He had never told Jess—or at least not yet—about the Heart of the Hoard. Every hoarding dragon had one, the most prized item in their collection, the nucleus around which the rest of the hoard was built.
His, of course, was her: the finest rock that he could ever dream of holding. She was not his, in the sense that the rest of his hoard was, and that was just one aspect of what made her the most precious thing in it. He could not possess or own her. If she wanted to walk away, she would simply do so, on her own two legs, or with a touch of her hand to stone. There was no way he could hold her by force, and he could not imagine wanting to. Keeping Jess close meant spending the rest of his life making sure that she wanted to stay close, and he had already found that doing so was his chief joy in life.
The double doors to the terrace opened, and Uncle Heikon strode out with his mate Esmerelda walking by his side in a flowing green gown, her red hair a tumbling cascade down her back.
He stopped at the sight of Reive, who had not yet shifted back. After Reive knew they'd all had a chance to get a good look at him, a granite statue of a dragon come to life, he shifted effortlessly back to the dark-haired human form that they all knew.
It was a statement, as much as anything. A show of power.
I may be one of you, but I am not yours anymore.
He was becoming more comfortable with that.
"Hearing about it doesn't quite capture the full effect," Heikon said. He was a couple of inches taller than Reive, but not so tall that their eyes couldn't meet directly—one alpha to another. A small smile danced around Heikon's lips that made Reive think briefly of Mace, who was already starting to feel, in some strange way, like family. "Ah, yes. You are no longer the boy who left this clan to wander the world, are you?"
"No," Reive said, calm and quiet. Jess's hand slipped into his, and he squeezed her fingers. "I am not."
He hadn't yet told Heikon, or anyone, of everything he had gone through with his stone poisoning. He had given them the broadest outline of recent events in a series of texts and emails, but he had left the details vague. He'd told them that he had transformed into his new stone form because of the fight with the gargoyles in Greece, and that he had sought a cure before deciding to embrace it. But the fear and the pain, and the need to deal with it on his own rather than leaning on the clan as he had his entire life, was something he hadn't discussed with them yet, and he wasn't sure if he ever would.
Abruptly, Heikon went down on one knee in front of him. Reive was shocked to his core.
"What are you doing," Esme whispered fiercely, nudging her mate with her hip.
"I am acknowledging a debt," Heikon replied quietly. He looked up at Reive, who was still staring, unable to fully wrap his head around the sight of his proud clanlord on his knees. "You were injured, and turned into this, while defending my mate and her family. I—oh—what, woman?"
"Get up," Esme growled, with a hint of dragon underneath the melodious tone of her voice. Heikon's mate, Reive recalled, hoarded music. "You are embarrassing everyone."
"I like what I have become, Uncle," Reive said, smiling. He added, "Though I have to admit, I don't mind the kneeling."
Heikon snorted, and rose gracefully. They regarded each other for a moment, and then Heikon held out an arm and Reive clasped it below the elbow, while Heikon's strong fingers wrapped around his forearm.
It was the sort of greeting that might be made by one clanlord to another, an acknowledgement that he was no longer under the dominion of his clan.
For an instant he felt as if he was in freefall; then Jess's fingers tightened on his, and brought him abruptly back to ground.
We are our own clan now.
Then Heikon turned to Jess, and Reive tensed. If his uncle made even the slightest gesture of disrespect toward his mate—
Heikon held out his arm, just as he had to Reive. Jess hesitated, then reached out and clasped it.
Reive let out his breath.
"Please enjoy the hospitality of my clan, Lady Gargoyle," Heikon said. "You are welcome here."
Jess smiled. "Thank you, Clanlord Heikon," she said. "I hope this will usher in a new era of friendship between our two peoples."
There was a moment of tense silence, and then Heikon inclined his head in a slight nod.
"When do we eat?" chirped one of the younger cousins. Esme couldn't hold back a smile, and Reive laughed.
The feast lasted long into the night. There were whole roasted cows; there were fine dishes from the mixed American-Asian heritage of the Corcoran clan made by their very best cooks; there were displays of aerial dancing from the younger dragons, and dancing to ballroom music provided by Esme, who also offered dance lessons to anyone who wanted to learn the steps rather than just swaying to the music. The mountain blazed with lights, and for just this one night, Reive enjoyed sinking back into the life of the clan that had been his entire world for most of his life. There were children crawling all over him all night, and seemingly endless adults wanting to offer congratulations and meet Jess. She was a celebrity in the small society of the mountain.
Jess had explained many times, to many people, that she wasn't here as a representative of the gargoyles, that she wasn't even here from a clan—the gargoyles didn't have clans, not as the dragons did. But the Corcoran clan still fêted her as if she was an important dignitary from another clan, so at some point she seemed to relax and simply decide to go along with it.
The party began to break up as the parents of small children took them off to bed, and half-drunk couples went off to be alone. In the more relaxed, sleepy atmosphere, Reive managed to find Jess and wander off under the trees with her.
"Usher in a new era of friendship between our two peoples?" he murmured teasingly, leaning close to her.
Jess smiled. "I asked Uncle Mace to suggest a good speech for introducing myself to your clan."
"I did hear a little more Mace than you in that."
"Well, I could have memorized an introductory speech out of one of my favorite books, but I figured it would be just my luck it'd be a book they'd read."
They wandered deeper into the clanlord's gardens. It was too dark now to see the vivid autumn colors, and many of the more exotic and sensitive plants had already been tucked away for winter, wrapped up in burlap and heavily mulched, or dug up and taken inside. Still, Heikon's fairy lights lit it up like a fantasy land, wound around tree trunks and woven into arbors, glittering on half-bare branches and illuminating the deep piles of leaves under some of the trees.
The air was crisp and cool. Reive put an arm around Jess.
"How big is this place?" she asked. "It just keeps going and going."
"The gardens are Uncle Heikon's pet project," Reive explained. "He's been working on them for centuries. They were partly destroyed when the clan was conquered, but since getting back in charge he's been working twice as hard at restoring them. I think he sees it as some kind of act of redemption or reclamation."
The firelight and laughter had fallen so far behind them now that they seemed to be alone. The deeper they walked into the autumn garden, with all its signs of the oncoming winter, the more solemn it felt, like walking through a cathedral or a cemetery. Reive was thinking that he definitely could have made a better choice for a romantic stroll, and was about to suggest just going back to their rooms and finding other ways to entertain themselves, when they came around a corner and walked into another world.