Chapter Twenty-Nine

“Did she choose?” Garen asked. Sweet Mother, if she’d chosen him he would have to make her change her mind. He couldn’t let Skye give up his inheritance. The small box he’d retrieved from the bay weeks earlier rested heavily in his pocket, a reminder of what was at stake. After seeing Alec and Julia together, he believed there would be hope for him. If Alec could avoid the Renunciation and find a mate so late in his life, perhaps Garen would find someone else. The thought of not being with Melody sent an icy spike through his gut, but he would have time to heal from that. Without his inheritance, Skye would lose rank and status, two of the most important things to a dragon like him. Guardians, fortunately, had less to lose than the other members of their race.

Skye’s face was grim, however, his posture tense. “We have a few more days to convince her,” Skye said, striding past Garen where he stood on the steps of the wide deck at the back of the house. He paused just outside the door, and glanced up at the second floor window.

The sounds of lovemaking had subsided, but the concentration of energy in the upper floor of the house was as bright as a star. Skye had to be able to sense something of what was going on, but he just stood there, looking perplexed.

“He’s marked her,” Skye said softly. “Their auras are merged—and I can’t read either of them.” He let his hand drop from the doorknob, his shoulders sagging. With a sigh, he slumped down into one of the deck chairs and stared off in the direction he’d come from after talking to Melody.

Garen took the seat next to his friend. “She’ll come around,” he said. Once she heard his argument, he was sure she would choose Skye.

“I don’t know,” Skye said. “She’s conflicted. And I’m afraid I’ve already pushed her too far.”

Garen didn’t respond. He hoped Skye had pushed her far enough.

They sat without speaking for some time. Melody didn’t return, and the house grew quiet while the early autumn sun worked its way across the sky.

Five hundred years, Alec had held out that long before finding Julia. Garen himself was patient, too. A dragon like Skye couldn’t wait as long. And he’d seen them together, the morning after that first night. Melody had glowed radiantly, filled with Skye’s power and with something even stronger—the beginning of a bond and true affection. A similar deep glow had been at the center of Skye’s aura that morning, too. Staring up at the golden sun resting in the deep blue of the sky now made the decision seem even more right. Melody belonged with Skye, and whatever it was that had changed between them after that first night needed to be put right.

He refused to let himself consider the other half of his plan—the part where he gave them both up. As a Guardian, it was his nature to put those he served first and if anything, the ones he loved ranked even higher for that fact.

Yet he couldn’t stop himself from standing when Melody came striding out of the woods, down the garden path toward them. His heart pounded as she came toward them, her beauty even more vibrant than the row of sunflowers that lined the edge of the garden. The expression on her face was less grim and less full of despair than before. Now she was merely thoughtful, if somewhat resigned. She gave him a weak smile.

The smile brightened by a magnitude of a thousand a second later when the door opened behind him. He and Skye both turned.

A freshly mated human woman was a sight to behold, and one as beautiful as Julia simply took his breath away. The utter joy she exuded hit him hard enough to nearly obliterate his sadness. Alec was a Gold dragon, though, and considerably more powerful than they were, so Garen shouldn’t have been surprised. A pang of regret sliced through the joy with the knowledge that he wouldn’t be the one to evoke that look in Melody. He intended to leave before it happened.

“Mama!” Melody called, ignoring Garen and Skye completely and rushing to her mother. “My God, you look amazing!”

Julia’s face split into a wide smile. Tears glistened in her eyes when Alec came through the door and rested his hands on her shoulders. He gave Garen and Skye a self-satisfied look.

~“When are the two of you going to stop wasting time?” ~His expression grew stern for a split second before he turned to accept Melody’s tight embrace.

~“It’s up to Melody now,”~ Garen sent back.

Melody was absorbed marveling over her mother’s mark, a pretty glowing band that Alec had expertly etched around the woman’s delicate wrist. It gleamed like a piece of gold jewelry, and if Garen shifted his eyesight to filter out the magical aspect, it did look just like a beautiful gold cuff.

Julia’s gaze turned to Garen and Skye, her expression growing more solemn.

“Alec says you are like him,” she said. To Melody, she said, “And that you know already, even without having one of these.” She raised her arm up. “I wish you could have told me, honey.”

“I didn’t really know I was different until I met them,” Melody said. She finally shot a quick glance at Garen. “They showed me so much. And I wanted to tell you, these last few weeks, but Alec made me wait. Besides, I’m not really sure how I would’ve explained it at the time. How do you tell your mother the man she’s always loved is a dragon in human form? That they even exist?” Melody’s eyes widened and she looked at Alec. “Did you tell her about Anya and Viki?”

“He did. A little bit, at least,” Julia said. “But none of that is important right now. What’s important is making sure you’re happy, too. Baby, I don’t want you to go through life lonely. Please tell me what’s going on with you—why these two men who clearly seem to care for you are here and you’re ignoring them. After what you told me last week …”

“Mom, I don’t want to talk about it right now, okay?” Melody said. “Can we please just celebrate for you and Alec tonight? I’ll start cooking. Let’s invite Anya and Viki, too. Make a party of it. You have no idea how happy this makes me.”

Without another word, Melody left them, heading into the house. In spite of her words, happiness only gave the smallest glimmer to her aura.

Garen shifted his posture when Julia looked at him again.

“Which of you is the one making my daughter miserable?”

Garen glanced at Skye, hesitating. A mother’s wrath wasn’t something they took pleasure in. Making ~this~ woman happy would likely go a long way toward turning Melody around, in fact.

“I’m afraid it’s both of us,” Skye said. “And we’re trying to fix it, but it’s going to take more time.”

A shrewd look crossed Julia’s face and she nodded. “Well, you’re welcome to stay until it’s worked out, as long as Melody is okay with the arrangement. Do you two share a room? I only have the one spare room with a queen-sized bed—and the living room sofa is a pull-out.” She glanced between them, one eyebrow raised as she considered their size. When he and Skye didn’t answer, she shook her head.

“Doesn’t matter. I’ll let you two work it out. Linens are in the upstairs hall closet. Under the circumstances I’m not inclined to treat you as guests. There’s gardening work to do tomorrow, and we’re starting first thing in the morning. If either of you cook, you’re welcome to make meals, too.”

Julia went back inside, but Alec stood eying them both, his thick arms crossed over his t-shirt clad chest. He’d let his eye color shift to its natural golden shade, which lent an incongruous effect to the image. Gold dragons tended to be more easygoing, but Garen had to admit, Alec was the first he’d ever met in the context of wanting to mate someone’s daughter, adopted or not.

“Can you two explain why she’s showing a dual bond? The last time I checked that was still against our laws. You two aren’t Court and don’t have the leverage to get special treatment. I don’t want Melody dragged through a Council visit and see you two forced to submit to them. I’m giving you a week. One of you will mark her by the end of it. She’s confused now, I can see that, but it’s up to you to change her mind.”

“We don’t want to deal with the Council any more than you do,” Garen said. His skin prickled at the very idea of having to submit to those six imposing immortals. He’d seen dragons in the aftermath of having to do just that. At least, the ones whose magic they didn’t outright bind for breaking the law. That’s what he and Skye might be in for if they both mated Melody. In past generations, binding would mean slavery. Slavery had been abolished with the new brood’s ascendance, but the Court needed to maintain some manner of punishment for dragons who broke the laws, and being sentenced to binding for a time was their compromise.

Submission to the Council would leave a dragon with the ability to use his or her powers, but essentially indentured to the Council for a sentence that they would determine. Normally a dragon would come away from the experience different—subdued and with little sexual appetite, leaving them unable to please their human mates and only able to find release by submitting to their superiors. He knew four dragons from his own generation who had been required to submit for dual-mating of a human. Those dragons had been able to offer a suitable compromise to the Council to avoid that sentence, but Garen knew neither he nor Skye would have that option. Melody’s happiness was far too important to risk it. It would be better if she chose Skye and let him make her happy. Especially if the alternative was no better than being alone.

“Good,” Alec said, his demeanor shifting to the bright, infectious joy of a Gold dragon. He stepped between them and slung his arms around their shoulders. “Now we have need to celebrate, but I do expect results from you two soon.”

“What about you?” Skye asked as they made their way to the French doors that lined the back of the house along the deck.

“What about me?” Alec asked.

“You’re here—you’re alive, outside your own generation. Last time I checked, ~that~ was against the law, as well.”

Alec paused and looked at Skye. “Not anymore, it isn’t. I made my argument to the Council before I came back for Julia. They’d already given dragons like me amnesty. Unbound as well. The Hibernation and Renunciation are no longer compulsory, either. I’m surprised Kol didn’t tell you this.”

Skye blinked at him, and for the first time since Garen had known his friend, he looked ashamed.

“The document is on my desk,” he said. “I didn’t read past the section on dual mating. Didn’t have the patience for it.” His blue eyes met Garen’s briefly, the gaze accompanied by a sad smile.

Garen had read all the new laws in detail. He’d paused at the section Skye had mentioned, but hadn’t been surprised. Two dragons mating a single human defeated the purpose of procreation. There had apparently been a compromise between lifting that law or the one allowing two dragons to mate each other—and even the revision of that one had carried too many qualifiers for his taste, limiting the mating to a male-female pair, to begin with, unless the dragons were able to meet a long list of other requirements, all of which were designed to ensure the proliferation of their race.

He hadn’t spent a lot of time worrying over the implications. Skye had shown no inclination to consider him more than a means to an end, and his own inability to find release with anyone else left him wishing he ~had~ a reason to care about those laws.

Sensing his confusion, Skye’s voice whispered in his mind. ~“I would have mated you, if I believed we could pull it off.”~

~“She’s going to choose you, friend. If it’s the last thing I do, it will be to see you with your mother’s power and the woman you love.” ~

With that, he stepped away from them, and headed toward the kitchen to lend his skills to the meal preparation.