Hidden Dragons by Bianca D'Arc Read Free Book Online Page A

the attention of a man such as these in a romantic
way. Still…a girl could dream.
    Blessing complete, they started to eat in
comfortable silence. From the way the men devoured the stew, she
gathered they liked it. A lot. When she was only halfway through
her own portion, they were already finishing theirs. Bear finished
first, looking at her with a somewhat sheepish
expression.
    “ This is delicious, mistress,” he
said, watching her with hopeful eyes. It was odd to her how much a
grown man—a knight, no less—could seem like a youngling at
times.
    “ Please do not stand on ceremony.
If you want more, take it. With all the meat your companions have
set to smoke tonight, there will be a bounty in my larder tomorrow
the likes of which it has never seen before. I thought perhaps, if
you liked the stew, you and Sir Robert would finish this pot
tonight. Will that be enough?” She looked uncertainly at her small
pot and then back at the big men who were eyeing the stew in it
avariciously.
    “ It is more than enough,” Robert
assured her. “Thank you for thinking of our comfort.”
    She smiled and went back to eating as the men
wrestled over dividing up the remainder of the stew. There was a
small tussle, but they seemed to recall their surroundings before
it could escalate into anything bigger. Isabelle hid her smile,
bending her head to eat.
    The more she was around these knights, the more
she liked them. She was beginning to see them as individuals. As
men, with all the idiosyncrasies of other people. They were real to
her in a way they hadn’t been before.
    She knew that Bear—Sir Bernard—kept many of his
thoughts to himself, but he thought deeply. She saw evidence that
Sir Robert had deep respect for the quieter man and often sought
his counsel before deciding on a course of action. Sir Robert was
also very sharp-witted and although glib of tongue, he was
kind-hearted.
    The dragons too, were fascinating individuals.
Isabelle could see the love and respect between the male and female
dragon, and the deep bond they shared with their knights. Each
respected the other, and the quartet was a highly-functioning unit,
aligned in purpose and matched in skills and
temperament.
    She never would have guessed anything like that
about knights and their dragons before meeting these four. She felt
blessed to have crossed their path, and doubly blessed by the small
things they were doing for her around the homestead that would make
the long, cold winter so much easier to bear.
    After dinner, they coaxed her to play a few
tunes with Bear. They knew a few common songs and were able to do
passable duets while Robert hummed along, smiling and tapping his
foot.
    The dragons moved closer to listen, much to
Isabelle’s surprise. She saw the sky blue of Lady Tildeth’s hide
out her back window and realized Sir Growloranth had been watching
from the side of the house for some time when he opened his eye and
winked at her through the side window. If he hadn’t moved, she
would not have been able to see him against the dark night outside.
He was just that stealthy.
    Sadly, the evening had come to an end when she
couldn’t contain a yawn. The men noticed right away and made their
departure. It was kind of them to consider the fact that she’d had
a very long day, but in a way, she would rather have spent more
time enjoying their company.
    As she washed the few dishes and set them to
dry, she thought of the lovely evening they had spent together.
Perhaps they would have another dinner like this tomorrow night.
She could but hope. It was so rare for her to have guests—and never
had she had such amusing guests.
    In fact, she hadn’t had this much fun since her
mother had died. That thought brought to mind all she had lost when
her mother had passed, and she couldn’t help the tears that clogged
her throat and fell into the dishwater.
     
    “ She is crying again,” Growloranth grumbled to the knights as if it was
their fault.
    They