by T. A. White
“Most of it is ceremonial. A herald will announce you. As a dragon-ridden you’re permitted a retinue. In fact, I recommend you bring someone. It’ll send a message that you’re not alone. Do you have anyone in mind?”
“Dewdrop and Night,” Tate answered without having to think about it.
Having them at her side was never a question. They were family. More importantly there was no one Tate trusted more. Of course, they would be part of her retinue. Not as subordinates but rather as equals. Family who had each other’s back without question.
“Also, you.”
Roslyn drew back, blinking rapidly. “That’s an awful big ask.”
“Afraid?”
“I’d be a fool not to be.”
Tate smirked. “You’ll get over it.”
Roslyn had a strength that was difficult to measure. It wasn’t physical. It didn’t come from being able to wield a blade or magic. It was a little more subtle than that.
She understood motivations and the repercussions of actions in a way Tate did not. More importantly, she had the stubbornness to persevere even when society tried to make her bend.
Tate was going to need a little bit of that if she wanted to travel these waters without being pulled under.
“You said it yourself. I’m going into a pit of vipers. What better person to have at my side than my very own viper?”
Tate was betting Roslyn’s bite was every bit as venomous as the people she’d warned Tate against. It’d have to be for her to protect herself as long as she had.
Ashwin gave her friend a sidelong look. “She has you figured out.”
“Very well,” Roslyn said sounding resigned.
Tate’s head tilted as a thought occurred to her. “What about Daisy? Can she be part of my retinue?”
The more Tate considered the idea, the more she liked it. Alone, Daisy would attract poisonous bees. If she were seen as part of Tate’s circle, she’d enjoy the same protection. People would know that to mess with one would be to mess with all.
Of course, that also meant Tate’s enemies could use Daisy as a flash point to draw Tate into a trap, but she could deal with that later.
For now, she simply needed to ensure Daisy made it through this in one piece.
“It’s an unusual move,” Roslyn said in a hesitant voice. “But there is precedent.”
Tate’s shoulders loosened. It wasn’t a foolproof plan, but it was something. They could figure out the rest later.
“When you enter, the herald will announce your retinue first. They’ll wait at the bottom of the stairs until you descend. After that, you’ll take the lead and move toward the emperor where you’ll make your bow. Since Dewdrop and Night aren’t titled, they will have to kneel, but Daisy can do the same as you and bow. There’s usually no conversation from the emperor but on occasion he does converse with the supplicant so be prepared if that happens.”
Tate grimaced. What were the chances the emperor would pass up this opportunity? From the few, brief encounters she’d had with him in the past, it was almost certain he’d have something to say.
“When he lifts his hand, you may rise but the others will remain kneeling. You’ll take two steps forward and one to your left before turning and facing the audience. Once the herald presents you to the citizen’s, the rest can rise, and you’ll be dismissed. Sound easy enough?”
“So easy.”
If only Tate didn’t have a history of weird things happening unexpectedly.
Ashwin stepped back, guiding her to face the mirror. “Done. What do you think?”
Tate was briefly taken aback by the reflection in the mirror. She touched the fabric of her jacket softly, an awed “wow” escaping her.
Ashwin had decided to buck tradition when it came to Tate’s outfit for court. Far from being the dress she expected, it had a lot more in common with a uniform. An eye catching one at that.
While it was standard for women to wear dresses for formal events, it wasn’t a rule. Ashwin had used that fact to her advantage.
Fitted pants tucked into a pair of soft, calf high black boots. The floral pattern embossed on the leather of the boots was feminine but not overtly so. It was easy to tell they were a custom design. Tiny dragons flitted around the trim and eyelets.
Tate didn’t even know how they’d managed such detailed work.
Ashwin had chosen to base her outfit on the colors of her dragon—a dark blue with silver embellishments. Ilith’s approval hummed along her senses at the detail.
The coat cinched in at her waist before falling to mid-thigh. Ashwin had her leave it open over a silver shirt with a long flowing ribbon around the collar that had been tied into a fancy knot, the surplus spilling down her shirt. Buttons marched up the forearms almost to the elbow.
“This is—” Tate trailed off for lack of words.
She couldn’t believe this outfit. It was everything she could want. Even more than she had known.
The deep blue set off the copper-colored hair that waved around her collar. Ryu liked to say her hair reminded him of a sunset with the way the gold melted into the copper and auburn.
Bright green eyes peered out from striking features. Freckles were scattered across the bridge of her nose, giving her the appearance of impishness.
Tate wasn’t a tall woman but in these clothes she felt invincible.
No, that was too mild a word. Badass was more fitting a description. Someone fit to act as host to a dragon.
“You’ve outdone yourself,” Roslyn said, coming up to stand beside them.
Ashwin beamed, pleased at the praise. “I based the uniform off the Dragon Corps and made a few modifications. Do you like it?”
Ashwin took Tate’s shoulders, turning her so she could get a better view of the back of the jacket.
A dragon with wings spread was embroidered in a darker blue thread on the back, the pattern of those wings wrapping around the sides to end on the front, over her chest.
It was a subtle touch that you wouldn’t notice until you were standing right next to her. It made Tate love the jacket even more.
“It suits you,” a masculine voice said.
Everyone glanced in the direction of the voice to find a man leaning against the now open window that led to the rooftop balcony.
Tate went still. “Ryu.”
FOUR
“You’re back,” Tate said before she could stop herself.
Her chest was a tangled ball of emotion. Happiness. Anticipation. Feelings that made her almost breathless at their intensity.
Tate had never considered herself someone who sought love and companionship. If asked, she would have described herself as pragmatic. She didn’t need others to survive.
Dewdrop and Night had started the process and shown her that the warmth of others wasn’t to be feared. But Ryu’s presence was like a bonfire—burning her up from within.
She’d fought their attraction. Avoided him when possible and stubbornly resisted when running wasn’t an option.
He’d worn her down.
She couldn’t help but feel the way he watched her with a tenderness that made her stomach flutter—as if he didn’t see anything else. Just her.
His intense blue eyes made the feeling even sharper. Like he was peeling back her layers one by one to discover what was beneath.
Ryu wasn’t considered traditionally handsome—his features were a little too rugged for that. Today, his strong jawline was unshaven. The scruffiness suited him, making him all the more appealing.
Tall but with a lean, muscular frame, Ryu was the sort of man who drew other people to him with little effort. There was an irresistible charm in his expressions. Sometimes mysterious. Sometimes playful. It was the personality inside rather than individual features that made him so attractive.
He leaned against the window frame as his lips quirked. “I am.”
Tate studied him with a sharp look, somehow unsurprised by the two-word answer. Ryu wasn’t easy to
pin down. He was a manipulative bastard who always had more than one reason for any action he took.
Someone once told her the empire would always be first in his heart. That was true for the most part, but he’d proven since that he could hold other people there as well. Somehow Tate had become one of them.
It was a priceless gift that she didn’t know if she could ever repay.
There was also the fact that she’d come to like the sneaky side of him. It made things interesting. If she ruined his carefully laid plans occasionally for the sheer fun of it—well, that was the price he paid for keeping them from her in the first place.
The dragon clinging to his shoulder screeched, taking flight in a graceful glide.
Tate caught him with a grunt. “Hello, Rath. It’s good to see you too.”
Rath was Ryu’s dragon in the same way Ilith was Tate’s. The only difference was Ryu had somehow learned to manifest him, something the rest of the dragon-ridden were still trying to figure out.
In this form, Rath was the size of a large house cat. His body was built for speed but held a surprising strength as he steadied himself in her arms, careful not to damage her outfit. Tiny horns curled back from his forehead. His colors were reminiscent of a night consumed by flames.
Dark eyes peered up at Tate as his mind brushed against hers.
She smiled, scratching along his brow ridges in the way she’d learned he liked. She didn’t know why she could communicate with him in the same way she did Ilith, but his voice was nearly as clear. If not as intrusive. She had a feeling she could block him from her mind if she wanted. An option that wasn’t available with Ilith.
Intruder!
Agitated, Ilith surged out of her resting spot. She made her way up the small of Tate’s back to her shoulders before waddling down the arm not currently occupied by the geometric tattoo of the relic Tate had picked up in an ancient ruin.
Get off, Ilith demanded.
Rath ignored her, rubbing his head against Tate’s cheek even more enthusiastically.
Tate ignored the brief feeling of Rath’s glee as he teased Ilith. It was good for Ilith to not get her way all the time.
Cradling the small dragon in her arms, Tate crossed to the bookcases and called down the stairs. “Point to Ryu.”
A chorus of frustrated voices responded.
Amid the snarling and growling, Dewdrop’s voice stood out. “Damn it, how did that bastard make it past us?”
Tate hid her grin against Rath’s body.
Her roommates and Ryu were involved in a months’-long game in which the entire house was the playing field and her room the victory line. Ryu had taken the role of offense with Dewdrop, Night and the rest acting as defense. All Ryu had to do was make it past the others without being stopped or spotted.
For a man who rarely allowed obstacles to get in his way, Ryu was being surprisingly patient about her friends putting up active blockades to their time together.
As far as she could tell, he was enjoying coming up with more and more creative ways of infiltrating their home.
Sometimes she’d walk in to find him sitting at the dining table studying a report or catch a glimpse of him in the garden seconds before the others would tear through only to find him gone.
For her part, Tate found the way Night and Dewdrop gave him a hard time amusing so she left them to it. There was a need for the members of her household to accept each other. If this was how they figured out Ryu’s place in the group, she wouldn’t stand in their way.
“How did you make it up here?”
Ryu gave her a grin that made her think of nighttime and the press of his naked skin against hers. “There aren’t many places a dragon dares not go.”
Tate eyed the rooftop balcony behind him. Sometimes it was nice to have a form that also had wings. “That trick won’t work twice.”
Ryu stepped more fully into the room. “That’s okay. There are many hands still left to play.”
She bet.
“If you could get changed, I can finish the last-minute tweaks,” Ashwin said, reminding Tate that they weren’t alone.
Tate let go of Rath, who flew back to land on Ryu’s shoulder as she moved to the privacy screen. When she’d changed, she walked out, handing the neatly folded clothes to Ashwin, careful not to dislodge any of the pins.
“I’ll get them back to you tomorrow in plenty of time,” Ashwin informed her.
She and Roslyn took their leave, nodding a goodbye at Ryu.
“It was smart of you to convince the daughter of the Duke of Spiritly to stand at your side,” Ryu observed without moving from his place next to the window.
“I thought so too.”
Tate crossed the space and took a seat at one of the chairs she’d set up in front of the floor length windows. Only when she’d gotten settled did she turn her attention to Ryu. His timing was surprisingly good for a man who’d been out of communication for a few weeks.
“I take it by your presence that you’ve heard about my predicament.” Which meant he’d either stopped by headquarters first or gotten the message some other way.
Knowing Ryu, it could be either scenario.
“I did.” He straightened from the window and sauntered across the room. When he reached her, he bent down and brushed a fleeting caress along her cheekbone.
Tate drew in the scent of thunderstorm that Ryu always seemed to carry with him. Wind. Rain. With a hint of lightning mixed throughout. She held herself still, her fingertips nearly tingling with the desire to reach for him.
She resisted, inhaling deeply. Control, Tatum. There were a lot of things to address before any fun could happen.
His smile said he knew the effect he had on her and was enjoying himself. She narrowed her eyes. Have fun while it lasted. If there was one thing she was confident about, it was the fact that revenge was so very sweet.
His chuckle was warm as he straightened and then took a seat on the twin of the chair she was in. He leaned back, relaxed and unconcerned.
“How much trouble am I in?” Tate asked.
She couldn’t say that Ryu was the person she trusted the most. It was a little more complicated than that. He held a unique position in the empire and dragon corps. He was more spy master than anything else. He was who they relied on when things got complicated. One might even call him a mastermind because of the convoluted plans he came up with.
There would always be things he couldn’t tell her. Tate accepted that. As long as she knew that he ultimately held her best interests at heart.
It was why she knew that if she asked him a direct question, he would tell the truth or not answer at all.
“You’ve certainly managed to land yourself in a unique situation.”
He could say that again.
“Who would ever have thought they’d be so touchy about Ilith making an appearance?” It’s not like this was the first time Ilith had come out to play while Tate was on the palace grounds. “I thought they’d loosened some of the restrictions.”
“Perhaps your prior history had a hand in things.” Ryu sent her a pointed look.
Tate scowled. Yeah, yeah, she could guess what he was referring to. “Steal one crown and no one lets you hear the end of it.”
“If I remember correctly, it wasn’t just a crown. It was nearly half the treasury.”
Ilith’s mournful sigh accompanied Tate’s frown. “I don’t know why they’re still so touchy. They got everything back.” And then they’d sent her all the way to Silvain as punishment.
As far as Tate was concerned, they were even.
“The situation in the palace is a bit uneasy at the moment.”
“Does this have anything to do with where you went?”
One of Ryu’s fingers tapped against the arm of the chair as he considered his words carefully. “No, that’s a separate matter.”
Tate’s eyebrows rose at that unexpected statement. The way he said that made her think he wasn’t off on an errand
given to him by the emperor as she’d thought.
“By presenting you to court, the emperor will stabilize his own position while also firming up your status. In his eyes, this kills two birds with one stone.”
Tate could see the appeal of such a move. It was exactly the sort of thing she’d expect from a man related to Ryu.
“You going to share what you were up to?”
Ryu’s eyes lit up with warmth. “All you needed to do was ask.”
Tate snorted. As if she believed that. For now, however, she’d play his game. “Then consider this me asking.”
“I was investigating the whereabouts of your old friend,” Ryu said in a lazy voice.
Tate tensed, knowing exactly who he meant. There was only one person that came to mind. Nathan. A man from the same era as Tate. He was once someone who, if not a friend, was at least a close acquaintance. He’d sided with the Creators by the end and was sealed in a pocket dimension until an idiotic group decided to sacrifice a bunch of newly formed dragon-ridden to awaken him.
“That’s very dangerous,” she said in a soft voice.
Nathan wasn’t like Tate. He remembered the times before. His ability to use the artifacts left by the ancients was even more developed than Tate’s. Moreover, he knew all the secret caches they’d left strewn around the continent. It made him a threat that couldn’t be underestimated.
Tate didn’t like that Ryu had gone after him on his own. She liked it less that he’d done it without telling her. If he’d been caught and killed, she never would have known what happened. Ryu would have simply disappeared.
Seeing her emotions, he touched her hand, his cool fingers slipping into hers. “I kept my distance. My only intention was to gather information.”
Tate closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She should have known this would happen. You didn’t tell a man like Ryu about the biggest threat Aurelia had faced since its founding and not expect him to do something.
This was who he was.
She exhaled slowly, opening her eyes. “What did you find?”
“Not much. Enough to know he’s gathering resources and is planning something.”