Page 102 of The Dragon's Mate

“What? Why?”

Cadmus stared off into the distance. “Evenway back then, it was apparent that our kind was having more and moredifficulty conceiving. The council at the time was desperate for hatchlings,and Valen and I mating would not have produced any.”

She squeezed his hand. “Did you and Valenwant hatchlings?”

“Oh yes. Very much,” he said. “We evendiscussed going our separate ways and finding other dragons to mate with, in hopesthat at least one of us might have a hatchling. But in the end,” a soft smilecrossed his face, “we couldn’t do it. He was my love and I was his, and our dragonswould not be separated.”

He set the rocking chair in motion, pushingback and forth as he stared at the sky above them. “It took some convincing forthe council to allow us to mate and if it hadn’t been for Valen’s father threateningto leave the council and the clan, we may not ever have received their permission.”

He glanced at her. “Dragons are not sodifferent from the humans sometimes when it comes to prejudices and bigotry. Mylife with Valen was not always easy, but I wouldn’t trade our life together forsomething that would be easier.”

“Your situation and mine are not the same,”she said.

“It was kind of Bren to send officers tokeep the reporters away,” he said.

“We don’t know it was him,” she said. “Ihaven’t heard a word from him since we voted to burn him alive.”

She could hear the bitterness in her voice,and she pulled away from Cadmus when he squeezed her hand.

“It was him,” Cadmus said simply. “I amsending Drago to join Belinda’s clan.”

She stared in shock at Cadmus. “What?”

“The council and I have been in discussionswith Belinda and her council and we have decided to send Drago to join theirclan. They too have an open position on their council, and we believe Drago wouldbe well suited to their clan.”

“Does Drago know?”

“Yes. We spoke with him early this morningand he was agreeable to joining their clan. Although I did not speak of thiswith the other elders, I also felt that given Drago’s constant pressure for youto mate with him, it would be best if he left the clan.”

“I appreciate that, Cadmus, but I can handleDrago and his ridiculous notion that we are to be mates,” Kaida said.

Cadmus smiled. “Yes, I know. Will you matewith Bren now that humans know of our existence?”

“Why did you not overrule the council’s decisionto burn him?” Kaida countered.

“I would have,” Cadmus said. “But I wantedto give your dragon a chance to protect her mate. Which she did admirably.”

“Yeah, challenging the biggest and strongestamong us was real admirable,” Kaida said.

Cadmus grinned again. “I would have bet moneyon your dragon to win the challenge, Kaida.”

“You’re a fool, Cadmus.”

He bellowed laughter. “Perhaps. Will youmate with the human?”

“I can’t mate with the human. Even nowthat they know of our existence, it’s one thing to live peacefully with humans,another to have one join our clan,” she said.

She stared moodily at the cloudy sky. “Noone in the clan would accept Bren and I can’t leave the clan, no matter howmuch I want to be with him.”

“I think you’d be surprised at how many inour clan would accept the human. Especially since he helped Jarvis and Sika’shatchling be born.”

“Have I mentioned how foolish you talk asof late, Cadmus?”

“A time or two,” he said. “When do youleave for the grizzly’s mating ceremony?”

“I’m not going,” she said. “We need tokeep a low profile.”

“You must go. You need to live your life,Kaida.”

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