Chapter 15
Lorien
“Is there a reason why we’re sitting here and our girl is over there, seated at the table with another man?” I asked.
“Sit. Down,” Dain growled.
He gave so few orders I found myself doing as he bid without thought, Kael doing the same. Our chairs were dragged into a line, each one of us was seated so we could get the clearest view of her. Fern, that was her name and I couldn’t seem to stop playing it over and over in my mind.
“The lieutenant thinks he’s staking a claim.
” Kael’s hand dropped to his sword hilt, something the man at the other table noted.
The way the officer stiffened had me thinking he’d like to have his own weapon in his hand.
I shot him a sly grin in recognition. “Away from the keep, out from under the watchful eyes of the Royal Riders, we’ll make clear what a mistake he’s made. ”
“Away from…?” Dain snorted. “There’s nowhere you can go in Nevermere that’s beyond rider justice. We—”
“Good evening, gentlemen.”
All of us looked up as someone approached the table.
Women made their presences known all the time when we went to the tavern.
This girl, though? She was no serving wench.
Her jewellery, the expensive scent and her elaborate hairstyle, they all sat strangely against the cadet uniform everyone was wearing, but they made clear something.
Money and power. Her hand went to her hip as she looked past me and straight at Kael.
“I don’t think we’ve been introduced.” A finely manicured hand extended, passed in front of my face and that had me looking across at Dain.
The woman had thick skin, because she didn’t seem to register my brother’s dark scowl.
That’d be enough to snatch my own hand back, but she just smiled at Kael.
“I’m Lady Seraphina. My father is Baron Ashbourne. ”
“And I’m not interested.”
Kael’s eyes remained fixed on Fern, ignoring the woman entirely so he didn’t see those red lips thin, pressing together for just a second before her smile reappeared.
That’s when I knew exactly what was happening.
My mother, my sisters made sure I knew all about the wiles of women.
They’d been at pains to demonstrate all the signs, lest I be sucked in by some manipulative miss.
Sitting down in the chair in front of Kael without so much as a by your leave, I’d never heard them talk about that, though when she leaned forward, we were in familiar territory.
Her cadet jacket was unbuttoned at the neck, a creamy expanse of bosom revealing itself.
Too bad for Lady Whatever Her Face, because none of us were moved. I glanced over at Kael and watched him shift sideways, straining to look around Serenity to focus back on Fern. My hand went to my face, trying to mask my grin and failing, right as the bitch lined me up in her sights.
And that’s when I saw it.
Ever looked into the eyes of a serpent? I have.
There was a fellow who used to keep captive snakes, bringing them out each market day, riling them up in their cages, then throwing them dead mice and rats to earn the coins of passersby.
This Seraphina had eyes as cold and hard as a reptile’s as she met my gaze for seconds, then focussed back on Kael.
“Really?” she said, seductive smile back on her face. “That’s no way to talk to a blood relation.”
“What?” She could’ve said a lot of things, but this was clever. Any mention of Kael’s family was bound to get his attention. From the look of this Seraphina, she wasn’t related to our Elsie. “And who exactly do you think I am to you?”
“A cousin.” Her hand slid forward, held out for Kael to take. “Of sorts. Second cousin at most.”
Don’t take her hand, I willed Kael silently. Do not fucking touch this snake.
Snake? ‘Fang’s voice resounded in my head. What snake? That one is human, but her mind… I could feel a wave of revulsion. I don’t like it, not even a little bit.
Me either, brother, I told my dragon.
It appeared neither did our Fern. Her eyes narrowed as she watched the proceedings, focussing on the woman’s outstretched hand, but if I noticed that, so did Kael. With a grin, he shook it.
Fern went pale and the urge to get out of my seat and stride over was overpowering.
I’d throw myself to my knees and beg for her forgiveness if it’d help.
It felt like we’d done everything wrong from the start, which had me looking across at Dain.
The slow shake of his head, that deep frown, it made clear he felt the same way.
Argent’s rider doesn’t like this woman, ‘Fang told me. He thinks she’s a female dog. It’s taking everything he’s got to stop from picking her up and dumping her at another table.
Maybe we should, I shot back.
“So we’re related.” Kael shrugged as he pulled her hand free with a tug. “What of it? The way I see it, the aristocracy is so inbred in Harlston, you could claim every toff here as cousin.”
“None so closely related to the old duke,” she replied. “The ducal seat has remained empty since the war ended.”
“Because you idiots can’t agree on which viper to raise above the rest.”
Kael said this with an almost conversational air.
“The matter of succession could be resolved easily if a direct descendant stepped forward,” Seraphina said. “I could introduce you to some very powerful men. Why settle for being a dragon rider, when you could be duke of the whole of Harlston?”
Dain and I stared at Kael. Any other time, I would’ve known exactly how my brother would react, but not now. We’d spent years keeping our heads down, fearful someone would recognise Kael and whose son he was, but now…? Duke of—
“Is that what you came over here to offer me?” That growl was familiar enough. “Go back to your table, girl, and—”
“Milady,” Seraphina corrected, her teeth flashing in the lamplight.
The sound of dragons shifting, a low rattling sound caught her attention and half the courtyard’s. Slate took a step forward, and it felt like the stones themselves quivered in response.
“Go back to your seat, Lady Seraphina of Ashbourne,” my brother said with a venom that outmatched her own.
“And steer clear of me. Unless those friends of yours can secure me my land, my family’s home and…
” As he rose to his feet, he stared over her head and straight at Fern.
“The woman that belongs to me and my brothers, I can say with all confidence they have nothing I want. Go!”
His barked order echoed across the floor, getting some of the riders twittering like gossiping women, but Seraphina stood up. Nose in the air, it was clear Kael had gotten through to her.
“A man with such…” She looked back over her shoulder. “Modest aims is not someone I can help. I apologise for wasting your time.”
Her tone was anything but apologetic, she swept away from our table and marched back to her own. She and her friends leaned closer, obviously discussing us by the looks our way.
“I’m done with this place.” Kael sloshed wine into his water glass, then drank the lot down. “Didn’t come here to become a fucking cadet. Just want my land and my woman.”
“Our woman,” I corrected mildly, filling his glass up again, then mine and Dain’s.
“Ours,” Kael agreed. “We’ll go to her rooms and make her see sense, then we can be off tonight. Back at the estate by morning and we’ll have breakfast with Mum and Barry.”
“No, we can’t.” Dain was always a strange one.
Fae touched, that’s what the other kids of Coalbottom called him, but I knew better.
No such thing as the fae, but touched? It was the gods that laid a hand on my brother’s shoulder, just as they did right now.
His dark eyes grew milky as he stared at something we couldn’t see.
“Not without creating war, destruction. We’d tear apart all of Nevermere in the process.
Nowhere to hide, nowhere to rest, always moving…
” He sucked in a breath. “Death… That way lies death.”
Some women are able to inject such poison into their laughter and we heard that in Seraphina’s right now. That vicious sound had Dain shaking his head, coming back to the courtyard abruptly.
“If we steal Fern, we’ll kill her,” he muttered, all prophetic doom gone from his voice. “So we will not do that.”
“Fine, we…”
Kael was always ready with a plan and he was formulating another as a bunch of people in uniform walked in.
Important people, it seemed, because everyone got to their feet.
I looked around us, then did the same. The others all took a seat on the dais, including the woman that was with Fern when we first entered the keep.
“Good evening.” The fellow with all the medals and silver glinting on his uniform, he was the general and head of the entire Royal Riders I’d learned.
He stepped forward now, nodding to everyone gathered.
“The banquet held at the end of intake day has always been an important one to the Royal Riders. Where previously we would have a bunch of young men just bonded with freshly hatched dragonlings…”
The large brown dragon who had led us into the city made a rumbling sound at that.
“Now we have men and women both joining our ranks as cadets. You are here to get a world class education, to learn from some of the finest minds in the country. To exchange ideas with your fellow students, learning from them just as much as your teachers.”
“I know what I want to exchange with Fern…” Kael muttered under his breath.
“And lastly, some of you may even be lucky enough to find a dragon willing to bond with you. Hadrian.”
He nodded to the brown dragon, and we all turned to face the massive beast.
The process is very different now. His voice boomed inside my mind.
No longer one where the unformed consciousness of a baby dragon is fused with an adult human’s.
A small mutter from some of the Royal Riders, but they fell quiet again quickly.
Now the process is a true meeting of minds.
If you find a dragon who has similar aims, similar goals as you, who wishes to share a life their life with you, then…
He nodded slowly. You will be truly blessed.
As a representative of the free dragons of Nevermere, I welcome you to the keep.
“Welcome to the keep, cadets.”
The general slapped his fist down on his chest and the rest did the same, my hand moving belatedly to imitate them.
Kael shot me a dark look, one eyebrow cocking up as his hands remained resolutely by his side.
And Dain? My brother stared out into the courtyard, not milky eyed, but definitely seeing something we didn’t.
“Now without further ado, let’s eat,” the general announced.