‘Even the bits you’ve shaved,’ Xanthe agreed.
With a sigh, Ramona raised her head again. ‘I kind of doubt that, but… It all started at last year’s spring festival. It was the first year I could stay for the end. For the… You know?’
‘Last year was my first,’ Xanthe said.
‘My birthday was just before it,’ Jesse said. ‘I was old enough, but I couldn’t get up the courage to go.’
‘Not at all my kind of event,’ Felicia said.
‘And the nuns don’t exactly encourage that kind of behaviour,’ Krystal added, ‘but let’s allow Mona to continue.’
‘Well, there was a man there and he seemed to be interested in me. I’d seen him a few times while I was wandering around the stalls and such. On the last night… Well, you know how it works. Dragons were pairing up like usual, and there he was, leading me off to somewhere quiet where we…’
‘Engaged in proper fertility rites,’ Xanthe said. ‘As dragons have done for millennia before you.’
Ramona nodded. ‘Yeah. Pretty much all night, and in the morning, I gathered up my clothes and left, just like dragons have done for millennia. I mean, that’s the whole deal, right? The week after the first Royalday of Newling, there are the fairs and the various games, and then there’s the final night, and then it’s over and no one says anything about what happened after the final sunset.’
‘That’s how it’s supposed to work, yes,’ Xanthe agreed.
‘I assume your partner was not so forgetful?’ Felicia asked.
‘No,’ Ramona said. ‘He came calling a week later, on Silverday, and professed his love for me. Well, he was older than me. A lot older. He’s got his true dragon form and it’s going to be well over a century before I’ll have mine. We can’t be married before then, but he didn’t seem to care about that. I explained that and he said his family wouldn’t approve. He didn’t care about that either. All he cared about was me.’
‘Romantic,’ Felicia said in a flat tone. ‘You haven’t mentioned who your charming prince is? Why wouldn’t his family have approved?’
‘Oh. His name is Darawen Scarlin. He’s the youngest son of Davennar Scarlin, the Duke of Scarlin Cantervale.’
‘Oh… shit.’ Everyone looked at Felicia and her cheeks coloured. ‘What? I don’t use words like that frequently, but I believe the circumstances call for an expletive. Even the youngest son of a duke would never be allowed to marry below his station. I’m sure his mother is already arranging a marriage in one of the other cities to–’
‘I don’t think so,’ Ramona interrupted. ‘Darawen did not take rejection too well. Actually, he didn’t accept it at all. I started seeing him around town. No one believed me, but I saw him. No one else saw him, you see. I found out later that he’d been trained in stealth and shadowing people. He’s not much of a Scarlin, you see. Most of them are born warriors. Red dragons, but better. Born leaders like most royals, but leaders in war.’
‘I wouldn’t describe most royals as better than any other dragon,’ Trudy muttered.
‘Darawen’s not a good Scarlin,’ Ramona went on, apparently oblivious. ‘He’s kind of weak, doesn’t stick to his studies. He can fight, but he’s not much better than a common soldier. He’s got the talent for magic, but he’s never learned to use it. Too boring. So, they trained him in… espionage, I guess, but he’s not too good at that. There’s something wrong with him. You look in his eyes when he’s smiling and they’re just kind of dead. He doesn’t seem to really understand other people. He decided he loved me and he just couldn’t… He couldn’t understand that I didn’t love him back. It’s like it didn’t fit into his view of the world so he followed me around, learned about me, who my friends were, where I went, what I did. And then, on the first Royalday in Midwinter, he pounced.’
Ramona paused, picking up the glass of water beside her and taking a gulp. ‘He kept me prisoner for three days, in a house he owned under a fake name in the city.’ She looked up. ‘He didn’t touch me, not once. But he watched me constantly and slept beside me.’
‘You never tried to escape?’ Trudy asked.
‘He gave me no chance. I was chained to the bed at night, always watched during the day. He said he would take me away and we’d live somewhere where his family would never find us. But he wouldn’t force me to do anything against my will, except for leaving. If I left, he said, the Scarlins would take me away, so I had to stay. Well, the Scarlins were better at hunting him down than he thought, but he was right, in a way. They found us and, between them and my parents, they decided that the best course of action was to send me here, away from him. My parents didn’t want the scandal associated with the… incident. It wasn’t the first time he’s done this. The Scarlins in the city have been keeping his obsessions quiet for years. If he doesn’t see me and can’t find me…’
‘He’ll find someone else to fixate on,’ Felicia said, frowning.
‘That’s hardly a solution,’ Trudy said. ‘So, you’re safe, but some other girl ends up kidnapped by a royal madman.’
‘I’m not exactly pleased about it either,’ Ramona said, ‘and it hasn’t really helped me either. I see him around every corner. I just can’t trust any men. Some are worse than others. Theodore Marin… He just looks at me the way Darawen did. Or, that’s what it feels like. There’s something a bit…’
‘Creepy?’ Jesse suggested.
‘That’s as good a word as any, yes.’
‘Well, you have us now,’ Krystal said. ‘We’re not your family, and we’re not the Scarlins, and we’ll look out for you.’
Ramona managed a weak smile. ‘Thanks.’
‘And just to be on the safe side, I want you to put a lock of your hair in an envelope and leave it with me.’
‘Just try not to be turned into a zombie if we have to use it to find you,’ Xanthe said. ‘I’d rather not do that again.’
27th Day of Snowfall.
‘Happy birthday, Flis,’ Krystal said as they sat down to breakfast.
‘Why, thank you, darling,’ Felicia replied with a smile.
‘It’s your birthday?’ Ramona asked. ‘Happy birthday.’
‘Thank you, Mona, it is. And it’s Xan’s on Royalday so we’re having a joint celebration on Silverday.’
‘Oh, that’ll be–’ Ramona’s face fell as she considered going out. ‘I’m sure you’ll have a great time.’
‘Don’t worry, Mona,’ Trudy said, ‘I’ve got you covered. I’ve got the perfect place for us to go where you can have fun and avoid worrying over every male in sight.’
‘You have?’ Ramona and Felicia chorused. Ramona looked brighter. Felicia looked suddenly worried.
Trudy grinned. ‘I have. We’re going to that same restaurant again first, right?’
‘Of course,’ Felicia said. ‘Julietta would never hear of me celebrating my birthday anywhere else.’
‘Right, and I think we can count on her to put us somewhere that Mona won’t be uncomfortable. Then we can move on to somewhere where boys won’t be an issue and have a good night.’
‘Where?’
Trudy just grinned. ‘Trust me, we’ll have fun.’
5th Day of Springgate.
Jesse walked through the gate into the school’s gardens with a spring in her step which matched the month. Spring was not, yet, in the air, but she was happy because she was about to get a patch of the gardens to tend and, with a bit of luck and some hard work, she felt confident that she could have something beautiful growing there before the end of term. It was a bright day, the sun warm when you stood directly in its light, but not yet burning. It was a perfect day for gardening.
There was also the rather attractive form of Thaddeus Harlow, the school’s groundskeeper, waiting for her beside the statue of Celestina Nightsky, and that was something pleasing to look at. He was a big man, over six feet in height, a good five inches taller than Jesse was, so she had to look up at him as she closed the distance. Dark-green hai
r hung to his shoulders from a parting on the left. He was dressed in a T-shirt that clung to his muscled frame and rather baggy jeans, belted tight around a narrow waist. He had the tanned skin of a man who spent much of his outdoors, rugged features, though his mouth had a sensuous quality to it and his nose was quite narrow.
Jesse noticed his lips curl into a smile when he saw her, and failed to notice that he had had to drag his eyes up from the low front of her T-shirt.
‘You’re back,’ Thaddeus said. ‘You got your politics sorted out then?’
‘Ap-parently,’ Jesse said, returning his smile with one of her own, timid ones. ‘Saving the s-school m-may have had s-something to do with it. They t-told me t-to see you about a p-plot.’
The gardener swallowed, quite hard. ‘Yes, well, since I’ve only you to assign a plot to, I can take you to it. I’m afraid the one I have for you is… a bit of a challenge.’
‘Oh, I’m from T-Tangleroots. I like a challenge.’
‘Tangleroots? Well, you’ll be used to tough weeds. Come on.’
Thaddeus led the way through the gardens toward the far end. The walled area was laid out in a variety of styles as you walked through it. Tall hedges screened some sections where the transition was too jarring. Between the hedges were beds of roses, many with strong, musky scents which were already filtering into the air in the sun. There were less formal beds of various flowering plants, and there were also beds which seemed to have been given over to cultivars of wild flowers. Jesse recognised several of the more colourful varieties from Tangleroots. They walked down the central path, however, which kept them away from the beds the students were tending under the walls, and they kept going right through to the end and then turned left along a wall with nothing growing against it until they reached the top corner.
‘This is your patch,’ Thaddeus said, sounding a little apologetic. ‘This corner and along the north wall here to that tree.’
Jesse looked along the length of overgrown earth to the spot where a fireleaf tree was growing and yet to open any of its distinctive red buds. There had, it seemed, been climbers trained up the walls, but those had mostly broken free and were making a bid for control of the gravel path as well as the soil. They had strangled most of the other plants in the bed, but there were some still holding their own. Several types of grass were forcing their way through the brambles. A particularly tough variety of daisy was filling in gaps where it could. Jesse could not immediately identify some of the other plants, which were just random, nondescript leaves at the moment.
Pursing her lips, Jesse stepped closer to the bed and flickers of green light began to dance around her as she shifted into her dracoform. ‘It is going to be a challenge,’ she said, focusing on the plant life. Her brown hair shimmered into green, her nails elongated into emerald claws, and her skin hardened into green-sheened scales so that when she bent over to pull at some of the brambles, any thorns would not prick her fingers.
‘Sorry about that,’ Thaddeus said in an oddly strangled voice.
Jesse remained where she was, bent over at her hips with her worn, denim shorts riding up her behind. The effect she was having on the gardener went right over her head, just as most such reactions did. ‘It’s fine,’ she said. ‘I’ll figure out what’s here today, maybe start pulling out the obvious weeds. Then I can come back next week and really have a go at it.’
‘Great.’ Thaddeus dragged his attention away from Jesse’s behind. ‘I’ll leave you to it. If you, uh, need anything, I’ll be around.’
Jesse turned her head and focused on the gardener, giving him a bright-eyed smile. ‘Thank you, Thaddeus Harlow. I will find you if I need you.’
Thaddeus thought, ‘Oh ancestors! Please don’t say it like that, girl.’ But what he said was, ‘You can call me Thad.’
‘Then I’m Jesse,’ Jesse told him before returning her attention to the plants.
‘Right,’ Thaddeus said, turning away and wondering when the sun had got so hot.
~~~
As Trudy led them from the restaurant, where they had eaten well and drunk just a little too much, toward Downtown rather than into Westlook, Felicia frowned and asked, ‘Are you taking us to where I think you’re taking us, Trudy?’
‘That depends,’ Trudy replied, flashing the indigo a grin. ‘If you think I’m taking us to Sirens, then yes.’
‘Sirens?’ Charlotte asked.
‘It’s actually a rather clever idea,’ Felicia replied, ‘though I never expected to set foot in the place. It’s a bar, or a club, catering to… girls.’
‘Just girls?’ Ramona asked.
‘Just girls,’ Trudy said. ‘Especially girls who like other girls. You might get chatted up, but it won’t be by a man.’ She turned down what looked like an alley between two fairly old buildings and the others followed behind, wondering where on Draconia they were being led to.
Halfway down the alley, a flight of stairs led down to a door into the cellar of one of the stone-built buildings. There was nothing much outside it to indicate its function and there was something a little illicit about walking up to a featureless door in an alley. Trudy knocked on the door anyway and a spear of light illuminated her face as a spyhole was opened up. A second later, the door was opened and Trudy walked in, followed by the rest of the group.
They entered a small lobby staffed by two female red dragons who both looked as though they could bench-press a fully laden wagon. The girls were examined by the two bouncers, but nothing was said. They just pointed the way through a second door, which did have a sign on it announcing the name of the place in gold letters, and the girls followed Trudy into the club itself.
There was nothing particularly special about Sirens. It was a bar located in the cellar of a building. The walls had been plastered and painted in fairly neutral pastels, pinks and blues predominating. There was a bar of dark, glossy wood with a woman behind it awaiting orders. A few patrons sat on stools at the bar, the rest occupied round tables on the floor. There was a fairly small space for dancing in front of a low stage, and there was a band playing on the stage. They were playing something light, that you could talk over easily, but there was one couple slow-dancing to it on the floor. It could have been almost any club in Concord City, except that everyone in it was female.
Ramona sighed. ‘This I can work with,’ she said.
‘Thought you might be able to,’ Trudy replied. ‘Who’s getting the first round in?’
‘I will,’ Ramona replied. ‘I think I should, given that you’ve found what may be the only place in Concord City I’m entirely comfortable with.’
Trudy grinned. ‘Glad you like it. I’ll have a white wine.’
~~~
Homosexuality was one of those things that fell between the cracks of dragon society. There were no laws against it. For those below marriageable age, no one really worried over your choice of bed partner and, in some circles, a little experimentation was even considered a good thing since it broadened one’s experience.
Things got a little more serious once a dragon attained their true dragon form and could marry and reproduce. Devout draconists considered same-sex relationships between older dragons to be an insult to the ancestors: it risked ending a family line. That attitude had filtered out into less devout circles, if in diluted form, so those who found themselves unable to ‘change their attitude’ tended to be ostracised, especially in higher social circles. And places like Sirens were frowned upon, in general, because they gave older dragons a place to indulge themselves out of society’s sight.
‘Hence the weird location,’ Trudy said. ‘I mean, this is Concord City, which tends to be a little more permissive than some places, but even here you’re supposed to be discreet about your choice of kink.’ The girls had taken a table not too far from the stage, but near one of the walls, where they could chat and probably not get too much attention. The subject of the club and why it was where it was had come up.
Felicia nodded. ‘
More or less everyone knows it’s here,’ she said. ‘Everyone female anyway. Everyone knows and everyone refrains from mentioning it. I don’t think I know anyone who’s ever been here, uh, until now, but then again, the other unspoken rule is that if you do know someone who comes here, you never mention that either.’
‘I feel a little bit of a fraud coming here,’ Xanthe said.
Trudy shrugged. ‘People do bring friends here. It’s known to be a safe place for girls wanting a quiet night on the town, but they try to avoid having too many straight women in. We should be fine. I mean, we have two couples in the party, and Charley’s been known to dabble.’
‘I haven’t,’ Ramona said, ‘but given my current issue with men, I’m either going for celibacy or trying the other route.’
‘Hey, don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it.’
‘I’m not knocking anything. Sadly. I wouldn’t mind a bit of knocking, to be honest.’ Ramona paused and looked at her drink. ‘I may have had too much of this.’
‘Or not enough,’ Charlotte suggested. ‘I’ll get the next round in.’
~~~
The band did not have a singer, so the girls all turned when a new tune started and a voice rang out through the room. A tall blue dragon was standing at a microphone stand, front of stage, singing something Krystal did not recognise, but others in the group seemed to. From the way the singer was dressed, in slightly skimpy clubwear, it seemed clear that she was a customer rather than a professional singer.
‘She’s not bad,’ Trudy commented, turning back to the table. Almost everyone else did the same, but Ramona kept watching.
‘She seems quite good to me,’ Krystal said. ‘Not that I’m a great judge. What’s she singing?’
‘It’s “Love Me Until Tomorrow,”’ Felicia said. ‘It’s the first song off Soraya Firescale’s new disc.’ Felicia looked across at Krystal. ‘Just about everyone has heard it. Did the nuns not believe in music?’
‘To be fair,’ Trudy said, ‘Soraya Firescale is only popular with people under about a century, not “everyone.”’
Misfit Witchcraft (Misfits Book 2) Page 5