Page 33 of Consorting with Dragons

He towered up over me and Talon, and had beautiful, bright red scales. I was a little worried about the fact that he was a fire breather, but Quinn assured me he was much too well behaved and well trained to be any kind of threat to me or Talon.

His wingspan was enormous, yet his wings looked to be gossamer thin when he unfolded them. Usually, he kept them neatly folded up behind his back. He rushed to Quinn and greeted him with soft cries, and Quinn had to spend some time petting him and talking softly to him, as Sulamon bent down and seemed to be listening closely.

Quinn’s house was made of gray stone, and it had large and spacious rooms. The inside was decorated by some designer Quinn had hired, so it had a lot of art on the walls and colorful rugs on the dark, wooden floors. The paintings were all in bright colors and the paint had been applied in thick swaths that sat up off the canvases in thick, hard ridges. The subjects were mostly dragons in flight, and I loved them. The bright, sinewy forms were beautiful, flying across the gray, Horvathian sky,their wings soaring up in the clouds. And of course, as soon as I saw them, I wanted a new one commissioned, featuring a golden dragon. I told Quinn that it would be a wonderful wedding present for me.

“Another one?” he asked, though he smiled indulgently. “You’re going to be expensive, aren’t you?”

I thought he’d do it anyway.

I didn’t want him to know how happy I was—not just about the painting, but about a lot of things, and all concerning him personally. I was fascinated by him, drawn to him and very attracted to him. I knew Blake wouldn’t understand how soon these feelings had developed, but I thought my omak might. He had felt the same way for my father quickly, and I’d heard their story many times. Of course, I still didn’t reallyknowQuinn or know what his opinions would be on most things. Maybe when I did, that would change, but I didn’t think so. The mating bond that Quinn talked about probably did go both ways, I was beginning to think. Maybe it was all my imagination, but I was fascinated by him and beyond attracted to him physically. I wanted to sleep with him, but I knew my omak could tell if I did and he wouldn’t like it, so I was going to try to wait a little while longer. “Try” being the operative word.

It was a bit scary to think about living in this alien world, but I was an adventurous person. We’d gotten off to a rough start, but he’d saved my life and had been solicitous and wonderful when I got hurt by the Thalian mercenaries. I trusted Quinn to have my back. Still, there was an old phrase on Earth that I’d heard my human relatives use a few times—trust but verify.

As long as he was on Horvath, then I needed to be there too. Not that I planned on making it too easy for him. He needed to work for me a little. Getting him to agree to let me keep Talon had been a nice first step. I planned on training Talon myself,with his help. The idea of riding him one day was exciting and gave me a lot to look forward to.

Most of all, if I got good enough at it, I was hoping that Quinn would let me join the Dragon Riders. Of course, I knew that would be an uphill climb. And both Talon and I had a lot to learn before that happened, and probably a long time to train, but I hoped I could one day get Quinn to agree to my plan. As I’d told him, I was not the kind of person who sat around and waited for their spouse to come home. I’d been trained as a warrior, myself, just like he had. I knew I lacked experience, but I had enthusiasm on my side at least. I thought I took after King Stefan more than my other father when it came to being a soldier.

Speaking of my omak, not to mention my uncles and my grandparents, I wasn’t quite sure what they’d think about all this. My first cousin, Jago, who was the son of my uncle Anarr, had only recently been married, and the family was still not fully pleased about his choice, though Jago seemed really happy at his wedding. And he’d married a handsome officer from the mysterious Pton. Quinn and Horvath seemed almost a tame choice after that.

Quinn showed me to a guest bedroom that he said was mine to use until after the wedding.

“Unless you want to just go ahead and move into my room, and I can stay in the guest room?”

I didn’t want to take his bedroom, even though it was tempting. I knew that neither my omak nor Blake would approve, and besides, I didn’t want to make things too tempting for him.

Since he told me my omak and Blake would be arriving that afternoon, I took a long, hot bath before getting dressed again in similar clothing to Quinn’s.

He wore tight-fitting trousers and a tunic, and when he went out, he wore his uniform cape clasped around his shoulders. Ididn’t have a cape, but I wore a similar outfit otherwise. Quinn said the cape colors corresponded with his dragon’s color. The idea of wearing a golden cape one day was intriguing to me, but again, I couldn’t get ahead of myself...not quite yet.

By afternoon, I was dressed and waiting impatiently for my family to arrive. We heard hovercraft arriving and I hurried to the door to greet them. Quinn came at a much slower pace, and I think he was not looking forward to this initial meeting.

I was surprised at the number of hovers landing in Quinn’s circular courtyard. There were five of them and most were filled with Imperial guards. I should have known my grandfather wouldn’t allow Blake to come without “suitable” backup, though this seemed a bit excessive even for Davos.

My omak was first one off the hover, looking effortlessly gorgeous, as always. He looked closer to his thirties than his real age, but then Tygerians had much longer lifespans than humans and they didn’t age much at all until they were really old. Blake came next, his blond hair shining and streaked now with silver. It was really the only sign of his age. He wore his long, sapphire robe, which was traditional, if a little old-fashioned on Tygeria now. The color made his eyes even bluer, but then he always looked wonderful to me. I ran out to throw my arms around them both.

The guards stood by, a little closer than I thought was strictly necessary. I pulled both my omak and Blake to the door, where Quinn was waiting.

He bowed deeply to them, as I introduced him. “Blake, Omak, this is Marshal General Quinn Fortina, the man I’m going to marry.”

Blake gave me an arch look, before he returned the bow. He didn’t look all that happy, and I was left wondering what he thought about all this. I knew he’d be sure to tell me. My omak stepped forward and gave Quinn a brief but cordial bow.

“It’s very nice to meet you, General,” he said. “I’m interested in hearing about how you met my son.”

Blake was already hugging me and had an arm around my shoulders. He murmured in my ear to ask me if I was all right. I smiled and told him I was perfect.

“Just say the word if you want me to get you out of here,” he said to me in English, which was his native tongue and a dialect from Earth that he’d taught to us when we’d go to visit. Most humans used Earthan, which was a mixture of languages from Earth, so I wasn’t sure if Quinn could understand him or not in his English. He was giving both of us an intense look.

“No, I’m happy, Omak-ahn,” I told him in the same language. “Just get to know him first before you judge.”

“I could say the same to you.”

I laughed, and threw an arm around his waist to pull him with me into the main living area, while Quinn walked beside my omak on the way in. Several guards filed in behind us and stationed themselves by the doors, looking around suspiciously.

As soon as we sat down, Blake started. “I understand, sir, that you told my son Mikos that you intend to marry my grandson. Is that right?”

“Yes, Your Highness, it is,” Quinn replied.

“Hm. That’s odd. I don’t remember seeing any offers for him yet. My son Vannos would have told me if there had been any. Or is that not how you do things here on Horvath?”

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