Legend of the Inero Dragon (19 page)

"I suppose you're right."

She watched him, hating the way he rubbed his
arms as though he were trapped in a corner. He didn't have to be.
Now was their chance to be free. "So when should we leave?"

He shook his head. "It'll be a lot harder for
us to simply walk away. I have a psychic connection to my brother,
for one. Plus, people are used to seeing me around the city. If I
disappear without good reason, they'll know I'm a traitor."

"You're not a traitor."

"My family will not see it that way. If I am
not for their cause, I am against it. Abandoning the country is
like an act of treason. No, we need an excuse to leave our
borders."

"I'm not sure I have any good ones," Gwen
said, her heart sinking to her stomach. When she glanced over at
Jason however, she saw him grinning from ear to ear. "What?" she
asked.

"We should take a honeymoon."

She raised an eyebrow, putting her hands on
her hips. "We should do what?"

"Go on a honeymoon. You require a change of
scenery and a place to escape the pressures of being a wife in
order to give yourself to me fully."

"I do?" She pursed her lips.

"I need to escape the pressures of my duties
in order to give you the attention you're due. Does that sound
better to you?" He still smirked.

Gwen sputtered, rolling her eyes. "I like it
better. It makes you more dependent on me. Because I'm—"

"Not my property, yes, I know. Whatever the
reason we feed them, it gives us a logical one to leave. Especially
when I add that you have always wanted to see the ocean, and how
the islands we share with the Terran border are stunning this time
of year." He clasped his hands together. "Trust me, we'll
practically be shoved out the door and not allowed back for at
least two or three weeks. After all, I have a lot of time to make
up for since I haven't bedded you properly yet."

"And how long will this take?"

Jason shrugged, moving back to her so he
could put his arms around her again. "Not too long. Leave it all to
me. I have to make it seem like it's my father's idea, or at the
very least my brother's. Otherwise they might think I'm being too
emotional about the situation. As of right now I have their
sympathies, but I'm not sure how much longer that's going to
last."

She breathed out sharply. Not exactly what
she had been hoping for. It did buy her some time to try and figure
out a way to tell her parents, though. She still dreamed of seeing
them again, and even though Jason had said they could try, she also
had to stay realistic. If they were going to flee the country,
there was no way she could visit them. Not without putting them in
danger. Chances were Gwen would never see her family again. If
there was a way for her to take her parents with, she would find
it, but the extra stop could ruin the plan. In the end, she knew
her parents would want her to be safe from harm more than anything
else in the world. It wouldn't stop her from writing them and
letting them know she was safe.

"You dragons are complicated," Gwen mumbled.
Politics in general were complex. Every time Jason explained things
to her, she understood it enough to follow along. It didn't change
how much everything annoyed her, though. Why did Jason have to be
involved in the first place? Why was it on
his
shoulders to
help save the world? And more importantly, why couldn't he live the
way he wanted? So much of what he did was overanalyzed and
ridiculed. The simplicity of home was one of the things she missed
the most.

"We aren't any more complicated than the
humans are. Which I think is something my people tend to forget.
The dragons aren't different from the regular humans. I'd like to
believe my father has the entire nation's best interests in mind
and not just our species. If that were the case, then there
wouldn't be so much suffering outside of the city. He's always been
shortsighted anyway. I mean, he has these big goals. He gets these
plans, which sound great in theory, but he doesn't research all of
the angles. I don't believe he's thinking about all of his people
here, but I don't know the last time I've seen him do something for
the humans that didn't involve them being a tool."

"I can't think of a time I've seen him do
something for anyone without them being used as a tool," she said
under her breath.

"Huh?"

"I didn't say anything."

"No, you did. Or have you forgotten that I
have excellent hearing." He folded his arms across his chest. "What
I want to know is how you know so much about my father without ever
meeting him? All of your experience with him has been
secondhand."

"I don't much like what I've been hearing.
These are my observations as an outsider, yes. If you want me to
think good things about him, then I would start telling me
something good. I can't help what I know, but you can."

"I don't want to fight," he said then left
the room.

I don't want to fight either
. She
breathed out slowly as she rolled her eyes. It was a defense
mechanism more than anything else. Rolling her eyes helped her hold
back her tears of frustration.

She pushed her bag to the side and out of
sight. They hadn't had visitors since Chris and Navi left.
Actually, the two had been the couple's only company since they
moved into the house. Gwen could count on one hand how many times
she'd seen Matthias over, and even then he never entered. The two
always spoke outside on the sidewalk or inside the castle where she
wasn't around. Still, she couldn't be too careful. She wasn't even
sure if she should have brought up the idea of leaving inside of
the house with how paranoid Jason was. Gwen had never been good
with discretion or holding her tongue period.
I need to learn
before I get us both into trouble.

The bag out of sight and out of mind, she
went after him. It took a lot to make him so angry. He only left
when he got mad. But she'd never been the cause before.

"Jason? Honey?" she called out, looking into
all of the rooms as she passed by. She found him outside on the
front doorstep. With a shaking hand, she reached out to touch his
arm.

"He's not all bad," he whispered.

"He's your father. Of course you don't think
that," she said, trying to understand. How would she feel if he'd
accused her father of being nothing more than a manipulative
monster? Jason scowled, and she realized then how horrible her
words must have sounded.

"What I mean is you love him. You've seen all
of the different sides of who he is. I would worry if you did think
he was completely bad," she explained while rubbing his lower back.
"What is he normally like?"

He released a heavy sigh. "Driven.
Passionate. He's always cared about me, though. Sure, he's not the
best at showing it, but he does have his moments. It's because of
him that you're here with me. He knew you would be the one. I don't
know how he does it, but he always has this way of knowing those
kinds of things about me. He's always given me the most amazing,
heartfelt gifts, and he just...knows things. I always took it as a
sign of love even if we don't spend as much time together. He's
always with Matt."

"Sounds like you were lonely."

"No, I do have a lot of other brothers. Most
of those I was close with have moved out of the castle and started
their own families. A few of the women took me on as their own. I
have three mothers."

"You've never talked about your mothers
before."

"You've never asked about her."

She bit her lip. "I wasn't sure if it was a
taboo subject, given how women are treated here. The wife politics
are almost as complicated as the ones between the dragon
races."

"More so, I think. The wives make it
personal." He laughed. While she didn't think it funny, she did
enjoy seeing the smile on his face again. "I've never met my birth
mother, Gwen. One rumor says she died shortly after we were born.
Another says she ran away. I have vague memories from when I was
three years old of being raised by a couple in the outskirts of the
city. I've always wondered if that was her. When I asked my father
about it, he was so angry with me he refused to speak with me for a
week. He apologized. I was young and curious. I learned fast not to
ever bring her up again."

She couldn't say anything. No words came to
her. Nothing seemed good enough. Thankfully, he continued before
the silence became too unsettling.

"I think what bothers me the most is I know
you're right. I haven't said anything nice about my father to you
since we met because there haven't been many nice things to say.
Deep down I know it's because he's changed into someone I don't
like and he's taking my brother along with him. I want to fix it
and I can't. That's the part that bugs me the most. I can't fix
it."

"It's not your job to."

"I'm the older brother. I've always felt like
it was part of my description to protect him and help him." His
eyes softening, he smiled ever so slightly. "The story goes that on
the day we were born, I was the first to hatch. I was in my dragon
shape, which isn't a common shape for newborns, I should add.
There's a myth floating around about how dragons born in this shape
are meant for greatness and are powerful in magic. I suppose it
could be true. Anyway, after I hatched, Matthias was apparently
having a hard time cracking out of his shell. Father says I
squawked the whole time, cheering him on. He always jokes about how
if I had been able to, I would have gotten up and pulled him out
myself."

"You'll find a way to help him some day,"
Gwen said. "Maybe this will all turn into some kind of a wake-up
call."
We can only hope.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Jason sat next to his brother at the
breakfast table. His hands were on his lap as he tried to figure
out how he was going to bring up his honeymoon plan. He had spent
the last four days thinking about how to word his request. He
couldn't come off as whiny or weak, but he still needed to maintain
some of his vulnerability to entice his brother's help. His
nervousness must have shown as he tapped his fingers on the table
because Matthias picked up on it right away.

"What's wrong?" he asked in a hushed voice,
leaning in toward Jason.

"It's Gwen," he said. He wanted to stick as
close to the truth as possible. He'd never been good at lying.
Growing up, his stepmother had called him the lie detector.
Matthias was the liar while Jason would be the one to give it
away.

What about Gwen?
His brother moved the
conversation to telepathy, which Jason greatly appreciated. The
snickering he still heard behind his back from his half-brothers
bothered him a lot more than he ever let on. He didn't need them
listening in and using it for more gossip material.

I think it's time.

Hopefully, Matt would understand what he
meant without any more details. He didn't know if he could explain
it further and keep a straight face. The idea of making love to
Gwen always brought the widest smile to his face. Especially once
he realized that it would happen one day and sooner than he'd
originally expected. Every day they grew closer to each other. He
knew her walls and apprehensions were starting to crumble. His
were, too. Everything he felt about relationships was changing, and
his skepticism about love was gone.

Matt stopped chewing, giving him a
side-glance.
You mean...

Jason nodded, amused by the reaction. He
buttered a roll and casually ate it, nodding appropriately at his
father who was currently addressing the entire table. It didn't
seem important, only praises for his sons and how honored he felt
to have them in the family. Nothing Jason hadn't heard before. Lynx
had a tendency to give this speech once every few months to keep
the young men's morale high.

Wow, that's a huge leap from where you
were last time we talked. What happened?
Matt asked.

We had a moment. Actually, we've had
several moments,
Jason said.

Sure sounds like it. So then why haven't
you… yet? You sound sure enough. I don't understand what's stopping
you now. Is she not at the same place?

I think she is. I wouldn't say it's time if
she wasn't. But she's restless here, unhappy. I don't know why.

Maybe she needs a friend.

I think she's homesick actually. Or tired
of the city, at least. You know she's from the country. She doesn't
understand this world we live in. I think that's why it's so hard
for her to make friends sometimes.
That part would not be
difficult for him to sell. It was the truest element of the entire
plan.
I don't know what to do, though. Taking her home could be
dangerous since we haven't consummated yet. She could run off, or
her parents might try something. I want to believe she's loyal to
me, but women are difficult to read.

Tell me about it.

So I'm sure you understand my dilemma now?
I've tried to offer her some romance, hoping to woo her and make
her forget the sadness. It doesn't help.

You need to be away from the distractions.
She needs all of your attention, not just parts of it when you have
time. I bet she feels insecure.

Do you think so?
Jason wanted to
laugh. Gwen was the last thing from insecure and she had no reason
to feel that way over their relationship. His eyes had never been
on another woman. If it got Matt to fall in line with everything
though, he'd play dumb. Playing dumb was the easiest lie for him
because he didn't have to say much of anything.

It's a possibility. I'm sure you could go
on a vacation. Your work at the castle isn't anything someone else
can't do for a little while, right?
It sounded like a
left-handed compliment. Matt had never talked less of him before,
so there was no reason to believe he would now.