This had to work. It had to.
A small feeling of discomfort in his chest would not be silenced. Jayrian took a deep breath, and admitted a part of him hoped they would continue to say no. Then he wouldn’t have to share Gretchen, even for a few hours.
His stomach burned from holding back his real feelings, and he struggled not to give any outward signs of the strong jealousy. He’d thought he could do this, but he hadn’t expected it to hurt this much.
He took a deep breath, acknowledging the intensity of those feelings, then let them go. He couldn’t afford to let them sway him.
How could he possibly think of his own small wants when the prince was in such need?
The very idea caused so much internal conflict, he banished it from his mind and concentrated on giving his people the very best Christmas ever.
The feast Gretchen had provided was certainly a great start. Jayrian worried for a while that they should have set the Christmas tree up and decorated it before eating. But after looking around at all the faces eating with so much hunger, he realised it didn’t matter. The order wasn’t important. The main thing was that everyone had fun.
Across the room, Kyrian raised a piece of pork to his nose and sniffed it suspiciously. His eyes widened, but still he didn’t touch it. He stared around the room at all the other dragons eating.
Jayrian looked too. Unlike Gretchen’s home, there were no tables or chairs, or any other furniture. Everyone took a seat on the ground. And there were no plates or knives or forks. Dragons thought fingers and teeth did a perfectly good job of eating.
Luckily, Gretchen had brought a knife to carve the pork. Jayrian stared at her cutting and handing pieces to waiting dragons as fast as she could. She was fair, yet thoughtful, making sure everyone got some, but none of the younger children had to wait too long. He allowed himself a few moments to stare at her hungrily, before looking back to Kyrian.
Kyrian stared at her too, but his look wasn’t welcoming.
Jayrian wanted to bash him over the head with the truth—Gretchen was a sweet, kind, caring human. Probably one of many.
But that wasn’t going to achieve anything. He’d already tried talking to the elders, and it had achieved nothing. He had to just put his trust in Gretchen. Trust her true spirit would shine through, and the dragons would be able to see it. To see who she truly was. And to like her for it.
“Jayrian, we’ve been so worried about you.”
Jayrian turned away at the sound of his name. His mother headed straight for him, her arms outstretched, a worried frown on her face. She hugged him tightly, then held him back to look at him as though worried he was hurt somehow.
“I’m fine, Mum,” he insisted. “I’m in no danger in the human village. Not from humans’ anyway.”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them. His mother latched onto them immediately. “Not from humans? What’s that supposed to mean?”
He tried to brush her off. “Nothing, Mum. I’m hungry, are you? You should see all the marvellous food Gretchen has brought us.”
She wasn’t fooled. “What happened in the human village?” Her voice was sharp enough to carry to the rest of the dragons. Eyes turned in their direction.
Jayrian sighed. He hadn’t wanted to discuss this now. He’d planned to wait until all the elders had decided Gretchen could be trusted. That would be the best time to give his news. But now there was no choice.
“A Trima dragon told me to pass on a warning to the elders.”
His mother gasped. So did several other dragons. No one was eating now.
Kyrian dropped the uneaten pork into the sand, and strode across the cavern. “Why did you only mention this now?” he demanded. “What was the warning?”
Jayrian ignored his first question and focused on the second. “He heard about the mining and considers it a threat to all dragons.” Jayrian’s voice was quiet, but every human form dragon listened intently. “He said we should allow him into the prince’s Mesmer chamber so the threat can be removed.”
He had expected surprise and outrage on the faces of the elders. But though they exchanged glances, it wasn’t with shock. It was… recognition.
“You’ve already considered that option,” Gretchen guessed.
Jayrian stared at the elders, hoping to see disgust and denial on their faces. But he didn’t.
The thought made him feel sick. How could they distrust humans so much that they would prefer to see their prince killed by their enemies than to accept a human’s help? How had he even thought that introducing Gretchen and bringing Christmas to them would make them see that humans cared too? They were obviously too stuck in their ways to consider it at all.
“That’s your plan?” Jayrian clenched his fists and stared accusingly at each elder in turn. “How could you even be considering this? Are you all mad?”
They had lived three hundred years without their princes and princesses. And lived most that time in fear, moving lairs several times when their hiding spot was discovered. Always afraid that the Trima clan would find them and wipe them out for good. Their only hope was to wake the princes, and hope that together they could defeat the Trima clan.
Even though they hadn’t been able to last time.
He didn’t blame the elders for being afraid. None of them could match Ultrima in power. But that was no reason to just give up.
They didn’t deny it. Didn’t say anything at all in fact. Just all looked guilty.
“No, they’re not mad,” Gretchen said softly, “they’re afraid.”
Jayrian stared at her, disbelief written on his face, then he stared at each of the men around them. None of them could meet his eyes.
She was right. They were all afraid.
Afraid of doing the wrong thing. So afraid of it they were willing to let a man die to avoid it.
“Then fear has made them crazy,” he said quietly. “They’re so afraid of disappointing their prince by not obeying his orders that they’re prepared to let him die rather than take a risk and possibly save him.”
He stared at each and every elder in turn. “Surely you can see how stupid that is? Surely you don’t really think that’s what Prince Taurian would want?”
Kyrian’s eyes slid away from his. He couldn’t face up to the truth.
Mesrian’s eyes were sharp though and met his full on. “You obviously had this in mind when you brought the human into our lair, didn’t you?”
It took all Jayrian’s willpower to meet her look squarely. What he really wanted to say was that any human could wake Prince Taurian. Gretchen was so much better than that. But he would only have one chance at convincing them, he couldn’t make it too difficult. “Yes, of course I did. Gretchen is the perfect person. She can save Prince Taurian, I know she can.”
He made sure he didn’t even look at Gretchen as he said the words. He didn’t want to even think about her sleeping with the prince. He wanted to pretend they were talking about something else, like the weather.
“And what if Edtrima swoops down and lands in front of her? She has no way to defend herself against him. She’s just going to run screaming. Then we’ll be right back where we were,” Kyrian accused.
“No she’s not,” Jayrian said hotly. “When Ultrima landed on the bonnet of her car and I told her to get out of there before she got hurt, she didn’t. She stayed there with me. She’s no coward.”
His eyes sought out Gretchen, still standing next to the pig with the knife in her hand, staring at him. Right now she didn’t look brave. In fact, she looked petrified.
Damn Kyrian for bringing up Edtrima attacking her. Of course a human who had no defence against a dragon would be afraid. He could hardly blame her.
But the others did. They saw the fear on her face. Kyrian’s expression twisted in a self-satisfied smug smile. “Looks like she’s not so keen. Did you even discuss your plan with her before suggesting it to us?”
Jayrian opened his mouth to de
ny the accusation hotly, but another voice interrupted.
“Of course he did,” Gretchen put down the knife and crossed the sand to where he stood. She stood beside him, staring out at the elders, making her position clear. “Despite the dangers, I’m prepared to do whatever I can to help your dragon prince.”
Jayrian’s heart almost split with pride. Or perhaps it was splitting with pain at how certain she was. She could sound a little nervous or tentative. Couldn’t she?
He looked around at the elders. Mesrian nodded, a smile on her face. She’d been impressed. Yesrian and Ostrian weren’t quite so enthusiastic, but they were exchanging hopeful glances, and Gorrian stared at Gretchen with a very interested look.
Only Kyrian still frowned. “You planned this. You deliberately went behind our back and told a human about us, putting us at considerable risk, because you thought you knew better than us.”
“Jayrian didn’t tell me about dragons,” Gretchen said flatly. “I kind of found out when one landed on the bonnet of my car.”
“Silence, human,” Kyrian thundered. “No one asked you. Jayrian should never have been in the car with you in the first place. He was forbidden to collaborate with humans. He was already disobeying our orders at that point.”
“So what, you’re going to veto my idea because I broke a rule? Don’t you realise we’re desperate, Kyrian? That if this doesn’t work, the prince dies?” Jayrian demanded. “What does my breaking rules matter at this point?”
Frustration welled up in Jayrian. He needed to convince all the elders, or he would get nowhere. A quick glance at the other elders confirmed they weren’t going to help him. They watched him, waiting for him to convince Kyrian.
“Don’t you get it?” Kyrian demanded. “This is all about breaking rules. We were given orders by the princes before they entered the Mesmer sleep. We were told to stay away from the humans, and to keep the princess safe at all costs. We need to follow the orders we were given.”
His voice was agitated, and Jayrian could see the turmoil on his white face.
He got it, finally. Kyrian didn’t want to see the prince killed. He was just so afraid of disobeying an order, that he couldn’t act.
He couldn’t blame him, he had been too. But he couldn’t just keep agreeing, obeying rules that were stupid and so outdated it wasn’t funny when they were so obviously wrong. “The princes gave you those rules over three hundred years ago,” he said flatly. “They thought they would wake within days to take over the rule of the clan again, not be trapped there for three hundred years by the Trima dragons. They would never expect you to stick to them so strongly that it put their lives in danger.”
“But how can we know what they wanted?” Ostrian asked. “They’re not here to tell us.”
“They’re not here. Exactly,” Jayrian said. “So we need to do what we think is right. That is all they can expect of us.”
Kyrian remained stubborn. “No, they gave us orders for a reason. They expected us to obey them.”
Jayrian stared at him in disbelief. This was getting nowhere. He was wasting his time arguing with the pigheaded dragon. “Whatever. You stay here and be a good little dragon and obey your prince. I’m going out there to save his life.” He reached out his hand for Gretchen, hoping she was with him.
She smiled into his eyes, fully committed, and took his hand.
“You can’t,” Kyrian blustered. “It’s against our orders.”
“Yours maybe, but I didn’t agree to any orders,” Jayrian said flatly.
“If you take one step outside of the lair, you can never return. You will never get to live among your people again,” Kyrian threatened.
Jayrian squeezed her hand. “That’s doesn’t matter. I have other friends who I know I can count on.” He looked over to Gretchen, suddenly unsure, but her smile encouraged him.
His reply only seemed to make Kyrian angrier. “You think it’s that simple? You think we’re just going to let you walk out of here and wake the prince against our wishes? Well, if you do that…”
Jayrian didn’t get to find out what his threat was. Mesrian interrupted, “Jayrian is right, Kyrian. He has put forth a fair and reasoned argument. It is time to stop living our lives in fear and to do something. Can you imagine what it would be like to have one of the princes back with us?” Her eyes shone. “And if this works, we could have all the princes and princess awake.”
“But…” Kyrian stared at her. Then stared at Jayrian. He heaved a sigh. “I’m too old for this. I never wanted this responsibility, but when my circle chose me, I couldn’t say no.”
Jayrian held his breath. Was this it? Had he won? Did they all agree?
Mesrian turned to him. “We agree to your plan, Jayrian. If the human is willing to help us.”
TWELVE
They were all staring at her. Every dragon in the cavern waited with bated breath to hear her accept Jayrian’s plan.
He’d fought so hard to get them to accept it. She could see that.
And she’d agreed to help him.
But when the push came to shove, she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. She couldn’t say yes and waltz off to the Dragon Scales to wake an unknown prince. She really was the coward she’d always thought she was.
She stared into Jayrian’s eyes, hoping to find the strength there to say yes, to help him the way she wanted to help him.
But what she found was something completely different. His eyes were calm and trusting. He believed in her.
He loved her.
How had she missed it?
How had she missed the fact that she was in love with him too?
Oh, she’d known she lusted after him for a few weeks now. But that was different to this. She hadn’t even known him then. She hadn’t known he was the sort to believe so strongly in doing what was right that he was prepared to walk away from his family over it.
Just like her mother had.
Gretchen had always wished she was more like her mother. Strong and confident in her choices.
And yet, here she was, tied into having agreed to do something she now wasn’t sure was right.
Just like those other dragons had agreed to rules stipulated three hundred years ago in a different situation.
And like them, holding to her agreement, despite the rules having changed, wouldn’t be staying true to who she was.
“I can’t,” she said softly. “I’m so sorry.”
“What?” Kyrian demanded. He glared at Jayrian, who stared at her in surprise.
His eyes were wide with shock. But he didn’t look angry. Or disappointed.
“Why not?” Mesrian asked softly. She looked at Jayrian, and Gretchen suspected she knew. The lack of accusation in her tone helped her hope that they might accept her reasons.
“Because I think I’m in love with Jayrian, and I don’t think it would be right of me to sleep with your prince while I was in love with another.”
There was a stunned silence in the room. But all Gretchen had eyes for was Jayrian. She hoped he would understand.
He more than understood. His eyes met hers, shining like molten gold. “Do you mean that, Gretchen?” he breathed.
She nodded. “I’m sorry, Jayrian. I just can’t do it.”
“You don’t have to be sorry.” His reply was quiet and sure. “You’ve just made me the happiest dragon in the lair.”
“But what about your prince?” she asked.
“There is a way to complete the Mesmer ritual without mating,” Mesrian said slowly.
“There is? How come you’ve never mentioned this before?” Jayrian demanded.
The old lady shrugged. “It has never been necessary before. We have always had plenty of dragons willing to mate. And it is quicker. But in this case, I think it’s worth considering.”
“A human would never be able to do it,” a dragon with crystal blue eyes said. Somehow, his gaze made Gretchen uncomfortable. “The need for coupling after the Mesmer bond is forme
d is so great, she would not be able to hold out against it for the time it takes for the ritual to be finished.”
Any hope there might be an alternative faded. Gretchen didn’t want to feel attracted to anyone else either, even if it was just an attraction created by magic.
“There is another way,” Gretchen said. “There are a lot more human’s in Mungaloo. I’m sure we can find one who is willing to help you with your dilemma.” She could think of a few off the top of her head who would be quite happy to sleep with one of these attractive dragons with very little encouragement.
“We’re back to where we started though,” Kyrian said, frustrated. “How do we know we can trust them?”
“Gretchen will help us,” Jayrian assured them. “She has lots of friends in Mungaloo, and they all trust her and want to help her. Several of the townsfolk opened up their stores on Christmas Eve for us to buy Christmas presents to bring. I’m sure we will find someone suitable.”
His voice was calm and collected. He wasn’t in the least bit bothered that Gretchen could see. She could understand his calm, certain approach, because it was how she felt. They’d find a way to make this work. They could make anything work as long as they stayed true to who they were and did what they felt was right.
“I’m sure we can do this,” she said with certainty.
Kyrian nodded slowly. “You know, I believe you can.”
— — —
With an agreement reached, the dragons went back to feasting and celebrating. And this time, it was a truly happy celebration. Even Kyrian ate with gusto and joined in the singing and dancing to the Christmas music Gretchen had brought.
As she watched the children run around playing with bouncing balls and hula hoops, Gretchen didn’t think she’d had as happy a Christmas in a long time.
Sugar, Spice, and Shifters: A Touch of Holiday Magic Page 49