by Eva Brandt
It was an admirable effort, if unnecessary. Cassia waved a hand, and the ice that hindered our departure dissipated. “Quickly. Everyone, out. I will track down the culprit behind this crime. Viveka, help the wounded once you’re all safe. Emmerich, with me.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. When she rushed out of the cavern, I followed, doing my best to remain calm even if my dragon was still raging inside me in fury and outrage. There were so many things I would have liked to say, so many emotions that bubbled inside me, threatening to choke me with their intensity. All of it had to wait, just a little while longer, until we removed the worthless piece of dung who had dared to harm my female.
Cassia’s magic remained strong enough to carry us to the palace as swiftly as it had brought us here, and before long, we had made our way back to The Frozen Peaks. As soon as I got a good look at the mountain, I was eerily reminded of the day my fellow dragons and I had returned from The Realm of Eternal Bounties, only to find Cassia on the verge of losing control of her abilities. The damage was much worse this time than during the episode caused by Jack’s enchantment, and I had no doubt that there would be casualties. A good part of the settlement was already buried under tons of snow and the entrance to the citadel was almost completely blocked off by collapsed stone. The sound of splintering ice combined with distant echoes of roars and screams in a cacophonous, obscene symphony that awoke the deepest, most savage part of me and cried for retribution.
“He will pay for this,” Cassia hissed as she took in the sight of the shaking mountain. “He will pay, in blood.”
I perfectly agreed. In the short time since we’d arrived in Chronikos, my fellow dragons and I had come to see The Palace of Serenity as our home. We hadn’t built Cassia a second lair yet, but we had become comfortable in hers, since everywhere we turned, in every pillar of ice and beautiful engraving, we could see our soulmate. The fact that the palace had once again been attacked was an offense that could not be born. In Terra Dracones, that alone would’ve warranted the death penalty.
I really, really hoped Cassia would reconsider her stance on evisceration because this had gone too far.
Fortunately, between my magic and hers, we managed to make our way to Cassia’s quarters without too much effort. When we entered the apartment, the sight that greeted our eyes was just as disheartening as we expected. Everything was a ruin, the furniture overturned, the icy walls cracked and Cassia’s prized belongings scattered all over the place like trash. More importantly, we took note of the eerie light coming from the direction of one particular side door.
These rooms, which we so often used to ravish our beautiful female and show her just how much she meant to us, held the answer to Snegurka’s escape and the mysterious attack on Cassia, and that just added insult to injury.
Together, Cassia and I rushed to the side door and pushed it open. Beyond it, in Cassia’s meditating chamber, we found exactly what Kerryn and Raijin had told us we would—Cassia’s own lieutenant, February, bent over the unconscious body of Ded Moroz and engaged in some kind of ritual.
“February, what are you doing?” Cassia asked softly.
It was a rhetorical question more than anything else. Cassia knew exactly what he was doing, and she had known ever since Kerryn and Raijin had given her the bad news, back in her mindscape.
It also served its purpose—that of making February stop casting his spell on his own, without us needing to interfere and potentially make the ritual more unstable than it already was. As soon as Cassia spoke, February abandoned his enchantment and shot to his feet, giving her his full attention. “Y-Your Majesty, I... This isn’t what it looks like. I...”
“You what?” Cassia prodded, the level tone of her voice belying the anger I knew she felt.
February must’ve realized there was no point in trying to convince Cassia of his innocence. He looked from Cassia to me and his expression twisted into a grimace of disdain and hatred. Magic bloomed at his fingertips and he lifted his hand, presumably ready to attack us.
I blasted him away before he could go through with his plan. My fire blast struck him so hard he went flying against the wall, his robes smoking and his incipient enchantment withering away. “That’s not a good idea,” I hissed at him. “You should know, February, that firedrakes don’t take kindly to having their mates attacked. And we might be vulnerable to ice magic, but you’ll find the reverse is valid too. You don’t like fire very much, do you?”
February stared at me with wide, panic-filled eyes. He was right to be afraid. Cassia had told me that for the moment, she needed her treacherous lieutenant alive, but once she was done with him, all bets were off.
To his credit, February wasn’t completely paralyzed by his fear. He did get up and attempted to make a beeline for the door. It didn’t work, of course, since Cassia and I were in the way, and I grabbed him before he could get too far. “You’re not going anywhere,” I said, dumping him onto the floor once again.
Cassia paid us no heed. Instead, she knelt in the middle of the meditation chamber and pressed her hands to Ded Moroz’s forehead. As soon as she made contact with him, she grimaced and recoiled. “A power transference ritual, February?” she asked as she got up. “Really? What could’ve possessed you to make such an attempt?”
“I had to!” her lieutenant screeched. “It was the only way! The realm needs a real ruler, not someone like, like... you. Someone who consorts with... beasts. With disgusting, demonic creatures that don’t belong on this planet at all!”
I sneered at him in revulsion. “You can call me as demonic as you want, February, but I’ve yet to kill a hatchling for my own self-interest. I think that’s far more disgusting than anything I could ever do.”
Cassia had told me that February was a dracophobe, but she hadn’t known his bigotry was so bad, that he would be capable of something so horrible because of his fear. Granted, our parents’ arrival must’ve terrified him, especially since he hadn’t really known about our presence at all. Even so, that was no excuse for turning on his queen, on his realm and his people.
There was nothing I would’ve liked more than to show him the error of his ways on the spot, but Cassia still needed information from him. “Considering your aversion for demonic creatures and powers, I would think that you wouldn’t want Snegurka to take over again,” she prodded.
“Snegurka?” February chuckled, the sound high-pitched and hysterical. “Of course not. That woman is as insane as you are disgusting. But she wouldn’t have been an issue once the power of winter left your body and entered its rightful avatar.”
“Rightful avatar?” Cassia repeated. “Ded Moroz? I take it he believed he would do a better job than I have.”
February didn’t answer that, which was unfortunate since it meant we still didn’t know to what point Ded Moroz had been involved in this ploy. “What did you promise him and Snegurka then, to make them go along with this?” Cassia asked. “I can’t imagine they would’ve been on board with your idea if she’d known about your little plan.”
At first, February didn’t speak, and I shamelessly took advantage of this to indulge a little in my desire to take out my anger on him. I pressed my foot to his rib cage and allowed my magic to flow into him through our point of contact. Something snapped in his chest, and he screamed as the combination between my physical strength and my fire magic chased away all the lingering remnants of his pride and defiance. “Answer the question,” I purred. “What did you promise?”
“F-Freedom,” he stammered. “Vengeance. A body back for Snegurka. It was easy. They would have taken anyone’s hand, especially considering the recent business with Jack Frost’s exile. You probably shouldn’t have turned away from your own—”
An icicle flew from Cassia’s hand like an arrow. It landed inches away from February’s face, cutting him off mid-sentence. “Do not presume to judge me, worm,” she snapped. “Now tell me. How did you break through the wards at the prison? The seal was cre
ated by my father himself.”
“Y-Your father might be a god, but so is Snegurka, and that enchantment has been under strain for centuries. All I had to do was make a small crack, and she awoke and broke free on her own. I knew she wouldn’t be able to physically escape, but that suited me just fine since it was just her spirit that I needed.”
“And where is Snegurka now?” Cassia insisted, finally getting to the most important piece of information we needed to learn. “Where did she go?”
Taking my cue, I forced more of my magic into the treacherous lieutenant. February flailed desperately on the ground, but could not provide us with a satisfactory reply. “I don’t know. I thought... She was supposed to be with you. Inside you. She was supposed to hold you captive. I don’t know.”
Cassia was not impressed with his sniveling, but she did gesture me to move away. I did, releasing him from my hold and allowing the fire magic I had summoned to my aid to dissipate. My female needed to take out her own anger on the piece of filth who had betrayed her.
Once again, it appeared that I had underestimated my soulmate because she chose a different approach. In an impressive show of restraint, she didn’t throw any more icicles at him and said, “You will receive an official trial and punishment. And I assure you that as foolish as you deem me to be, I learn from my mistakes. You will find you will not enjoy the results of these lessons.”
Her boot came down on his head, knocking him out in one single blow. It was just as sexy as the icicle claws that had once again manifested at her fingertips, but I did my best to not let it distract me. “Do you believe him, treasure?”
“Unfortunately, yes. He’s terrified of dragons. He wouldn’t have been able to lie. And even if he had been inclined to do it, I can’t imagine they were prepared beforehand for the possibility of their plan failing so badly.”
She let out a disgruntled sigh. “This is so frustrating. I’d almost captured her too. Who knows what will happen now and where she ended up? And to top it off, he’s done so much damage. I really should have dealt with this sooner.”
“None of this is your fault, Cassia,” I told her. “You couldn’t have known he’d be capable of going so far, especially considering Snegurka’s history.”
She didn’t reply, and that was enough to tell me that my reassurances had not convinced her in the slightest. Instead, she walked past me and exited the meditation chamber, leaving me alone and more discombobulated than ever.
I wanted to go after her, but someone needed to stay and watch over February and Ded Moroz and I was the only possible option. Feeling just as helpless as I’d been while in her mindscape, I just stood there, staring blankly at the cracked walls of Cassia’s meditating chamber and trying to figure out where we were supposed to go from here.
The next thirty minutes or so were a bit of a blur. A small group of panicked nisse arrived, flanked by some yetis that looked as lost and upset as I felt. Cassia had not left me with any specific instructions, but I knew what to do, regardless.
“We’re to secure February in a cell, at once. Ded Moroz needs some medical assistance, and after we make sure that he is stable, he will be imprisoned as well.”
The yetis grunted, and since I wasn’t Cassia, I couldn’t actually understand them. I had better luck with the nisse. “Yes, Your Highness. Of course, Your Highness.”
They scuttled to follow my commands, which would have been gratifying to see had I not suspected Cassia had already given them similar orders. I still monitored the whole process, all the while pondering everything I knew, everything I’d seen and everything I’d yet to figure out. By the time Cassia’s staff had everything well in hand, I had already reached some very unpleasant conclusions, among which, the realization of why Cassia had kept the whole business with Snegurka from us, to begin with.
Hoping I was wrong, I went to track my beautiful female down. I found her in her throne room, engaged in a discussion with Kerryn and Raijin, or rather, arguing with them. They must’ve arrived from their mission and had obviously had the same idea as me.
“Treasure, we need to talk about this,” Kerryn said as I walked into the room. “How can we possibly help you if we don’t know everything that’s going on?”
Raijin crossed his arms over his chest and nodded in a display that should’ve looked hostile, but somehow managed to appear persuasive instead. “Stop digging your heels in and be honest with us.”
Cassia huffed and threw her hands up in obvious frustration. “I am trying, but now really isn’t the time and I don’t want to get you more involved in this mess than you already are.”
At that point, I knew I had to step into the conversation as well. “You can’t be serious, Cassia. We couldn’t get more involved in the situation if we actively tried. I realize there’s a lot to do to safeguard The Frozen Peaks, but that doesn’t make your well-being any less important.”
None of them were surprised at my intervention, having obviously heard me come in. Even so, Cassia did not react well to my words. Her shoulders slumped in defeat, and after seeing her put up such a fight against Snegurka, the stance alarmed me. “I know that,” she whispered, “and I’m sorry. I never intended for things to end this way.”
“End?” Kerryn repeated. “Nothing has ended, treasure. Yes, Snegurka is missing, but her power is limited. You’ve captured her accomplice and secured the palace. We’ll eventually find Snegurka too and defeat her.”
“It’s not that simple. I told you before, didn’t I? There is only one way to eliminate the threat she poses, and that is by me finishing the job I started when I was a child and absorbing the rest of her powers. The problem is that right now, a lot of those powers are demonic in nature and I don’t know if I can contain them and survive.”
Survive. The word echoed through the throne room like a sentence. My head started to spin, and my dragon reared inside me in desperation and protest. I had realized earlier that whatever she’d have to do to defeat Snegurka was probably dangerous, but I hadn’t been prepared for this.
Distantly, I noticed that her explanation didn’t shock Kerryn and Raijin as much as it had me, and anger at their betrayal joined the already volatile combination of emotions swirling inside me. What in the world was going on and why was I only hearing about this now?
“Then there is no problem,” Raijin said with an eerie calm that made me want to tear his throat out with my teeth. “It’s just a matter of approach.”
“You have three soulmates, Cassia. You need to remember that you’re not alone anymore. You don’t have to carry this burden on your own. That’s what we’re here for. Besides, we might be more resilient to Ton Daímon magic than you are anyway, so it stands to reason that this is what we should do.”
The haze of my fury cleared somewhat at Kerryn’s suggestion. It didn’t matter how they had learned Cassia’s secret. Maybe it had been during their mission. Jack Frost might have known about it and could’ve told them. What mattered was that we’d found a way to help her, just like we had in her mindscape.
“They’re right, treasure,” I replied, grimacing when the words came out rougher and sharper than I would’ve liked. “From the day we first awoke in this realm, Kerryn, Raijin and I understood that we were meant to be here, with you. I admit that I had an entirely different image of how our courtship was going to go, and I definitely had other intentions for the future of our relationship. But life isn’t perfect, and if there’s anything I’ve learned, it is that we’re stronger together than apart. No matter how different we might be, even if we disagree on a million issues, even if we’re dragons and you’re not, that remains valid. Didn’t we tell you earlier? We made a promise to stay by your side, to help you in whatever way we can. Snegurka’s demonic magic doesn’t scare us any more than her ice magic did.”
She was really just being stubborn, but I could not blame her for that, not after what I had seen in Snegurka’s memories. Cassia had been carrying this weight for so long that she did
not know how to pass it onto somebody else. Seeing the damage that had been done to the palace couldn’t have helped, since knowing Cassia, she was likely blaming herself for this too.
I wondered now what would have happened had February not intervened with his own spell and had Snegurka remained trapped and defeated, as she had been before his attack. I suspected we would not even be having this conversation at all, and Cassia might have already done something foolish, out of the mistaken belief that she absolutely needed to handle this on her own.
The ironic absurdity of the predicament we found ourselves in didn’t escape my notice.
Unfortunately, my words failed to convince my soulmate. “It would be irresponsible of me to just... dump this on you when none of it is your fault,” Cassia insisted. “This is my duty, not yours.”
Kerryn clenched his fists, visibly trying to control his temper. “Treasure... That’s what we’re trying to say. You are the queen of Tou Cheimóna, yes, and you have to do this for your realm. But by the same token, we have to do this for you, because we are your soulmates and your males.”
“You’re not just Cheimon now,” Raijin offered tentatively. “You are also Cassia. You are our female. Remember?”
It wasn’t anything we hadn’t told her before. It shouldn’t have been a huge epiphany. She’d spoken those words herself countless times. Even so, her eyes widened and her breath caught, her magic flailing around her in agitated waves that I could feel echoing into my very core. “Oh. Oh.”
Her knees went weak and she slid down to the floor as if drained of strength. She buried her face in her palms, her whole body shaking with silent sobs. “Why are we even having this fight? I feel so stupid... I just... This is all wrong.”
We all rushed to her side, crowding her in a four-way embrace that should have been awkward, but wasn’t. “Yes, it is,” Raijin replied as he caressed her hair, “but even when everything else in the world is wrong, you’ll always still have us, and still know that our bond is right.”