“Did you tell all the other girls that, too?”
Her words cut like a knife, and my throat constricted painfully. I had nothing I could say to her. I had told the others that. And each, in time, had made her own decision for her own reasons.
“I see,” she said icily. “Well if you think I’m going to sit around until Stockholm syndrome sets in and then skip off to be your human sacrifice, think again, buddy. I just saved your life. You owe me. Take me home, now.” She thrust her index finger into my face and glared at me. Her face was less than six inches away from mine, and I could feel the intense emotion radiating off of her. I fought back my urge to take her in my arms and passionately kiss her.
“I can’t,” I choked out. “I will not put you in harm’s way. Vash will pursue you anywhere you go now, and the only place you are truly safe is here with me in Alkazar.” It was all true. Now that he’d seen her feed my magic, he knew I had the most powerful sparkmage Alkazar had seen in years. Maybe ever. The insult of his defeat would not go unanswered, and if I let her leave the safety of the shining walls, she was as good as dead.
Ella’s fury rippled across her face. “That’s real convenient, Kaden. So how long before I’m safe? You just keep me around until I’m as old as Mariana? Or is this all just a charade until you manage to talk me into giving you my magic for whatever spell it is you’re really saving me for?”
“There is no charade.”
“I have a life, Kaden. I have things I want to do. Go to college. See Nick. Holidays and birthdays and vacations with my family. It’s not right for you take it all away from me.”
“If I could guarantee your safety, I’d send you back at once.”
“Uh-huh. So you say. Why should Vash want me so badly?”
I hesitated. I wasn’t ready to inflict the whole truth upon her yet. That was my burden to bear until I was sure she was ready. “You are unusually powerful for a human, and Vash will see the potential in you.”
“The potential for you and your Aethling friends to use me, you mean,” she snapped.
I shook my head. “I already told you, Ella. I will not force anything upon you.”
“And yet you won’t deny it! I risked my life to save you from Vash, and you’re still going to keep me prisoner here.”
“I only want to protect you.”
Her eyes flashed. “Until you kill me.”
I lowered my head. Faye’s face floated past like a vision, and Ella’s words hung like weights around my neck. I wanted to deny it, and I wanted to tell her that I would never take her even if she offered herself. But there was more at stake than just my feelings here. I did want to protect her, but if the day came when she made the same decision of those who had come before her… I wasn’t sure what duty might compel me to do.
“I should have left you to die in the clearing.” Ella rose from the bed and strode to the window. She crossed her arms and gazed out across Alkazar. “You’re all tenderness and kind words and noble proclamations, but it’s meaningless. The reality is that I have something you want, and you’re going to keep me here until you get it.”
Ella had described the situation in the least charitable way possible, but I couldn’t deny the naked truth of it. She could never understand the impossible weight I bore. I hunched in on myself. The I pushed off the sheets and limped toward the door. The battle with Vash had depleted most of my energy, and it would take weeks to recover fully.
“Am I to be locked away again?” Ella demanded.
I halted. “Will you flee if I say no?”
She frowned and shook her head. “It’s obvious now that I can’t run.” The words were bitter. “You’ve caught me, dragon prince.”
“Then travel as you wish within the palace,” I replied, my heart heavy. “I wish only for your happiness.”
Ella
After Kaden had gone, I collapsed into a chair and put my face in my hands. What a day… Too many different feelings roiled through me as I considered my situation. I felt exhausted and elated. Furious and thrilled. Homesick and excited. And then there was the question of how I really felt about the dragon prince himself. I wasn’t sure I even knew the real answer to that. I hated feeling trapped and manipulated, but he had come to save me, and I’d saved him in turn. Why had I done that when I could have just gone home, back to my normal life? I wanted to think it was pure selflessness, but that didn’t quit seem right.
Still, for a guy who claimed to only want my happiness, Kaden sure had some weird ways of showing it. I wished that he would be a little more forthcoming with details about, well, anything, instead of just getting angry and broody and storming off all the time, because I still had a lot more questions than answers. It was hard to know what to think. He’d come to save me from Vash, almost dying in the process, but he also as much as admitted to killing the girls who came before me. Even if I believed him that Vash would hunt me down anywhere—if that wasn’t a lie to keep me from running—and even with access to the whole palace, it didn’t change that I was a prisoner. I was still stuck here in Alkazar. It did seem possible given what had happened with my magic that Vash would see me as a threat. But I didn’t want anything to do with any of this. The Ether-Realm could never be my home.
I sighed and threw my head back with a groan. And to think I’d felt like I had problems this morning! I’d been so close to escaping, to getting back to normal, and now everything was worse than ever…
What I needed, I decided, was time to think. After our heated exchange earlier, I didn’t expect to see Kaden again any time soon, so instead I rose from my bed and went to draw myself a bath. The ornate handle turned on the ivory tub, spilling magically hot water into the pristine depths, and I swirled my hand in the soothingly warm pool that rapidly filled the depths. When it had filled, I pulled my dust and sweat-stained clothes off and lowered myself in with a grateful sigh, enjoying the opportunity to wash away the aches, dirt, and pains of a horrible, confusing day.
I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind of all my negative emotions, allowing the hot water to calm and soothe me. At least here, I was safe. There would be no strange, keening horrors trying to leech the sanity from my head, and no white-skinned swordsmen with strange, frosty breath coming to kill me. The Aethlings and Alkazar might be horrible in their own ways, but they weren’t so bad as Ether-Realm entities went. And the Dragon… my eyes sprang open as the jumbled mess of feelings I had about Kaden returned. That would be something to sort out later. For now, I didn’t know how I really felt about Kaden.
When I emerged, I wrapped myself in a fluffy white towel and dried my hair with the magical tools that had been provided for me. My earlier anger at Kaden had settled down to a low, roiling simmer, which I chose to ignore for the moment. Instead I crossed the room and laid my hands on the handles of my magical bureau, trying to decide what to wear. Now that I knew how to use it properly, I could dress myself however I liked. Should I adopt the fashions of the Aethlings, or stick to what was comfortable for me? The dresses were pretty, but I wasn’t feeling especially accommodating at the moment.
I drew the doors wide while visualizing contemporary Earth styles and dressed myself in a clean pair of jeans and a soft, white cotton sweater. There were even soft cotton socks for me to wear! I grinned at myself in the mirror and admired my very normal ensemble. Comfy, neat, presentable. And screw what Rhys will think of it. Come to think of it, I especially hoped it would annoy Rhys, not that I wanted to run into him at all.
As I studied myself in the vanity mirror, Rowan’s bell caught my eye. It stood to the side of the vanity where I’d last left it after summoning her that morning, and I frowned at it as a thread of guilt wormed its way through my chest. I wondered what had happened to her, but I didn’t think she would appreciate me summoning her now to ask, assuming she even answered. It would take some time to repair the trust between us after what I’d done to her. I hadn’t considered that I might need to face her again.
&nbs
p; But there would be time to deal with that later. For now, I had my freedom. The only question was what I was going to do with it. Kaden had abandoned me with no real direction, and suddenly the enormity of the palace felt almost oppressive. Now that I could go anywhere, where should I go?
I decided to pick a random direction and explore a bit. It was better than being trapped in my room, after all. I poked my head out into the hallway, and seeing no one, shrugged and started walking down the hall to my left, the opposite of the way I’d gone that morning. Having the run of the place after they’d taken such pains to keep me locked up before was strange, and I felt jumpy even though I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I kept expecting a guard to leap out and snatch me, but after I passed several of them on patrol who simply ignored me, I realized that Kaden must have spread the word about his decision.
Anyway, it was clear that running would be useless. Why should they be worried? The portal home had been twisted and altered by the fight between Vash and Kaden, and if Kaden didn’t reach me before I escaped, Vash or the Eldritch would. I had nowhere to go even if I did get away. But I wasn’t about to give up just because things seemed hopeless. I would get home, I vowed. I just needed to come up with a new plan.
The palace of Alkazar was surprisingly empty for a place with so many rooms, and it felt almost haunted by the lack of people. I poked my head into corridor after corridor, room after room, without finding much of interest except for the endless pieces of fine art, tapestries, and rich carpets, doubtlessly purchased and placed ages ago to please the aesthetic sensibilities of an audience long since vanished from these halls. Had there ever been enough Aethlings to fill all of these rooms, and if so, where had they gone?
Servants hurrying past ignored me just as the guards had, and I didn’t stop any of them. I didn’t want to talk to anyone right now.
Eventually I came to a room at the end of one of the palace wings which had two twisted statues of silver dragons placed outside the door. The dragons had glimmering rubies for eyes and wagging tongues of gold, and their mouths twisted into angry snarls of teeth. Intricately worked silver wings fanned out behind them, the skin looking almost real if it hadn’t been so metallic. They both reared up in what looked like battle stances.
“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” Princess Valeria paused just inside the doorway, an open book in her hand, dressed in one of her luxurious dresses. She smiled at me, though her eyes seemed a bit sad, and closed the book. I hadn’t noticed her inside the room, but I guessed now that these were her chambers. A creature that looked like a miniature silver dragon wrapped around her shoulders like a stole, and she stroked it absentmindedly under the chin. It stretched its neck out and made a happy purring noise, flicking its tiny tongue in and out.
“The dragons? Whoever made them is very skilled,” I murmured. An awkward moment passed where neither of us spoke, and then I turned away, embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Princess, but I’m not really in the mood for company. I’ll just go.”
Her hand fell upon my shoulder before I could go. “Wait, Ella. I know that things have been quite tumultuous ever since you arrived, and neither my brother nor Kaden are known for their social graces. Won’t you come and sit with me in my chambers for a while?”
I paused, considering what I should do. After this morning’s events, I still wasn’t feeling very talkative, but this was the first time anyone with any real power had treated me respectfully and offered to chat. I might be able to learn something about Kaden’s situation, finally. After a moment, I nodded. Valeria’s smile warmed and she motioned me inside.
She led me into her chambers and took a seat in an overstuffed purple chair, gesturing at the one beside it. I lowered myself stiffly into the twin, wondering what her designs might be for our conversation. My experiences with Aethlings so far hadn’t convinced me that they did many things without an ulterior motive. Her fingers drifted into a crystal bowl on the table beside her and emerged with what looked like a scrap of cooked chicken. The little creature on her shoulders hissed in excitement, springing up eagerly. She fed it to him and patted him on the head while he munched happily. When he’d finished, he stared hopefully at the bowl, but she didn’t reach for another. He growled in an indignant tone and settled back down to snooze in his earlier position as a shoulder ornament.
“Is that a baby dragon?” I asked. He looked like a distant cousin to the powerful beasts depicted in silver outside of her chambers, now that I had more time to study him. His wings were more delicate and his face had more of the shape of a salamander than the striking ridges and squared snouts I’d seen on the statues.
Valeria’s laugh twinkled through the room. “Fennig? Fennig’s far less a dragon than you are a monkey. Distant cousins, perhaps. But no, he’s just a little drake.” The drake opened his eyes at the sound of his name, but closed them again when it became clear we had no intention of feeding him. “Don’t let Kaden hear you call a drake a dragon, though,” Valeria warned. “I think he might take offense at that.”
“I don’t really care about offending Kaden,” I muttered. Valeria studied me silently, and I added, “You’ve heard about my escape, I suppose?”
She nodded. “Most of the palace has. We were also told you wouldn’t likely try to run again. I understand you ran into Vash Olkarian.” Her mouth twisted when she came to Vash’s name, as though she’d been forced to eat something disgusting. “I’m amazed that Kaden survived the encounter. Vash has hunted him for decades. You must be more powerful than Rhys realized if you were able to help him fend off a Frystlord.”
“I probably should have let him have Kaden,” I said sullenly, not bothering to ask her what a Frystlord was. “I’d be home with my family instead of stuck here with all of you if I had.” I felt a little twinge of guilt at the words, because I didn’t really wish I’d abandoned Kaden to Vash. He didn’t deserve that. But neither was I happy at being held in Alkazar against my will, and Kaden was at least partially responsible for this outcome.
Valeria frowned. “It’s a good thing you did save him. Losing Kaden would have had devastating consequences for the Ether-Realm and human realms both. Rhys thinks it’s sheer idiocy that he left Alkazar to go after you by himself, and I can’t disagree. You have no idea how much he risked to save you.” Her eyes narrowed at me as she stroked Fennig. “It’s bizarre that he would risk so much for a human.”
If this was how Valeria showed her social graces, I shuddered to imagine what Aethling society must be like. “Empathy seems really foreign to you Aethlings, huh?”
“I’d just like to understand what he sees in you. Do you know why we call him the Dragon?”
I blinked at the sudden change of subject. What was Valeria driving at? “I guess I just assumed that he was, you know, a dragon,” I said sheepishly.
“He is,” Valeria acknowledged. “But why the Dragon? Hadn’t you wondered?”
I shrugged and shook my head. Things had been a little too hectic for me to give minor word choices much thought.
“His title is the Dragon of Alkazar because he is the only one who is left.”
I had to admit that my curiosity was piqued despite my anger and annoyance at the situation. “Did there used to be many more of them?”
“Once. Centuries ago they flourished in both the Ether-Realm and the human world. The more famous among them made their way into many of your stories and legends. But then the war with the Frystfolk began, and their numbers have dwindled ever since.” Her mouth twisted. “All our numbers have dwindled.”
“Frystfolk… you called Vash a Frystlord. So that’s why he’s hunting Kaden? Some centuries-old war?”
Valeria nodded and poked another sliver of meat toward her snoozing drake, who opened one eye and snapped it up. “Yes, but the grudge between them goes even deeper. Kaden’s family were the last in a long line of dragon royalty, and the last of the dragons who lived openly in our world. They hunted Frystlords for generations, but Vash was among t
he strongest of their enemies. About a decade ago, he struck back against them in a daring counter-maneuver, using his dark magic and his ties to the Eldritch to bind them down in their own home. He killed Kaden’s family in front of him, Ella. Kaden himself only survived because he fled while Vash finished them, which gave Kaden time to reach my father. Ancient treaties between our people required us to take him in and protect him.”
It felt like someone had shoved an icy dagger through my heart. “I… I had no idea that Kaden lost his family like that,” I said stiffly. “It must have been very hard for him.”
“No doubt it was. I knew him when he was young, and our guest has… changed. Considerably. He is much harder than he once was.”
I could understand that. Losing your family wasn’t something you ever truly recovered from, even with a warm adoptive family. You just moved on. I knew that firsthand, and I couldn’t imagine growing up with only these cold Aethlings surrounding you. Poor Kaden… I need to know more, though.
“But I don’t understand,” I said. “If he’s your guest, then why does he rule in Alkazar?”
Valeria frowned. “Yes, Rhys has always seethed about that. The Frystfolk war is not only against the dragons. The Aethlings have battled them for far longer, and the assault upon the dragons was simply a new tactic for them in our ongoing war. Their people have always been strong in the art of sorcery, but they also have certain weaknesses that Vash exploited ruthlessly. Kaden has vowed vengeance on Vash for the loss of his family, which my father the king greatly admired. My father raised him and trained him in the ways of war, and Kaden came to them naturally. When my father secluded himself below the palace in his enchanted slumber, he named Kaden as our warlord and general in the battle against the Frystfolk.”
“Why did your father seclude himself?”
Valeria’s eyes darkened. “I… I would rather not speak of that, if you don’t mind. It is not relevant to Kaden’s story, and it’s a painful memory for me.”
Flame Stirred (Seeking the Dragon Book 3) Page 2