Page 22 of The Fire Dragon's Mate
Considering the people who may be coming for us would most likely be Xanthan, I looked to Gilda and Imelda, the only two I knew who were from there. Like Coral, they looked ready for a fight.
I understood the anger—all of us had been tossed away by our respective kingdoms and none of us wanted to be threatened by invaders. But might it not be possible to avoid a conflict?
“What if we wrote to them?” I had to ask. “Explained our side of the situation and called for a truce?”
A few of them scoffed at me.
“It can be a letter from Cighyss alone,” I continued, “so it won’t expose the rest of us. He can even let them think I died. That both sides have lost enough.”
Severn glared at me. “You would risk lives to deliver this letter?”
“No. I mean, slightly but…” I looked to Cighyss, beginning to doubt my plan. “You could fly there and drop it from above. Go at night. They’d never see you.”
Cighyss took my hand and kissed my fingers. “It’s something to consider.”
I left it alone after that. Perhaps they all knew more than Idid about their respective kingdoms and whether a conflict here might result in outrage there. The sailors had looked like pirates, ruffians at most, seeking out a way to make easy money by robbing a dead man. They’d probably plundered the ship they’d attacked before sinking it. Would the king of Xanthous deem the deaths of fifteen of them worth defending?
Did they have a spare prince to be rid of?
Suddenly, Cighyss looked up, clearly sniffing the air. He glanced one way and then the other before zeroing in on someone. “Zelig!” he barked before heading toward the man.
Zelig looked concerned as Cighyss whispered to him, but then his face fell and he nodded. Cighyss kissed Zelig’s forehead, and then hugged him close and flew them both up toward Cighyss’s lair.
“Damn,” Reynard said beside me.
That hadn’t looked like any of the other claimings I’d seen before, so I had to ask, “Is something wrong?”
Reynard sighed. “Zelig has a recurring disease that Cighyss can keep at bay with his claiming. It must be back if Cighyss was able to scent it like that.”
“How awful for him.” I looked to where they’d gone. “I’m glad Cighyss could scent the problem.”
“Are you?”
I drew back from him. “Of course! I don’t want Zelig ill.”
“Even if it means bedding your mate?”
I knew what he was getting at. Over the past two days, I’d felt the change in my relationship with Cighyss. Were we different from the rest? Were we mates? I didn’t know.
“Even if our relationship is different from what he has with the rest of you,” I said, “Cighyss has an infinite capacity for love. I’m not threatened by him showing that to any of you.”
Reynard smiled and nodded. “Because you’re the one he returns to?”
“I suppose, yes, but it’s more than that. I’m not threatened by his relationships with everyone else.” I felt a blush heat my face as I said, “He’s mine, and I’m his. I know that in my soul.”
“Good. That’s good.”
A new worry surfaced. “Do others feel differently? Do they resent?—”
“Gods, no! We each love him, yes, and that love takes physical form from time to time, but the love of my life is Yasmina, and others have their own relationships on that level.”
I nodded, knowing I’d seen such evidence. “And Yasmina understands?”
“She does. It took some discussion, but we arrived at an understanding.” He smirked across the room at his wife. “In fact, I’m fair certain that if Cighyss ever wanted to claim his sacrifices, Yasmina would be first in line.”
“Baby dragons everywhere,” I said on a laugh.
Reynard shook his head. “Oh, that’s not how dragons are made…”
