Chapter 12
Gareth
It’s hard to calm myself down as my father does his usual shit, drinking in the attention of everyone in the room as he waits for every eye to be solely focused on him.
The thing is, I don’t care about him. I don’t care about what he has to say.
I care about whether or not Harper is in love with this Arthur.
She looks at him in a way she’ll never look at me, I’m sure of that.
Every time I see them together, she’s all smiles and laughter for him.
This is worse than when I thought she liked Roland’s attention.
This is a man she has a history with. A man she loved enough to marry.
And here he is in front of us making her feel things we don’t make her feel.
How can we possibly compete with love?
If she had no one, we could earn her respect. Eventually, maybe, she’d come to like us. But love? I can never imagine getting a woman like Harper to love us. We’re too damaged. Too big of assholes. Is she going to end up marrying us and wishing she was with him? I can’t stand the thought.
My hand holds her much smaller arm, touching the soft skin.
Keeping her close to us, so she won’t touch Arthur again.
Fuck, I couldn’t handle it if she touched him again.
I feel like I’m going to burst. And it’s not like Alaric and Lucien are keeping me calm either.
I can feel rage building underneath their skin.
I mean, Lucien is ready to brawl with him in the middle of a party. That’s not like him at all.
“Welcome,” my father says again, his loud voice an irritant in any setting, including this one.
“Every person in this room is among the most important people in our great nation. You are the reason we are a society of wealth, privilege, and good health. And you are the people who should be the first to know of this exciting news. News that will change our nation, yet again, bringing us to an even higher level of success.”
There’s murmuring in the room. Excitement.
The lords and ladies are eating right out of the palm of his hand.
That’s one skill my father never passed on to me.
The ability to be charismatic. To sell a pile of shit, call it gold, and have people bidding for the chance to possess it.
I wonder what new shit he’s peddling today, and know in my gut that this is about us.
He did say the announcement about the Hollowborn’s offer would come tonight.
“Everyone is aware of our female dragon rider, the woman of legend. Female dragon riders have always been a symbol in our history that has brought about a peace with the Hollowborn time and time again. Even if that peace didn’t last.” He lets the whispering continue for a minute, before speaking once more.
“Well, we’re already seeing that that is true.
Harper has been one of the few dragon riders to ever have a conversation with a Hollowborn. ”
Excitement and wonder flow through the room.
The ladies only know of the Hollowborn from stories and tales whispered around the fire, but most of the men fought the Hollowborn in their younger days.
They know the creatures for what they are: merciless killing machines.
They’ll be as surprised as we were when we heard about the conversation with Harper.
“Harper and the Hollowborn not only had a conversation, they had a conversation about peace.” That gets everyone’s attention.
“The Hollowborn made her an offer to bring to your king. He asked that we give them access to some of our land and resources in exchange for information about how to facilitate the birthing of more male dragons, an issue that is near and dear to all our hearts. We desperately need a solution.”
He takes a deep breath. An excuse for a dramatic pause.
“We have not let it be known, but the lack of male dragons is more than a small cause for concern. Our trackers have only come across six male dragons in all their searching, and none of those male dragons have settled down with mates. If we do not find a way to have more male dragons in this generation, dragons as a whole may cease to exist.”
A woman gasps. Several others fan themselves.
My dad has them on the edge of their seats.
I don’t fall for his ways quite so easily, but I do wonder if he’s telling the truth.
We haven’t had a hatching at the academy since I’ve been a dragon rider.
And the ones before that were all female.
We know that male dragons still exist, not just because of Ebron, but because we still see hatchlings at the Island of Dragons.
But, again, we haven’t seen a male dragon amongst any of the hatchlings.
“So,” he continues, “if the Hollowborn have a solution to the problem, it would be important for us to come to an agreement with them. Our lands are vast and plentiful. If we were to allow access to a specific corner of our continent, away from our people, and monitor their actions closely, this deal will be worth doing.”
“Even though peace hasn’t worked in the past,” Elder Thorne says loudly, stroking his long, white beard.
My father sighs, long and dramatically, but I’m paying attention now. Very little is ever said about the brief periods of peace with the Hollowborns. I’d almost begun to wonder if the knowledge was forbidden to be shared.
“In all our history books, there have only been records of three times of peace with the Hollowborns, all after the appearance of female dragon riders. These times of peace were different each time, but always ended in bloodshed.” My father hesitates.
“But the Hollowborn were not always the first to end the peace agreement.”
That’s a shock to me, but apparently not to Elder Thorne, who looks absolutely horrified that my father had the nerve to say such a thing.
Sometimes we were the reason peace didn’t work with our enemies?
I somehow never imagined such a thing, and neither had my people, given the expressions on their faces.
My father paces in front of his throne for a moment before stopping and smiling.
“I must bring up this next part for any of this to make sense. When a dragon male chooses his mates, the females he will be with for every mating period for the remainder of their lives, something incredible happens that we only know about from our history books but will be seeing soon. Ebron, our lone male dragon, has already chosen three of his mates, Sylvara, Verdraxa, and Nythera. The princes’ very dragons. ”
There’s clapping and excitement. I don’t blame them.
All of this is new and unexpected. We can read about dragons and their ways in history books, but seeing the actual courting and claiming of dragon mates in our lifetime is amazing.
I just wish there wasn’t so much wrapped up in Ebron and his choice in mates.
It fundamentally shifts my life path, and that of my brothers.
It fundamentally shifts Harper's path, in a way she might not be happy with.
“And here is that exciting thing…” King Stormvale says, grinning. “We have learned that when a dragon male chooses his mate, their dragon riders will end up together. Meaning, Princes Lucien, Gareth, and Alaric will be marrying Harper Nightborne of Pennyvale.”
There’s a moment's hesitation, likely as they collectively process what’s just been said.
And then there’s cheering. All eyes are no longer on my father, but our group.
It makes things official and pulls this connection between us out from the darkness and into the light.
The strange thing is that I can’t say I’m upset to have Harper publicly claimed as our own, even if it means sharing her with my brothers.
“Now, just a minute!” someone says, angrily, pushing his way through the crowd. It’s the blond who arrived here with Arthur. He comes to stand between us and our father. “Harper is my fiancé. She belongs to me, Lord Tesson Montclair, and I won’t give her away so easily!”
What? My brothers and I exchange glances. But we thought–
“Wait, isn’t Arthur your fiancé?” Lucien asks beside me, sounding as confused as I feel.
Harper gives a funny little smile. “No, Arthur’s my best friend.”
My brain just kind of sputters to a stop.
Then she turns to our father. “Lord Tesson and I have already formally called off our engagement.”
King Stormvale waves a hand. “It wouldn’t matter anyway. This thing with your dragons trumps any handfasting you might have engaged in. Harper will marry my sons.”
“But–” Tesson begins stupidly.
My father’s gaze snaps to the other man, a hint of his ruthless nature in his gaze. “The decision is final. Now, Lord Roland, bring this man to his room. I think he’s in need of a little rest for the evening.”
I’d laugh, if my head wasn’t still whirling.
Arthur is not her fiancé? Not the love of her life?
He’s just a friend. The instant the thoughts are processed, a heavy weight lifts from my chest. It’s a weight I hadn’t even realized was there.
As much as I don’t like the idea of my father, or my dragon, choosing who I’m going to marry, I’m not upset about their choice.
Maybe because of the bond between us due to our dragons.
I really don’t know. But I get a picture of her walking down the aisle in a white dress, making her way toward me, and my lips curl into a smile.
“Now, this is where things get really exciting,” the king says, lowering his voice, making everyone lean in.
“Peace has been attempted with the Hollowborn several times in the past, and it’s always failed, but I’ve decided that we will be making peace with them again, even given the risk.
Their information is too valuable to ignore.
But we will do things differently that they were done in the past. Instead of peace being forged on paper alone, it’ll be forged through marriage this time. ”
Wait. What is he saying?
“Harper will not only marry my sons, but she will marry the leader of the Hollowborns.”
His words strike me like a blow. No, he can’t be serious. He can’t expect her to marry a Hollowborn, and he can’t expect us to be in a harem with one. This is asking too much of us.
“Although this deal is different from what they will expect, it will be the only deal I’ll accept. And given how desperate the Hollowborn always are for resources, I know the peace agreement will be made.”
And he’s right. It will be made. The Hollowborn have little to no resources on their continent. They have to steal from us to survive. They’ll jump at this opportunity, regardless of the fact that they won’t want to be in a harem with us either.
“You, Harper, will bring them the offer, and if they agree to it, bring back their leader, alone, to sign the documents and to have the ceremony. Tomorrow, you’ll even be fitted for your wedding gown, that’s how sure I am of this working!
We will take a few days to prepare everything for the celebration, and then you will go to deliver the message!
” he exclaims, leveling Harper with an intense stare before looking away.
“This will be a new beginning. We’ll have an end to the war between our great nations.
A peace treaty will be created through an unbreakable bond. Through marriage.”
Unable to help myself, I glance at Harper.
She’s pale as a ghost. The hand that I’d been using to clench her arm softens, and I find myself rubbing her skin gently.
I don’t know how else to offer comfort. As much as I can’t wrap my head around being in a marriage with a Hollowborn, as much as I loathe the idea of sleeping with one eye open until they ultimately betray us, I’m worried for Harper.
She may be a woman, so she’s a person who has been prepared for the possibility of marriage without love or connection since she was a small girl, but I wouldn’t wish being married to a Hollowborn on my worst enemy.
There’s a long moment of silence, followed by cheering, clapping, and laughter.
All around us the people are just thinking about how much better their worlds would be without the Hollowborn lingering in the shadows, a constant danger.
None of them are considering what this will be like for Harper and my brothers.
“Has father lost his mind?” Lucien asks softly.
“Completely,” I say, then look at Harper again, concerned by how fragile she looks. “Are you okay?”
She glances up at me with those big hazel eyes. “I didn’t want to marry anyone.”
It’s like a knife turning in my gut. “I know.”
“Is there any way out of this?”
I wrack my brain and come up with nothing. “When my father decides something, it’s decided.”
She gives a shaky nod. “Then I guess this is happening.”
I want to tell her that it won’t be so bad.
That as big of assholes as we’ve been, we won’t treat our wife poorly.
This goes beyond trying to get an untrained woman out of our academy.
This is the rest of our lives. Harper is going to be the woman we come home to every night.
She’s going to be the mother of our children.
Not only will we treat her kindly, we’ll kill the Hollowborn if he’s unkind to her.
But I don’t know how to say all of that.
“You’re not going to be alone.”
She gives a strained smile. “That’s kind of the problem. Isn’t it?”
My heart hurts. We’ve broken things so completely between us that the thought of us being there for her is a bad thing. We really fucked up. Now we have to figure out how to fix this mess we’ve created.