A Dragon’s Tale

When Ethan woke the next morning, the morning light was already streaming in through the window. He looked around the room to discover it wasn't particularly large but was richly furnished. A small fire burned in the fireplace and beside him on a table was a large breakfast, fragrant steam rising from it and showing that it was still hot. Ethan dug in but found he didn't really enjoy the bread, and so focused on the chicken instead.

Once his stomach was no longer growling, his next thought was for Alana. He checked their bond to discover she was also sleepy and content. Strangely, he almost felt like he had a sense of where she was. When he thought about her, he could feel a tiny portion of his mind tugging in a particular direction.

This bond thing was weird.

Ethan had just finished eating when -- almost on cue -- the door opened and the steward entered.

"Excuse me sir, but Lord Borden has requested the honor of your presence." He said. "If you are finished breaking your fast, would you please accompany me to see him?"

Ethan followed the steward through a series of halls, finally stopping before a large wooden door. The door was carved with several ornate designs and inlaid with gold. Alana was standing outside the door as if waiting. The Steward knocked once, then opened the door, stepped aside for them to enter, and then closed the door behind them.

They were standing in what looked like a large office. Lord Borden was sitting in a large chair behind an ornate wooden desk. Along the walls of the office were several large and expensive-looking paintings. Gold candlesticks lined the room, although they weren't currently lit. Through the many windows, Ethan had an excellent panoramic view of the town.

The banker's fingertips were steepled together and he looked deep in thought. His eyes tracked their entry, but otherwise he gave no sign of noticing their presence. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air. The atmosphere of the room felt like a library and Ethan didn't feel comfortable breaking the silence.

"I understand why a dragon would risk his life for a job at my bank." Lord Borden said after nearly a minute of deafening silence. "But I don't understand why he would wish to marry my daughter."

"Marry your daughter?" Alana said.

"You know I'm a dragon?" Ethan's eyes widened.

Lord Borden raised an eyebrow. "A disguise gem is an effective way to remain inconspicuous, but they are hardly foolproof. I run the largest bank in the ten kingdoms; security is paramount."

"Wait, back up to the part about Ethan marrying your daughter." Alana insisted.

"I offered a contract bounty for my children's safe return, and the reward for rescuing Beth is her hand in marriage." The man said as if that explained everything.

"But I don't have to marry her right? I mean, I don't have to accept the reward... do I?"

"A contract bounty is a legal contract." Lord Borden explained. "By fulfilling the terms of the bounty, you implicitly sign the contract. Meaning you agree to collect the reward offered. You cannot ask for more, and the person who posted the bounty cannot give less. Both parties agree to the terms of the contract."

"So, I have to..."

"Yes." Lord Borden replied.

"To Beth?" Alana whispered.

He nodded.

"Oh wow." Ethan said. "I just wanted to save her; I didn't know I was signing up to have and to hold."

"You'd promise your daughter in marriage to just anyone?" Alana seemed upset at the thought.

"It wasn't supposed to be this way." Lord Borden replied. "The captain of my guard -- Heinrich -- has been smitten with Beth for some time. He has long wished to marry her, but I couldn't grant that wish because of his low birth. However, offering a contract bounty of marriage for whoever rescued her was a loophole. Heinrich has never failed me and I assumed he would bring Beth home and they could be married. Alas, things did not happen that way."

"What does Beth think of Heinrich?" Ethan asked.

"She regards him as a trusted friend, though it stops short of attraction." Lord Borden replied. "Considering the deplorable quality of men vying for her hand, I thought Heinrich would be the best man to make her happy."

"So basically, we ruined everything when we rescued her." Ethan said.

"In so many words, yes." Lord Borden said. "Lord Delmar will stop at nothing to find you. When he discovers you are married -- or even engaged -- to Beth, she will become a primary target."

"Why?" Ethan asked.

"Lord Delmar often attacks the heart to weaken the body." Lord Borden replied. "It's despicable, but effective. By killing your betrothed or wife, he would hope to make you easier to kill. Either through rage or despair, it matters not to him."

"That's..." Ethan began to say.

"Horrible." Alana finished.

"It's also the position you have put my daughter in." Lord Borden didn't exactly look angry, but he sounded far from pleased.

"And you want Ethan to marry Beth, even though it would put her in such danger?" Alana asked.

A scowl played at the edges of Lord Borden's mouth, but he restrained it. "If you don't marry Beth, people would think me a liar who broke a contract and everyone would withdraw their money from The Bank. My family would be left penniless and my enemies would descend on us like a plague. We would all be dead within the week."

"Damned if you do, damned if you don't." Ethan said glumly.

He nodded. "Given the choice between certain death for all and danger for one, I should think my enforced choice would be obvious."

"Well, Ethan and I are kind of married." Alana said. "I mean, not really, but we're bonded, so technically according to elven law we're married. What of that?"

"You know as well as I do that polygyny -- although uncommon -- is perfectly legal throughout the Ten Kingdoms." Lord Borden said. "Even if it wasn't -- and it shouldn't be -- you requested separate bedrooms and clearly don't consider yourselves married. Do you deny it?"

Neither of them did.

Lord Borden leaned forward and locked eyes with Ethan. "To be clear, I'll not have my daughter sharing a husband with another woman. Should you try it, the consequences would be..." He paused long enough to be uncomfortable. "...severe."

Ethan nodded, and then a thought occurred to him. "Couldn't I just fake my death or something? That would get us both off the hook."

"You clearly don't know Lord Delmar." The banker leaned back in his chair. "Such a secret would not last long with him pursuing you, and the truth would come out soon enough. Then we would be worse off than we are now, having added mass deception to our sins. The only thing that will do is your marriage to my daughter."

"Shouldn't Beth be a part of this conversation?" Ethan asked.

"I can send a servant to find her." Lord Borden said. "However, when I told her that her hand in marriage was part of the reward, she was pleased. I believe she's quite taken with you."

Ethan noticed Alana was sitting back in her chair with shoulders slumped and eyes on the floor. She glanced at him and he saw something in her eyes that he'd never seen in her before: hopelessness. She looked so... defeated. He wouldn't have thought she was capable of a look like that before they'd entered the office.

"Could I talk with Alana privately for a few minutes?" Ethan asked.

Lord Borden hesitated -- glancing toward the gold candlesticks in the room -- before responding. "You may use my office."

He bowed and then left the room.

The door boomed shut behind him with an ominous finality to it.

"That starry sky is looking pretty cloudy right now." Ethan said to her. She nodded but didn't reply. He stood up to offer a hug, which she rose and accepted. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Some of her worry drained away and they embraced for a minute.

"You should marry her." Alana said as she broke their hug. Her cheeks were moist and she wiped them with the back of her hand.

"I don't want to,"

"I know. But she's nice, smart, funny, and gorgeous; you'll be happy with her I think."

"But--" Ethan started to say, but Alana cut him off.

"Any man would give his arm to marry her. Why wouldn't you?" She said sharply, and then she looked abashed and averted her eyes.

"First, I'm still recovering from my ex, second I barely know her, and third and most importantly..." Ethan waited until Alana met his eye before he finished. "You."

"Me?"

"Absolutely." Ethan nodded. "I'm not going to pretend I'm all doe-eyed in love, but you're a wonderful woman. Maybe it's because of our bond, but I think there's something between us that's worth exploring."

"You should marry her anyway. I'll be fine, really." She said, although she looked just the opposite. "Besides, I'll outlive her by a century or more. Maybe in a few decades when she dies..."

"That's optimistic." Ethan replied without humor.

Alana stared into his eyes for several seconds. She moved her hand up to touch his face, but then stopped, took a deep breath, and let it fall back to her side. She looked down at the floor and shook her head slightly. "With the lives of Beth and her family on the line, I don't see another choice. Do you?"

Ethan took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

As much as he hated it, he had signed up for this. He'd technically signed a contract and if he didn't make good Beth, and her father, mother, and brother might die. He couldn't be the cause of that; he just couldn't.

Finally, he shook his head. "I wish I did."

"Me too."

"What about our bond?" He asked. "I don't like the idea of being married to one woman and bonded to another."

"Maybe it'll break if you bond with her?" She suggested, but didn't sound convinced.

"You really think it will?"

"It has to, I can't..." She blinked and a single tear began to trace a path down her cheek, though she wiped it away before it had gone far.

He reached up and gently wiped it from her face. She leaned into his hand and the softest, quietest sigh escaped her beautiful lips.

"Will you be okay if it does break?" Ethan asked. "To put it bluntly, I'd rather marry you than her."

"I'll be fine." She said, though she clearly wasn't. "But I think it's best if we stay away from each other; at least until our bond is broken."

"That's assuming it breaks."

"It has to." She almost pleaded. "So... you're going to marry her then?"

Ethan took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to ignore the lump in his throat. Dear God in heaven, what a colossal mess; a total FUBAR cluster fuck. He thought life on earth was painful but this... this was something else. Now thinking about Alana leaving...

A deep primal rage welled up within him. He wanted to punch something or grab it rip it apart with his bare hands. No, screw that; he wanted to get his hands on Lord Delmar and tear that bastard limb from--

Alana touched his chest and his rage mellowed.

He marveled at the effect a simple touch from her had on him. But despite her comforting presence, he couldn't deny the situation. Every one of his instincts screamed that this wasn't right, but as much as he wanted Alana, he couldn't sentence Beth and her entire family to death because he did.

"I think I have to."

"Congratulations." Alana said. She tried to sound cheerful, but didn't quite manage it. She did manage a pained smile. She had such a beautiful smile; how could something be so beautiful and yet so heartbreaking at the same time?

"I should go." She whispered. "Maybe Lord Borden has a job opening for a good enchanter. Also, please try to stay out of my emotions and our bond. I know it's hard, but please try, okay?"

Ethan could think of anything to say, so he nodded. "Okay."

"Goodbye Ethan." Alana said. "I'm glad I met you."

She gave him a kiss on the cheek, turned, and walked toward the door. Ethan opened his mouth to try to convince her not to leave, but couldn't think of anything to say. She stopped with her hand on the doorknob and turned to look at him.

"You're a good man-- er, dragon, Ethan." Alana said. "It's ironic that you agreeing to marry someone else makes me think I would've liked that privilege myself."

Before he could answer, she slipped out of the room and closed the door behind her. Ethan resisted the temptation to look at their bond and see how she was feeling. She'd just walked out of his life and no long wanted him in her head.

However, some part of him -- his dragon side perhaps -- refused to accept that she was gone and refused to believe that the wonderful wood self wouldn't eventually be his.

It simply refused.

Oddly, that was comforting. His dragon side had a powerful certainty that things would work out with Alana eventually. He couldn't see how that was possible, but still couldn't shake the feeling. He hoped it was right, because if he wasn't...

He didn't want to think about it.

(End of Chapter 3)