Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
Briannis snuck into her family home just after dusk two days after the Choosing.
Her uncle stared at her like she was a ghost. Her two youngest cousins screamed and fled.
It was her aunt who recovered first, standing from her place at the dinner table, eyes still red and slightly puffy, and spoke with awed certainty. “It’s you. It’s really you.”
The next few hours had been a blur of emotion and words as she explained all that had happened in such a short time, washed, ate, and savored each hug and embrace.
To her relief, they believed her, and were eager to meet Zain and welcome him to the family.
However, he’d already left to carry out part of their plan, one she explained to her aunt and uncle after the little ones had fallen asleep.
Two mornings later, Briannis hid under a blanket stretched over part of their wagon as her aunt and uncle drove it into the city square. They’d eagerly agreed to help, and to leave the kids at home under Catronia’s care. Thank goodness for that.
They’d expected crowds. After all, it was now wedding season, and ceremonies would be held almost back-to-back on the Seal of the Fates in the center of the square, with celebrations to follow in homes, taverns, inns, or wherever the happy couple saw fit.
But this? Briannis swore under her breath as she peeked out between two slats on the wagon’s side.
“This may be as close as I can get us,” Uncle Euan said as the cart rocked to a halt. “I thought things would have thinned out by now.”
“I believe I know why,” Aunt Davina said tartly. “Look at that ridiculous sign.”
Briannis searched her narrow view. Where…? She gasped when she saw it, jerking back from the opening before leaning forward again to make sure she hadn’t imagined things. But there could be no mistake.
Painted on a board between two high posts were the words “The Wedding of Ian Wallace and Finola Balfour.”
Her chest burned. Briannis felt like she might be sick. It shouldn’t hurt. She didn’t even like Ian in that way and she had Zain, but knowing that Ian had been asking to marry her one day and was marrying someone else less than a week later really stung.
Sharp nails dug into her palms. Well, at least she didn’t have to feel too bad about what was about to happen.
Minutes passed as they waited. Briannis tried to focus on her breathing to calm her nerves as even more people filled into the square dressed in all their finery.
Through a crack in the dense crowd, she spied him, awaiting his bride.
“Bastard,” she and her aunt said at the same time. In so many ways, they really were the same person.
But at that moment, a scream went up through the crowd that brought a grin to her face. Only one sight would have people looking up in fear like that.
“That’s the sign,” Uncle Euan said, as if they hadn’t noticed.
“Ready?” came her aunt’s reassuring voice.
Oh yes, she was so ready.
Briannis nudged some wax-coated wheels of cheese out of the way so that she could scoot to the end of the wagon. With her bright red hair tied up and hidden under a scarf, she slipped out into the crowd.
No one noticed her. Or if they did, they clearly didn’t realize she was the woman who had just been sacrificed a few days ago.
Zain swooped by again overhead, stirring up the crowd and sending some hurrying toward the edges of the square. But Briannis kept straight on toward the center.
“He’s getting lower!”
“Fates save us!”
Zain glided low toward the Seal of the Fates, the circular stone formation inlaid into the ground in the center of the square.
“Watch out!”
“Run!”
People hurtled past Briannis, one slamming into her shoulder and nearly knocking her down. Zain saw it, his fury radiating through their bond as he roared at the people below. He slowed his descent, wings buffeting them with sharp bursts of air. One caught her scarf and ripped it away.
The center of the square had emptied by the time his clawed feet landed on the stonework.
“It’s her,” someone yelled. “The dragon has rejected her!”
Briannis clicked her tongue as she spied the older man pointing at her from a cluster of people some distance away. Men and their assumptions.
“Bri?” The shocked gasp had her looking to the left.
There Ian stood, his arms wrapped protectively around his would-be bride in a dress so large and voluminous it was a shock he could find her in all the fabric.
Finola gaped in horror—at her or the dragon, she couldn’t say.
Her father, the Lord Provost, stood just behind her. His fury was easy enough to read.
No sense waiting anymore.
Briannis spread her arms wide to demand attention, not that all eyes weren’t already on her and Zain. “The dragon is not to be feared! He is not here to destroy or in retribution. We are here to let you know the curse has ended.”
“Curse?” The Lord Provost stormed forward. “What curse? This is nonsense!”
No sooner had he separated from the ring of people around them than Zain turned his draconic head his way and growled. The Lord Provost stopped immediately. Not a complete fool, then.
“Long ago, a pact was formed between the dragon and our city. His protection in return for helping to find his mate, who would be born here,” Briannis shouted.
“But over time, the legend changed and we misunderstood. He never wanted a bride as a sacrifice, only to get close enough to find the one that would be his.”
“Nonsense!”
“She’s a witch!” a woman called. “She bewitched him!”
Briannis’s lips pressed thin as Zain snapped his head this way and that, analyzing the threats. This was not going well.
“She speaks the truth!” rang out a high voice from behind her.
Zain lowered his wings and settled his bulk on the ground. Several in the crowd gasped.
In all their panic and fury, no one had noticed the woman on the dragon’s back. They certainly did now.
Briannis turned, getting her first real look at Merilee in ten years.
She was much as she remembered, curvaceous, with a stunning smile and shimmering blonde hair that was enviably perfect even after a flight on dragonback.
The light and flowing fabric of her dress accented in silver jewelry and spotted with gemstones would stand out among any crowd.
In fact, her attire outshone the bride, which made Briannis a little more gleeful than it should.
Merilee smiled at Briannis as she ran a protective hand over the swell of her belly. Now that was unexpected.
She turned her attention to the crowd, grin fading. “You all sent me to the dragon to die, ten years ago. Yet here I stand.”
Where the crowd was raucous before, they’d gone eerily quiet.
“He spared my life. Took me somewhere I could live in peace and safety. For he knew I would not be able to come back here. He saw what was done to Sheena all those years ago, what you would have done to me, what you all were just suggesting about Briannis. You’re the killers. Not him.”
“This is impossible,” The Lord Provost said, though his words lacked the confidence of before. “A sham. You can’t possibly be—”
“Merilee?” Mr. Stoutwell nearly pushed a man down as he burst from the crowd into the open expanse surrounding them. His wife appeared behind him. One look at their daughter and she clasped her hands over her mouth and burst into tears.
A dragon was no deterrent to a father who thought his child lost only to find her again.
He raced forward and wrapped his daughter in his embrace.
No sooner had he reached her, then Merilee broke down in sobs.
Mrs. Stoutwell collected herself enough to join them, and together they formed a cluster of love as they sank down to the stones.
“I’m to be a grandfather?” Mr. Stoutwell asked, finally pulling back to look her over.
Merilee grinned through her tears. “You already are, twice over.”
“Grandbabies,” Mrs. Stoutwell gasped.
“I hope you can meet them soon. What with running the inn—”
“Oh, Fates take the inn!” Mrs. Stoutwell said, hugging her daughter close.
“This is touching and all,” the Lord Provost began, stepping near, “but how can we really know the dragon isn’t just rejecting you both?”
Briannis couldn’t stop her eyeroll. Some people just— But she was saved from responding.
Zain flapped his wings hard, buffeting the crowd with a gust of wing before the air around him shivered and a man stood where the dragon once had. A very naked man.
People gasped and cried out. One woman near the front literally fainted.
“You know, because I’m telling you,” he shouted. He held his head high before turning to Briannis with a smirk on his face.
With an outstretched hand, he beckoned her.
He wobbled a little where he stood, still unsure on his human legs.
Briannis joined him, quickly savoring the view before taking his hand.
He stepped behind her to shield his half-mast cock then wrapped her in his arms for good measure.
“As she said, I was cursed. The village then offered to help me find my mate in exchange for my protection. Each year I would get the chance to meet the young women of the village to see if they were the one I sought. And when they were not, I left them in peace.” The crowd seemed to hang on his every word now.
“But over time, the truth was lost. Things changed. But I did not believe the young women should suffer for the misguided wisdom of their elders.” He gestured to Merilee.
“I saved those I could. Took them to a new life of safety.”
“Alivia!” A woman shouted, her voice breaking. “Five years ago, she—” The question choked off into a sob.
“Is safe and well,” Merilee said from where she still huddled with her parents.
The sobbing grew even louder. People began to murmurer among themselves.
“But the curse is broken,” Zain continued, projecting his voice outward. “Briannis has broken it.” He beamed down at her. “I no longer need to meet your women… as I have found my mate.”
There was some shuffling, a feminine outcry, then in a voice she recognized, “Bri—”
Ian had his hand outstretched to her, even as Finola clung to his other trying to pull him back.
“It was never going work between us,” Briannis said matter-of-factly. “And I always hated that nickname. Both of which you would have known if you’d ever truly listened to me.”
He gaped like he’d been struck, but Briannis just shrugged. “Congratulations on your wedding day, by the way. Just be wary of getting on that one’s bad side, or her father’s. They might just try to get rid of you too.”
Ian’s eyes widened in horror.
“The Fates pick the brides,” the Lord Provost sputtered.
Finola’s tirade was as much as screech as words. Enough that Briannis almost felt sorry for Ian. Almost.
“Thank the Fates that I am the forgiving sort,” Zain said, loud enough for everyone to hear. Then, as his gaze panned the crowd. “But should any ill will befall Briannis or her family, I won’t hesitate to unleash my wrath.”
As if to make his point, Zain stepped away from her and shifted into his dragon form once more. The crowd cried out at the sudden change, but the moment the shock wore off, their attention shifted from him to the Lord Provost, who Zain pinned with his draconic stare.
“Good boy.” Briannis gave an affection pat on his leg.
A note of satisfied pleasure rumbled from his chest. That long tail wrapped around her waist and tugged her close.
“Do you think they’ll listen?” she asked through their bond.
“One can only hope,” he replied. “Do you think I should breathe some fire to remind them what I’m capable of?” She could almost see the smirk that would have been on his human face.
She grinned up at him in return. “I think they’ve had enough shock for one day.”
“Well, then. No point in lingering.” He lowered down and Briannis climbed up on his back between his wings. “Where to, little mate?”
“Somewhere we can plan how to find your family?” she suggested.
“Hmm… Perhaps. Though didn’t you promise to let me taste your family’s delicious cheeses? If we’re going to return here and help run the business, I should have some idea of what I’m getting into.”
This time, she laughed, throwing her head back as they soared through the clouds then swooped back down over the city. “Very true. And you must be hungry after such a long flight.”
“For cheese. And something more.”
Moisture grew between her legs at the suggestion. “You’re insatiable.”
“For you?” He banked, taking them toward her family farm. “Always.”
“Well then, cheese first, dessert later.”
He chuckled. “Agreed.”