This was no lord’s son.
“Fern, are you all right?”
Then the lad with the sword made his first mistake. Not pulling a weapon on me. He got the drop on me because mine was still in the scabbard by my side, but drawing my woman into the circle of his free arm, not letting the sword lower for a second. I growled against the blade, right as Slate roared out his own cry.
“I’m fine,” she replied. My eyes followed the path of her hands as she smoothed down her dress. Probably because I was imagining the moment when mine would do the same. Tracing every damn one of those curves? My mouth watered at the thought of it. Gods, I knew when Slate rose to mate with his queen I’d be thrown into the throes of rut, but I already felt half-mad right now. I’d never thought to manhandle a woman like this before now, but when I saw Fern… “This has to be a mistake. These… men have me confused with another woman.”
“No confusion.” Lorien grinned. “You’re ours and we’re?—”
“Why the hell have people got swords drawn in my keep?” I knew the sound of authority. Nobs used to bark in the same tones, just assuming their wishes would be acceded to when me and the boys were living on the streets of Blackreach. A manwith way too much shiny metal on his uniform, as well as some kind of medals, came striding down the stairs. He took the scene in with one glance. “And since when did we have silver dragons?”
“Ahh, there hasn’t been reference in the archives for many, many hundreds of years,” a neatly dressed man said. “Even then, the accounts were all secondhand.”
“Not now, Christian.” The man with the medals stepped forward. “Lance? Good to see you back here, lad, but you can put the weapon down.” His eyes narrowed as he stared at the lot of us. “Whatever happened here, it’s done with now.”
“Keep the hell away from Fern and I’ll have no reason to draw it,” Lance said, not sparing the other man a second look.
No, his focus was entirely on mine, as my eyes went to his hand. The way he rubbed my girl’s arm had my teeth baring, a snarl forming.
“Sword in scabbard,” the man barked, then stepped between us. “General Rex of His Majesty’s Royal Riders.” He thrust out his hand, finally looking into my eyes, and something he saw in them had him faltering. Pale as milk, the man went, right before his mouth fell open. “Why the hell do you look like the dead Duke of Harlston?”
There’s a lot the general could’ve said, but that was the only thing to have me taking a step backwards. Living out in the backwoods with Mum and Barry, people didn’t see it. They wouldn’t have known the former duke from a hole in the ground, and I liked it that way. People knew me from my reputation, not the idiot who managed to impregnate my mother.
If the crowd was on tenterhooks during the entire meeting, this was the moment that silence shattered. The way people stared and started to twitter behind their hands, whispering some bullshit to each other, I’d borne it often enough, but not now. Standing before the woman I’d spent my life waiting for, I didn’t want that monster mentioned in Fern’s presence.
“Look, your generalship…” More titters, because apparently I wasn’t saying that right. Like I gave a single fuck. I held my hand out and Dain passed me the decree the rider who’d landed on our property had brought with him, asserting that he had been gifted our land. “I’m just here to correct a misunderstanding.”
With a shove, I pressed the paper into the general’s chest, something that got the idiots all excited, but they didn’t get it. They could all bow down before the man’s insignias, but I would never bend a knee to a man who hadn’t proved himself worthy of that honour.
“Someone here sent a dragon rider into our territory, saying our land belonged to him. Correct that and hand over our girl.” Now he had two free hands, Lance was holding Fern against his chest. Couldn’t say I blamed him. I’d be doing the same damn thing given the chance. “And we’ll be on our way.”
“Girl… Land…?” The general looked befuddled and I nearly burst out laughing right there and then. The sound of our dragons’ roars outside had him glancing out the window. “Lady Fern, you’re bound to one of Hadrian’s daughters?”
“Auren.” She tried to smile and failed.
Don’t worry, I told her silently. We’d get her smiling soon enough.
The decree was folded up and tucked under the general’s arm as they crossed his chest.
“So you three thought you’d march in here, demanding a gift of crown land and a lady of noble birth as what, your doxy?”
“Wife,” I snapped, my brows drawing down hard. “I’d never dishonour a woman like that.”
“Trust me when I say that we would never allow any woman of ours make her money on her back,” Lorien growled.
It took a lot to stop him smiling, but this was one of those things. His mother, his sisters, used to be pimped out by the men in his family, the bastards living off their womenfolk’s labour. He’d been forced to leave his home and live on the streets when they thought to do the same with Lorien.
“How reassuring.” The general stepped closer, and while he was an old prick, there was life in the old fox still. “Well, grantsof land go to dragon riders who have proven their loyalty to the crown.”
“Need something signed?” I said. “Want us to swear to the king?” My smile was sardonic as I slapped my hand over my heart. “Consider it done.”
“The agreement forged in the embers of the war with the Duke of Harlston…” The fucking name again. It had every muscle in my body tensing. “Between human and dragonkind is that all humans wishing to bond with a dragon, or having already established one, need to spend a year in the keep, proving that the bond is in the best interests of all parties. It’s either that, or face the collective might of the Royal Riders.”
Well, well, look at these flyboys getting all cocky. The ones in the uniforms straightened up then, finding their balls. I grinned.
“You want to take on the silver dragons?” Lorien snapped, spoiling for a fight, but I wasn’t gonna play that game.
“You staying here, Fern?” I asked our girl, because while our dragons could lay waste to the entire city and still be fine to fly home for tea, she was what mattered. Every eye turned her way, and she didn’t look none too pleased about it.
