Kiss of the Dragon (27 page)

“We know nothing about the incident other that what we have
heard. It is apparent that whoever arranged this attack planned it well and
only waited for the opportunity to carry it out.”

“I disagree. If the attack had been well planned, then
neither Bianca nor I would be here today.”

His statement did not set well with Veryalda. The old woman
suddenly looked very ill and she hunched into herself as if she had sustained a
physical blow. It seemed that the prospect of their deaths upset her greatly.
If possible, she suddenly looked older and her clear bluish-violet eyes
darkened to an almost purple hue.

“I have read the cards and there is peril in your future,
young warrior, for you and your woman.” Her prophecy of danger to Draco brought
Bianca out of her temporary stupor. She did not know whether to believe the old
gypsy or not. But she was not about to stand there and let her grandmother
scare her with her foretelling.

“Have you heard anything of Jabulani?” Bianca interrupted.

“We heard that he turned up missing yesterday.” She glanced
at a couple of men standing near them and they nodded in agreement with her
statement. “I understand that he was attacked by highwaymen in the forest
between Castle Neige and the southern borders.”

“Yes. I have men even now looking for him,” Draco supplied
as Veryalda motioned for them to follow her. She led them to her
vardos
where she invited them to sit beside her small campfire and take liquid
refreshment.

They sipped the strong brew as Veryalda continued their
conversation. “I hear many surprisingly confidential things in my trade, as do
the rest of my family.” She shrugged her shoulders at Draco’s dubious look. “It
is true. Outsiders tend to talk around us gypsies as if we have no ears to hear
and no mind to understand their meaning. And worse, they think we have no
morals to be offended by their devious schemes and acts of evil.”

“So you do not know who the villains are?”

“No, unfortunately. If I did, I would be the first to put a
dirk into the bastard’s liver before he realized what had happened.”

The cold, vengeful words from her grandmother shocked Bianca.
But the vengeance that burned in Veryalda’s bluish-violet eyes disturbed her
more. It was evident that this was where Bianca got her spirit and fire.

Her gypsy blood.

The thought made her shudder. She reached over and covered
her grandmother’s hand with hers. “You must not risk yourself for me. There are
trained knights and soldiers who can handle such things.”

“I know, dear child, but it makes my blood boil to think
that someone is trying to hurt you. I made you a promise, years ago and I am
not about to break it now. I will do all within my power to protect you.”

“So it was you who aided Bianca when she was abducted as a
child? That is how you know her?”

“Yea, yea. I was around at the time of her abduction, my
boy.” She glanced at Bianca with a puzzled look on her face and she hesitated,
but at Bianca’s slight nod she continued. “It seems that my granddaughter has
forgotten to mention our relationship. Bianca’s mother was my only daughter,
Marilis.” She smiled at the surprised look on Lord Draco’s face and then she
chuckled when he swung his accusing gaze to Bianca.

“Yea, I aided my granddaughter’s escape. What kind of
grandmother would I be if I sat back and watched my flesh and blood suffer
needlessly because of an old man’s desire for vengeance? My husband, Ama, was
crazed with grief over our daughter’s death. He was not thinking straight when
he took Bianca from her father. But he would not listen to reason.”

“So you defied your husband to take Bianca back to her
father.” Things were beginning to make sense to Draco, now. He glanced back and
forth between the two women. He saw it then. The eyes were exotically slanted,
violet in color. Though Veryalda was an old woman now, it was evident that at
one time she had been a very comely woman. “And your father knows who Veryalda
is?”

“Of course, he does. That is why my grandmother comes here
and she and her band are welcome to stay as long as they wish. My father does
not blame Veryalda for what my grandfather did all those years ago. It is I who
never got over the experience. It is a nightmare that haunts me even now.” She
glanced at her grandmother when she heard a low sob coming from her. “I do not
hate the Rom, grandmother. I just cannot forget what happened.”

Draco decided that he needed to hear the whole tale of
Bianca’s abduction, so he requested that Veryalda relate it in detail.

“My husband was a very suspicious man and he kept a close
watch on Bianca and any who came near her. He expected the duke to send
soldiers to find us and take her so we moved constantly, hiding during the day
and traveling at night. But after so many nights of crying herself to sleep and
days of refusing to eat, Bianca became little more than a small ghost of her
former self. I was so worried about her that I brought it to Ama’s attention
but he refused to see it. It was then that I asked my brother, Henri, for help.
Together we came up with a plan. He was to secrete her back to Castle Neige
after I managed to get her away from the camp. Looking back now, I would not
hesitate doing what I did again. Even if I was disloyal to my husband and his
convictions, I could not let my granddaughter suffer such fright and
homesickness because he wanted revenge for Marilis’ death.

“Ama had never approved of the marriage, you see. In his
twisted, grieving mind he saw no wrong in what he did.” Tears leaked from the
wrinkled corners of Veryalda’s eyes. “But I saw the pain and destruction that
his vengeance caused. I went against my vows to honor and obey, and I sent my
granddaughter home.” Sadness filled the old gypsy’s voice as she poked at the
fire with a long, twisted staff.

Veryalda, now an old woman, would never reveal to her
granddaughter how she had suffered at her husband’s hands when he found out
what she had done. It had taken months for her cuts and bruises to heal and Ama
had never slept in her wagon again. A small sigh escaped her lips as she
recalled the shame she faced when he had flaunted his lovers before her.

“The grief of losing my poor Marilis was nearly too much for
Ama. He hated everything to do with the blue bloods and to have his daughter
defy him and marry one and then die trying to give the nobleman the heir he
demanded of her nearly broke Ama. He acted in what he considered to be the only
way to save Bianca from a similar fate. I admit that in the beginning he had
convinced me of the rightness of his scheme. But after watching how heartsick
Bianca became as the days passed, I realized how wrong we were. A child should
not have to lose both her mother and her father in such a short period of time;
it was too much.”

“That is an old tale, Grandmother, best left in the past,”
Bianca said. “We need to concentrate on the here and now. We need to find
Jabulani and then determine who has contrived this offense. Whoever is behind
this is responsible for nearly taking Draco’s life yesterday.”

“It is but a scratch and nothing more.” Even as he denied
the seriousness of his wounds, he was feeling pleasure at her words of concern.
Then a mischievous twinkle lit his eyes. “Speaking of injuries, perhaps you
should have the one you acquired last night attended to. Your grandmother might
have some remedy to ease the pain.”

“You were injured,
mi amour
?” For her advanced years,
Veryalda was up and across the space between them in less time than it took
Bianca to form a reply. “Why was I not told of this immediately?”

“I thought that you knew everything that happens in Castle
Neige?” Draco made the comment at the same time Bianca exclaimed in a mortified
tone, “I am fine, Grandmother. I happened to get a splinter that is all.”

Without missing a beat, Veryalda answered them both, “I know
just about everything that happens at Castle Neige, yea, and splinters can
fester and cause illness and fever. You will come with me now, Bianca, so I can
take a look at your injury.”

There was no dissuading the old woman when she was set on a
mission. And so a mutinous Bianca threw a grinning Draco a frowning
“this-is-all-your-fault” look as she reluctantly followed her grandmother up
the steps and into her wagon.

As Draco sat beside the campfire waiting for Bianca to
emerge from the wagon, he became aware that he was no longer alone. Even before
the silent shadow approached from behind, he had eased his dagger halfway from
its sheath, careful not to draw attention to his actions. But at the floral
scent that assailed his nose he relaxed.

“It is a shame we were not able to keep our rendezvous the
other evening, my Lord Dragon,” the seductive voice murmured in his ear as
small, enticing hands caressed the wide expanse of his broad shoulders. Draco
knew who stood at his back without looking. It was the gypsy wench, Carmen, and
she brazenly showed him just how much she wanted him. She was attempting to
seduce him right outside the wagon where she knew Bianca was.

“I was not interested then,” he replied moving away from her
touch. “And I am still not interested, woman. Take your wares elsewhere.”

“She has nothing that I could not give you in greater
quality,” she snarled.

Draco turned and faced a furious gypsy woman, giving her a
blank face even as she ranted on.

“Her innocence attracts you like a love potion, but it will
last only a short while and then your desire will wane and you will wish you
had chosen an experienced woman who could tend to all of your desires.”

With every word she uttered, Draco’s blood grew colder and
colder. This woman was the complete opposite of his beautiful, gentle-minded
Bianca. Carmen was cold, calculating and mean-hearted. She would stop at
nothing to get what she wanted, not caring who got hurt. She was exactly the
type of woman that Draco had sought out over his fighting years to slake his
lust, with full, voluptuous breasts and wide hips. He’d always liked that in a
woman. He’d kept his desires well sated and under control so he was never tempted
by offers of bedmates from the noble class. It was safer to use widows or
whores for sex, safer for his heart and safer for his soul. He was secure from
such complications as falling in love. It had only been since he had met Bianca
that he recognized exactly how empty his life was and would continue to be if
he had to live without her in it.

Carmen seemed not to notice, or perhaps she just did not
want to admit that he rejected her sultry advances instead of encouraging them.
She moved her curvaceous form closer until her hands rested on his wide,
muscular chest as she looked up at him through her eyelashes as the tip of her
tongue sensuously laved her full bottom lip, openly inviting his kiss.

“Perhaps we could rendezvous tonight,” she spoke her sultry
invitation as her hands moved up his chest. “We have been invited to entertain
at the castle tonight. After I perform, we could meet somewhere. I will make
you forget that little innocent.” She tried to wrap her arms about his neck as
she pressed her ample breasts against his chest, giving him a sample of what he
could look forward to later. Draco’s rejection was clear when he gripped her
wrists and pulled her arms down as he stepped back, making sure that he was
completely out of her reach. He went so far as to move to the opposite side of
the fire.

“I am flattered, Carmen, but I will be otherwise occupied
tonight.”

“Then I will come to you tomorrow night,” she pressed.
Before he could make up another excuse, she blew him a kiss and danced away.

Draco shook his head in disbelief. The woman was as tenuous
as those sappy suitors who arrive at the gates of Castle Neige daily. It was
clear he would have to put an end to this one-sided affair, soon, before
anybody got hurt. He feared that being caught between two such strong women, it
would be him.

“I will come to see you tomorrow and inspect the wound once
again. For now it looks to be well on its way to mending.”

Bianca descended from the wagon first and then turned to
help Veryalda down as the old woman continued to give her more advice,
opinions, and dictates.

“Do not let her ride too long, my boy. She is still mending
and I do not want the wound to fester.”

“Do not worry, Veryalda. We return to Castle Neige when we
leave here. Then I swear I will send her right to bed for the rest of the
night.” He gave Bianca a push in the direction of his mount, which one of the
men had brought forth.

As Bianca walked out of earshot, Veryalda whispered, “Stay
close to her, my lord. Evil still lurks just out of reach, waiting for an easy
victim.”

“I know, Grandmother, I know. I will do everything within my
power to protect her.” He hesitated before continuing, “She means the world to
me and I have no intention of letting anyone take her from me now.” With that
parting pledge, Draco turned and followed Bianca. He helped her up onto Inferno
and then mounted behind her. She waved goodbye as he nodded his head and they
quickly cantered across the glade and into the forest. For several moments,
they rode in quiet companionship. Draco glanced down at her to find a slight
smile on her lips.

“My lord,” she turned and looked at him, “I ask a boon.”
Draco’s heart skipped a beat and he feared that she might have overheard Carmen
trying to seduce him back at the camp. That was why her next words took him
completely by surprise. “Before we go home I wish to stop in the apple orchard
and pick some fresh apples for my father. He has not been feeling very well of
late and I thought that a few fresh apples would cheer him. They are his
favorite fruit.”

“You think that apples will make him feel better?”

“Oh, yes. He eats them whenever he gets a chance, morning,
noon and evening before bed. He cannot seem to get enough of them. If anything
will make him feel better, it would be fresh apples.”