by Sasha Pruett
“Hey genius, how are you going to get me back into my room? Were you planning to walk right through the front door?”
“Shhh, hush. Go back to sleep.”
“But the sun’s up, I think that blows the sneaking back in thing out of the water.”
He was standing beneath her room, the doors still open as they’d left them, “I said they were diminished,” and with one great leap he was standing on her balcony, “I didn’t say anything about losing them entirely.”
“Cheat.”
Drakon laid her on the bed kissing her forehead, “Goodnight Calynn.” Then disappeared.
Chapter Twenty
She slept until well after noon and had it not been for Millie’s arranging her covers she may not have woken then.
“Oh, hi Millie.”
“Mistress, I’m so glad to see you’re alright. I’ve been so worried.” She looked it too.
“What time is it?”
“Well after the noon hour my lady.”
“And how many times did you come into my rooms looking for me?”
“A few miss.” A blush crept onto the girl’s cheeks.
“I figured. As you can see I’m here, safe and sound and perfectly alright.”
“Where did you go miss? I was quite worried.”
‘I bet’, maybe the master of the house chose not to inform her of the pre-arranged spontaneous outing or he just didn’t consider her worth notifying. “I was with Drakon. He took me… out.”
“Yes, miss… but, please…” Millie chewed her bottom lip nervously.
“Yes Millie?”
“Don’t do that again; leave without telling me. I can see that you and the young Master Drakon have a… kinship and not to worry I won’t betray you, but please if you are to leave let me know of it so that I do not worry so. I could be very useful in assisting you.”
Calynn gave her a shy smile, “Alright Millie, from now on I won’t hide anything from you, but Millie if you’re aware of my actions; of our actions, then they could hold you responsible. You would be defying them.”
“I would be held responsible either way mistress. At least this way I could be doing some good for you and Master Drakon.”
“Okay Millie, if that’s what you want.”
“Thank you miss, now how about I bring you something to eat and then you get some rest. You must be exhausted after your night out.”
“That would be nice, thank you.”
She ate in peace and tried to go back to sleep, but her mind kept playing over her night with Drakon. So much happened and it was hard to separate her mind from her feelings. She knew the whole thing was just another stunt designed to bring them closer, but she couldn’t help but think that he was doing more than that. Then there was that incident on the cliff, why had he told her what he did? Was he playing her? Did she care? Was she really falling for him? No, she couldn’t! Not with someone, something, that could do what he does to a living human person just so he can keep his youth. Not with someone she couldn’t trust was playing her like one of those instruments in their music room, and not with a man that was lying to her every day about that night. Unfortunately, there was another part of her that wasn’t listening. A part that could still feel his arms around her, could still see the smile on his face as he sat across from her at dinner. The part that couldn’t wait to see him again and jumped for joy when he was near.
She couldn’t sleep, couldn’t concentrate on her book, and after reading the same page five times she finally gave up and sat in the chair on her balcony, watching for any sign of him. It grew dark and cold, much colder than before and when even the blanket she had curled up in wasn’t enough she made herself go inside. “You won’t see him coming anyway. You’ll turn around and he’ll just be there.” So she closed the double doors and propped up in bed. Sure she would feel him sneak in any minute, but she didn’t and the night was turning into morning when she felt Millie pulling the covers over her.
“No Drakon, I have to wait… Drakon… I want… need.” She slurred in her weariness.
“I know miss, it’ll be alright. You just sleep and I’ll wake you when he comes.”
She awoke, just before dawn to Millie sitting on the edge of her bed, probably making sure she didn’t run off in the night. Only it wasn’t Millie it was Drakon. Calynn shot up out of bed and flung her arms around his neck.
“Where were you? I waited all night! Do you know how worried I’ve been?” She was about to say something else, something more, but caught herself. “I thought maybe your father had caught you, or someone else. Don’t you ever do that to me again; disappear like that! Do you hear me? I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you. I don’t know what I’d do.” She’d played it well, but what scared her the most was how much of that she truly meant.
“Calynn, I need you to come with me.” And he pressed his finger to his lips.
She nodded and quickly dressed. Then went to find Millie who was silently waiting in the sitting room, to inform her that she would be unavailable for a while. Drakon looked at her curiously, but she reassured him with a look of her own. Within seconds he had scooped her up in his arms, leapt from her room and passed unnoticed into the woods setting her down in the same cliff side spot from the morning before.
“Alright spill it.” She was angry, at herself, at him, at being scared. She didn’t know which, but she didn’t want him to know it.
Drakon paced back and forth, looking up at her then down at the ground, at her, then the skyline beyond the ridge, at her then the trees surrounding them. All while pacing like a caged animal and it made her more than a little nervous.
“What’s wrong Drakon? You’re scaring me,”
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to, I just…. Calynn I’ve been thinking and I have to tell you something, something important and you might hate me afterwards, but I can’t do this anymore. I can’t hide this from you. You’re going to find out anyway and I don’t want it to be from anyone else, even though no one really knows about it right now, but that won’t last long.”
“Whoa Drakon slow down, you’re babbling. Now tell me. What is it you’re trying to say?”
He walked to her, stopping only inches from her. Slowly he reached out taking her hands in his, rubbing her knuckles and fingers with his thumbs. “Calynn, it’s about the child… I… I don’t know exactly how to tell you, but…”
“You’re the father, I know.”
“What, but how?” His head shot up, his eyes wide. Had he not been grounded, and something other than human he may have stumbled backwards.
“I don’t know really, but the more time we spend together the more I think I’m remembering. It started out as dreams, but now I’m recalling bits of conversations. The same ones over and over, but still different and then there was that night, just one night that it was more. There’s nothing more after that, it’s all just Millie and trays and wandering around the house, but nothing with you.”
“No there wouldn’t be. After that night I thought it was too dangerous to keep visiting so I stopped.”
“Dangerous? What you think they’d do something more than drain me dry?”
“Not just for you. Calynn, I meant a lot of what I said about my family. More than what I’ve ever wanted to admit even to myself, but somewhere along the way of playing that role I realized just how much I meant it. I hate what they do, what I’ve done, what I am and I don’t want any part of it, but I can’t leave you behind. I won’t. What you decide to do once we leave and it’s safe is still up to you, but I won’t walk away from this; from you and not from our… from our child.” He pushed on, not daring to stop or he might never say what he had to.
“Calynn I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I’ve tried not to, oh how I’ve tried, but I can’t get away from it; from you.
The other night I wanted to take off with you, just disappear right then and there. I hated the idea of bringing you back here, but I knew that if I didn’t
my father would have every member of our clan out looking for you, hunting you. I won’t allow that.” He began pacing again, but Calynn was too stunned to more than watch and listen.
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I was supposed to take you to dinner and show you an enjoyable time and bring you back, but I just couldn’t stop. I wanted to make every moment special for you. To give you back some of what you said you missed the most and then when I brought you here. Oh, what was I thinking? Calynn I never should have said what I did, that was unfair to you, to both of us and now I can’t take it back… or can I?” He suddenly stopped turning towards her, almost desperate.
“Don’t you dare! If I knew your whole name right now I’d be using it. Don’t even try it! How dare you even think about manipulating my memory?”
“Calynn, you don’t understand, what I said wasn’t fair to you, to either of us. I let things get out of control.”
“So what?”
“What?” He was taken aback; again.
“So what! Why’d you bring me out here Drakon?”
He thought about that briefly, “I had to tell you the truth about us before it went any further. I didn’t want to keep anything from you, not something that important.”
“Why?”
“I don’t understand?”
“What does it matter if you’re truthful about being the father of this child and not about anything else? Or are you just afraid I’d find out later and that would ruin your plans, whatever they are?”
“No of course not.”
“Okay then what is it?”
“Calynn, …”
“Don’t ‘Calynn’ me. Either you’re working towards your own ends, or you’re genuinely trying to do something decent, to save my life; our lives. So, which is it?”
“You see you’re already seconding guessing everything. I just don’t want to make things worse for you.”
“Oh don’t give me that. You know good and well I’ve been second guessing you and everyone else in this place from day one, don’t you?”
Drakon looked down and nodded.
“Alright then. Look Drakon, I think I get it. The lines between us have become… a little blurred and it scares you, doesn’t it? I’ve opened a lot of doors for you, you didn’t even realize were there and it’s a lot to deal with. I’ve been learning a bit about that myself, but if you want me to trust you, knowing these things about you actually helps.”
He turned towards the horizon, as the sky began to transform to day, standing near the edge of the cliff. He had said too much, what was that he’d said about his sister’s mouth? Now it was his own that had run over. Guess it runs in the family, another disturbing thought.
“Drakon, tell me something, looking back over the last couple of days and what you did for me, do you truly regret any of it? Other than your irritation that you let something slip through that shell you’ve built.”
“That ‘shell’ as you call it, is there for good reason, but no; I enjoyed every minute of it; too much. That’s the problem, despite what you might think I have no designs on you or the child. I have no desire for power or to usurp my father as head of the clan. Nor do I have any intention of condemning you to a life as the wife of… of a monster. I only want your freedom and safety and what I said, what I did the other night wasn’t just for you. I allowed myself certain liberties and soon you’ll be gone and…”
Calynn walked up behind him and slid her arms around his body, resting her cheek on his back. At first he stiffened, then slowly covered her hands with his own. What was he doing? He was getting way too involved that’s what he was doing. This was the reason he had stopped talking with her, spending time with her all those weeks ago. It wasn’t natural this hold she had on him, she was human and what was worse; she wasn’t even trying. He was getting too close to the fire and he had a decision to make. Did he want to burn? Would it really be so bad?
So that was it. Calynn was beginning to understand and she had to admit she agreed with his logic. “How about this? How about we look at the other night as a ‘gimmie’?”
“A what?”
“A ‘gimmie’. We needed to let off some steam, do something a little crazy and okay maybe a little stupid so that we wouldn’t say or do something reckless when it mattered. Neither of us will hold anything the other one said or did as anything of substance. It was just two people, exercising a little freedom who’ve been cooped up a little too long. Kind of like the first time you get out on your own without the parents around and you go a little crazy and do stupid stuff just because you can. We got a little freedom drunk that’s all. Sound good?”
He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, “Deal.”
“Oh, all except my underwear. It’s still hanging on a branch out in the middle of the tropics, I want it back.”
“You can have a crate full of new underwear on your doorstep in an hour Calynn, what does one set matter?”
“It’s just… oh… it matters alright?”
“Alright, your wish is my command. I’ll run all the way to the tropics to pick up your underwear.”
“Don’t make me push you off this ledge.”
“You could try.”
“Yeah, yeah. So, where does that leave us?”
“On the edge of a cliff Calynn.”
“Oh, you’re so smart.” She didn’t realize he meant so much more. He felt relieved knowing she didn’t take their night together as seriously as he’d feared, but no matter what she said, he knew what he meant, what he said, and how he was feeling. That wouldn’t go away.
“No more talk of Jedi mind tricks?”
“Jedi what?” He turned to face her clearly confused.
“Oh no, how old are you? Seriously? You’ve lived how long and you don’t know… oh we have to fix that!” She backed away from him and shook her head. “Next thing we do is go to the media room and have a movie marathon got it?”
“Okay, but that still doesn’t explain what you meant.”
“Oh, right. No more wiping my memory, got it? I need everything I have to keep things straight. Besides I’m remembering things about us anyway so odds are it’ll just come back and then you’d have a lot of ‘splaining to do Lucy.”
“Lucy? Who’s Lucy?”
“I have sooo much to teach you, don’t I, but you get my meaning, right?”
“Yes; agreed, I’m sorry for even thinking of it. That was beyond cruel… Calynn? Your memory? Is that all you’re remembering, just the instances between us and not…?”
“Not your brothers?”
He nodded, and the look of fear and concern in his eyes almost made her want to throw herself into his arms again, but that wouldn’t be such a smart idea.
“No, nothing about them. I think it’s only the things I want to remember. At least some part of me does. It’s only you Drakon.” That came out a little more honest and breathy than she’d wanted, but if he noticed he didn’t let on. This friends only bit was going to be a little harder to pull off, she didn’t realize how much until now. Speaking of their night together all those weeks ago…
“Drakon. How do you know? How do you know that, that you’re the father?”
He took a deep breath and walked toward her placing his hand on her belly feeling that spark of electricity once more. “I can feel it. Our kind have the ability to identify our family that way; by a sort of sixth sense just by feel. As we grow older we can tell a brother, a parent or just someone belonging to the clan by our nearness. It keeps down the infidelity rate. Not everyone can connect with an unborn child, but I wanted to know; I had to. I’d sharpened my hunting skills over the centuries, learned to focus and thought I may have a chance.
When I returned to the estate the day of the equinox and discovered you were still alive I listened in on everything my parents said and discovered you were pregnant. That night as you slept I entered the room and laid my hand on your abdomen and felt the child growing inside, my child. The feeling
is only stronger now. That’s how I know.”
“Good.”
He arched his eyebrows.
“Yes I mean that; good. I’m glad, I’m ecstatic. You have no idea how worried I’ve been that this baby was Rais’ or Ivan’s. No offence, but your brothers are certifiable psychos! At least with you as the father I have a chance that it’ll be descent. You have no idea how happy you’ve just made me!” And this time she did throw herself into his arms hugging him tightly.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, Drakon. This is the best… you’re the best, you saved me.” She stood back not looking as much at him as past him, her mind racing with a flood of understanding.
“What?”
“If it hadn’t been you with me that night it would have been one of them. That night, us together, it saved me getting pregnant by one of them. This thing, with my blood has always been there. I could have gotten pregnant by any of them, that’s terrifying Drakon. Do realize how scared I’ve been? The whole time you’ve been agonizing over giving in that night and you saved me. I have no idea what this child is going to be, I wasn’t ready to have a baby that would be normal let alone one that could be insanely powerful, but at least with you, with this child being yours…. Drakon I finally feel like I have a chance here. Do you understand?” The words tumbled out of her mouth as fast as they came and she was speaking almost as much to herself as she was to him.
Then it hit him. She couldn’t do this alone, and she was terrified in having to. If he stayed with her, in whatever way she wanted him she wouldn’t have to do it by herself. He wasn’t going to lose her after all and the smile that wanted to burst from him was the hardest one to hide in all his life, but he managed with only a slight smirk. “Calynn, I’m so sorry I didn’t realize. You’re right, I was so focused on the short term I never…. Don’t worry you won’t be alone, I won’t let you go through this by yourself I promise. We’re in this together.”