by Lena Lee
“I’m so nervous.” Kyra had taken up a residence on my bed and I was standing near the windows. I was constantly drawn to nature when my emotions were heightened. I should see if my castle could be some kind of tree house. I planned on burning the palace to the ground. Well, if my advisors or whatever agreed.
“You’ll be fine. You are a queen after all. If they start talking shit just throw them in the dungeon.” I snorted at her advice. She would be on my humor committee.
“I guess I should go before I’m late.” I hugged Kyra and teleported to the West wing where I would meet with Rian and the other three royal leaders.
I had only heard brief descriptions of each of the royals from Rex before he had left to take care of his duties. King Milo was from Apricity and was the youngest King that had ever been on the throne, being only 33 years old. His parents had died five years prior and his older brother, who was heir, denounced the throne to pursue other endeavors. Rex said Apricity had the least amount of people and stuck the least to tradition. They also had the coldest climate and only were without snow a few months a year. This suited King Milo’s ability to freeze things.
Toska was the largest land but also was partially uninhabitable. Queen Zella was the longest reigning royal with over 200 years to her name. Rex had warned that she was a stickler for tradition and ruled with a loving iron fist over her people. She and King Milo rarely saw eye to eye. Once they had had words with each other over who would host the winter festival and she had thrown forks at him with her levitation power.
King Alvis was the oldest King and came from a long line of long-lived kings and queens of Yugen. The oldest Scintillans who had ever lived had been his great grandfather. King Alvis was the most welcoming of the royals. His land was near a large body of water, similar to Earth’s Pacific Ocean, where many enjoyed vacations. He could manipulate water and it was rumored he had a secret underwater lair where he could legit breath under water like a fish.
And then there was King Rian. We had avoided each other since he had almost condemned me to a life of living in a dungeon. I hadn’t had that much time to explore or learn much about Zephyr, but from what Rex told me, it had the largest forests and mountain ranges of all the lands. Zephyr was home to many of the Scintillas natural resources. King Rian had the ability to manipulate the air, which was cool and all, unless he wanted to suck it right out of you.
“Your highness, the others are already inside the conference room.” A well-dressed assistant greeted me as I landed outside the double doors. He bowed forward and then opened the doors for me.
With my head held as high as I could get it, I pinned my shoulders back and walked into the room. As I entered, they quickly stood and bowed as I approached the circular table that was surrounded by five chairs. I caught Rian’s eye and he gave me a quick nod. Maybe it wouldn’t be too awkward.
I wasn’t sure what the protocol was so I cleared my throat and sat down in the empty chair. When they didn’t sit, I almost stood again, but realized they were waiting for me to give them permission to sit. I thought all the kings and queens were equals.
“Sit, please.” They sat and I looked around the table. Were all royals gorgeous and young? The oldest, who I assumed was Alvis, didn’t look older than forty. They introduced themselves and then Rian cut straight to the point.
“I have filled them in on all the developments with the demons. We are not sure how we can be certain they are on Earth. With the crown now belonging to you, it would be ill advised for you to take any action to go to Earth at this time.” Rian looked around the table. “We know you have not been raised to take over the queen’s position, so we will each provide you with an advisor to help.” The others nodded, serious expressions on their face.
“I am unwilling to risk Earth on a lack of evidence when no one has been there recently. Are you?” I looked to each of them. “Wyatt said that the two worlds are connected and from what I have heard about each of you, you will protect your people at all costs. Or has Rex misguided me?”
It felt weird addressing royalty with such firm words, but I was one of them now. They had to listen to me, right?
Zella spoke. “With all due respect, Prince Wyatt was soulmates with Sienna. How are we to be certain he wasn’t tainted by darkness? The soul bond is a special, sacred connection that would be hard to deny from what we know of them.”
“Wyatt had insurmountable strength.” I pinned her with a look that told her to drop the subject.
“So what is your plan, to waltz back to Earth and kill all the demons and their master?” Alvis had his head slightly tilted to the side in consideration. “You will need an army and I for one am not keen to send any of my soldiers on a death mission. How many of yours died last week Rian?”
Rian stood then, his chair nearly thrown back from the table. My first day as Queen and already there was going to be a fight. I could see the anger rolling off of Rian but he took a few breaths before sitting back down and snatching his water glass. He chugged it and put it back down without saying a word. Silent brooding was a family trait.
“I can try to ask my father to take over my duties in my absence, but he seems insistent on staying where he is. Is there not anyone else that can do the job while I am gone?”
“Even if he agreed, Sebastian is a commoner and can only rule alongside someone with power. I have an idea but none of you will probably like it, as it will be controversial.” Milo stood and went to the window where he started pacing in front of it, his hand at his chin as if he were in deep thought.
“Well? What is it?” Alvis seemed annoyed. I was starting to feel the same way, Milo was older than me but reminded me of a little kid that always volunteered an answer before actually having it.
“Zella has been ruling the longest and has the most respect in all the lands. She should take over Ardor for now and her daughter can take over duties as Queen of Toska.” He had stopped pacing and looked at Zella. “Any major decisions would need to be run by all of us.”
I didn’t know much about the inner workings of the monarchies of this world, but I was surprised when the room was silent as the others considered the idea. Did they not ever try to take over each other’s land? Wasn’t that what monarchs did?
I wanted to pipe up and say I didn’t even want to be queen in the first place, but decided to keep my mouth shut like Rex had suggested. Hell, I didn’t even really know what they did besides sit in their throne and have large fancy castles.
Rian was the one who finally spoke. “Is this really what you want Mira?” I nodded. “Then I agree with Milo.”
“So it’s settled, Zella will keep things running in Ardor and not let all the power go to her head.” Alvis stood then and bowed to Zella.
“Is there something special about Ardor?” I blurted after observing all of them bowing to Zella as if she had a higher-ranking title. Zella looked at me with surprise, which quickly turned to pity.
“You didn’t tell her Rian?” Alvis narrowed his eyes at Rian who shrugged as if it had slipped his mind. “My dear, Ardor is where the original spirits began forming our lands. It is our birthplace. The king or queen of Ardor usually had the most power in order to protect the energy that lies there.” My jaw may have actually hit the ground had I not clenched it quickly. My mind was reeling over this.
They must not know I have all that energy in me now. At least now things made a little more sense, at least I think they did.
The meeting wrapped up quickly after that, leaving Rian and I sitting across from each other at the table. There was an uncomfortable silence before he spoke. “I am sure you have a plethora of questions. I am not sure I can answer any of them for you. We didn’t want to overwhelm you with too much information.”
I stood and started pacing in front of the windows. “What about the mate bonds?”
“The mate bonds?” He furrowed his brows and stared at me intently.
“Rex and I, Sienna and Wyatt, Jadan and Kyra… A
lex probably has one. Sara and you?” I wasn’t sure they had a soulmate bond. Rex had told me she was a commoner, as were most royal spouses. Something about balancing the power.
“You can’t speak of this to anyone, Mira.” Rian rose from his seat and made his way to stand next to me at the window. “Soulmates are so rare and for them to all be in one family line… it makes us powerful beyond belief. No one must know that you and Rex are soulmates, especially now that everyone knows Wyatt and Sienna shared a bond.”
I nodded and breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn’t commented on our bond during the meeting. I had been tempted to speak on the fickleness of the bond when Zella was bashing Wyatt.
“I am inclined to not let my brothers go with you, but I don’t think I can stop Rex.” I considered Rian’s words. He was right, Rex would never let me go alone and neither would Kyra. That meant Jadan would be coming along too. Alex was the only one I was unsure of.
“I can try to get them to stay, but my attempts would be a waste of time. I doubt Alex will come, he has always seemed to dislike me.” I turned then, making my way to the door. “Rex will be back tonight?”
“Yes, and don’t worry about Alex, he is like that with everyone. And Mira?” I stopped and turned back towards him. “I forgive you.”
Chapter 25
I stood in the center of a field, soot covering me from head to toe. My clothes were ripped to shreds and my hair was plastered to my head as if I had just taken a shower. I surveyed the scene, large chunks of ash were fluttering down from the sky. Or was it snow? I held out my hand and a few flakes gently landed on my blood-stained hands before turning to a fine dust. An odd feeling of recognition sunk into the pit in my stomach.
I turned in a circle. Where was I? I stopped when a line of trees caught my attention. The sanctuary? I teleported to it. I walked down the familiar path towards the field that I was so familiar with. The trees seemed darker somehow, was the sky not as bright here anymore?
“Edrie?” My voice cracked as I said the word. My throat felt like I had swallowed a million nails. The field was empty, patches of brown scattered throughout. My eyes landed on where the cave entrance once was. It was gone. A sense of dread over took me and I ran to the water. The water was tinged with red. A small sound to my left caught my attention. It sounded like the tiniest of birds tapping on a window.
I approached the sound, it was coming from under a rock. I kneeled next to it and pushed the rock from over a hole, gasping at the pearlescent egg lay before me. It was as large as my head and the tapping was coming from inside of it. A dragon egg? How did it get here? Awareness flitted in my mind; Resa and Edrie had brought it here.
I let my hands fall to it, it was slightly warm to the touch. Where were the dragons?
“Hurry, it has begun.” The voice was barely a whisper in my head.
I woke clutching my chest, sweat running down the small of my back and speckling my forehead. Rex grunted and rolled over in his sleep. What was with these damned dreams of dragon eggs? I slid out of bed and went into the bathroom to rinse my face. I was losing my mind that was for sure.
“Edrie?” I pulled on my underwear and a shirt. Why wasn’t she answering? She always answered even if she was sleeping. I called to her again and went back to the bed.
“Rex.” I shook him. He mumbled before his eyes slowly cracked open. “We need to go to the sanctuary. Now. Put on pants quick or you’re going naked.” I pulled on my own pants and threw his at him.
“What?” He stood and pulled on the pants, still half asleep. I didn’t have time to explain my nightmare, so I just teleported us there without another word and without shoes.
“No!” As soon as my feet hit the ground, I ran forward towards the flaming trees in the distance. I reached out with my power for water, but I couldn’t find a source to pull from. What the hell had happened?
Rex ran after me and grabbed me before I reached the trees. “We need to get out of here!”
“But my dad! The dragons!” I shrieked and teleported us to the large open area by the cave. Large rocks covered the entrance, dark smoke snaking in between the cracks. I almost sank to the ground as pure agony washed over me. Hadn’t I lost enough on this forsaken planet?
I sent my power at the rocks, moving them out of the way. There were so many, the entire mountain seemed to have caved in. It was going to take me hours to remove them all.
Rex grabbed my arms and pulled me to him, trying to trap me in his arms. I pushed him away and started in on the rocks again.
“No, no, no, this can’t be happening!” Several boulders rolled down from the top of the heap, making it worse.
“Mira…” A faint voice popped into my head. The pain ripped through me and I fell to my knees. She was in so much pain.
“I’m in the cave I took you to when we met. You must come to me. I am injured.” Her voice was barely audible in my head. I grabbed Rex’s hand and teleported us to the cave that looked out over the deadlands.
Edrie lay on the ground, not curled in a ball with her head on her arms like a puppy, but slightly on her side with a large laceration to her underbelly. It was trickling blood, a large pool of it already on the floor and covering most of her.
I collapsed in front of her snout, putting my forehead against it. A glossy tear slipped from her eye as she stared into mine. It looked like liquid diamonds as it trailed down from her eye. The shimmery tear slid to the ground and broke into many smaller drops, sparkling in the faint light from outside.
“I will get Alex.” Before she or Rex could stop me, I teleported straight onto his bed, grabbing him and teleporting him back.
“What the fuck, Mira. Don’t you know how to knock? You are damned lucky I don’t sleep naked.” We landed with him facing away from Edrie. “Why are you- oh fuck.” He had turned. He rushed to the large gash, nearly slipping in the blood.
“This has to work. Please.” I grabbed onto his arm as his hand started to glow green. “Please, Alex.”
He simply nodded and pulled from my power. “There’s so much damage Mira, I don’t think-”
“Just keep trying,” I choked out. I tried connecting to Edrie again to tell her to hold on but couldn’t get through. Her chest was moving unevenly.
“Mira maybe we should… this is hurting her more.” Rex stepped in next to us and put a hand on each of our shoulders as if to comfort us in our futile attempts.
Alex’s head snapped around and their eyes met. I felt a surge of power run through me and into Alex. His eyes snapped back to Edrie. I watched as her wound slowly knitted closed. With the last millimeter of the cut, the connection between the three of us snapped and Rex flew backwards into the wall. I didn’t even have time to process what had just happened.
“I’m fine.” He grumbled before I could make it to him.
“Mira…” Edrie’s eyes had opened again and her breath was starting to even out. “They are all gone. He killed all of them and took the egg. You must get the egg back.” Her voice was somber, slightly panicked.
“Who?” I was back in front of her, gently stroking her snout and trying to hold myself together. Were all the dragons gone? How was anyone possibly powerful enough to get into the sanctuary without the dragons’ permission and kill them? “Who did this?”
The look she gave me then was one that was so full of pain that I felt my heart stop for several beats.
“Sebastian.”
My hand stilled on her snout as I looked into her eyes for answers. He loved the dragons and the sanctuary. He wouldn’t, would he? To kill the dragons he had lived beside for 20 years was incomprehensible.
“He fooled us Mira. Everyone played into his plan.” I looked at Rex and Alex who were giving each other confused looks. “Sebastian is the King of Darkness. The original spirits, with the help of the original dragon, locked him away when he started destroying this world. The weakening of Earth allowed him to break free. He kept himself hidden for many years in search of a c
onduit of energy strong enough to funnel dark energy back to him and to bear his child.”
“But why did he want a child?” Rex stood next to me and held my hand. Did this mean that I was evil? Both of my parents certainly were on the evil train. I still couldn’t wrap my head around the calm, relaxed Sebastian being the King of Darkness.
“I do not know that answer. I do know that he did not anticipate her creating a dragon egg. That’s why she kept having dreams about it.” My eyes went wide and I stepped closer to Edrie again. Had the blood loss caused her to lose some brain cells?
“That makes no sense. How can I create a dragon egg? Don’t you need two dragons to have a dragon baby?” I hadn’t even stopped to consider that all of the dragons I’d met in the sanctuary were females. “Don’t you have a dad?”
“No. We are all descendent of the original dragon, Ona. My mother is my mother because she cared for me as an egg and taught me everything I know. Ona was born from the fear of the original spirits when the first demons appeared here. Since you have the original spirit powers, that has to be why the egg was born. Your fear of the demon created a dragon.”
“It did appear right after we had that first confrontation with the demon.” Alex spoke up. “But why would Sebastian take the egg and not destroy it? Why are you the only one left?”
Edrie’s voice shook as she answered. We were overwhelming her with all the questions. She had just lost her entire family. “He left me alive because the pain would be too great for Mira. He said he needed her still. He can’t destroy the egg, he tried. He probably plans on destroying the dragon once it hatches.”
Shivers ran down my spine. He needed me still. For what exactly? Wyatt had not seen any of this in his visions, but he had mentioned he hadn’t foreseen Sienna going to a dark sorcerer. He had waited twenty years, essentially on a deserted island to enact these plans of his. He had wanted me to kill Sienna, but why?