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Chapter Twenty-SixRONSON
Where is my omega? I thought, entering the parlor, staring at the wilted creature in the armchair by the fire. Mairwen's eyes glittered in the light, but their amber glow had dulled. I swallowed hard around yet another snarl and then cleared my throat.
"The Posy carriage is called," I managed, refraining from the rest of what I would've liked to say. It's time to say goodbye to your damned parents. Unless you'd rather I simply toss them out without another word. Let's not invite them back.
I claimed a greedy gulp of air, stepping inside the parlor. Mairwen's perfume lingered here, remnants from another day, but it had withered to nothing since her parents' arrival. Still, any taste of her was a relief.
Mairwen rose from her seat, smoothing her skirt and wearing a placid smile as her mother babbled wishes of staying longer, her worry for her daughter.
"Please, M-Mairwen, you must—"
No! "Omega," I called, cutting the woman off. Mairwen's glazed expression drifted in my direction. I extended my hand, and Mairwen sagged with a released breath, crossing toward me.
All night, the Posys had seemed to grasp and pluck at Mairwen's luster, like pulling feathers from a beautiful bird. And I had made the terrible mistake of keeping silent, of letting Mairwen take their subtle jabs and sweetly-delivered doubts. At first, I'd been more concerned with showing the Posys that I wasn't a tyrant of an alpha like my father, that I was taking good care of Mairwen, that she was happy here with me. Mairwen's quiet seemed out of character, and I'd thought it was only nerves, that she would want her parents to be pleased by the castle or by me, by her situation.
The truth arrived too late. The Posys had as little faith in their daughter as men like Gamesby, a fact they were not shy to express.
Mairwen reached my side, and I spared no time in wrapping my arm around her shoulders and tugging her against me. She was listless, leaning into me, her perfume vanished and replaced by a slightly bitter note. Here was the woman they called Mouse. Her shoulders had drawn up during di
Better to get them out of the castle and coax Mairwen back to herself. I had a better idea of how to draw her perfume out now, but it wasn't her perfume I missed. Or not most of all.
"You look tired," I whispered to Mairwen as her mother bustled closer.
"I have such a headache," she admitted, her voice even softer than my own.
Mairwen's father watched us, something like understanding taking over his expression, his gaze on my hands where they spread over the base of her spine. Yes, you fool, I have the sense to be grateful for your daughter. To see her value. To-to—
I stiffened, blinking down at Mairwen's head. It was tilting on her neck toward my chest, but not helping itself to its place there.
Albert Posy was still watching me as I lifted my stare, his eyes narrowed slightly and a bemused smile on his lips. He'd tried to press his case again over brandy, but he'd been docile and almost resigned at my stern refusal.
"I could not have dreamt of such a superior match for you, my dear," Lord Posy said to Mairwen.
You should have! I wanted to scream. You should've demanded it for her.
"Thank you, Papa," Mairwen said, but she didn't pull free of my embrace, only extended her hand to her father for a brief and gentle shake of hands.
"I hope you will both excuse us. Niall will see you to your carriage, but I should like to take my omega up to our nest," I said with the merest hint of a bow to the older couple.
Mairwen's mother's eyes widened. "Nest? Your-your nest?"
My hard smile came easily, my hands stroking up and down Mairwen's back as I puffed with pride. "I refuse to dismantle it. Mairwen did such a superb job." My omega pressed closer, her face lifting, eyes growing bright. I raised one hand to cup her jaw, to refuse her parents her gaze as I continued, "I could not have chosen a finer omega. Not if I had scoured every isle and all of dragonkin."
Mairwen's mother gaped, but I wouldn't let my omega look away from me, not until Niall had led the Posy's out of the parlor and down the hall. Mairwen's eyes welled, glossy tears clinging against her lower lashes, and her cheek pinched in where she chewed at it from the inside.
"I'm sorry," she gasped out.
I battled the urge to go tearing down the hall, roaring and snarling and scorching the backs of the Posys. They should've been Mairwen's respite from the judgment of the dragonkin. Instead, they appeared to have been one of the worst sources.
"You have nothing to be sorry for," I said, my voice too rough and harsh.
Mairwen stiffened in my arms, braced herself, and opened her lips to say more. I dove down and stifled the words with a kiss. She didn't relax, just accepted the firm press of my lips to hers. The bitter edge of her scent eased, and she let out a whimper.
"Don't say another word on the topic, omega," I said, and this time I was able to purr through the growl. Mairwen's eyes fluttered shut, her shoulders softening with a sigh, and she wrapped her arms around me automatically as I bent and lifted her from the floor.
Mairwen was silent as I carried her up to our tower, her head resting on my shoulder. The longer she was quiet, the longer I said nothing, the more tense she grew in my arms. I needed to get her into our nest, to kiss every inch of her, to pay her every compliment, before she managed to vanish in front of me completely.
"I meant what I said to them, Mairwen."
Her breath caught, and I glanced down, my heart dropping several stories at the sheen of tears on her cheeks. She didn't answer me, but her fingers dug fiercely into my shoulder, crumpling my di
"I've never considered myself a lucky person, but I can only grant the moment I saw you wandering through the woods as Gamesby and Adelaide plotted my murder as divine intervention—the old dragons showing me the better path."
Mairwen's brow furrowed, and she lifted her chin. "You wouldn't have chosen Adelaide after hearing all that. I didn't need to be there."
"Discovering the plot was not the part where I got lucky, omega," I purred.
And there! I praised every star in the sky for the little puff of Mairwen's perfume.
"Then again, the first time Niall saw you, he told me you were the most interesting omega of the lot," I continued. "So perhaps I would've taken his advice while on stage."
Mairwen was silent all the way until we reached the door of our room.
"If the first words you had ever said to me were 'You'll do,' I would certainly have vomited on your boots," she said.
I laughed, and another whisper of her scent reached me. "I should've chosen those words more carefully. I should've said…" You're mine, I thought, but couldn't quite say.
"'Hello, have you considered foregoing your corsets?'" Mairwen suggested, the bright note of her voice that I'd ached for all evening finally reappearing.
I laughed again and hurried us into the nest, depositing Mairwen in the cushions and turning back to yank our curtains shut. The fire in the grate illuminated the room, and the curtains were sheer, so there was just enough light to see the tiny smile on Mairwen's lips and the tired droop of her eyelids as she fell backwards into the pillows, rolling onto her side. She had a headache, and she was bruised, my perfect, succulent little omega.
I climbed over her, and Mairwen's face buried itself into the pillow as I untied the laces of her dress. Her seamstress had altered many of Mairwen's garments—formal and intimate alike—in ways I wholeheartedly approved of, including the silk shifts Mairwen wore against her skin. They had delicate little barely-there straps and were trimmed with lace, the back and collar plunging low so that when I opened her dress, there was lovely bare skin in view.
I leaned forward, kissing the nape of Mairwen's neck, brushing my thumb over the goose bumps that rose. "I should've said, 'Hello, I know we haven't spoken'" —another kiss, this one below the first— "'but I think,'" I continued, purring and whispering, gently pushing the sleeves of Mairwen's gown down until they reached her elbows and she drew her arms free, "'you are exactly what I need.'"
The words might not have been true at the time. I had fewer doubts about Mairwen than the rest of dragonkin, but not none. Still, they were the words I wished I could've given her.
Mairwen sniffled into the pillow and I paused, hovering above her, wrestling with the urge to strip her bare, plunge myself inside of her, and bring her so much pleasure, all thoughts of her parents or the rest of society were washed away.
There was another impulse. A gentler one. Mairwen knew our bodies hungered for one another, but there'd been little time to share much else with her.
I undressed her slowly, purring all the while, stroking her back and her hips when she shuddered with tears, rubbing her legs as I unrolled her stockings, until she was left only in the beautifully-shaped silk slip, one so perfectly crafted that it wrapped around her like a breeze or the sea water we sometimes went swimming in together. If Mairwen had to wear anything at all, it should only have been those slips.
I kept that thought to myself, pulling a sheet up to cover her from any chill before undressing myself with more haste. I kept my purr rumbling. If I wasn't going to give her my knot, purring was my next best alpha gift on offer. I kept an eye on her body, the little trembles that came and went, the incredible rise and fall and rise again of her silhouetted figure.
When I was bare, I slid under the sheet, the thrum in my chest roaring as Mairwen's hand reached back for me, catching my own and drawing my arm around her. It wasn't enough. I bundled her up, tangling her legs between mine, circling her in my arms, pressing myself to her back so closely that she too rattled, as if producing her own purr.
Little by little, her quavering sighs melted to steady breaths and her perfume laced around us, even as she sank into a weary sleep. I remained awake, remained purring, telling myself it would assure that even her dreams were safe for her that night.
It was unsettling to wake the next morning and find that Mairwen had slipped away before I woke. It was even more aggravating that it was not her I found in the hall, but my brother.
"Where's Mairwen?"
"In the library," he said, as if he'd known precisely what question would be first out of my mouth.