Taniel (The Taverner's Daughter I)

66: Jarryd

Jarryd waited inside the pink bedroom, impatient for Taniel's return, his insides still swirling after the news from Dax. He had hardly dared hope that he would father a son so soon.

His heart skipped a beat when he thought of them downstairs, telling her, right now, about the vast power residing in his child's afterbirth. It was more important than ever to flee from this place.

He would take her to the Old World where magic was supposed to be wiped out. The pirates must have a way out of Corrangorach. Surely, the seafarers had old maps predating the conjuring of the deadly reefs, the protective sheer cliffs, and the magicked barrier. Foreign goods showed up on the markets with the sellers pretending the exotic booty came from the mysterious Eastland forests. Jarryd knew that to be nonsense as the forest folk disdained all contact with humankind, living like wisps of air among their sacred trees and their holdings on southern Edge.

After his recent experience, Jarryd was sure there would be weak points in the magic skirting West Corrangorach. The pirates would know the way.

Taniel's laugh, outside the door, alerted him to her return. Though Dax had told him the witch would befriend Taniel, trying to atone for her part in the abduction, he did not expect to hear his betrothed laughing gaily as she was ushered into the room.

"I want you to rest, dear," Paget said. "The procedure will be uncomfortable and embarrassing, but nothing you cannot handle."

Paget put a finger against Taniel's parted lips when she opened them to speak. "I will come back in an hour with some tea before we start the baby."

Paget grinned. "And then, when I announce our success, we each earn our red dragon."

A dragon? No wonder Taniel was in a good mood. They had bribed her with a bloody dragon.

Well, too late, he smirked, smug. He had given her means to the dragon.

Taniel beamed. "I do have to wait until the baby is born," she said. "I will earn the dragon for the child, not the impregnation."

Paget laughed. "If you be good, who knows, you may get it sooner."

Jarryd forgot to breathe. The way she had said the dragon for the child chilled his very soul.

Did she want a dragon badly enough to trade their child?

Surely, he had misunderstood.

Paget hugged Taniel and left, closing the door behind her.

Trying to calm himself, he decided that confronting her with outrage was pointless. Driscoll's spell was still on him and, as long as he employed a honeyed tongue, he could scowl and sneer, unseen, while he questioned the fate of his son.

Jarryd watched her on the bed.

"A dragon," she whispered.

He watched her fingers over her stomach and saw the look of wonderment on her face. "You are worth a dragon," she said to his son. "Who would have thought getting a dragon could end up being so easy."

His heart shattered.

He did not trust himself to speak. She had no use for him. She did not want his words of love. His betrothed, so obviously taken by dragonlust, did not notice the door softly open and close as he slipped out.

***

31 March 2017 - replaced with revised scene (major change, I had him leave thinking his thoughts because I changed what Taniel whispered aloud)

I think I should add a chick-lit tag to this story!  (an old comment, and done)

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