“Why not?” I asked. I wasn’t going to make him particularly welcome after he’d made Mia uncomfortable, but I’d like to find out if Mia’s instinct had been right. I introduced myself and Ollie. “You’ve already met Mia, I understand.”
He nodded as he sat heavily in a chair he’d dragged over to our table. “I had that pleasure yesterday. We’re almost family, after all.”
“Not exactly.” I didn’t like him. He was oily. Like a politician.
“Well, that’s something we can remedy. I’d love to visit and get to know my niece- and nephews-in-law.”
Was that a dig at my age? It would be very far from the first. On days when I was feeling kind to myself, I thought that was why everything had gone so wrong in the ten years since I’dtaken over as head of the family at eighteen. Some older dragons hadn’t known how to deal with someone so young making decisions and telling them what to do.
“We’ll see,” I said, and was glad to observe him shift uncomfortably in his chair. I rose to my feet. “I’ll find you after the vote,” I told Mia. “Pete, come with me. As you said, we should get to know one another better.”
He was mutinous but unable to refuse a head of family’s request, so he came with me. I let him ask all the questions he wanted as I steered him away from Mia, and I answered none of them.
Chapter Eight
OLLIE
“Dad,please.You know I’d doanythingfor this family, but Lisa’s seven months along. Ican’tleave her to go and stay with a strange family for three months.”
I’d known Jack my whole life, but I’d never seen him as desperate as this. He spun around to point at me. “Ollie can do it instead. He’d be brilliant—everyone likes him.”
“I have work—” I started.
“The family can pay you the same as your wages, can’t we, Dad?Please?”
“Give me a minute.” Mr Shaw nodded towards the door of his hotel room and we obediently left him and Mrs Shaw together.
“Fuck.” Jack leaned back against the wall, raking his hands through his hair. “You understand, don’t you, Ollie?”
I understood. I also knew how unlikely it was that the Shaws would trust their family’s reputation to me, of all dragons. Mr Shaw would be bound to understand why Jack couldn’t do it, especially since Mrs Shaw had made comments about not missing the birth of her first grandchild. They could send another dragon in Jack’s place once we got home.
I was glad my reputation would save me from the most awkward situation I could imagine. No way did I want to go and live with a strange dragon family for a few months because a whole bunch of them had voted that it was a good thing to do.
“It’ll work out,” I told Jack.
* * *
It did work out, but not in the way I’d expected. Mr Shaw decided not sending one of his delegation in accordance with the moot’s decision would make him look weak. He gave me a whole load of instructions about how to behave and warned me fiercely not to sayanythingabout our family other than information that was public knowledge. Then he clapped me on the shoulder.
“You’ll be okay, Ollie. Don’t worry about your job—it’s only a call centre, after all. You can find another job when you get back.”
Alright forhimto say. And ‘only’ a call centre? I liked it there. I had friends, and I liked helping people.
If the situation were different, I might be excited at the prospect of meeting a whole new dragon family, but I was going to lose my job and Mr Shaw was only sending me because there was no one else. I wasn’t feeling this. “So who am I going to stay with?”
“The Talbots. Winchester.”
I stared at him, vaguely aware of Jack in the background mouthing something at me. “I’m sorry, did you say the Talbots?ArcherTalbot?”
“You know him?”
If almost crashing into him then babbling half-baked Avebury theories counted as knowing him, then I guessed I did. “Oh myGod.”How the hell was I supposed to live with Archer Talbot without falling at his feet every day and begging him to fuck me?
Mr Shaw had finished with me, and Jack dragged me away while I was still dazed at what lay ahead of me. “For the love of God, don’tbang Talbot. Or anyone else, for that matter—I know what you’re like.”
Ever since he’d got married, Jack had been different. I wouldn’t say he slut-shamed me, but he disapproved. It had tobe Lisa’s influence, because before he met her, he’d been like me, going through partners like dragon-fire through paper.
I couldn’t see howanyof Archer Talbot’s family could possibly compare with him, so at least Jack wouldn’t have to worry about me sleeping my way through the family.
