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I had no idea if I could change their minds about me or not. But considering that I was an outsider and a Nocturne, and the fact that I was scarred all over, I was betting on not.
Crap. What a mess.
81
Kaitlyn
We had clearly been dismissed, so we left Ari’s mother’s chambers and went back down the long marble hallway which presumably led to where I would be staying. Ari held my hand but didn’t say anything and I was thinking too hard about what his mother had said to me to want to talk anyway.
Jalli chattered away like a little bird to Saint, who stalked down the hallway like a tall, dark shadow, only occasionally answering her running patter. Even Mr. Seahorse seemed subdued. He only chimed once and then settled himself quietly on my shoulder and looked alertly around without making another sound.
In my mind, I kept going over Ari’s mother’s words. I found myself in a much more difficult and dangerous position than I had ever imagined being in when Ari and his Drake asked to take me home with them. Then I had known that I was going into a situation where people most likely wouldn’t care for me, just because of who and what I was and what I looked like. But I hadn’t known that they would fear and distrust me or why they would feel that way.
Now I was beginning to understand the awesome power and responsibility I would hold as the person Ari’s Drake valued above everything else in the world. As the L’lorna to his Drake, I would be stronger than the strongest warlord I had ever learned about in my World History class—and more able to wreak havoc and destruction.
It was a sobering thought.
“Here we are at the guest rooms!” Jalli’s high, sweet voice drew me out of my thoughts and I looked up to see that we had turned down a short corridor which had a row of five or six wooden doors. Every one of them was bound in brass and covered in delicate carvings of vines and flowers and Drakes and other creatures, some of them so fantastical I wouldn’t have believed they were real if not for Mr. Seahorse sitting on my shoulder.
“This room is the perfect one for you, Kaitlyn,” Jalli said, pointing to a door which had many carvings of chimelings on it. “It has a window that opens onto the Scented Gardens,” she explained. “So Mr. Seahorse can go out and catch himself some dinner.”
“Thank you—that’s very thoughtful of you, Jalli.” I nodded and smiled at her before looking at Ari. “Where do you stay? I mean—where is your room, er, your chambers around here?”
He frowned. “Across the palace. But I don’t like leaving you alone here in the guest wing. I’ll come and stay with you.”
Saint raised his jet-black eyebrows.
“Stay in the same rooms before you are properly Joined? Don’t you think you’re pushing the boundaries a bit too far there, Cousin? I mean, you’re already breaking the Edict by choosing a L’lorna with no Drake blood in her veins. Do you truly want to push your Sire into a corner this way and grieve your lady Mother by such an unseemly display?”
“I would be sleeping on the couch—not in Kaitlyn’s bed,” Ari snapped angrily. “And you’re one to talk about pushing my Sire when all you do is torment your own.”
The corner of Saint’s mouth twitched.
“I assure you, Cousin, that the torment between me and my Sire is a two-way street. Look…” He put a hand on Ari’s shoulder. “You know I’m right. You’re already breaking the Edict—”
“You said yourself the Edict is dead,” Ari pointed out.
“So it is—but not in the hearts and minds of our elders,” Saint said calmly. “My point is, you don’t need a scandal on top of everything else.”
“What do you propose I do? Just leave my L’lorna alone with no protection all the way across the palace?” Ari demanded. “She’s already got enemies here. Sanchez accused her of getting his vrota of a son kicked out of Nocturne Academy. I won’t leave her unprotected!”
“I’ll be here,” Saint said soothingly. “In the room right beside your L’lorna’s. And before your Drake gets riled at the idea of another male being so close to your female, please remember that my own Drake has no interest in females of any kind.”
“He doesn’t?” Jalli’s eyes went wide. “But then…who is he interested in, Saint?”
“Nobody.” Saint looked away, not meeting his little cousin’s eyes.
“But then how will you ever find your own L’lorna?” Jalli asked in a worried tone.
“I won’t,” Saint said shortly and his black eyes flashed red again. “I’m a Blood Drake, remember? Nobody wants me reproducing and bringing more of my brand of bad luck into the Sky Lands anyway.” He looked at Ari. “What do you say, Cousin? Shall I protect your L’lorna and your reputation—at least for tonight?”
