Chapter 45
Dain
The night air was cool on my skin, the faint hush of the leaves rustling in the breeze was enough to have my eyes closing for a second. Opening them again to walk over to Argent, I’d never understand why my kind preferred noise, chatter, bright lights instead.
To empty their heads, even if for a moment, my dragon said, bunting my side.
Seems like they’re plenty empty most of the time, I replied.
My fingers gripped one of the spikes close to his head, remembering the way Sam and Jonas had lurched towards Fern.
I knew the men on sight, had drunk with them a time or two, but all that familiarity was replaced with pure volcanic rage the minute they walked up to Fern.
Conscious effort was required to loosen my grip.
Hauling myself up into the saddle, then lying along the length of my dragon’s spine helped relax me.
You wish to tear those unworthy males apart, Argent said. With a snort, I focussed on the clouds passing over the moon. One of them is walking outside now. I could eat him for you.
I rolled upright, watching Sam waver up the path, probably heading home. I felt like a wolf lurking in the shadows, ready to strike. He wouldn’t hear me slip from the saddle, my footfalls muffled by the pine needles. Wouldn’t even look backwards as I slunk up behind him. Knife in hand, I’d…
Do nothing.
Sam was an idiot, but a harmless one. He saw a woman he liked the look of and figured he’d try his luck, though his thought processes baffled me.
Didn’t he see the state he was in, realise how unworthy he was?
Obviously not. He dared to look down and trace the line of Fern’s bust… Shit, maybe I would knife the bastard.
You wish to protect your mate, Argent observed. As I do Auren.
The queen dragon was sleeping currently, her head on her claws.
Fern doesn’t need me protecting her, I replied. The others, they’ll keep her safe.
But you won’t be satisfied until you’re sure she is.
With a huff of breath, my fingers fiddled with a loose piece of leather on his saddle.
That’s just you, brother. Your desire for Auren is infecting me. If we were not bonded—
You’d still have a journal full of your drawings of her, Argent replied. It was there when you found my egg. It’s still there in your breast pocket.
Dragons. People mythologised them, made them seem like they were these noble beasts, but I knew better.
Nosy bastard, I shot back. Keep out of my head.
I will if you stop broadcasting your desire for Fern everywhere but where it belongs. Before I could formulate a response, his head lifted. Here she comes. You can tell her what you feel right now.
No, I could not. If she looked wide eyed and pale at the lieutenant’s declaration, how would mine be received? He’d been pining silently for her for weeks, whereas I… The thought was cut off abruptly as the back door opened and then out came Fern.
The need to draw her rode me hard. It was what I did each time I dreamed of her, a response conditioned in me by the years. My pencil would have to move fast now, capturing her movement in swiftly rendered lines.
Theirs would be drawn in far more jagged ones.
Two men pushed themselves away from the back of the tavern and followed Fern towards the latrines, and that wouldn’t do.
Argent shifted, ready to rush in, but I bid him to stay put.
Dragons mauling humans meant the local magistrates would get involved, whereas I could deal with this situation much more circumspectly.
Leaping from the saddle, I stalked forward.
Gods, there was something so completely and utterly maddening about Fern. Not just her smile, nor the scent of flowers that seemed to cling to her. No, her obliviousness was what had my teeth grinding together.
“Pretty girl…” One of them muttered to the other. “Look at that sweet arse.”
“Wouldn’t mind taking a bite,” said the other.
And did Fern round on them, eyes flashing, reprimanding them for their behaviour? No, of course, she didn’t. Just disappeared into the facilities as if she wasn’t in danger.
Which meant I needed to deal with the situation while she was in there.
“Wait for her to come out,” the first man said, “then—”
“Then nothing.”
My hands snapped out, grabbing each of these idiots by their collars, then hauled them back. Their eyes went wide and their hands gripped my wrists.
“What the hell…?” one spluttered.
“What the hell indeed,” I snarled. “Right now, you can call me the devil himself, because you’ll answer to me for your sins.”
“Stop…” the other clawed at my hand. “Stop… You can have a turn too.”
“Turn?”
When I dragged his face up to meet mine, his feet paddled in the air.
“Yeah, buxom girl like that…” the first one gasped. “Plenty to share.”
“Is that what you intended?” A faint whine started up inside my head as I struggled to process it. “To assault Fern?”
“That’s her name?” The men thrashed, trying to pull free, but I would never let go. “Wasn’t going to assault her.”
Yes, they were.
Argent’s voice was a fierce sound inside my head. The other dragons were restive, Auren prowling forward.
Hold them, she ordered. I will deal with these creatures. Hold them!
“No, you won’t.” I threw the two of them on the ground, enjoying the moment when they scrambled backwards.
“You won’t lay a finger on any woman, least of all Fern.
She is…” Goddess, queen, a succubus that haunted my every dream.
“The light in a world full of nightmares. A soft place where everything else is hard. If I ever catch either of you trying this kind of thing again.” The dragons loomed over them, flame trickling out of Auren’s nostrils.
“I will personally ensure you spend the last moments of your short lives screaming.”
“Right… Got it…”
The stench of urine, the way they got to their feet in an awful rush and then started backing away, made clear the message was communicated.
Why did you release them? Auren snapped, her head rearing higher.
If you killed every man that thought about hurting a woman, there’d be few of them left, I replied. Killing them without due process will have the local riders investigating the case, forcing us to stay in the district.
“Oh…” Fern appeared, looking slightly befuddled. “I didn’t see you there, Master Dain. Auren.” She walked over to her dragon and wrapped her arms around the beast’s neck. “Are you ready to go home?”
“Go home?” Lorien came bursting out the back door and his sloppy smile, his unsteady steps told me everything I needed to know. “Don’t mind if I do. Milady.” He swept Fern a clumsy bow. The fact he nearly face planted during the process had Fern giggling. “Care to ride on my trusty steed?”
“There you are.” Kael and Lance came to join us and thankfully, the lieutenant was considerably less drunk. “Wondered where you got to.”
Wondered… My teeth ground together as I bit back a vicious reply.
My brother had confessed he shared my feelings for Fern, but where was the proof?
The fact he’d allowed his guard down at all, let alone enough to get drunk…
For a moment, all I could do was breathe through the intense wave of frustration threatening to drown me.
“We should get you home, Fern,” Lance said. “We need to fly out early in the morning.”
“Certainly!” Gods, she was drunk too? Things were going from bad to worse. Auren’s jaws snapped down on her rider’s tunic and then she used that to toss the girl on her back. Fern found her seat, then beamed down at the lot of us. “Last one home is a rotten egg!”
How would I become a rotten egg? Argent asked. I was hatched years ago.
It doesn’t matter, brother, I replied. We need to follow Auren and Fern and make sure she doesn’t slip from the saddle on the way.
As the others all scrambled to climb onto their dragon’s back, Argent and I were already in the air. His wings cut through the night sky, following the faint glimmer of Auren with ease.
She’s alright, isn’t she? I asked my dragon. Auren wouldn’t let her fall.
Never, came his reply. Just as I would never allow you to drop. Your mate is bonded to mine.
Fern’s not my mate.
That would’ve sounded a whole lot more convincing if I hadn’t thrown myself out of the saddle the minute we reached the estate.
Fern was giggling as she tried to work her leg free of the stirrups they gave new riders, then almost fell as she wrenched herself backwards.
Auren caught her with ease, then set the woman down on the ground.
“Thank you, great queen.” I knew a perfectly performed curtsey when I saw one and Fern did just that, right before letting out a loud yawn. “Goodness, I’m for bed.”
So was I. As Argent and Auren ambled off, I followed Fern to the main door. The others landed seconds later, their muffled shouts echoing through the night air. The thunder of footsteps let me know my brothers and Lance, were running over to join us.
“We haven’t talked about sleeping arrangements.” Kael’s smug tones were like claws on my skin. “It’s a cool night. Maybe I should ask if Fern wants me to ‘keep her warm’ again.”
“Two bodies can keep her warmer than one,” was Lorien’s reply. “And my bed is nice and big—”
“Everyone has been assigned a room.” Lance was the one voice of reason in all of this insanity. “And I suggest we go to them. If we’re going to court Fern, we need to do it properly.”
I agreed with him wholeheartedly. As we walked up the stairs, Fern a shadowy shape in the distance, I looked forward to going into my room. My secret place, my sanctum, I needed the familiar sights, smells, sounds, to help reset my rattling heart.
Of course, that wasn’t what happened.