Page 21 of Defy Me

"Yeah. See, like that. Okay, here's the quick and dirty. Dragons exist. They fight evil, mostly in the form of demon dragons, although more recently also the Black Dragon who is the King of Hell and his sidekick, Ereshkigal, the Black Witch." She lifted her hand and ticked tapped each. "There are four kinds of dragons, Green, Blue, Gold, and Red, plus Jett. He's a bit of an anomaly."

Kind of like Yvaine.

Ciara didn't stop. "The head of each dragon Wyr, which is like a clan, is called the Wyvern. You with me so far?"

Yvaine said "yes," but shook her head no.

"Let me keep going and then we'll go back and fill in the gaps and your questions. Here this will help." Ciara poured champagne and orange juice into a green champagne flute and handed it to Yvaine.

"A long time ago, I'm not sure how long ago we're talking, but I think several centuries. There was the First Dragon. He hooked up with this lady called the White Witch and they had a bunch of half dragon half human babies."

Yvaine took a swig of the mimosa. Ciara was right. It did help.

"Their children became the first dragon Wyverns. They were all living happily for a while until some weird ass creatures that were half demon and half dragon started popping up around the world."

Finally, something she semi understood. "Oh. That must be the batstriches that attacked us."

"Batstritches?" Ciara half laughed and took a swig of her drink.

"Yeah. Big black creatures with wings like bats that are mean and go around of flapping their wings and pecking at everyone like horrible ostriches. Bat-ostriches." That sounded better in her head.

"Uh, yeah. That term fits them perfectly if you also include they like to eat babies, live in hell, are the minions of the Black Dragon and the Black Witch and can spit fire."

Crikies. "Yeah. Those guys. I didn't know about the, uh, eating babies part though."

"Yup. Evil incarnate." Ciara frowned and shook her head. "Anyway. The original dragon brothers decided they needed to protect mankind from the demon dragons and trained to become warriors. Now all dragons are born into the warrior culture and they've been fighting the demon dragons for a hella long time."

This called for a refill. Ciara was right there with her and topped off Yvaine's glass with champagne. "Okay. I think I'm with you. Although this is honestly blowing my mind. But what's the whole thing about mates. Jett said something about that he doesn't get mates. He tried to explain it means soul mate or something."

If Yvaine was honest with herself, she already knew what a mate was, didn't she? She couldn't understand how anyone thought she was soulmate material. A lonely girl, with no romantic experience, no home, no family, no friends didn't fit the bill. Yvaine was nothing like the glamourous woman who sipped champagne on a whim and embodied the very essence of beautiful confidence. Ciara was comfortable in her own skin, knew exactly who she was and so obviously loved life and herself.

Yvaine didn't hate herself or anything, she just couldn't understand what anyone else would see in her. Especially not a mythical warrior who happened to be hot underwear model material.

"Mate. Just one." Ciara held up her finger to indicate the singular, but Yvaine didn't miss the wooden ring on her fourth finger. It was anything but plain. It sparkled with a million green stones inlaid into its intricately carved vines, leaves, and flowers. This was no mere trinket. It held power. "And that's exactly what it is. Jakob is my soulmate. It's some sort of destiny, written in the stars, fate kind of thing."

Destiny. Fate. "Wait. You didn't get a choice?"

So many of life's choices had been either taken away from Yvaine or made for her. She didn't like the idea of who she fell in love with, or married, or mated to be out of her control too. What if she didn't want to be someone's mate? Dog gone it. She wanted that choice.

Ciara pursed her lips and nodded. The look was one of empathy, the words were not. "Yeah. No. I kind of fought against the idea at first too. But so far, fate hasn't been wrong."

Yvaine drained her glass and set it on the counter a little too hard. "You think I'm Jett's soul mate?"

"You are." Ciara looked Yvaine straight in the eye. Her eyes didn't waver, her body language set in the pure confidence in what she was saying.

Regardless of what Ciara thought, it wasn't going to happen. "I can't. I have to get to England, or Scotland. I'm not sure yet. I don't have time to be screwing around with some ancient war between mythical creatures."

The old feelings of being trapped were pressing in on her. This time it wasn't because of a small space, or even by monsters. She couldn't lose her cool. Jett would shift back into a dragon and be mad. Plus, if her disappearing act manifested, Ciara would see and look at her like a freak.

Little snowflakes appeared over Yvaine's head and drifted down. Each one that touched her skin and soaked in gave her a calming feeling. Well, maybe Ciara wouldn't think Yvaine was a weirdo, because she clearly had powers of her own. Still, Yvaine wasn't ready for any of this. She stood, knocking the stool over. "Sorry. Thank you for your hospitality, the wine was delicious. Please tell your dragon thank you for healing me. I'll be going now."

Ciara reached for her. "Yvaine, wait. I'm the one who should be sorry. I thought if I laid it all out for you it would be easier. Clearly I'm not as smart as I think I am."

Yvaine? Tell me what's wrong. You're safe. Everything is going to be okay.

No. It wasn't. None of this was okay. Why couldn't her life just be normal. Why couldn't she be normal? The magic inside of her pricked at her skin. For once she welcomed it, wanted to Houdini her way out of here. Where exactly did she think she would go? This lovely, warm, inviting kitchen wasn't a dark closet she'd been locked in at the convent. Ciara wasn't the Mother Superior that could never be pleased. Running away was not going to solve her problems.

She took a deep breath and consciously tried pushing the magic back down. She'd never done that before, but she also hadn't understood what it was or what it did either. Now that she knew there were other magical being in the universe, she didn't feel quiet as weird and freakish for having this ability inside of her.

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