Now, the fate of the business, her life with Liam, and her freedom all depended on the outcome of some ridiculous trial where she had to defend her actions against someone who had only evil intentions. Everything she had done, she had done to protect Liam and herself. How she had chosen to do so should have never been called into question. Frustrated, she continued to stare at the floor, waiting.
After what felt like years, the group of men returned to the council floor and took their seats. Thomas cleared his throat and sat down to speak once again.
“Dawn McCord, can you please stand?”
Dawn stood. She felt weary, unstable. At any moment, she found it likely she would just pass out on the floor. She struggled to focus and stay alert as they announced her fate. Thomas looked like he was far away, much farther away than he could actually be. It was as if she was looking at him through some sort of looking glass from a very long distance away.
“It is the opinion of this court that you have used a forbidden substance in combat. For that crime, we find you guilty.”
Whispers spread like wildfire through the room, causing Thomas to ask for silence before he continued.
“Due to the mitigating circumstances of this crime, the fact that you were acting in self-defense and in the defense of Liam Donnelly, we have decided that no purpose is served by sentencing you to jail time. Instead, we have determined that you will be exiled from the village with no right to return.”
Gasps could be heard from everyone, followed by angry complaints of unfairness. Thomas once again cautioned them to be quiet.
“Have you any final requests before you are released to make arrangements for your departure? You will have twenty-four hours to vacate village lands.”
Dawn’s voice was barely audible as she spoke. “I would like to see Liam before I go, to say goodbye.”
“Request denied,” Thomas replied, not making eye contact.
Dawn knew he did not want to deliver the verdict, nor did he want to deny her request, which he had known she would make. He was only the messenger. Tears fell down her face as she nodded in understanding.
Two dragon guards approached her to escort her out. They would stay with her while she prepared to leave and then see that she did so within the time frame allowed. They stood before her, hands folded, but were quickly sent away by Owen and Connor McCord.
“Let her be. We will take care of making sure she does as she has been asked,” they said angrily.
The guards looked toward Aaron, who nodded his approval. Dawn could feel how pained he was by all of this. The dragon council was separate from him. They were his checks and balances to make sure he didn’t try to wield more power than he should, as his predecessor had done.
Dawn continued to cry and shake as Aaron and Owen led her from the council chambers. They were halfway down the hall when her knees buckled beneath her and she stumbled. Her father picked her up and carried her. She could feel the mixture of his own pain and anger that filled his mind. It was the same as her mother, who was struggling not to cry as her Aunt Barb tried to comfort her. Owen suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around, charging back into the council chambers.
“No! This is not right, and I will not stand for it!” he announced to members of the council as they began to leave their places at the large table in front of the room.
“Owen? What are you doing?” Connor whispered heatedly, his hand on his brother’s shoulder.
Owen jerked his shoulder free and continued walking toward the council. He didn’t stop until he had reached the table. Several of the dragon guards began making their way toward him, but Aaron waved a hand for them to stand aside. He lay Dawn on the table in front of them, where she curled up like a child and continued to weep.
“Many of you have watched my daughter and Aaron’s daughter grow up here in the village. From the time my daughter was old enough to speak, from the moment she met Liam Donnelly, she has told everyone who would listen to her that she loved him and would marry him one day. I’ll be damned if I let anyone take that away from her now that she is so close to doing so!”
“Mr. McCord, I’m afraid that the sentence has been passed,” one of the elder council members replied.
“Then you need to fucking unpass it!” he growled at him.
“We won’t have that sort of language in here, Mr. McCord. As a member of the dragon guard, you are held to a higher standard than that.”
“Fuck your standards, or lack of them. No court with any sense of decency would do this to my daughter. And, in case you have forgotten, you aren’t just doing this to her. You are also breaking the hearts of her mother, myself, and Liam Donnelly, who lays downstairs in traction even now. It is the only reason he isn’t up here to speak out against this himself. I can guarantee that.”
“I don’t know what you expect us to do,” the man replied.
“I expect you to use some common sense. Dawn did what any one of us would have done in her situation. She used whatever means necessary to save the man she loves. Many of you have no idea what it feels like to have someone you love jerked away from you suddenly, but I do. I know that pain, and I carried it with me for years. It’s complete and total devastation, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.”
“Mr. McCord,” the man began, but her father cut him off.
“Don’t you ‘Mr. McCord’ me, John. You know my first name. We play racquetball together on our days off. You have been to my house, and I’ve been to yours. We’re not strangers. We’re friends, and this is my daughter you are killing. You’d have done better just to put her to death straight away because you have devastated her in a way that will surely be her end.”
“Please remove Mr. McCord from the council chambers, along with his daughter,” the elder councilman who had objected earlier said.
Owen remained where he stood, unmoving.
“Owen, come on. Let’s get you out of here so you can calm down,” one of his fellow guards told him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Owen took a deep breath and picked up Dawn from the table. She smiled up at him, placing her hand on the side of this face to calm him.
“Put me down, Dad. I can walk out of here on my own. Don’t make things worse for you or Mom.”
“Okay,” he said, still glaring at the men who stood motionless at the table behind her.
Dawn could see Liam’s mother sitting nearby. Walking over to her, she pulled the engagement ring from her finger and put it into her hand. Looking up at her with tear filled eyes, she told her goodbye.
“Thank you for letting me wear such a beautiful ring for a while. It meant the world to me. Tell Liam that I am sorry I couldn’t say goodbye.”
“No!” came a voice from behind them.
Dawn whirled around to find herself face to face with Aaron Donnelly. He took the ring from his wife and put it back on Dawn’s finger before leading her back to the table where the council members were still poised. For a moment, there was silence throughout the room, and then he began to speak.
CHAPTER 22
“As the dragon leader for this village, it is my prerogative to overrule any decisions of this council. I am normally loathed to do so, as I feel it undermines the authority of the men I entrust matters such as those before the court this morning. However, I see no justice for anyone has occurred here today.”
He stopped to examine their faces, still holding Dawn’s hand in his as he spoke. It was obvious that he was just as unsettled by this as anyone who had witnessed it, even to those who lacked Dawn’s capabilities.
“Dawn McCord did not seek out the skills of someone who practices the dark arts or an apothecary from which she could purchase poison. For years, she was in possession of something that held no more value to her than a photo frame any of us would sit on their mantle. It was only by chance that she and Liam found out what it was, and it was only by the grace of God that she had put it safely in her pocket until she could find a proper way to
dispose of the contents.”
“No one is debating any pre-meditation on her part,” the elder councilman replied.
“Then why are you punishing her for saving a life? The only pre-meditation here was on the part of a young man who had been released from our custody and sent into exile. A man that we had not ensured vacated this village. It is our failing that allowed him to stalk and attack Dawn and Liam, and he would have killed them both if Dawn had not seized the opportunity she saw in front of her.”
“The law is clear on this, Dragon Leader,” the man continued.
“That’s right. I am the dragon leader and, as such, I am overturning the decision and sentence you have handed down here today.”
“Sir, I beg you to reconsider. It sets a bad precedent for you to intervene in matters that affect your family and friends so directly.”
“I don’t care. I wouldn’t be here if not for these people! In case you’ve forgotten, my family was once exiled from this same village by a horrible dragon leader. I know how it feels to be sent away to a strange place, and I was with family. You are sending away a young woman with nowhere to go and no one to support her except her family, leaving them no choice but to abandon her or leave with her.”
“But, sir–”
“No! All discussions are over. My future daughter in law will not be sent away from this village. I have watched my grown son cry because he can’t see her. I have listened to him call out for her in his sleep. I have watched her today be as honest and forthcoming as she could possibly be in the face of men who have no sympathy for what is happening to her. You are overruled. Get out of my council chambers.”
Loud applause went up all around them. Dawn looked around to see that even Thomas Higgins was clapping. He had never wanted to agree to this in the first place and had been merely overruled by the others.
“Come on. Let’s go see Liam,” Mr. Donnelly told her, escorting her out of the room and toward the doors that led down to the hospital. “I’m sorry for all of this, Dawn. It’s my fault. I should have intervened sooner, but I’ve just been so distraught about Liam and felt it would just run a natural course to justice by getting dismissed by the council.”
Dawn nodded and tried to smile, but she couldn’t force one. She wasn’t sure that she would ever smile again. Then she walked into Liam’s room, and he looked up at her and she realized she was wrong. Running to his bedside, she threw her arms around him, careful not to squeeze too hard.
“There’s my girl. I have missed you so much,” he said, choking up a bit.
“I’ve missed you, too.”
“How did things go upstairs? They come to their senses?”
“Yes, they did,” his father interjected.
Dawn knew she would tell him what happened eventually, but not today. She didn’t want to spoil her time with him by talking about what she had just experienced upstairs. There would be plenty of time for that later.
“How long until you get out of here?” she asked.
“Well, the doctor is going to take me out of this contraption tomorrow and put me on crutches to get around, so as soon as I can manage that, I can get out of here. He said that I should be able to shift in a couple more weeks to speed up the healing, but I have to wait until the bones have set properly before I go bursting out of my casts.”
“I might be able to speed things up a bit,” Dawn offered.
“No. You’ve done enough healing, young lady,” he told her. “I’ll be just fine.”
“It is so good to see you. You have no idea how much I’ve missed you,” she told him.
“Oh, I think that I do. I have a very good idea.”
“Thank you, Mr. Donnelly. Will you tell my parents that I’m going to stay here with Liam tonight?”
“You don’t have to do that, Dawn. It must have been a long day for you, with court and all. Go home and get some rest.”
“I can’t rest without you. I’ll stay here if that is okay.”
“Of course it is.”
“I’ll let Owen and Amy know,” his father replied, turning to leave the room.
“Are you okay, Dawn? Your heart is racing.”
“How is that any different than the effect you usually have on me?”
“For all the good it does you to get excited. Afraid I’m going to be out of commission for quite a while longer.”
“All the best things are worth waiting for,” she said, laying her head softly against his shoulder to listen to his heartbeat.
CHAPTER 23
Several weeks later, Liam was on the road to recovery. The casts were off, and everything was healing quite nicely. Once he was able, they continued work on the office, though they now had to hire a bit more of it out than they had intended. There was no shortage of people in the village willing to help, and many had been more than happy to do so for free, with some charging only the costs of material.
Kergot had come along and personally hung the sign he had made for them, stepping back to look at it proudly. He pulled out his cellphone and motioned them over.
“Come on, and let me get a snapshot of the two of you in front of your new business.”
Dawn and Liam stood smiling casually at the camera. They were back on the right path, but Dawn still felt a sadness sometimes that she couldn’t quite get past. How someone could so casually take a life was beyond her when she had such trouble just accepting that she had killed a man because she had no choice.
It was perhaps something she would never get over. All she could do was try to cope with it as time went on. She knew Kergot could sense it from time to time when she couldn’t help but think about it, but she tried to keep it hidden. Today, she was unsuccessful.
“You’re going to be grand,” he told her as he hugged her goodbye.
“Thank you, Kergot.”
They stood watching him leave before stepping back into the office to close things up and go home.
“I think we should celebrate tonight,” Liam whispered against her ear.
“Yeah? What did you have in mind?”
“You and me, some wine, and no clothes.”
“That sounds perfect.”
“You know what, let’s not even go home. How about you go down the street to the market while I build us a fire and we make love right here on the rug in front of it. It’ll be a good luck charm for this place,” he said.
“Seriously?”
“Absolutely.”
“Well, get building,” she laughed, picking up her purse and heading for the door.
“Well, get back quickly, turd.”
Dawn smiled. Perhaps she could feel like her old self again one day, because, right then, in that moment, she felt as happy as she had ever been. She made her way quickly down to the nearby store and purchased a couple bottles of wine and two glasses. When she returned, Liam had the fire going and had pulled all the blinds around the office for privacy.
She poured the wine as he began to remove his shirt. His muscles rippled across his back as he moved, and she imagined them around her, holding her tightly to him. She only had to imagine it for a moment before he was kissing her. Her body responded to the intensity of his touch instantly. She had missed this.
His calloused hands moved down her body, bringing life to every inch of skin they came in contact with. A light moan escaped her, vibrating against his ear as he reached down, sliding his hand into the waistband of her slacks and finding its way to her aching clit. It had been so long since he had touched her, and she felt as if she might explode merely from his gentle exploration. Then he was teasing her, rubbing her sensitive core with his rough digits, bringing her closer to ecstasy. She wanted this so much, wanted him.
“Make love to me,” she whispered in his ear.
He didn’t have to be told twice, pulling free of her and scooping her up in his arms to lay her down across the rug beneath them. His fingers fumbled with the buttons on her pants a bit before finally managing to get them open to slip
them down her legs, kissing her thighs as he went.
Then he was slipping off her white lace panties. Dawn was impatient, slipping her shirt over her head and unlatching the hooks on her bra to let her breasts fall free. She lay naked before him, breathing heavily in anticipation of what was to come.
“You are so beautiful,” he moaned, leaning down to slowly circle a single nipple with his tongue. His tongue darted back and forth, getting it nice and hard as he continued to torment her wet folds with his fingers.
It almost didn’t feel real. It felt like a daydream, but it was real. She could feel him, feel his touch. She longed to have him inside of her, to feel him sink deep inside her to a place that only he had ever known. A place that only he ever would know.
She was completely lost in what he was doing to her, so much so that she barely heard him speaking to her.
“What?” she cooed beneath him.
“I said we have to stop. We haven’t even had any wine.”
“I know you are kidding,” she said.
“I just don’t want to deny you wine. It was part of the promise.”
“Liam, shut up and continue what you were doing,” she begged.
“Such harsh words – ‘shut up.’”
Dawn laughed as she leaned upward and kissed him, pulling him close to her as she tasted his lips. His fingers continued to explore her wetness, quickly bringing her to climax as her hips bucked forward against his damp fingers, eager to have more of them inside of her.
Electricity shot through her veins as she exploded against him again and again, loving what he was doing to her. He knew how to play every inch of her like a well-tuned machine. She was like a symphony of pleasure beneath him, and it had been far too long since he had played, as far as she was concerned.
Her cries of pleasure filled the room as he continued to bring her to orgasm over and over. Then he was taking off his own pants, straddling her. She could see how hard he was for her, feel how excited he was, and read all the dirty things his mind was considering doing to her. It excited her to no end.
Dawn of the Dragons Page 10