They watched him walk up the stairs with Talaith, then to eibhear's surprise, Izzy apologized.

"Gods, I'm so sorry, Haldane. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Haldane practically snarled, while Elisa rubbed her own mouth to hide her smile.

"Are you sure? That was horribly awkward, wasn't it?" Izzy clapped her hands together. "I know! Rhi . . . hug your grandmother! Soothe the moment!"

"Okay!"

"Rhianwen, no-"

Her grin wide, Izzy asked Haldane, "Now don't you feel better?"

With her arm around her sister's shoulders, Izzy stood on the top step outside the Great Hall entrance. Together they ignored the near-violent arguing coming from inside.

"Dinner wasn't bad, eh?" Izzy said, gazing into the courtyard.

"No. Not bad at all." Her sister looked at her. "We're still leaving day after tomorrow, though, yes?"

Izzy laughed. "We'll miss the harvest festival."

"I don't care."

"It'll be fine, Rhi."

"Mum is just so angry."

"You need to accept the fact that she will never be friends with Haldane."

"But-"

"Never."

"But maybe if-"

"Never. Say it with me, Rhi. Nev-errrr."

Rhi sighed deeply. "All right."

Izzy kissed her sister's temple. "Want to stay the night at my house?"

"No."

Surprised. "Really?"

"Really. You go on."

Izzy narrowed her eyes. "What's going on?"

"Nothing. You're so suspicious."

"Because in this family I have to be."

Rhi laughed and hugged her. "See you in the morning."

"All right." Izzy whistled. "Macsen! Come on!"

Her dog charged out of the hall and tore off into the darkness. He'd been in great spirits since his brief time playing stud at the Imperial Guard dog kennels.

Izzy followed the dog down the steps, lifting the skirt of her gown so that it didn't drag on the ground. She briefly stopped at the bottom of the steps though and debated about spending the night in her old room until she heard her mother yell, "You were a bitch when I was sixteen, and you're a bitch now!"

Followed by Rhi's plaintive, "Mum!"

Izzy shook her head and headed into the forest. It was dark in these woods, but when Izzy saw light in the distance, she knew she was near the group of homes that made up her little neighborhood.

She had almost cleared the trees when Macsen charged past her heading the other way. Izzy immediately pulled out the sword Zachariah had given her and turned, barely blocking the weapon aimed right for her. Izzy shoved the weapon-another sword-away and spun to give herself momentum, slashing at the attacker. But her opponent blocked the move, their weapons locking. Izzy, fed up, stepped close to see who the hell would attack her here, so near her home.

Shocked, Izzy roared, "eibhear! What the bloody hells are you doing?"

"I've come to Claim you as my own, Iseabail, Daughter of Talaith and Briec."

"Oh." Izzy lowered her weapon at his dramatic announcement. "Why didn't you say so?" She stepped back. "I'll go home and get naked." She turned to head to her house.

"That's it?" eibhear asked, sounding disappointed.

Izzy faced him again. "What were you expecting?"

"For you to fight me."

She re-sheathed her sword and placed her hands on her hips. "eibhear, I've been waiting since I was sixteen for you to get it through your excessively large skull that we would be together forever. And now that we're here and you're finally dragon enough to Claim me as your own . . . why would I fight you about that?"

"Because that's how it's done."

"Well, what would I have to do? Because to be quite honest, I'd like to get this moving. My patience is waning."

"Well . . . do you have any chains?"

"Brannie left a set once-"

"I don't ever want to know why."

"Trust me when I say it had absolutely nothing to do with sex or having a good time."

"Do you still have them?"

"I did for a while, but Macsen ate them."

"He ate chains?"

"And the cuffs. He was shitting metal for weeks. And yes," she hissed before he could say it, "he really is a dog."

"If you say so."

Izzy stepped into eibhear, wrapping her arms around his waist. "You know, eibhear. I thought that the Claiming could be anything we wanted it to be."

He nodded. "That's true."

"And let's be honest. The two of us . . . we could really hurt each other if we went toe to toe."

"That's a good point. And I can't afford to have my beauty marred any more than it already has been. I mean, look at what that thing did to my face."

"It's small." She reached up and stroked the scar on the bridge of his nose. "I think it's sexy."

He laughed, his arms tightening around her waist, pulling her closer. "So tell me, beautiful Iseabail...what do you want for your Claiming?"

"For me to be yours and for you to be mine," she told him, no longer teasing. "I want no more doubts, eibhear."

The dragon lifted his hand, stroked her cheek. "Never doubt. Ever. I love you, Izzy. I'll always love you."

"And I love you, eibhear the Contemptible. Since I first met you and your blue hair-that you wouldn't let me touch."

"Not letting that go, eh?"

"No and I never will. But I can overlook it, except when I bring it up during arguments I'm losing."

eibhear laughed again and kissed her. As always, it started off soft and sweet, both of them still laughing. Then it changed to passionate and demanding.

"Take me home, eibhear," she whispered when she finally managed to pull back. "Take me home and make me yours."

With his hands under her ass, eibhear lifted Izzy up. As a naturally tall woman, she now felt like one of the old trees of the forest, so very tall, giggling as she pushed eibhear's hair off his face and kissed his nose, cheeks, and forehead.

"One thing, Izzy."

"Of course."

eibhear looked down and Izzy followed his gaze. Macsen sat on his haunches watching them, drool pouring out of his mouth and onto the ground, creating a little mud puddle. It was, in a word, vile.

"We'll drop Macsen at my neighbor's for the night," she offered, knowing he didn't want to have to fight her dog for Izzy's attention on such an important night.

"That's all I ask, Iz," eibhear said with a smile while he easily carried her home. "That's all I ask."

Chapter 45.

Briec walked down the stairs into the Great Hall. He stopped at the dining table, yawning and reaching for one of the warm loaves of bread the servants put out every morning. Although he wasn't looking forward to another day of fighting between Talaith and her bitch mother, he didn't know what he'd do once his Rhi left. It was hard enough when his Izzy left, but he knew she'd be back more often than not. However, Rhi and even those despicable twins that he'd secretly grown fond of . . . he had no idea when they'd return from their training.

Tearing a piece of bread off the loaf, Briec wandered over to the partially open Great Hall doors and looked out into the courtyard. It was extremely early and things were just beginning to stir as the two suns rose. But Briec saw them easy enough. Gods, how could he miss them standing there, saying nothing-and staring at the castle.

Briec slammed the doors shut.

"Briec?" Fearghus asked as he walked up behind him. "What's going on?"

"Where the hell is that idiot?"

"Gwenvael?"

"No."

"Dad?"

"No. The big blue idiot."

"I don't know. Why?"

"The M-runach are outside."

"So. They're probably looking for the big blue idiot."

"Not the three he brought with him. All of the M-runach. They're standing in our courtyard . . . waiting."

Fearghus nodded. "All right. We'll kill all the females first and then kill ourselves."

"What's going on?" Brannie asked as she came down the stairs with Celyn behind her.

"The M-runach are outside."

"They're probably looking for eibhear."

"But we don't know where he is," Fearghus said.

"Have you checked Izzy's house?" Celyn asked.

Briec looked at Fearghus, then back at Celyn.

"Why would we look at Izzy's house?"

"No reason," Brannie quickly said.

"Why do you think?" Celyn asked.

"Shut up, Celyn," his sister told him.

"Brannie, they're not children. eibhear and Izzy can do as they like."