by Haley Ryan
“Draven,” I whispered, leaning in closer as the darkness began to swallow my view of his gorgeous face. “Don’t leave me. Don’t let them send you away.”
“Never again,” he said, and I believed him.
Sixteen
When I finally woke up, I was half-convinced I was dead and had somehow ended up attending my own funeral.
I was not in my room, and there were too many people around me—all of them somber and muttering, wearing dark clothes and darker looks.
“Am I dead?”
“Not yet.”
I turned my head to the right. Draven sat on the bed beside me, leaning against the headboard, clothed and wary, despite his deceptively negligent slouch. His steady gaze reassured me that everything was okay—for now—so I sat up, and was instantly surrounded by brothers, all of them talking at once.
“Kira, are you—”
“I swear I’m going to kill him —”
“I’m so sorry I didn’t—”
“Maybe I should talk first,” I said, rolling my eyes in exasperation. “I’m not mad at you. About anything. None of this was your fault. So please stop falling all over yourselves and just tell me what’s happening. How long do I have to get off the grounds?”
They exchanged weird looks.
“Kira, you won,” Callum said, his brows drawn together, his expression forbidding. Fortunately, I was pretty sure it boded ill for someone other than me. Mostly sure…
“No, I forfeited,” I corrected him. “I cheated, then left the ring early.”
“You were trying to lose on purpose.” Declan did not phrase it as a question.
“Yes.”
“Why?” Ryker’s question held less reproach than I’d anticipated.
“I told you,” I said, as gently as I could, throwing off the blankets and wincing as I crossed my legs. “I don’t belong here. I could never belong here. No one likes me or trusts me, and especially not now.”
“No one is very sure of anything,” Callum informed me, “but I think you should suspend judgment on that. A lot has happened since you passed out.”
I looked around me again, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings. “Where am I?”
“Queen’s apartments,” Declan said, taking my hand and squeezing it carefully. “We decided it was the safest place until we can get to the bottom of whatever Weldon was planning.”
“I’m not sure that Weldon was planning much of anything on his own.” I shuddered as I recalled the last thing the gold dragon had told me before he tried to bite my head off. “He said, ‘Maybe they aren’t coming,’ and ‘Maybe I’ve been betrayed.’ He was taking me down as a part of a larger plan, but whatever he thought was going to happen, didn’t.”
My brothers exchanged glances.
“At least, I didn’t think so. What happened while I was out?” I stopped for a moment. “Wait, how long have I been out?”
“About six hours.” That was Draven. Had he been sitting with me the whole time?
“Mom went nuclear after you walked out of the arena,” Ryker announced. “Pretty sure they heard her all the way into the next county. The council is upset, and they’re blaming Mom for hiding the fact that you’re a bronze. But they’re also wary, because Weldon screwed up, and they know it. Some of them are still arguing that the challenge ended in a draw, but there isn’t much point—Weldon broke the rules and tried to bite your head off, so he’s basically a dead dragon walking.”
“But is he talking?”
Callum shook his head. “Whoever he’s protecting seems to have his loyalty. All we have to go on is that it’s a she, so maybe they’re lovers. Though I can’t imagine how he thought she could save his life after what he tried to pull.”
She. Weldon was conspiring with a female dragon, who he thought could be strong enough to save him.
Morghaine? I instantly felt ashamed of the thought, but couldn’t deny the validity of the question. If she’d already helped a fae betray his king, why not aid a dragon in betraying her queen?
Callum’s phone buzzed, and when he glanced at it, his face went hard. “Kira, if you’re up to it, the council is requesting you. Requesting all of us. Except you,” he said to Draven.
“Draven is coming if he wants to,” I said coolly, “and that’s final.”
Callum raised an eyebrow, but nodded. “I guess you’ll have to deal with Mother on this sooner or later.”
They gave me enough time for a quick shower, while Skye brought over some clothes from my room. Then the five of them escorted me to the Great Hall, which made me, once again, feel a little like I was on my way to be executed.
What I really wanted to do was find a quiet place where I could curl up with Draven and figure out exactly what was happening with our relationship. All I knew at this point was that we liked each other. Also, that kissing Draven was my favorite thing to do, ever, bar nothing.
We still had a lot to talk about. But it was obviously going to have to wait until I settled things with the dragons, or until they decided what to do with me.
When we marched into the council room, the atmosphere seemed quite a bit different than it had the last time. Everyone was still watching me, but on this occasion, what I felt was not skepticism or annoyance.
It was fear.
Fear of Lady Tairen’s wrath? Or fear of me?
“Thank you for coming.” Lady Tairen was standing at the end of the table, her chair having disappeared somewhere. “Kirasha-li-Tairen, the council has summoned you to discuss the matter of your behavior during the challenge issued by Weldon-ro-Evret.”
“Yes, I forfeited,” I said calmly. “He tried to bite my head off, and I walked away. I’m not asking for a do-over, and I don’t regret it.”
Her wince was slight, but I felt it. By rejecting the challenge, I’d rejected my position, my birthright, and—in her mind—maybe even rejected her. I could understand why it probably hurt.
“Before we commence,” Lady Tairen went on, choosing for the moment not to address my statement, “a witness has come forward with information pertaining to this discussion. I feel we owe him a hearing.” She turned to indicate a man just entering the chamber—a man I’d never seen before.
He looked old, and he was a dragon, so that made him very old indeed. His hair was white, cut close against his head, his skin brown and wrinkled. But his eyes still shone amber, and he walked unaided to the table.
“This is Zoriah-ro-Padraig. He came to me when he heard the rumors about the challenge, and he is here now because he is the last one among us to have known a fully adult bronze dragon. The only one who can remember the truth about both their gifts and their purpose.”
It felt like everyone in the room stopped breathing.
Me most of all.
Was there really someone who could tell me about myself? Someone who knew why I had these strange powers? Or what I was supposed to do with them?
“The last bronze dragon died two hundred years ago,” the old man said, his voice strong despite his age, “and it has been three-hundred and twenty-four years since one survived to come into her powers. That dragon was killed at forty-three—murdered, not for her skin as our legends claim, but betrayed by her own kind.”
Shocked silence reigned.
Callum, ever practical, was the first to break it. “What do you mean? How was she betrayed?”
And why?
The old man turned to me. “Is it true that you demonstrated the power of your Voice today?”
His gaze skewered me. I wanted to shrink back and disappear, but I wanted answers more. “I made everything stop,” I said, hoping I sounded more confident than I felt. “And it’s not the first time.”
“And your fire burned through the scales of your opponent?”
I nodded. “Not the first time for that, either.”
Thankfully, he removed his gaze from me and turned it to the council. “What the council has chosen to forget is that bronze dragons were once
the most valued and revered among us. They held a sacred position, not as rulers, but as arbitrators. Ambassadors. Peace-bringers.”
Peace-bringers?
“Among shapeshifters, a bronze dragon could stop a war with a single word. Walk into the center of a conflict and make a case for peace without being harmed. Bronzes also served as liaisons with other races because they were even-tempered, difficult to rouse, and quick to see different sides to a dispute.”
I could hear a ‘but’ coming on…
“But there were those among us who wanted more—wanted the right to rule over all others—and the bronze dragons stood in their way. Bronzes were always on the side of neutrality and stability. Of never allowing the terrible strength of their brethren to overwhelm other, more peaceful peoples.”
It made sense, horribly enough.
“So, the other dragons got rid of them, but made sure they could blame it on someone else?” Declan asked.
The old man nodded. “It was the dragons themselves who planted the idea of dragon scale armor. And it was dragons who betrayed their bronze brothers and sisters to those who were greedy for power and protection.”
Lady Ingrid leaped to her feet. “This is preposterous. Dragons do not betray their own.”
“Don’t they?” Lady Tairen’s voice was cold. “Weldon betrayed us all by breaking the rules of the formal challenge. I was betrayed by an unknown dragon who attacked my jet as I returned from Oklahoma. And someone betrayed Kira when she was only an infant, allowing fae assassins entrance to our enclave in an attempt to end her life. Don’t be blinded by your prejudices. Dragons are as capable of betrayal as anyone else.”
Everyone around the table seemed to begin talking at once, but Lady Ingrid’s voice rose the loudest. “This is the first we’re hearing of an attack on your plane. Why were we not informed?”
“Why do you think?”
Uh oh. Mom was about to go nuclear again.
“There was no scent evidence remaining, so which of you was I supposed to rule out?”
“And are we still under suspicion?” snapped Granver, the oldest, and probably most crotchety member of the council.
“Only those of you whose whereabouts have not yet been accounted for by Callum.”
The situation basically imploded after that, but I had a bit too much to think about to spend much time worrying about their argument.
Bronze dragons were “peace-bringers.” What did that mean, especially when it seemed I’d done nothing but stir up conflict since I’d arrived here?
I took a step back, wondering if anyone would notice if I left. But instead of drawing back alone, I felt a steady warmth at my elbow, so I looked up and over my shoulder.
Draven was there. He set a hand on my waist as I moved closer to him and whispered, “Do you want to get out of here?”
“Can we?”
He shrugged. “How much do you care what they think?”
It was like he’d read my mind. Together we backed away, and when Declan saw us, he and Ryker followed. We went back through the double doors, past the fountain, and found Skye waiting for us in the foyer.
“Well?”
“They’re arguing again,” Ryker reported, disguising his frustration behind a flippant shrug.
“But what about Kira?”
“I don’t think they’ve decided yet. There was a bit of a bombshell, and now they have to sort out their misguided preconceptions.”
I really needed more sleep. Exhaustion and bewilderment tugged at my eyelids, and I was content to merely watch while my brothers filled Skye in on what had been said.
Did this revelation mean the council would want me to stay? Or did it mean I needed to leave more urgently than ever?
As if he sensed my confusion, Draven stepped up behind me and murmured in my ear. “Don’t try to figure everything out by yourself. Let us help. You’re not alone anymore.”
No, I wasn’t. Almost without thinking, I leaned back and let myself rest against him. Let him take my weight for a moment, and share the burden of what I’d learned.
His arm came around my waist, startling me until I realized how comforting it was. This relationship thing was going to take some getting used to, I reflected, especially when we started getting weird looks from my brothers.
“Kira,” Ryker warned, “you’d better not let Mom…”
“Lord Elduvar, I suggest you remove your hands from my daughter.”
Whoops. Too late.
Lady Tairen had emerged from the council chamber and was leveling a look of death at Draven. As she was already monumentally pissed, I made sure I was solidly in between the two of them before I replied.
“Is the council asking for us?”
Her nostrils flared, and I could tell she wanted to comment on my choices, but instead, she turned on her heel and stalked off. Callum motioned for us all to follow until we ended up in a smaller, more private room at the end of the hall.
“It doesn’t matter what the council says,” Lady Tairen announced abruptly. “I am still the queen, and my decision is law.”
“But if they don’t want me here—” I started to say, but didn’t get very far.
“They will have to deal with it. You are my daughter, Kira. It doesn’t matter whether they like you. I have given up everything else to serve them, and I will not give up my own child.” Her arms were folded, her chest heaving, and I suspected she was dangerously close to tears.
So I did what I hadn’t dared before—stepped up and wrapped my arms around her in a gentle and hopefully reassuring hug.
“You don’t have to give me up,” I said softly. “No matter where I live, we’ll always be family.”
“But you must live here!”
“Actually, I’m not sure that’s true.” I said it as gently as possible. “Maybe it would be better if I’m on my own for a while longer. Give them time to get used to the idea. And I think we need to consider what Zoriah said—that bronzes were never meant to rule.”
She looked like I’d slapped her.
“With this power I have, no one would ever trust me to rule fairly. Maybe I need to spend some time figuring out what part is best for me to play.”
“The color of your scales has nothing to do with whether you would be a good ruler,” she protested.
“Neither does my gender, but dragons seem pretty prejudiced about that.”
It was my brothers’ turn to look shocked.
“There are three men here who share our blood, any of whom would lead our people wisely, but no one will give them a chance. Why not?”
“It isn’t our way,” Lady Tairen insisted.
“Well, neither is having a bronze queen, apparently.”
“Then who would you have me choose?” She threw up her hands in frustration. “There is no one in our family other than Jaida and she…” Lady Tairen paused. “She is a green, and often they do not take well to a settled life. I knew long ago she could never be my heir. I love her, but her volatility would make her a poor choice.”
“Not all green dragons are unstable,” I argued, noting that Lady Tairen was far more prejudiced about color than she claimed to be. “Skye is smart and dedicated, and she’s lived here for seventeen years. And Morghaine gave up her own life just to raise me.”
All four of my family members looked at me oddly.
“I agree with you about Skye,” Callum said, “but what does Morghaine have to do with it?”
“I was just pointing out that not all green dragons are flighty.”
Lady Tairen’s face drained of color. She reached out to grip my hand, her fingers trembling against mine. “Kira, what are you talking about?”
What was wrong with all of them? They acted like I was speaking a foreign language.
“About Morghaine. Your most trusted seneschal. Also a green dragon?”
I thought about the last time I’d seen her. The shimmer of her emerald scales as she flew away. The smile on the face of the sill
y little green bobblehead sitting at the bottom of my backpack. And suddenly I missed her. No matter what she’d done, I wished I could see her one more time. Ask her what I’d done wrong, or maybe just why she thought she couldn’t come back.
“No, Kira.” Lady Tairen was still behaving as though she’d seen a ghost. “You’re wrong. You have to be wrong.”
“Wrong about what?”
“Kira,” Callum said carefully, “You have to be wrong, because Morghaine isn’t green—she’s black.”
Seventeen
I couldn’t have heard that right.
“No, she’s not. I saw her in Idria. Her scent… I know it was her. She’s green.”
Lady Tairen staggered. Callum and Ryker moved to catch her before she fell, her face haggard with the age she rarely allowed herself to show.
“When did you first see her dragon form?” she whispered.
“Only a few months ago,” I admitted. “She always said it was too dangerous to shift in the city.”
“And the black dragon you met in Idria?” Her voice was hollow, an emotionless shell of pain.
“I’d never met her before.”
“Tell me about her again.”
Frustrated, almost beyond words, I thought back. “She was the biggest dragon I’ve ever seen, even without her wings. And she was scarred all over, but especially on her face. Her teeth were broken, one of her eyes was missing, and the middle toe on her right front foot had been cut off.”
“Her ring,” Lady Tairen whispered. “They cut off her ring.”
Wait, were they actually thinking…
“You’re suggesting—” I didn’t know how to say something so terrible out loud.
“She knew your name, Kira.” Declan’s voice was filled with grief, but he showed no uncertainty. As if he just knew. “Your real name. When you didn’t even know it yet. And Callum has been able to find no record of another black dragon that’s gone missing.”
My stomach turned over. This couldn’t be true. Could it?
“Then who… How…” There were still no words for what I wanted to ask.