Free Smitten by Vivienne Savage Page B

one another. But when it happens among dragons, it’s between mates who have not yet pledged their soul bond. No male or female would dare to harm the dragon they have vowed to love for eternity. It would be like wounding oneself. It takes immense amounts of love to create a dragon’s soul brand, Astrid. Very much. It cannot be done by force and must be accepted by a willing heart.”
    “Oh.”
    “So you see, such instances are very rare for us. We dragon females may often be smaller than males, but our breath weapons are more powerful, our claws are sharper, and we are quicker.”
    “And smarter,” Astrid said.
    “And far smarter,” Ēostre agreed, laughing at her grandchild. “And once we have found a male unworthy, we never stay.”
    “Why doesn’t Uncle Max have a mate?”
    Ēostre hesitated to answer. She thought of the man in the next room, kind, generous, and everything any dragoness could want. It wasn’t for his lack of trying. Over the years, she’d watched countless females cast him aside for simple, often egotistical reasons. His horns weren’t long enough. His feathers were too drab, and they wanted to birth a cub with feathers like shining embers. They hated his red hair or loathed his freckles, which had practically vanished as he aged. Even his hair had darkened to a subtle cinnamon shade she adored.
    Her friend Belenos had matured like the finest wine.
    “Because, my love, many of our fellow dragonesses are unworthy of him.”
    “Aren’t you worthy?”
    “I… I suppose I am,” Ēostre answered honestly.
    A heavy fist thumped against Ēostre’s hotel room door. She twisted around to face it and swore under her breath. “I’d better go, Astrid. I promised to join Maximilian for dinner.”
    “Oh okay. Have fun!” Astrid ended the video chat without fuss.
    Ēostre hurried to the door and yanked it open to find Max appropriately dressed down in jeans and a t-shirt. It was contradictory to the sophisticated businessman she knew but oddly fitting for the occasion. Not that it was the first time she’d seen him in jeans. Or a t-shirt, its sleeves taut around his biceps and stitches strained. There were photos circulating the web about Max, speculating whether or not he’d kept a certain former governor as a physical trainer.
    “Max, I am so sorry.”
    “It’s fine,” he responded curtly, and then as if seeming to realize his tone of voice, he followed up with a gentler, “I thought something important must have delayed you.”
    “It was a video call from Astrid,” she confessed. “But never mind that, what’s wrong? You seem… irritable.”
    Maximilian made no effort to smile, and from that, she already knew something was wrong. So rather than grab her purse and head for the door, she took his hand and guided him to the couch.
    “Let me order in, all right? General Tso’s and shrimp lo mein for you?”
    “Okay,” he agreed easily.
    Ēostre didn’t pry, but Max’s bad mood hung around him like a fog for the next two days. He curbed it when in front of the cameras, but whenever they were alone, he brooded in silence and failed to engage her in conversation. Knowing he would consult her when he was ready, Ēostre let him be.
    ***
    The request for her advice came three days after their return to Sacramento. Max had been asked by a prominent technical college to speak at their winter graduation ceremony — whether he was elected or not in November — and Ēostre thought it would be easy to convince him to agree.
    “I would be honored,” he replied quietly.
    “Your face tells me otherwise,” Ēostre said. “Did something happen while we were in Virginia?”
    Max’s low and humorless chuckle worried her as much as the troubled expression on his face. “I find myself in need of your wise counsel. Which is no surprise, as I seem to seek it more often than usual as of late.”
    “That’s what I’m here for, Max. I’m your advisor, so please, speak your mind and let me do