“Kel will seek his mate soon.” Gareth knew he had to tread lightly. Belora had not been raised in the Lair and did not know the way of things in dragon matings.
“He’s already chosen a mate?” Belora spoke softly, wrapped in his arms in the dark of the night.
“He hasn’t made his formal declaration yet, but he will soon. That means we’ll be adding to our family as well.”
She turned to peer up at him in the darkness. “How so?”
“When dragons mate, their human partners cannot help but share in the event. It’s because of the close bond we share with our dragon partners. Kelvan intends to mate with Rohtina. Her partner is named Lars. He and I have been friends for a very long time. When Kel claims his mate, we will become family. Lars and I will train with our dragon partners and will go into battle together from then on. We will patrol together and work together—even live together in the same set of apartments.”
“Does this Lars have a wife?”
Gareth shook his head. “No. There are so few women born with ability to hear the dragons, many of the knights never find a woman to share their lives. It was a miracle when Kelvan found you. He would have given you the stag, you know, but he made an issue out of it so he would be able to bring you to me. He suspected the Mother of All put you in our path so that I could find you and make you mine, and I quite agree.”
“Praise the Mother, then. She certainly knows what She’s doing.” She reached up and kissed him deeply, caressing his cheek with her soft fingers.
“As soon as we move the rest of your things from your cabin into our new apartments, there will be a mating ceremony held for us. It’s basically an excuse to eat, drink and be merry as our fellows wish us well. There will even be dancing.”
“Gareth, I don’t know how to dance.” She sounded ashamed by her lack of skill, and it touched his heart. He’d give her everything and more, to make up for the things she’d missed in her life.
“Not to worry. I didn’t expect you would know our style of dance anyway, so I talked to your mother and she’s setting up some practice for us.”
“What’s different about your kind of dancing?”
He shifted uncomfortably. “Since there are so few women among us, our dances are designed around sets of three—two men and one woman. We don’t dance often, but a mating ceremony is one of the times when tradition requires it, and it really is a lot of fun. Don’t worry; you’ll enjoy it. I promise.”