by Eva Brandt
It did not matter. That was what Raijin, Emmerich and I were for.
As soon as Cassia made her dramatic announcement, I was ready. “Give us your orders, Your Majesty,” I said, naturally falling into the formal address due to the seriousness of the circumstances. “Where are we to go?”
Emmerich and Raijin were no less eager to keep our lair and soulmate safe. “No attacker will be able to defeat us,” Emmerich promised.
Raijin’s following vow echoed Emmerich’s, and my own. “We will let no one encroach upon our queen’s territory.”
Our reaction drew a small, warm smile out of our female, one that never failed to make my instincts stir with a mix of pride, protectiveness, and desire. “I believe you,” she said. “We will handle it together. Go ahead and shift and I will lead you to the site of the disturbance.”
It wasn’t ideal that she wanted to go into battle herself, but trying to prevent her from doing so would’ve been a fool’s errand and an insult. As such, I said nothing and, like she had asked us, melted into my dragon form. Our clothes tore as our bodies expanded and changed, but it was better than the alternative, which would have wasted time and put us in a somewhat inappropriate position.
The shift wasn’t instantaneous, but it went faster than it had in the past. Within seconds, all three of us had changed forms and were waiting for further instructions. We also managed to terrify almost every person present in the bailey, as three-quarters of them were new arrivals and had not been aware of our draconic nature.
The amarok pack quickly backed away, the Alpha male taking up position in front of the rest of the group as if to shield them from us. It wouldn’t have made a difference had we wanted to attack, but still, the gesture was admirable.
A couple of jumpier nisse ducked behind the remaining wagons with supplies. The prize for the funniest reaction went to February. For some reason, Cassia’s third lieutenant was already returning from the granaries, and when he saw us shift, he went pasty white and let out an inarticulate screech.
Cassia shot February a look that couldn’t have been more unimpressed had she tried. “I seem to have forgotten the necessary introductions. Everyone, I’d like you to meet Raijin, Emmerich, and Kerryn. They are my consorts and personal guards. My dragons, meet my third lieutenant, February and the representatives of The Melting Snowflakes pack, led by Alpha Panuk. Further details will have to wait.
“February, we are under attack. Find the others and let Ded Moroz know. I will go handle it with my dragons, but we need to be prepared, just in case.”
Cassia’s orders snapped February out of his paralysis of dread. He nodded and promptly replied, “Yes, Your Majesty. At once.”
Cassia didn’t acknowledge his words in any way. Her power was already swirling around her, the icy winds of the realm responding to her call and helping her float mid-air. As she took off, we followed, with Emmerich and I using our wings, while Raijin summoned his own magic to assist him.
I would’ve preferred having Cassia mount one of us instead of flying on her own, as it might’ve been safer. Even so, I could see the logic behind her approach and her decision to guide us. A different formation might have made it more difficult for her to fight whatever intruder had dared to encroach upon our borders. I’d just have to stick as close to her as possible and intercept any attack before it could hit her.
The Palace of Serenity was located in the very center of Tou Cheimóna, on the largest, tallest mountain of Chronikos. It was also a good distance away from the north-western border of the realm, which appeared to be the direction Cassia was headed in. “Any idea what this could be about?” I asked her as we flew.
“None whatsoever. Like the amarok, the akhlut have not reported any problems or suspicious movements from anywhere. If there is a threat, it must originate from beyond The Great Ocean.”
“What’s the closest realm in that direction?” Emmerich inquired. “The Voievodat?”
“No, the undead are further north and don’t come through here anyway. Whenever they try to cross the shields, they usually aim for Tarasia’s territory and go around Eranthe’s. Or they did, at least. Tarasia has been cracking down on illegal immigrants and kicking them out as soon as they end up there. We haven’t had any real undead visitors for decades.”
“So something else?” Raijin mused. “But what?”
In hindsight, we should’ve guessed the answer long before we reached our destination, and as soon as I saw the dark clouds looming ahead of us, I actually did. My fellow dragons must’ve had the same realization. Raijin let out an inarticulate sound of shock, whereas Emmerich was a little more vulgar. “Oh, shit. We’re fucked.”
None of us liked to use that kind of profanity in front of our treasure, but this was one situation when I agreed that it was warranted. Very few words could’ve described our current predicament better than Emmerich’s blunt ones.
“What is it?” Cassia asked, shooting Emmerich a confused glance. “What’s wrong?”
Emmerich stopped flying, his scales turning darker red as he acknowledged the mistake that we had all made. He hesitated, obviously not feeling all that inclined to provide the explanation that would draw our female’s wrath onto him.
The moment of vacillation cost him. Before any of us could find a way to answer Cassia, the unavoidable occurred. The so-called clouds were much closer than we had expected, and from the diffuse, dark smoke, six familiar draconic figures emerged.
One particular dragon, a fierce-looking, if smaller, black wyvern let out a piercing screech and lunged forward, straight toward us. Cassia hissed in anger, frost already swirling around her fingertips as she prepared herself to take out the enemy headed her way.
Great. This was getting better and better. Back in Terra Dracones, I’d seen some memorable clashes between females, but while those battles had been impressive, I suspected they would be nothing compared to what would happen should I not stop the reckless new arrival from stirring my treasure’s anger further.
The gods were not entirely against me today, and the distance between us and the black wyvern, while not great, still gave me the opening I needed to intervene. I flew ahead, placing myself between Cassia and her attacker. “Don’t!”
“Kerryn, what in the world are you doing?” Cassia snarled at me. “If this is another case of you thinking I can’t handle—”
“My hatchling!” the black wyvern shouted at the same time, cutting Cassia off mid-sentence. “You’re alive!”
Behind me, Cassia went still, and I suppressed a flinch. My female was at her most dangerous when she seemed utterly calm, and her current reaction did not bode well for my future.
I desperately wanted to find a method to do damage control, but I didn’t get the chance to even make the attempt. The black wyvern pounced on me and started to nuzzle me with her snout, checking me over for injuries with her tail. “Oh, my poor baby!” she exclaimed. “What happened? Were you imprisoned? Wounded? Are you in any pain?”
I felt Cassia’s gaze burning into my back. Through the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Raijin and Emmerich hovering nearby. I didn’t know what was worse, my chagrin over the fact that my female was witnessing the entire scene or the knowledge that the other two dragons would never let me hear the end of it.
This was a punishment. It had to be. I’d deemed Lerna’s tendency to call me “little Kerryn” embarrassing. This was a million times worse.
“Greetings, Mother,” I said, hoping to keep her from erupting into further effusive declarations of affection. “I’m perfectly fine and not injured in any way. Your concerns were unwarranted.”
“Oh?” My mother flew back and shot me a baleful look. “Why then did you not return to Terra Dracones? And why are you keeping company with a firedrake, a ryū, and a human mage?”
I would’ve liked to point out that she was technically keeping company with firedrakes and ryūs as well, and that Cassia was no human mage. However, correcting my mother in
a way that would not make her already volatile temper explode would’ve been a challenge even for dragons far more tactful than I was.
On the other hand, she seemed to think that I’d been taken captive, which was a misconception I needed to correct at once. Despite my natural apprehension, I might have done just that, but before I could come up with an adequate response, the rest of the group reached our side. “Give the lad some room, Brigid,” my father said. “I’m sure there must be some kind of explanation.”
“Let us rejoice in the fact that they are unhurt,” the female ryū I recognized as Raijin’s mother added in a soft tone. “As long as that is the case, we can clarify the matter in time.”
The relief that swamped me at her intervention was nigh overwhelming. It also didn’t last.
“Actually, I’d like to clarify the matter now,” Cassia said. “Kerryn, Raijin, Emmerich... I’m waiting.”
Oh, shit. We were so fucked.
Two
Of Soulmates and Sharing
Cheimon
If I had to pick one thing I was more familiar with than ice and snow, I would’ve instantly said “crazy families”. Raised with three sisters who were just as unpredictable as I was, a mother who’d had a very loose approach on parenting, and a father who three-quarters of the time, hadn’t been there at all, I’d had an eventful childhood even before said father had taken over Chronikos.
That didn’t mean I was happy about being thrust into additional family drama without warning, and by my dragons no less.
“Actually, I’d like to clarify the matter now. Kerryn, Raijin, Emmerich... I’m waiting.”
The brief exchange between Kerryn and his mother had already told me plenty, but it still didn’t explain why my dragons had behaved the way they had, and how in the world we’d ended up in this insane situation to begin with.
Fortunately for my sanity, I didn’t have to wait too long. “Well, treasure,” Emmerich replied, “we might have forgotten to let our families know that we’re alive.”
“Yes, Emmerich, I think I gathered that much. The question is not what you did, but how it was possible. How do people manage to forget a little thing like notifying their loved ones they are not dead?”
“I know it sounds callous, but we had our reasons, treasure,” Raijin answered, his magic swirling anxiously around him.
In front of us, Kerryn fidgeted, his tail swaying back and forth in what I now recognized as a form of nervous tic for his species. “It was never our intention to cause such chaos.”
“Intentions have very little importance in the big picture. It is only the end result of an action that counts.” I let out a slow, irritated breath. “But perhaps now is not the best time to discuss such things.” We had guests, and it was uncouth to have a fight with my soulmates in public.
Turning toward the other six dragons, I offered the group a small smile. “I am Queen Cheimon, Lady of Winter, ruler of Tou Cheimóna, The Realm of Eternal Ice. Your sons accidentally ended up here due to an enchantment gone awry, and I welcomed them to stay.” In my bed and between my legs, I didn’t say, but I had the feeling the older dragons had already realized it. “I will, of course, extend that welcome onto you.”
“You are most generous, Your Majesty,” the male ryū said. “I am Noboru no Kurapati, and this is my mate Kasumi.”
“You have our apologies for bursting in like this,” the female ryū, Raijin’s mother, offered. “It was our concern for our children that guided our actions.”
“I completely understand,” I replied. “No harm done.” I could already sense the wards mending themselves in the area where the dragons had breached them. I would double-check their state once I returned to The Palace of Serenity, just in case, but for the most part, I doubted the attack would have any lasting effects on the shield my father had weaved and which my sisters and I had reinforced over the years.
Both wyverns performed small bows mid-air. “I am Devin Thurlacht and this is my mate, Brigid,” the male, Kerryn’s father, said. “It is an honor to be here.”
“Thank you for welcoming us despite the less than ideal circumstances,” Kerryn’s mother added. “It would appear that no matter how old I am, I will never be rid of the idiocy of males.”
That latter sentence didn’t seem addressed to me at all, so I let it go. I wouldn’t have had the time to find an appropriate response to the comment anyway, because the remaining duo, a couple of firedrakes, flew closer to me, the female already huffing in disapproval. “Now, now, Brigid, don’t be so harsh. In this case, I do believe the idiocy was warranted. Clearly, our sons had more important things to worry about than report their every movement to us.”
That was a strange thing to say. What could take precedence over making sure one’s family didn’t uselessly grieve you? There hadn’t been any significant emergencies in Tou Cheimóna that could’ve kept my dragons from contacting their parents.
Oblivious to my thoughts, the female firedrake shot me a concerned look. “I am Jerika von Adalberd, and this is my mate Isebrand. We apologize for our rudeness. I hope it will not taint your perception of our son.”
“He is a most capable male, I assure you, and very dedicated to his loved ones,” Isebrand offered in a coaxing tone of voice. “He would make an excellent mate to start a family with.”
The firedrakes’ comments triggered an avalanche of responses as powerful as the snowslides in The Frozen Peaks. Brigid reared up in defensive irritation and snarled at the other dragons. “Not more dedicated than my Kerryn. A wyvern male always knows how to treat his female right.”
“Maybe, but both firedrakes and wyverns are a little... temperamental,” Kasumi said slowly. “We ryūs are far more reliable and it is a known factor that our magic makes us more compatible with other species.”
Jerika was not impressed by this argument. “Not everything is about magic compatibility!” she snapped back. “What matters is for the male to be powerful and have the ability to provide and care for his mate.”
“Are you saying that our sons wouldn’t be able to do that, Jerika?” Brigid hissed, her eyes glowing an unearthly shade of green and puffs of poisonous smoke already escaping her nostrils. “Are you questioning my Kerryn’s suitability and worth as a male?”
“Not at all,” Jerika answered, her scales flashing brighter red. “I am sure your son is a perfectly good male. I am only pointing out the obvious fact that my own son is superior.”
“Superior to the wyvern, perhaps,” Kasumi intervened, her tone now threatening even if it was just as mellow. “He cannot hope to compare to my Raijin.”
Why? Why was this happening? What had I done to deserve this?
“That is complete and utter nonsense,” Brigid continued to argue. “You ryūs think you’re better than everyone else just because you can use mystical magic, but the truth is you only have it because you were born incomplete and the gods must’ve tried to compensate.”
“Incomplete?” Noboru bellowed. “You dare? I do not care that you are a female. You will take those words back, Brigid, or I will make you pay for the slight you’ve brought upon my family.”
A migraine started to pound heavily at my skull. At this rate, my new visitors would end up reenacting the brief battle my dragons had had in the foyer of my palace. I could offer no guarantees that I’d be as kind with the parents as I’d been with their sons.
“Enough!” I shouted. My voice would’ve probably gone unheard over the raucous roaring of the still arguing dragons had I not infused it with my magic. That silenced the group in a way simple words could not. “Nobody here is incomplete. Nobody is inferior. All of your sons are perfectly capable males.” Why were they even having this conversation now of all times? I’d had an entirely different idea when I’d welcomed my soulmates’ families, one that did not include them getting into a fight over something unnecessary.
The dragons all turned to stare at me at my outburst of temper. “We appreciate the compliment, You
r Majesty,” Jerika answered, “and up to a point, we cannot deny that you are correct. But the fact remains that there is only one reason why our sons would’ve stayed here without notifying us of their survival.”
Kasumi nodded, and it felt strange to see them agree on something when they’d been at each other’s throats less than a minute ago. “If dragon males are engaged in courtship with a female, it is natural for them to forget about other, less important matters. We were merely pointing out the qualities of our children.”
“I realize you are unfamiliar with our ways and there’s nothing wrong with that. We want to make sure you pick the best possible male out of those competing for your hand.”
Brigid’s words finally cleared the haze of confusion from my mind. The older dragons were trying to help their children because they thought Emmerich, Raijin, and Kerryn were competing over me.
I remembered one of the few conversations I’d had with my soulmates about the dynamics of our relationship. Back then, they’d said that it had been unusual for them to agree to share me so readily when dragons were so very possessive of their mates. They’d admitted that prior to being brought here by Jack’s enchantment, they’d participated in a competition organized for the specific purpose of earning the attention of a female.
Obviously, their families were assuming that my dragons had just continued where they’d left off despite the change in setting. This was not completely inaccurate, but I had a feeling my new guests wouldn’t be all that thrilled with the result of their fight and the option my soulmates and I had ultimately picked.
What a mess. Couldn’t I just go back to dealing with yeti love triangles? It would’ve been preferable to this.
For the longest time, nobody said a word. I wasn’t sure how to approach the matter since my dragons hadn’t told me anything about their families at all. What little I could extrapolate from the conversation made me fear that a misstep at this point would alienate the group forever, and I didn’t want that fate for my soulmates. We did need to provide an explanation. I just wasn’t sure where to start.