She shrugged one shoulder. “He’s been carrying anger his whole life, taught to him by his father, who learned it from his, and on back for generations. Eventually, it got to be too much, and he chose his anger over his family.”
Jax frowned. “Don’t tell me he cursed your mother, too.”
“No. She works in the palace. She’s a healer, and she attended the queen during her childbearing years.”
“Dmitri’s her only child, right?”
Odessa opened her mouth and closed it again, struggling against the pressure that made it feel as if she were going to swallow her own tongue. “He’s the only prince we have.”
He looked at her strangely, as though guessing that she had more that she wanted to say. He acted as if he were about to respond, then looked over her shoulder and scrambled to his feet. “What is Bean doing?”
She followed his line of sight to where Bean was trotting to the edge of the lake where the flock of swans had gathered. He entered the shallow water with a splash, then started swimmingcircles around the closest of the birds. Odessa chuckled as she pushed to her feet. “I think it’s rather obvious: he’s going for a swim.”
Jax propped a hand on his hip and scrubbed the other down the side of his face. “What have you done to my dragon?”
“He’smydragon,” she argued back, mirroring his posture. “It’s not my fault he hatched and the first thing he saw was a swan.”
“Dragons don’t swim.”
“I’ll let you be the one to tell him that.” She gestured to the flock. “He talks back to me when I try. He says I’m his mother and so that makes him a swan.”
He shook his head. “If he doesn’t listen to you, there’s no way he’ll listen to me.”
“I thought you were supposed to be a Dragon Charmer.”
“You can’t charm a dragon away from its mother.” He sighed. “That’s one of the reasons I was trying to find an egg.”
She lifted her brows. “I thought you said you just needed to catch them before they claimed a hoard.”
“Yes, well, that was before I knew it was possible for a dragon to imprint on abird. I assumed that in the absence of a dragon mother, I had time,” he drawled. “I didn’t realize that you would steal my dragon out from under me.”
“My dragon,” Odessa corrected him, crossing her arms and watching Bean try to convince a stately elder swan to frolic with him. “You could still try to talk some sense into him. Turn on that charm. Use that smile.”
She watched the smirk crawl up Jax’s face from the corner of her eye, and it made her cheeks heat with a blush. “Jumping over the part where you think I’m charming,” he said with a wink. “You want me to look death in the face and smile?”
A bark of surprised laughter left her. “He’s just a baby.”
“A baby that can breathe fire. And, if I’m not mistaken, he’s probably already become something of a stubborn little menace.”
“I was not prepared for the arguing,” Odessa admitted with a chuckle. “Or for the fact that he’s already twice as big as he was yesterday. He’s not going to fit in my pocket any more, but I don’t know how I’m going to convince him to listen.”
Jax hummed thoughtfully. “It sounds like you might need to enlist some help. Perhaps someone like…a Dragon Charmer?”
She looked at him wryly. “I thought you just said that you couldn’t charm a dragon away from its mother.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “I can’t. But right now it’s in his best interests if we work together. Co-parenting, if you will. I have a feeling it will take both your bond and my knowledge of dragons if we’re going to keep him out of sight and trouble.”
Odessa smiled gratefully. “I appreciate it. I’ll admit, I’m a little out of my depth here.”
“Speaking of depth,” Jax nodded toward the lake. “We’ll have to hope he understands complex thoughts and delayed gratification enough by the time Dmitri has his party to convince him not to swim on the lake. By that time, he’ll be as big as a horse.”
“Ugh. The party.” Odessa threw her head back with a groan at the reminder of their scheme. “What on earth possessed the two of you to get me involved?”
“I believe Dmitri was operating under the assumption that, as one of his closest friends, you would be able to help him find a wife he might at least find tolerable.”
“I suppose I should feel honored. But that doesn’t explain whyyouhad to open your big mouth.”
He held up a finger and grinned. “I believe you referred to this mouth before as charming. And since you’ve kissed it before?—”
