by Celeste Raye
Blake nodded. He had expected that. The Orcs infringing on their territory was a very obvious sign that the loathsome creatures were ready to start a new war.
He set off, taking flight along with the others. Despite the very grim situation, a smile was on his lips. He had somehow managed to get Christy to agree to go on a date with him.
Chapter Ten
Christy fidgeted and then yanked with impatient fingers at the gown she wore. It was dinner time, and Blake was nowhere in sight. Had she somehow misunderstood where he had wanted to meet? She scanned the courtyard that she stood in. Unlike the other sections, which held training grounds and equipment to hone sword and hand-to-hand-combat skills, this part of the courtyard was nice. The sun came over the thick gray stone walls and lay in golden puddles on the grass. The other sections had little grass due to the constant trampling of feet upon them.
There were several lovely tables made of metal, and chairs surrounded those tables. Flowers grew along the wall, a colorful riot that drew the eye. Small lanterns hung on strings, and she was sure that at night they were lovely.
Dusk had begun to gather in the corners, cloaking the courtyard in soft purple and indigo shadows, and the scent of the flowers lay on the air, which was lacking a single breeze. In all, it was a lovely sight, a lovely place. Perfect for a picnic or just al fresco dining.
But he was not there.
Her lips flattened as she surveyed the surroundings yet again. Okay, maybe she was in the wrong spot. She walked to the left and ended up in a training ground filled with nothing but muddy dirt and a few water barrels. She went in the opposite direction and found herself staring at a vegetable and herb garden; beyond it was yet more training ground, that one holding wooden figures that had been hacked away at with swords until they were practically splinters.
She went back to the section with the tables, her impatience growing. Maybe she had come too early, she told herself. Maybe she had heard him wrong or had been too wrapped in her thoughts to really listen.
The sight of him had thrown her off balance. She had been lost in her thoughts when he had stopped her, and her thoughts had all been of him, which had just made the whole encounter even more difficult. She knew she should have said no to that picnic, and yet she had not. She was there, waiting for him, and he was nowhere in sight.
Her impatience began to filter toward irritation. Just where the hell was he? Was he begging a basket from the cook? Frustrated by his absence, she headed back through the highly arched door and went through it.
Voices and the smell of food drifted from the direction of the hall. She stepped toward it, a frown creasing her brow. Had he forgotten that he had asked her to go on a picnic? She stepped up to the door of the hall and peeked in. Blake was nowhere in sight. Neither was Max or Heather or most of the dragons. Uneasiness settled into her being, and she quickly turned around and headed to the kitchen.
She walked into a hell of a fight. The cook, in dragon form, was standing at the stove and she was clearly unhappy. Marlene was standing her ground, a bowl of pasta in one hand and a knife in the other. They were yelling loudly and Christy, recalling Blake’s words about Marlene’s eyebrows, beat a hasty retreat.
She went up the stairs to the room she shared with Heather and saw her there, standing at the window with a concerned expression carved into her face and her hands clutching at the sill so tightly they were white around the knuckles.
Christy said, “You okay?”
Heather turned to face her. There were slight shadows below her eyes, and her mouth turned downward. “Yes, it’s just that I haven’t seen Max all day and…and have you seen him? When I asked the others, they all got really weird and just said they didn’t know.”
Christy’s irritation turned into full-blown anger. “No, I haven’t. I haven’t seen Blake either. He stood me up.”
Christy cried out, “Oh no! Are you sure?”
Christy gave her a stern look. “Yes. I know what being stood up looks like, I promise you. He wasn’t there. I waited for nearly an hour.”
Heather’s feet carried her toward Christy. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Her jaw ached from holding it so tight. “I knew he was a selfish idiot and I knew better than to say I’d go on that picnic with him. He’s…he’s such an asshat! He could have at least told me he changed his mind.”
Why had he changed his mind? Had he just decided he was never going to get a kid from her and that there was no sense in just wasting his time with her? Probably. She shoved her hands through her hair, which she’d spent nearly half an hour arranging into the low and loose knot that it was up in. Her messy bun got a whole lot messier when she did, and strands of her hair fell around her face, making her even angrier than she had been before.
There was a knock on the door. Her heart started a fast beat. Was it Blake? Had they somehow missed each other in the courtyard? Was she angry for no reason at all? Was he there to try to figure out where she had gone and to take her on that date?
She hurried to the door and swung it open. Marlene, still possessed of her eyebrows, dimpled at her. In one hand was an enormous bowl that gave off a delicious smell and in the other she held plates topped with silverware. Disappointment crashed into her. “Oh, it’s you.”
Marlene’s head tilted to the side. “Yes, it is.”
Christy sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I…I’m sorry. I’m a little out of sorts.”
Marlene said, “It happens. So, I have been booted, literally, from the kitchen. I was thinking you two might want to join me for dinner.”
Christy stepped back from the door. “That would be great, thanks.” Especially since she did not want to face the others in the hall, all of whom probably knew Blake had stood her up.
Marlene arranged the plates on the table and then produced a bottle from the pocket of her gown. She gave them a mischievous smile. “I also have wine.”
Wine. That was what Blake had promised her. Her mood crashed down even farther, making her feel flat and depressed. Why did she care so much that he had stood her up? She had not even been really sure that she had wanted to go in the first place. She had been sure it was a terrible idea, and she had spent half the day trying to figure out a way to cancel.
They took seats. Marlene had not brought glasses, so Heather ran to get some as Marlene dished up the delicate pasta loaded down with a creamy sauce that had been swirled through with the pesto they had made.
Heather reappeared with the glasses and Christy took a big and grateful gulp of the wine. It was really good, and she said so. Marlene, swirling up noodles on her fork, said, “Oh, it is. They make it from flowers and honey and fruit.”
Heather set her glass down on the table and asked, “Have you seen Max this afternoon? He sort of vanished, and I haven’t seen him since.”
Marlene slurped a noodle into her mouth, swallowed it down with a sip of wine, and said, “No, the Council dragons all left. My mate is not on the council. He’s a younger dragon, and they didn’t choose to tell him where they were going so I haven’t seen Max, and I don’t know where he went. I’m sorry.”
Christy asked, “Why aren’t you having dinner with your mate?”
Marlene snorted. “He likes marzipan and meat stuffed with meat. He took one look at this dish and declared it might be good if it had a rabbit or a cow in it and it would probably be better if both were present.”
Christy asked, “Do you ever, like, feel out of place here? I mean, do you ever feel like an outsider?” She held her breath and looked over at Heather. Heather leaned forward, also very interested in that answer.
Marlene slid her fork through her dinner, bringing up cream and noodles. “Yes, sometimes. The humans don’t know much about the world I left behind, and they don’t really care to. A few have chosen to go over, but not in the time I have been here, and I think someone said it has been a hundred years or more since any of them have. It’s not their world anymore. That
world is too different, too…too strange for them now.
“So, I don’t have a lot in common with the humans here, other than being human. I also don’t have a lot in common with the dragons. I mean, I’m human. So, while I love it here and would never regret having come, or willingly leave, I do sometimes feel like an outsider.”
Heather stared at her plate, and Christy knew, right then, that Heather wanted to stay. She was in love with Max, and she wanted to stay. She was just afraid to. That hit home, and hard: Heather’s love for Max. Part of Christy was incredibly happy for her friend. If anyone deserved happiness, it was Heather. But Max was a dragon, and so far, he had not given Heather any reasons to stay, which meant that Heather might very well end up heartbroken all over again. The other part of Christy was very pissed off at Max, and Blake, and dragons in general.
Had Blake gone off with Max and the rest of the council? It made sense that he had since he was the secondary ruler of that world. But still, he could have taken out the time to tell her he had to cancel!
She was fuming over that, over his inconsideration, and disappointed because she had wanted to see him. She did want to see him, even as she knew she should stay as far away from him as possible.
She exerted some real force of will and made herself smile. “This is really good. I can’t believe the cook wouldn’t let you serve it.”
Marlene said, “Oh she let me. But only so she could tell me I told you so. You know, it’s no wonder the wizard turned her into a dragon. She threw boiling water on him and tried to filet him with a kitchen knife during that battle.”
Heather leaned forward, her elbows on the table. “Nobody’s ever told us the whole story about that.”
Marlene refilled her glass. “No? You want to hear it?”
She had nothing else to do so Christy nodded. She did not particularly care about it but Heather did, and it showed.
Marlene said, “Back in their time, the oldest of the male elders were knights. They were the knights who protected the king of their former country and world, and they were so good at battles that they became something of a threat.
“It really
came to a head when Blake’s father fell in love with a woman who nearly killed him.”
Heather interrupted, “Say what?”
Marlene laughed. “It’s true. The knights were fighting for the king, and the king was sometimes cruel to his subjects. There was some kind of rebellion, a group of people living in the woods who fought the knights and the corrupt sheriffs in their villages and so on. Anyway, Blake’s mother, Lianne, was one of them. She was also rumored to be a very strong witch.
“One day, Blake’s father, that was Gregory, was battling a few rebels who had caught him when he was riding alone. He’d killed all but one and when he whipped that one’s helmet off, well, there she was. Some say she cast a love spell on him. He swore, according the older dragons, that she kicked him in the balls and almost ran him through.”
Christy muttered, “What was he, a masochist?”
Marlene said, “Dragons appreciate courage. They appreciate valor. They know it and understand it. Opinions vary; some say he let her live. Some say she let him live. They couldn’t be together, of course; he would have been a traitor to the king, and she would have been a traitor to her people. So, they parted. Only they couldn’t stay away from each other, and they started having a secret affair, one that could have gotten both of them killed.
“In the meantime, the king had declared open warfare on witches, at the advice of his cousin, who was next in line for the throne, and secretly, a very powerful wizard. He wanted all witches and wizards who might oppose him dead because he had a plan to take the throne. Part of that plan meant he had to marry Janelle, who was Max’s mother and the king’s daughter. Yes, they were related. It was a different time, and back then it was all about the bloodlines. Only Janelle was in love with Thomas, Max’s father. Knights were no longer just from noble stock because the nobles kept getting themselves killed off. Thomas was from peasant stock, so they were in love and seeing each other but secretly. No way could a princess wed a peasant, even if he was the most feared and respected knight in the world at that time.
“To get Thomas out of the way, the wizard told the king that they were seeing each other. That was right around the time that Gregory found out that Lianne was about to be burned at the stake. He rushed in to save her, betraying the king. Thomas and Janelle tried to elope, also pissing off the king. He had them all imprisoned, and they were supposed to be executed, in a highly painful way.”
Christy had not wanted to hear that story when Marlene had first begun telling it. Now she was all ears. “Oh my God. How did they escape?”
“The other knights and a few nobles and a lot of humans who were loyal to them helped them escape, which made all of them outlaws. The king was murdered, by the wizard, and they were blamed. The wizard took the throne and declared that they had stolen Janelle, who was his betrothed, or so he said. He also blamed them for that murder and put a price on their heads and sent his army after them. So, they had no choice but to fight him and it was a horrible battle, a big one. It caused a lot of death and spilled a lot of blood.”
Heather breathed, “And he turned them all into dragons and sent them here.”
“Not all of them. He didn’t cast that spell on Janelle. That was his biggest cruelty, because she was human, and she aged. We don’t age here like we do in our world but she did age, and she did die. Thomas was lost without her, and he took the dragon fire when she died, wanting to be with her again.”
Heather sighed, “That’s love.”
Christy fiddled with her fork and the food on her plate. She asked, “They killed the wizard in that battle, right?”
Marlene nodded, “Yes, but he still won in his way I guess. His son took the throne, and they were all forced to come here. I don’t know that they were so unhappy with that, really. But to be so changed had to be hard on them.”
She stood and began to gather up the plates. Christy said, “Here let me help you.”
Marlene said, “Thanks.”
Heather said, “I’ll carry that bottle back to the kitchen.”
They all went to the stairs and down them. The hall was silent now, and the lights had come up and on. The whole castle held a sort of hush, a soft quiet that held tension that Christy could feel. She asked, “Do you know if Blake went with the others?”
Marlene said, “I wouldn’t doubt it.”
The cook was gone and the kitchen clean and shining. Looking at the table made Christy remember that early morning and the tea and Blake’s amusement with her throwing the flour at his face when she had panicked at the sight of the grease fire he had caused.
And just like that, as if her thoughts had conjured him, he was there. He spoke from a corner, “Something smells good.”
Marlene held out the bowl. “You want some dinner?”
He looked into the bowl. His blond hair was rumpled, and lines of fatigue marked his face. He said, “I do but…Christy, can I talk to you?”
Say no, her mind screamed. Just say no and keep it moving. You don’t need this, and you really do not need him in your life, and you sure as hell do not need him in your heart or your bed. This has already gone too far. She cleared her throat, “I’m…” She looked around for some support from Heather or Marlene, but Marlene had a hand on Heather’s wrist and was pulling her away, fast. “A little busy.”
Then she turned and fled, right past the startled Marlene and Heather and toward her room where she shut the door and stood before it with her heart beating too fast and her entire body aching for his touch.
She managed to avoid him for the next few days. There was a lot going on. The humans from the village were being brought to the castle for their own safety; there was a pack of Orcs headed right for that village, and they could destroy the village, and the people in it. Having come face to face with the Orcs once herself, Christy understood
that and relished her part in the rescue since it took up so much of her time and energy. It was not that she had to go riding in to help; it was more a matter of working with Marlene and the cook and others to make sure there were beds enough, food enough, and other necessities to keep them all in some kind of comfort, but even that was labor. The castle was vast, and she knew magic was what helped to make it larger still, and she also knew that whatever magic was expended, some of it was Blake’s.
Which just made it all somehow worse.
He was a magical thing, a once in a lifetime thing, and she was just an ordinary woman. She was certainly not the kind of woman his mother had been, not a woman possessed of a ton of courage. Every day as she worked, her life came back at her, hurtling around the corners. She found herself wondering how much of what she had accomplished had been accomplished because she was afraid to change the course she had set for herself. How much courage it would take to do something she truly loved. And what, exactly, she would really love to do.
She was thinking those thoughts when Blake finally cornered her. He said, “I think you’re avoiding me.”
“I’m just busy.” That she was avoiding him was not something she was willing to admit because if she did, she would also have to admit all the reasons why she was avoiding him.
Blake said, “I know I stood you up on our date and I’m sorry. I wish I’d had time to let you know what was happening. I do. I really wish I’d had time to do it. I wanted to, more than you know.”
Her heart ached. She could not figure out why. They had had sex all of one time, and he was so wrong for her, so why did she feel like he held so much of her in his hands?
“I know. You had to find out what the Orcs were up to and you and the others were gone all day and evening. By the time you came back, I was tired. So…so yeah. It’s fine. Whatever.” Hurt welled up. So did confusion. She was mad at him for ghosting on her, but she also knew why he had. She also knew that it had been important, what he had done instead. But more than that, she was mad at herself for catching some kind of feelings for him when that was the last thing on earth she needed to do. She was going home. Period.