by Meagan Hurst
It was only when he threw clothing at her that she remembered she wasn’t wearing any. Sighing, she considered forgoing the clothing, but a look at Shalion changed her mind. In light of the current conversation, Z had a feeling Shalion’s tolerance over her lack of clothing was lower than it had been prior to Nivaradros claim. Granted, if it was a problem because the Dragon was back, he could just get over it. Dressing took more effort than she wanted, and she pressed her lips together in thought as she considered what Nivaradros had just told her.
If Shalion was staying here, then the Dragon had decided the Ryelention’s life was at risk, and Z wondered just what had happened to change Nivaradros’s mind. A few weeks ago, he hadn’t even been willing to contact Shalion, much less bring him to his lair. Of course, the Dragon had mellowed greatly since she had first known him, and even more so since she had woken up. Case in point, Nivaradros brushed his lips over her forehead as he returned to her side before offering her his arm. After her argument with the bath water, Z was strong enough to stand, but tired enough to accept the Dragon’s offer.
He led her over to the couch and deposited her with ease before taking a seat beside her and gesturing for Shalion to be seated as well. “Yes,” he added in answer to the silent question she wasn’t voicing. “I do have guest quarters. When it occurred to me that I expected you to live here, and when I decided on what path I wanted you to take, I realized that I would have to put up with the concept of housing others for short periods of time.” As Nivaradros was an immortal ‘short periods of time’ meant anything up to a century. “Shalion has been offered rooms here until the issue at hand is resolved. He will also be checking in on you on the off chance I am summoned before the Council.”
And there was only one council Nivaradros would consider leaving her behind to attend. Worry worked its way into her heart at the thought of Nivaradros standing before his people minus his ability to be a Dragon in form. Wondering when she had become so damn soft, she pushed the thought away and closed her eyes.
“Why is it necessary for Shalion to stay here?” she asked in a level and careless sounding tone. “And no lying, Shalion, I am not in the mood.”
“I very rarely attempt to lie to you, Zimliya.” Shalion’s voice was formal, and she frowned. “My father and I are just having one of our disagreements again. Nivaradros stopped by to speak with me and happened to walk in on our…discussion. He suggested I come here for a time until you were well enough to aid me with the problem at hand. My father concurred, and I wanted to see you anyway, so I agreed to his suggestion as well.” Light orange eyes met hers. “Besides, you’re torturing the poor Dragon, and he can’t hit you yet, so he might as well have another body to pummel.” Shalion’s gaze moved to Nivaradros. “She looks good,” he told the Dragon. “Very good. I didn’t expect to see her alive…” The Ryelention closed his eyes with pain. “Or you come to think of it.”
“Most people didn’t. That stupid Shade was less than thrilled to see me here,” Nivaradros drawled with a roll of his eyes. He picked up Z’s right hand and placed it on his knee before covering it once more with his own. “But he will just have to get over it or keep his mouth closed. I’m tired of his words regarding my relationship with Z, if we can even call what we have one.”
She flinched at the words but managed not to comment. “Where is Shalion staying?”
“Here…” Nivaradros repeated in a testy tone. He’d never been fond of repeating himself.
“Yes, I caught that. What I was asking is where within your lair will his quarters be?”
Nivaradros relaxed. “A couple halls above yours. I prefer, for now, that you keep most of your privacy.” He turned toward Shalion and sighed. “Tell her,” he advised. “Or I will, but I am not going to keep her in the dark forever, and I am certain someone else will tell her just to spite me if she doesn’t find out soon.” Z wasn’t a fool, ‘someone else’ meant Crilyne, which meant she was going to be furious to learn whatever news they were debating about.
Shalion grimaced and glanced at her. “I was rather hoping to see her a full day before making her angry with me, Nivaradros,” the Islierri admitted. He watched her intently before his gaze flickered to the Dragon. His next words made it clear they were still something akin to friends. “Promise me you will try to keep her from killing me?” the Ryelention heir half jested.
“I will try,” Nivaradros answered with a small smile. “I can always distract her by doing something to throw her off. I could, for example, bring up what sometimes follows kissing.”
“Will you two stop?!” Z demanded as she turned red yet again. “I get it, okay? My lack of social skills in that regard has becoming a running joke. But seriously, drop it.” Shivering from nerves, she fixed them both with a dark look, though it was hard to hold it in the face of the innocent looks they gave her. Definitely something close to friends, and she had to admit she was happy for Nivaradros. He wasn’t big into the friend thing either, and while he had shown some interest in Zyrhis, it hadn’t been anything like this. These two were comfortable enough with each other to gang up on her.
Brushing his lips over her forehead, Nivaradros glanced at Shalion in a manner that demanded the Ryelention speak. With a scowl, Shalion inclined his head. “My father is abdicating his rule,” he told her as her mouth fell open in shock.
Of all the rulers, the Islierre was not the one she would have expected to make that move. The Islierre was also one of the oldest rulers, having ruled his people for millenniums before they had been forced to flee their world and occupy this one. He had been challenged throughout his years of power, but none had ever been successful, and the latest incident was the first time the throne had been stolen. And now he was surrendering his power to the heir he loathed?
“Why … why would he do that?” she demanded as she felt Nivaradros shift his position. He thought she would need to be held tighter soon, and this was a heads-up that something even worse was on the horizon.
“Because I, in turn, am abdicating my rule to you,” Shalion explained before he moved swiftly off the couch as Nivaradros tackled her—with consideration for her injuries—and kept her from launching herself at the young Ryelention. Infuriated by the news, she fought against Nivaradros’s hold, and she spat more curses at Shalion than was probably wise.
“If you kill him you won’t accomplish anything; the Islierre will simply abdicate his rule to you,” Nivaradros told her as he struggled to both contain her but keep from harming her. Despite the loss of his Dragon form, Nivaradros was still stronger than she was, and if one or both of them forgot it, the chance of him injuring her was very real. “Stop, Zimliya,” he added when his previous words had no effect. “You’re hurting yourself. Stop it now.”
Shivering with silent anger, she managed to follow his order, but since it was an order, she also had to keep herself from snapping at him. She was enraged with Shalion and livid at the Dragon, who she assumed had put the Ryelention up to this. She didn’t want one damn kingdom, and she was looking at the possibility of three.
“Did you two idiots,” she demanded in a voice that shook with rage, “consider all you just unloaded onto me? All I have to come up with if I even manage to make this work?”
“Yes, we did consider it, or I should say they considered it; I had no part in this, Z,” Nivaradros explained though she could sense his attention was on her bandaged side. She could only hope she hadn’t done too much damage, she wanted to eventually get out of this room. “Try not to worry about it, Z—it has not come to pass yet. They have to reclaim the kingdom after all.”
“And Shalion has to kill his father,” Z said flatly. She did not believe the Islierre would hand over his kingdom, despite what she was being told. “But, honestly, they could easily just throw the kingdom at me and tell me to have at it, Nivaradros.” Turning her gaze to Shalion, who was still out of range of being hit by anything but magic, she frowned. “Is your father dead yet and are you going to take
your kingdom back first or just leave me to clean up your mess? I don’t want an empire!” she added vehemently.
“If I heard right, you do not have a choice in the matter,” the Dragon replied in a lowered tone. “It will be possible to achieve, don’t fret over it. I have confidence in your abilities.”
“Have you forgotten everything that goes into making a town, much less an empire?!” Z threw at him irritably. “Laws, ways to enforce and uphold them, budgets, taxes, trade rights, outside income, a way to grow food—a way to buy it when a year’s crop fails—a location for the central city, an army, and loyal citizens. And you generally want them to be all of one race. Right now, I am looking at a minimum of four races, Nivaradros!” When he raised a brow, she scowled at him. “I am still a Ranger,” she pointed out. “So Ryelentions, Syallibions, Humans, and Dralations. And then I need to consider the location of the kingdoms in retrospect to each other; the Ryelentions and the Dralations only have a kingdom between them, but the Syallibions are nowhere near either kingdom. Has no one given this any thought?!”
Shalion watched her for a moment before clearing his throat. “My father still lives,” he told her. “And we fully intend to take back our kingdom first, but we will need aid to do so.” He glanced at Nivaradros. “I would like to be informed, however, as to why the Dragon is unwilling to take to the skies to aid us, an aerial attack would give us a much-needed advantage.”
She froze and felt Nivaradros tense behind her. He did not, regretfully, release his hold on her. In fact, she was confident his arms tightened around her just a hair.
“I am not unwilling,” Nivaradros told Shalion after a very long and cool pause. It was a weighted silence, and Z knew Nivaradros was undecided on how much he trusted Shalion. Would the Ryelention keep the Dragon’s secret if Nivaradros decided to tell him? The Dragon’s eyes met hers when she turned and his lips twisted into a grimace. “I am unable. It was the price of being able to stay with Zimliya, and I decided losing her was too high of a price.”
Now it was the Ryelention’s turn to freeze. Eyes shifting to an orange that made a fire look tame, Shalion didn’t manage to speak for several minutes.. “You cannot shift?!” the Islierri exclaimed at long last.
“It was the cost for my healing,” Nivaradros explained as he began to relax his hold on her. She made the attempt to break free and found the Dragon was there to catch her. “Quit,” he chided before pulling her back against his chest. “If you want to kill him later down the line that’s fine, but let’s at least give him a few days here first.”
Shalion ignored the talk of his demise and instead continued to focus on the unexpected bad news. Z could relate, although she had been upset about Nivaradros’s loss of form for a different reason.
“Never again?” the Ryelention asked in dismay.
“I wasn’t willing to lose her, Shalion,” Nivaradros answered. “Not after everything I went through to get her the first time.” And they were back to ignoring her presence. Used to this, Z held her peace and just watched the two immortals work their way Nivaradros’s depressing revelation. “I am not, however, even remotely defenseless.”
“I would never make the mistake of assuming you were.” Shalion glanced at her at long last, which, due to the effort it had taken him to ignore her, was surprising. “Where do you stand on this?”
She wasn’t willing to answer the question. Anything she said that was true would possibly upset the Dragon, and any lie she told would hurt her. While she loved the fact Nivaradros was in his lesser form, she knew what it was for a Dragon to lose their ability to fly, and she was confident that no other Dragon living would willingly relinquish their native form. She hated that she had been the reason for the loss of his. Of course, she didn’t have to speak for the Dragon to guess how her thoughts were going. Pulling her closer against him, Nivaradros said nothing with words, but once more he let her know he did not regret his decision. He had seemingly just wanted her—that’s what he kept telling her anyway—but she doubted he would always feel that way, and she didn’t understand how or why he could even feel that way now.
“Does it matter?” Nivaradros breathed so only she could hear him. He released her slowly this time. “If you go to harm him, I will stop you,” he added in that same quiet tone as he finished releasing her. His eyes brightened as she shifted to sit beside him, and she noticed that he had also seen the small stains of red on her chest, but he said nothing about it, which surprised her.
“How long is Shalion staying?” she asked, to keep the Dragon’s worry over the blood under control.
“Until the current issues are resolved,” Nivaradros repeated. “But if you would like to avoid him I believe it won’t be too hard, especially since you are still too weak to leave your room.” His eyes softened in shade as he relaxed, but he kept glancing at her bandaged side.
“Oh, go on and tend to it then,” she grumbled to him at long last. Keeping her attention on Shalion, she ignored Nivaradros as he got up to gather the supplies that he needed. “What else are you meaning to mention, yet failing to, Shalion?” she asked him at long last. His eyes held hers without blinking, but in the end, he was the one to look away.
“Azabell wishes to speak with you at some point,” he told her. “She wants to meet you…and Nivaradros.”
Shocked, Z raised a brow as the Dragon returned with the supplies and seated himself beside her before beginning to work on her injuries. “Why in the world does she want to meet us?” she demanded, curious and yet suspicious at the same time.
“My father informed her you were the reason he was even considering allowing our relationship to exist at all, and she pressed him for information,” Shalion explained. His attention was caught by the Dragon—who began to curse as he finished peeling away her bandages to reveal the damage her struggles had caused—but when it was clear she wasn’t dying, Shalion continued. “She wishes to thank you.”
Now Z was uneasy. “There is nothing to thank me for. All I did was prove she wasn’t as bad as everyone wanted to make her out to be, and that she was nothing like the rest of her family. She did all the work; I just made sure it was seen.”
“Regardless, she wishes to get to know you. She knows we’re…allies.”
“Friends,” Z corrected absently, not realizing what she had just offered him. But they were, had possibly always been, friends. She had just been too skittish and narrow minded to admit it. She didn’t like the term because of everything that it meant; trust being of foremost concern, and something she personally lacked. She opened her mouth to add more to it when the Dragon moved and caught her attention instead.
Tensing as Nivaradros did something magical, Z reached for a dagger she wasn’t wearing and then began to curse when she realized she was unarmed. “You are not in danger here,” Nivaradros chided as he kissed her. It was a very long, slow and distracting kiss. He also used it for ulterior motives; he cast another two spells while she was too preoccupied to react. “Neither of us is a threat to you.”
“You’ve done well with her,” Shalion breathed. Z glanced at him in surprise and saw the Ryelention’s eyes were wide with undisguised astonishment. “She didn’t even flinch!”
“Death appears to change much in the way of trust,” Nivaradros remarked offhandedly. “Though I believe you had more of an effect on her than you know. Regardless, I am just happy with the results.” He offered her an innocent smile—which looked anything but—and then began to rewrap her wounds. He had used more magic than ointments this time, and she wondered if that meant her wounds, despite the damage her struggle with him earlier had done, were getting better. When he finished, he caught her chin in his right hand. “Let her come visit,” he advised. “You will have to accept the fact that people want to meet you at some point, especially with your new statuses.”
Lifting her chin free of his grasp, she turned to Shalion and inclined her head. “Just give me a few months?” she pleaded. “I am still adjusting to the
immortality, the Dragon’s return, my injuries, the kingdoms that seem to be getting dropped on me, and…my own personal issues.”
Shalion nodded gracefully in acceptance of her words before glancing at the Dragon. “She’s tired,” he said. “Will you show me to my quarters? I do not want to overstay my welcome in her room, and I believe she needs sleep—possibly food first—before we discuss anything further.”
“I’m not that tired,” she argued weakly, but both the Dragon and the Ryelention just gave her the same look of disbelief. “Well I’m never going to get any stronger if you two continue to baby me,” she countered when it became clear they wouldn’t respond to her first statement. The Dragon snorted and shook his head before glancing at Shalion. The Ryelention shrugged for a moment and then headed over to her door.
“Who said I am going to baby you?” Nivaradros wanted to know once Shalion was at the door. “I fully intend to keep you up for a while longer, just not with the Islierri present.” He smiled as she stared at him with what she knew was horror, before he turned and followed the Ryelention out of the doors.
She leaned back against the couch and closed her eyes, refusing to dwell on the Dragon’s words. He probably had spoken them just to try and make her nervous. It appeared to be his new game, and he was unfortunately quite good at it. Voices caused her to sit up with a jerk and open her eyes; her mouth fell open in astonishment. The far wall that normally turned into a table, chairs, and came equipped with food, had turned into a mirror-like substance that encompassed the entire wall, and as a result she could see and hear the Dragon and Shalion.
“She looks well, Nivaradros,” Shalion said in a tone that spoke volumes about in what condition he had expected to see her. “She’s weak, yes, but she’s stronger than she should be, and she’s…mellowed.”