Dragon Flight Read Free Page A

well.”
    “Why would you agree to this?” Zorin asked her. He still looked stunned.
    Seeing him so unbalanced was almost endearing, Isabelle thought. It was nice to see that he wasn’t invincible. Though she didn’t want to chink his armor too much. She smiled briefly at him. “I don’t expect you to fully understand.”
    He nodded. “Good. Because I don’t.”
    “There is nothing else left for me, Zorin. Don’t you see that? I’m in love with a man that loves another, my family has disgraced me and I have nothing to offer a future husband. I’m barely more than a child and yet my life has come to a blinding halt around me,” Isabelle told him. Her voice was soft, matter of fact and completely rational.
    He laughed bitterly. “So you chose me to complete the mess?”
    She laughed along with him, though hers was genuine. “No, I chose you, if you’ll have me, because you know where my heart is. You know what my weaknesses and faults are and I trust you with them.”
    He considered her with a tilt of his bristled chin. “Are you so sure that I won’t betray you and hurt those you love?”
    She returned his stare evenly. “Yes.”
    “Hopefully I won’t disappoint you,” he whispered sadly.
    Isabelle frowned. She wanted to ask. She really did. But she wouldn’t make him face whatever secrets he was hiding today. “You won’t,” she told him as she brought her hand to his shoulder and stroked the taut muscles she found there.
    He rolled his eyes playfully and moved into her touch as her fingers ran along the back of his shoulder. “So what now?”
    Isabelle turned her attention back to the forgotten Amalthea. “You’ll set everything up for the wedding I imagine?”
    She smiled at them both. “Of course. When would you like to have it?”
    Isabelle was about to suggest a day when Zorin quickly spoke up.
    “In a fortnight,” he said, briefly catching her eye to see if she agreed with him. Isabelle merely shrugged, if the date mattered to him, she wouldn’t argue. “Midnight, in the forest clearing right outside of these palace walls. Just Isabelle and I, Caden and of course yourself, mother.”
    Amalthea nodded, though she seemed to have gone even more pale than usual. “And is this agreeable with you, Isabelle?”
    She nodded. “Zorin seems sure of what he wants. I won’t argue with him on the particulars.”
    “And you’ll stay here until the wedding and then we’ll move you into the small manor home the next morning?” Amalthea asked.
    Isabelle nodded. “Have you a place in mind?”
    “Our summer home,” Zorin said. Amalthea nodded to him and gave him a warm, although brief smile. “It’s small with only a few bedrooms, but you’ll be fine there. We’ll send servants out there once a week to help you keep it clean and mend anything or whatever else you may need. But it’s a good place to retreat from everything for as long as you need. And it’s safe. I can be there in less than an hour if you need me for any reason and it’s only a short two hour ride from the palace for when you come to visit.”
    Isabelle nodded, satisfied
    “But I have one request,” Zorin told her after a moment.
    “Oh?” Isabelle asked him.
    “I want you to have a party, here in the palace gardens. My mother will invite every eligible man with any royal blood to attend it. If, after spending time with each of them, you still wish to marry only me, I will do as you wish. But only after you have seen all of your options first,” Zorin told her.
    Isabelle gave him a small smile. “I agree. Only if you are there though.”
    “Why should I be there as well?” Zorin asked as if it would be too much trouble to attend a party that was his own idea. “You already know me.”
    Isabelle rolled her eyes. “First of all, you’re centuries old and I know a tiny amount of your history so no, I don’t actually know you. And secondly I want your protection while I am surrounded by strangers since I know that