by Eva Brandt
In the end, it was Kerryn, not me who shattered the heavy silence. “There is no competition. Cheimon is our female, and we’ve all agreed to share.”
The words echoed between us like a sentence, simple, yet holding so much strength and meaning that they temporarily left me floored. The older dragons encountered no such issue.
“Share?”
“Share?”
“Share?”
The three patriarchs all repeated the word like it was something vile, a curse and an anomaly, instead of an entirely valid course of action. They then stared at one another, apparently surprised they’d said the same thing.
After a small moment of pause, Devin spoke out again. “You don’t need to make this kind of compromise, Kerryn, least of all with the firedrake and the ryū. You’re perfectly capable of winning a mate on your own.”
“Please tell me the wyvern is lying, Emmerich,” Isebrand said. “I taught you better than that.”
Noboru shook his massive head in clear disappointment. “You can’t just allow another dragon to touch your female. It’s a disgrace. Why would you agree to something like this, Raijin?”
The disapproving words seemed to snap something inside my dragons. “I didn’t agree to anything,” Raijin answered. “It was my idea. And I would urge you to hold your tongue in matters you know nothing about. I have listened to your advice in the past in most everything, but I will not allow you to disrespect what we share with Cheimon.”
His voice might have sounded calm, but I’d never felt his magic hold so much fury. Both he and Emmerich flew a little further ahead and together with Kerryn, formed a barrier as if they were trying to shield me from their families.
The air around them seemed to blur and change colors, reminding me of the way light danced around Tarasia on the rare occasions my summery sister came to visit. While the vivid combination of reds, greens, and blues was just as beautiful as Tarasia’s aura, if not more so, there was no doubt in my mind that it meant something very different.
“You don’t know anything about Cheimon and us,” Emmerich snarled, and fire blazed around him as if to confirm my earlier thoughts. “You don’t belong here. Go back to where you came from, or we will make you.”
“We are proud of what the four of us have. We would never taint it with a lie. But you are tainting it with your insults, and we will not allow it.”
By the time he finished his speech, Kerryn’s words had turned into a nigh-incomprehensible hiss. Considering his fury, and that of my other dragons, it was a minor miracle that they had remembered to not call me by my private name and had stuck to using Cheimon. Then again, that was really beside the point right now.
Maybe my main concern shouldn’t have been the six older dragons attacking one another, but my own soulmates attacking their families. What was it with people close to me being tempted to maul/maim their parents/siblings as of late?
In a way, my dragons’ behavior was kind of sweet, and if they hadn’t said something in response to their parents’ offensive words, I would’ve likely done it. Still, this had gone too far, and I didn’t have the time or the patience to argue over something that I had never intended to negotiate.
Flying past my dragons, I faced my unwanted guests, tightening the magic of winter around me like a protective shroud. “Let me introduce myself again,” I said with a smile that was likely just as unpleasant as their words had been. “I am Queen Cheimon, Lady of Winter, ruler of Tou Cheimóna, The Realm of Eternal Ice. I also happen to be your sons’ soulmate. Yes, the soulmate of all of them.
“Now, here are your options. You can either appreciate the welcome I have extended to you properly and come to my palace, where we can speak like civilized individuals, or you can take the approach Emmerich suggested and go back to Terra Dracones. It doesn’t matter to me, but be advised that I will not allow such disrespect any longer.”
In hindsight, I should have perhaps held off on the big soulmate reveal until after I had made the threat. “Soulmates?” Brigid squealed. “Oh, why didn’t you say so outright? This is excellent news! We must celebrate!”
“That explains everything then,” Kasumi said, her scales glowing in.... pride? Relief? Happiness? I didn’t even know anymore. “Congratulations!”
Meanwhile, Jerika leaned in closer to me, eyeing me with a speculative glint in her gold eyes. “Tell me. Have you considered hatchlings?”
Dear gods, why?
* * *
Raijin
“You have a wonderful realm, Your Majesty. Once again, thank you for your generous welcome.”
“Generosity has nothing to do with it. You are my soulmates’ parents. The doors of my palace will always be open to you.”
As she spoke to my mother, Cassia clenched her gloved hands around my crest. She was still upset over these new developments, but on the bright side, she mostly seemed upset with our parents, not with us. She’d even decided to mount me, instead of flying on her own, which was always pleasant.
That didn’t make the trip to the palace any less tense. Our families might have set aside their misgivings, but we had not forgotten their words. I was certainly not happy with my father for calling my mating with Cassia a disgrace. Once he and I had a moment alone, I would be setting things straight with him, male to male.
In the meantime, all of our parents had agreed to join us at the palace and had promised to be on their best behavior, something which I did not believe for a minute. Their about-face made sense, up to a point, but I had no doubt that they’d keep poking at things, wondering how it was even possible for Emmerich, Kerryn and I to have the same soulmate.
Unfortunately, we had no choice but to accept the situation. And so, despite our skepticism and discomfort, we were making our way back the way we’d come, our extended group far less relaxed than me, my fellow dragons and Cassia had been even when we had thought Tou Cheimóna was under attack. Our mothers had gotten most of their enthusiasm out of their systems, but, as expected, the avalanche of questions and comments kept coming.
“What of your family?” Kerryn’s mother asked as we flew over the frozen tundra. “What do they make of your new mating? I imagine they must’ve been surprised.”
“It’s only me and my sisters now and they trust me to make my own decisions in my private life.”
I actually had no idea what Cassia’s sisters made of us since we’d yet to meet any of them. Cassia had warned us that they’d eventually drop by, and she had been bracing herself for the unavoidable event prior to our parents’ arrival. If nothing else, this visit would prepare us for meeting the avatars of spring, summer, and autumn. No matter how powerful Cassia’s sisters might be, I doubted their reactions would be as bad as today’s experience.
“That’s quite open-minded,” my mother prodded. “They don’t have a problem with your mates being dragons?”
“Not at all, no. We have all kinds of creatures here, and while dragons are indeed rare, none of us are prejudiced.”
Kerryn took his cue and stepped into the conversation. “Speaking of which, you’d never guess whom I ran into, Mother. Lerna! She’s living here in Chronikos now. Did you know that?”
“I had no idea. I’d thought she’d moved to Terra Bestias. Oh, her mother will be so distraught.” Brigid paused, realized what she’d just said, and then quickly added, “Not that Chronikos isn’t a perfectly nice place to live in, of course. It’s just so far. I never thought I’d get to see it.”
“You did indeed come a long way,” Cassia commented. “How did you even know Kerryn, Emmerich, and Raijin were here?”
“One of our elders succeeded in tracking down the source of the spell that had caused their disappearance,” my mother explained. “It was not easy, but dragons are nothing if not stubborn.”
Idly, I wondered if Elder Chang—or whoever had helped our parents track us down—had sensed the mildly demonic feel of the enchantment that had brought us here. I hoped not, because that had the pote
ntial of causing a lot of problems in the future.
For the moment, there didn’t seem to be an issue, as my mother was completely relaxed when she continued to speak. “I must admit I was quite worried that considering the nature of your realm, we’d have more trouble flying through. I’m pleasantly surprised that it’s not the case.”
“That’s because I cast a blessing to protect you from the cold temperature. It’s fortunate we managed to intercept you so close to the border. The magic that helped you sneak past our barriers would have never held had we not done so, and you might have even died.”
Cassia’s warning was completely genuine, if somewhat blunt. The only real acknowledgment it received was a huff of laughter from Isebrand. “Well, this is definitely my kind of realm. I’ve missed living under the threat of imminent demise.”
“I have to say I agree, Isebrand,” my father mused. “Peace is charming and all, but it does get a little stale after a while.”
Not for the first time, I wished we hadn’t ‘forgotten’ to introduce Cassia at least a little more to draconic culture. We’d just never found a good time, and we had decided that it would be better to support her immediate priorities and worry about things like cultural differences if they became relevant. It hadn’t occurred to any of us that said differences would manifest in corporeal form, through the highly unfortunate visit of our parents.
Damn our female-induced shortsightedness anyway.
“If you think peace is stale, you’re clearly doing it wrong,” Cassia drawled. “War is not something anyone should do for amusement.”
Except we had been doing exactly that for as long as Terra Dracones had existed—well, sort of. We were a nation of warriors, and we always had been. The various clans had engaged in battles over everything from actual physical treasure, to females, prey, perceived insults, or simply just out of boredom. The largest war we’d had was because no one could decide what our land should actually be called. As of late, we’d focused more on increasing our numbers instead of decreasing them, but the warrior mentality remained, and it was particularly present among the older generations.
I could already see the questions forming in my parents’ minds. How could someone who did not understand our way of life be our soulmate? The soulmate of all three of us, no less? At a different time, if I’d been in their shoes, I might have felt the same. But it would’ve been a foolish thought because Cassia did understand and accept us in every way. We might not have had the chance to discuss our previous experiences in detail, but I had no doubt that we would adjust to one another, regardless.
Fortunately, before any of our parents could verbalize their doubts—which would have undoubted gone about as well as our earlier exchange—Cassia tugged on my crest, signaling the fact that it was time to descend. The Frozen Peaks finally loomed ahead, and the glittering spirals of The Palace of Serenity distracted our families from the slight to our culture.
“Is that your lair?” Isebrand asked, his eyes shining and his voice a little dazed and shaky.
I could understand why. Cassia’s palace might not have been crafted out of precious metals, but in the cold rays of the sun, its walls still glinted like bright gemstones. The beauty of the structure itself still had nothing on that of its owner, so Kerryn, Emmerich and I had pretty much gained immunity to it. Our parents weren’t in the same situation.
“You could say that, yes,” Cassia answered. “It is my home, The Palace of Serenity.”
Despite myself, I couldn’t help but think that the name wasn’t really suitable, at least not now. Even from the distance, I could catch glimpses of people running around in a complete panic, like chickens with their heads cut off. As such, serene wasn’t an adjective I would’ve really used to describe the lair we shared with our female. But perhaps now was not the best time to point out that little tidbit, since the current lack of serenity was indirectly our fault.
Our sudden appearance did very little to calm down the agitated inhabitants of The Frozen Peaks. Most of the members of Cassia’s permanent staff were used to me, Emmerich and Kerryn by now, but there were six other dragons with us, all of whom were a dangerous, unknown factor. Cassia might have said that she and her sisters were not prejudiced, but the fact remained that the only draconic being in Chronikos other than us was Lerna, and most of our soulmate’s people had first become aware of her during Jack Frost’s trial, in less than ideal circumstances.
When we landed in the courtyard of the palace, I was unsurprised to find a large contingent of guards surrounding us, weapons drawn. Cassia’s third lieutenant—the same person who’d arrived earlier that day, shortly before our departure—was leading the group. Sort of. He was more or less hiding behind the yeti, amaroks and barbegazi present on the scene and eyeing us warily, his complexion so white it rivaled the color of the untainted snow of The Hoarfrost Tundra.
Cassia dismounted me and let out an exasperated sigh. “Oh, for gods’ sake. Put all that nonsense away, February. Where are January, December, and the others?”
“I’ve notified them of what has occurred, Your Majesty, and they have been making preparations to provide you with reinforcements.”
“It doesn’t seem like that will be necessary. It was a false alarm. We have a couple of new, unexpected guests. They will be staying with us for a little while.
“I want you to prepare adequate quarters and supplies for them. Coordinate with Fiske if you have questions and have Mariko and the rest of the nisse notify everyone to return to their previous posts.”
Everyone in the courtyard responded in a somewhat predictable chorus of “Yes, Your Majesty” and scattered, going back to their previous tasks. If they were still worried about the massive dragons that had shown up out of nowhere in their midst, they did not show it. Perhaps they thought their queen could handle the threat should it be necessary—which, come to think of it, was very true.
In any case, I hoped and prayed that all of Cassia’s preparations would prove to be unnecessary and that our parents would leave as soon as possible. They could never break what we shared with our soulmate, but that didn’t mean we were happy about the interference.
We all ended up relocating in the same foyer where Kerryn, Emmerich and I had first woken up in Tou Cheimóna. “I’m afraid I must temporarily leave you in your sons’ care now,” Cassia said once we were inside. “I have an important matter to attend to. My staff will provide you with everything you need, and in the meantime, my dragons will keep you company.”
“Do you want one of us to come with you, treasure?” I couldn’t help but ask, hating to be separated from her when she was obviously still upset.
Cassia shook her head, and the ice crystals that adorned her beautiful pale neck clinked slightly as she moved. “It’s fine. I won’t be long. Right now, I need you here.”
I couldn’t really refuse. Cassia never gave us orders, since to her, we weren’t servants, but partners. This time, though, we had made a significant mistake, and even if we’d had good reasons for it, it was our responsibility to fix it.
Without further ado, Cassia turned on her heel and walked away, her graceful form vanishing in the depths of the palace corridors. “I feel like perhaps, we might be intruding,” my father said as we all watched her go.
That was the understatement of the century, and his blasé treatment of Cassia’s emotional state didn’t improve my mood. “Really? What gave you that idea?”
“I know you’re upset about this whole incident, darling, but you can’t blame us for worrying,” my mother offered, curling on the floor in a more comfortable position. “One moment you were at home, in Terra Dracones, fighting for your future family, and the next, you just vanished. What were we supposed to think?”
I understood her logic and reasoning. I’d understood them from the very moment I’d seen her and the others approach. It didn’t take a genius to realize why they’d come here, and I couldn’t blame them for it. I’d have probably done the s
ame if I’d had a hatchling and he’d vanished like that.
But arguing about it wouldn’t get us anywhere, and it wasn’t the reason why Cassia had left us here, to begin with. “Let’s just set that aside. I think we’ve already established that nobody blames you for coming. We have other priorities right now.”
As expected, Emmerich and Kerryn guessed what I had in mind. Undoubtedly, they had been thinking the same thing the whole time.
“If you’re going to stay, even for a little while, we’re going to need to establish some ground rules,” Emmerich said. “We don’t want you upsetting our female more than you already have.”
“She has enough on her plate without you being a burden,” Kerryn added. “So you’re going to listen to us very carefully and do exactly as we say.”
Our families didn’t protest, acknowledging the fact that they did need to respect the laws and customs of this new land they were in. Even so, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that their compliance would only get us so far. The true battle was just beginning.
Three
Bounties
Cheimon
It was perhaps a little rude to leave my dragons alone with their families. I realized that even as I turned away and exited the foyer of the palace. However, I still needed to make sure the wards around Chronikos were in good condition, and it could not wait until I welcomed my new guests in a manner that would’ve been more suitable for a gracious host.
The last time I’d used my meditation chamber had been during the episode with Jack, as I hadn’t needed it since. I didn’t actually need it now, as I’d already checked the wards before we’d returned to the palace, when we’d been closer to the breach Just the same, it was better to be safe than sorry, and no matter how confident I was in the shields my family and I had created, I had no intention of taking any chances with my people’s well-being. The fact that it bought me a few moments away from my unwanted guests was certainly a bonus, but not the priority.