There was nothing between us except my wishes and longing, which grew stronger the more time we spent together. No one other than my dad and Margaret had ever gone swimming with me before. I know how that makes me sound, but dragons are born to fly. I was never important enough to anyone for them to forgo that for me. Nate had.
I shook my head, impatient with myself. I was a sentimental idiot who was about to get his heart broken all over again, and yet again, it was my own fault. Nate hadtoldme it was just sex between us. That hadn’t stopped me falling head over tail for him.
Chapter Fourteen
NATE
“Bim’s told me to accept James’s offer of a job if he makes one,” I said, after we’d been driving for a while.
“What do you think about that?”
I didn’t know. That was why I was telling him, to see if there was an angle I’d missed. “Even though I’d be doing it with Bim’s knowledge, it feels wrong, as if I’m betraying my family. I can’t help but wonder if Bim wants to get rid of me and this is an easy way to do it.”
“I think you’re worrying over nothing,” Alex said. “With your grandfather’s blessing about the job, you’ve no reason to feel guilty. And from everything I’ve heard about Abimelech Mortimer, if he didn’t want you, he’d take great pleasure in firing you to your face. No, he probably hopes you can get into the bank itself and find out more info.”
My heart lightened as I realised he was right. If Bim thought that little of me, he wouldn’t have sent me here. Would he?
“I think we’ve reached the end of what we can do unless Icanget into the bank,” I said. “So, how’s the Teague and Fortescue mingling coming along? Any prospective matches yet?”
“Dan’s smitten with someone called Rose. I haven’t met her, so I have no idea if it’s reciprocated. At least it’s not like the old days when they’d have had to make a final decision within weeks that affected the rest of their lives.”
“Whydowe keep so separate as families, apart from these formal visits?” I asked him. I’d been questioning many things I’d thought were perfectly natural since meeting Alex Teague. Not least, I’d assumed the banking families’ opinion of red dragons was common to all dragons. “It would be so much easier, so much more natural, if we just mixed normally. We could give prior warning and ask permission before entering one another’s territories.”
Alex was quiet for so long that I glanced at him, wondering if he intended to answer. “Maybe it’s because some secrets are too big to trust outsiders with.”
“That’s my point. We’re dragons. Surely we shouldn’t be outsiders to one another.”
“You’re not wrong,” he said. “Though good luck with changing anything.”
“True.” The headlights ate up the white lines in front of us.
“What do you think your grandfather will do now he knows it’s definitely old man Fortescue behind it?” Alex asked.
“He’ll either find a way to replicate the attacks and direct them against the Fortescue bank because he’d see that as poetic justice, or he’ll confront James Fortescue.” I winced. “Iwant to be out of Bath before that happens.”
Alex laughed. “Yeah. I’ve not met your grandfather, but I can imagine. Presumably, he’ll give you the heads up to get out of the firing line before he does anything.”
I had a moment of sudden, unwelcome clarity. Bim wouldn’t think to warn me.
I wasn’t overly worried—I could get myself out of trouble almost as easily as I could get myself into it. Years with Charlie had given me lots of practice. But the knowledge that my safety wouldn’t occur to Bim felt like a slap in the face.
ALEX
I waited for Nate to negotiate a busy roundabout before I filled him in on my side of things. “Fortescue still hasn’t spilled much to Margaret. What hehassaid is that it’s time we held a moot—I think he got that from Tolkien—and have representatives of all the dragon families present. He won’t tell her why he’s thinking of that for the first time in living memory. If he calls it once he has a formal understanding with us and the Mortimers are in turmoil, it would be his chance to establish the Fortescues as the pre-eminent family.”
“Did he give any idea of when he wants this meeting?” Nate asked. “That would give Bim a timeframe for acting.”
“Not so far. He’s damn cagey. Maybe he realises Margaret’s not the dim-witted country bumpkin he no doubt thought her when he invited us here.”
“Have you had a chance to sound out Ella or Steven yet?”
“I spoke to Ella earlier, and she had no idea about the Arthur connection,” I told him. “She was torn between fascination and wanting to get away from me as fast as possible. She appears to view me as something the cat dragged in, only less pleasant.”
“I think that’s my fault,” Nate said, stopping the car at traffic lights. “She’s still hoping I’ll get back together with Charlie, so she’s unhappy about the amount of time I spend with you.”
“She’svery fond of you,” I said in an understatement. When I’d first seen them together, I’d thought she was flirting with him. Now, it seemed more as if she was clinging to him, unwilling to let go.
“You were around a lot when she was younger, weren’t you?” I realised. Maybe it was as simple as Nate being so much more decent and kinder than either of her brothers or anyone else in her family, so she didn’t want him to leave again. Nate and Charlie getting back together would ensure that he’d stay, at least in her mind.
