by Lisa Daneils
“Yes, you will. We both know you will.” The prince’s feeble smile did not reach his eyes.
“If you believe that, then you had better live to see me prove you wrong.”
“If you threaten to prove me wrong, that’s all the more incentive to let go, isn’t it?”
“Oh, you stubborn young fool.”
“I’m older than you,” Greyson responded, his lower lip jutting out a little.
“You aren’t even a quarter of the way through your life span, but I’m at the end of mine. Why am I explaining this to you?” Cinthia’s eyebrows furrowed, and she did something to the wound to make the dragon shifter wince. “If you are older, then you should act like it.”
“You remind me so much of my mother.”
This seemed to momentarily catch Cinthia off guard, before finally she couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, you are smooth. Did you learn that from Aiden?”
He smiled back, and this time Greyson’s eyes shone. “Maybe.”
“That would certainly explain a lot. Look, the last thing this world needs is another Aiden. He is a marvelous creature, but with the way he represses his emotions, let’s just say there is a lot of reason for concern.”
Rhionnan stepped forward, “I’m sorry, but who is Aiden?”
Greyson’s eyes shifted to her, then closed as he turned his face away from her.
Cinthia pinched his arm. “She’s incredibly worried about you, you idiot. She isn’t being nosy about you in any way.”
“She didn’t nearly break her ankle outside of your window recently.”
“That’s—alright, that’s a fair point. But I mean right now, she isn’t asking to learn about you.”
“I know,” he opened his eyes and stared at the stars. “I guess it’s time for the truth.”
With a sigh, Cinthia said, “Yes. Perhaps this is one of those times where they were right about honesty. But that goes for both of you as well.” Her eyes turned to the guard. “Young man, I know that you cannot leave us. So could you please step just out of earshot, over there?” She signaled with her head, “If we need you, one of us will call. Though judging by the wound, Greyson really only needs an hour or so to heal.”
The young man nodded and moved away to give them some privacy.
Cinthia looked at Greyson, “You realize that this means you are going to have to refrain from flying for a day or two.”
He groaned, “Kill me now.”
“I know that it is bad to be grounded like most of the rest of us, but it isn’t worse than death. What would Liam say?”
“You are stalling,” those fiery eyes bore into hers.
Cinthia wrinkled her nose, “Oh, now you are going to act like an adult?”
“Someone has to when you try to act like a scatterbrain.”
“That tongue is not going to win you friends.”
“You are still stalling.”
“I’m trying to collect my thoughts.” Finally, Cinthia turned to look at Rhionnan. “You should probably sit down.”
“How… were you being serious about him being better soon?”
“Oh yes. Dragon shifters heal faster than any other living creature. This would have killed nearly any other kind of shifter, but he,” she looked down at the prince, “let’s just say if he hadn’t stormed off right after the fight, he would be all better by now. He’s just pushed himself too much, refusing to let it heal.”
“That’s good.” She shook her head, “Not the part where he isn’t letting it heal, but the part where he is getting better.”
“You realize we are going to have to talk about why he is trying to sabotage the healing process?” Cinthia looked at her.
“Yes, I do. And I am willing to take responsibility for that.” Both Cinthia and Greyson gave her a strange look. “But for now, I am more curious about how you would know about the dragon shifter healing process.”
“Do you think that I can just let that go? What do you mean by—”
Rhionnan pursed her lips, “You are stalling.”
Greyson started to laugh, then covered his mouth. Cinthia frowned, “Don’t tell me you guys are going to gang up on me now? And all I’m trying to do is help.” Neither Greyson nor Rhionnan seemed interested in letting her get away with stalling anymore. “Fine. Where should I start?”
Chapter 9
Cinthia’s Secret
“The best place to start is the beginning, Cinthia,” Greyson said, nudging his temporary nurse.
“Well, that means going back to—oh, I see, haha, funny.” She turned to Rhionnan, “I’m not… human either.”
Rhionnan looked between them, her mind not quite able to process the thought. That certainly was not what she had been expecting. “Have you hit your head? Are you feeling alright?”
“Flattering, Your Highness, but I’m not.” She struggled to stand up. Greyson offered her a hand and helped her as Rhionnan grabbed her other arm. “Thanks, you two. Now, to make this go a little faster.”
Cinthia moved away from them, entering a part of the pavilion that would not have been visible from the inn. Looking around her, Cinthia sighed, “It has been so long, I’m not expecting this to feel pleasant.” The words were no sooner out of her mouth than her body began to change, shifting into something much shorter and softer-looking. Rhionnan blinked a few times, then covered her mouth.
Greyson smiled at Cinthia, “Huh, you know I’ve never seen anyone in their wolf form before. It looks good on you.”
The wolf snarled. Ignoring the response, Greyson whispered loudly to Rhionnan, “You had best go help her. She’s going to be off balance when she returns to her human form.”
Cinthia stretched a little, then began to chase her tail a bit. Giving a little yip, she bolted off toward an open space away from the pavilion.
Rhionnan stared at where her friend was as Greyson corrected himself. “I guess she had forgotten how good it feels. This might take a while.”
“She’s a shifter,” Rhionnan breathed.
“Yes, a very sweet woman who had an unbelievably rough life. To escape a rather messed-up family, she decided to live with the humans. She’s one of the few of her parents’ children who has survived.” Greyson sat up a little, his eyes following something in the darkness.
“Does that mean that her husband is a shifter?” Rhionnan asked, moving over to sit near Greyson.
“Not at all. He’s a full human, as least as far as I’ve heard. The fact that he can be near animals without upsetting them means that he isn’t any of the shifter types.”
“Cinthia spends a lot of time with animals.”
“Yeah, well, wolf shifters are the exception, not the rule.”
“What? Why?”
“Because they are so attuned to the emotions of others. Like wolves and other canines, they have a keen sense of how people are feeling, even without a word. That’s why she figured out about us so damn quickly. Thanks for that.” He gave Rhionnan a wry look.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“If I would have realized that your companion that day was a wolf shifter, I wouldn’t have left so quickly, no matter how much you hated my presence.”
“I—” Rhionnan felt a stab to her heart at his characterization.
He waved it off, “Let me guess. She played dumb, got you talking, and you talked about me.”
“Well, she didn’t…” Rhionnan’s mind went back to that reunion. Cinthia had been full of questions, but then she always was. In a matter of seconds, she had managed to get Rhionnan to talk about the agreement between the shifters and humans, and then had started talking about the two of them. Rhionnan’s mouth dropped open.
Greyson gave a derisive laugh, “Yeah, they are crafty bastards, wolf shifters. One whiff of emotion, and they will play you like a child with a ball. It’s fortunate that they are the least powerful of the bunch. That and they are far less serious than the rest of us.”
“This whole time, I have been in the compa
ny of a shifter, and had no idea.”
“Ironic, isn’t it?” He gave her a look, but quickly turned away. “I imagine this means she is likely to leave you now. She has to know how you feel about shifters after the last few days.”
Rhionnan reached out her hand to touch his shoulder. She wanted to confess her motives from so long ago, but the sound of a person approaching them stopped her. Looking up, Rhionnan saw Cinthia walking toward them, a huge smile on her face. With a little shiver, she began to gush, “Oh, I had not realized just how much I had missed it.”
“Why have you hidden it all of these years?” Rhionnan asked. “You weren’t afraid of my reaction, were you?”
“Don’t flatter yourself. It was the reaction of all you humans that concerned me, not just you,” Cinthia quipped in a tone that was very different than what the queen was accustomed to from the woman. “Think about Clark’s reaction to Greyson, and you tell me what reason I had to hide what I am from you lot.”
“Then why live with us if you don’t trust us?”
Cinthia sat down, her hand fanning her face, “Because I got so attached, especially to my husband. And to you. I was entirely disappointed by the way you and Clark treated my sweet little Greyson here when literally all he was trying to do was protect you. It’s absolutely astounding how little humans pick up about the world around them. Almost as little as dragon shifters.” She wrinkled her nose at Greyson.
“Watch it, you. You know why we have trouble.”
“Cold-blooded animals,” she said.
“Jealousy doesn’t suit you, my dear.”
“Who would be jealous of your bonding to the land and being the life force that keeps your people alive? No one, that’s who.”
Rhionnan turned to look at him. “What is she talking about?”
“He didn’t tell you?” Cinthia gave him a look of shock, then winked.
“Wolf, so help me, I will—”
“You’ll what? Try to shame me to death? Please, save your hollow threats for humans.”
Greyson laughed while Rhionnan looked on, offended. “I have to say that I am feeling less and less comfortable here.”
“Oh, don’t worry. You really aren’t like most humans. Though I have to admit you have been acting too much like them of late. But he’s no saint either. When his young brother, Liam, married a while back, this reckless brute threatened his bride. On their wedding day.”
“I didn’t want her to hurt him.” Greyson’s voice was pouty, and though he wasn’t looking directly at Rhionnan, she felt he was taking a shot at her. Averting her eyes, she felt that he was probably right.
“You terrified the poor girl. And she didn’t do anything to you apart from trying to welcome you to her kingdom.”
“Hey, wait,” Greyson sat up a little more. “How do you even know about that?”
“Have you forgotten that my family has a long history with the Blue Kingdom?” The look Cinthia shot at Greyson was completely out of character, at least for the person that Rhionnan had always known.
“Divines damned Aiden,” Greyson mumbled, slumping over.
“Don’t worry. He has no idea about you spending the last 10 years fighting over here. No more of an idea about that than you have about what he is dealing with at home.”
Greyson frowned, and for the first time in nearly 10 years, Rhionnan saw him fidget. “Just what is he—”
“Ask him yourself.”
“I couldn’t possibly ask—”
“Then why are you asking me?”
“Stubborn wolf,” Greyson said, folding his arms across his chest.
“Childish dragon,” Cinthia shot back.
Rhionnan shook her head, “I’m sorry, just what is your relationship? It seems like you have known each other for a very long time.”
“Not at all. We’ve only met a few times.”
“I think the last time was 50 years ago.”
Greyson concurred, “That sounds about right. You’ve changed a lot since then.”
“Why do I get the feeling you don’t mean that as a compliment?”
“It wasn’t meant as an insult. I just… it’s a bit difficult to be reminded of how quickly even other shifters fade.”
“Well, we can’t all be centuries old when we pass, now, can we? Then children would become incredibly rare, just like in your kingdoms. You do realize that is one of the reasons why your kings decided to marry you off to humans, right?”
“It’s because they are cruel, heartless—”
“No, Greyson. I know you have come to loathe your father, but he really was not trying to make you miserable.”
“Liam told him about my relationship with a human, and the king almost banished me. The only reason he didn’t was because I was already bonded to it.”
“Oh,” Cinthia looked surprised. “I’m... I’m sorry, Greyson, I didn’t—”
“Yeah, so don’t go telling me he isn’t so bad. It hasn’t been a decade since he learned of my… connection with humans, and now he is forcing us to marry. Well, Liam may be fool enough to do it, but I refuse.”
Cinthia took a deep breath before responding, “It is necessary. Have you not noticed how the lands of all three kingdoms have been in trouble over the last century? One kingdom even ceased to be a while back. Before my time, but I assume it is for a similar problem.”
“Well, Liam is rebuilding it.”
“Really?” Cinthia’s eyes lit up. “Wait. Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Very, but apparently, it is working. First he bonded to the lands of his wife, then he started to bond with the southern realm. It’s slow going, but there are no negative signs yet.”
“You mean it didn’t kill him out right,” Cinthia responded.
“No, thank the divines, he is still alive. And apparently he will be a father any day now.”
“Really!” Cinthia began to bounce in her seat, “Oh, how I wish I could see the child. Oh, the plan is already working.”
“What are you talking about?” Greyson scowled at her.
“The kings decided that the only way to reduce the problems with the land was to inject new blood. It wasn’t possible with any other shifters, and humans needed help. It was a win all around. Humans got protection. Dragon shifters got new blood. And new lands, it sounds like.”
“Yeah, that was a surprise to everyone,” Greyson confided. “Still, it is incredibly underhanded of them to do that. And why not tell us that? Why insist on it without giving us reason?”
“Which of the three of the dragon shifter heirs would have accepted that for a reason? Especially after what happened to you?”
“It really didn’t go any better trying to force us without giving us a reason.”
“Your brother is already married. How long do you think it will take Ethan to follow suit? Granted, there are equal odds that neither you nor Aiden will agree to it, but if it works for two of four, then other dragon shifters might feel encouraged to do the same. It is easier to break a taboo by starting at the top.”
Greyson pouted, “I hate being kept in the dark. It is a horrible method of ruling.”
“And how many people know you are here?”
“I’m not ruling anything.”
“But you are supposed to,” Cinthia said softly. “If Liam has already started to bond elsewhere, you can’t stay here. You know that. You can’t keep being reckless now because your brother can’t take over now.”
“I don’t need to hear it from you.”
“That wound on your abdomen says otherwise.”
He covered the wound, “It happened because I was trying to protect everyone and they were too close for me to move freely.”
“You flew off with a terrible wound, and didn’t come down until around the time we arrived here. That was reckless endangerment to your body, and it is a miracle that you didn’t fall out of the sky somewhere.”
Greyson pouted, but said nothing in response.
“And you
,” Cinthia turned on Rhionnan, “this whole time, you have been dumber than I’ve ever seen you. Tell him what you are thinking, and stop pretending you want to talk about something else. He deserves to know.”
Rhionnan looked away from her, “He doesn’t want to hear it.”
“The problem is that you are too much of a coward to say it. Be the queen that I came to love and respect instead of this brat who is making everyone miserable. Or so help me, I will leave this kingdom and take my family with me.”
Cinthia stood up and headed over to the guard. Within a few minutes, she had him helping her make little flower wreaths and laughing.
“She is such a little busybody,” Greyson muttered. “It’s fine. You don’t have to say anything.”
“You stayed to help because she asked you to stay,” Rhionnan was looking at him.
Greyson gave a little nod of his head, but said nothing else.
Rhionnan lowered herself to the floor. “She is quite the busybody, but it doesn’t sound like you are that close. Why would you help her?”
He shrugged, but still said, “She’s a good woman. And if Aiden found out that I didn’t save her, well, shape shifters would be the least of my problems. He’s probably the only dragon shifter who cares about the wolf shifters, mostly because they force people to deal with emotions.”
“And dragon shifters aren’t very good with emotions.”
Greyson exhaled in a way that could have been either a laugh or a sigh. Then he tried to stand. “Well, I had best be going.”
“Wait,” Rhionnan said, grabbing his hand. “If you… aren’t too against the idea, I really want to talk to you.”
“Why would you want to talk to me? I thought you never wanted to see me again.” His eyes were getting colder.
Taking a deep breath, Rhionnan admitted, “I was afraid that something was going to happen to you if we stayed together. My stepfather was the reason that the shape shifters were able to cause so much trouble. And he did that because he found out about us. After I saw you get hurt that last time, I was… scared that something might happen and that you would die. The fact that you seemed torn up about lying to your family, well, I figured if we weren’t together, you would be safer and happier.”