11. Darren

Chapter 11

Darren

J ohn had out-done himself with this party. He'd arranged it to cover three rooms so there was more than enough space for us to spread out and not overwhelm each other. All of the dragons were feeling their instincts a bit more than usual and crowding them together wouldn't have been a good idea.

The party made me feel a bit nostalgic, actually. It was at Seren and Dane's mating party that I'd arrived at the Hoskins castle and met Prince. I could remember my first sight of him, branded into my memory. He'd looked so young and handsome.

And horrified. He'd looked horrified.

He'd just knocked over a whole tray of drinks, and was blaming himself .

I automatically looked round for him, just to check where he was. He wasn't far from me but I didn't like him being away from my side, not in a crowded room like this.

Normally, he wouldn't have been further than a couple of feet from me, but Edith had gone to talk to a few of the guests in the other room and John was chatting to a few others, so I'd stayed with John. Not that I expected anything to happen, but I just wanted to make sure.

I was watching and listening, that was all.

My heart leapt into my mouth when I heard the crash. It was horribly familiar.

It was the sound of a load of books and ornaments being scattered from the top shelf of the bookcases and onto the floor.

Prince was standing in the middle of them, holding the white cat that always seemed to know where Prince was. I was starting to suspect she'd done that deliberately.

John rushed over to Prince, and I was right beside him.

"Prince, are you hurt?"

"Huh? Oh, no, I'm not hurt. I just caught Frosty as she jumped. She—"

He looked round at the mess.

"Never mind," I said. "Nothing's broken."

With that, I began to scoop things up and dump them back on the shelves. John took the cat from Prince and called Hannah over, putting the cat into her arms and asking her to take it upstairs and shut the door. She scurried away before anyone could remember that he'd already asked her to do that, and she'd forgotten.

Prince was helping to gather the scattered ornaments up and he suddenly gave a little cry.

I dropped what I was holding and turned to him.

He was staring down into a familiar little box.

Around us, the room was quiet. I knew Prince hated to make a scene and he'd blame himself for this, even though it wasn't in any way his fault. I wanted Prince to relax, so I forced a little smile onto my face and asked, "Why do I always find you with that finger?"

Prince looked up at me, his eyes wide.

"I don't always have a finger! It just falls into my lap. Why do we even have a severed finger? "

At the interesting word ‘severed', a few people turned away. Glimmer appeared beside us out of nowhere, making Prince jump.

He peered into the little box at the single digit inside.

"Oh, you have it! I wondered what happened to that."

Prince looked up at Glimmer, his expression queasy. "Is it yours?"

Glimmer shrugged. "No, I just noticed it was missing, that was all. When I took the body to the incinerator."

Dee bounded over to us, looking thoroughly pleased with herself. Whatever she was going to do, it wouldn't be helpful.

I took the box from Prince and searched around for the lid. As soon as I saw it, I put it on the box, concealing the contents. I wanted it away from Prince. He always went a funny colour when he'd been looking at it.

He asked, "Who does it belong to, then? Is it yours?"

"No," said Glimmer. "It belonged to the dragon you left at our castle. When you stole Morgan from us. "

He said it in such a light-hearted way that I couldn't be sure whether he resented that or not. I knew dragons were clannish and possessive. He could resent Morgan being taken.

Dee grinned. " We took it. As a mating present for Morgan!"

Dum was instantly beside Dee, of course. "That's right. We thought he'd like it."

Weakly, Prince asked, "Why would he like a severed finger?"

"Because it belonged to the dragon who shot Alfie, of course. We took it before we left the Somerville castle."

Around us, the whole room went silent.

Then Alfie asked, "Who did shoot me?"

"The dragon we disowned," said Dee.

"He wanted to hurt you so Morgan would visit and leave the protection of Nana's territory," said Dum.

"We didn't realise until it was too late."

"You'd already set off for the Somerville's."

"He'd already hurt Morgan."

"Dane had already killed him."

"We took his trigger finger."

"We didn't want the rest of the body. "

"We don't want the body of a traitor."

"We left it to be burned."

"Besides," said Dee, and bared her teeth in what might – generously – be considered a smile, "he hurt my baby brother."

Lew gave a weak smile and a very nervous, "Yes, thank you for… helping." He sounded as though he didn't want any more help from those two, ever.

A frown line appeared between Glimmer's eyebrows. "How did you get into our territory?"

Dee blinked innocently at him, as though she wasn't going to answer.

I could feel a sudden surge of magic, though. I couldn't identify what it was but it poured out and wrapped around Dum. It took me a moment to work out that it was coming from Kingsley.

Dum said, "Morgan smashed the gates. We got in quickly, before anyone could fix them. And got out before Nana noticed we were missing."

I'd bet he hadn't meant to reveal that. I'd have to ask Kingsley if that was some kind of truth spell. The ridire were known for being excellent at interrogation, though usually it was asking about where someone might have seen a dragon .

The magic faded and Glimmer muttered, "I've repaired the defences around the gates."

Dee growled. "We know."

I nearly felt sorry for her, but not quite. I knew she and Dum had been sneaking round the Somerville territory recently, and I assumed it was because they wanted to cause trouble. If Edith had sent them, though, it was because she wanted them to get in and check Alfie was okay.

I decided I'd had enough of them and their severed finger, so I took Prince's arm and led him away. I made eye contact with Edith on my way past, and she gave me the slightest nod. She would stay beside John for the rest of the night.

Prince was leaning on me as we went, and I stopped and wrapped my arms around him. "We really must find somewhere more secure to put that finger."

He leaned harder against me, finally giving me all of his weight and letting me hold him up. I got a real kick out of being the one to hold him, support him. It made me feel complete in a way that nothing else did.

His voice was muffled because his mouth was pressed against my pecks .

"I don't suppose we can burn it, if it was a gift from Dee, right? She'd probably be offended."

I considered. "She probably wouldn't notice, if we gave it a few weeks to let her forget."

"Nah, I don't want to upset her. But maybe we can put a lock on the box. Or at least put it where Frosty won't keep knocking it into my lap."

I pressed a kiss to the top of Prince's head. "I'll do that tomorrow. Why don't we go into the other room?"

We were standing in the corridor, where we could be alone for a few moments.

Prince said, "In a minute."

I kept my arms tight around him. "Take as long as you need, Prince."

We stood like that for a few minutes, and I was content to have my mate in my arms. His weight against me was solid and warm, and I was soothed by his regular breaths.

Eventually, though, he stood up straight and pulled away from me.

"Right, okay, I'm ready."

I smiled. "You sound like you're going to war. "

"I'm just a bit nervous about talking to the Somervilles. They're all, like, posh and I don't know what to say to them."

I took his hand. "We'll talk to them together."

It had been a while since I'd had to make small talk with a group of strangers, but I had done it before. I'd never particularly enjoyed it but I'd also not hated it. With my mate's hand in mine, it didn't seem so bad.

We walked into the room and Prince said, "Ooh, look! I haven't seen it up close yet."

His eyes were fixed on the new painting that the Somervilles had bought as a gift. He dragged me round the edges of the room, where he thought we wouldn't be seen, and then he stood and looked at the painting.

I admired his profile for a moment, feeling proud that Fate had given me such a handsome and kind mate. Then I dragged my eyes away from him or I'd just stare at him while he stared at the painting, and there was an old lady sitting near us. I had to at least speak to her.

"Good evening," I said.

She introduced herself as Evangeline and inclined her head. I introduced myself and Prince .

"Don't disturb him," said Evangeline. "Silvia would be pleased he's so enthralled by her painting."

I made small talk, asking how she found the journey to the Hoskins castle – I figured it was a safer topic than asking about her own territory or asking how she felt in someone else's territory – and she was answering in a quavery old voice when a woman appeared beside her, as though she'd been summoned by an invisible call.

"Ah, this is Silvia, the artist."

Prince's head whipped round and he blurted out, "I wasn't touching it!"

We all looked at him in shock. Silvia said, "Oh, I see."

I hooked my arm around Prince's waist and pulled him close to me.

"Nobody thought you were going to damage it, Prince. You're allowed to touch it."

"Yes, well, maybe I won't. You know, just for today. I was just trying to see how you'd done it, that was all."

"Prince is an artist, too," I explained.

I don't think I'd ever seen such shock on Prince's face before. He looked at me like I'd grown an extra head.

"I'm not a proper artist like Silvia."

"Yes, you are." Prince opened his mouth to object but I turned to Silvia and said, "He designs graphic novels."

I made sure to puff up my chest as I spoke, showing how proud I was of my mate. Prince was too self-depreciating and one of us had to brag about all his accomplishments.

I wasn't sure what I'd been expecting. Maybe I'd assumed Silvia would say something polite and then wander off like a lot of people would have. Maybe I thought I'd have to fight her about valuing Prince's art.

That's not what happened at all.

I swear her eyes lit up.

"I've been wondering about that new kind of art. Do you draw by hand? Do you use software?"

Prince stuttered out his answer. "Well, I start off drawing by hand."

Within ten minutes, Silvia had linked her arm through Prince's and had taken him off to look at his work. I glanced at Evangeline. She was smiling, her face a mass of pleased wrinkles.

"Go after your mate, if you wish. But Silvia won't let him go until she's learned everything about his art."

I got the feeling that the old woman had somehow arranged that, but I wasn't sure how. I gave a polite nod and followed Prince to our room. He and Silvia were sitting on our bed, tablet in hand, and Prince was explaining how he designed his graphic novels.

Although I hadn't planned to spend the evening watching my mate talk art, I didn't mind. He looked so happy and absorbed and I watched the two artists together, talking about what they loved. Prince obviously knew far more about graphic design than Silvia, and he'd recently invested in the software and tools he needed to take his art seriously. I was never so glad that I'd insisted he had what he needed to do what he loved as I was right then.

Silvia asked him questions and prompted him and, as I watched, Prince sat up straighter. He talked more confidently.

They talked for hours.

I stood by the door, not wanting to go into the room and disturb them, and I leaned back against the wall, becoming like a statue. I stayed there for hours, letting myself become a gargoyle, watching over my precious charge. This was what I was good at. This was my purpose in life, to watch over Prince and protect him.

I hardly noticed the passing of time. I didn't, when I got like that.

It was only the tramping of feet past our doorway that roused me from the sort of slumber I'd been in. The focused attention on my mate.

"It's late," I said at last. "You can keep talking in the morning."

Silvia jumped when I spoke. I guess she'd forgotten I was in the room.

She left, arranging to spend more time with Prince the next day. "And you'll have to visit me at the Somerville castle and see my studio. I have it set up to get the best light and I'd love to show you. Then you can think about how you want to arrange your studio here."

Prince waved her off, and there was something in his expression that caught my attention.

"What are you thinking, Prince? "

"She- she talked to me about art."

"Yes," I said. I didn't see what he was getting at yet.

"No, I mean, she talked to me about my art. Like I was a proper artist."

"You are a proper artist."

"Yes, I- I know."

My heart nearly burst with love as he said that.

It was the first time ever he'd said it and believed it.

Normally, I told him that and he let me say it and didn't disagree, but he didn't really, truly believe it, either. I'd been working on him for months, building his confidence and encouraging him to believe in himself.

If I'd been more insecure, I might have felt put-out or worried that my efforts hadn't been enough. I wasn't. I knew Prince's insecurities ran deep and I was prepared to spend my lifetime showing him that he truly was the most amazing man.

It filled me with joy that he'd learned it sooner, though. It was just a small step but it was a significant one. I'd always be grateful to Silvia for giving him that .

For taking him seriously.

The way Prince looked at me, with wonder in his eyes that someone he respected – a real artist – respected him back. Talked to him as a colleague.

He smiled. It was amazement and happiness and pride, and the little gap between his front teeth was so cute and the one little dimple he got when he smiled deeply dipped into his cheek. I couldn't stop myself from taking him into my arms. He pressed his face into my pecks and smiled into me.

"Thank you," he said. "I know you arranged that."

"I didn't, actually. If anyone did, it was Frosty."

Prince burrowed deeper into my arms, smiling. "I guess I'll forgive her for causing a scene, then."

I kissed the top of his head and, when he looked up at me, I kissed his lips, too.