Page 7 of Dragon’s Ending

She shook her head. “That’s Dominic, Rhodri’s heir, and I can’t believe he’s wearing jeans. What is—” She cut herself off again, as if finishing the sentence felt dangerous.

Dominic—and I was glad to have my suspicions confirmed—had changed since I’d seen him outside. He was now wearing dark blue jeans that clung to his thighs just a little too well, as I’d somehow noticed in the seconds before he sat down. His shirt was a deep purple that he appeared to have abandoned buttoning halfway through the task. That was way too much cleavage to be showing at a formalish supper. Way too much for anything outside a club, in my opinion.

As I studied him, he flicked his gaze up with disconcerting suddenness and held mine. Just for an instant, the gold of his dragon flickered in his eyes, as if taken by surprise at having a strange dragon at his dining table. But then the corner of his mouth raised in a lopsided smirk, and as his eyes turned brown once more, the expression in them was unmistakable. He knew—or he thought he did—why I was watching him, and he was both amused and unsurprised.

I held his gaze a moment longer, letting him know he didn’t impress me, then turned back to Phoebe to ask her about the history of the house. Yes, Dominic was attractive. Hot as hell, in fact. And by God, did he know it. Which instantly made him far less attractive, at least so far as I was concerned.

He was evidently a spoiled brat, brought up in a house like this where everyone kowtowed to him and his father. Sauntering in late, with no apology or excuse offered… I hoped I wouldn’t have anything to do with him while I was here.

Chapter Four

DOMINIC

I’d known what I was doing, and I’d known what would follow. It didn’t make it any more pleasant to hear Rhodri’s arctic tone when he pushed his chair back at the end of the meal.

“Dominic. A word.”

I stood up in my own time and followed him out of the dining room, aware of all the eyes on me. Let them look and whisper. I didn’t care.

Of course Rhodri went to his study, the unhappy, tight-feeling room that had claustrophobia clawing at my throat. The room I’d been dismissed from just that afternoon, with Rhodri’s stinging words following me out. Too volatile.

I turned around from closing the door to find Rhodri standing in front of the fireplace, watching me. For an instant, I thought he looked tired, but as I met his gaze, his face hardened.

I knew that my decision to turn up late, to be so openly disrespectful, would only have cemented his view that I was nowhere near ready to be the head of this family. But if I’d swallowed down my hurt and anger and shown up on time, that wouldn’t have counted in my favour. My compliance would simply have been expected. At least this way, I’d had that moment of satisfaction, knowing I’d annoyed him.

I knew my eyebrow had raised, all by itself. I knew he’d see it as insolence. But I couldn’t quite care. I opened my mouth.

“Not one word.”

I shut it again, and my eyebrow returned to its rightful position as quickly as it had risen.

“You continue to embarrass this family,” Rhodri said. “Yourself as well, but I’ve given up caring about that since you so obviously don’t. I will not have you make us look weak in front of outsiders.”

“Perhaps if you’d told me we had a visitor, I might have—”

“Enough, Dominic.” His voice held the warning bass rumble of his dragon, and I shut up. “Berstow is not your concern.”

No, nothing was my concern, it seemed. I was allowed no role in the family, yet I was too important to be left completely to my own devices. All because one day, I’d inherit this mausoleum and become leader of the dragons who lived in fear of Rhodri. Though as I saw the dragon lurking in his eyes, I supposed I shouldn’t judge them for something that I wasn’t entirely free of myself.

I curbed my tongue and said nothing, even though I was burning to know who this visitor was—I’d never heard of the Berstow family—and what he was doing here. Especially as he’d simply sat making quiet conversation with his neighbours throughout supper. He’d appeared supremely unruffled by the undercurrents that had followed my insultingly late arrival at the table.

He must be important to be allowed to visit, but he didn’t carry himself like he was trying to impress. He just sat there, impassive, certain, and boring. His lack of reaction to anything around him was both odd and deeply annoying.

Rhodri sat down in the chair by the fireplace, an uncharacteristic sigh escaping him. He was studying me, and I forced myself not to tense.

“While he’s here, could you just try to be less…” He waved a hand at me, encompassing everything I was. “Be more like a civilised dragon for once?”

I couldn’t remember the last time he’d asked me something rather than told me, and I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity.

“It sounds as if his visit is important,” I said, wandering over to the mantelpiece and leaning against it. Then, realising that looked impertinently casual, I straightened up.

“I agreed to Abimelech Mortimer’s request that Berstow come here,” Rhodri said.

For the first time I could remember, he sounded less than certain about a decision he’d made. His eyes rested on me consideringly, and I saw the moment when he drew himself back together, and his gaze sharpened on my shirt. “And for God’s sake, Dominic, would it hurt to actually dress yourself properly? I will not have a repeat of the Carlew visitor. In fact, I don’t want you anywhere near Berstow while he’s here.”

God’s sake, it’d only been sex. Wasn’t my fault the Carlew dragon had decided he was in love after nothing more than a quick fuck and had taken my rejection personally enough to run away home.

Rhodri’s eyes lingered on me a moment more, as if waiting for a reaction. Or even an apology, though he should have known me better than that. When I gave him nothing, he jerked his head towards the door, signalling my dismissal.