Chapter 7
Kirion
“Where is Malin’s omega father?” The words came out before I had time to think.
As I watched Tane’s tanned face go pale, I realized my question had been too bold. Especially from me. And at this moment.
Rohan had taught me to be bold. And rude.
But because I didn't like him I decided I didn't want to be like him.
Rudeness was something that I learned to curb in school and from many of the polite and nice servants I'd had throughout my life.
But the boldness? Not so much. That was what kept me going when things got bad, when I found out I was a set.
I questioned it every which way with everyone who would listen, including my father.
But somehow the way Rohan ruled and the way the laws worked in our community people were afraid to listen too much.
They couldn't afford to agree with me. They might lose their jobs and their standing in society.
Stiff. Tall. Commanding. That was how Tane had seemed to me when he took me away in a limo to his plane. A man worlds apart from me. A dragon whose intentions had been invisible in his stoic but polite manner.
But outside under the morning sun in this garden, he wasn’t anything more than a man who had created his own little world.
As if to escape something. To find his way out.
Today he was not wearing a suit. He had on a white button up shirt and fancy jeans.
Like someone far too ordinary to own all this.
I had decided I wouldn't let him intimidate me. And yet, I had nothing in my mental arsenal to battle my current situation. The world had won against me.
My curiosity wasn't about battles anymore. Which was why I couldn’t help but blurt the too personal question.
“Uh, yes. He’s not around.”
“I’m sorry if it’s prying.” Why was I apologizing? Ingrained manners went a long way even when everything else in my life had vanished. “You have a file on me but I never saw one on you. Will I meet him?”
“It makes sense why you’d ask. And no, you can’t meet him. He died many years ago. Malin was ten.”
I gulped, then said it again. “I’m sorry.”
“Thank you. It was a long time ago.”
Tane left it at that. I got no more explanation. For now. But my heart was beating harder. There was a heaviness I couldn’t place.
I turned my attention to the flowers, touching the ones that were the tallest coming up to my waist. They bent toward me as if they craved attention.
I walked ahead of Tane. We came to a little wooden bridge that crossed a narrow section of the pond.
It made an echoing sound as we walked over it.
This was it. Like an accumulation of all my emotions at once.
This little bridge was me crossing physically from one world and into another.
I tripped as we came back onto the path and caught myself just as I felt a hand grasp my upper arm.
“All right, there?”
“Sure. I don't know why I tripped.”
“Are you hungry?”
As if in answer, my stomach gurgled. After the meal on the plane, I had only eaten part of a sandwich last night. I was definitely ready for food.
“Let's go back,” Tane said.
In the dining room, a spread was already set out with covered dishes.
Tane pulled out a chair for me and I sat.
Then he surprised me by sitting down next to me.
If it had been my father, he would have gone to the head of the table and that would have been that.
He wouldn't have cared if people around him were uncomfortable or intimidated.
Tane wasn't like that. Which had not been my expectation. Wasn’t every rich guy with an angry son an asshole?
The scent of the food made my stomach grumble again. But Tane’s scent, like those fresh flowers from outside, spun through me. For a moment I was somewhere else. Breathing in deep.
Servants uncovered the dishes and began doling out portions onto our plates. I was asked my preferences. Confused, because I thought I myself was a servant, I wasn't prepared with an answer.
“Everything,” I replied.
Beside me, Tane chuckled. “You’re hungry. You missed dinner last night and I apologize for that. I thought you would be resting and settling in. I didn't want to disturb you.”
I kept having to remind myself. He hadn’t bought me for himself. He didn’t see me as his breeder, but the father of his future grandchildren.
“Thank you.” I picked up my fork and stabbed the steaming scrambled eggs. “I was pretty tired.” I took a big bite, my taste buds exploding with the flavor, and swallowed. “I was resting.”
“Good.” He also began to eat.
We ate for a few minutes in silence. Then Tane said, “You can fix your rooms upstairs however you want.”
“It’s already very nice.”
“Good to hear it.” He fiddled nervously with his napkin. “But you should do whatever you need to make yourself happy.”
Happy? I never thought about that emotion entering into the mix. “I have no idea what that would be.”
He partially shredded the napkin, then crumpled it into his fist.
It seemed wrong of me to be here eating with Tane if he wasn’t comfortable.
“When is Malin coming back?” I asked. I remembered him saying something about him being gone for days.
“I don’t really know.”
“Okay.”
This was turning into a fiasco. Things could have been far worse. But I couldn’t help but think Malin didn’t deserve me.
“You can find a lot around here to do. Swimming. The gym. Movies. What did you like to do back home?”
The last few years I’d spent most of my time alone. No one wanted to hang out with a set. “All that stuff you just mentioned.”
“With friends?”
“No.” I looked quickly at him. “You do realize once the designation is made, sets are pariahs, right?”
“No.”
“Why wouldn't you know that? The way dragons are around us. You already know we are sold as breeding stock and nothing more. That's about the lowest of the low.”
“I know that's the way things are. But our own omegas are so rare that we value them very much. They aren't pariahs. But we don’t have set omegas. Most births are from eggs. Mixed race births can be either an egg birth or live birth. But our children can shift from the day they are born. Most are born shifted. I guess I was thinking in that vein.”
I had no idea sets weren’t produced in the dragon race. “I'm not a dragon. You didn't forget that.”
“For a moment….”
Why didn't I believe him? Was he trying to placate me? He was a smart man. Before he came to the auction at the palace he would have done research, would have known what my only fated path would be. He was, after all, giving me to his bratty son.
“I didn't actually forget,” he said. “But I had an idea in my mind before I came to your country. Then when I saw you it was nothing like I imagined.”
I let out a sharp “ha” and said, “What did you imagine? Seriously, did you think I was some kind of doll? Or maybe a whore dripping with heat scent just waiting to meet someone to bend over for?”
I set my fork down hard enough for it to rattle against my other silverware. I couldn’t help it. I’d kept my emotions closed in, pretending I was fine. I wasn’t.
“I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. My words came out all wrong. I think I thought you wouldn't be….” He let his voice trail off again.
I finished the sentence for him. “A real person?”
“Not a dragon. Not a wolf. I don't know what I thought beyond that.” His fingers turned white around the torn napkin he was still clutching.
“Excuse me. I’m finished eating.” I stood, trying to pretend my knees weren’t shaking.
Tane nodded, staring straight ahead. “Of course.”
For the next couple of days, I kept to myself. I prowled the house, learning my way around, but mostly did that at night when I thought Tane would be asleep. I found the gym and the indoor pool he’d shown me. I didn’t use either, but I stood in those rooms for a while just staring from the shadows.
I found trays of meals left by my door. Great meals. Fantastic meals. I ate them and left the dirty dishes in the hall like this place was some grand hotel.
I wanted to go outside again to walk in the garden, but not after dark. I was careful to avoid Tane.
I had a lot of time to think. A lot of time to be angry and resentful. And bored. I wrote a nasty email to my father which I never sent. I slept a lot.
By the third day, I got bored enough to come downstairs during the day. No one was around, not even Elias. I raided the kitchen and made a sandwich, then sat in the sunny breakfast nook by the French doors and ate it while staring out back.
That was when I saw him. Tane. Past the pool fence I could see half the garden. And movement. He was out there. Working. He wore a white brimmed hat but I knew it was him. He had said no one helped him with the garden except to take away the trash.
I grabbed my sandwich and ran to the stairs. There was a window at the end of the second story hall. I looked out. Now I could see the entire back acreage and had full view of the garden.
Tane wore a baggy off-white shirt and black jeans.
I couldn’t see his face but it was him, the way he moved, the way he knelt, his hands pressed to the cool earth.
Saliva filled my mouth and I gulped. He looked—content.
And somehow—beautiful. I imagined his scent and the memory filled me as if he was standing right in front of me. My heart rate quickened.
I leaned on the sill and stared. This man.
He was the one who’d bought me. But not for himself.
Why? Why did he think I could be such a great gift to his son?
He hadn’t bought me as a whore. I knew that by the way he acted around me.
He wasn’t the type. What was going on with him?
He looked content, yes, but also alone. Was that why?
Was he just tired of it all? Of work and life and being alone?
He had everything, like my own father. But he wasn’t like Rohan at all.
Suddenly, Tane threw off his hat and gazed up at the sunny sky.
He began to undo his shirt, then slipped out of his pants and shoes.
My mouth dropped open. I couldn’t see details, but I could see he had a slim, tan, muscled physique.
Not like the foolish kids I’d known in my younger years, but a real alpha.
Grown up. Mature. He looked strong. Vibrant.
Then he began to shift.
My breath caught. Green. Gold. Turquoise.
The dragon’s narrow head turned right and left, viewing its surroundings.
Small spikes went from the top of the head all the way down to the tail tip.
He was amazing. About the size of an elephant if not larger.
The scales flashed in the sunlight like shining armor. I'd never seen anything like it.
I pressed my face to the window as the dragon’s wings rose high and began to flap. The tallest flowers in the garden bent under the wind. Then the dragon rose slowly up and up. Like a dream.
Something moved behind me. There was a quiet tapping like servant footsteps. I turned quickly as if caught doing something wrong.
Malin stood several feet away, arms crossed, frowning.
“What are you doing?”