Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
ODESSA
Odessa’s stomach was still churning when Jax reappeared, having approached so quietly that she didn’t even register his presence until he was right beside her.
His smile was gone, and rather than playing with the rock, he held it in his fist with a white-knuckled grip.
He crossed his legs and dropped to the ground beside her.
“Your father is meaner than a chicken, and I don’t use the insult lightly,” he said darkly. “How he ever managed to convince a woman to marry him and produce a daughter as delightful and stunning as you is truly a mystery for the ages.”
She couldn’t answer him, of course, but she settled for leaning against him. The fact that he was there made her feel safer and more relieved than perhaps it should, having just met him, but she couldn’t deny the fact that her stomach and heart settled as soon as he arrived.
She wasn’t going to examine the fluttery feeling in her chest when he called her “stunning.” That was likely just the result of not having eaten enough during the day because she was chasing a spunky hatchling.
Jax’s warm hand ran gently over her feathers. “If he tries to feed you to the lions, I will sic the emus on him. I have a feeling it won’t take much to incite them to violence.”
Odessa let out a quiet honk of laughter. I can’t lie, that’s something I would like to see.
“I tried to get Dmitri to come.” Jax’s gaze was drawn up to the sky, which was streaked with orange and pink.
“I was hoping that if he were here during your transformation, it would be proof enough for him to have your father locked up in one of his own cages. I see what you mean, now, about it being impossible to talk about.” He pressed his hand to the side of his head.
“It was like tiny little gongs bouncing around in my brain out of tune.”
She felt the moment the sun hit the horizon, and she lurched away from him so that she wouldn’t end up halfway in his lap after the change.
Though it was less painful to return to her natural form than the other way round, her bones still ached, and she required a few seconds to breathe through the discomfort before pushing herself up to a seated position.
Jax was watching her with wide eyes. “That…does not look like fun.”
“The evenings are better than the mornings.” Her voice was rough and raspy, and she cleared her throat before continuing. “It’s just like horrible growing pains, rather than breaking and squeezing to fit into a container that’s at least four sizes too small.”
His jaw tensed as he pulled his panpipes out of his satchel. “I’ll call the emus.”
Odessa laughed, feeling the last of her hurt soothed away with the simple show of support. She put a hand on his arm, slightly surprised when her fingers landed on the warm skin of his forearm rather than his sleeve. “Don’t. They don’t deserve to have him ruin a perfectly nice evening.”
The muscles in his arm twitched under her touch. Jax sighed. “Oh, alright. I still don’t know how someone so odious managed to procreate—not that I mind your existence, of course. But eugh.” He twisted his face and shuddered dramatically.
She withdrew her arm and twisted her hands together in her lap.
“He wasn’t always so bad,” she said softly.
Her heart twisted at the memories of shared laughter, of late evenings around the fire and early mornings with the animals, of trailing behind her father and pestering him with question after question while he taught her everything he knew.
Or rather, almost everything—he had kept the knowledge of curses to himself.
“What happened?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “He’s been carrying anger his whole life, taught to him by his father, who learned it from his, and on back for generations. Eventually, it got to be too much, and he chose his anger over his family.”
Jax frowned. “Don’t tell me he cursed your mother, too.”
“No. She works in the palace. She’s a healer, and she attended the queen during her childbearing years.”
“Dmitri’s her only child, right?”
Odessa opened her mouth and closed it again, struggling against the pressure that made it feel as if she were going to swallow her own tongue. “He’s the only prince we have.”
He looked at her strangely, as though guessing that she had more that she wanted to say. He acted as if he were about to respond, then looked over her shoulder and scrambled to his feet. “What is Bean doing?”
She followed his line of sight to where Bean was trotting to the edge of the lake where the flock of swans had gathered.
He entered the shallow water with a splash, then started swimming circles around the closest of the birds.
Odessa chuckled as she pushed to her feet.
“I think it’s rather obvious: he’s going for a swim. ”
Jax propped a hand on his hip and scrubbed the other down the side of his face. “What have you done to my dragon?”
“He’s my dragon,” she argued back, mirroring his posture. “It’s not my fault he hatched and the first thing he saw was a swan.”
“Dragons don’t swim.”
“I’ll let you be the one to tell him that.” She gestured to the flock. “He talks back to me when I try. He says I’m his mother and so that makes him a swan.”
He shook his head. “If he doesn’t listen to you, there’s no way he’ll listen to me.”
“I thought you were supposed to be a Dragon Charmer.”
“You can’t charm a dragon away from its mother.” He sighed. “That’s one of the reasons I was trying to find an egg.”
She lifted her brows. “I thought you said you just needed to catch them before they claimed a hoard.”
“Yes, well, that was before I knew it was possible for a dragon to imprint on a bird. I assumed that in the absence of a dragon mother, I had time,” he drawled. “I didn’t realize that you would steal my dragon out from under me.”
“My dragon,” Odessa corrected him, crossing her arms and watching Bean try to convince a stately elder swan to frolic with him. “You could still try to talk some sense into him. Turn on that charm. Use that smile.”
She watched the smirk crawl up Jax’s face from the corner of her eye, and it made her cheeks heat with a blush. “Jumping over the part where you think I’m charming,” he said with a wink. “You want me to look death in the face and smile?”
A bark of surprised laughter left her. “He’s just a baby.”
“A baby that can breathe fire. And, if I’m not mistaken, he’s probably already become something of a stubborn little menace.”
“I was not prepared for the arguing,” Odessa admitted with a chuckle. “Or for the fact that he’s already twice as big as he was yesterday. He’s not going to fit in my pocket any more, but I don’t know how I’m going to convince him to listen.”
Jax hummed thoughtfully. “It sounds like you might need to enlist some help. Perhaps someone like…a Dragon Charmer?”
She looked at him wryly. “I thought you just said that you couldn’t charm a dragon away from its mother.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “I can’t. But right now it’s in his best interests if we work together. Co-parenting, if you will. I have a feeling it will take both your bond and my knowledge of dragons if we’re going to keep him out of sight and trouble.”
Odessa smiled gratefully. “I appreciate it. I’ll admit, I’m a little out of my depth here.”
“Speaking of depth,” Jax nodded toward the lake. “We’ll have to hope he understands complex thoughts and delayed gratification enough by the time Dmitri has his party to convince him not to swim on the lake. By that time, he’ll be as big as a horse.”
“Ugh. The party.” Odessa threw her head back with a groan at the reminder of their scheme. “What on earth possessed the two of you to get me involved?”
“I believe Dmitri was operating under the assumption that, as one of his closest friends, you would be able to help him find a wife he might at least find tolerable.”
“I suppose I should feel honored. But that doesn’t explain why you had to open your big mouth.”
He held up a finger and grinned. “I believe you referred to this mouth before as charming. And since you’ve kissed it before—”
He jumped aside with a laugh as she aimed a punch for his arm.
“I was just trying to help, Odessa. You said yourself that it’s hard to meet any men that might be marriage material under your present circumstances.
If Dmitri is already requesting your presence at his gathering, why not take advantage of the opportunity? ”
She exhaled a slow breath, annoyed with herself for being bothered that he wasn’t the least bit bothered about the idea of her finding love in the midst of a crowd of strangers. She barely knew the man, why would it concern him? For that matter, why should it concern her?
He’s from a completely different world. It doesn’t matter if he makes me feel seen, if he can make me laugh even when I don’t feel like it. He’s already said he’s not here to stay, and I won’t give my heart to another man just to have him stomp it under his boot when I become inconvenient.
“I don’t know the first thing about how to act around a bunch of nobility,” she admitted, choosing a less pressing concern than the one she was currently struggling with. “I work with animals, who don’t care if I talk too much or say the wrong thing. They certainly won’t expect me to dance.”
He looked surprised. “You don’t like dancing?”
“I love dancing. I just…I’ve never done it with a partner.”
Jax shook his head and clicked his tongue. “That certainly won’t do. Fortunately for you, my studies in Bird Catching and Dragon Charming also included training in Fancy Feet.” He offered his hand with a flourish. “May I have this dance?”
Odessa smiled in spite of herself and set her hand in his. “I didn’t realize you were a man of so many talents.”
He snorted. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I said the training was included, not that I excelled at it. I’m actually rather terrible at dancing. But at the very least I can either show you all the things not to do or prove that you’re not as terrible as you fear.” He pulled her toward him.
She was captured by his smile, swept into the air of carefree whimsy that he seemed to perpetually exist in. “What music are we going to dance to? Shall we ask Bean to sing for us?”
“Horrible idea.” He wrinkled his nose. “Dragons have very little sense of rhythm. I suppose you’ll have to make do with my subpar singing.”
He grabbed her free hand, setting it against his shoulder before placing his hand on her back, sending a shiver down her spine. “Ready?”
She nodded, suddenly breathless.
He started humming, pulling her into a simple waltz as the music wrapped around her.
His voice was rich and pleasant, and she immediately wanted to know what he might consider good singing if his own voice was subpar.
It wasn’t long before she stepped on his foot, but he laughed it off with such glee that her embarrassment was erased before it could even take root.
Then he stepped on hers, and she returned the favor, and before long they were both laughing until her mouth hurt from smiling.
She was as light as air, and for a moment believed that, even without her swan wings, she could fly.
Jax held her hand above her head, twirling her around, and their eyes met as he slowly pulled her back in. The tune he hummed changed from the lively jig he had transitioned to before to something more subdued, and Odessa was powerless to look away.
The ever-present curiosity in his gaze had been replaced by wonder and unadulterated admiration.
His forehead dropped to hers, putting their smiles only a breath apart.
He looked at her as if she were the most beautiful, precious thing he had ever seen, and from somewhere deep inside the voice in her mind whispered that he might be the same, that if she were to allow herself, she could fall headfirst into love and not even notice the impact.
And so, as any woman in her position would do, she ran.