Today is Day 29 of NaNoWriMo! My total for day 28 of NaNoWriMo was 1,847 words. Only 1 day left. I'm still in awe that I've managed to write every day, even though it was hard some days.
All passages were in order from yesterday's post, so here's what I wrote:
The four of us followed her down the hall, where two male Dragons from her clan were waiting for us at the end.
“We are lucky we have the no dating rule,” Rial murmured.
I hit him in the arm and Rinneth snickered. “I can hear you.”
“And?” Rial said, clearly not ashamed.
Rinneth chuckled and continued on, surprising me. I had expected some sort of mouthy remark like most female Humans would. Maybe remarks like that didn’t bother her. She was part Dragon afterall.
When we reached the end of the hall, the Dragons waiting didn’t say anything to us. They only joined our little group by either side of Rinneth like some bodyguards and entered the main gathering hall. Fallon stood close by, speaking with several sharply dressed men. The conversation ended abruptly when Fallon looked at us and smiled at his daughter. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and then introduced herself and us to the men in suits. The men spoke with Fallon and Rinneth for a moment longer before they excused themselves and we were pulled along to speak with more party attendees, who Rinneth spoke to wish such grace and expertise, it was obvious she had done this for the company many time.
As we bounced from group to group, Rinneth didn’t trip once in the death trap shoes she wore. How females could walk in things like stilettos and other high heeled shoes with little issue was beyond me.
A piercing whistle tore my gaze from the current group Rinneth and Thuldren were fully engrossed with, to find a group of men waving to us. Rial waved back at them. Friend of his, who I didn’t particularly care for.
“Please excuse us,” Rial said to the group. “I have old friends to catch up with.”
Rinneth and the others nodded and Rial walked off. Vamir and I accompanied him so to make sure no trouble was stirred up, while Thuldren stuck by Rinneth’s side. When we reached Rial’s friends the one who had whistled to us, Kial, bumped fists with Rial and the two conversed casually until his friend decided to look over at Rinneth.
“I know you guys like to play by the rules, so tell me, how is it, that your team managed to get Fallon’s daughter on your team and still land a sponsorship from the most sought after company?”
“We’re still not exactly sure,” Rial admitted.
“Rinneth warned us if we took her on as a teammate we’d forfeit the chance for the sponsorship. She made us aware we were one of three groups up for considerations so we had to choose wisely,” I said. “We figured a skilled team member was better than a sponsorship so we took her on. When Fallon offered it to us some time after, even Rinneth was surprised.”
One of Rial’s other friends, Nox, looked Rinneth over in a way I really didn’t like. “Even though she’s skill, with your weird team rule, why would you take her on? She’s too nice of a piece of--”
I grabbed his suit jacket and roughly pulled him closer. “Don’t you dare finish that vulgar sentence.”
Nox stared at me with wide, fear stricken eyes.
“We don’t take kindly to those who would speak so boorishly about women,” Vamir said.
“Especially Rinneth,” Rial added, clearly not pleased with his friend.
A feminine voice cleared her throat and we all looked behind me to find Rinneth standing there with Thuldren--one of her hands on her hips. “We don’t tolerate fighting at our parties, boys. Mind telling what’s going on?”
I immediately let Nox go. “Well...uh…”
Vamir tried to help but also fumbled. “Vesser was explaining to Nox how his...way of talking about someone was…”
“Not appropriate,” Nox concluded. “And he’s right. I was out of line.”
Rinneth looked over Nox slowly in a critical manner and I was sure I saw her eyes change briefly. “So Vesser was responding in standard male Dragon fashion. Very well. You’ll want to be careful, Nox. Dragons have quite the...temper.”
Nox nodded. “Yes. I’ll be sure to be more careful.”
“Rial, I don’t think I’ve ever been acquainted with your friends before,” she said.
“Oh, no, probably not. This is Nox, Kial, and Lomar. I used to be on a non-competitive team with them prior to joining our team.”
Rinneth’s gaze slowly took in all three men that sent shivers up my spine, and not in the most pleasing way. I’d seen that look in several female Dragons. She was being diplomatic, but only because she had to be. She knew exactly what had been said prior to her arrival.
Kial extended his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Rinneth.”
Rinneth shook his hand. “Likewise.”
Nox shook her hand next and Lomar, he kissed her hand, prompting a pleased smile to spread on her face, and twinge of jealousy to twist in my stomach.
The seven of us spoke for a few minutes before Rial’s friends excused themselves, Nox and Kial clearly getting nervous around Rinneth with the demeanor she was projecting on them.
“Well, that was interesting,” Rinneth said. “Quite the friends you have, Rial.”
Rial grunted. “Not sure I should call them that anymore. I have standard to uphold.”
Rinneth giggled and then turned to go back to her father’s side to help him with the press who were now hounding him, but stopped when she nearly ran into a tall, tanned man with black hair. She gasped when she looked at him. “Hallion...”
“Rinneth,” he smiled and then took her hand and kissed it lightly. “It’s been a while.”
The man reeked of Dragon scent, not that I didn’t already know about Hallion. He and Fallon led the largest clans in the area, Hallion’s all black dragons, while Fallon’s a mix. I watched Rinneth and Hallion carefully. Something didn’t feel right about this situation. Not with how unnerved Rinneth now was.
She struggled to compose herself. “Yes, it has. Several years infact. May I inquire about your presence here. Last I knew, you weren’t a large supporter of the simulation technology.”
Hallion smiled in a way that made me want to go on the defensive for Rinneth, “It really has been some time, my dear. That would be an old claim now. I’ve made several contributions to simulation technology and also sponsor a big team.”
A group of elves walked up and I scowled. Punisher’s Delight. The top ranked PvP team in Evenstar and one of the most arrogant.
Their team captain, Kyrenic, grinned at me. “Well, if it isn’t Vesser. So desperate to stay in the tournament you let a woman join your team?”
I intended to spit out a response but Hallion stood up straight and stared Kyrenic down with one hell of a death glare. Kyrenic backed down immediately. Hallion’s defense of Rinneth should have eased how I felt about him, but it made me feel worse. It had to be that look. Something just wasn’t right about it.
“Well, at least he has better manners,” someone said.
Rinneth perked up when we spotted Zalrish. “You made it!”
he chuckled. “Of course, love. Had a bit of a problem at the studio, making me late, but here I am.”
Zalrish walked closer and wrapped his arm around Rinneth and looked over the Elves and Dragon before him. “Now, we don’t need any problems here, gentlemen. I don’t want to explain to you what happens to those who cause problems at parties thrown by Fallon Industries. Trust me, it’s not a pretty picture.”
The elves backed down immediately, clearly understanding Dragons were not to be trifled with, but Hallion wasn’t paying attention to Zalrish’s words. Instead his gaze was fixated on Zalrish’s hand on Rinneth’s person. Something about that stare was...unsettling.
Just then, Fallon walked up, and Hallion placed his full attention on the Clan leader. “Hallion.”
“Fallon, it’s been a while,” Hallion greeted.
“Yes it has,” Fallon agreed. “You’re not giving my daughter and her team any trouble, now are you?”
“No, of course not. Just introducing my sponsored team to them.”
Fallon eyed Hallion suspiciously, not that I blamed him. He could have cared less about our two teams speaking, otherwise he would have introduced all the member of his team by now.
“Yes, I’m sure you were,” Fallon finally said. “But, I’m afraid I’m going to have to steal them away, as I need them to meet a few people.”
“Yes of course.” Hallion smiled. “We look forward to hearing about your company’s big reveal.”
Hallion left with his team in tow and Fallon watched, no hurry for us to speak with anyone urging him to move.
Rinneth removed Zalrish’s arm from her and she spoke quietly. “You know that was a stupid thing for you to do.”
“I know how your rules work, love,” Zalrish said. “I’m just--”
“Clearly you don’t,” Rinneth growled. “That was not the right thing to do in this situation. You are not to leave this room without letting me know, am I clear?”
Zalrish smiled. “You worry too much.”
She faced him. “I trust Hallion as far as I can throw him. You will let me know if you leave this room. Am I clear?”
I was taken aback by her assertiveness. It was so strong, it made me want to obey her. Zalrish seemed to be taken off guard too because it took him a moment to respond.
“Yes, I understand.”
“You are not to leave my side, Rinneth, without Ramos or Sirath,” Fallon said. “I don’t trust him to not pull something right in this room.”
“I understand father,” Rinneth replied.
Vamir and I eyed each other. What was going on? Territory wars were common between clans, but neither clans were close enough to each other to have that issue, and it sounded as if Rinneth’s life was in danger around Hallion. My muscles tensed at the thought. If that was the case, Hallion would have to get through me before he could think about touching her.
“All of you follow me,” Fallon ordered. “We have press to deal with before the reveal.”
The group of us followed without protest and listened as Rinneth and Fallon dealt with the press, for the most part. Most of the questions were geared towards Fallon’s company, but when questions came up about the team, I took over for the two. Being team captain I felt it was the best choice of action. Rinneth had to jump in and help me though when a reporter had revealed a rumor I had never heard of before.
Apparently it said she and I had a close, and very personal relationship. I had tried to assure them it was a rumor, pointing out personal relationships between teammates were strictly prohibited, but it took Rinneth’s persuasion skills to get them to believe us. Watching her convince the reporter of the truth, had been fascinating. Her Black Dragon blood hadn’t let her down there.