A Dragon's Tale Ch. 28

"I'm sorry you ended up bonded to me though." He sighed.

Suddenly, she didn't feel so well at all. Her throat got tight and her heart seemed intent on digging hole straight down to Saidow's lair.

"You're... you're sorry?" She got out.

"For you, not for me." He said as he yawned, clearly oblivious to her inner turmoil. "I'm tickled pink that you bonded to me; I just know that you didn't want it."

"Oh." She breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm... I'm not sure I'd say that."

"Say what?" He looked at her.

She glanced at him as her mouth curved into a small but contented smile. "I wouldn't say that I didn't want it."

* * *

Ethan blinked at her.

Rachel's blue eyes were shining in both happiness and uncertainty, but there was no denying the look she was giving him. The chorus of the country song "must be doing something right" started playing in his head. All he could think of as he looked at her was the line in the chorus that talked about "those deep blue 'need you' eyes."

He cocked his head to one side as he looked back at her. She was looking at him now similarly to how his other wives did, yet completely different too. He saw the same loving expression, but also a fierceness too. That tender vulnerability that she'd show him only a few times before was back. However, this time it didn't seem so... so raw. It was open and vulnerable, but unlike the previous times her strength didn't seem to have faded either. On the contrary, it was like he was looking through a small window into an impregnable fortress; a window that was open just for him and no other.

He couldn't sense her emotions -- the bond was too new -- but she looked like she was happy.

Hmm.

"Why Rachel Delmar, If I didn't know better I'd say--" He stopped as she gently put hand on his chest.

"It's not RachelDelmar anymore, is it?" She looked at him hopefully.

He couldn't have stopped himself from smiling even if he wanted to. "No Mrs. Ejder. No it's not."

She smiled sheepishly, but there was no mistaking the shining happiness in her eyes. "Could you say that again? Please?"

"Mrs. Ejder."

She closed her eyes, sighed softly, and then rested her head on his shoulder again. "I like that."

"Yeah." He replied softly, smile still on his face. "Yeah it's pretty great."

A noise to his other side made him look, and he saw Kendra looking like she was about to vomit. Seriously; the dragon huntress looked very green around the gills and she was actually holding her mouth shut. She looked like she was purposely tryingnot to make noise, but couldn't help it. She wasn't acting either.

She was dry heaving.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked.

She closed her eyes and held up her hand, indicating she just needed a minute, while continuing to hold her mouth shut with the other. At least she wasn't throwing up like she did in the Arena; that would be a disgusting mess in this cell.

"Sorry to ruin the moment." Kendra said after a minute when she looked slightly better. "But please warn me next time you do... that."

Ethan and Rachel looked at each other, and he had the sudden urge to kiss the redhead just because of the dragon huntress. Though, he wasn't sure if he would be doing it to tease or out of spite. Either way, he surely didn't want his first kiss with Rachel to be for either of those reasons.

"Why do you hate dragons so much?" Rachel asked.

The image of a house burning with dragon's fire flashed into his mind, but he didn't think it was his memory to share, so he kept silent.

"I'm not fond of plagues either." Kendra retorted.

Ethan looked at her. The first several times they'd met she had been such a threat he hadn't bothered no notice anything beyond rough details and weapons. Now he was really looking at her for the first time.

She was wearing clothes very similar to what Rachel used to wear; practical and sensible slacks and a blouse, though not un-feminine. Her hair was jet back and pulled back into a ponytail. If it had been loose, it would probably fall to her armpit. She was attractive, but somehow it seemed like she'd purposely played that down. Given her profession, he wasn't surprised.

He found himself wondering what she would look like if she was all cleaned up and wearing something nice. He guessed she would be an attractive woman, but more the 'girl-next-door' type of attractive. She had a slim, athletic figure and appeared to have medium-to-small breasts. She had a deadly grace in how she usually moved too that his other wives didn't share.

"What?" Kendra said with an edge as he looked at her.

"Just looking." He sighed.

"Well don't." She glared at him and then turned away, or at least as much as she could in the small cell.

That thought about closeness made him think of the two wives who weren't there. He felt his shoulder slump as he realized that by now they'd be out of the city. He reached out through his bonds to them and could feel them, but could also feel that they were far away.

It created an almost physical ache.

He could feel both his human heart and dragon instincts bristling at his wives being so far away. He hated it. The dragon hated it. His human side and dragon side rarely ever fully agreed with each other, but on this they were completely united. He could feel his dragon half almost seething at the separation, and a lot of that was trying to spill over into his mood. Life just wasn't the same without them around.

"Ethan." Rachel whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I'm not sorry I bonded to you." She said softly. "I had a choice and I made it. I'm not sorry I did."

He smiled. "Good. But...?" He prompted; it sounded like there was a 'but' coming.

"But I can't be like your other wives." It almost sounded like she was apologizing. "I'm going to be... difficult. I won't try to be, but I think I will be."

He shrugged. "That's what makes you, you."

"And that's okay?"

He nodded. "Rachel, I likeyou; not because you're like my other wives, but because you'reyou."

"Okay." She gave him a half smile. "But we should talk more about this later." She snuggled against his shoulder again. He could tell she wasn't completely mollified, but didn't want to push it here. This was a conversation that should take place on the Argo with some privacy.

"It's a date." He nodded. "And speaking of being difficult, how about we figure out how to be difficult to keep in this damned cage?"

Her smile turned into a grin. "That I can do."

* * *

Kendra sat with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face as she listened to Ethan and Rachel try to figure out how to escape. She chimed in occasionally, but mostly with a terse comment or to point out the stupidity of some new idea they'd concocted. She did the latter with Ethan more than was strictly necessary.

Taloni was still fast asleep with her head in her husband's lap, just as she had been all morning. She looked content; happy. Similarly, Rachel and Ethan were also sitting next to each other in an undeniably affectionate way while they were planning. She couldn't help but imagine being in either of his wives positions and felt herself shudder in disgust whenever she accidentally did so.

He being so sweet and kind to the redhead and affectionate with the sleeping Fey girl.

Asshole.

His bond must already be affecting her. The dragon huntress had been taught how to shield her mind from attack. Part of that was sensing what was going on in her own mind. As a result, she could sense things long before anyone else would be able to.

She could feel him.

It was tiny, it was faint, his presence was absolutely miniscule... but it was far too much. If she concentrated extremely hard, she could start to feel the flickers of emotions from him. They were barely more than an insubstantial, ghostly impression; but even that was far too much. She remembered her training and built the most powerful mental fortress she possibly could around it to keep him out of her head.

There was no way she was going to let a dragon influence her.

Ever.

"Any ideas?" Rachel whispered to her, probably to prevent being overheard by any of Lord Delmar's men who might be nearby.

Kendra shook her head curtly and then resumed her brooding, stoic silence.

Ethan frowned, then whispered. "So, dragon fire is out because I can't do it and we'd light the room on fire, burning us alive. The bars are too strong to bend, and Rachel, you can use magic because of the collar."

"Pretty much." The redhead replied equally quietly.

"So all roads point to one direction; we need to get that collar off of you." Ethan finally said, taking a closer look at her neck.

He wasn't looking at her collar.

He was looking at her neck.

To be sure, he was looking in the general direction of the collar, but the light touches he placed around it while 'examining' it left Kendra in no doubt that he was equally interested in the redhead's slender neck. Judging by the contented smile on the redhead's face, she was no less interested in his touches. Kendra felt the urge to vomit again as she accidentally imagined what it would be like for him to touch her neck like that.

After looking at it for a bit, Ethan looked at Rachel in the eye and whispered. "Do you trust me?"

The redhead hesitated a moment, then nodded.

He raised his index finger and slid his claw from its sheath. Rachel took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, but didn't move. Instead she closed her eyes, nodded to him, and arched her head back exposing the sensitive skin of her neck completely, and apparently trusting him completely. He carefully slid the tip of the claw between the sensitive skin of her neck and the leather collar, with the sharp tip of his claw facing away from her neck, and then dragged his claw outward, trying to cut the collar.

It didn't work.

"That collar is very tough." He said when he'd looked closer.

"Yeah, they're usually made from dragon leather so they have enough room to hold the proper enchantments. Regular leather won't do it." Rachel sighed.

"There are different grades of leather for enchanting?" He asked.

"Do you know nothing?" Kendra said with a scoff.

Ethan and Rachel stared at her.

"What?"

"Anyway..." Rachel pointedly turned away from Kendra. "Yes there are different grades. Regular leather can take an enchantment, but not much of one. Higher grades of leather where the animals were specifically raised to make their hides ideal for enchanting can usually take two decent ones. Most enchanted leather that you see will be of this grade. Often it's a self-healing enchantment paired with a hardening enchantment that stiffens the leather and make it hard to cut. It's not quite as good as steel and it's much more expensive, but it's lighter and more portable."

"Ah, that's why you don't see it much."

"Yup." The redhead nodded. "Anthiel's shield is almost certainly of this grade. It's not as good as a steel-clad shield, but slightly better than a wooden shield and lighter than either would be. Though of course, an enchanted leather shield is far more expensive than a regular wooden shield."

"Her shield isn't always stiff." He pointed out.

"It's an enchantment you can activate or deactivate, like your disguise gem."

"Ah, okay." He nodded. "What about dragon leather then?"

"It hasfar more room to hold an enchantment." The mage turned to Kendra. "I'm guessing your vambraces are made from dragon leather?"

She nodded, not adding that much of her equipment was enchanted in one way or another. Dragon hunting was dangerous, and required the best equipment money could buy.

"That's why her vambraces can not only act as armor, and I'm guessing they're also self-healing?" She looked at Kendra again.

The dragon huntress scowled, but nodded.

"So they can hold both the usual enchantments, plus one that increases her strength." Rachel explained.

"I've got to get me some of those." Ethan mused. "It would've helped a lot against Kyrupto."

"They don't make you that strong." Kendra rolled her eyes and scoffed again.

They ignored her.

"So your collar is almost certainly made from dragon leather." He said to Rachel as he looked at it again. "So, it clearly has a hardening enchantment, but does it have a self-healing enchantment?"

"No idea, you'd have to ask Alana."

By now, Kendra was learning to recognize when Ethan was telepathically communicating with his wives. He tended to tilt his head just slightly and his eyes would go slightly unfocused. She couldn't understand how anyone could let a dragon into their mind. Of course, he truly did seem to care about his elven wife... and his blonde wife... and Taloni, and Rachel...

Asshole.

"Alana says it probably does self-heal, but said that if I made my claw super sharp and worked quickly, I could probably get through it faster than it could repair." Ethan said a minute later. "But my claws can't cut it."

"Yet." Rachel said with a twinkle in her eyes.

Ethan grinned. "I sense an enchanting opportunity."

"You have no gold to get mana." Kendra pointed out, not even trying to hide her annoyance.

Ethan opened his mouth to reply and then closed it. He seemed to think for a moment, and then turned to Rachel. "I could use regular mana donated from you three."

Rachel and Kendra both chuckled.

"What?"

"Dragons can't enchant themselves with mana from someone else." Kendra sighed. God he was ignorant.

"To be fair they can, it just won't stick very long." Rachel countered. "A few hours maybe."

"Same difference." The dragon huntress retorted.

"Why won't it stick?"

"Remember how dragons make gold resonate to draw mana from the Ether?" Rachel asked.

He nodded.

She continued. "Well, the resonance frequency from a dragon's gold is different from all other mana, and each dragon is different from every other. As long as a dragon is alive, it's constantly using mana of that frequency and it pushes out mana of any other. You can get an enchantment to stick using other mana, but it will be wiped away in short order."

"Okay, I'll use my own mana to make a razor sharp claw tip then." He said, looking at the index finger of his right hand. "Might take a few days to get the mana though."

Kendra shook her head at his stupidity.

"What?" He asked.

"There's no gold." She said with a sigh. "How in Illuminar's name are you going to get mana for enchanting without gold?"

"That's for me to know and you to wonder." He grinned at her. "Give me a few days and you'll see."

* * *

Ethan smirked slightly at the confused expression on Kendra's face. He was getting rather tired of her constant badgering. He could almost hear how Taloni would be asking him to be nice to her if she was awake. Then he remembered the loneliness he'd felt from Kendra when they bonded and the reason she hated dragons. It didn't make her behavior better, but it help him understand a bit.

Shrugging his shoulders, he focused on his mana and the very tip of the claw on his right index finger. He knew by now that all he needed to do was focus on what enchantment he wanted and his dragon side would handle the details. He may not be able to enchant so much as a piece of leather outside his body, but inside anything was possible.

Once it was done, he tried cutting into Rachel's collar again. His claw definitely made a mark, but it disappeared fairly quickly. He figured his initial guess was right; it would take a few days. Fortunately, he had three wives -- well, two wives plus Kendra -- to feed him mana.

He grinned.

He could only imagine what Kendra's reaction would be if she found out that she was helping him to collect mana just by being around him. He almost wanted to tell her just to see her reaction, but still didn't trust her enough.

The next few hours were extremely boring.

Taloni woke up and settled in next to him, which was wonderful. A soldier gave them four bowls of unappetizing slop to eat. They did because they were famished, but it was pretty gross. The hole in the prison floor leading to a pit that functioned as their toilet thankfully didn't stink as much as he thought it would, but the smell certainly didn't improve the eating experience.

He guessed it was about lunchtime that Lady Ekthros re-entered the room. The devious look on her sharp, angular features made him slightly nervous.

"Good morning to the newlyweds; enjoying the honeymoon?" She asked.

Everyone glared at her.

"Why are we here? And frankly, why aren't we dead?" Kendra said without uncrossing her arms or removing the sullen expression from her face.

"You aren't dead because you will be made an example to all those who would defy Lord Delmar." She turned to Rachel. "You aren't dead because your father still refuses to give the order, despite having promised to do so." For some reason, Ethan thought the woman looked slightly annoyed at that.

Lady Ekthros turned to Taloni. "You're still alive because you'll prove very useful in keeping your friend compliant."

The Fey teen gave her a withering look, which didn't affect the other woman at all.

"And you Ethan." She smiled, and not from mirth. "We have great plans for you."

"Plans?" He asked, getting a sinking feeling in his gut.

"Oh yes."

She didn't elaborate.

"So what brings you here on this unpleasant afternoon?" Rachel asked dry.

"I find that having something to look forward to can help in hard times." She replied. "I'll return in a week and move you to your respective destinations, and away from my other valuables." She turned to Kendra. "You're going to be such a wonderful mother to all those little dragons; you'll be such a boon to our dragon breeding program."

Kendra clenched her fist so hard her knuckles turned white, but didn't reply.

"I also wanted to see how the happy couple was getting along." She said as she turned to leave. "Enjoy what's left of the honeymoon."

And with that, she strode out of the room.

"Bitch." Ethan growled when she had gone.

"That's an insult to bitches everywhere." Kendra breathed.

Everyone stared.

Despite the situation, Ethan found himself chuckling. Moments later, Rachel and Taloni joined him. Even Kendra cracked a small smile.

He looked at the claw on his index finger; at least he would be done by the time she returned.

"What did she mean by her 'other valuables'?" Taloni asked.

"Lady Ekthros is pretty paranoid." Rachel replied. "She has storage facilities all across the Ten Kingdoms where she stores valuable things. I think her idea is to prevent a single location from becoming her weakness."

"Hmm." Ethan tapped his clawed foot on the wooden decking and then grinned. "So you're saying we should take a look around on our way out; see what we can find."

"Yes, that's exactly what that means." Rachel grinned back.

"Okay, just give me two or three days to sharpen my claw; then we'll go on a little scavenger hunt." He whispered with a touch of excitement. If all went to plan, they'd be gone long before the arch mage returned. Even better, they would be heading towards Alana and Beth.

His excitement faded a half hour later as two guards were posted inside the room where the cell was. With the arch mage gone, apparently whoever was guarding the location wasn't taking any chances. It wasn't an unworkable problem, but it was going to make getting the collar off of Rachel more interesting.

* * *

Selene woke the next morning to the sound of a rooster crowing and found herself desperately wishing that this world had coffee. Sadly, it didn't. Groaning, she rolled over and pulled the covers over her head, trying to get back to sleep.

"Good morning." A cheery voice said from nearby.

The Brazilian woman groaned in response.

"Come on, we need to get breakfast started." Sarah said, gently nudging her shoulder.