She rolled onto her side, intending to rise and follow him out of the room, to demand answers, but her muscles wouldn’t respond. A deep-seated exhaustion took hold and dragged her into the black abyss.
Serena woke up in a soft bed on luxurious linens with heavy blankets cocooning her in decadent warmth. She burrowed deeper into them trying to capture a few more minutes of restful slumber. In spite of her comfortable position, every inch of her body ached. Giving up on sleep, she groaned and cracked one eye open, shutting it back when bright light speared into her brain. She cried out in pain, whimpering when the light was too much to bear.
“Ahh, you’re awake,” a soft, cultured male voice said from somewhere off to her right.
Through her closed eyelids, she was aware of the light in the room changing. The red glow subsided, leaving inky blackness in its place. Afraid to move more than necessary but whispering through a clenched jaw, she asked, “Who are you?”
“We met last night. I am Altus, princess.” His voice was much closer this time. At her bedside, if her training hadn’t failed her this time.
With an exhausted groan, Serena opened her eyes all the way and pushed up into a sitting position, swallowing the waves of nausea crashing over her like the ocean at high tide.
“Perhaps you should take it easy, princess. No harm will come to you in my company.”
“Why do you keep doing that?” She swallowed. Her mouth was dry, and her throat burned.
“Doing what?” He held a pewter wrought goblet out to her.
Serena accepted the cup and examined it, the liquid within was pale gold with light droplets of condensation on the outside of the stem and bowl. When she inhaled, the scent of honey vanilla with a hint of ginger filled her nostrils. Her eyes slid halfway closed, and she sighed. “What is this?” Something tugged at the edge of her memory, an incessant buzzing around her ears.
“It is a cordial our people have used for centuries. Besides being one of your favorites, princess.” He took a breath, waiting for a response that didn’t come. “I assure you, it is not poison but will help ease your pains. As I said, our people have used it for centuries.”
“You’ve done it again. Why do you insist on calling me princess?”
“Drink.”
“Answer.”
“You always were headstrong, even with your mother and father, our queen and king.”
“The king is dead, and the queen is not my mother.” Serena’s grip on the goblet tightened, and the thorns dug into the flesh of her palm and fingers.
“You speak of the Illedrian throne. Anastasia is not your sovereign nor was the late King Killian.”
“I am the Lady Governor of Lakeshire province.”
“You are Princess Serena NicArryan. The only living heir of the Arryan, the ruling clan of the Dragon Fey, such as we are. Now. Drink, princess.”
“Impossible.” Her response was breathy as voices whispered through her mind. Something seemed terribly wrong and horribly right at the same time. She closed her eyes, trying to focus on the voices, but they drifted into nothingness, leaving her bereft. Without thinking, she lifted the goblet to her lips and drank. “The Dragon Fey are nothing more than tales told to young children.” She shook her head and set the cup on the bedside table. “Besides, I don’t look very…” she said while trying to pull a mockingly scary face… “dragony.”
“Tell me.” Altus settled into a chair, a few feet from the bed. He steepled his long fingers underneath his chin. “What do you recall before waking here?”
“I remember one of those thugs coming into my cell. He informed me of Jeffery Dennsmore’s death and that his daughter, Katia had no use for me.” She shuddered, feeling their hands on her again.
“That man is dead, princess, they all are. None of them will harm another ever again.”
Serena gasped a shuddering breath and pulled the blankets up to her chest, clutching them close as though they were made of chainmail, not cloth. “I got free. I ran. I thought I could escape. I was wrong.” Her voice was dead, no emotion giving words life. “Fire from the sky. Some of it hit me.” She paused, a scowl appearing. “It didn’t burn.”
When she remained silent for several long moments, he asked, “What else?” The spell her parents had laid upon her at the moment of their deaths was breaking down now that Serena had assumed her dragon form once more, and he hoped that meant the rest of her memories would return with time.
“Pain, ripping, tearing, my bones growing, changing. My skin stretching, scratching… scales,” she whispered the last word and held up her hand as if searching for confirmation.
“As I mentioned last night, you are Serena NicArryan. Only daughter of Queen Ellesandra and King Rafe of the Dragon Fey Clans. You had four elder brothers, and from the day you were born, you brought great joy to our people.” Altus leaned forward and met her eyes. “When you were five years old, the human queen sent an envoy to our clans. After several rounds of negotiation, your mother was prepared to sign a treaty with the human kingdom of Illedria. The Dark Fey attacked. By the time word reached the nearest warrior clan and they found the campsite, it was too late. Everyone had been slaughtered, men, women, children, warriors, artisans, innocents and elite. Some believed you were among the dead. However, it was soon discovered you had gone missing.” Altus stood and paced between the bed and the large fireplace a few feet away. “You must understand, princess, our kind is ruled through the maternal line. Though your brothers were older, you were the heir apparent. With the rest of your family dead, we fell into chaos. During the first few months, parties went searching for you, to no avail. After a time, the clans drifted apart. Since then, our numbers have been dwindling with each passing year.”
“How did you find me?”
“Chance. Pure dumb luck.” Altus paused and shook his head. “Most of our remaining people are nomadic though a few of us settle down in one place for extended periods of time.” His eyes seemed to scan the room, a slight melancholy smile curling his lips. “This keep was once your family home. The seat of power for our people. The thugs took it over several years after your parents’ death. Since the remainder of our kind are nomadic, most have not returned. Imagine my shock when I came back to begin preparations for your return and found you, being held by Dark Fey conspirators, in this very place, princess.”
“I have never been anything more than human,” she insisted though the whispers in the back of her mind seemed to have different ideas.
“You hear them, don’t you?”
“Hear what?”
“Close your eyes.”
Serena raised an eyebrow and frowned, but she did as he asked.
“Tell me what you hear.”
“You talking,” she snapped.
A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Other than that.”
She let out her breath on a sigh and listened, halfheartedly.
The whispered voices stayed in the background, but everyday sounds… the rustling of leaves in the trees, birdsong and the occasional creak of the floorboards… all fell away. In their place came something else. A steady thundering beat, like a massive heart.
Her eyes popped open, light and information flooding her mind, but the whispers and heartbeat remained. “What is that?” she demanded.
“That is what every Dragon Fey hears. The heartbeat of our kind. It is louder, easier for us to hear when there are more of us around.”
Serena shook her head and threw off the covers, her eye catching the embroidered pattern on the cuff of the shirt she didn’t remember putting on. It was Killian’s. Her heart constricted in her chest. For a moment, she fought to breathe, clutching her hand to her chest. Her beloved’s voice drifted out to the din, whispering her name, full of pain and sadness.
Swinging her legs off the bed, she stood. “I have to get back.” The world spun, and her legs gave out, as the ground came up to meet her. Serena heard Altus shout.
“Princess.”
/> “I have to get back,” she repeated using one of the bed’s four posts to climb to her feet.
“You cannot go.”
“You don’t understand. The man I love is there. If I do not return, he will be forced to marry another.” Serena looked around trying to find her clothes.
“It’s not that,” Altus insisted.
“Then, what is it?” She let go of the post and swayed for a second before feeling the world steady itself underneath her.
“You are not safe among humans.”
“I have lived among them for as long as I can remember.” She rounded on him, her hair a crown of flame framing her face, green-gold eyes flashing with an inner fire.
“Situations are different now, princess.” Altus fought against the urge to drop to his knees in obeisance. She must not have realized it, but her voice had changed. It had taken on an imperious tone that expected an answer without argument.
“How?” She straightened taller, pulling her shoulders back. “You keep calling me princess, insisting I am royalty. Well then, answer my question.”
“You are your mother’s daughter.” A small, sad smile curled his lips. “She was headstrong, even for a fey queen.”
Serena stared stupidly at him, lips parted, forgetting how to breathe. “You knew them?” she whispered, all thoughts of Killian chased from her mind.
“I did,” he whispered. “You remind me of your father but favor your mother.” He gave her precious little information, but enough, hoping to keep her from leaving. She couldn’t go before he had the chance to explain what was happening to her.
Tears filled Serena’s eyes, but as they spilled over, she dropped back onto the bed. She brought her hand up to wipe her wet cheeks and caught sight of the shirt cuff again. Killian’s scent filled her nose while the sound of his voice drifted through her mind at the forefront of the continuous whispers. “I…” she let out a shaky breath, “I have to go back.”
“Princess, you will find there is little our people will deny you.” Altus took a deep breath. “However, it would not be safe for you to return to Haven at this time.”
“Not safe?”
“Yes. I can’t be certain what happened, but knowing Rafe and Ellesandra as I did, I feel confident in saying they used their last breaths to cast the spell, concealing your identity for all of these years. With that spell broken, the dragon that resides within all of our kind will want to be freed.”
“What?”
“Each of our kind possesses the ability to become a dragon. You did it when you killed your Dark Fey conspirator captors and flew off. After you had been gone for so long, I thought you’d lost yourself and wouldn’t return, that you’d remain a dragon forever. It has been known to happen.”
“I didn’t. I came back here, and I’m just fine.”
“Close your eyes, princess.”
Serena hesitated for a moment before she complied with his request and waited.
“Listen,” he whispered. “Do you hear the heartbeat?”
Serena nodded, it was in perfect counterpoint with her own, a second deeper sound.
“That is the heart of your dragon. You feel the fire. The burning heart of what you… we are. You have been away from our people far too many years and will not have control of your dragon among the humans. It will be even more difficult if you are in highly emotional situations.” He paused, letting his words sink in. She frowned and, for a moment, her face fell as realization dawned. “I am sorry, princess, it is not safe. For you, or anyone else.”
“Gods, no,” she whispered. Dragging a hand through her hair, she pushed to her feet and stumbled across the room, catching herself on the wardrobe, panting. She sensed something was wrong but refused to acknowledge it. Serena held onto the wardrobe, so she didn’t fall to the floor. “There has to be a way. I can’t let him go on like this, thinking I’m either dead or worse, or that I don’t love him. Please, Altus, there has to be a way.”
He pinched his whiskered chin with two fingers as if deep in thought. “Tell me. Now that you’re separated from your love, how does it feel?”
“Why is that important?”
“I will tell you once you have answered the question.”
Serena frowned and lowered herself onto the small bench beside the wardrobe. Why shouldn’t I answer his question? Maybe he can help. He seems to know a lot about what’s going on. “I feel as though half of me has died. I’m missing a large, important part of myself. I can get through the days, but the world is a darker place.”
Altus swore in a language that tugged at the edge of her memory.
Serena heard a woman’s voice, one similar to her own, scolding someone who replied with a lilt of laughter in his words.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I believe we can and must work something out. The plan will require patience and understanding on your part, princess, and time. Perhaps several months.” He paced, raking a hand through his silver hair. “With time, you will be able to master your dragon enough to interact with human society again. Though I must ask why?”
“Why what?”
“Why must you return to the human world? Your beloved could be brought here and live amongst our kind. It has not often been done, but it is not unheard of,” Altus said.
Serena reached up and massaged the back of her neck. “That’s impossible. He would never abandon his people.”
Altus nodded, not wanting to push her any further on the subject. He suspected the princess was just as stubborn as her mother had been, but much like his late cousin, could be made to see reason if handled properly. “We can reach out to him. Explain the situation.”
Serena shook her head. That won’t work. He won’t stay away. I wouldn’t. “Whatever reason we come up with, whatever lie we tell him, it has to be something that will keep him away. He has a duty to his people and cannot rush to my side on a whim. He is needed there.”
Altus thought about it for a few moments. “Illness. Write to him, and tell him you are ill, and the healers have forbidden you to travel. Tell him all will be well, but you don’t want to risk his health too.” He paused. “It is not precisely a falsehood, yet also not the complete truth.”
Serena stood, still leaning against the wardrobe for support though her legs felt a little steadier underneath her. “I think I know what to do. I need a private place where I can write a letter and a messenger to deliver it safely to the palace in Haven.”
“The palace?”
“Yes.” She pulled the door of the wardrobe open and stared at the contents of her closet from Haven. Reaching inside, she touched one of the dresses Killian had ordered for her, his gift. One was missing, the gown she’d worn to his naming day ball.
“Why the palace?”
“That is where the message’s recipient lives.”
Serena answered confirming Altus’s suspicions about her beloved.
“I will make all the necessary arrangements. Since it appears you will not rest as you should, why don’t you get dressed? When you are ready, meet me in the study, and I can give you a tour of your home. After that, you can write the message.”
“Thank you.”
“My pleasure, princess.” He bowed before leaving the room.
Once she was alone, Serena took several deep breaths, fighting the urge to break down. I have to keep my emotions in check. Losing control, while satisfying, isn’t going to help the situation. I need to get dressed, talk to Altus, and figure out each step in turn so I can return to Haven… and Killian.
She let out a shaky breath. One thing at a time. As she talked herself through the plan, she walked to one of the trunks and gathered clothes, donning them like armor, a touchstone of the life where she desperately wanted to return.
When she stepped out of the room a short time later, Serena found herself facing a trio of the most disparate women she’d seen in a very long time. As a unit, they turned to face her and curtsied, all murmuring some version of her t
itle or honorific.
“How can I help you, ladies?”
The one with purple and silver hair stepped forward, dipping her head for a second before speaking. “We are your advisors and your guards. Altus asked us to escort you to the council chamber when you rose.”
“You are what?” Serena’s tone was firm, almost imperious, without being demanding.
“I warned Altus she’d be pissed,” the one on the left said. Her short-cropped hair, styled in messy spikes, was a spectrum of greens from so dark it appeared black to pale, almost white. The hilt of a half sword peeked out from behind her leather armor-clad shoulder.
“I’m not moving until I have some answers.” Serena folded her arms over her chest. “Simple questions. Your names and why Altus thought I needed three escorts.”
“I am Zanna. Altus believed we should accompany you as protection.”
The Dragon Fey with purple and silver hair, and eyes to match, held a staff in one hand. She was shorter than the other two. “It seems not all of our people are happy you’re safe and returned to us.” At Serena’s questioning look she added, “I am Bronwynn, your Highness.”
“I am a trained fighter, have held the rank of lieutenant in the Illedrian military, was a candidate for the Royal Guard and can handle myself in a fight.”
“Your Highness, I am Sibohan, and none of us doubt your ability, princess. You are, after all, your father’s daughter.” She stood in the middle, her hands resting on the hilts of daggers at her hips. “However, it has been months since you trained. You were injured and are still healing from several wounds. Altus and your council agreed that having three personal bodyguards was wise. A few members of the council argued for more but were persuaded to see a compromise. As Lady Bronwynn has said, not all are pleased you have returned.”
“Why?”
“You are barely more than a year from reaching the age of majority for our kind. At which time, you will ascend to your mother’s throne. Had you not returned, any of the noble families could have put forth candidates. There would have been a vote among the council.”
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