“There are a few sections which will remain off limits until I can better assess your loyalties. But provided you do the second thing I ask, I don’t see you roaming the unrestricted areas as a problem.”
Considering she’d been here just over a week, his caveats seemed reasonable. “Okay, so what’s the second thing you want to ask me for?”
“I want you to help teach the young dragons about humans.”
She frowned. “About what, exactly? I’m not a trained teacher. I’m studying to be an anthropologist.”
“I know that, and I think your degree will help you to present your people in an unbiased light. Isn’t that one of the tenants of anthropology? To try and limit personal bias?”
She decided to avoid getting into complicated theory about whether that was possible or not and simply said, “For the most part, yes.”
“Good. Then you’re exactly what they need. Our texts are outdated, and most of my clan is still somewhat biased against your kind due to our bloody, and often violent, past. You’ll be able to answer the children’s questions without peppering it with hate.”
She eyed Bram for a second. “Why are you so keen on changing the children’s perceptions? There is still a huge amount of bias against dragon-shifters in the human world. If the children get too rosy a view, it could end up harming them in the long run.”
He waved a hand in dismissal. “My other teachers can help balance your version with our recorded history, giving the children a better idea of the full truth. But I want to start the next generation on thinking that they can change the status quo instead of just putting up with it.”
Bram was cleverer than she’d originally given him credit for. “As long as there’s a dragon-shifter adult there too, in case things go wrong, I’ll try.”
Bram smiled. “Good. You’ll start in three days.”
Mel didn’t like the devious look in Bram’s eye, but at least she wouldn’t have to spend all of her time here doing nothing. Children were usually more honest and more open than adults were. She could probably learn just as much from them as they would from her.
Her only reservation was that Tristan taught the young dragon-shifters. If Bram thought to play matchmaker, he wasn’t going to be successful. Unless Tristan groveled and pleaded, which was highly unlikely, she wasn’t going to put herself out there only to have him shoot her down again.
The dragonman had made his choice. No matter how much she missed his presence in bed next to her, she wasn’t going to put up with his bullshit just so she could feel his hot, naked skin against hers again. The heartache wasn’t worth it.
Chapter Four
Melanie stood in front of four pupils in the five-to-six-year-old age range. The dragon-shifter teacher was introducing her, but Melanie didn’t pay much attention to what the dragonwoman was saying. Instead, she focused everything on remaining calm on the outside and not betraying the butterflies banging around in her stomach.
Don’t let the little ones smell fear, or they’ll walk all over you. That had been Liam’s advice to her before she’d left this morning. People who taught human students probably gave the same advice, but since she’d been told how the five-and-six-year-olds were just learning to communicate with their inner dragons, not showing fear was doubly important—the newly awakened dragons were trying to find their own place in the dominance scale.
However, the longer she studied the faces of the three little boys and one little girl, the more confident she became. They weren’t staring at her with disgust or condemnation. No, they were just staring at her with wide-eyed curiosity.
The teacher turned toward her and nodded. Melanie nodded back and focused on the four students. “As the teacher said, my name is Melanie Hall. And I think the best way to get to know each other is for you to just ask your burning questions now.”
The little girl with dark hair and blue eyes raised her hand, and Melanie motioned for the girl to speak.
The little girl looked her up and down before she said, “My friend said humans aren’t allowed on Stonefire’s land because they’ll either scream or try to hurt us. Are you going to scream or hurt us?”
“No, I’m not. Should I be afraid of you?”
The little girl crossed her arms over her chest and it took everything Mel had not to smile. The girl said, “Well, I know important people. So you should be good or I can tell on you and my uncle will make you behave. He makes everyone behave.”
The teacher said, “Ava.” But Mel put up a hand to signal it was okay. “So, your name is Ava?” The little girl nodded. “Well, Ava, is your uncle here right now?”
The girl’s arms dropped as she lost a bit of her confidence. “No.”
She took a step toward the girl. “Could he get here before I could tackle you?”
Ava darted a glance to the dragon-shifter teacher and back. “No.”