Firedrake - By Bianca D'Arc Page 0,49

right over to Jenet and then Nellin, facing them down as they blinked at her in surprise. “I’m pretty sure you’re trying to orchestrate this behind the scenes. I get the idea you two want to be together and the way I understand it, you can’t be until Jenet bonds with a knight and the two knights find a woman willing to put up with them both. If you ask me, that will require a miracle if these are the two men in question.” She gestured grandly, turning back to the men. “Oh, but that’s right. No one asked my opinion. Far be it from me to have any say whatsoever in what you all have planned for my future. You know what?” She paused, eyeing them all with a steely glance. “Just count me out. I’ve heard a lot about convenience here, but nothing about genuine feelings. I’ve been down that road before and I swore I would never willingly travel it again. Unless and until any of you can convince me otherwise, you’ll have to look elsewhere for a convenient woman who isn’t too picky about spending the rest of her life playing the fool for you all.”

Tears threatened, surprising the hell out of her, but she sucked them back. No way would she let them see her cry. She’d be damned if she let on how much she’d come to care for all of them, only to realize from the tone of their conversation that she meant less than nothing to any of them. She’d hoped Mace, at least, had come to feel something for her on a personal level. She’d hoped for…love.

But she’d been a fool again. Thinking back, not one word of love had been spoken to her by either of the men. And here she’d thought to guard herself only around Drake. At least she’d known enough not to take anything the glib-tongued bard said to heart. She hadn’t had any such caution with Mace, expecting the somber knight to be more honest in his feelings.

Too bad he didn’t seem to have any at all.

It shouldn’t hurt so badly, but it did.

Krysta moved a short distance away, needing space. No one followed, for which she was glad. She needed time alone to gather her composure and refocus her energies on the task at hand. All this personal garbage had to be put on hold while Wil was still out there, in need of their help.

“You could ask her to ride with you tomorrow,” Jenet suggested as Drake watched Krysta’s rigid back. “Then you could talk during the flight and bring her around.”

“But you said you couldn’t carry us both.” Drake immediately grew suspicious.

Jenet’s voice grew small. “I lied.”

Drake just stared at her for a moment, then started to chuckle. “I’ll be damned. Krysta was right. You and Nellin have been working this all behind the scenes, haven’t you?”

“It’s no crime to want to see you happy.”

Drake sighed and patted her neck. “Or to want happiness for yourself.” He looked over at the male dragon. “So Nellin is the one for you, eh? Are you sure, sweetheart?”

“Oh, yes. I’m sure.”

Drake reached up and hugged her with one arm. “I’m happy for you both, then. Nellin’s always been a superior dragon. And Mace is a good man. He’ll be a good second-father to your offspring—steady and fair.”

“He’d be a good fighting partner for you too, Drake, if you’d consent to being my knight.”

“Sweetheart.” Drake’s heart felt so heavy it might break. “I love you and it was always my fondest boyhood dream to be worthy of you, but you know my reasons. You deserve better than a man who would run off across the breadth of the land without even a change of clothes. I’d be a miserable failure as a knight. This latest fiasco only proves it.”

“You may think so, Drake.” Jenet sighed a thin stream of smoke. “But there’s more to being a knight than remembering your pack. It’s your heart that led me to choose you when we were both just children. It’s true, brave and strong. That’s what I want in the man I will fight beside and live with all his days. You don’t see it in yourself, I know, but it’s there—your nobility and courage. You’re all I’ve ever wanted, Drake.”

Something in her words wanted to sink into his mind, but he refused to consider it at the moment. Right now, he was wallowing in self-pity and anger over his