“No,” I said, cutting him off with a sharp gesture. “I know my own mind and heart. I love Baltic. If he had asked me to be his mate, I would have accepted.” Baltic smiled, a slow, smug smile.
“That doesn’t mean I’m not furious with your high-handed dealings,” I told him over my shoulder.
His smile slipped a notch.
“Even knowing what he is, knowing what he’s done to our people, to your own family, you would bind yourself to him?” Constantine asked, his voice reflecting the anger now in his eyes. “You would let him use your body, taint your soul?” I met his gaze, my own steady. “I would do what I could to bring calm to this troubled time.” “You swore fealty to me,” he answered.
“What choice did I have?” I countered. “You deceived me!” He was silent for a moment, pain flickering across his face.
“If only you had told me the truth,” I said softly, putting my hand on his arm. “I have great respect and affection for you, Constantine. You are a wonderful wyvern, and a generous, loving man. But much as I honor you as such, I would never have pledged myself to you if I had known the truth. You tricked me into becoming your mate simply to spite the man who holds my heart. How can I find happiness with you knowing that?” Baltic stepped forward. “Constantine Norka, by the laws governing the weyr, I challenge you by lusus naturalae for your mate, Ysolde de Bouchier.” Constantine and I both stared at him.
“Lusus what?” I asked.
“Naturalae. It has many meanings, but to dragonkin, it applies only to one thing — the ability to steal a mate,” Constantine answered, eyeing Baltic with palpable hostility.
“It is not stealing if I win the challenge,” Baltic said, striding forward. At a gesture, all of his men but Kostya remained standing where they were. Likewise, Constantine nodded at his guard, who gestured the others back. The dragons spread out until they formed a loose circle, in the center of which the five of us stood. “Do you accept the challenge?” “I do,” Constantine said, his stance aggressive. “Ysolde is young and confused. She has not yet had time to adjust to our ways. I am convinced that with time, she will realize what a tragedy her life would have been if she spent it with you.” “I dislike being spoken of as if I weren’t standing an arm’s length from you,” I told him somewhat acidly. “I am not invisible, nor am I witless. This is my life you’re talking about, and I demand the right to have a say in it.” “You are female,” Constantine said abruptly. “You are young and inexperienced with the ways of dragons. You will allow me to decide what is best for you.” “I am the one who found her,” Baltic said arrogantly, swaggering forward until he stood a foot away from us. “I will decide what is best for her, and that is to become my mate.” “Does no one think it is a good idea for me to decide what’s best for me?” I asked.
“No!” both wyverns said.
I crossed my arms and looked daggers at both of them. “I think you’re both obnoxious. I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want either of you. I’ll take Kostya instead.” Kostya’s eyes widened in surprise and something that looked very much like dismay. “Er…” “Are you trying to make me jealous?” Baltic asked, irritation pulling at his lips.
“No. If I were, I would do this.” I walked toward Kostya, but he evidently read the intention in my eyes because he backed away from me. I stopped, stomped my foot in irritation, and demanded, “Stop running away from me and let me kiss you!” “I’d really rather you didn’t,” he said with a wary glance at his wyvern.
“Ysolde,” Baltic said in an even, almost disinterested tone of voice.
I marched over to him, narrowing my glare until it could have sharpened the edge of his sword. “What?” “You don’t have to attack Kostya to make me jealous, chérie,” he said, the irritation in his face replaced with wry amusement. He gestured toward Constantine. “I’m ready to fight him to the death for his audacity in claiming you. I don’t think I could get much more jealous than that.” “Oh.” I thought about that for a moment, then took a step closer to him, not quite touching, but close enough I could feel the heat of his body. I looked deep into his eyes, searching there for the answers I so desperately sought. “You really want me for your mate even though I’m a silver dragon?” “Yes.” A muscle in his neck twitched.
“Why?”
His eyes took on the same wary look Kostya’s had just borne. “Why?” I prodded his arm. “Yes, why? Why do you want me for your mate?” “Eh…” He looked from me to Constantine, who was standing watching us with a black scowl. Baltic squared his shoulders and leveled a haughty look at me. “That is unimportant. Only the fact that I have claimed you should matter.” “It matters to me,” I said, and put my hand on his chest, over his heart.
Behind me, Constantine took a step toward us.
“You are female. You do not know what you’re saying.” “By the rood, I don’t. Tell me, Baltic. Why me?” “Because,” he said, his eyes glittering darkly. “Just… because.” “Do you love me?” I asked.
His jaw tightened. “That is none of your business.” I laughed; I couldn’t help but laugh at him. Love in marriage was only a dream, my mother had once told me, and yet I knew she loved my father. She had also said that some men have difficulty admitting to such tender emotions, and clearly Baltic was one of them.
“I think it is my business. It’s important to me, Baltic. I would like to know — do you love me?” He stepped closer until his chest was pressed against my arms. “This is hardly the place to discuss such a thing.” “I think it’s the perfect place,” I said, gesturing at all the dragons, hesitating a moment when I noticed that every single one of them wore expressions of pain identical to the one on Baltic’s face. “I must know. I will not bind myself to a man if he doesn’t love me.” “That’s foolishness,” Baltic scoffed, and the dragons scoffed with him, murmurs of agreement rippling around us.
“Nevertheless, I must know. So I ask you a third time — do you love me?” He looked around wildly before leaning in. “There are others here, woman!” “I know.”
“You expect me to say it right out in front of them?” “Constantine did,” I said, nodding toward him. Constantine straightened up and looked noble. “He didn’t have any problem saying it.” Baltic growled deep in his chest, rolling his eyes heavenward for a moment before he said in a low and ugly voice, “Fine! I love you. Now get the hell out of my way so I can kill your mate.” I don’t know what I would have done had Constantine not attacked Baltic at that moment — probably tried to reason with them, although hindsight tells me they wouldn’t have listened. It is moot speculation, regardless, because the second the words left Baltic’s lips, Constantine’s body shifted, stretching and growing and elongating into the form of a silver-scaled dragon with scarlet claws. He flung himself at Baltic with a snarl that left my blood cold.