for months, and if Dom really wanted to, he could throw that back in her face. But then again, Dom wasn’t that kind of man. That wasn’t his outlook on the world. Someone he cared about was in trouble, well, not trouble, but was in need of reassurance and help. Who cares how they’d treated him? That could be worked out later, after the immediate situation was past.
“I am going to be in so much trouble,” Rhynne said as she munched on some sliced peppers as Dom prepared chicken in a skillet.
“What? From whom? Daxxton?” he asked, not sure what she meant.
Rhynne laughed. “No, Daxxton will probably be happy, if he reacts at all. It was my parents, actually, that I was referring to.”
“Ah,” he said.
“Ah? Ah? What is that supposed to mean?” she asked, standing up, arms crossed as her typical air returned.
“This,” he said, waving the knife in his hand at her. “This is what my ‘Ah’ means.”
Rhynne leaned forward dangerously. “Excuse me?”
Dominick sighed and put down the knife.
“Do you even see how rude and dismissive you get whenever you think about your parents, or pretend that you have to keep a certain station in life? Or do you just see that as the way things are?” he asked, confronting her.
She opened her mouth to respond, her eyes blazing. Dominick stood there coolly, prepared to deal with the worst. He knew, truly knew, that Rhynne was better than this, that she was only dismissive of him because her parents likely would be too, though they’d never even met him. He was not part of Cadia’s upper-crust—and thank goodness for small miracles.
Her jaw closed, slowly.
“You’re an adult, Rhynne. You can do what you want.”
She shook her head. “It’s easy for you to say, but it’s not that easy for me. My parents are well-connected. Influential. You know who they are.”
He shrugged. “I know your mother Klara is on the Cadian Council, yes. Your father was as well, a number of decades ago. They run in the lofty circles of snobbery, such as there is in Cadia. They expect you to do whatever they say, and don’t realize you’re an actual individual, with your own wants and needs. I know that, yes.”
Rhynne glared at him. “Yes, well, I’m expected to follow after them. To mate for status and power. Not for desire, or even love. I should fall in love with whomever is chosen for me. It is the other way around, you see? Find power, create love. Instead of find love, and create power from it.”
He snorted. “Let me guess: they have a suitor for you already as well. He’s just waiting in the wings for you to come around to your senses, according to them.”
There was no reply; she just looked away, focusing somewhere else for a moment. But Dominick was patient. He simply waited. It didn’t take long before she cracked.
“Yes. Yes there is. His name is Garviel, and he is one of the Wards of Fenris that are visiting right now,” she said. “There, are you happy now? Do you want me to tell you how he’s easy on the eyes, powerful, and well-connected back home? How the two of us would make a great match? Is that what you want to hear?”
“Want?” he replied. “No, I don’t want to hear that from you at all. I have other words I would much rather hear you speak. But I don’t know if you’re able to speak them.”
Rhynne shut her eyes. “Maybe I’m not. But I will tell you something, Dominick Carunno. Garviel is a pompous asshole who has acted like I’m his to own since the moment I met him.” She threw her hands in the air. “And I’ve only met him twice, for a grand total of like ten minutes! The guy is unbearable. I don’t want to go with him. I want to find love, okay? But I can’t.”
Dom shook his head. “Why not?”
“I told you already. My parents, expectations, the way it is. Did you not listen to what I was saying?”
“Yes, I did. I promise you, I listened to every word you spoke, Rhynne Nova. Every word. But did you listen to what I asked?”
She slammed a hand down on the granite island countertop, hard enough to make it shake, but not strong enough to do any damage. “Yes, and I answered you.”
“No, you didn’t. Why can’t you make your own decisions?”
“MY PARE—”
He cut off her roar with a chop of his hand into the air.
“Listen to me. I understand that. But why can’t you do it anyway? What is so terrible that will happen if you do your own thing?” He spoke evenly, in soothing tones, driving his point home.
Rhynne’s jaw snapped shut. She worked it slowly, forming a reply. “Well, my parents will disown me, most likely. No access to the family land, or money. No power or status in Cadia anymore. I’ll be ostracized from those levels.”
He arched an eyebrow.
“What?” she snapped.
“Is that such a terrible thing? You say you hate everything about it, and yet you’re afraid to lose it. Something doesn’t add up.”
Now her jaw dropped open in surprise as he called her out.
Dominick held up a hand as she began to answer. “No, it’s okay. Think on it.”
He spooned a portion of the food which he’d continued to prepare as they talked into a bowl, sliding a fork into it and pushing it across the counter to her with a small smile. “Enjoy.”
Rhynne looked apologetic, but he waved her off again.
“We’ll continue this later. Eat, then get some sleep, okay? We’ll talk in the morning, hash out a plan.” He grinned suddenly. “It’ll be okay, I promise.”
Rhynne didn’t look like she believed him, but she did sit down to eat, pulling one of the high barstool-style chairs close.
Chapter Six
Rhynne
Rhynne woke the next morning in her bed at the Academy, with only the faintest recollection of how she’d gotten there.
It wasn’t that she’d been drunk. No, she wasn’t stupid. There would be no drinking in her near future. Nor had she been up overly late. Dom had walked her back to her part of the Academy as soon as she had finished eating. He’d broken the rules and brought her right to her door, but Rhynne hadn’t cared.
She’d been too exhausted, mentally, to notice. They’d exchanged pleasantries, and then she’d fallen into a deep slumber. The entire evening—hell, the past day and a half—was all a blur. All because of one extra line on some silly stick.
Rhynne was pregnant. A life had been created inside of her, and now it was growing there.
“Holy fucking shit,” she swore, suddenly wide awake. “I’m going to be a mother.”
That was the first time that thought had crashed through her mind. Before then, it had always been that she was pregnant, that there was a child inside of her. But it had taken until just then for her to realize that she was going to be that child’s mother.
Right then and there, she swore to give that child more options than her parents were giving her. It would be allowed to mate for love, even if she might never get that opportunity.
Dominick’s question from the night before continued to haunt her.
Is giving that all up such a horrible thing?
She wasn’t sure she’d be able to answer that anytime soon. Accepting her fate as being dictated by them had been a part of her for thirty-four years. She couldn’t just overturn that in one day.
Throwing the covers off, she rose, pulling on fresh black trousers, a white blouse with black vest, and her favorite pair of knee-high boots. It was the same style she always wore, but Rhynne didn’t care. It was comfortable, efficient, and practical. Plus the pants made her butt look good.
Heading down the stairs from her private suite—the instructors had much more lavish accommodations than the cadets did—she headed into their kitchen area, where she heard the sound of voices.
To her surprise, everyone was there. Blaine and Zander she had figured on seeing. It was the tall, composed man with an aura of peace and competency around him that caught her off guard.
; “Morning Daxxton,” she said with far more informality than any of the cadets would ever dare of doing.
“Rhynne,” he said with a smile. “Please, join us. There should be plenty of food left over, and I would like your thoughts on something, as you are rather uniquely positioned to give them.”
She froze.
How did he know? She’d told nobody except Mina and Dominick. How could he possibly know? What did she say now? Shit. Did everyone in the room know?
“Rhynne? Is everything okay? I was hoping you could give us your insights on the Wards of Fenris.”
Oh. That’s what he meant.
She nearly sagged in relief.
“Yes, of course,” she said, moving to where the leftovers were still sitting warm in their pots. She gave herself a generous helping of eggs, a few pieces of bacon, and a piece of flatbread before moving to the thick dark-stained wooden table around which the other sat.
She sank gratefully into one of the plushly-padded heavy wooden chairs and began to eat as Zander spoke.
“I still think they’re up to no good!” he exclaimed animatedly.
Rhynne considered the other instructors as she ate.
Zander, who was speaking excitedly about his thoughts on the Wards and their trip to Cadia, was the fireball of the group. Loud, outspoken, quick to anger, and just as quick to forgive, he did everything at one hundred percent. He had a quick wit and an even quicker temper. He was also one of the best fliers she had ever seen. As a Gale Dragon, he was smaller than the rest, but he used that, and his speed to ruthless effect in the air.
Blaine nodded sagely along with Zander, in agreement it would seem, that the Wards’ mission to Cadia was not simply a sightseeing expedition. He was a more powerful and intimidating individual than Zander. Topping him by several inches, with a short, neatly trimmed goatee, Blaine was the poster child for dragons when one discussed them. Broad, powerful shoulders and shortly cropped hair were paired with piercing green eyes that cowed those who bore the brunt of their stare.
And finally, Daxxton, who was sitting back, listening to the others speak. Though she had known Daxxton for some time, the gold dragon shifter, head of the Academy, was a quiet, reserved person. He spoke rarely, and was often absent, though she did not know where he went off to much of the time. Just then his eyes were moving intently between the three instructors, even though Rhynne had yet to speak.
She finished eating just as the conversation fell into a lull. An expectant look from Daxxton spurred her to words, though her mind was still preoccupied with the fact that she was pregnant.
“I can’t believe I’m agreeing with Zander,” she said, chewing idly on the last piece of bacon that she’d saved. “But they are here for more than just a friendly visit.”
Zander slapped his hand on the table. “I knew it! They’re here to spy on us, to cause trouble.”
Rhynne shook her head. “I can’t speak to that. I’ve only met the one, really.”
“Which one?” Blaine asked.
“Garviel,” she said with a grimace.
“How do you know they’re here for more than just a visit then?” Zander asked with a frown, clearly worried she wouldn’t actually be able to back up his theory.
“Because he’s here looking for a mate,” she said glumly.
“How do you kn—” Zander stopped speaking abruptly as a grin spread across his face. “Ah, he’s putting the moves on you, is he?” the sandy-haired shifter teased with a laugh.
“With the approval of my parents, no less,” she said unhappily.
“Not impressed then?” Blaine asked, more interested in her evaluation of one of the Wards than her love life.
“Oh, he seems competent and trained enough, I suppose. For a Ward,” she scoffed, remembering how she’d caught him so off guard when he wouldn’t let go of her arm. “But personality-wise? I couldn’t tell you. He puts on this faux outer personality any time I see him, and I’ve yet to get a real glimpse of what’s underneath it. I have a feeling, however, that I wouldn’t like it.”
Daxxton leaned forward, and the others stayed quiet as his movement signaled he would be entering the conversation. “I picked up the same thing. He is the head of the delegation sent here, but none of the men—and there were no women with them—seemed overly affable. In fact, one of them, whose name I did not catch, looked downright angry at everything around him. He blended in well, however, if it were not for the birthmark under his eye, I might have missed him entirely, which speaks volumes to his skill at remaining unseen.”
Rhynne jerked. “Under his right eye? A black splotchy mark?”
Daxxton nodded.
“Hmmm.” She quickly told them about her run-in with that man at Morrte’s.
“These men are up to no good, or if they aren’t now, they will be,” Zander said with subdued enthusiasm.
“I’m inclined to agree,” Daxxton said. “I will see about having the Guardians set up a tail for them, just in case. I do hope, however, that we can get through this visit peacefully. I have gotten used to things being that way.”
Blaine laughed. “You mean you don’t miss us having to put the entire Guardian Corps on alert any time Fenris or the others came for a visit?”
Daxxton nodded at the Fume Dragon, looking slightly amused, but also regretful at the same time. Rhynne didn’t know much about the times before peace had reigned. All she knew was that the various shifter strongholds had once been at each other’s throats. Fights, raids, kidnappings, and more had all been commonplace as recently as a century and a half earlier.
She was, by far, the youngest of the instructors. Her position as daughter of Klara Nova, a member of the Cadian Council, had meant she received training as a child that most would not. She had shown enough promise that Daxxton had trained her personally starting a decade and a half ago, far earlier than most were recruited to the Academy.
Zander was next, and he was two and a half centuries old himself. Rhynne didn’t know how old Daxxton was, but she knew he was well in excess of seven centuries. He didn’t talk about his personal life much. From rumors she had heard, however, he’d once been a loud, boisterous, and fun person.
But his mate, a human woman whose name she did not know, had been taken from him. When that had happened, Daxxton had become the somber, reserved, and distant person she knew. Rhynne often wished to meet the earlier incarnation of the Wing Commander, back before he’d founded Top Scale Academy.
“Blaine, Zander, I think now might be a good time to start the day,” Daxxton said as the sun burst through the clouds, bathing the room in real light.
The two shifters rose easily, and with nods at the remaining pair, departed to put the cadets through their paces.
She made to get up as well, but Daxxton stayed her with an upraised palm.
“You have a secret, Rhynne Nova,” he said without preamble.
The chair creaked heavily under her as she sat back down abruptly.
Shit. He did know. All this time, that sly sonofabitch knew. But how?
Or did he truly know, she wondered. Could he just perhaps be bluffing, recognizing that something was going on, but not actually knowing what?
“Don’t we all?” she replied coolly instead.
To her surprise, Daxxton smiled. “I suppose you are correct there. But yours is a current, pertinent one.”
She grimaced, unable to hide her reaction. He couldn’t know just what was going on though. “I’m not sure pertinent is the right word to use,” she responded.
“So the fact that young Dominick walked you to your room last night is not something that you would say is relevant to the current goings-on of the Academy?” There was no anger in his accusation. Simply a desire for the truth, and knowledge as a whole.
Rhynne started to reply, but Daxxton spoke first again.
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed your change in attitude toward him either, Miss Nova,” he said with slightly more formality, letting Rhynne kno
w she should answer his questions truthfully. She considered him a mentor, and perhaps even a friend. But he was also her boss, and they both had to take that into consideration.
“It won’t affect my ability to work, Daxxton,” she said firmly.
“But it’s affecting your ability to be you, Rhynne,” he told her. “If you won’t speak to me as your boss, will you speak to me as a friend?”
She looked down. If there was a source of neutral wisdom in her life, Daxxton was it. And Rhynne knew she could use his help and guidance more than ever before. This was brand-new, uncharted territory for her. Anything he could tell her would be wonderful.
“I’m pregnant,” she said bluntly, having come to her decision.
Daxxton’s eyebrows rose, the only indication of the immense surprise she knew he was feeling. Getting such a reaction out of him with unexpected information was a rare thing, mainly because Daxxton generally knew about what was going on. It appeared that this time she had managed to catch him off guard.
“I see. May I make a guess as to who the father is?”
She snorted. “We both know your guesses are always spot-on, Daxxton. But I’ll save you the effort. Yes, it is Dominick’s.”
“So, besides the fact that this seems to be unexpected, may I ask the issue at hand that seems to be of worry to you?”
Rhynne told him about her parents, and their expectations and views about Dominick as someone not born to “class” like she was.
Daxxton nodded. “Yes, I see it clearly now. I could tell you a great many things about parents and a child’s desire to make them proud, and how that can ultimately be a terrible thing. But I’m sure you’ve heard that before.”
A wave of sadness swept over Daxxton, his eyes looking painful and hurt, and she realized his mind was elsewhere.
“But what I can speak to is taking a chance. Doing the unexpected. And most of all, about regret. Of opportunities wasted, or never seized when they were right there for the taking. Of being afraid to buck what was expected of you, but also how doing so can allow you to see things differently.”
