Page 27 of Consorting with Dragons

But that just wasn’t the way this bond thing worked.

“He doesn’t like you much,” Rylan told me with a mischievous grin.

“Uh, no, it seems not.”

“He said you were arrogant and full of yourself. I agreed with him.”

“Rylan…”

“But I told him I planned to marry you anyway. No matter what he said.”

“You-you did?”

“Yes. Oh, and my omak-ahn Blake is coming with my omak. He’s the king’s consort and Mikos’s bearer.”

“Yes, you’ve mentioned that a few times. And they’re both coming here? I didn’t realize you were so close to your grandparents.”

“Oh yes. Blake is close with all of his children and grandchildren. And my grandfather, Davos is too. He wanted to come, but Mikos said you weren’t giving him enough notice. He said you were insistent and rude and far too impatient.”

“I-I simply feel that we should be married right away. I’m sorry your uncle feels that way. But you can’t stay here in the hospital forever, and it would be unseemly for you to stay with me before we marry.”

“Unseemly? I barely know what that word means, but I think it meansimproper. Funny you should worry about that, considering the liberties you took with me on Lycanus 3.”

I could feel my face burning. I wasn’t proud of my actions on Lycanus 3. “Rylan, listen…”

“The good news is that you’ve already seen my ass and felt me up too.”

I had no idea what that last part meant, though I could certainly guess. “Did you like what you saw?”

“This is not a proper topic for conversation, Rylan.” I could feel my face practically melting with heat. “Not at all.”

“Did I tell you my brothers and I used to stay at Davos’s palace on Tygeria during school breaks? Blake’s wonderful. You’ll see when you meet him. And my omak is too, of course.”

“I-I look forward to it,” I said, a little dizzy from the change in subjects and lying through my teeth. I had neither the time nor the patience for visits from spoiled and pamperedconsorts, like this Blake was reported to be, and like Rylan’s “omak” undoubtedly was too. And I dreaded their questions, not to mention their disapproval. I expected this visit to be most unpleasant. And if they insisted on trying to take Rylan home with them—I wasn’t sure what would happen. But Rylan wasn’t going anywhere.

Of course, I’d be polite to them for as long as I could. I’d have to notify the queen, too, and she might want to have a reception for the royal visitors here on Horvath if there was time. Unless they didn’t want that. I had no idea how any of this worked.

Meanwhile, I was far too busy for all of this. I was having problems with the new hatchling and carrying on my normal duties. And somehow, I also had to solve the problem of what to do about this bond the hatchling had with Rylan. I’d been able to ignore the problem with the hatchling for the past couple of days, but I’d had a disturbing call about him just that morning, and it was weighing on my mind.

“How’s my little dragon?” Rylan asked eagerly, and I jumped a little. It seemed like he could read my mind sometimes. “Can you tell me how he’s doing? Where is he exactly?”

“He’s at the training facility, and I haven’t heard any negative reports on him. Not really.”

“What do you mean by, ‘not really?’”

“He’s uh…he’s had a little difficulty settling in, but the head trainer has assured me he has it all in hand.”

“That man who came here to see me? He was an idiot.”

“Rylan…” I sighed. But he wouldn’t be dissuaded. Not that I disagreed.

“He was mean to the hatchling, as you call him. And rude to me.”

“I did reprimand him, if you recall.”

“Not enough. And what do you mean by saying that the baby dragon is having problems settling in? What’s happening?”

I raised my eyes to the ceiling and considered not telling him, but the truth was that I was a bit worried about the little dragon. He was on his second day of not eating—which for a young vetami and this little Golden in particular—was extraordinary and would soon make him very ill.

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