Page 9 of The Mountain King
Serephone snorted, though she still didn’t bother to speak.
“Why wouldn’t you want to?” Persia asked on behalf of her twin. “We give you an excuse to brandish your shotgun and walk around town with a dour look on your face.”
“A few strapping boys who don’t talk back to their mother or wear her best clothes might be nice,” Kailigh retorted. “Now that Ithinkabout it.”
“Lord Maddugh,” Persia said. “You healed our sister, but the price you are asking isn’t balanced. I will wed a man of your choosing and provide him with a child—and after that, I am free to divorce him as I will and raise my child, in your community, in a dwelling of my own.”
“You may not be fertile,” he countered. “Mistress Kailigh is the only woman here who has proven her ability to conceive and bring a living child to term. All three of you will wed, and after three children are born between you, the debt is paid, and you are all free to divorce.”
“All three of us will agree to be courted, two of us obligated to wed and one child between us to satisfy the debt.”
“Done.”
Maddugh turned to Kailigh, who’d been satisfied enough with her daughter’s bargain to remain silent. In the end, her children could do worse than to marry into the Dwyrkin community—at least they would have shelter, food and protection. And hadn’t that always been her goal, to make sure her girls were well settled and didn’t have to bark and growl and raise babies alone?
“A tablespoon of my blood will suffice to revive her energy,” the dragon Lord said. “Do you have silver?”
Serephone left the room, returning a moment later with a silver spoon. Maddugh took it, produced a small hunting knife and nicked his skin, murmuring as the blood flowed enough to fill the spoon. He gave the spoon to Kailigh, who knelt and coaxed it down Cinvarra’s throat, careful not to spill a drop. She wondered at herself for not questioning him on this—maybe it was the hitherto unknown Dwyrkin heritage in her that didn’t balk at feeding a stranger’s blood to her baby. She should be cringing but somehow it felt natural.
She sat back on her heels. “There.” Looking up at him, “We have some things here to see to, but we will report to you in three days.”
He frowned, but shrugged. “Three days, but not an hour more. If I have to retrieve you…”
Kailigh rose, standing nearly toe to toe with him. She was a tall woman, as were all her daughters—well, Cinvarra wasn’t done growing—but he stood a good four inches taller.
“Is that a threat?” she asked.
His dark brow rose, golden eyes glinting. “Only if your word isn’t bond. But I don’t think you want to know what happens to one of our kind when we break our word.”
She didn’t like the implied insult, but supposed he didn’t know her well enough to judge her character.
“We’ll be there.”
* * *
Bargain struck, Maddugh took his leave. After he left the air changed in the house. Kailigh could breathe easier.
“Well,” she said to no one in particular.
“Husbands?” Serephone said. Her tone expressed her thoughts clearly.
Kailigh sighed. “Would a husband be such a bad thing? And if they’re so concerned to have children, then you girls will have your pick of the men and will be well provided for.”
“Husbands. And children.Babies.I’ve smelled babies.”
“They aren’t that bad.” Somehow, she couldn’t manage to drudge up an enthusiastic tone. “The babies, anyway. Husbands? Sorry.” She shrugged. “Just be smart—nab one with a bit of industry to him. Common sense, creativity and a strong work ethic will make up for a host of other irritations.”
“Think, Serephone,” Persia said. “Single people don’t do well out here. Even the bachelors partner up to share resources. Do you plan on plaguing your mother for the rest of your life?”
Kailigh understood Persia, knew the young woman dreamed of her own family and home. She’d been the one to play with dolls as a girl, pretending to feed and change their diapers. As she’d grown older, Kailigh had watched the hope slowly fade into resignation as her daughter realized just how slim the pickings were in a remote mountain mining town.
They hadn’t even considered the Dwyrkin until now—they hardly ever came down out of their mountain, though one might look up occasionally and see the shadow of wings or a speck high in the sky that wasn’t a bird or airbus. In decade’s past, a woman might have traveled beyond her home town to one of the cities to seek a spouse, but jobs in the bigger cities were at a premium and no one wanted to take the risk of ending up in a government shelter—those places were notorious. Even worse than the damn legal sex centers. And that was after the mountains of paperwork required to gain permission to enter.
“Three weeks,” Serephone growled. “And then I’m gone. And if a man lays a finger on me—I’ll cut it off.”
Kailigh winced. Serephone wasn’t quite grasping the situation here. “Dear—they might try. That’s the point of courting. Just… don’t kill anyone, okay?”
God help them all if a male approached her eldest the wrong way. But it was a good point. She’d have to have a discussion with Maddugh on proper courting etiquette. There would be no sampling wares before purchase—even if a pretty Dwyrkin man turned her daughters’ heads. No man should be laying his hands on a young woman he wasn’t properly betrothed to anyway.
