by Maria Grace
“The only faults I can find in you are the ones I just related to you. Not faults of character or breeding; easily remedied I would say. You are all but a perfect—”
She lifted her free hand and stepped back. “I have heard entirely enough, Mr. Collins. Pray importune me no further.”
His eyes bulged, and he drew a very deep breath that would no doubt fuel many, many irate words.
She spun and ran toward Longbourn Woods.
April’s scratchy toes pierced her bodice and rasped against her skin as she pounded away. Little matter, if it meant she was away from Collins faster.
Dreadful, dreadful man, thinking he could simply order her to give up dragons. The audacity! The pomposity! It was not as though he were her husband and had that authority in the first place.
The woods embraced her with open arms, closing around behind her. Lungs burning and legs protesting, she leaned against a sympathetic tree and gulped deep, heaving breaths.
April peeked above her hand. “Is he gone?”
“We are, my dear, which is nearly as good.”
April hopped to her shoulder, fluttering until every feather-scale was back in place. “You should tell Longbourn what has just happened.” April poked Elizabeth’s ear with her sharp beak.
Had she any idea of what a very, very bad idea that was? As much as Longbourn wanted her to marry Collins, if the wyvern thought him any real threat ... She shuddered.
A loud squawk resounded among the trees as wings crashed through the branches and stirred up dead leaves. Rustle flipped his wings to his back and bobbed his head. “We saw you running into the woods. Your father sent me.”
She dragged her hand down her face. “I suppose I am directed to return to the house straight away?”
“I am not a messenger bird. You have heard no such thing from me.” Rustle waddled toward her, head cocked.
He stretched out his neck. No doubt he was itchy.
She crouched and obliged his request. He cawed and pulled away, rattling his feather-scales in draconic contentment. Little made a dragon happier than a good scratch. Were it only that men were so easily pleased—and distracted.
She leaned her head against the tree trunk.
“I saw Collins with you. What did he do?” Rustle extended his wings, dry leaves kicking up in their wake.
Such a sweet, protective gesture. No doubt he would put Collins’ eyes out if she asked.
April swooped down and hovered in front of Rustle. “He wants to see me banished to a cage and for her to give up all things draconic.”
Rustle squawked—not a conversational squawk, but the one that preceded a hunt. Often the last sound his prey would ever hear.
“Mrow!”
That was a cry of pain!
Rumblkins crashed through the bushes, nearly landing on Rustle. He hissed, beating his wings, rising a hand span off the ground. Rumblkins’ fur stood on end, and his serpentine tail swelled and lashed the ground.
Elizabeth jumped between them, raising her cloak to block their sight of one another until they regained their senses enough to recognize their keep mates. “Step back, both of you. I will drop my cloak, and you will greet each other properly, as friends. Do you understand?”
“Mrow!”
“Caw, caw.”
Elizabeth lowered the edges of her cloak.
Rumblkins crouched low and touched his forehead to the ground. “Forgive me, Rustle. I did not look before I leapt.”
Rustle squawked and plucked a hair from the back of Rumblkins’ neck. “I receive your apology.”
She crouched beside Rumblkins. “What sent you running blindly into the woods?”
He turned his side toward her and licked his serpentine scales. A dark bruise spread over his ribs. “Collins. I crossed his path. His boots are very hard.”
She held her hand out to him. “Pray, let me see. How badly are you hurt? Might there be something broken?”
He grumbled as she ran her hands over his side. It was swollen, but the bones seemed sound and the swelling was not the kind that implied bleeding within.
April buzzed and circled over them. “This is bad, this is very, very bad. Violence against a dragon, even an unrecognized one, is a very serious act.”
Unfortunately, she was right. Accidents were one thing, but this was certainly no accident.
Rumblkins licked his side, so cat-like. A cat with a forked tongue and scales. “Mrs. Hill saw him do it. She swung her rolling pin at him. Said he had no business kicking her friend and she had half a mind to kick him herself.” He looked so satisfied as he licked his thumbed paw.
“Good. I hope she hit him.” April zipped between them.
“I hardly think that a good thing. Papa would have to dismiss her. She might even be jailed for the assault, and then where would we be? I should like to put a poultice on this when we return to the house, and I will make you some special tea as well. It should be better in just a few days.”
Rumblkins pressed his head into her hand.
“The fluffle-bit is right.” Rustle hopped nearer. “This is a very serious business.”
Serious and complicated. Very, very complicated.
She squeezed her eyes shut and clutched her temples. “He does not know your true nature, so it was not an intended act against dragonkind. A fit of temper, absolutely, but nothing more.”
Now she was defending Collins? This was too much.
“That might be a mitigating consideration; however, it was against a creature with whom he was familiar, with whom he knew the family was affectionate. If he had kicked a random creature in his path, it would be different, but this—no, it is abhorrent.” Rustle rocked from side to side, wings slightly extended. “A Keep Conclave is warranted.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. Now was not the time for a burgeoning headache. No, not at all. “Whilst I understand why you say that, pray let us not go to that extreme now. I can manage this without involving Longbourn.”
“Why?” April hovered before her face. “After all Collins has said, and all he has done today, I think it exactly the right time to escalate this to the local Laird.”
“Longbourn has been much agitated as of late. Bringing more to him right now cannot end well.”
“You have not been able to manage either Collins or Longbourn very well so far.” Rustle scratched at the ground.
Dragon directness and dragon stubbornness. What a truly delightful combination.
A dull thud reverberated in her feet. No! Of all times—now?
Dry leaves crunched, and branches snapped. Longbourn’s enormous head poked through the trees. “What should you tell me?”
His voice rumbled in her bones.
“Nothing for you to concern yourself with.” She hurried to his side and scratched under his chin.
“Ah, yes, right there.” Longbourn cocked his head and exposed his ear. “You have been away too long. That is good!” His heavy tail swished through the underbrush.
“Turn a bit, you itchy creature, and let me reach the other side.” She pushed his shoulder.
He shuffled sideways and contorted himself to give her access to his other ear. A solid, two-handed scratch elicited more happy groans and decidedly canine foot thumping.
“He most certainly should concern himself.” April pecked Longbourn’s nose.
“Pray do not bother him with trivial issues. All is quite well.” Bulging her eyes did nothing for her headache, nothing at all.
April squawked and landed on Longbourn’s muzzle. His eyes crossed as he tried to focus on her. She paced up and down his snout. He flicked his ears and grumbled.
“All is not well, ask Rumblkins.” April pointed with her wing.
Rumblkins approached. How did he manage to limp through his funny tatzelwurm spring-and-hop?
Longbourn sniffed at Rumblkins’ bruised side. April hopped over the wrinkles that formed on his snout. His huge, bulgy eyes turned on Elizabeth. “You are able to hel
p him?”
His hot, acrid breath raised sweat on her cheeks. “I will take him back to the house and tend him there. He will be fine. Perhaps I should take him with me now. I can carry him—”
“Laird Longbourn.”
No, not Rustle, too!
“Do you not wish to know why we would trouble you with something like this?” Rustle extended his wings and touched his forehead to the ground.
Elizabeth glared from Rustle to April. “We did not come to trouble you at all. You were the one who came upon us, remember? Perhaps for a nice scratch? Here let me—”
Longbourn shook his head and sent April flying. “No scratching until I hear this out.”
Nose to nose with her, he snorted in her face. “Those of my Keep have presented a complaint. I will hear the full account. What happened to the fuzzy, hopping one?” He pulled up to his full height and towered over her.
What was it about dragons and men that they employed that same tactic when they were trying to intimidate her? It was not endearing in either incarnation.
“Can you not trust me when I tell you it is nothing for you to be concerned about?” She crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
Calm. Remain calm.
He sniffed her, from the top of her head to her feet and up again. “I smell ... fear! That is fear! Who has made you afraid?” Longbourn stomped. The branches rattled. “You all smell afraid. What made you afraid?”
Rustle and Rumblkins jumped over his whipping tail.
“Pray calm yourself before you hurt someone! That is what I most fear right now. The other is nothing I cannot handle on my own. You do not need—”
“I will make that decision, not you. I have asked you a question. I expect an answer.” He reared up and beat his wings, roaring.
It was a soft roar, for a dragon roar, but it reduced her innards to jelly. She squinted against the dust kicked up in his wing-wind. He was not angry with her. Surely he would not try to grab her again, as he did before. Surely not.
April landed directly between his eyes and pecked his snout. “It was Collins. He kicked Rumblkins for no reason. He grabbed at me and knocked Elizabeth to the ground, hurting her shoulder and nearly landing on me. He wants me locked in my cage and tried to forbid Elizabeth from talking to the children about dragons and the Blue Order. He is hostile to dragons and all things related to us.”
Elizabeth grabbed Longbourn’s face and pulled it toward her. “Do not bother yourself with these matters. It is nothing I cannot handle.”
“Why are you defending him? You detest the man. He made you afraid of him today! You cannot handle him.” April zipped back and forth between him and Elizabeth.
“What did he do to make you afraid?” Longbourn extended his wings again. He exposed his fangs, a tinge of ocher formed at their tips.
Apparently he was the only one allowed to make her afraid.
“She ran from him into the woods.” How kind of Rustle to make mention of that.
She covered her ears against another dragon bellow.
“Why did you run?”
“It was a simple misunderstanding. Entirely my fault. I will talk to him about it, and it will all come to naught.”
“When he could not shout at her, he kicked Rumblkins.” Rustle sounded like little Daniel tattling on his siblings.
“We are all afraid of him and afraid for her. He has already hurt one of us. It is only a small step from that to hurting her.” April landed on her shoulder and touched her cheek with a wing.
“You are aware that when she marries him, the laws of man permit him that.” Rustle said.
Longbourn growled and scratched the dirt, tearing deep trenches with his talons. “Then I will simply tell him to behave. The little man will not dare disobey me.”
Elizabeth clutched her throbbing temples.
Longbourn flipped his wings neatly to his back and stared at her, like a school master who had just proven his point.
“I understand your desire is to protect me, to protect all of us. But it cannot be handled that way. He is completely dragon-deaf. He does not even respond to the fairy dragons’ songs.”
“What has that to do with anything?”
“If he is to be made a Deaf-Speaker, we must handle the transition very carefully. You know how dangerous such men can be. The Blue Order must approve it before anything can be done. The process cannot be hurried or all of us could be at very great risk.”
“You cannot keep him in order, so I must step in and manage him for you.” Longbourn thumped the nearest tree with his tail.
Dead leaves rained down upon them. She fanned them away from her face.
“This cannot be handled by dragon force. His transition must be subtle and careful—”
Both things that dragons were not.
Longbourn’s fiery eyes narrowed. “Why must you constantly argue with me? Is this another means by which you are trying to escape your marriage to him?”
“No. If I am to marry him, then I must be allowed to manage him myself, without your interference.”
“I am tired of you trying to shirk your duties.”
“Are you even listening to me? Stay out of this. I will cope with it.” She rose to tiptoes and stared in his face.
Longbourn turned to the minor dragons. “Have you forgotten that I am your Laird? You are here in my Keep by my will alone. I will not have you conspiring against me with her. I may very well—”
Stubborn, ridiculous creature!
“You will not threaten our friends! I will not have it.” She stomped so hard her heel stung. “Have you forgotten, the Keeper has as much say in the Keep as the Dragon? Perhaps you need to refresh your understanding of the Pendragon Accords. If you ever threaten them again—”
“You will what?” Longbourn roared in her face.
“Whatever I need to do to protect them—that is my oath as a Dragon Mate.”
“And if I do not accept them?”
Enough of the pompous posturing. He was as bad as Collins.
She pushed his muzzle away with both hands. “Do not force me, Longbourn. You may not like the results.”
He jerked his head back. “You would jeopardize your standing as a Keeper?”
“You would turn your back on your duties as Laird to his Keep?”
Longbourn huffed and stomped. “You wish to find fault with me?”
“No, actually I do not. What I would like most is to be able to oil your flakey hide and brush it properly. I would like to polish your teeth and sweeten your breath, and simply spend time with you again as we used to.” Her throat ached.
“There is nothing stopping you.”
“Then you do not understand anything at all. Pray excuse me.” She curtsied and turned away.
“Come back. This conversation is not over.” The ground rumbled beneath her feet.
“I have nothing more to say.” She did not stop walking.
“I want you, Keeper. Here. Now.” He stomped.
She jumped. “Then make me want to return.” Her walk became a run.
Longbourn roared and thundered after her, cutting her off. “You are my Keeper. You must do as I say.”
“There is nothing, absolutely nothing in the annals of the Blue Order which say such a thing. A Dragon and his Keeper are partners, equal partners. We should need each other, not consider one master and the other servant.”
Or worse, slave.
“Exactly! I need you.” He blinked at her with baleful eyes.
“I do not need to be ordered about by a brute that does not care about me.”
“I do care about you. I would do anything to protect you.”
“Except learn what I truly need.” She pressed the back of her hand to her mouth. Why could she not manage to control her tongue?
“I understand perfectly. You do not—” There it was, that perfectly petulant draconic look. If she never saw it again, it would be a very good—if very unlikely—thing.
“St
op, I will not have that conversation again. Pray, leave Collins to me. I shall manage him—somehow.”
Longbourn grumbled deep in his throat. “Very well.” He nudged her with his snout.
No doubt he wanted scratches and to be told what a lovely fellow he was. Rumblkins appeared at her feet, looking very worn. She picked him up and held him to her chest. Oh, he was a heavy little fellow.
“Excuse me, now. I must return to the house and deal with Rumblkins’ injuries.” And the one who caused them.
He snorted and muttered, but did not follow.
Just beyond the woods, Elizabeth paused near a fallen tree and sat down, settling Rumblkins in her lap.
“He is a preposterous, grouchy old lizard. How could he think revealing our true nature to Collins would do any good at all?” April settled into Elizabeth’s hood and pulled a fold over herself.
“That, dearling, is why I did not want you interfering. I know you were trying to be helpful, but pray, do not be so helpful again.”
Rustle squawked overhead. “There was no reason to think Longbourn would resort to such drastic action.”
“You do not know Longbourn as I do. He is apt to be rash and unthinking. He prefers to do things in the easiest way possible, not necessarily the wisest. Usually I can dissuade him from his most reckless ideas, but he can be stubborn. The situation is so dangerous right now, I cannot afford—we all cannot afford—to incite his stubbornness. Pray leave him to me.” She massaged her temples.
“I was given to believe that major dragons were, by their nature, sensible creatures.” Rustle scratched the side of his head with his talons.
“They would have you believe so, but they are not any more sensible than most men. Some are very wise and trustworthy, and some ... some are not.”
April tucked her head behind Elizabeth’s ear and cuddled. “I am sorry. I did not mean to make things worse.”
Elizabeth petted Rumblkins with one hand and patted April with the other. “I know. You were afraid, and that does not leave anyone thinking clearly. It will all be well. Somehow. I know it will be.” She stroked Rumblkins furry-tufted ears. “How do you feel?”
“Tired and sore and hungry. Longbourn might have a good idea, though. Collins could suffer an apoplexy on seeing him, and die. I would not complain about that.” He pressed his head against Elizabeth’s hand and purred.
