by Eva Chase
At the front of their procession strode a woman even taller than the others. The silvery blond waves of her hair streamed across her shoulders and down over her filmy dress all the way to her ankles. Her large eyes glittered like black diamonds. A faint shimmer rose off her hair and skin. A crown of living vine coiled around the top of her head, but even without that, I’d have known she was the monarch.
My back stiffened, but I kept my expression as calm as I could manage. We walked to meet the fae in the center of the clearing, Aaron and Nate drawing close by my sides, West and Marco flanking us. The other avian shifters circled in the air just overhead.
“Monarch,” Aaron said, with a slight dip of his head. “We appreciate you coming out to speak with us.”
The fae woman’s gaze barely glanced off him. She looked me over, her face impassive. “So this is the new dragon shifter.”
So this is the woman who killed the last one, I wanted to say, but I held my tongue. Direct accusations of murder weren’t very diplomatic. “Here I am. It’s good to meet you.” So I can finally get some answers.
“And what is the reason for this parlay?” the monarch asked, her gaze sliding back to Aaron now. As if he were more worthy of her attention than me.
I couldn’t help bristling a little. “I requested it,” I said, “because I have questions about the fae presence in the mountain over Sunridge. And also, now that I’m here, about the enchantment placed on a certain tree along our path through the neutral ground.”
The monarch frowned, her eyes carefully blank. “Sunridge? The name sounds vaguely familiar, but I can’t say it’s a place I’ve given much consideration. And I know nothing about any tree.”
Yeah right, she didn’t. “There was magic on it,” I said. “An enchantment for it to attack me. No one except a fae could have done that.”
“Are you sure? You haven’t exactly had much exposure to our kind, have you? From what I understand, you haven’t seen much even of your own people.”
Okay, now my hackles were really up. Was that how she wanted to play this? Nate stirred, but I held out a hand for him to stand down. I didn’t need him fighting this battle. I wasn’t going to make it far as dragon shifter unless the fae monarch learned to respect me.
“I know enough,” I said. “And I have my alphas when I need extra guidance. I didn’t need any help at all to see what your people did to my mother on that mountain.”
A flicker of something passed through the fae woman’s face, so fast an ordinary human wouldn’t have caught it. But I wasn’t human.
“The last I heard of your mother, she’d run off from the kin groups many years ago,” the monarch said, but she was lying. I felt it through every bone in my body.
I drew myself taller. Maybe not as tall as her, but I had a whole lot more meat on my bones, so I had to look a little intimidating. “There is a treaty between your people and mine. You will take responsibility for the crimes committed by yours. But if you really want to try me, go right ahead and lie to my face again.”
Behind me, Marco smothered something that might have been a snicker. A chill glittered in the monarch’s eyes. “Are these your people?” she said in a cutting voice. “From what I can see, you’ve barely accepted two of their leaders as your chosen mates. And you’re speaking to me of responsibilities?”
My throat went abruptly hot, fire flickering at its base. My skin tingled with the itch to take on its scales. I kept the impulse to shift in control, just barely. “It’s still my life. I will make my choices in my own time. I’d have been more ready for them if your people hadn’t taken my mother from me. But I am ready to make you answer for those crimes.”
Aaron took a slight step forward. His voice rang out. “As alpha of the avian kin, I stand with Serenity Drake completely.”
Nate lifted his head. “As alpha of the disparate kin, I stand with Serenity Drake completely.”
Marco moved to stand at Aaron’s side. “As alpha of the feline kin, I stand with Serenity Drake completely. And I will for the rest of her life, wherever it takes her.”
I’d never heard him sound so serious. A piece of the hurt I’d still been feeling fell away.
Before I could wonder if the wolf shifter would extend his loyalty that far, he appeared next to Nate. “As alpha of the canine kin, I stand with Serenity Drake completely. When she demands your respect, she speaks for all of us.” He glowered at the monarch.
The fae woman made a faint sniffing sound. “I have told you what I know. I have seen no proof of the crimes you claim. If all you’ve called me here for is baseless accusations, I’ve given you enough of my time.”
She swiveled on her heel. Her fae attendants parted around her to give her room to pass through.
She really was going to just walk away from me. As if I had no authority at all. As if she owed me nothing, after everything her people had taken from me.
No. She was going to learn right this moment what a mistake it was to dismiss this dragon shifter. It didn’t matter how long I’d been gone or how some of the bigwigs might talk about me. I was here now with my alphas by my side, and I claimed this power as mine.
“Stay right there,” I snapped, my voice already hoarsening. I had just enough wherewithal in my fury to tug off my silk dress as the shift came over me.
My muscles stretched and sang, the burn only pleasant now. Flames seared the back of my lengthening throat. I rose and loomed, flexing my massive wings.
The fae monarch whirled around. She didn’t look so tall now, standing beneath my dragon’s body. I peered at her with narrowed eyes. She gave me a cold smile. A crackle of magical energy glittered around her body.
“To attempt to harm me would be an act of war,” she sneered.
But I didn’t want to harm her. No, the sizzling in my throat was the fire of the crystal, the fire of that gift of truth. I’d been afraid to try to claim it before, but I shouldn’t have been. It was mine, and I trusted myself. This woman needed to know exactly who she was dealing with.
I opened my mouth and breathed from deep down in my chest, where a ring of loss ached around my heart.
Flames poured down over the monarch. They shattered her protective shield. Her attendants shrieked. But the flames weren’t the bright yellow and orange fire that would have burned her to a crisp. They flickered white and violet, surrounding the fae woman in sharp shards of light.
Burning through to the truth.
Her eyes widened. Her lips parted, her hands clutching at the base of her throat as if she were trying to hold back her voice. But it spilled out anyway, wavering through the flames.
“I heard of your mother’s death,” she said, sounding choked. “I knew a group of fae were responsible, but no one else did, so I let it be. I have not punished them. There are others I’ve heard speaking out against the shifters. I haven’t encouraged them, but I haven’t stopped them either. If one used magic against you today, I can easily guess who it was.”
Her attendants fell back around her, gaping at her admission. Aaron fixed her with a stare of steel. “Why have you let those crimes slide?”
The monarch’s lips twisted, but my flames still surrounded her. “It’s been easier for us while the shifter community was disordered. We’ve been able to claim more territory, refuse more compromises. I was happy to let that situation continue.”
I winced inside at the admission. A hotter fire tickled the base of my throat, wanting to punish her for all the hurt she’d allowed to happen. I held it at bay and sent another gust of the truthful flames over her. My dragon form was starting to quiver with the strain of this unfamiliar power.
“Will you accept Serenity’s authority and ours from now on?” Nate asked.
“Yes,” the fae woman gasped. “As much as I have to.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. But I couldn’t produce another burst of flames. I let them peter out, just barely holding on to my dragon shape. I stayed there and glowered down at her.
I’d gotten the better of her this time, but she wasn’t going to forget it. Whatever conflict had been brewing between the fae and the shifters, it was far from done.
“These accusations don’t seem so ‘baseless’ now that you’ve admitted they’re true, monarch,” Marco said archly. “Where do you say we go from here?”
She seemed to catch a scowl. “I will make reparations,” she said. “The fae who have acted against the shifters in any way will be punished according to the treaty. So will others in future if I hear of it myself. You have my word.”
That last sentence settled in the air with a supernatural finality. We could trust her at least that far. I guessed we couldn’t exactly ask her to commit to feeling any particular way about the shifters.
I bowed my head, blinking at her, and a shiver passed through her skinny body. “Does that resolve our business here?” she asked.
“Other than one thing,” Aaron said. “When you address your people who’ve acted against us, that should also include any who’ve helped rogue shifters make attacks on us or the rest of our community. Agreed?”
She nodded with a jerk. “Agreed.”
She shot me one last look before she turned with a sweep of that flowing hair. A look that told me she was beaten for now, but not forever.
But as victories went? I’d take that.
When the fae had disappeared back into the forest, I released my dragon form. My body crumpled with a shudder. I gasped a breath down my suddenly sore throat. The power I’d been granted had felt amazing, but it’d left my body throbbing.
Nate offered me my dress. I slid it back on, regaining my balance. “All right,” I said. “Let’s go home.”
Chapter 21
Nate
“I don’t know why I feel so shaken up,” Ren said. “I already knew she was dead, and that the fae killed her.”
She rubbed her hand over her face. We were standing in her bedroom in front of the mirror where she’d been combing the dark brown waves of her hair. They spilled smoothly over her shoulders and the neckline of the teal dress she’d chosen for tonight’s farewell gala. Tomorrow we were moving on to my estate to the south.
I rested my hand on the small of her back, and she leaned into me automatically. Touching her had always made my heart leap, but nothing could compare to the steady heat of the connection that now thrummed between us. A bond that should last as long as we both lived.
“You didn’t know how much approval those fae had from their monarch,” I said. “You had to hear her talk as if your mother’s murder meant nothing to her. Of course that bothered you.”
“Yeah. I guess that makes sense.” She drew in a long breath and squared her shoulders. “Back out into the fray.”
I chuckled, taking her hand as we headed for the door. “Just remember that you did what you came here to do. We can’t bring your mother back, but we are getting justice for her. And you got it using the power she always wanted you to have.”
Ren nodded, her hand rising to the hollow of her throat.
The courtyard in front of the avian estate was already teaming with shifters, like it had been when we’d first shown up two nights ago. A band was playing a jaunty tune on the steps, and people everywhere were dancing. Ren swayed my arm in time with the music, but I had two left feet when it came to keeping a rhythm.
“I think I’d better hand you off to Aaron if you’re in the mood for dancing,” I said with a grin. The eagle shifter was already making his way over to us.
“I’ll be back,” Ren said, with a quick peck on my lips. I watched as Aaron swept her away, spinning her and dipping her. Our dragon shifter laughed, her eyes shining, and the warmth in my heart grew.
She was finding her home here with us, in spite of all the tragedy in her life before now.
“And we’re staking our livelihoods on that,” a voice muttered just behind me.
The grizzly in me bristled automatically. I glanced around and spotted one of the couples who’d been sitting across from Ren at last night’s dinner—one of the ones who’d sniped at her for every minor mistake. The man was the one who’d spoken. The woman was shaking her head in dismay.
“I know. It’s shameful.”
I gritted my teeth against a roar. My fingers itched to sprout my claws and smack those two bird-brain heads together. My hands clenched—and then I remembered everything Ren had said to me before.
She wouldn’t want me making a scene in the middle of this party on her behalf. I could defend her without going into full bear mode.
“You’d almost think—” the husband started, and I cleared my throat, turning all the way toward them.
“You’d almost think what?” I said, letting my voice drop just low enough to be mildly menacing.
The couple startled, their stances stiffening. The man’s jaw tightened. “I’m allowed to have whatever opinions I happen to hold about the people ruling over us.”
“True,” I said. “But if you’d seen how Serenity brought the monarch of all the fae to her knees earlier today, I don’t think you’d be complaining. Or do you think you could make the fae tremble at the sight of you?”
His mouth opened and then closed again as he struggled for words. Yeah, that’s what I’d thought.
“Talk to the guards who came along with us if you don’t trust your own alpha’s word,” I said. “They’ll tell you just how powerful our dragon shifter is.”
“I suppose we will,” the woman said. She grasped her husband’s elbow and tugged him away. Which was for the best, because if they’d tried to take another jab at Ren, I couldn’t have promised I’d have kept my animal instincts in check any longer.
“Defending our dragon shifter’s honor again?” West said dryly. He’d come up beside me while I’d been distracted.
I frowned at the wolf shifter. “If you’re here to snark, I don’t really want to hear it. After this afternoon, even you have to admit she’s something special.”
West’s gaze slid past me to where Ren was still dancing with Aaron. Her hair flew out around her face as he whirled her around. Joy and love shone on her face. I couldn’t figure how any of us could have seen that and not felt his heart melt.
And maybe none of us could. West’s expression softened slightly. So did his voice. “Maybe I do,” he said. “Watching the monarch turn tail and flee... That really was something, wasn’t it?”
A glow of pride filled my chest. “That was our dragon shifter.”
That was my mate.
Ren
A sudden hush fell over the crowd around Aaron and me. We’d just stopped to catch our breaths after dancing for three songs straight. I looked up, and my body tensed.
A thin, pale figure had appeared at the edge of the courtyard, gleaming against the darkness. A fae man. He held his hand up with a motion I instinctively knew was a truce gesture. He meant no harm here.
But that didn’t make me happy to see him.
Aaron stepped forward to meet the fae man, and I followed. The man’s searching gaze stilled when it landed on us. He held out his other hand, which was shining with a sharper light.
“The monarch wishes you to know her word has been kept,” he said. He whipped his hand upward.
A scattering of tiny lights burst apart over our heads. The fragments glittered and faded into the cooling night air.
“What—” I started, but the fae man had already vanished. Murmurs rose up through the crowd, startled and awed. I turned to Aaron. “What was that all about?”
He looked up at the sky where the lights had disappeared, his expression solemn. “The monarch followed the terms of the treaty, according to their laws. The fae who acted to harm us and your mother have had their lights snuffed out.”
“Oh.” My stoma
ch balled. I followed his gaze, thinking of those lives wiped out.
Just like they’d destroyed my mother’s life. Just like they’d treated the rogue the fae woman in the mountain had claimed they’d found stalking us. That was how the fae worked, apparently. Quick and brutal.
Not the kind of enemies I really wanted to keep.
“The conflict between us and them isn’t over, is it?” I said.
Aaron’s mouth set in a grim line. “No, I don’t think it is. But we’re better prepared for whatever they try next than we’ve ever been before. And now my kin have all seen the sway you hold over them too.”
He looked at me and smiled. I couldn’t help smiling back. Maybe it was okay to pretend, just for a little while, that all our problems were solved.
The celebration wound down as night thickened around us. My eyelids were heavy by the time I found myself meandering down the estate’s hall toward my rooms with my four alphas in tow.
When I caught sight of my door up ahead, a longing squeezed tight around my heart. Some part of my mind tripped back seven years to the nights curled up in the otherwise-empty apartment that had been my mother’s, waiting with less and less hope every time to hear her key in the door.
I never wanted to feel that alone again. I shouldn’t, now that I’d found my mates. But just knowing they’d be on the other side of those walls suddenly didn’t feel like enough.
Nate moved to head to his own rooms, and I held out my hand. “No. Stay with me?” My gaze slid over my other mates: Aaron calm and steady, Marco amused but slightly uncertain, West as gruff as ever. “All of you. I want you to stay. Please? I’m not asking anything more than that. I just don’t want to sleep alone.”
I knew Aaron and Nate didn’t really need to be asked. Marco gave me his sly smile and said, “As you wish, Princess of Flames.” West looked as if he’d bit back a scowl, but he inclined his head, as if to say he’d go along with the request begrudgingly.