by S. J. Smith
My brother snickered and I sighed in longsuffering.
“Don’t you have a wife and child to get home to?”
“Oh don’t worry about me brother! Why don’t you answer mom’s question?”
“Yes I know how to…I’ve been out on dates before there’s nothing to it. If she likes me and I like her then that’s ninety percent of it.”
“Wrong! That’s like seventy percent of it, eighty if you’re lucky. You have to show her a good time and make her feel special,” Dean said and mom nodded along.
“You are a warrior, just like your father was and he wasn’t so good on the wooing and flowers,” she commented.
“But…the two of you were married nearly forty years,” I said and she nodded.
“Yes well…if you must know. Your father was very sweet in his own way and he was very good at—”
“Mom stop!” I complained and Dean snickered.
“Well I was only going to say poetry, honestly Luke, you’re such a prude,” she teased and Dean cracked up. I laughed with him and then kissed mom on the cheek.
“I hope for your sake you picked up some of mom’s humor, that goes big with the females,” Dean said when he sobered and then clapped me on the shoulder.
“I should…I should set something up with her soon right? I know for a fact there is one other she showed interest in.”
Mom’s eyes widened almost in alarm and she shoved at my arm.
“What is the matter with you, now this is survival of the fittest! Who knows if this other suitor has contacted her yet, or even been to see her! Go, make sure you arrange an outing with her,” she urged me.
“Calm down, mother it’s late already and I have to go and meet with my guard. I will approach her tomorrow at the palace, I have duty there with the king’s second.”
“Good plan, you want her to simmer on the thought of you after that first impression. Don’t come on too strong, don’t suffocate her,” Dean spoke up and my mother waved away his advice.
“But don’t waste time either! I want another grandchild before my time comes,” she said and both Dean and I groaned. Once the grandkids were brought up, somehow the subject stayed around for at least an hour.
“Well I think it’s time I get back home,” Dean said, already making a hasty retreat and I stood up to leave too.
“Yeah, I should head over to Niko’s, the meeting is being held at his house this time around. It’s a long flight,” an excuse wasn’t really an excuse if it were true.
“Oh whatever, you boys always flee at the faintest mention of grandchildren. I simply want to be assured that our line will continue!” she was already starting on her tirade. Both Dean and I gave her a kiss on the cheek before we beat a hasty retreat.
My mom was beautiful, even in her middle age, she hardly looked a day over twenty-five, and we looked a lot alike. Whereas Dean was almost the spitting image of our dad in all his classic good looks, reminding everyone of superman. Though personality wise I was my father and Dean was my mother. They were the people-people. I wondered how on Earth I would court the princess…I couldn’t say I didn’t want to. She was incredibly beautiful and even in our brief meeting I felt a connection to her. Or maybe it was just my mating urges…
“So, this is wild man. You’re going to be dating Princess Emily. I’m happily married and all, but she is hot.” Dean spoke once we were clear of mom’s house.
“Don’t make me nervous about it…I’m just gonna be myself,” I said and shrugged nonchalantly. Dean gave me a disbelieving smile and shook his head.
“Just whatever you do, don’t choke,” he said before he pressed the button on his key fob to unlock his car in the drive. Dean lived closer to the more populous city of Old Town so he often had to drive in and out to the sparser areas. Specially to stretch out his wings every once in a while. If a shifter neglected their other side for too long, it could take over and in a bad way.
“I’ll catch you later Luke, keep me updated.” Dean waved when he was in his car, then he pulled out and I watched him drive away.
I knew there was something between Emily and I, so I shouldn’t be worried. I didn’t get a good look at the first guy she seemed to like, but I was confident I could win her over.
I looked up to the sky and found the clouds were in my favor for a flight. As if tracking my thoughts, the heat of the dragon spread through me. At first it was a warm pulsing, that turned to a blaze through my veins until I could not feel anything other than the heat. It wasn’t exactly painful; it was something a dragon shifter grew used to after the first few times of shifting. Once the fire receded I registered my larger body.
Dragons weren’t scaly or lizard like at all. Our skin was more snake-like in texture, but appeared smooth like regular skin. Colors ranged from white to burnished copper and black. We did resemble the fairy tale version of dragons. Some of us were larger, some sleek and built for speed. Not all of us could breathe fire though, that was mainly bred in warrior dragons.
I inhaled deeply and looked up to the sky before I beat my wings against the air and rose up into the clouds.
*****
Emily
“My lady, my lady you must wake. It is nearly midday,” Alice said, waking me up and I couldn’t believe that I had slept in so late.
“Alice why didn’t you wake me earlier? I’m supposed to sit in on an important meeting with my father…” I glanced at the clock on my bedside table, “in an hour!”
Alice simply stood by the bed and watched me freak out with wide doe like eyes. I huffed and then hopped out of bed to run to the bathroom. Quickly I showered and brushed my hair into some semblance of normalcy. The loose curls were a force to be reckoned with in the morning. Thankfully they settled into attractive waves rather quickly. After that I hurried back into the room and found that Alice had set out a dress and shoes for me to wear, along with matching accessories. By the time I got dressed Alice came back with a tray of breakfast for me.
I used to have a different handmaiden, she was actually my nanny growing up, but she passed on and Alice took over. She was sweet enough, gossiped when appropriate and was dependable more or less. Alice was a short girl, I was fairly certain she was around nineteen or twenty. She was cute in a face like way with her big brown eyes and short cut blonde hair.
“Thanks Alice, sorry for snapping at you earlier,” I apologized as she set the tray down on the table in the reading area in front of the fireplace.
“Oh that’s fine my lady, I had just woken you up quite abruptly,” she rationalized for me and I shook my head.
“That doesn’t matter, I shouldn’t be a bitch,” I said and she covered her mouth as her eyes widened. A second later we both fell into laughter. “How long do I have until I have to meet my father?”
“Twenty minutes, I figured you have enough time for a bite.”
I sat down next to the food and made a quick sandwich from the meat, cheese, and bread on the platter. Meanwhile my thoughts wandered to my father, he wanted me to be more and more involved the closer my birthday came. Once I was twenty-five I would be old enough to take the throne and be married—images of both Luke and Rune bombarded my mind. They were both so gorgeous and last night dad had sent them both couriered mail. No doubt invitations to court me.
“My lady, it is time you should be going, your father will be expecting you soon,” Alice clued me into the time and I set down what was left of my sandwich. I grabbed the bowl of mixed fruit and then all but ran to my dad’s study.
“Emily! I was wondering when we’d be graced with your presence,” my father greeted me when I came into the room.
My eyes went directly to the two males standing near my dad’s desk. Both Luke and Rune were standing there. Smiling at me…I was definitely going to have an interesting courtship with the two of them.
“Ah, I apologize…I hope I haven’t kept everyone waiting too long,” I felt like a failure just for being late. All my father does is stress
the importance of being an attentive ruler. An attentive ruler was not late to meetings. I glanced around the room and recognized my father’s second, Marx, then a few other warriors and a record keeper. “I did not know this meeting was being recorded,” I walked to the seat next to my father’s desk and Rune made way for me. As I brushed by him it felt like magnetism was pulling us together, awkwardly I smiled at him and just sat.
“Well we have some rather important matters to discuss. Or rather we have an important matter to discuss.”
I held my father’s gaze and knew he was on the verge of something big. We had always had a silent way of communicating from when I was very small even. He and I looked a like in subtle ways, mostly I was a pretty even mixture of both my parents. From my hair color being in the middle of his dark blonde and her lighter blonde, my eyes were a literal mixture of both his violet blue ones and hers were silvery grey.
“So let’s get started, what is it?”
The record keeper started to type on his laptop, he had a small table set up near the corner of the room. There was plenty of seating in my father’s large study, but a strange trait of dragon shifter males was that it was difficult for them to be confined to a seat for very long. They all had to stand around with their arms crossed over their chests. Or maybe that was just guys in general.
“Marx brought to my attention to an interesting notion, one I’d like to put into motion…”
“No need to pause for effect father, get on with it,” I urged him and the entire room rumbled with chuckled laughter.
“Well as you know all other kinds of shifters are united to some degree. Feline shifters, the wolves, and…birds,” he said the last one with disgust. Mostly because throughout the entire shifter community, no one really regarded the bird shifters as special at anything. They weren’t very strong, fast, or adept at much else other than flying perhaps. “Marx thinks it is time to unite the dragon shifters,” he said after that little preamble.
“All of them? As in unite them under our clan when most of them live across Europe?” I was honestly surprised that he wanted to act on the idea. It would be nearly an impossible feat.
I glanced around the room and found all eyes on me. Their gazes ranged from assessing, to curious. Though when my eyes fell on Luke I almost couldn’t look away. And then there was Rune whose temperature had risen next to me and I could smell the marking scent faintly from him. He was definitely ready to contest Luke for my hand. At that point it made me more uncomfortable than anything.
“Another thing, has anyone taken into account our nature as dragons? There was a reason our clan moved across the Atlantic. There is a reason the other clans haven’t united…”
“Good point, see we’ve only spoken about the positives of such a feat. Good thing you’ve joined us,” Luke spoke up, his voice as good natured as ever which I really like about him.
“Indeed, last night I was trying to convey just that to my father,” Rune spoke up and looked at Marx who chuckled.
“But father, you still want to move forward with this?”
“Yes, why not at least try? I am prepared to send Luke and a few of the men in his guard to extend an invitation to the Norwegian clan. Something to spur a friendship.”
“You’ll send Luke?” was the first thing out of my mouth and of course that led to my utter embarrassment.
“Well seeing as he is not yet leader of the special guard of course Luke can stay as he has been invited to court you.”
“That’s just what I was going to suggest, of course I’ll stay here…” Luke held my gaze as he spoke and I definitely couldn’t ignore the connection between us.
*****
Rune
As Princess Emily sat next to me sharing long glances with Luke I wondered how I already had a disadvantage. Perhaps being ‘interesting’ was not enough.
“So what do you think of this Rune?” Emily remembered that there were others in the room apart from she and Luke and her enchanting eyes looked up at me.
“I think it is a risk to deal with other dragon shifters at all, but one can never know what would happen if we don’t try. Extending a friendly invitation to the Norwegians could turn out well.” I gave her my honest opinion and she smiled in appreciation.
“Well, if we all are in agreement and think we should…why not give it a try?”
“Good, my men will fly out come night fall, it should be a simple day’s trip, and we will appear as only messengers,” Kato, the current special guard leader, spoke up and made everything real. Not long after the meeting was adjourned, and I stepped close to the princess.
“If I may have a moment, Princess Emily?”
She smiled welcomingly and stepped to the side with me.
“You don’t have to address me so formally you know, to you I’d like to be just Emily.” She brushed her hair out of her eyes and then touched my arm lightly. “And don’t feel like you have to compete for my hand or anything, just be yourself.”
Her words were kind, but I read what she meant underneath them. She had picked up on my brief territorial reaction earlier. I could not control it, when she first saw Luke I had such an urge to claim her.
“You are kind; I hope I didn’t…offend you at all with my brief lapse earlier. And so close to your father, how embarrassing.”
Emily laughed softly and touched my arm once more.
“Not at all, I’m sure my father just saw it as a good expression of competition. I think it was a good sign, it means you like me,” she smiled playfully and I chuckled.
“That is a given. I know you will come to like me soon as well.”
She giggled softly and shook her head at me almost fondly.
“Really? How are you so sure?”
I had her complete attention and I was glad of it. Luke was obviously standing by the door, waiting for her, but she hadn’t noticed.
“Well for one, I can be very charming. Also I am handsome and smart, so it is obvious you should choose me,” I said and Emily laughed again. “Is your day busy?”
“Actually after lunchtime I should be free if you want to hang out.”
“I would like to take you to dinner if that’s alright.”
“Of course, I’d love that,” she nodded and then touched my arm yet again, that time it was a lingering caress. I took her hand loosely in mine and leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek.
“I will meet you at seven then, in the courtyard.”
She nodded and smiled up at me as if she truly looked forward to it. I let her go, I might as well give Luke a fighting chance. Not surprisingly he quickly got her attention, but my father called me so I followed him out of the room.
“So you’re competing with Luke Hart for Emily’s hand? That has to be the prettiest fighter I’ve ever seen. He is just as good as his father,” my father came up behind me and commented on Emily and Luke together.
“Yes, it is best not to make a competition out of things. This is Emily’s choice; it depends on who she likes most.”
“You are too good for your own good. Come we have much to prepare for, if the Norwegian clan pays us a visit, we can’t be caught stooped over and poking at fire.”
I snorted and then spent the rest of the day coming up with suggestions to present to the king with father. Possible meetings, events, and the like.
When the time neared for me to meet with Emily I excused myself from my father’s company and flew home at the speed of sound to freshen up. Afterwards I quickly set up a picnic of sorts in a nearby meadow behind the castle. It looked out over one of the many rivers in Maine and was quite picturesque. Once I had everything ready I flew to the castle and made my way to the courtyard. Emily was just walking out from the west wing.
“Rune! There you are.” She was happy to see me and surprised me with a close embrace once we met.
“How are you?” I asked her and she shrugged slightly.
“I was beginning to grow bored after my last court appearanc
e. Then I looked forward to dinner with you,” she smiled up at me sweetly and I took her hand.
“I planned something simple, just outside of the castle.”
“Since it’s outside of the castle I am already having a fantastic time.”
I laughed and then led her leisurely towards the meadow.
“You seem quieter than I initially thought you’d be,” she observed and I glanced down at her with a quirked brow.
“Perhaps I am just nervous?”
“You? Really? Oh you don’t have to be nervous around me Rune, I like you,” she said honestly and I smiled.
“And now I’ve gotten you to admit you like me, I’d say that puts me ahead,” I teased and she laughed.
“Oh that’s your plan? Feign shyness and get me to coddle you,” she nudged me playfully and I chuckled.
“Well that would only go so far, now that you like me, I really have to charm you, soon you’ll admit you love me.”
Emily laughed again and we finally reached the picnic I set up. I had laid out a blanket and set up a small floor seating table for the two of us. Next to it was a container of food and around the blanket were a few flame lit lamps.
“Oh Rune, you set this up?”
“All by myself.”
She smiled at me and I saw her eyes twinkle.
“It’s lovely, I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone set up a picnic for me before.” She let go of my hand and seemed to skip over to the blanket. I watched her sit and then she gestured for me to join her. “Don’t leave me hanging,” she said and I quickly sat next to her, our shoulders touching.
“I would never think of it. I’ve prepared quite the feast for us,” I said and she seemed impressed.
“Really? Like what?”
I opened the basket I packed and pulled out plates and cutlery. After that I produced a bottle of red wine and two bags of potato chips, followed by two roast beef sandwiches and I left dessert for later. Emily giggled when she took everything in and then it grew into full laughter.