Beasts and Burdens (3 page)

“Nothing!” Efrat’s brow knitted and he pulled her tighter, as if Danato was another dog threatening to take his bone.

The shift was not missed by big man and he narrowed his eyes. “Let her go, before you fry her.” His voice was low with threat and promise, but Efrat didn’t release her.

Cori pushed herself out of his grip to keep a fight from breaking out. The movement seemed to snap him out of his canine antics and he released her. He assisted her rise and he finally noticed his hands freely touching her arms. They exchanged a look silently acknowledging contact without consequence. He released his lingering touch and she stepped away.

“This wasn’t me,” Efrat announced, masking his ire behind assertion. 

Danato looked to Cori for verification.

“It wasn’t him. The elevator just started dropping. He…saved my life.” She waited for Danato to start questioning her interpretation of the accident, but he didn’t. She wasn’t sure if it was his effort to trust her at face value, or if he just didn’t want to argue with Efrat.

“Come here.” He opened his arms and she tucked herself against him. “Help him and get someone to look at the elevator,” he barked at the guards. They gave him and Cori a wide birth to clear the elevator.

Danato kept Cori close to him as they weaved through the pipes and ductwork of the sub-basement. She wasn’t particularly afraid of the sub-basement, but it definitely had the feel of a haunted submarine.

When they reached the open stairwell, Danato lifted her into his arms to carry her up the stairs. “Danato,” she objected, “I can walk.” She could see his face contort as he climbed the first step. “Where is your cane?” She looked over his shoulder.

“I’ll be fine; you’re light as a feather.”

“Yeah, right,” she mumbled. “Danato, please, I can see you are in pain.”

“Nothing new.” He grunted.

“I don’t want to be the reason for your pain.”

“You’re not, sweetheart. Trust me.” He gave her a squeeze, and continued to carry her up the stairs.

4

“What’s going on?” Ethan burst into Danato’s office.

“Gun!” Belus and Danato yelled and he leapt back out to stash his pistol in the bin, before the repercussions took effect. Danato was on the phone griping at the maintenance staff for not having the answers he wanted. Belus was listening to Cori’s stomach with a stethoscope that he no doubt stole from the infirmary. Cori looked none the worse for wear, and was in fact, eating…again. “My men said the elevator crashed.”

“It did,” Cori said crunching on Cheetos.

“Holy crap, are you okay?” Ethan tried to embrace her around Belus and her orange hands, but all he could do was pet her hair.

“I’m fine. Danato let me have Cheetos!” Cori grinned at him with cheesy teeth, and he couldn’t help but chuckle at her. “So, worth it,” she whispered. Belus sighed and pulled away from her belly. “Are we good?”

“Yeah, your digestion is healthy too.”

“Don’t tell me that there is no reason for it!” Danato yelled into the phone. “Elevators don’t just fall!”

“How did you come out unscathed?” Ethan brushed Cori’s hair behind her ear.

“Efrat,” she admitted reluctantly, “he did some magnetic mojo to keep us from splatting.”

“What the hell were you doing with Efrat?”

“Her job,” Belus offered not leaving room for questions. Ethan had a good number of them lingering in the back of his throat, but unfortunately, the debate about Belus’s authority of Cori was off limits to him. 

Ethan kissed the top of Cori’s head. She seemed fine, but he imagined that she wasn’t as calm pre-Cheetos. Ethan wasn’t sure how to feel about Efrat saving her. He still blamed him for his role in Cori’s current situation, but he was thankful he was there to save her.

“I don’t care if it’s working fine now! Just look at it again!” Danato hung up the phone and exchanged a troubled look with Belus.

“Maybe she should go with him,” Belus murmured inexplicably.

Danato’s eyes widened. He looked fearful. It was a strange emotion to see on him. He had only seen it a few times, and it usually involved Cori’s safety. “No,” Danato said with sudden composure. “That shouldn’t be necessary. She shouldn’t travel in her condition. I think we’ll just make the elevators off limits for a while.”

“Go where?” Cori asked with her mouth full.

“Ethan has been
invited
to join Annette in China,” Danato explained glancing between him and Cori. “She is very interested in your ability to read the dragon’s thoughts.”

“What?” Cori looked back at him. Judging from the shock on her face, he must have neglected to mention that little discovery. Truth be told, he had forgotten about it himself. “You can read Penelope’s thoughts?”

“Yes, with the dragon’s blood. She likes the name by the way.”

“Ha!” Cori pointed a finger at Belus. “Told you.” He gave her a look like he might break her finger and she retracted it immediately. “Wait.” Her face crumpled and she looked between all of them before settling on Danato. “When is he leaving?”

“Yes,” Ethan added with a good deal more earnest. “When am I leaving?”

Danato lifted his chin high and clenched his jaw, not letting his firmness go unchecked. “Tomorrow.”

“How long?” he asked as Cori jumped up to offer her objection.

“I don’t know, Ethan.” Danato managed to offer some sympathy in the statement. “That will be entirely up to Annette and her compatriots.”

“But,” Cori looked back at him fearful of what was being said, “You’ll be back for…the baby.” She was doing her best to remain calm, but he could tell that no amount of snack food was going to fix this. “Danato?” She whimpered and looked back to him.

“I know, sweetheart, but you have to understand that being able to communicate with dragons is unprecedented. It is not something that we can simply reschedule.”

“I can’t reschedule this either!” Cori pointed at her rounded belly. “And it’s pretty unprecedented for me,” she muttered starting to cry. 

Ethan gritted his teeth and pulled her into his arms. She already knew how this conversation was going to go. He did too. Danato would offer a list of reasons to comply including income for the prison, building allies, and overall sucking up. Unfortunately, especially right now, they needed to take any opportunity they could to suck up.

Danato mouthed, “I’m sorry,” at him. He looked excessively disgusted with himself as well, but Ethan couldn’t find it in his heart to forgive him just yet.

“Cori and I are taking the rest of the day off.” Ethan gave both of them a look daring them to challenge him, but they didn’t. He took Cori by the hand and led her home for a good and proper send off.

5

Danato sighed and rubbed his face after Ethan and Cori were gone. “That went about as well as I expected.”

“It could have been worse,” Belus said.

“Someday, Belus, I want to go back to being the hero instead of the bad guy.”

Belus shook his head. “You can’t blame yourself, blame the job.”

“It’s hard when your job is to break hearts.”

“Men have missed childbirths before. It doesn’t make them less of a father.”

Danato nodded. For a change, he was appreciating Belus’s diplomatic appraisal of his duties. However, judging by the way he was avoiding eye contact with him, that was about to change.

“Have you taken into consideration that the elevator wasn’t an accident?” Belus asked.

“Why do you think I’m being so insistent that they check again?” Danato met Belus’s gaze and for a moment they were at a standstill. “She wouldn’t do that.”

“I’m not saying
she
would, but
it
might. Cori is pregnant. You are a good deal happier. Jealousy is the universal motivator for murder.”

Danato was up before he could stop himself. He wasn’t angry, but he did want to get away from the conversation. His leg erupted in teeth clenching pain. “Damn it!” He leaned on the desk shaking from the ache that he could never get away from.

“Danato,” Belus spoke quietly. It wasn’t a question, or a scold, simply a plea. There was little that he could do to help, but he still wanted to try.

“There’s nothing more to do, Belus. I promise. I would try if there was.”

“When do you want to schedule the surgery?” he asked giving up the fight to keep him from amputating his leg.

“After Cori has the baby,” Danato whispered. He felt his eyes watering, but he no longer cared what judgment was passed on him regarding his representation of manliness. “I’d like to hold my adoptive grandchild before I’m crippled. Ethan’s ready to take over my duties. He has been for quite some time.” Danato felt a tear dribble down his cheek. “I’m sorry Belus.”

“For what?” His face was somber, but he could sense the sorrow hiding behind his impassive eyes.

“For everything.” Danato shook his head unable to contain the emotion that had built up for seven years. “I never apologized for everything I put you through. It was all, my fault, and I regret that I wasn’t strong enough to finish it myself.”

Belus looked away, his eyes no longer pokerfaced. There was anger there, but when he looked back it was gone. “I would never have let you do that yourself. No man should have to do that.”

Danato nodded. He wasn’t about to argue with him, but deep down inside he always wondered how much Belus resented him for imposing on him to kill his best friend.

6

Ethan led Cori into the house and removed her coat to hang it up. She wasn’t speaking to him, nor was she yelling. He didn’t like that. He would have much preferred she be impassioned with anger, rather than crying quietly beside him. It told him she was truly pained by this decision and there was nothing he could do to make her feel better about it.

He had only just been told that he was leaving, so he didn’t have time to make preparations for her beyond instilling his unconditional love for her.

He guided her by the hand upstairs to their apartment. The small studio style apartment, had a set of parlor doors separating the living space from the bedroom, and the bathroom had finally grown to accommodate two people getting ready in the morning instead of one.

The house had yet to offer them a nursery, which he thought was strange, but he imagined the house didn’t readily understand pregnancy vs. an actual baby.

Cori immediately went into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed to sulk. She wiped away a few tears while he unloaded his weapons belt and slipped off his black t-shirt leaving his chest bare. He slipped off his boots and socks. Before he could get his pants off Cori decided to speak.

“Making love to me isn’t going to make me feel any better about this,” she grumbled.

“Oh,” he queried seductively. She looked up at him, through pained eyes. Her frowned mouth was enough to make him want to send a “bugger off” letter to Annette and her dragons. “Who says I’m going to make love to you?”

He was going for playful, but she just looked back down at her feet without a hint of amusement. He moved to the end of the bed and knelt down before her. He helped her slip off her tennis shoes. Her boots had become too uncomfortable with the swelling in her limbs. She was plumper in more ways than one. None of which he objected to, since it was resulting in the creation of a child. His child.

He massaged her calves, which despite herself she closed her eyes and moaned in enjoyment. He smiled when she peeked open to glare at him. “I know what you’re doing, and I’m telling you I’m not going to crack.”

“That’s fine. I can wait until you do. I’m patient.” His smile turned into a smirk, and he saw her gulp under his gaze.

“Do you think they’ll really keep you there all month?”

“I don’t know any more than you, Cori. I’m trying to think positive.”

“I know, but…I just don’t want to be alone for this.”

“You won’t be. Best medical staff in the hemisphere, an over-bearing father figure, and a surprisingly clingy uncle.”

“Clingy?” Cori’s brow furrowed.

Ethan chuckled. “I just mean you will be taken care of.”

“But I want you here.” Her lips pursed in an adorable pout that didn’t draw his sympathy as much as something else.

“I know sweetness, but whether or not I am, you are still going to be brave and strong.” She shook her head ready to say that she couldn’t. He pressed his hand to her cheek to stop the movement and draw her attention. “Yes. You are,” he stated in no uncertain terms.

“Please don’t leave.”

“Please don’t make me feel guilty for following Danato’s orders.”

Her eyes lit with understanding, and fell again; meeting the defeat she wasn’t quite ready to embrace. She nodded. “Okay.”

“Now, Ms. Reiger or was it Mrs. Pierce, what are we going to name this baby.”

She smiled broadly finally coming back to him. “Reiger-Pierce I think. I thought we were going to make love,” she complained.