DPOV

After about thirty minutes of coming back to earth and catching our breath, we finally made it out of bed and got dressed. We still had to eat. Although now that I thought about it, getting dressed really wasn't required for eating. As a matter of fact, I was envisioning Rose naked, with fruit on her belly and juicy grease on her face.

I was about to suggest we return to our spot on the bed and do just that when Adrian walked in. Well at least getting dressed had a purpose.

"Cousin, little human," he greeted and sat down in the chair with a big umph. I could tell he was here to whine. He had a habit of doing that, and since he usually whined about one person, in particular, I wasn't looking forward to this.

"Have you missed the news, Adrian the Charming? The human thing is apparently overrated," Rose quipped back. I forgot they met in town just before Rose and I made up, and before Rose found out she wasn't as human as she thought she was.

"Ah, yes, I have heard, but the nicknames are hard to get rid off, even if they aren't accurate anymore."

"Yes, I see what you mean. Charming must have been given to you a long time ago."

Adrian actually looked a little hurt, but I laughed hard. It wasn't often Adrian got called out, but Rose was just the kind of person to do that. I wondered what kind of nickname Rose would get. Rose the Fierce? Rose the Funny? Rose the Smartass?

"Adrian, what can I help you with? I do have other things to do than cater to your every whim."

He eyed Rose up and down, and I didn't like the look he gave her at all.

"Yes, I imagine you would."

I also detected a hint of jealousy and sadness.

He bent over and placed his underarms on his legs. He was rubbing his hands together, not looking at Rose or me.

"Do you think she is right?"

I looked over to Rose, but she seemed as lost as I was.

"Tasha, do you think she is right? Is Tatiana too conservative, shouldn't we add more special forces to the military instead of only soldiers?"

I had thought long and hard about this too.

"I think right now Tatiana is making the right decision. Our military is good and structured because of our soldiers. It is already going to be hard for them to adjust to this more guerilla style war. Adding more changes will only make us more vulnerable. We have a few non-soldiers mixed in, and I see that battalions have a hard time adjusting to that. So for now, I think it would be suicide to expand that. But when we have won this war and have survived, I will recommend we start training soldiers to work together with non-soldiers. I saw what some of them can do, and I think they would be a good addition to our troops."

For instance, what Rose, Eddie, and Mason have done is amazing. But they are young. I know Rose would have been rejected by some of the older soldiers. It is why Christian is in my squad; no other would take him. It is going to require a new mindset from soldiers, and that is something they didn't do well. If I can show that it works well in my battalion, they may be more accepting. But until then, we will need to adhere to the old structure.

Adrian seemed to think about my words.

"I don't like agreeing with Tasha; she is way too pushy."

That made Rose snort, and I shook my head.

"And I agree with you that changing anything right now is not a good idea. Maybe I can bring it up with Tatiana again once this is over? Maybe you can help convince her."

His voice trailed off toward the end. There were a few unspoken words there. 'If I survived.'

I nodded. Tatiana wasn't stupid by any means; she understood the value of people very well. But she was also conservative. I wondered how much convincing she would need. Maybe dying in battle wasn't so bad after all.

"So how about you, little human? Settling in a bit?"

Rose nodded.

"I am actually. Dimitri and Christian are helping me train. Dimitri is having me work with two of the younger recruits from his battalion, so I'll know how things are run once we have to fight the Snow Dragons."

I saw Adrian's jaw drop and he looked me almost angry. He seemed to be fiercely protective of Rose, and although I appreciated the sentiment, I didn't really like where it was coming from.

"You're letting her go to war?"

His voice dripped with accusation towards me. I was about to defend myself and Rose, but I should have known Rose didn't need any defending.

She stood up with a huff and walked over to Adrian. He looked shocked at her enraged expression. She poked her finger at his chest and kept poking with each word she uttered.

"First of all, Dimitri doesn't LET me do anything. Second of all, I am so sick of people treating me like I am weak. I am not weak. You saw the devastation I caused in the cornfield. I need to be around people who can teach me how to control it. And if I can't, I need to be able to unleash it, and what better way of doing that than on Snow Dragons? So before you come here, aghast that a poor defenseless, weak girl like me would go to war, you should get your facts straight, Adrian the Charming."

She was fuming at the end. Adrian could do little but stare at her. I don't think anybody ever told him off like that. He was heir to the throne after all. But I had quickly learned Rose didn't care for titles. And apparently, she didn't like being babied either. I was glad I had chosen a different path, because looking at her now, practically screaming at Adrian with rage, I was genuinely scared and was grateful it wasn't directed at me.

When Adrian only responded with 'But… But', she threw her hands up in the air with a growl and walked out.

I let her go. Well, I didn't LET her. As Rose had made painfully clear, I can't make her do anything one way or another. But I decided it was wise to give her some space to cool down.

"She is one little firecracker, isn't she? I see what you see in her."

He looked after her with a mix of lust and something else. Lust I had seen a million times in his eyes, but this emotion was new, and I didn't like it one bit. I growled a little, making sure he understood I saw him ogling MY girl.

He got up and bid me goodbye.

"She is mine; you know that right, Adrian?"

He simply waved his hand at me and walked away with a smirk on his face as he yelled back.

"You haven't claimed her yet."

After I had calmed down from Adrian's comment I decided to run some errands. Rose wasn't back yet, and I had a feeling she wouldn't be back for a while.

When I had started training Rose, I had commissioned a weapon just for her. We all had weapons with us even if we also liked to rip apart our prey, but fighting Snow Dragons, meant weapons would come in handy. In part, because they had sharper teeth than us and they were stronger, and in part because they didn't carry weapons. Not only did it give us an edge, it also separated us on a different level. We were more sophisticated and less… savage.

But the weapons we carried would be way too heavy for Rose. Some of us joined human armies in times of peace and had human sized weapons, but I would imagine even those were too heavy, so I commissioned a weapon designed specifically to be used at high speed and that matched her fighting style. The weapon was small, the size of a short sword, but sleeker.

I walked the distance toward our blacksmith, and when he saw me coming, his face lit up.

"I have your request General. I don't really know what you need with it, but I will say, I think it is my best work. My most challenging work, but definitely my best."

I smiled as he rummaged through his Dragon sized stuff, trying to find the one small weapon. Once located, he placed it in my human hands with his much larger Dragon claws. The weapon looked almost comical in his claws. Like a toothpick. Even in my hands, the weapon seemed small. But it would be perfect for Rose.

"It isn't for me, blacksmith. I have a hybrid female in my troop, she is small and light, and it reflects in her fighting style. I needed something to match it."

He looked down at the blade and tapped it with his Talon.

"Well, that should be perfect for her. It is light because I used a new material. It is very durable and handles heat very well. It is also stronger than my normal blades, so I could sharpen it to a deadly point. It was nice being able to use this material and make a sword this unique. The material can't be used very well for larger blades. But for this it was perfect."

I touched the tip very gently, but even then it had already broken the skin, and a small drop of blood was escaping my finger. Maybe she wouldn't even have to move past the scales. She could just ram the blade right through. This was the last step in Rose becoming a full fletched warrior of my battalion. I would feel safer if she carried around such a deadly weapon to protect herself.

"I have also taken the liberty of making a sheath. I made a back brace; I didn't think the sword strapped at the hip added to agility or speed so I made sure the sword wouldn't hinder her movements. I also added the steel in the bottom and sides of the sheath. Otherwise, the sword would stab right through."

I took the sheath, and it had indeed been fortified at the base and sides to protect it from the sharp edges.

"Thank you. I appreciate the effort and on such short notice."

His cheerful face became serious.

"It won't be long now, will it?"

I shook my head.

"No."

I looked up at the sky as if I could read the signs in the clouds. Reports from the border had been quiet, too quiet and it wasn't sitting well with me.

"Speaking of which, I took the liberty of designing something for you as well. I noticed you are spending more time as a human, so I made a weapon which can change sizes depending on your current form. It is large and durable in Dragon form, but still manageable in human form."

He hinted that he knew why I was spending more time as a human, by smirking a little my way, but otherwise kept it to himself. I looked at the weapon, which was now at a size manageable for my human size. It would have been too big and heavy for a regular human, but it felt very comfortable in my hands. It was a large broad sword. He also had made me a sheath, and I noticed he had made the blade and the sheath match Rose's.

"Now, tap the bottom."

So I did, and the weapon extended and grew. I could barely hold it up, but I knew it would sit comfortably in my claws in Dragon form.

"How did you do this?"

He shrugged.

"Magic."

I narrowed my eyes at him, and he chuckled. In this place, only one person knew how to perform magic. My grandmother.

"Don't worry, son; I didn't sell my soul. When I told her it was for you, she was only too happy to help."

I smiled. I didn't realize Yeva had been getting soft in her old age. First the payment from Christian, and now this.

"Thank you. I appreciate this."

I left him to his work. It looked like he was very busy. Tatiana had commissioned a check on all military weapons, and he was expanding our stock just to be sure.

Once I came back to our room Rose was there and she was munching on some bread. She seemed to be in a much better mood. She smiled as I came in.

"I have a present for you."

She put down the bread and jumped up towards me. She was holding out her hands with a big smile on her face, waiting, not so patiently, for me to hand her her present.

I placed the sheath containing the sword in her hands.

She looked at the weapon. First, she inspected the sheath, and then she drew the sword. The motion was so natural and fluent; it was like she had always had the blade. The weight was perfect for her. She swiped it through the air a few times and looked at it in wonder.

"A deadly warrior deserves a deadly weapon. You will have no problem severing Dragon spines with this."

She launched herself at me, almost cutting off my ear with her sword as she flung her arms around my neck. She kissed me on my cheek as she pulled back.

"Thank you."

She seemed awfully emotional at receiving a weapon.

"It is just a sword."

She shook her head.

"No, it isn't. You trust me. You understand I am a warrior at heart. You let me be myself. I know that isn't easy."

I pulled her close. No, it wasn't. But I had made the decision to honor her wish to come with me to war. But whether I could treat her like just another soldier, I didn't know. I was afraid that when the time came, I would protect her instead of my army. The thought scared me. But the alternative scared me even more.

"You should bring it the day after tomorrow," I said trying to change the subject back to more pleasant thoughts.

"Why? Isn't that a little dangerous during training? I knew I said I would get Eddie back for that comment, but this really wasn't what I had in mind."

I chuckled. Eddie had called her Rosie and said she hit like a girl. She had defended with that she was a girl and had sworn revenge on him. I half expect her to sneak off tonight and place itching powder under Eddie's scales. I was glad that Rose had made such easy friends with Eddie and Mason. It would make things a lot easier once we went to war, but maybe also a lot harder.

"No, Rose. I have a trip planned for then. I have an old mentor who lives up north. He has trained many young Dragons to control their flame. Christian can teach you much about intensity, but I think Arthur can teach you about control."

"So we are going on a field trip?"

I nodded.

"Just you and me?"

I nodded again.

"Alone?"

"For training", I added as her voice had dropped to a sultry tone along the way.

She was now standing in front of me, her hands on my chest, rubbing circles on it, letting her soft hands caress my skin.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with Adrian looking at me like I am a juicily roasted cow he wanted to devour, now would it?"

"No."

"Or the fact that Mason has been ogling me, and doesn't seem to know you and I are together?"

"No."

Who was I kidding? I certainly wasn't fooling Rose. I had alternate motives for wanting a few days alone with Rose. I had already planned this trip after the cornfield, but I may be a little more eager to go now there were others admiring her. I wasn't too worried about Mason, and by the comments Rose threw Adrian's way, I assumed he was a long way off beating me to the punch. But it had got me thinking. Why hadn't I claimed Rose? Back in the palace I had wanted to. I was already warming up to start it. Maybe that is why I couldn't right now? I had wanted to without discussing it with Rose. I had almost marked her without her consent, simply because I had felt the incredible urge to do so. For the first time in a long time, I understood why my father had claimed my mother, without even asking her first.

I didn't think she would object, but we really needed to have the conversation, because I was dreading the moment, I wouldn't be able to stop myself. But with the war on the horizon, and Rose needing as much training as she could get, the topic really hadn't come up. And maybe it needed to stay that way. I knew losing your mate was excruciating. Maybe if I didn't claim Rose and I do die, it would be easier for her.

"Whatever you say. I don't mind a trip with you. Is it far?"

"About a day's flight."

Her eyes lit up.

"You mean I get to spend a whole day on your back, riding you."

"Flying with me, not riding, remember?"

She smiled.

"Oh, I meant riding."

She wiggled her eyebrows. Oh, she was insatiable. But I must admit, stopping along the way to indulge in a nice session of lovemaking in the wild did greatly appeal to me. I knew the perfect spot along the way; a nice secluded lake. It would be cold, but I could keep her warm. I was a Dragon, after all.