Chapter 23
Keira ran to the window as Aaron flew from the castle and disappeared into the distance. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she sank to the floor, her body shivering uncontrollably. She buried her head in her hands and sobbed, heedless of the cold stone beneath her or the slowly ebbing fire in the grate.
A long time had passed when a knock sounded at the door and Cathryn entered the room. She held a cup which she lifted by way of explanation.
“I thought you could use a libation,” she said with a smile. She sat down beside Keira and handed her the cup.
“Favian told me what happened this morning,” she said. Keira shuddered at the mention of what she had seen, but she remained silent, her fingers absentmindedly turning the cup in her hand.
“I remember the first time I saw Favian as he truly is – a dragon first and foremost,” said Cathryn. “I was absolutely appalled, and horrified that I’d married such a beast. I refused to be anywhere near him for weeks after that. It took a long time for me to realize that the problem wasn’t with him, but with me. He was who he was, but I could not accept his dragon nature, even though I loved the man. But by not accepting the dragon, I almost lost both.” Cathryn gave a wry smile as she continued. “We were both so totally miserable – I’m sure he regretted taking me to wife many times over. And unfortunately, the lesson needed repeating before I finally grasped that if I loved him as I told myself I did, I needed to accept him completely. I couldn’t just pick and choose the parts I liked, and reject the parts I didn’t. Love means accepting the good with the bad, and loving the person regardless. It took a long time for him to finally see that I did love him, all of him, and that he could trust me enough to be himself around me.” Cathryn stopped, her expression filled with regret as she watched Keira.
“Keira,” she said, “don’t make the same mistake I did: Aaron loves you, but if you push him away, you will lose both the man and the dragon.”
Keira was silent as she gazed into the cup. “It was so horrible,” she finally whispered. “Aaron tore a man apart. The blood was dripping everywhere, and he seemed to be enjoying it.” Keira’s voice dropped as she remembered the horror she had felt.
Cathryn took Keira’s hand in hers and rubbed it between her palms, coaxing some warmth into her cold skin.
“The man you know wouldn’t even exist if he didn’t do these dreadful things, Keira,” she said quietly. “When our men become dragons, they allow their beastly natures to rise to the fore, pushing aside any intellectual thought. Do you think he could live with himself as a man if he condemned himself for his actions as a dragon? So yes, Aaron probably did enjoy his meal. But that doesn’t change the man. And in time,” Cathryn added, a little wryly, “you may actually start to enjoy watching the dragon being … a dragon!”
Keira looked at her in shock, but despite the color rising in her cheeks, Cathryn met Keira’s gaze steadily.
“I’ll send someone up with some food, and to stoke up the fire,” she said, pushing herself up from the floor.
“I’m sorry,” Keira said, her voice harsh from crying and raw emotion. “I’m not being a very good hostess. It should be me attending to you!”
“No,” Cathryn said, waving her hand airily. “There’s plenty of staff here to take care of our needs, so please don’t concern yourself. You need to rest before the ceremony tonight. And Keira,” she said, waiting for Keira to meet her gaze, “think about what I’ve said.” She smiled before quietly letting herself out of the room.
Keira watched as the door closed behind Cathryn, then pushed herself up from the floor and drew her cloak tighter around her shoulders as she went to stand before the fire. Only coals remained, but the stone floor around the fireplace still retained some heat. Another knock sounded a few minutes later, and the door opened to reveal one of the serving maids with a tray of food, which she placed on the table. She disappeared out the door, only to return seconds later with an armload of wood for the fire.
Wandering over to the table, Keira picked at the food on the tray, considering what Cathryn had said. She knew her friend was right, that she needed to accept Aaron for what he was; but the question was, could she? She’d grown used to the idea of drinking his blood, as much as it still disgusted her, but could she accept what he ate? Could she accept that along with the man, came the dragon?
She thought about the man she had married, and even though it had only been a week, she knew her life would be infinitely less without him. With him, she felt loved. When he wrapped his arms around her, she felt secure. He brought out sensations she hadn’t known existed – the racing of her pulse whenever he was near, the tingling of her skin when he touched her.
He hadn’t scoffed at her hopes and dreams, and shared his own as they clung to each other after passionate lovemaking. He was a mate who would satisfy her all her days – how could she possibly risk losing that? But then she remembered what she’d seen that morning, and revulsion churned her stomach, and the bile rose in her throat. She’d opened her heart to Aaron, but her mind could not reconcile him with the deadly monster of the dawn.
The sun was already high in the sky when Keira finally found a fresh gown and got dressed. She ran a wet cloth over her face to wipe away the last traces of tears before leaving the room. The corridor was quiet, and although she wondered where everyone was, she was grateful she didn’t need to face any judgmental – or worse, sympathetic – glances.
Hurrying along the corridor, she took the stairs down to the ground level and let herself out through a side door instead of risking the hall. Once outside, she glanced around, wondering where she could find Thomas. She searched for a while before finally locating him in the stables, giving directions to a stable hand. He looked up at the sound of her approach, quickly masking the look of surprise that suffused his features.
“Milady,” he said with a bow. “How may I be of assistance?”
Keira took a deep breath and looked him in the eye.
“Are there more prisoners in the tower, Thomas?” she asked, her voice giving no hint of the turmoil she felt inside.
“Yes, milady.” His expression turned wary as he watched her.
“I would like to see them, Thomas,” she said.
“Milady …” He paused, clearly uncomfortable. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“I’d like to talk to them a little, Thomas,” she replied, tension making her voice sharp. “Surely there is no harm in that.”
Thomas’s gaze wandered to the castle. “Why?”
“Because I want to understand why they’ve chosen to come to the dragon’s den,” she replied. Thomas turned back to her, and he stared at her for a few moments before slowly nodding.
“Very well, milady, but I insist on being present while you speak to the men.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything else,” she said, gesturing for him to lead the way.
The prisoners’ tower was in the far corner of the courtyard with an entrance that faced the outer wall surrounding the castle. Crossing the courtyard behind Thomas, Keira shuddered at what she had seen that morning, but a quick glance showed that all evidence of that morning’s grisly activities was gone; even the flagstones had been scrubbed clean of any bloodstains. Thomas led her to the door of the tower, telling her curtly to wait there before disappearing into the gloom of the building. He returned a few minutes later and gestured for her to follow him as he climbed a narrow flight of stairs, stopping outside a large wooden door.
A guard sat on a small stool, and Thomas nodded at him to open the door. The first thing Keira noticed upon entering the room was how warm it was. She had expected cold, drafty quarters with few furnishings, but instead a fire roared in the corner of the room and rugs covered the stone floor. A bed stood against the wall, with a quilt heaped on the straw mattress. A man sat on it, holding a chunk of wood in one hand and a small knife in the other. He reminded Keira of the men from her village – a little
unkempt, but with steady eyes and coarse, callused hands. A man who knew hard work.
“This is my Lady Drake,” Thomas told the prisoner. The man’s eyebrows rose as he looked at her.
“Drake?”
“The dragon’s wife,” Thomas said.
The man’s eyebrows shot up. “But she’s human.”
Thomas nodded, and the man turned back to Keira. “Milady.”
“What’s your name?”
“Simon,” the man replied.
“You’ve been condemned to death?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” The man looked surprised, and glanced at Thomas before answering.
“I killed a bailiff,” he said. “I didn’t mean to, but he caught me stealing. The wife was ill, the littl’uns hungry.” The man raised his chin slightly as he continued. “It wasn’t the first time I’d stolen, but the ’eavy saw me, and afore I knew it, he was dead at me feet. I’s caught before I’d a chance to run, and they sentenced me to ’ang.”
Keira nodded and cleared her throat before continuing.
“You have chosen to be killed by the dragon instead of the hangman’s noose?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Simon glanced at Thomas before answering. “Well,” he started, scratching his head as he considered his words. “Dead’s dead, see. It doesn’t matter to me how’s I die, and Thomas here said that if I let the dragon kill me then the dragon’d take care of the family. Feed and clothe ’em, I mean, maybe even find a place for ’em to live. If I faced the noose my family would be out on the streets – at least this way my death can bring some good.”
“You know that the dragon will eat you?” she asked. The man laughed, a hard, dry rasp that lacked humor. “Of course. That’s what dragons do. I s’pose dragons need to eat as much as you or me. Thomas here says it won’t hurt much. ‘Over afore you know it,’ he says.” Keira felt Thomas’s gaze resting on her as Simon spoke, but she ignored him as she considered the prisoner.
“Are you well looked after here?” she finally asked.
The man shrugged. “I sleep on a bed ’stead of a stinking, rotten pallet, and ’ave two meals a day. And I don’t ’ave to share the chamber pot. What more could a dead man want?”
“Thank you,” she said. She turned to Thomas and nodded, indicating that she was finished. Thomas followed her out of the room and waited for the guard to lock the door.
“Are you sure you want to see any more prisoners, milady?” asked Thomas. “The others are not so pleasant.”
“Yes,” Keira said firmly. Thomas indicated to the guard to open the next door.
“Stay close to me, milady,” he said in an urgent whisper as the door opened. Like the first room, it had a bed pushed against the wall, and a fire burning in the hearth. The room’s occupant was standing at the window, leaning against the wall as he gazed through the bars at the courtyard below. At the sound of the door opening he turned towards his visitors and looked Keira up and down in open perusal.
“‘Bout time you brought me a woman,” he said. “This looks like a pretty filly. I’ll give her the ride of her life.”
Thomas took a step forward, placing himself between the man and Keira as the man strode forward. He was of average height, with a paunch that strained against his stained tunic. His crown was balding, but long, greasy locks hung down the side of his face, while his leering grin showed a mouth of blackened and broken teeth. He smelled like he was in dire need of rudimentary hygiene, though Keira doubted it was due to an oversight by his jailors.
“Not another step closer,” Thomas said. “This is the Lady Drake.”
A brief look of astonishment crossed the man’s face before being replaced with a sly grin. “Don’t know how a dragon can satisfy a pretty thing like you,” he said, “but I’d be ’appy to show you what happens ’tween a man and woman.”
Beside her, Keira heard Thomas growl, but she held up a hand to forestall his protests even as she swallowed her disgust.
“Why have you been condemned to die?” she asked.
The man’s face turned to an angry scowl. “Killed the wife. Stuck a knife through her heart, and watched her bleed out.”
“Why?” Keira whispered in horror.
“It was her own bloody fault,” he said. “The bitch wouldn’t stop nagging. A man needs his freedom, but she was always bitching and complaining. Get a job. Earn some money. Didn’t want me hanging with me mates, either.” The man’s face was twisted in an ugly snarl. “She wasn’t even much to look at, ’specially after the brats came along. Should’ve been grateful to have a man, but she complained she was too tired to service my needs. Had to force her to do her wifely duty.”
Keira took in a deep breath, steeling herself as she asked the next question. “Why are you letting the dragon kill you? Is it because of your children?”
“My children?” he said. “Gawd, as if I care what happens to them. Why should the brats have it any better than me? I jes’ figured I would live out my last days in comfort – wine, food, a bed. Though I reckon I was deceived ‘bout the extent of the comforts. Haven’t had a woman to warm my bed since I got here.”
The man cast a scowl at Thomas, who shrugged tightly as he turned to Keira. “Milady, are you ready to leave?”
“Yes.” Keira suppressed a shudder and turned to go, feeling very ready to leave.
“Milady,” the man said with a snigger, “I’ll be waiting whenever you’re ready for a real man to ride you.”
The door slammed on his final words, as Thomas gave her an apologetic look. Keira shuddered before giving him a sympathetic smile. “I know you didn’t want to bring me here, Thomas, and you’re not responsible for that foul man’s words.” Thomas eyed her doubtfully as she continued. “Tell me, Thomas, what did happen to that man’s children?”
“Milord found a good home for them. They’re young enough that they can still be trained.”
“Good.”
Keira was thoughtful as she walked back to the donjon, Thomas silent by her side. He left her as she slipped quietly through the side door once again and hurried back to her room. She still shuddered at what Aaron had done, but the interviews with the prisoners cast his actions in a new light. As much as Aaron was bound by his dragon nature, his human nature still dictated that he act with as much compassion as possible. The realization made tears spring to her eyes as she remembered the condemnation she had felt towards Aaron that morning. Her reaction had forced him to reveal himself to her in the most blatant way possible, forcing the truth of what he was onto her. Cathryn was right. She needed to accept Aaron for everything he was, and she was suddenly eager to do so.
Keira glanced out the window to see that it was already mid-afternoon. She had not seen any of their guests all day, with the exception of Cathryn, and she felt a pang of guilt before pushing it aside. Her guests seemed quite capable of entertaining themselves, especially since she was barely more than a stranger to them. The ceremony was scheduled to begin at midnight, which meant Keira still had quite a few hours before she needed to be ready. She could only hope that Aaron would come back before then.