Dragon Story

I slipped into a short sleeved dress that fell in folds to my ankles, and my old steel toe boots. We had forgotten to go shoe-shopping. Oops. All it took was to run a brush through my hair, and I was ready to go. I was pissed. My uncle may be trying to place me as his heir, but he was doing a damn poor job of protecting me.
The outer doors swung open, and I dimly realized that, not only did I do it, I did it without holding my hand up. Boo ya.
The boys followed me silently as we made our way down to my uncles quarters. I was quiet mostly because I don\'t know what to say.
Stephen answered, smiling. \"Yes, my dear?\"
I scowled. \"I am not your dear,\" I snapped. \"We need to talk about the men you keep sending to my bed.\"
Stephen bade us to enter, still smiling. \"If I remember, you enjoyed your little tryst with Gabriel, did you not?\"
Heat rushed up my neck, causing my uncle to laugh more. \"I\'m not saying I didn\'t. I want to meet these men from now on before you send them my way. The last one, Collin, tried to get me to slip my skin.\"
Stephen\'s eyes narrowed. \"I told Collin he was not to touch you.\"
I scowled. \"So not even your own people are listening to you? Great, just fucking great.\" I pointed my finger at him. \"I will sleep with Gabriel and one other, no more. I don\'t want some lunatic to be the father of my child.\"
\"Oh, and Gabriel is sane?\" Stephen laughed again. \"Very well. I will summon the other \'cadidates\', to see which ones meet your approval.\" His voice dripped sarcasm.
I thought about that. Gabriel was a killer for hire. Not a very sanity inducing occupation. But...I trusted him. I didn\'t know why, but I did. \"Fine, he might not be the sanest, but we have to work something out. Like...a schedule, or something. A rotation. But, no more of this sending strangers to my bed crap. I still get to meet them first.\"
Stephen shook his head. \"They are potential fathers, not husbands. A marriage between dragons is rare, Angela. And for a queen...it is unheard of. One throne, one ruler. That is how it has always been, that is how it will always be.\" He gave me a look of sympathy. \"I suggest you work on shedding your human ideals, or else you won\'t make it among us.\" He sighed. \"Very well, you will meet the men I think would be best.\" At first I thought it was me he shot an odd look at, but then I realized it was one of the boys. He blinked then, and his face suddenly went slack. I rose to see if he was alright, and Mourn put a hand on my arm, pulling me back into my seat. I sat there for a few seconds, wondering if he was going to be okay, when he suddenly came back to himself. \"One of them is coming, his name is Chris.\" He smirked at me again. I was really beginning to hate that smirk. \"I think leaving you with three men for now is sufficient.\"
I was confused. He said three. Not two, not four, three. \"But...there is only Gabriel and this Chris.\"
Stephen feigned suprise. \"Surely, you did not know that Liam is half-dragon? He is sidhe, but he is dragon as well, and I am sure the council would not mind if it were his daughter to be named heir.\"
I looked at Liam in suprise. \"You\'re...half dragon?\"
Liam smiled at me, bitterly. \"Behold, the reason I left the court, my home. I not was sidhe enough for them. I was lesser, even though I served as an abassador for all those years. I was not good enough.\" There was no bitterness in his tone dispite his smile, but I knew it had to be there. Liam had had years of practice to hide what he wanted to, but you couldn\'t go through that without feeling bitter, slostlost, alone. I hugged him.
\"I am sorry, Liam.\"
Liam hugged me back. \"You did not do it, Angela. This was long before you were born.\" He let me go. I let him. So now I knew why he left court. It made me wonder what Mourn was hiding. But Mourn wouldn\'t tell me, I already knew that. I had tried to get him to tell me, but he had stayed silent when I pressed, so I dropped it.
A knock sounded at the door, and it swung open silently. A man stepped through with a woman right on his heels. He was tall, with shoulder length wavy black hair and dark eyes. He smiled when he saw me. The woman could have been his sister. Her hair was the same rich wavy black, down to her knees, and her eyes, while I coldn\'t discern the exact color, were dark as well. Stephen cleared his throat.
\"Angela, this is Lord Chris.\"
Chris offered one hand to shake, and I took it. Instead of shaking my hand, though, he lifted it to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on my knuckles. \"I am pleased to meet you, Angela.\"
Suspicion instantly rose inside me. It was close to what Collin had said. But I smiled back at him anyway. After all, Collin supposedly was not to touch me. \"Thank you.\"
Chris released my hand and looked at Stephen expectantly. Finally, someone who listened to my uncle.
\"She wants to meet the potential fathers of her child.\"
Chris nodded. \"I see.\" He turned back to me, smiling. \"You are human.\"
I frowned at him. \"You\'re not funny.\"
Again, that smile. He had to be laughing at me. \"I\'m not trying to be, Angela. I was merely stating what has been going around. I did not expect you to be so...human, that\'s all.\"
Hmm. Sound logic, I suppose. My thoughts must have shown on my face, because Chris laughed quietly. \"I will not intentionally cause you harm, Angela.\"
I shook my head and smiled. \"I don\'t know what to think anymore, Lord Chris.\"
\"Chris, please.\"
\"Okay, Chris. I don\'t know what to think anymore. You have to imagine, the past few days have been quite a shock.\"
Chris nodded. \"I understand, and apologise. It was rude of me to laugh.\"
He was polite. It was a breather. Between my uncle and almost everybody else, it was downright refreshing. I smiled at him. \"It\'s not a problem.\"
Stephen smirked at me again, rising. \"Well, now that you know each other, I believe that you have something to take care of.\" It was official, I hated that smirk.
I bit back an angry retort. It wouldn\'t do to piss my uncle off now. I had just gotten my way with him. Well, so far. I didn\'t know if he could find a way to fuck this up or not, but I wasn\'t about to put something, especially a something as big as this, past my uncle. So I nodded at him as I rose. \"When do you want me to come back for the next lesson?\" When in doubt, change the subject. Always works for me.
Stephen\'s smirk faded. \"I am sorry, Angela, but I cannot teach you any futher.\" My uncle outright frowned. I froze, watching him. That frown never seemed to bode well for the one recieving it.
\"I am...not strong enough to teach you. Our last lesson proved to be too much for me.\"
\"Oh.\"
He smiled at me again. \"Do not worry, the man I want to teach you is very good at what he does, and very trustworthy.\"
\"Oh.\" Me, a broken record? At the rate my uncle was going, that was going to be all I would be able to say.
\"I will send him by your rooms tomorrow morning, is that alright?\"
\"Thats fine.\" There, no more broken record.
He nodded and stood. \"I will sMichMicheal by tomorrow, then.\"