Chapter Eight

 

 

Her dragon offered up extra senses so that she could follow Brommin.

The glow of his aura was up and on the fourth floor, so she smashed through one of the twenty-foot windows of the ballroom and headed outside.

The sight of him through a window, bloody and chained, filled her with fury. She dove for the window, wrapping her wings around her at the moment of impact.

She stood in the space in front of Brommin and glared at the ten younger males who were carrying weapons. “Why?”

One of the bolder males in his early twenties snarled. “He won’t even consider one of our sisters. You are a filthy human-born dragon. Abomination, you shouldn’t even exist.”

She cocked her head and smiled grimly at them. She lashed out with her wings and cut the chains from Brommin. He got to his feet, and he murmured, “Don’t kill them.”

She nodded, and her dragon took over.

When she held up her hands and spouted diamond claws, three tried to run for the exit. A swish of her wings and the door closed.

She grabbed and grappled with each of the men, some attacked her wings and learned how sharp they were, her claws cut faces, one by one until each of the ten who had hauled off her beloved were marked and stained by their complicity in the evening’s work.

Brommin began knocking heads together, and eventually, they were the only two standing. He came to her and wrapped his arms around her. “I am sorry that this happened. I expected them to attack you, not me.”

She sighed and pressed her head to his chest. “I still choose you.”

“Good. We might have a few minutes left. Hold tight and pull in your wings.”

She let him cradle her in his arms, and he spread his wings, walking to the window she had shattered and launching them into the night and back the way she had come.

He cruised through the window of the ballroom and directly toward her cubicle. His landing was a little rough, but he was there in time. She held him tight, and the other men didn’t ask what had happened.

When the chime sounded, she was still in his arms. The walls of darkness dissipated, and those gathered were exposed.

Brommin walked to the couch in the corner, retracted his wings, and he settled down.

She looked at him and winced. His cheek was swollen, his eye was red, there was a cut on his lip that went from top to bottom. “They hurt you.”

He smiled. “I will be fine by dawn. Thank you for coming for me.”

“I don’t know how important it was for you to be here, but I knew you would never avoid a chance to have me in your arms.”

“Never. If they hadn’t gotten me by surprise, I would have found my way to you in every grouping.”

“And thereby driving the organizers insane.”

He sighed. “Just as we are doing now. You are meant to be talking with others.”

She sighed and pressed a quick kiss to his lip, exhaling gently, and her dragon added a certain something. She pulled his head toward her and kissed the swollen side of his eye, pressing light and tiny kisses along his cheekbone. She sat back and watched as the marks of his injuries faded and healed before her eyes.

She was quite pleased with herself.

He smiled. “I am not surprised. You are going to be the most powerful dragon of our generation. What do you plan to do with it?”

She smiled. “Open that extra shop, and then, we will see what comes.”

“Nothing more?”

“Maybe work on that archive, making copies. There are things in there that the female dragons need to know, and if I can get that across with a pamphlet campaign, I will do it.”

He squeezed her, and other heads around the room were staring at them.

Trin glanced around and sighed. “It looks like we are going to have a lot of uphill work ahead.”

Meadra stepped toward them, blocking some of the faces. Torm formed an additional brick in the fence. Soon, several of the folk she had spoken to that evening, including Apraxa and her would-be mate. They shielded them effectively from the gazes of those in the room.

“It will be different tomorrow night. Tomorrow, your dragon will be announced when your name is spoken. They will at least be more respectful to your face after that.” He whispered it in her ear.

“I don’t want respect, I just want to be left to my own devices. My dragon demands her mate, and you are...”

He sighed. “It is hard to define, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Very.”

“As long as you choose me tomorrow night, I can help you.”

She grinned. “There is literally no one else on my mind.”

They sat for a moment more. Brommin smiled. “Nice dress, by the way.”

“Thank you. You are looking smudged but very official tonight as well. How are the parts that they bound with chains? Why didn’t you just sprout wings and snap out of them?”

“It does not work that way for me. Not all of us are made of diamond.”

Apraxa’s mate whipped around, and he stared for a moment before she elbowed him in the ribs, and he turned back around.

“Since we have privacy...” Trin looked at Brommin and pulled his head down for a kiss.

They continued to kiss until Brommin paused. When Trin’s hearing came back to her instead of the roar of passion in her ears, she heard nothing.

“Is your mother standing right behind me?”

Brommin’s lips quirked. “My father. So, not as bad as it could be.”

“My son, why are you manhandling one of the choosers?”

“Lord Lefarge, how nice to hear your dulcet tones.” Trin pivoted on Bromnin’s lap as carefully as she could manage considering their proximity.

“I have found a number of novice guards in one of the upper rooms. They were all marked with three claw marks on the cheek. There were also chains and a scattering of those beads that you are wearing.”

Brommin kept his arms wrapped around her. “Do you think it has anything to do with her?”

The senator came over and murmured quietly. “It has everything to do with her. The scent of both of you was all over those men. Did they kidnap her?”

Brommin helped Trin to her feet, and he stood behind her. “No. They took me, Father. They wanted to keep me from making this essential meeting. Without Trin’s pre-approval, I would not be able to appear at tomorrow’s ball. I was shackled above, so she came and got me.”

“Right. Well, that is a different matter. Thank you, Lady Lem, for going in search of my son. I will deal with those who attacked him. Of course, you made them easy to spot.”

Trin smiled brightly. “My dragon tells me that those wounds won’t heal. She can grant them healing, but the scars will remain.”

“I am still not sure that you are, what everyone thinks you are, but the evidence is adding up.”

Trin looked at the small army of those willing to defend her privacy, and she sighed. “Yes, it really is.”

 

The vehicle that took them home was the senator’s private karros.

Meadra still had a dazed smile on her lips. Her first kiss with Torm had been rushed, but it had been intense.

Apraxa was a little bemused. Whatever her would-be-lover had said was sinking in.

Trin was both exhausted and exhilarated. The young men she had wounded would be dealt with after tomorrow’s ball.

They were delivered back to Creata and Vasic’s home without anything eventful happening.

Creata’s first words reminded her that the evening had been fairly eventful. “Trin, do you realize that your gown is spattered with blood?”

Trin looked down and winced. “Mirbella is going to kill me.”

The once white and iridescent gown was now the victim of snapped columns of beads and spattered with blood.

“She will have to wait until tomorrow. For tonight, I have a meal prepared. You can all get out of your gowns and into sleepwear, and then, we will discuss as much as you are able to.”

Trin nodded and didn’t hug her friend. No one needed to be smeared with blood after ten in the evening.

“I get the hint. Pyjama party it is.” She headed upstairs, leading the other two.

 

A light scrubbing and a nail brush later, she was free of blood, dressed in a nighty and robe that Creata provided for her guests, and sitting down with the other ladies drinking herbal tea and eating small sandwiches.

Creata asked the question. “Well, how was it?”

Meadra cleared her throat. “Better than expected but stranger, too. There were dragons from all regions and some from overseas.”

Trin gave her a wry look, and Meadra smiled. “I am not giving away any secrets. Just vague descriptions.”

Creata leaned forward. “I am married with a baby, I crave as much vagueness as I can get.”

Apraxa sat back and smiled. “You are seated in a small space, and suddenly, four male dragons walk through the wall and introduce themselves. They stand there and talk at you, not to you, and then, a chime rings and they move on to the next female.”

Trin chuckled. “And then, there is that exciting moment when a stranger from a strange land tries to attack you, and you have to defend yourself.”

Meadra smiled. “Or the curtains come down, and you are in the lap of your chosen male.”

Trin blinked and then realized that no one had seen her. None of the females or males had seen her take off, they had only seen her in Brommin’s lap, spattered with blood.

“You guys didn’t see that, and you came to help me anyway? Aw, how sweet.” Trin smiled. “I had to go and rescue Brommin from a set of young guardsmen who were upset that he had made himself available to me instead of one of their female relatives.”

Apraxa sat up. “What?”

“Oh, yeah. They had him chained up. I set him free and then gave the young men something to remind them that messing with the mating process is not allowed.”

“And then?” Creata took a huge bite out of her tiny sandwich, endangering her fingers.

“He flew us back to my cubicle just in time for the shadows to drop.” Trin snagged some more food and sat back to eat. She mumbled, “There may have been some kisses exchanged, but then, the senator showed up and our relaxing moment was over. I honestly thought they would come after me.”

Meadra and Apraxa asked her question after question, but she smiled and shook her head. “No one knows what I am yet. It is just us, our friends, and Brommin’s family. Tomorrow will be the public reveal. I am just hoping that no other dragon female outranks me.”

Meadra stared at her, and then, she started laughing. “That is very funny. That is the funniest thing I have heard all evening.”

Trin smiled and sipped at her tea. “How was your introduction with Torm in the room?”

She smiled shyly. “He kept all the men in a corner, facing the wall while he stroked my hand and my cheek.”

Apraxa smiled and turned her head to Trin. “Did you know that Romak was here for this?”

Trin shrugged. “I had a feeling. I didn’t call him if that was your worry. I am guessing that he checked and you weren’t home, so he thought of the next largest gathering of dragons and came here. He was probably panicking a little.”

“He’s arrogant, so panic isn’t his forte. He simply expects things to go his way.”

Trin asked, “Did you talk?”

Apraxa nodded. “We did. I think he is salvageable.”

It was high praise from the hurricane dragon.

Creata was nibbling on food with her eyes wide. “Will you talk about this sort of thing after the ball?”

Trin winked. “We have a non-disclosure agreement. Of course, we will.”