Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
MARI
When I wake, as usual it’s the scent I notice first. The smell of Dreythos is spicy, like cinnamon or nutmeg, or maybe apple pie.
The same as it was with Tor and Brax, I feel safe with him and I realize now that his private rooms have always made me feel like that, even over the past few weeks when, after a long day in the kitchens, I knew that Dominick would be waking me up in just four hours to begin the same day all over again.
I can’t actually believe I’ve been here so long already.
With every day being like the one before it, I thought maybe it had been ten days, a couple of weeks at most, but six weeks?
I shake my head.
A month and a half of being beaten multiple times a day, starved, worked to the bone. I wouldn’t have believed I could survive even that long but now that I’m here, and I’ve slept properly, it’s like I’m coming out of a haze. I was surviving, but not much else.
None of the other humans spoke to me after Jesse and the overseer the first day.
It was like they’d been told I was untouchable, well except for all the times I was tripped or slammed into.
I worked longer hours than all of the others and when I left the kitchens, I felt like there were eyes on me all the time.
More than once, the overseer slapped me for working too slowly, or for being late even though it was Dominick who brought me to the kitchen every morning, and I made my own way back to Drey’s rooms every night.
The other dragons actually didn’t bother me much over the past few weeks. It was limited to Dominick after the first night. I’ve barely seen any of the others. Not that I’m complaining.
I get out of bed and look for the tan dress I’ve been wearing for days.
It’s not anywhere I can see. Instead, there’s a small pile of clothes on the end of the bed.
Some soft black pants and a sage green flowing top.
There’s even a bra and some underwear. I put everything on.
It all fits. I purse my lips, wondering who got my measurements as I go to the bathroom.
My stomach has settled for now, which is a nice change from the past few days of throwing up and not being able to eat even when I’ve been given food. I put my hands over my lower abdomen. It’s protruding slightly now.
Pregnant.
Even thinking it makes my heart start to thud in my chest and the visions of my mom in the bed in our house, blood soaking the sheets and the town medic telling me to say my goodbyes to both my mom and the baby who would have been my sister.
I cover my mouth with my hand to stifle my sob. What am I going to do? How could Tor and Brax have lied to me like this?
I already know the answer. Because I’m na?ve and stupid and because I’d never have gone for their dumb plan otherwise.
‘Mari?’
I turn at Drey’s voice, trying to dry my eyes before he sees me. I’ve noticed that he gets very agitated when I’m upset. Over the past few hours, he’s asked me three times who knocked me up.
How can I tell him it was his two oldest friends? Would he even believe me, or would he think I was lying? He seems to believe that I’m already almost three months along, which is impossible. I only slept with Tor and Brax, at most, six and a half weeks ago. It doesn’t make any sense.
What is happening?
‘Are you okay?’
I nod. He asks me that a lot, his eyes boring into me like he can see into my very soul. Or maybe he just wishes he could read my mind to find out who got me pregnant.
I’ve said nothing when he asks me, or I’ve blatantly changed the subject, and I think he’s finally getting the message that I’m not telling him, at least not until the others return so they can corroborate my story.
I mean, if he doesn’t like my answers, what’s to stop him giving me back to Dominick, returning me to the kitchen, maybe sending me out at mealtimes to put a foot wrong and get punished with some dragon man’s stinking cock, or tied to the post in the corner of the hall to be whipped?
He frowns at me as if he can hear my thoughts and I plaster a small smile on my face that I’m sure he knows is false.
‘I need to get back to my duties,’ he says.
‘The mornings I’m usually in the Great Hall holding court.
’ He rolls his eyes. ‘But afternoons are always in my office, so I was thinking. You have a leisurely breakfast, maybe watch some movies, read, do whatever in my rooms. No one can get in here except me and Del. You’re safe. ’
Del?
At my questioning look his lips turn upwards a little.
‘The doctor,’ he elaborates. ‘And she won’t just turn up without me here. And I’ll come back, make you some lunch, and then you can spend the afternoon in my office. With me.’
He doesn’t command me like the other dragons here have, I notice. He asks me.
‘What if I say no?’ I ask.
For a millisecond, he’s crestfallen. I see it in his eyes, but he covers it quickly. ‘You can say no, Mari. Of course you can. You can stay in my rooms, and no one will bother you. I promise. Whatever you want.’
‘Your plan sounds okay,’ I say.
‘Okay.’ He smiles a real smile, and I find myself returning it, which makes his wider.
‘Can I ask you a question?’
‘Anything,’ he answers.
‘Why are you being so nice to me?’
He winces. ‘Because I promised Tor and Brax.’
I stare at him. He’s lying. I don’t know how I know that, but he is, or at least he’s not telling the whole truth.
‘And?’ I say.
His eyes widen. ‘And…’ he sighs. ‘My dragon. He doesn’t like many. But he likes you. A lot.’
I remember at the dam how Tor and Brax both had trouble controlling their other sides around me and I wonder if it’s the same thing with Drey.
Do all dragons feel this way around me? No.
That can’t be it. Those two in the hallway were fine, and I never saw even a hint of Dominick’s other half.
So, why these three? Is it the same reason that I feel so much better when I’m around them?
That my body heats in their presences and I want them to—
I feel my cheeks getting warm at the thought I don’t have and I hope Drey doesn’t notice.
He doesn’t seem to, thankfully.
‘Anyway,’ he says, turning away. ‘I have to get going. Del will be coming over later to give you some vitamins and make sure you’re healthy, but I’ll be back by then.’
‘Why?’
He glances back with a frown, his eyes dipping to my stomach.
But he doesn’t answer my question. Instead, he gives a small sigh.
‘I promised you that you would be safe, and I meant it, even from the baby that’s growing inside you.
Okay? I don’t make promises lightly, Mari, and I never break them. Okay?’
‘Okay.’ I whisper.
And then he’s gone and I’m alone.
I go to his kitchen first. I have no idea how to work anything except the kettle to boil water because I saw him do it this morning. I take a mug from the cabinet and rifle through the next one for one of the little bags he said contained chamomile tea.
I find one and give myself a small, ‘great job’ whoop.
I take the tea over to the couch, but the TV isn’t like the ones I’ve seen before, so I grab a book on pre-Fall history off the shelf and start reading that.
I must doze off because the next thing I hear is the click of the main door.
I don’t know what it is, but I’m scared suddenly. I’m off the couch and in the kitchen, cramming myself into one of the lower cabinets under the counter opposite the breakfast bar because I noticed before that they’re almost empty.
Several pairs of heavy footsteps go across the room.
‘I thought you said she was here!’ growls a voice I don’t recognize.
It’s muffled by the wood I’m inside, but I can still hear clearly. I just hope I can’t be scented through it.
‘She should be,’ another answers. ‘He’s in the Hall. She’s not there. Where else could she be?’
‘Smells like her…and Tor…and Brax.’
There’s some sniggering.
‘Course it does. She’s been living here for a month.’
‘Think the Commander has had a taste too?’
More sniggers.
‘I might if Aziel lets me.’
Someone snorts. ‘He’s not gonna let you have the Tribute. She’s his trophy. At least until he’s tired of her.’
‘She’s not here. Fuck! He’s gonna be pissed we failed. Should have got her from the kitchens when we had the chance.’
‘She’s probably with the fucking doctor. Fuck. I can’t wait until all these human-lovers are strung up like the scum they are.’
‘She won’t be strung up,’ a third one chuckles. ‘The females have to be saved to breed. Haven’t you been listening to him?’
Another one laughs. ‘Can’t wait to get in line to fuck Del into a mattress. Serve her right, uppity bitch.’
‘You might even breed her. He says if you breed one successfully, you’re a mate match. That means you get to keep her chained in your room to fuck as much as you want to make as many younglings as you can. Can you imagine? Getting to fuck that whenever you wanted?’
‘Yeah I can imagine it. But it’s not going to fucking happen if we can’t get the Commander and his allies to agree to the law changes.’
‘He has to. We’re dying out. Twenty years since Orin was born. It ain’t natural. Need to do something about it.’
‘Heard it was the radiation after the Fall. Fucked the females’ insides up so it’s harder for our seed to take.’
‘I heard it was our seed that was the problem,’ another mutters and there’s an obvious silence.
‘He won’t like you spouting lies like that, Yorik. He won’t like that at all.’
There’s an awkward guffaw. ‘I’m fucking with you, guys. We all know it’s the females’ faults.’
‘You had me!’ one chuckles.
‘Good one!’
‘Okay, let’s try the clinic. If she’s not there, I don’t know. Maybe his office?’
‘No one can get in his office though.’
The voices fade and I hear the door click.
I stay in my hiding spot for a long time. I need to pee. I’m hungry and scared. But I don’t move until I hear Drey’s slightly concerned voice asking me where I am.