The Dragon Prince's Consort

Nineteen

"Let me ask you this," Yena took up her cup again, tasting it and adding more hot tea. "I don't need details, but since you mentioned you're teaching her to be a proper Lady Courtesan I was wondering how things were going on that stage. Have you..." she covered her mouth with a gold-clawed hand and coughed delicately, "...revisited the idea since she learned of her new status?"

Valen's ears flattened in embarrassment. "Why do you need to know that?"

"I don't," Yen waved, smiling politely, "but I had a feeling the subject has been broached since then. It is good to know my intuition was correct, though. Anyway, would you say the two of your are compatible?"

Valen shook his head again. "I'm not answering that." In his mind, though, Valen's memories flashed and spooled like an ancient recording-tape. I do think there's some chemistry and I'm fine having fun with it while I'm here, if that's something you'd be interested in... He remembered the taste of her skin, the smoothness of it, the smell of fingerberries and snowgrass. She'd told him where to kiss her and how, and judging by her reaction he'd done well. Whether or not that made them compatible, though...

"She seems to like you," Yen offered. "She doesn't act like she's afraid of you, and from what little I've seen it doesn't look like she minds you touching her. That's promising, isn't it?"

What are you trying to do, Yen? Valen squinted as if that would help him understand. "I don't know what you mean by 'promising'."

Yena traced the gold-enameled lip of her cup with the tip of her finger; her claw struck a tiny note on the porcelain. "Skipping over the how, let's assume you've found what you're looking for and it's done, the contract is rendered null and void and Fang can go on her way. You've said you won't stop her from leaving, what will you do if she does? How would you feel if, say, next week you come across the perfect solution, and she tells you she'll be packed and ready to leave in an hour?"

The dagger between his hearts caught, and for a terrifying moment Valen could neither breathe nor think. It felt like one of those spells he had sometimes, when the edges of his vision went hazy and he couldn't feel his hands. They always came with a sense of imminent doom and the ground under his feet threatened to give way, plunging him somewhere dark and cold. I can't be so attached already, can I? The thought of Fang, the woman who invited him to touch her and showed him how to kiss her, leaving him so soon even though he promised he'd let her go–

"Valen, are you all right?"

"It's nothing," he fisted his hands and dug his claws into his palms. The pain usually gave him something to focus on other than numbing panic. "I'm... I'm fine."

Yena raised her scaled brows. "You don't look fine. Though it does answer my question, to an extent. Of course you don't want her to leave, not when everything's still so new and exciting, and you're mature enough to know you can't keep someone who doesn't want to stay. Eyah," She shook her head, the chains in her horns jingling and flashing. "You're in a difficult position, wanting it both ways." Yena thought about it for a moment, then tipped her head to the side. "Actually..."

"Hngh?" Snapping back to the moment felt like getting thrown from Ika's back.

Yena sat forward, clasping her hands together over her knees. "Let's say this happens: you elevate her to Lady Consort, protecting her from Tias while you find her way out. Then you find it, and you tell her 'you're free to go, my Lady'. It's not entirely unthinkable to imagine her deciding to stay, is it? Just because you offer Fang her freedom, it doesn't mean she has to leave, yes? Giving Fang her liberty merely means she's no longer obligated to stay, but what if you gave her a reason to? She could go back to Federation territory and never have to work another day in her life, or she could choose to stay with the man who helped her when she needed it the most, who stood up to the Dragon Emperor and the heir apparent when she had no one else, who fed and clothed her and made sure she was safe. It's entirely possible that she might choose that over, say, going to Dreenai and living in a beach mansion, because the beach mansion doesn't have the one thing you can't get with kai."