“I thought we were friends once,”
she whispered. Apparently, the hurt was speaking, even though she had wanted to play this first meeting much, much cooler.
“We were, Genlitha,”
Hrardorr seemed to backpedal.
“But things are different now.
I
am different now.”
“Your blindness doesn’t make one whit of difference to me, Hrardorr. You will always be the kind dragon I knew as a youngling. You were nice to me when others weren’t. I remember that, and I would like to renew our friendship.”
“I was kind to you, so you want to be kind to me, now that I am crippled?”
he challenged with a smoky huff.
“Don’t you put words in my mouth, Hrardorr,”
she said, getting angry. Little flames were flaring from her nostrils.
Hrardorr backed off and sighed. He sat on his haunches right there in the hall, looking defeated. She watched to see what he would do next. So far, this encounter wasn’t going at all the way she had envisioned.
“Still the feisty little Genlitha,”
he mused, almost contemplatively.
“You were a pretty little thing, in the middle of a growth spurt. I wanted to see what you would look like when your wings finished coming in fully, but I was sent away on my first assignment. I heard you’d done well for yourself over the years, though.”
“And I got sent here, to the Southern Lair, for my first assignment because my wingspan was so broad. I really learned to fly here,”
she reminisced.
“But you look as you always did. You still wear the colors of your sea dragon heritage. I never told you how fascinated I was by that, and by your skills on the river.”
If she were human, she would be blushing. Genlitha had never told him any of this, and she hadn’t really intended to do so now, but she wasn’t really following her plan anymore. Hrardorr was much different than she’d expected. So much about him had changed, yet he was still the dragon she’d once known. He was still the same…inside…where it really counted.
“I may look the same, but I am not the dragon I once was,”
he said with a strong flavor of melancholy.
“None of us stay exactly the same,”
she told him quietly.
“And some of us change more than others—not for the better,”
he challenged.
Silence stretched for a long moment before she tried a different tactic.
“I would like to fly with you again,”
she said in a soft tone.
“Now that I am not tripping over my wings, I would like to share the sky with you, as we did in the old days.”
“You may not trip over your own wings, but I am a hazard in the sky, and you may end up tripping over me, since I cannot judge distances anymore. I find it impossible to fly in any sort of close formation. I am useless as a fighting dragon.”
He stated his deficiencies with a mixture of anger, sorrow and frustration that hurt Genlitha to hear. She wished she could do something to help him, but she didn’t really know what. Maybe she should just try being his friend.
“I am here to teach the youngsters with exceptional wings how to fly in these turbulent currents. I’m sure I can manage to keep out of your way, Hrardorr.”
She tried to inject a bit of dry amusement into her tone, along with confidence.
Hrardorr’s head tilted as he seemed to consider her words. Finally, he nodded.
“Maybe you would at that. Well…”
He stood and shuffled forward a few feet.
“If you want to fly with me, I’m going down to the water. I have a date with a young lady to go fishing.”
“A lady?”
Genlitha was caught off guard. Was he seeing another dragon? Was he involved with another female? Genlitha certainly didn’t want to be a third wheel on an outing he was going on with another woman.
“I wouldn’t want to intrude. Perhaps another time?”
Genlitha was already backing away, searching for a deep hole in which to hide from her embarrassment.
“A
human
lady,”
Hrardorr clarified with unmistakable amusement.
“Strangely enough, I have made a human friend in the town. She goes fishing in her little sailboat, and I keep her company several times a week.”
“Oh, well, in that case…”
Genlitha felt the most incredible wave of relief. He wasn’t involved with another dragoness.
And that, right there, told her more than she had known about her own mixed feelings. She was still attracted to Hrardorr, even after all these years. More attracted than she’d realized.
“Come on then,”
he said, passing her in the hall.
His wingtip slid over her scales in a whisper of a caress that sent chills down her spine. Had he meant to touch her like that? Was it necessity or teasing? She had no idea as she followed him to the ledge and launched into the sky behind him.
He led her down to the water, and she flew little patterns around him, playing with him in the sky, though he couldn’t really join in the fun. He was aware of her. She could tell. His head and ears followed her wingbeats. She was sure he knew exactly where she was, even though he couldn’t see her.
When they neared the water, he finally spoke again.
“Do you see a little sailboat?”
“I see two boats with sails. One has a green stripe on its sail. One is plain.”
“That doesn’t help much, Genlitha,”
Hrardorr seemed more amused than upset at her unthinking reminder of visual clues that would be useless to him.
“My apologies. How do you usually find her boat?”
she asked, truly curious.
“I find it from below.”
“Truly? How in the world does that work?”
“Watch and learn.”
Hrardorr flew farther out and made a cautious approach to the surface of the water. Somehow, he knew there was nothing on the surface to obstruct his landing, and he made a graceful descent to the surface, and then…below it.
Genlitha stayed aloft, watching from above, awed by the sight of him just below the surface, swimming along almost faster than she could fly. From below, he took only a moment to get his bearings, then made a beeline for the boat with the striped sail.
He popped up a moment later, to sit on the surface of the water like some sort of giant duck, making not a ripple to disturb the little wooden boat. Genlitha saw a human female turn to greet Hrardorr, and there was something very familiar about the woman. Genlitha decided to fly down for a closer look.
“Hrardorr? How do you float like that?”
she asked, not sure she could emulate his posture on the surface.
“Splay your feet and use your tail for balance. You might also need to hold air in your bellows to keep you buoyant and maybe use your wings a bit. I’m not sure how a purely land dragon would manage this position, but I think it is possible with some adjustments.”
Now, he sounded both contemplative and amused. She liked the change in his attitude, but she was a little afraid she was about to make a huge fool out of herself.
“I’m going to try it. I’ll land a short distance away, just in case. I don’t want to cause trouble for your friend, or her boat.”
“Good thinking,”
he agreed.
“Let me know how you get on.”
Genlitha spent a few minutes panicking until she finally figured out how to keep her balance on the surface of the water without either sinking or capsizing. After another minute, she learned how to move through the water, using her feet to paddle. She made her way over to Hrardorr, feeling a sense of pride that she’d been able to figure it out, though of course, he couldn’t see her.
She heard clapping from the sailboat and looked over to find a smiling face she recognized.
“Mistress Livia?”
Genlitha asked, including Hrardorr in her thoughts as well.
“Lady Genlitha, it is good to see you again. You have done marvelously well learning how to float like our friend here. Well done.”
Livia’s good cheer made Genlitha feel better. At least someone had seen her accomplish what no other dragon in the Lair seemed to know how to do.
“Thank you, mistress. It is good to see you again as well. I did not know you were friends with Hrardorr.”
What followed was an eye-opening afternoon of conversation and fishing. To be fair, Hrardorr and Livia did the actual fishing. Genlitha merely did her best to stay afloat while Hrardorr was gracious enough to share his catch with her.
Genlitha was shocked to realize that Livia was on such close terms with Hrardorr. She was also fascinated to hear Hrardorr tease Livia about being sweet on Seth, the Lair’s healer apprentice. Pieces began to fall into place in Genlitha’s mind as a pattern began to emerge.
If Hrardorr were to choose a new knight…and if that knight happened to be Seth…and if Hrardorr was as attracted to Genlitha as she was to him…
It all made a neat sort of sense, but she didn’t speak any of her thoughts to anyone. Genlitha thought she saw a way to happiness for all five of them, but only time would tell if Hrardorr could ever get past his limitations enough to accept another knight.
For now, Genlitha would try to be patient. She would watch and wait, and bide her time. She’d work from the shadows, doing all she could to make the pattern in the mist solidify into a beautiful future for them all.
Seth had invited Livia up to the Lair, and tonight was the night. He went to get her and escort her up to the Lair, having secured dinner for her in a private room.
She was gracious company and looked around the Lair with enthusiasm. He noted that she wasn’t afraid of the dragons they passed in the hallways. She wasn’t frightened by the knights in their armor, weapons on their person. She was accepting of it all and met each new sight with an eager sort of interest that he thought was a very good sign.
After dinner, Seth showed her around the Lair, sticking to the areas where they wouldn’t run into too many single knights. Seth figured he would lose her soon enough. He wanted to spend this time with her, away from the possible suitors who would be after her like a shot once they realized she could bespeak dragons.
For just this little while, he wanted to keep her all to himself. Well…to himself and Gowan. He’d heard about their date from Hrardorr, who had heard it from Genlitha. He even sort of understood Livia’s attraction to the knight. Seth wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up mated to Gowan and whatever knight ended up as his fighting partner.
Seth hadn’t had the nerve to ask Genlitha if she was interested in any of the male dragons in the Southern Lair. For whichever dragon was her mate—that dragon’s knight would be Gowan’s fighting partner and the third in the human threesome. Seth hated the man already, even though he had no idea who he might be.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Oddly, Seth didn’t mind Gowan so much. How could he? Gowan was a brave and honorable knight. Seth counted him a true friend, and heaven knew, he’d had precious few of those since he’d made his choice to apprentice with Bronwyn.
They both knew the other had been seeing Livia. They hadn’t talked about it openly, but the dragons made sure each knew about the other. And the dragons—particularly Genlitha—seemed to want to make sure there were no hard feelings. She’d spoken to Seth directly about it after Hrardorr had told him. She’d asked a few probing questions about his feelings and made Seth recognize that he wasn’t angry or jealous, just…sort of sad that he’d never be part of Livia’s ultimate destiny, which he knew lay here at the Lair.
How could it not? She could bespeak both dragons and knights. She was a generous, beautiful, smart woman that any knight would be proud to claim as wife. Seth had admired her from afar for too long to pass up this opportunity to get to know her, but he knew—much as he could wish it were otherwise—that she would end up with knights. And Seth would never be a knight.
Never had he regretted that decision more.
Seth took Livia to all his favorite spots in the Lair. Spots that most of the knights didn’t frequent. The kitchens, the inner workings of the place where the magic happened, and of course, the healing rooms.
Bronwyn had long since retired for the night when Seth and Livia arrived at his little corner of the apothecary. He’d taken it over when the climb up the stairs had become too much for Bronwyn. He did all the heavy lifting now, including tending the heavier plants and bulkier items in this corner of the healing suite.
Seth showed Livia the wide balconies built right into the side of the cliff, where he tended hardy bushes and small trees that provided various healing herbs. There were also many, many potted plants and an ingenious irrigation system that Seth operated on a daily basis, taking care of his leafy charges.
He also just loved the view out here. He spent many nights on the balconies, looking out at the stars and contemplating the infinite. Never before had he brought a woman here. It was his special place.
“This is really beautiful, Seth,” Livia said in a hushed tone of reverence. “You can see for miles from up here.”
“I often think this is how a dragon must see. I’ve been aloft a number of times in my life, but even for someone Lair-born like me, it’s a rare experience.”
“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” she asked candidly, gazing out at the stars. “When Genlitha took me up that first time, I thought I’d be afraid, but it was so beautiful up there, among the clouds…” Her thoughts trailed off, but Seth understood. He’d felt much the same things the times he’d been invited onto a dragon’s back.
“It’s truly magical,” he agreed. “And I just wanted to say…” He wasn’t sure if this was a good idea, but he really wanted the air clear between them. He forged ahead. “Genlitha told me about you seeing Gowan. If you prefer him to me, I want you to know I understand.”
Livia looked at him, her mouth open in shock. She seemed so caught off guard by his statement it took her time to figure out what to say. His heart sank. She was probably going to try to let him down easy, but he waited to hear what she would say. He wasn’t a coward. He could take it if she rejected him. He hoped.