Dating A Dragon(20)

“She’s not going anywhere,” Orion said, stepping in front of her. “Because in fact, she may already be fertilized with my eggs.”

“What?” Humphrey gasped in outrage. “You…you bespoiled her?”

“Oh, puh-leeze,” Cadence snorted. “I was bespoiled when I was in high school. And it’s happened several times since. I’m more bespoiled than milk left in the hot sun for a week, in fact, so I’m no good to you. You should just fly on back home.”

“There has been no wedding,” Humphrey continued, ignoring her.

“Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t affect what happened in my bedchamber. The law says that if she is carrying my eggs, then nobody else can claim her, and tests won’t show whether she’s carrying those eggs or not for several weeks. So flap off, Humphrey.” Orion’s eyes glowed red. “Or we can take to the sky right now.”

Humphrey took a step back, eyes flashing blue with anger, and a cold cloud of vapor rushed from his nostrils.

“This is unprecedented,” Humphrey spluttered. “It is outrageous. I shall demand the Elders hand her over to me.” He stormed off, with his men following him.

She was too shocked even to fight over the temperature as Frederick drove them back to Garrison Keep.

“Are you sure you want to go that far?” she asked him. “What will happen in a few weeks when it turns out that I’m not carrying your dragonlings?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Who says you won’t be?” he said with a roguish grin, and then he reached over to the thermostat – and turned it down two degrees.





Chapter Eight




“Play nice with the other children. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Orion said as Frederick pulled up in front of the Lyndvale Parks and Recreation Center.

“Don’t set people on fire if they annoy me, in other words?”

“Exactly. Tends to make a bad first impression.” Orion winked at her as she climbed out of the car.

She headed up the steps, her mind still in a whirl of confusion. After Orion had mentioned that bit about dragonlings, he’d taken her back to the castle and then flown off to deal with some mining business in the north part of the state. He’d been courteous to her ever since then, but hadn’t flirted with her any more.

It had just been flirting, right? Just joking around?

Cadence’s phone rang as she walked into the building. A picture of a daisy appeared on her screen as it rang, so she answered. “Hello, Daisy,” she said.

“I’m twenty months pregnant,” Daisy complained to Cadence.

“Not biologically possible. Next month you will have a baby and I will be Auntie Cadence.” She paused in the lobby, which was decorated in the town’s dragon theme, with oil paintings of dragons in flight adorning the walls.

“Hi, Cadence!” Wynona called into the phone. “Orion didn’t actually have to pay triple my usual fee, but it was very much appreciated!”

Orion had paid the mating agency fee? That was hardly necessary, given that he was just using her as an irritant against the ice dragons. Wasn’t he?

“What would it mean if Orion had only flirted with me but hadn’t made a definitive move yet?” she asked Daisy in a low voice, glancing around to make sure she wasn’t heard. There were people milling around the lobby, and she could see big double doors opened to a room in the back.

“He’s taking it slow!” Wynona called out. “He’s being respectful!”

“I would agree,” Daisy said. “Ryker courted me when we first met. Be grateful that Orion’s not one of those types who just tries to jump your bones the minute he meets you.”

Cadence hadn’t told them about how Orion had agreed to take her in because it would royally piss off her father’s clan. It wasn’t necessarily a great idea to spread the word about that, given that Orion’s subterfuge was the only thing saving her from being hauled off to some ancient ice dragon’s lair to endure a forced mating.

“Yeah, probably. All right, I’ve volunteered for this Fire and Ice Festival planning committee, and I’m about to head into my first meeting.”

“Oooh, that sounds like a great festival! I want to come. When is it?”

“July.”

“Perfect. Junior Harrison will be a couple months old by then. Old enough to travel.” She and Ryker still didn’t know if it would be a boy or a girl; they wanted it to be a surprise. Harriet, Ryker’s mother, was madly knitting and crocheting and sewing in both blue and pink, and she was going to save whatever they didn’t need for future grandchildren.