Dragon Oracle Urban Fantasy Boxed Set (Dragon Oracle Complete Series: Books 1 - 9)

by Jada Fisher

  When it was all finished, I stepped out like I was going onto a runway. Baelfyre even clapped, before standing and telling me I looked beautiful.

  “You said that when I was in a bathrobe with my hair plastered to my head,” I countered. “So, pardon me if I don’t take your opinion seriously.”

  “But I was serious. I meant it then, as I do now.” He stepped forward, as if he was going to take my hand and kiss it. I took a step backward, heart leaping into my throat. While I was alright with him taking my arm, or escorting me places, I wasn’t about being touched in such a familiar way by someone I was still debating their moral character. “Apologies,” he said somewhat sheepishly. “Force of habit.”

  “It’s—”

  “What’s going on here?”

  I looked to the doorway to see Bron standing there with a confused expression. For some reason, I immediately felt guilty, as if I had done something wrong, but I hadn’t as far as I knew.

  “Your workers around here still hadn’t brought your guest clothes, so I took matters into my own hands.” Baelfyre sent his cousin a smile before crossing to him and playfully clapping his shoulder. “You can thank me later. I think you’ll agree that Miss Davie looks lovely.”

  “Y-yes.” Something about Bron’s expression was still off, something I didn’t know enough about to put my finger on.

  “Davie, I’m due to a meeting to discuss the ramifications of having a seer in our midst. Perhaps you’d like to join me, so you can be less of an abstract notion to our leaders and elders and more of a real person.”

  “Are you sure that’s wise?” Baelfyre asked, grating against my nerves once more.

  “Sure,” I said, walking to join him. “That sounds productive.”

  He finally brightened and offered his arm. “Excellent. This way. Baelfyre, I’ll see you once the meeting is adjourned.

  “I’m sure you will,” the dark-haired man answered, giving a little bow before disappearing down the hall.

  There was something foreboding about that, but it quickly slipped my mind as we headed toward a part of the mansion I had never been in before. It was such a sprawling, beautiful place, I supposed I could stay here for months and never see all of the rooms.

  The closer we got to our destination, the more nervous I became. I had interacted with a grand total of three dragons. That didn’t exactly give me a huge depth of experience when it came to dealing with them or their political machinations, yet I was about to hop in on a meeting meant for only their highest-ranking military and society members. Talk about intimidating.

  “Um, am I supposed to say anything in particular, or do something a certain way?” I asked as we reached a long, lofty hall.

  “No, just answer questions as best you can and be yourself.” Bron’s voice was light as he answered, which was strange compared to the importance of his words. “I think part of the issue is that folks are too wrapped up in the legends of everything a seer could do and all the power they could summon. They don’t think of you as a woman who’s just as scared and confused as they are. I’m hoping interacting with you will dispel those notions and allow us to continue with our prep unencumbered by boogeymen.”

  “Huh,” I responded, mulling over his words in my head.

  Bron clocked my reaction and tilted his head ever so slightly. “Do you disagree with something I said?”

  “No, not at all.” I thought of how to cushion my words, but then thought to heck with it. Bron wanted me to be myself and I wasn’t going to do that by sugarcoating my thoughts. “It’s just that’s the first time that you’ve sounded really princely to me.”

  Thankfully, he laughed. “Is it? Well, I hope you get used to it. You’re about to hear a whole lot of royal over-speak once we enter those doors.”

  “Those doors?” I followed his gaze to see a set of ornate double-doors. Oh. We were here.

  “You ready?” Bron asked, sending me a smile that made my stomach churn a bit. I didn’t know why he was able to affect me so easily, but that could stop any day now and I would be quite happy.

  “As I’ll ever be,” I answered, taking a deep breath.

  “Very well. Let’s show these old stiffs what you’re all about. “

  “Yeah,” I said shakily. “Let’s.”

  6

  First Impressions Last Forever

  The doors opened, and I was greeted by dozens of faces all turned toward us at once. Some of them older, some of them middle-aged, but all of them wearing both stress and anger clearly etched into their features.

  Was the situation more dire than I had thought? Or were these just a bunch of grumpy gusses with permanent frown faces?

  I guessed I would find out.

  “Who is this?” one of the closest men asked, jowls practically pulled into a snarl.

  “This is Miss Davie Masters. I thought you all might like to meet her.”

  I noted that he introduced me by my name, not my ability or what I meant to them. It was a subtle thing, but it meant a lot. Ever since I had arrived, I felt like more of a pawn than a living being.

  “The seer?!” Of course, one of the old farts had to go and pop the bubble. I shouldn’t have been surprised.

  “Yes, that is how many of you know her.” Bron gave the slightest of bows. “Apologies for my lateness, but let’s get started, shall we?”

  He led me around the table to a couple of open seats in the far corner. I had somewhat expected him to be at the head of the arrangement, but I guessed his deferred position meant that being a prince didn’t carry as much weight as I thought it did.

  I settled in my seat and I could feel all eyes on me, waiting for me to do something. The way I figured it, I had two options. Either cower and stare down at the table’s surface for the entire conversation, or lift my head up and stare them down.

  So, I raised my chin, turning my expression into a hard neutral. I had survived much worse than a bunch of geezers, and I would get through this too. Intimidation didn’t work, not if I proved to them that I didn’t care.

  “Very well then. If we could begin.” Finally, the eyes turned away from me and went to the man who was actually sitting at the end of the table. He was old, older than I ever thought possible, with skin as dark as coal and hair whiter than porcelain. He wore his long tresses in intricate braids that were then tied at the back of his head, and his long beard was just as artfully coiffed. “There has been silence from all of our scouts in enemy territory, and none of our diplomats have returned, whole or in pieces. It is safe to say that their king has officially put them on lockdown.”

  “So, what do we do?” another asked. “We can’t just sit here and wait for them to mount an attack on us. We can’t deny that they have made it very clear that they will give anything to get their hands on the seer.”

  “But why is the seer so important to them? And how did they find it?”

  “Her,” I interrupted, voice tense. The elder who had spoken glowered at me, so I clarified. “I am a her, not an it. A person. Just in case you forgot.”

  They said nothing, just turned their heads back to the man sitting at the head of the table as if I didn’t exist. “We have a leak. Someone is giving information to the enemy. We cannot stand upon a crumbling foundation.”

  “You are paranoid, old man,” a younger leader objected, slamming his fist on the table. “It’s clear that they sensed the power when she awakened and went on the move. We need not discuss how it happened, but rather what we do now to make sure it never happens again!”

  Another man chimed in. There were no women present at the table, I noticed, which was pretty telling of how they would treat me. “They chased our prince all the way up to the edge of our glamour and shields. If we didn’t have protection, I’m sure they would have slithered right into our fields!”

  “Then we must use the seer as they wish to use it. Give us an advantage.”

  “Her.” This time, it was Bron who corrected them. “You must all stop
thinking of Davie as a tool or a mystical tchotchke. She is a living, breathing being, and I insist that you treat her as such.”

  “I will treat her with respect when she has earned it. So far, she has only cost us resources and men.”

  I felt my spine snap upright and all of my temper coalesced on one spot. There were a lot of things that I had grown a hard enough shell to tolerate, but that was not one of them.

  “Excuse me?” I asked, livid.

  “You heard me, Seer—”

  “No, no, no,” I corrected, raising a single finger. “It’s Davie, Davie Masters. You may address me by that, or ma’am, or miss, but my same is not Seer. You seem to be a bit mistaken by what respect means. We’re not talking about the lofty sense of authority people offer to you because you’re in the position you’re in now. We’re talking about the basic rights that everyone has to be treated with decency. You don’t have to cower to me, or flatter, but you will not talk about me as if I were not here, or like I’m a broken wand of some sort. You got that?”

  The man snorted, a truly mature response. “You know nothing of which you speak, girl.”

  I liked to think that I had a pretty good hold over my temper, but there was only so many times a person could push me before they got the horns. I wasn’t a girl, I was a woman. I would not be infantilized, even by powerful shapeshifters several centuries my elder.

  I felt that ball of colors inside me turn blood red, glowing brighter than a star. I reached out across the table, letting my bare hand grasp the man’s wrist before I could pull away. I didn’t know what possessed me to do so, but I gripped him with all I could and let the colors flow into him.

  Scenes flashed before my eyes in rapid succession, almost incomprehensible, but I found if I held my breath, my brain could decipher everything that it had seen and place it in a sensible order. I didn’t think about what I was going to do, I just did it, which probably wasn’t the wisest idea.

  “I know that you’ve been married to Askha the beloved for close to three hundred years. She has borne you three sons and a daughter, but you have lost two to fights and disease. I know that though you sit here, like a man of honor, when in reality, you have several mistresses that you sneak around on Askha with. If she knew, I’m sure she’d be brokenhearted.”

  The man jerked back, his teeth in a snarl. “You lie!” Oh, his voice was quite poisonous as he addressed me, but he had poked the bear one too many times.

  “Do I?” I countered. “Then why don’t we ask the wife of the redheaded guy a couple of seats to your left? Unless you had another reason to creep into his guest quarters when he was gone.”

  The redheaded man that I dragged into the conversation stood, his face turning burgundy. “Is this true, Krakus?”

  “What? No! You would believe a human girl over me?”

  “I would believe a seer. What reason has she to lie?!”

  “Enough!”

  The fight ended just as easily as it had begun, silenced by the elder at the end of the table. Everyone settled down, and soon, the man’s milky-white eyes were on me.

  “An interesting demonstration of your power,” he murmured. “You’ll forgive us for our disbelief. Many have long thought you to be a myth, and now to see you here brings…uncomfortable thoughts of what else might be true from our ancient stories, and what else we might have lost.” Each of his words were slow and measured, as if he chose each one with care before picking the next one. “I wish to hear from your mouth… Do you think you could assist us in our struggle to make sure you humans stay safe and we dragons stay relatively hidden?”

  I shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know how much help I’ll be. I’ve been training ever since I arrived, but I can’t seem to control it much. I’ll paint something here, or have a dream there, but nothing concrete. Just now was the only time I’ve ever been able to force a vision, and I didn’t even know I was doing that.”

  “Fascinating.” The eldest dragon looked to the man sitting next to him, another wizened male with shock white hair and deep wrinkles. His skin was more golden than deep umber, and his hairstyle much subtler. “Miss Davie presents a great point. How can we discuss what we know nothing about? How can she teach us anything of her people when she is the last of her kind and only recently awakened?

  “I charge you all with studying different ancient texts. When we next meet, I want all of you to have finished at least a tome. Together, maybe we can recover some of what we lost and guide Miss Davie on her path.”

  There was a murmur of agreement and, just like that, the meeting was over. Bron and I sat in place, waiting for others to file out, but Krakus—the dragon I had ticked off—lingered behind as well.

  “I suggest you keep your nose out of where it doesn’t belong,” he hissed. “You may have fooled the others, but I know this is all smoke and mirrors to get your prince and his family more power.”

  “Sure ya do,” I answered, crossing my arms. “Just so you know, your redheaded friend is on his way to confront his wife right about now. If you hurry, you might be able to intercept him.”

  His eyes bulged and he rushed off, leaving only Bron and I.

  “Well…” he murmured. “That was interesting.”

  “Sorry,” I muttered, although I wasn’t really sorry at all. Given the same situation, I probably would have done the exact same thing again. Men like that ticked me off and I found no reason to tolerate them.

  “You have nothing to apologize for. I admit, it was nice to see Krakus put into his place, even if you used a personal attack to do it.”

  “Personal attack?” I scoffed. “Anyone who cheats on their partner deserves to be exposed. It shows a lack of character and duplicity that you wouldn’t want in a leader.”

  “Fair enough.” His concerned expression eased back in a smile and, I couldn’t be certain, but I thought I saw a bit of admiration in his gaze. “I’ve never seen the elders so cowed. I didn’t know you could do that.”

  “Neither did I.” I took a deep breath. “I guess I need to train more.”

  “Is that what you’ve been doing? Often when I come to check on you now, your room is empty.”

  “I have to do something to keep myself from going crazy. I don’t understand how there can still be no news about my sister.”

  His smile faltered at that, and his expression turned guilty. “I am truly sorry, but I assure you that we have been doing everything we can. She’s just not…anywhere. As far as we can tell, all of the agents we sent to her are well and alive, but we just don’t know where.”

  I sighed and stood to go. By this point, I was just beating a dead horse. She would be found when she was found, and I was powerless to help.

  “Bron?”

  “Yes?” He stood as well, obviously eager to change the sudden darkening of my mood.

  “Let’s go outside. I could use a walk.”

  He grinned broadly and offered his arm once more. “I would like that very much. In fact, I have something to show you I think you’ll like!”

  7

  They Bare their Fangs

  “I believe I owe you an apology.”

  “Huh?” I asked, looking at Bron in confusion. We were just reaching the outside lawn and he had been going on cheerily enough about an upcoming dinner, when suddenly his tone had shifted.

  “I have been so occupied with preparation for the possible war to come that I’ve neglected my duties as a host. There is no reason that you had to wait nearly two weeks for clothing, and for that, I apologize.”

  “It’s fine,” I said. I didn’t know how to handle apologies very well, if only because they didn’t come very often when I was younger.

  “No, it is not,” he insisted. “But I will do better in the future. You do look lovely, by the way. I wish that I had said that early, but I was distracted with thoughts of the meeting.”

  I felt my cheeks burn and I busied myself with looking over the lawn as we walked around to the back of the sprawl
ing estate. Why we didn’t just use a backdoor was beyond me, but I wasn’t nearly as familiar with the place as Bron, so I didn’t question him.

  The building was so massive that it took us quite a while. Bron was talking again, about the last feast that he had attended, and I half-listened.

  Sometimes it didn’t matter what he was saying, just the how. It soothed my nerves to hear the rise and fall of his sentences, the inflection in his words as he exaggerated some syllables and skipped over others. It wasn’t like listening to Mickey as she sang, or hummed, or told a story, but it wasn’t a bad substitute.

  Finally, we reached what looked like an area where outdoor tea parties would be held. There was a large canopy completely covered with vines and flowers, all in full bloom.

  Below it, I saw several glass tables, all intricately crafted, then in a corner, another chair with an easel and paint set next to it.

  “I heard that artists enjoy painting outside just as much as inside, so I thought maybe a change of scenery would be apt.”

  I let go of his arm and strode forward, my mood quickly lifting. I had been so busy training with Master Velas that I hadn’t exactly had time to paint, other than that one vision-born creation. Which I still hadn’t told Mallory or Bron about. I probably should have…but something told me not to.

  “Sit in the chair,” I said, fingers caressing the tops of the paints.

  “What?”

  “Sit in the chair,” I repeated. “I’m going to paint you.”

  “Really? Me?”

  “Yeah. I’m sure you’ve had this done before considering how many royal portraits I see in these halls.”

  “Well, yeah, of course, but they are paid to do so. You are supposed to be having fun.”

  “And this is how I have fun. So, sit.”

  He didn’t object further and hurried to the chair. I didn’t tell him that I had already painted him once, weeks ago, but that had also been driven by a vision and not my own creativity. I wanted to see how I could do on my own.