I Dream of Dragons (Boston Dragons) (19 page)

Rory gritted his teeth. He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like what was coming next. “Have you told Chloe and Shannon this yet?”

“No. We needed to approach you first as clan leader—of
this
branch of Arishes.”

Confusion warred with a sense of dread. Something had happened. Did their cousins still nurse the age-old grudge between their fathers?
Ha
. Why wouldn’t they? The Irish had long memories.

“Get on with it, Fagan. What’s happened?”

“Can we at least come in and sit down?” Lucky asked.

“No. I have—company.”

“Ah. Your roommate,” Lucky said.

Amber strode into the living room, fully dressed in jeans and a sexy white blouse.

Three of the leprechauns leaned in to get a better look. Small smiles played on their faces. One of them whispered behind his hand. “She’s a beauty. No wonder he doesn’t want to leave.”

“True, but what’s keepin’
her
here?” Shamus asked, and they all tittered.

All except Rory. He had had about enough of being trapped in this place. He and Amber had finally come to some kind of agreement but hadn’t had a chance to formalize it and talk to the apartment managers.

“Amber. May I speak with you a moment?”

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothin’, luv. I have to go upstairs, and I want to know if I’ll be welcome when I come back down.”

She laughed.

Why is she laughin’?
“I wasn’t meanin’ it to be funny. I really need to know.”

Her face fell. “Are you serious? After… You still don’t trust me?”

“I trust you just fine, but we’ve not discussed—”

She turned and strode to the bedroom and slammed the door. He rolled his eyes, realizing he had to make a fast decision. He could either go after her and wrestle a promise out of her, or trust that she’d let him back in…even though now she was angry.

“Ah, feck.” He stepped into the hall and slammed the door behind him.

* * *

Amber had to ask herself why she was so angry. She had just spent the best afternoon of her life in the arms of a very skillful lover. So, she unpacked her boxes as she thought over everything that had happened in the last three days.

He had said he loved her, both in song and with his body. What the heck did she want?

Maybe that was the problem. She didn’t really know what she wanted. She had envisioned her life a lot differently.

One thing was for damn sure—she had never imagined sharing an apartment in this neighborhood with a dragon! Of course, she had never imagined she’d become a muse either.

She still had a lot of questions about that. She needed to have a long talk with Euterpe, but she didn’t even like the woman, and she was already in a pissy mood.

Maybe Bliss or Brandee would have time for me.

She set down the box marked “linens” and took a quick glance around the apartment. No dragons or little people were lurking in any of the rooms.

She looked at the ceiling and called, “Bliss?” When there was no answer, she tried Brandee. Still no answer. Maybe she had to shout.

“Bliss!”

At last Brandee appeared. “Sorry for the delay, Amber. Bliss is having her baby.”

She gasped. “Now?”

“Yeah. It took forever. She refused to do anything to hurry the labor, so she’s exhausted. Drake is with her, and the muse of childbirth is taking care of the baby.”

Amber straightened. “There’s a muse of childbirth?”

“She’s not one of the modern muses. Actually, she’s not a muse at all and knows nothing about modern medical technology. Eileithyia is known as the divine midwife.”

“Shoot. There’s a god or goddess of everything, isn’t there?”

Brandee chuckled. “Just about. Don’t worry. You won’t meet most of them.”

Amber wiped her brow. “Whew. I still have to bone up on my Greek mythology.”

“There’s plenty of time for that. Now, before we get sidetracked…why did you call Bliss and me?”

“I feel like there are still a lot of things I should know, and Euterpe isn’t teaching me much.”

Brandee nodded. “Yeah, it’s hard for the ancient ones. Our world has changed so much that they’ve kind of given up.”

“But they won’t admit it.”

“Bingo.”

“So, how did you learn whatever you had to know?”

“I asked a lot of questions. My muse trainer was Erato. Really sweet, but always daydreaming. I had to yank her back to the here and now, and force her to answer my questions.”

“Where was she?”

Brandee chuckled. “Oh, she didn’t go anywhere, but her mind did. I didn’t know it at the time, but she was helping couples fall in love while she was sitting right next to me.”

“Wow. That’s a talent.”

“Yes, and she’s quite busy. It helps if you can find a tactful way to ask your assigned muse those many questions you have. If she can’t answer to your satisfaction, Bliss or I can share what we know. We’ve had to figure out a lot on our own.”

“But at least you have each other,” Amber said wistfully.

Brandee set a hand on her shoulder. “You have us too. Today is pretty unique. It’s not every day a baby is born—especially a miracle child like this one.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, dragons and humans can’t create life. Female dragons have to mate with another dragon to get pregnant. When Bliss initially refused Mother Nature’s offer, Drake gave up his immortality and became human. He loved Bliss so much that he chose to sacrifice his long life-span so he didn’t have to continue on for centuries without her.”

Amber slapped a hand over her heart. “Oh my God. That’s so…incredibly romantic.”

“Yeah, well. The choice was short lived. As you know, Bliss had a change of heart. But while Drake was human, they did the deed and she’s about to have a perfectly human baby—we think.”

“You think?”

Brandee shrugged. “This has never happened before, but if it was going to happen, it would happen to
her
. Bliss has a tendency to react first and think about the consequences later. Oh, and she’s a blurter, so if she says something a little tactless just give her a couple of minutes. She’ll usually backtrack and find a nicer way to say the same thing.”

“Good to know.”

Just then an angry voice yelled, “Brandee! Where the hell are you? I just had your godchild here!”

Brandee giggled. “See what I mean? I gotta go, but I’ll come back when all the drama is over.”

“Wait!”

Brandee was already gone.

I wanted to know why humans and dragons can’t create life.
Not that Amber wanted to. She just wanted to know why. Not that it mattered. She wanted to be a dink, right?

She snorted. Maybe she already was.

* * *

Rory took a seat in his sisters’ apartment. They also had bought a futon, as well as a chair that looked like it might convert into a bed. Lord knew what they were thinking at the time. Maybe that all three of them would wind up together. The leprechauns sat along the window seat. Chloe brought a plate of scones from the kitchen and placed it on the storage trunk, which doubled as a coffee table. Shannon followed with a tray holding a steaming teapot and a sleeve of foam cups. While she poured, Rory glanced around. He’d never seen their apartment before he got stuck in his.

He noticed a similar layout to his place downstairs, but there was a nice hall closet right where he didn’t have one. The kitchen and bath looked a little more spacious too. Sly had mentioned that his place was the smallest in the building—correction. His
and
Amber’s place. He still had a hard time believing he hadn’t just stepped out the door and into homelessness. Time would tell if she’d let him back in.

Right now he had to stop thinking of Amber and start thinking about the feckin’ leprechauns—if he could.

“So, where is Finn?” he asked.

“He and Pat went out to get a few things for us,” Chloe said.

“It was probably smart to send them away.”

He focused on Fagan, the king. “You mentioned somethin’ about not bein’ able to hide the castle anymore. So, has anyone discovered it?”

Fagan covered his face with his hands. “The whole feckin’ country knows about it now. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but the place is overrun with newspeople, tourists, and curious locals. Everyone wants a piece of it to carry home as a souvenir.”

Shannon cried out and almost dropped the teapot as she slapped her hand over her mouth. Chloe swore.

Rory held up his hand. “Before anyone barbecues the lot of you, tell me we’re to be allowed home to take back what’s rightfully ours.”

King Fagan shot a sidelong glance at Shamus. “We have nothin’ against you returnin’ to the castle. It seems as if Clancy’s gold isn’t there.”

“It has to be somewhere,” Shamus said. “We didn’t find it at home, but what if they hid it well? We came here to question them.”

Rory rose and leaned over the little man. Speaking through clenched teeth, he growled, “We didn’t take your feckin’ gold.”

“Well, someone did,” Clancy said.

Chloe rose and stood beside her brother. She folded her arms as if to form a united front. “It weren’t us.”

Shamus advanced a step, but before he could go any further, Fagan snapped his fingers and the little troublemaker was back on the window seat. “Hold your tongue, Shamus, or I’ll stuff a rag in your mouth.”

“Look, we mean you no harm,” Fagan said. “Never did. It was just a misunderstandin’ of sorts.”

“A misunderstandin’?” Chloe laughed. “A misunderstandin’ is when the barkeep brings you light beer instead of ale. Because of you little feckers, we lost everythin’ we had. And now you’re tellin’ us the land our ancestors fought so hard to win is gone too.”

“No, not gone,” Fagan said and smiled. “The good news is your cousins came and claimed it. They kicked out all the fortune hunters. It’s still standin’ in the same condition as when you left it… Well, minus a few pieces.”

All three of the Arish siblings cried out. “Our cousins?”

Fagan leaned away and his brow wrinkled. “Did you not want someone in the family to protect it for you?”

Rory shook his head. “For a thousand years, we’ve protected it from
them
.”

“Ah, dear. A little family feud is it?”

“If you call an all-out war that killed half the kingdom a family feud, then we had a little family feud.”

“Our father was the eldest of three brothers,” Shannon explained. “The castle, lands, and everythin’ belonged to him. His next younger brother thought he’d steal the crown simply by assassinatin’ our father. He failed in each attempt. Finally he gathered men who swore their loyalty, and all were ready to fight for a cheat who promised them a noble title and some land when he became king.”

“So, what happened to the third brother?” Clancy asked.

“Ah, he left the country before that got out of hand,” Rory explained. “He had no hope of becoming king, so he went off to seek his own fortune.”

“So he stayed out of it?” Fagan asked.

Rory nodded.

“No one ever heard from him again,” Shannon said.

“So the only two families with claims to it are you and the other Arish brothers,” Shamus said.

Rory stiffened. “They have no claim to
our
home.” His fists clenched and the sting of emerging talons signaled he needed to calm down before he shifted.

Chloe was right there with him. Her eyes blazed and a curl of smoke wafted from her nose.

“Relax,” Fagan said. “Nothin’ good can come of you shiftin’ and burnin’ down your new home.”

Shannon sighed. “Our da would suffer a heart attack if he heard our home went to his brother’s sons after all the blood spilled to keep it for us.”

Rory dropped back onto the futon and bent over, his head in his hands. He didn’t want to say it aloud, but he had no idea how to reclaim the place if his cousins refused to leave. It’s not like they could declare another war on Irish soil. They’d all land in prison.

“Mayhaps you could share?” Clancy said.

All three siblings stared at him as if he had ten heads.

Chloe recovered first. “Are you daft, little man? Share with the idjit sons of the man who tried to murder our father?”

Clancy folded his arms and pouted.

“’Tis your feckin’ love for gold that put you in this position,” Shamus said.

“
Our
love for gold?” Rory ground out. His nostrils flared and smoke escaped.

King Fagan pointed at his fellow leprechaun. “Stop yammerin’ right now. I don’t know what you have against the dragons, Shamus, but whatever it is, put it on the long finger. Now, the reason I came here meself was to lift the magic we four used to keep
these
Arishes out of Ireland. After they return, they can deal with sendin’ the others back to Ulster.”

“Shite,” Rory muttered.

Chloe placed a hand on her brother’s knee. “What are you thinkin’, Prince?”

She
never
used his title. It must have been her way of swearing her loyalty while at the same time reminding him of his obligation.

He was thinking he had lost interest in the crumbling ruin that had once been their beloved home. The idea of leaving a certain sexy flight attendant to oust a rival clan filled him with dread. What if she found someone else to move in with her while he was gone? His green eyes were probably turning greener.

As far as he was concerned, his Ulster cousins could have the damn castle. It was an empty ruin, but his sisters would never forgive him if he gave up without a fight.
At least a verbal one.
He wouldn’t pit his sisters against male dragons.

“I need to talk to them.” Rory narrowed his eyes at Fagan. “I don’t suppose you have their phone number?”

“Sadly no. But now that we’re together, we can lift the spell that kept you from returnin’ home.”

Rory nodded. “Do it then. I’ll go pack.”

“And I’ll go with you,” Chloe said, getting to her feet.

“No, you won’t. You’ll stay here and keep an eye on the youngest.”

Shannon rose and jammed her hands on her hips. “What do you mean by that? I’m not helpless. Besides, I have Finn to stay with me now.”