Bleeding Ink

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Gaven was giving her the same look their father did, which only made Corliss's grin widen as she brought her tankard of Castyr to her lips. It didn't help that he looked exactly like the Lord of Eld either, though he had their mother's dark hair. She absolutely loved him, especially when he seemed over and done with his littlest sister's antics.

"You can drink any male who challenges you under a table," her brother told her with a shake of his head. "I pity your mate whenever you finally find him."

She laughed aloud as she swiped the back of her hand across her mouth after finishing the tankard. Oh, her mother would lose it if she'd seen how unladylike she was being then. "I pity him, too, because then he wouldn't know how to handle me. What's a female to do?"

Gaven had been staying with her for two weeks, having come to Ayveri for the yearly meeting between the royal family of Dalcaine and the lords and ladies of the four territories. It wasn't set for a few more days, but Gaven had come early to visit, to let her show him everything going on in Ayveri while she was there for school. Their parents, Geir and Sienna, weren't due until the following day, but their sister Bridget was supposed to meet them any minute with her mate Alberich.

And they were taking their sweet time, but that just gave Corliss the chance to spend time with her brother.

"Anything happening back home?"

Gaven shook his head. "Nothing much has changed. It's still the same as always."

"What about Cordova?" she asked then, talking about his Alzriade Black. "Did you bring her?"

"No, she's back home with the other dragons and riders. I didn't want to bring her. She's happy just to stay with Ion."

Ion, the male Alzriade Black and mate to Gaven's own female bloodrite bond. The dragon who was also bonded to her brother's.

Should she do it? Should she bring it up? Bring him up?

"And...Ruvyn? How is he?"

Both hands tightening around his tankard, Gaven stared long and hard at the contents inside...then downed it in one go.

"Ruvyn's fine. Didn't want to come. He hardly said goodbye whenever we were leaving, even when I told him we'd be gone for a least a month. All he was going on about was training the younger riders and their dragons, how he probably wouldn't even notice how long I was gone."

"Bastard."

He snorted. "Exactly."

Corliss couldn't help herself when she reached over and tugged one of his hands from his tankard, holding it tight. She and her sister had known their brother preferred the company of males instead of females. Their parents knew even before both girls were born, had even embraced the few males Gaven had brought home to meet them. They never thought twice about it because it was just who he was...unlike some of the people they'd all heard whispering about the Lord and Lady of Eld's eldest child. Before Bridget and Corliss were born, those whispers were of what would happen to the Lucerra family line when their son couldn't sire a child of his own.

It's called help through medicine and magic and a willing female surrogate to carry the child, Corliss wanted to sneer at them, especially since they were still wondering, still snickering behind his back.

But even with the few males Gaven had brought home to meet the family...well, it was his best friend since childhood who always held his heart. Ruvyn Montilla was one of the most skilled dragon riders in all of Eld. Having grown up with him always around, Corliss had a childhood crush on the sorcerer with his dark tanned skin from always being in the skies, tall and wide build, chestnut eyes, and curled locks of black hair. She had thought nothing of him and her brother or their close friendship, hadn't even entertained the thought that Ruvyn might have preferred males, too.