No one will get near him.”
Shalin sighed again, and Ailean knew he’d won. At least he’d won this particular argument. He sensed other fights wouldn’t be so easy.
“I’ll go with you.”
Ailean forced himself not to grin. He sensed she wouldn’t appreciate it and his scalp still stung. “Thank you.” With that, he took several steps back from her and extended his wings in preparation to take flight, but stopped a moment, compelled to make something very clear.
“Shalin?”
She’d just unfurled her wings, ready to follow, when she looked up at him.
“There’s something you should know.”
She merely tilted her head, waiting for him to continue.
“I am sorry this happened, and I’ll do what I can to fix it—but I’m not sorry I kissed you.” He winked as her eyes widened in surprise. “She’ll not make me regret that.”
3
Shalin had so many things that annoyed her at the moment, she wasn’t sure what topped her list.
Perhaps the dress she had to wear? A brazen dark red that was much too big for her, since it belonged to one of Ailean’s cousins. Big enough that she constantly tripped over the hem and couldn’t seem to keep both sleeves on her shoulders at the same time. Every time she adjusted one side, the other slid off and every male eye in the house seemed to focus right on her.
Or perhaps the fact she wasn’t in a lovely cave. No, she was in a…a…
Shalin glanced around and barely contained her annoyed growl.
She was in a castle. A bloody castle. What dragon willingly lived in a castle? A nice enough castle, to be sure, but a castle. If she shifted and spread her wings here, she’d take out a good portion of the Great Hall.
Or perhaps that, because she was in this castle, she had to remain human—all the time. When they’d first arrived, Ailean had actually shown her to a bedroom…with a bed in it! A bed he expected her to sleep on!
Now, true enough, she’d been living among humans for quite some time, but that had been different. A necessity. The sacrifice she’d been willing to make to further her knowledge. But to live this way on purpose irritated her.
And although all those things annoyed Shalin to the point of distraction, she’d begun to realize that what annoyed her most of all, what had her teeth grinding, her hands tightly clenched in her lap so she wouldn’t unleash her claws, and kept her gaze focused on the floor to stop herself from showing the growing rage and annoyance in her eyes…
What annoyed her—was them.
Not just Ailean’s brothers. Or an uncle or two. But all of them. The entire Cadwaladr Clan from within a league. And, even worse, they never shut up. She’d never heard anything like it. Like a tree full of hungry crows, but with much more rough language and abrupt changes of topic. Now Shalin understood why Ailean cut her off so often…they all did it to each other constantly. If one wanted to be heard among this brood, one literally had to scream.
Since Shalin didn’t scream, she merely kept her hands in her lap, her head bowed, her eyes on the floor, and her mind as far away from this place as she could imagine. While they all shouted at each other, Shalin flew in the bright bronze skies of Alsaindair. She’d only gone once to the desert lands with her father, but she’d never forgotten. And the desert dragons themselves had fascinated her. The same colors as the dragons of Dark Plains but there was a shiny bronze overlay to their scales she absolutely adored. They’d looked like jewels to her, and she’d been fascinated by their history and language and lifestyles.
So focused on her own thoughts, it wasn’t until someone gently tapped her shoulder that she realized they’d all finally gone silent. Yet she sensed that was only because they were waiting on her to say something. What exactly, Shalin had no idea.
Clearing her throat, she looked up and found them all watching her. Good gods, what exactly had they asked her?
“I’m sorry, I—”
“Now, no need to apologize, lass,” one of Ailean’s aunts told her while patting her hand. “This isn’t your doing, now, is it?”
Before Shalin could respond, the entire room erupted into angry shouts about Adienna, and Shalin lost the thread of conversation yet again.
Frustrated, Shalin pulled her right dress sleeve onto her shoulder. Of course, that only meant the left fell off the other side, hanging low on her arm. Knowing he watched her, Shalin glanced over and, as she suspected, Ailean stared at her from behind several rows of his kin. He smirked and raised an eyebrow. If she could have reached him, she would have slapped his face.
She wished she’d aimed her tail lower. Perhaps cutting his vocal chords would have eased her growing resentment.
Enjoying that vision more than she should, Shalin let her gaze slide back to the floor and back to the images of her flying.
Flying anywhere but here.
“You’ll need to leave her be, Ailean.”
Surprised, Ailean glanced at his aunt. One of his mother’s bloodline. When his mother had died, his Aunt Briaga had done what she could for Ailean and his brothers, when not dealing with her own offspring or in battle.
“What are you talking about?”
“You and the innocent. Stay away from her.”
“Why?”
His aunt gave him that look she used to when he’d bang his head into walls to see how long before he could actually break through. “Look at her. Poor, shy little thing.”
“Shy? Her?” He watched Shalin for a moment and saw how his aunt could make that mistake. Sitting there with her back straight, the dress she wore slipping off all the best places, but still managing to look innocent and untouched, hands in her lap, eyes downcast. But Ailean was no longer fooled by Shalin the Innocent. “She’s not shy.”
“Och! Deniela, tell him.” One of his father’s many sisters, Deniela had two things to her name. Her lethal way with a battle ax and that she was the mother of the Cadwaladr Twins.
“Tell him what?” Deniela asked, chewing on what better be dried cow. Ailean forbid the eating of humans on his territory. He’d already had to clear up a few things for Shalin when she’d casually asked, “Is she dinner?” as one of his servants had walked by with two water buckets from the kitchens. The buckets hit the floor, and water went everywhere.
And then there had been the hysterical screaming…
That was when Shalin realized the humans in his territory knew exactly who and, more importantly, what he was. That had confused her, which he had to admit, he enjoyed doing. The look on her face was comical and adorable all at the same time.
Briaga leaned across Ailean and said to Deniela, “Tell him he can’t be bothering the little dragoness. Look at her up there.”
“Och.
