Chapter 2 – What Is a Mate?

After a moment of silence, Valerian was the first to speak.

“I think we should continue this conversation inside.”

Elaria looked at the mansion behind him, then nodded.

“All right.”

That seemed reasonable.

Standing at the gate and explaining to the guards that both she and the master of the house were dragons probably counted as what Maeryn had called attracting unnecessary attention.

So Elaria picked up her bag.

Cedric immediately stepped forward.

“I’ll carry that for you.”

Elaria looked at the bag in her hand, then at him.

“It isn’t heavy.”

“I know, miss. But it is my duty.”

Duty.

Elaria considered that for a moment, then handed it over.

“Oh. In that case, thank you.”

Cedric accepted the bag without any particular change in expression, although the guard behind them seemed to relax slightly.

Elaria followed Valerian up the steps.

It felt a little strange to be following someone who was Vaelor while he behaved as though he had never met her before.

But if he truly could not remember, there was nothing to be done about that for now.

At least he was still willing to talk to her.

Inside, the mansion was quieter than she had expected. The dark wooden floors had been polished until they reflected the light from the windows. Glass-and-metal lamps of the sort she had seen in books lined the walls, and somewhere deeper in the house, a clock ticked softly.

Servants passing through the hall bowed their heads to Valerian.

Some looked at Elaria with curiosity.

None of them stopped to ask questions.

She was beginning to understand that the people in this household were rather good at not asking about things that were none of their business.

Cedric opened the door to a medium-sized sitting room and placed Elaria’s bag beside a chair.

“Shall I have tea prepared, Your Grace?”

Valerian looked at her.

“Would you like some?”

Elaria considered it.

She had not had anything to drink since getting out of the carriage.

“Yes, please.”

“A light tea will do.”

Cedric nodded and left.

Once the door closed, Valerian deliberately chose a chair across from hers.

A little too far away.

But Elaria said nothing.

Humans had more customs concerning personal distance than dragons did. She knew that much.

She could ask about it later.

There were more important things to deal with first.

Valerian rested one hand on the arm of his chair. His manner remained as polite as before, but Elaria could tell that he had become more serious.

“Let me start again from the beginning.”

“All right.”

“Your name is Elaria?”

“Yes.”

“Family name?”

She shook her head.

“I don’t have one.”

He paused.

“None at all?”

“No.”

“Your family?”

“They’re at home.”

That answer was too vague.

Elaria realized it immediately from his expression.

“I mean the person who raised me and the others in my pa—”

She stopped.

She had nearly said pack.

“My household.”

Valerian looked at her in silence.

“And your parents?”

“I don’t have any.”

His expression changed slightly.

Elaria remembered that humans reacted strangely when this subject came up.

Maeryn had warned her that if she told people she had no parents, some of them would assume it was something sad.

So she quickly added,

“But it’s all right.”

Valerian paused.

“Pardon?”

“I’m not sad.”

“I haven’t said anything yet.”

“I know. But people usually make that face.”

He was silent for a beat.

“I see.”

Elaria was satisfied.

Good. That had been explained in advance.

Valerian moved on.

“Where did you come from?”

This was one of the questions Maeryn had trained her to answer.

“The north.”

“North of where?”

“Very far north.”

“The name of the city?”

Elaria went still.

“I can’t tell you.”

“The country?”

“I can’t tell you that either.”

“Why?”

“It’s a secret.”

Valerian let out an almost inaudible sigh.

“Miss Elaria, I’m not asking to be impolite.”

“I know.”

“But you arrived at my home without an appointment or a letter of introduction, refuse to say where you came from, and claim to be a dragon.”

“Yes.”

“So I need to know why you came here.”

“To find you.”

“Anything else?”

Elaria thought about it.

“No.”

He looked as though he were waiting for something more.

There really was nothing else.

She had come to find Vaelor.

Now that she had found him, everything else could be figured out afterward.

Valerian lightly tapped one finger against the arm of his chair.

“Do you want money?”

“No.”

“A place to stay?”

“I can stay with you.”

He stopped.

Elaria quickly explained when his expression suggested he had misunderstood.

“I don’t mean that I came here just to ask for lodging.”

“I gathered that.”

“Good.”

“Do you want me to acknowledge some kind of status or connection?”

“What kind of status?”

“Kinship, perhaps. A connection to House Edevane, or—”

“No.”

“Political assistance?”

“No.”

“Access to certain people or places through my name?”

“No.”

“Did someone send you?”

“No.”

“Do you want me to harm someone?”

Elaria raised her eyebrows.

“No.”

“Or did you come here to harm me?”

“No.”

That was the easiest question he had asked so far.

“Why would I hurt my own mate?”

Valerian went still.

“We’ve come back to that word again.”

“Yes.”

“Mate.”

“Yes.”

“What exactly does it mean?”

Finally.

Elaria felt a small sense of relief.

This was much easier to answer than questions about her home or documents.

She sat a little straighter.

“It means a dragon’s partner.”

“A partner as in a spouse?”

“Something close to that.”

“Husband and wife?”

Elaria thought about it.

“Not exactly.”

“What’s the difference?”

This would take a little more explanation.

But it was still something she could explain.

“A dragon only ever has one mate.”

Valerian did not interrupt.

“We don’t choose based on which families are suitable. There are no arranged engagements, and we don’t keep changing partners. If a dragon hasn’t found their mate yet, then they simply haven’t found them.”

“And how does a dragon know who their mate is?”

“They know.”

He waited.

Elaria realized that they know was probably not enough of an explanation for a human.

“Dragons can recognize their mate through scent, touch, and… a certain kind of sense.”

“A feeling?”

“Not an emotion.”

She searched for the right words.

“It’s more like knowing that this is the one.”

Valerian regarded her calmly.

“That sounds like instinct.”

“Yes.”

“And what if you’re wrong?”

“We aren’t.”

“Never?”

“If someone is truly your mate, you aren’t wrong.”

“What if you merely think they are?”

Elaria frowned slightly.

“Dragons don’t sit around guessing.”

The question sounded as strange to her as asking what someone should do if they knew they had wings but turned out to be mistaken.

Valerian did not look as though he was making fun of her. He simply seemed to be trying to fit what she was telling him into some kind of system he could understand.

“And what happens after you recognize each other?”

“Once both mates form the bond, they can sense some of each other’s feelings. Especially when one of them is in danger. But it isn’t mind-reading.”

“A bond?”

“Yes.”

He fell silent.

Elaria began to wonder whether she had gone too far into the details.

Maeryn had not explained that part very thoroughly either. She had simply said that when the time came, Vaelor could teach Elaria himself.

But Elaria and Vaelor had not formed that kind of mate bond yet.

Her connection to Vaelor was different in the first place, and she did not know how to explain that to a human.

So she stopped there.

Valerian continued.

“And you believe I am your mate?”

“I don’t believe you are.”

“Pardon?”

“You are.”

He closed his eyes briefly.

Elaria was not sure why the distinction seemed unimportant to him.

To her, it was extremely important.

Believing something left room for uncertainty.

Elaria had none.

Cedric returned at that moment with a tea cart.

A cup was placed in front of Elaria, carrying the light fragrance of tea leaves and flowers. She thanked him, then waited until Cedric had stepped back to the side.

Valerian did not touch his own cup.

“One more question.”

“Yes?”

“If I really am your mate, what do you expect me to do?”

That made Elaria think longer than any of his previous questions.

Because she had not actually made a detailed plan that far ahead.

“I originally thought you would remember me.”

He gave a small nod for her to continue.

“Then I thought you would tell me whether your mission was finished. If it wasn’t, I could wait. If it was, then we would go home.”

Valerian looked at her.

“That’s all?”

“Yes.”

“You traveled this entire… very long distance just to ask me when I was coming home?”

“Yes.”

For a moment, he seemed unable to find a response.

Elaria took a sip of tea.

It was quite good.

“You don’t want me to marry you?”

“I don’t know.”

Valerian’s hand stopped halfway toward his cup.

“You don’t know?”

“Dragons don’t have marriage customs like humans do. I haven’t studied human marriage in much detail yet.”

Slowly, he lowered his hand again.

“But you insist that I am your partner.”

“Yes.”

“Without marriage.”

“Yes.”

“And you aren’t asking for property, rank, money, or legal rights?”

“No.”

“Then what do you expect from me?”

Elaria looked at him.

Her answer had not changed.

“I want you to remember.”

The silence lasted longer this time.

Valerian did not look at her as though she had made a joke.

But neither did he believe her.

He simply studied her like a man who was discovering that none of the ordinary explanations fit particularly well.

If she were a fraud, she had not asked him for anything.

If she wanted something from him, she had yet to make a demand.

And if she had come to harm him, opening with I’m a dragon, you’re a dragon too, and we’re mates did not seem like a particularly effective strategy.

Elaria did not know whether he had gone through exactly those possibilities in his head.

But he looked less wary now.

And more confused.

Finally, he asked,

“Where are you staying tonight?”

Elaria answered immediately.

“Here.”

Valerian went silent.

Cedric went silent.

Elaria blinked.

“Can’t I?”

“You haven’t booked a hotel?”

“No.”

“Any relatives in Aster?”

“No.”

“Anyone you know?”

“No.”

“Then what was your plan for accommodation when you came here?”

Elaria thought it was a strange question.

“I was coming to find you.”

“And then?”

“Then I would stay with you.”

Cedric lowered his head slightly.

Elaria was not sure whether he was looking at the floor or hiding his expression.

Valerian raised a hand to the space between his brows.

“Miss Elaria.”

“Yes?”

“You traveled to a city you don’t know, without arranging anywhere else to stay, because you assumed you would stay with a man you believe is a dragon and your mate?”

“Yes.”

“Even though that man might not remember you?”

“I didn’t think you wouldn’t remember me when I left.”

That made sense.

At least to her.

Valerian lowered his hand and sighed.

“And if I told you to leave right now?”

Elaria genuinely considered it.

“I suppose I would find a hotel.”

“You have enough money?”

“Yes.”

“You know how to find one?”

“Yes.”

“Then why haven’t you?”

“Because you’re here.”

The answer came easily.

She did not understand why she should go sleep somewhere else when she had already found the person she had come all this way to find.

Valerian looked at her again.

For longer this time.

At last, he turned toward Cedric.

“Do we have a guest room available?”

Cedric answered immediately.

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Elaria looked up.

Valerian turned back to her.

“You may stay here temporarily.”

Elaria smiled.

“All right.”

“Temporarily.”

“Yes.”

“Until I can verify what you’ve told me, and until you arrange proper accommodations for yourself.”

“Yes.”

He still did not look entirely reassured.

“You understand?”

“I understand.”

Valerian nodded.

“Good.”

Elaria lifted her cup and took another satisfied sip of tea.

Things were already improving.

That morning, she had not known exactly where Vaelor was.

By afternoon, she had found him.

True, he did not remember that he was a dragon. He did not remember who she was. He still thought his name was Valerian.

But now, at least, she was going to be living in the same house as him.

For her first day here—

that was quite a lot of progress.