The Dragon and the Dreamwalker (Elemental Series) (18 page)

A few snickers went up from the crowd, and angered at his futile attempt to woo her, Drake threw the sprigs to the ground. He grabbed her arm and led her to the dais.

“I didn’t think you were going to join us,” he mumbled.

“Neither did I,” she said as he sat her next to him.

“Don’t ever think to do this again or I’ll . . . ”

He was interrupted by Asad clearing his throat from next to him. His squire smiled and Drake tried to bite his tongue to keep the threat from spilling from his lips.

“Or you’ll what?” she asked, chin raised, voice defiant, an amused smile upon her luscious red lips.

“Or I’ll . . . ” he looked back at Asad and then out to the sea of eyes watching him. “Or I’ll have to order the cooks to start a whole new meal. Actually, since this food is so cold, I think it should go back to the kitchen to be re-warmed.” He clapped his hands and the serving wenches came forward to take the platters away. A moan went up from the crowd, and the biggest disappointment came from next to him.

“My lord, is this really necessary?” asked Asad, his eyes reaching out for the food as it disappeared from in front of him.

“You told me to please her,” Drake said in a low voice.

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean to displease the rest of the castle’s hungry occupants in the process.”

“Are you saying I did the wrong thing, Asad?”

His squire seemed to be biting his tongue. Or holding back the saliva, he wasn’t sure which.

“Nay, not at all, my lord. I’m sure Lady Brynn will appreciate your thoughtfulness.”

“Then I’ve succeeded with my first lesson in wooing a lady?”

“I…guess you could say that, my lord.”

“Good.” He looked over to Brynn who was taking a sip from her wine goblet. “I think I’ll try that eye compliment now,” Drake announced to Asad.

“Of course,” mumbled Asad, sinking into his chair. The rest of the castle’s occupants spoke lowly among themselves. The untouched food was cleared with haste and taken back to the kitchens. The minstrels struck up a sad tune.

“My lady,” said Drake.

“Yes?” Brynn put down her goblet and turned to face him.

Drake went over Asad’s directions in his head. Compare her eyes to something shiny.

“Your eyes look like…” he looked around the room but could find nothing shiny, except the weapons on the wall. He didn’t think comparing her eyes to daggers was a good thing, even if it were true. His mouth went dry and his brain was blank. This wasn’t working at all.

“Yes?” she asked carefully, as if she knew he was planning something.

“Your eyes look like…” He struggled to find something shiny – anything - then finally spotted a shiny apple in the bowl of fruit in front of him. “Apples,” he stated with a smile on his face, thinking he saved his futile attempt at complimenting her. After all, apples had to be better than comparing her eyes to the sharpness of a blade.

“Pardon me?” she asked, a frown on her face.

“Stars would have been good,” whispered Asad from behind him. “Her eyes are like stars twinkling in the heavens. Not her eyes look like apples.”

“Now you tell me,” he growled back to Asad from the side of his mouth.

“My eyes look like apples?” she asked, searching his face with her scrutinizing gaze.

“Yes,” he explained. “Shiny and new. Fresh and - ” He stopped his words as she picked up the apple from the bowl in front of them. While one side was shiny, looks were deceiving. The other side was rotten and a worm flicked its head out of a hole in the fruit.

“Good try,” mumbled Asad.

Drake turned away from her and back toward Asad. “Dammit, squire,” he spoke in a low voice. “I asked you how to woo a lady, not insinuate she’s rotten to the core.”

“I did my best,” explained his squire. “I cannot take responsibility for that apple comment. You alone take credit for that.”

“Well if you weren’t so distracted by that whelp Calais, you might have taught me the proper words.”

“Did I hear you mention Calais?” asked Brynn curiously, her voice coming at him in a sing-song nature.

Drake swung around, hoping she hadn’t heard his whole conversation with Asad. If he wasn’t already irritated, he was now by the perkiness in her voice and her sudden interest when he mentioned the man’s name.

“Calais?” asked Drake. “Why yes.”

“I hope he’s to your liking,” she smiled. “I’m sure he’ll make a fine squire, don’t you agree?”

Drake looked back at Asad. Both of them knew Calais wouldn’t make a fine jester, let alone a squire. But Brynn seemed to have her sight set on this man succeeding for some reason.

“Is this where I ask her opinion?” Drake mumbled to Asad.

“I think she’s already given it, my lord.”

Just then the platters of food arrived, and Drake was thankful to escape this awkward situation. He stabbed the biggest hunk of venison and was about to slap it on his trencher when he noticed Brynn staring at him. He was hungry and the meat looked good. Still, Brynn smiled at him politely and he knew what he had to do.

“For you, my lady,” he said, placing it in front of her. When he turned back, he found that Asad had cleaned the platter of the last of the meat.

“Dammit, Asad, you are supposed to wait for your lord to take his meat first!”

Asad looked up, mouth full.

“I did,” he mumbled between mouthfuls. “I let you have the prime piece.”

Drake could have commanded Asad to give him his meal, but the look on Brynn’s face stopped him from doing so. She oddly enough seemed pleased.

“How noble of you to give me the prime choice of meat,” she remarked, and Drake got the feeling she was winning this round even though he’d done the right thing in wooing a woman. “To let Asad eat the rest was also quite noble,” she continued.

He couldn’t take it back now if he tried. If he did, he’d not only look like an ogre in her eyes, but like a fool in front of everybody else.

“Anything for you, my lady.” He grabbed his goblet and downed some wine. To call for more meat from the kitchen would make himself look selfish in her eyes. He couldn’t have that. He held out his goblet to the cup bearer, thinking more wine may help him know the right thing to do.

He looked over to her, and she was smiling. He was starting to wonder if it was all worth it, when she spoke.

“I’ll share,” she said, cutting off half her venison and putting it on his trencher. The aroma filled his nostrils, and his mouth anticipated the sweet, succulent flavor. He heard a small whimper, and felt the furry chin of one of the castle’s hounds as the dog laid its head on Drake’s lap, eyeing up the meat.

“Get out of here, you mangy mutt.” This hound wasn’t one of his pure-bred hunting dogs. This was a scrawny whelp that chased the venders and barked at the children as it rummaged through the rushes for scraps of food. He had no care for this dog and wanted nothing to do with it.

He stabbed the meat with his knife and brought it toward his mouth.

“The poor thing looks starved,” commented Brynn. “He needs some food.”

“Be kind to an animal. Women like that,” Asad reminded him softly through a mouthful of food and a fake cough.

Drake looked down to see the animal’s sad eyes watching him so intently. The thing looked pathetic, but did strike a chord in his heart. Then he looked over to Brynn, her eyes eager, her expectations high. What else could he possibly do? With a shake of his head and the sigh of being defeated, he threw the dog the meat.

This act of wooing a woman was less than enjoyable. This was going to be one hell of a long night.

Brynn enjoyed watching Drake make a fool of himself in the act of trying to woo her. Or at least that’s what she thought he was trying to do through his clumsy efforts. It was obvious he hadn’t much experience courting a lady. Nor did that surprise her, since Drake of Dunsbard only thought about himself, and wasn’t used to putting others needs before his own.

She’d almost laughed aloud when he’d handed her the sprigs of rosemary. And comparing her eyes to rotten apples had to top the list of stupid errors made by man. But when he gave the mutt his own supper, she knew he was trying harder to please her than she’d thought. She didn’t understand why, but she was enjoying every minute of it never-the-less.

The meal was over, and so was the evening since she refused to dance. She slipped away when Drake turned his back. She left the keep and went into the courtyard, just to get a breath of fresh air. She walked over the cobblestones, staring up at the dark sky, feeling her parents’ presence in the stars that twinkled down at her. She looked around at the orchard and her mother’s prize flower gardens, now charred and barren from the attack by Drake and his men. The bakehouse was still without a roof, and the curtains - walls of the castle - were in major need of repair since the attack. Stones crumbled and fell dangerously into the courtyard, endangering the children that played there.

Thankfully, the well hadn’t been poisoned, but the moat hadn’t fared as well. It was covered in a slick of oil from her father’s attempts to dump the boiling liquid on his attackers as they came over the drawbridge into the bailey. She’d seen the dead bodies floating in the moat that night, and was sure most of them were still there at the bottom.

How could she ever let Drake close to her when he was responsible for all this? She’d wanted to accept him like Juturna told her to do, and to trust him, but she just couldn’t. She would never accept her position as his wife and that’s all there was to it.

She should have stayed in her chamber tonight instead of venturing to his side for a meal. But something in Juturna’s words made her feel a bit of compassion, and she had gone to him. She wouldn’t let that happen again. Something about Drake confused her. She hated the man, but deep down she knew they were so much alike. His soul called out to hers, and in her
dreamwalking
she couldn’t help but answer. That had been her first mistake.

Now she thought they could have a similar relationship on the physical plane, but it couldn’t be so. Drake wasn’t the same man in waking life as he was in his
dreamwalking
state. She’d do herself well to remember that from now on.

“My lady, you shouldn’t be in the dark courtyard by yourself.”

Drake followed her out of the great hall, his long cape trailing in the slight breeze, billowing behind him. Why wasn’t she surprised he followed? She should have taken an alternate route, but it was too late now. She didn’t want to be alone with him out in the dark.

“I’m quite capable of taking care of myself,” she retorted. “Besides, I was just heading back.”

“I’ll escort you back to our bedchamber.”

No, that wasn’t going to work. She didn’t want to be alone with him there either.

“On second thought, I think I may take a walk after all.”

“All right. Let’s walk.”

“That’s not necessary, my lord.”

“I insist.”

There was no changing his mind, so she didn’t even bother to try further.

“Have it your way, then.”

They walked in silence for a while, then he put his arm around her shoulder. She knew she should pull away, but for some reason she didn’t. She rather liked the feel of his warm, strong arm wrapped around her. It brought to mind that special night of making love on the
dreamwalking
plane.

“I know what you’re trying to do,” she said.

“I don’t know of what you speak.”

“I overheard you talking with Asad. You needn’t work so hard trying to woo me because it won’t work.”

She figured he’d lower his arm at that, but he didn’t.

“I’m not skilled in the ways of women, as is Asad. I was only trying to please you.”

“You know nothing about me,” she told him. “You can’t even begin to know how to please me until you know who I am first.”

He stopped walking and removed his arm from her shoulder. They stood at the steps to the battlements high above. “Then why don’t you tell me about yourself so I’ll know?”

She considered it for a moment. She even considered telling him about Calais and her plan to save the virgins from the dragon, but decided against it. She wasn’t ready to give up Thorndale Castle to this man. She needed to keep her secret to ensure the people wouldn’t turn against her. She needed their support if she was to regain control.

“It doesn’t matter.” She tried to walk past him, but he grabbed her arm.

“Mayhap it matters to me.”

“Not tonight, Drake. I just don’t feel like talking.”

“Then let’s go for a walk. Asad instructed me to take you somewhere romantic.”

“Romantic?” she laughed. “Nowhere in this burned courtyard or crumbled stone is there such a place.”

“Then I’ll take you beyond the confines of the castle’s courtyard.”

“You know as well as I that it’s not safe to leave the castle after nightfall. I think I’ll have to reject your offer.”

“We don’t have to leave by the castle gate, my lady. Come with me and I’ll take you beyond the walls without endangering you.”