Taniel (The Taverner's Daughter I)

78: Taniel

Katerine was the one to bring lunch to the birthing room. I did not ask about the witch, presuming her to be with Olivia or tending Wizard Ritter. On the way back to my newly assigned bedroom, Katerine agreed to let me admire my dragon while we waited for the bath water to heat.

"That's Driscoll," Katerine said, before leaving me by the window overlooking the dragonhold. "Dax's dragon. He is the father of your little fellow."

For some reason, I had assumed my puny red was a female. I ogled Driscoll, my imagination aflame with visions of myself soaring across the skies on my own magnificent red firedrake.

Movement snagged my attention.

Jarryd and Dax moved out from behind the gated wall where they had been hidden from my view.

Seeing my dragonrider, for real, filled my insides with trepidation. I must keep my composure and pretend he was nothing to me except the one who tested me.

From the way Jarryd stalked towards Driscoll and shrugged off his brother's hand on his arm, they argued.

About me?

My dragonrider had seemed fine with me having the procedure. I did not have to bed Dax, though I was loath to admit that I would have given that serious thought under different circumstances.

My eyes slid back to Driscoll. Only when Jarryd clambered up on the dragon, did I realise he meant to leave.

I tried to open a mindpath.

"Taniel," Katerine called from behind me. "Bath time."

My jaw dropped when Jarryd kicked Dax in the chest, knocking him down. Whatever they argued about, I thought, Jarryd was reacting badly. That was no way to treat a brother. Perhaps having a brother or sister would be different to what I imagined.

Driscoll launched and Dax vanished behind a sweeping wing and raised dust.

Katerine moved up beside me.

"Was that Jarryd?" she asked, craning her neck as the firedrake took away my dragonrider.

"I don't know," I lied; glad I had managed to stop myself from shouting and banging on the window. "I can't remember what he looks like. Anyway, his dragon was green."

I turned away, pretending not to see my inner confusion mirrored on Katerine's face.

I marched down the passage to my new rooms, fighting tears.

"I'm dying for this bath," I said.

***

2 April 2017 - replaced with revised scene

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