Dragon Hunter

Chapter 23: Adjusting Expectations

Cooper managed to get almost half way down the path when a voice called out from behind him.

"Cooper! Please wait!"

Recognizing the voice, the big human nevertheless kept walking, albeit at a slower pace. When the running steps were close enough to tell him that the voice's owner was nearly beside him, he spoke.

"Let me guess. You're going to tell me that everything that happened between us last night was real," he flatly said. "That it was mere coincidence that Maevin, the Prime Councilor, is your mother."

"If my mother was using last night's celebration as you said, to try and bind you, I had no deliberate part in that," Kaisea said a little breathlessly as she matched his pace to fall in beside him. "Our souls genuinely resonated. That's what drew me to you, Cooper. Not some deception to soften your stance or bind your emotions. You have to believe me!"

When Cooper neither slowed, nor looked at her, Kaisea reached out to grab him by the arm, pulling the big human to a halt. When he turned to face her, his handsome face twisted into an annoyed frown, she hurriedly continued.

"Besides, why would my mother herself jump into the celebration if I was her agent?" the young dark elf woman reasoned. "She's the most politically powerful woman in the entire confederacy! Why take the risk of being mishandled by strangers if she could just order a subordinate to act as her stead?"

"Or her daughter," Cooper countered.

"Or her daughter," Kaisea agreed. "But since she did, and, judging by some of the looks my mother gave you through that negotiation, she managed to reach you and make something of it. So she obviously decided to take matters into her own hands and not rely on an agent to do so. Me, or anyone else."

Cooper drew in a slow breath as he returned Kaisea's earnest gaze with a hard one of his own and let it ease free with the same deliberate pace. Unfortunately for his resolve, the beautiful dark elf woman was making pretty logical sense.

Why would the most politically powerful woman in the Norquien Confederacy take such a risk if she didn't have to? Maevin didn't know more than two people at that celebration last night, and one of them, Vannea, returned to the temple before things got spicy. All she had to do was find the wrong male, or female, for that matter, and things could've gotten out of hand, even violent if the wrong sequence of events unfolded.

Instead, Maevin managed to find him, stoned on the blood fire, and looking to unload some aggression on a willing partner. And they ...

Cooper's expression tightened then abruptly loosened.

"Okay, I see your point," he finally conceded, pushing his dark and doubting thoughts aside. From what he could remember through the blood fire haze, their time together had been pretty amazing. Spectacular, in fact. Just enough to buy the young dark elf woman some slack.

"But damn, Kaisea, the optics of the whole thing!"

"I know, right?" she ruefully said as she stepped close to tenderly touch his face with an embarrassed laugh. "I would've thought the exact same thing, if the roles were reversed. And not only because it made perfect sense from a political point of view. I had seen similar tactics deployed in the very halls of government on Indurain that my mother rules. By my mother, her allies, and her enemies!"

"Well, it's a moot point now," Cooper said, gathering Kaisea into his arms to give her a reassuring hug, the dark elf woman sighing happily as she snuggled up against him, her arms tight around his muscular body.

"Your mother has yours truly on the payroll for at least a strike against High General Zrakesh and his command staff."

"Thank the Goddess for that! I will accompany you to Neladrin, of course, to aid you against Zrakesh" Kaisea said, leaning back enough to look up at him without letting go of his body. Cooper snorted as he tilted his head to return her look.