Chapter 24 Irena
IRENA
We’re shut out of the inn with no food and barely any clothes. Also, the night is coming on and now we have no place to sleep. What are we going to do?
I look up at Valen, who’s surveying the back area of the inn.
“Why did you do that? Why did you give her my dress?”
“To avoid getting thrown into debtor’s prison—I thought that was clear,” he says mildly, as though our predicament and my near-nudity is of no importance.
“But…but you didn’t have to go along with her!” I protest. “You can turn into a huge, monstrous dragon! Why didn’t you do that instead of stripping me naked?”
He gives a short, barking laugh.
“First of all, you’re not naked. You have your cloak, don’t you?” He frowns. “Where is your cloak?”
My cloak! I look around desperately, but then I remember him pulling it off me and dropping it to the floor.
“I must have left it in our room!” I exclaim. “I have to go back for it!”
But when I tug on the door’s wooden handle, I find that it’s locked. Though I pull with all my might, it won’t budge. I turn back to Valen.
“You have to go get it for me!”
He shakes his head.
“I don’t think so, sweetheart. You told everyone in that common room you’re a witch. I don’t care to be classed as your familiar.”
“But you don’t have to be afraid of them! You could just—”
“Just what?” he demands, narrowing his eyes.
“Just shift into my Drake form and threaten them until they bring out your cloak? I can’t talk when I’m a Drake—I can only roar and breathe fire.
Should I burn the whole inn down and kill everyone inside because one pretty, spoiled little princess lost her dress and cloak? ”
I stiffen at once and glare up at him.
“I wasn’t saying you should kill everyone! I just meant you don’t have to be afraid of them.”
“I’m not afraid, Princess,” he growls. “I’m just wary of making every man, woman, and child in the whole fucking town want to pick up their pitchforks and come hunting for us. Also, a Drake doesn’t kill unless he’s threatened with death himself. Those people weren’t really threatening to kill us.”
“They threatened to throw us in debtor’s prison,” I point out, but I’m aware it’s a weak argument.
He shakes his head.
“And if they had, then I would have Shifted to burn our way out. But they let us go.”
“Your people aren’t so picky about not killing my people!” I snap at him. “If it wasn’t for the invisible magic net over our entire kingdom keeping the Dragons out, we’d be wiped from the Earth by now!”
“Invisible magic net?” To my surprise, Valen throws back his head and laughs—a deep, rumbling chuckle that I swear rattles my bones. “What are you talking about?” he demands.
“I’m talking about the net!” I insist. “Our magicians put it up—I’ve known about it since I was a child. It’s the only thing that keeps us safe from you!”
“The thing that keeps you safe is that we’re not fucking murderers,” he growls, the humor abruptly leaving his face. “There’s no fucking net—how could I take off and fly you out of there if there was?”
His words catch me off guard and make me think.
I can’t deny his logic, but I’ve been told about the net all my life.
Supposedly it stretches over the entire kingdom.
Can it be that the magicians have been lying to us?
But I heard about the net from my father and my brother—could they have been lying to me?
But why would they lie? Why would they portray the Dragon People as our worst enemies if they stay away from us of their own volition?
I have no answers for any of those questions, and it makes me flustered and cross.
“You didn’t have to give away my dress,” I repeat stubbornly. “You could have just threatened the Constable with your strength if she brought him into it. You’re bigger than any of the men in there—I’m sure you could have frightened him off, even without turning into your dragon.”
Valen crosses his arms over his broad, bare chest.
“Maybe. But why would I do that for my enemy?”
I open my mouth to snap back…and find I have nothing to say. We are enemies and I am still his captor—his Mistress—by virtue of the ring and collar. I suppose it makes sense he wouldn’t go out of his way to help me.
Although he did save me from getting raped. And why did he tell my attacker to take his hands off “my woman.” What was that all about?
I say none of this out loud. I just give him another glare.
“It’s not just that I wanted to save the dress because I like it, you know,” I tell him. “It’s also a lot warmer than just wearing a shift. I’m not like you—I don’t have a furnace inside me to keep me from freezing.”
Valen rolls his eyes.
“Relax, Princess, it’s not that cold—you won’t freeze. But here.”
He hands me something and I find that it’s the ragged shirt Maud gave him to wear along with the too-tight trousers he has on.
It’s dirty and ragged and I don’t want to put it on…but then a breeze from the forest swirls around me, making me shiver. I don’t care what Valen says—it’s cold out here!
Reluctantly, I slip the ragged shirt on, wincing as the dirty fabric scrapes across my skin.
It’s not very warm, but it’s a little better.
I wrap my arms around myself, trying to ignore the unsavory smell of my new garment, which makes me think that whoever wore it last sweated a lot while cooking copious amounts of garlic and onions.
Meanwhile, Valen is exploring the wooden outbuildings at the back of the inn. I go over and find him inside one of them that’s little more than a shack. He’s found a burlap bag somewhere and he’s in the act of putting something into it.
“What are you doing?” I ask, frowning.
“Getting us some dinner,” he growls. He reaches for something that looks like a long, round tube and I realize it’s a smoked sausage.
In fact, there are several other cuts of meat hanging from the wooden ceiling and the whole place stinks of smoke.
It’s almost strong enough to drown out the smell of my new shirt.
“What? You gave her my dress because you’re too good to use your dragon form to scare the innkeeper into letting me keep it, but now you’re robbing her smokehouse?”
“Please—you and I both know that room wasn’t worth ten gold,” he scoffs. “And we know your dress was worth more than what we got. So I’m just evening the score.” He cocks an eyebrow at me. “Or would you rather starve?”
“No, of course not,” I say sullenly. “But you’d better hurry—we don’t want to be caught out here.”
“Just finishing up.” He grabs a few other things I can’t see in the dark room and stuffs them in the sack. “That should do it—let’s go, Princess.”
I have no choice but to follow him out into the night—for it has turned to full night now and the moon is rising over the forest. I look at the foreboding shadows of the trees and shiver.
I have a feeling our troubles are just beginning.