The Mating Game: Dating a Dragon(13)

“Yes, and it’s really going to piss them off,” Orion said with a fierce grin. “Likely to cost them a gold or silver mine.”

“Well, I can certainly get behind that.” However, his mother still regarded Cadence with the expression she might have used on smelling a spilled chamber pot.

“If I hear of anyone, and I mean anyone, being less than civil to her, then they answer to me. And I don’t need to tell you what an asshole I can be. Do I?” Orion ground out.

“No, Dominus,” everyone chorused.

He continued with the introductions. One of the women he introduced her to, a beautiful woman with thick black hair done in an elaborate braided bun, looked at her with particular hatred, and her eyes went briefly red when she shook Cadence’s hand. Her nails curved into claws, jabbing painfully into Cadence’s flesh before she jerked her hand away. Her name was Viola.

After she shook Cadence’s hand, she glanced at Orion with a simpering smile and arched her back so that her breasts pressed against the tight satin of her red shirt.

“Dominus.” She smiled sweetly, blinking her big brown eyes. “Sooo good to have you back. I’ll show the guest to her room now. I believe there’s a nice suite in the western tower.” She reached out to snare Cadence’s wrist, and Cadence quickly stepped back.

“We are in the beginning of courtship. She will be staying in my bedchamber,” he said coolly, and Viola’s eyes went red and stayed that way, her pupils like angry black slashes.

“Shall we?” he said to Cadence, leading the way through the enormous vestibule and towards a double circular staircase.

“She was an ex,” she observed as they trudged up the stairs and headed to the right.

“So to speak.”

“And you didn’t end up with her because she couldn’t have children?”

“No, that wasn’t the reason. She’s somewhat fertile, and she said she’d be willing to risk it. I just didn’t return her feelings.” He sighed. “Over the years, I’ve actually passed up on the opportunity to claim several women who were fertile. I was holding out for love. Until I gave up.”

She followed him down carpeted halls, past oil paintings of him and his family, and flickering torches set into the stonework, until they reached his room. It was so vast she could imagine getting lost in it.

She was staying in a bedchamber.

He had a four-poster bed with a velvet bedcovering, red with black dragons stamped into it. The sheets were black silk. The bed could have slept twenty. The floors were broad oak planks with thick Oriental rugs scattered across them.

“This is our room?” she asked, looking up at the vaulted ceiling.

“Yes, I want you here. That way I can be sure you’re safe,” he said. “I’m going to go make some calls to the Dragon Elders so I can find out exactly how angry they are about the Cedar Park incident.” The council of Dragon Elders was made up of half fire and half ice dragons, she knew, to ensure fair treatment of both sects.

The servants brought in her suitcases, which she insisted on unpacking herself, hanging her clothing in Orion’s closet, which was the size of a small apartment and which had racks and racks of hand-tailored suits.

Orion had floor-to-ceiling bookcases stocked with everything from classics to modern bestsellers. She grabbed an Agatha Christie mystery and settled down into a massive overstuffed chair. A few minutes later, she heard a rustling sound and the squeaking of floorboards.

“I can hear you, you know,” she said without looking up.

A young girl, maybe ten or eleven, came out from behind the tapestry where she’d been hiding. She was skinny and had light brown hair plaited in two French braids, and wore jeans with frilly fringes on the hems.

She put her hands on her skinny hips and scowled at Cadence. “Your dad killed my uncle and stole our silver mine. You’re our enemy,” the girl informed her.

“True,” Cadence said with a nod, still reading. “You should probably run along before I freeze you into a dragon pop.”

The girl’s eyes widened with alarm. “You can do that?”

Cadence channeled her inner dragon and looked up with a fierce glower. “Do you want to find out the hard way?”

The girl stood there and considered for a while. “Okay,” she said finally. “Show me. What flavor will I be?”

Okay, so apparently Cadence’s inner dragon was not very scary.

Cadence let out an exasperated breath. She turned and glanced at a flickering candle on a small table next to her chair. She took a deep breath and blew at it. The candle froze, coated with ice crystals.