by SJ West
Dracen caught the apple in midair before it had a chance to cross between the bars of Nessa’s cell. He looked at it like he held a viper in his hand and not an apple.
“Why are you feeding her these?” he asked Nicole, looking at the half-empty basket of apples sitting by her feet. “What have you done to them?”
“I’m completing the mission I was sent here to do,” Nicole answered defensively.
It was only then that it dawned on me what she was actually doing.
“Did you poison those apples?” I asked in disgust.
Nicole folded her arms over her chest, taking on a defensive stance.
“Like I said, I was completing my mission.”
“A mission given by who?” I demanded to know.
Nicole remained silent.
“Your queen asked you a question,” I said with more authority. “Answer it!”
“Thaddeus Irondale,” Nicole finally admitted.
“If you kill Nuala’s dragon, you kill Nuala by proxy,” Dracen said, filling in the blanks. “But what exactly does killing Nuala like this gain us?”
“I don’t know. One less sadistic bitch in the world?” Nicole asked sarcastically. “I didn’t question his order. I do what I’m told. That’s what I get paid to do.”
“I’m poisoned?” Nessa asked in distress, looking to us for an answer. “Am I going to die?”
Dracen walked over to what was left of the basket of apples and rummaged through what was there. He pulled out one with black spots all over it.
“No, you weren’t poisoned,” he said. “I think she was waiting to lull you into a false sense of security before trying to feed you the tainted one. Am I right?”
Nicole didn’t turn her head but looked at the apple Dracen was holding from the corners of her eyes.
“Yes, you’re right,” Nicole confessed. At least it was a confession to me. She seemed to simply see it as stating a fact.
“Our plan has always been to imprison Nuala,” I said to the others, “not to kill her. If we kill her, we run the risk of making her a martyr to the Fae.”
“Thaddeus must have thought it was worth the risk,” Dracen concluded. “But why?”
Gabriel gasped as if he were in pain. I turned to find him leaned up against the damp, moss-covered wall of the dungeon, holding his head with one hand as if it hurt.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him in concern. I knew he was weakened by his transformation, but he refused to go to bed.
“I know why Thaddeus wants Nuala dead so badly,” he said. When he looked up at me, his eyes were wide in shock. “They had a deal.”
“They?” I asked. “Thaddeus and Nuala?”
Gabriel nodded his head. “If he helped her conquer Vankara, she would marry him and make him king over both the Vankarans and the Fae. If he’s trying to kill her, she must have backed out of the deal, and he doesn’t want anyone to find out about it. By killing Nessa, Nuala would appear to die of natural causes, and no one would have been any the wiser, least of all you.”
“Wait,” Nicole said, dropping her arms back to her sides. “Are you telling me that Thaddeus betrayed us because he was on some power trip?”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you,” Gabriel said.
“I swear to you,” Nicole said to me. “I didn’t know any of this. All I knew was that Irondale wanted the queen dead and that the easiest way to do that was to kill her dragon. If I had known he was a traitor, I never would have followed his orders.”
“That’s not all Thaddeus has done,” Gabriel said, drawing my attention back to him. “Nuala suspected that Thaddeus made a side deal with Chromis. She sent my sister to stow away on Chromis’ ship to learn if her suspicions were correct.”
“That’s who we saw!” Aurora said as she had an epiphany. “When we thought we saw a woman on Chromis’ ship that had to be Karis’ sister.”
“I saw your sister on his ship,” I said to Gabriel since he was now supposed to be Karis. “When we were in Ledmarrow, you told me that you could see and hear things from your twin sister when the two of you were connected. Has she sent you a message about Chromis yet?”
“No, not yet,” Gabriel said. “She hasn’t contacted me in quite some time. I assume she was caught and killed by Chromis for spying.”
“Wait,” Nicole said, looking thoughtful. “Wasn’t it Thaddeus who suggested that the Chromis troops be part of the assault on Iron City? If the two of them have made some sort of deal with one another, do you think they’ll try to orchestrate a coup after Nuala’s troops are defeated?”
“Fallon will never let that happen,” I said confidently.
“Perhaps you should try to contact Fallon and let him know what’s going on,” Dracen suggested. “They should still be waiting for Nuala’s troops to leave. There hasn’t been enough time for her to learn what’s happened here.”
I nodded. If Fallon was still at the Royal College, I would have just teleported back to Iron City, but I knew he was with the troops, waiting for Nuala to weaken her forces there by sending part of them here to the Fae capital.
I closed my eyes and held onto my dragon pendant.
The connection with Fallon was easy to make.
“Well, this is a pleasant surprise,” he said. “I assume you were successful today. How are you—”
“Are Thaddeus and Chromis with you right now?” I interrupted, not wanting to waste time on pleasantries.
“Yes,” Fallon said, sensing something was wrong. “Why?”
I explained everything that happened at the Fae capital and our suspicions about Thaddeus and Chromis to Fallon.
“That’s quite a lot to take in all at once.” Fallon rubbed his temples with the thumb and middle finger of his right hand as he contemplated the information I just gave him.
“Have they been acting secretive?” I asked. “Talking to each other without allowing you to hear what they’re saying?”
“Now that you mention it,” Fallon said, “Thaddeus did ask to speak to Aleksander alone when Chromis’ ships first arrived. I didn’t think too much about it at the time, but with this new information … who knows what they talked about?”
“What can you do, John?” I asked. “We can’t leave here until we know the Fae capital is secure.”
“I can arrest Thaddeus,” Fallon told me. “If I take him out of the equation, I doubt Chromis will still try to stage a coup. He needs Thaddeus to back him up for such a thing.”
“I hate to imprison Inara’s father on a suspicion.”
“We have every right to take him into custody,” Fallon said. “We know for a fact that he conspired with Nuala. That’s reason enough to incarcerate him.”
“But we don’t have any real proof, just a memory Gabriel was able to dig up from Karis.”
“That’s all we need for now,” Fallon said. “I’ll just say that we have testimony from a reliable source. All we need to do is keep him imprisoned until Iron City is back under our control. Then, you can come back, and we’ll figure out what to do with him.”
“So, you’re certain Chromis won’t try to take Iron City for himself?”
“He doesn’t have the man power to do that. I’m assuming Thaddeus must have some of our generals in his pocket, and he was planning to use them in conjunction with Chromis’ army to take Iron City for himself. Though, I don’t know what would have been in it for Chromis.”
“Me,” I said with certainty. “Aleksander wants me, and Thaddeus probably promised him a marriage.”
“As enchanting as you are, I don’t see Chromis doing all of this just to marry you. Thaddeus must have promised him land or a great deal of money. A man like Aleksander doesn’t do anything this drastic just for love.”
“He doesn’t love the queen,” I said with certainty. “He wants to keep me like a prized possession, to be seen and not heard.”
“Whatever his motivation, he won’t get it,” Fallon swore. “I will protect our country from them, Sarah.”
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“I know you will. I never doubted that you wouldn’t.”
“I hate to leave you, but I need to get Thaddeus into custody as quickly as possible. The dragons you sent have told us that the news of your takeover is spreading quickly among Nuala’s forces. It’s only a matter of time before Nuala splits her army here.”
“Be careful,” I begged.
“I will.”
I broke my connection to Fallon and told the others what we decided to do about Thaddeus.
“It’s the only option,” Dracen agreed. “Removing Thaddeus eliminates him as a threat.”
“But what do we do with him after things are settled?” I asked.
“He’s a traitor,” Nicole spat. “By all rights, you should hang him for what he’s done.”
“I can’t do that to Inara’s father,” I said. I knew how much she loved and looked up to her father. In many ways, killing him would in essence kill her too. I respected and loved her too much to let the light inside her soul dim because of him. “He’s made some bad choices, but I don’t think handing down a death sentence sends the right message. Vankara will need time to heal before we deal with a scandal this large, and I think mercy is what’s called for after so much death.”
“Imprisonment for life then?” Dracen asked.
“I think that’s the better solution, don’t you?”
“Yes. I would have to agree with your decision.”
I looked into the cage where Nuala’s dragon was trapped. How long had she been made to suffer in this dank, moss-covered dungeon? All her life? That’s what I had to assume.
“That is not much of a life,” Aurora said. “I think I would rather be dead.”
“We need to get you out of there,” I told Nessa, pitying her for having to live in such conditions for so long. “How do they let you out of your cell?”
“The rear wall is one giant door,” Nessa told me. “It opens into the back courtyard.”
“We’ll send someone to open it and set you free,” I promised.
“It would be nice to go outside. I haven’t seen the sun since before Nuala left.”
“I said free,” I told Nessa. “You’re free to go wherever you want to go.”
“Nuala is my companion,” Nessa reminded me. “I will never be truly free.”
“You poor thing,” Aurora said sympathetically. “Is there nothing else we can do for her?”
“Nuala will remain a prisoner in Iron City for the foreseeable future,” I told Nessa. “Since she’ll be there, you are more than welcome to travel back home with us and stay in Iron City as our guest. I’m sure we can find a place for you to live near the palace.”
“That’s very generous of you,” Nessa said in surprise. “Why would you be so nice to me? You don’t know me at all.”
“It’s not your fault that Nuala and Tyr forced you to bond with her for their own convenience. The least I can do is help you find a way to have as happy a life as you can. I think Aurora and I can do that for you.”
“Thank you,” Nessa said gratefully. “I don’t know what else to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything else,” I told her.
As soon as we left the dungeon, I asked some of the Fae to release Nessa from her cage. It disgusted me that Nuala would treat her dragon companion like an afterthought, but why did I expect any better from her?
“It’s definitive proof showing just how different you are from her,” Aurora told me proudly.
“I hope ruling a nation doesn’t make me as jaded as Nuala.”
“It won’t. You have me to keep you grounded.”
I had to laugh. “That is very true, my little dragonling. What would I ever do without you?”
“Live a lonely, miserable existence,” Aurora stated matter-of-factly. “You can’t live without me.”
“I would never want to,” I told her, meaning it with my whole heart.
The next day, Nuala’s forces arrived. I was asked to stay inside the wooden fortress of the palace while the fighting occurred. I argued with Dracen that I might be of some use with my magic, but he contended that I was still too unskilled with my powers and might inadvertently cause more havoc than help. I couldn’t dispute his assessment. I was still learning how to control my magic, and I knew he was right. Dracen, on the other hand, did join the fray and helped our troops rout the Fae who tried to retake the city for their deplorable queen. It was obvious Nuala chose her most loyal subjects to join her in the fight to take Iron City. Before the battle commenced, we gave them the option of laying down their arms and accepting Lanai as their new queen, but none of them took us up on our offer to spare their lives.
The fight lasted about a day. Considering the fact that we had more troops, dragons, and automatons, Nuala’s forces didn’t have a chance of succeeding. The few who remained alive surrendered when they realized fighting against us was pointless. Lives were lost on both sides, but I was grateful very few Kamorans and Vankarans were among the dead. I remembered promising Queen Sora that I would take care of her troops, and I meant to keep that promise. I asked Edeson to make sure the fallen Kamorans made it back home to be buried in the land where their families lived. I knew if I were in the same position, I would want my loved one returned to me so I could say a proper farewell.
Only one of our dragons died. I didn’t know him, but he was from the green dragon faction. I attended his funeral and watched as the blue dragons used their fire breath to cremate their fallen comrade.
After the funeral, Gregoire asked to speak with me.
“Once we’ve taken care of the feral dragons still roaming this island,” he told me, “I plan to lead my own search party to find Tyr and his followers. I know if I leave him to his own devices, he’ll find a way to orchestrate such a travesty again. He won’t stop until all humans are either dead or enslaved. I cannot allow that to happen.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“No. I simply wanted you to know that we intend to take care of him so you and the others don’t have to worry about him returning here.”
“Thank you,” I said gratefully, knowing Gregoire and the other dragons didn’t have to hunt down Tyr. They could just as easily leave things as they were and ignore what might happen to us, but Gregoire’s code of honor would never allow him to do that. I knew then that Tyr would eventually find death by his brother.
We stayed in the Fae capital for two days. I would contact Fallon periodically to check on the progress of things in Iron City. I argued that I should return while the war was waging, but Fallon convinced me that it would be a bad idea. As long as I was in a safe, well-guarded, place, I should stay put until things were settled. When he finally gave me the good news that it was safe for me to return home, I literally jumped for joy.
“Come to the palace at noon tomorrow,” Fallon told me. “We’ll be waiting to welcome you back home.”
“Have you had any trouble from Chromis?” I asked him.
“None. Once Thaddeus was in custody, Chromis came clean about the deal he made with Irondale. It was just as you suspected. Thaddeus promised to marry you to Chromis if he assisted in the coup. Apparently, Irondale was planning to double-cross Nuala anyway. She simply did it before he could set his new plan into motion.”
“So what were the terms of the deal between Aleksander and Thaddeus?”
“Chromis said Thaddeus promised to give him the Fae side of the island. Irondale was planning to give it to him after we defeated Nuala’s forces here in Iron City, but your plan to usurp Nuala’s control over the Fae and place Lanai on the throne threw a wrench into his scheme. So, you were right. Aleksander wasn’t just helping Thaddeus so he could marry you. He would have been given quite a large portion of land as well if Thaddeus’ plot had worked.”
“Did you have much trouble with Nuala?” I asked, wishing I could have been there to see her taken into custody.
“The mage we had with us was able to keep his shield up
long enough for us to breech her chambers. After we took out the guards who were there protecting her, she surrendered and didn’t even try to fight us. She knew she was outnumbered and that it would do her more harm than good to resist arrest. She has asked to speak with you when you return, but I told her not to hold her breath waiting for that to happen.”
“Why do you think she wants to speak to me?”
“More than likely, she will want to make some sort of deal for her release. I’m sure she’ll try to play on your sympathies somehow. If I were you, I wouldn’t give in to her request. There’s nothing she can say that will justify what she’s done. As far as I’m concerned, we’re extending her a courtesy she doesn’t deserve by letting her live.”
“And how are you, John?” I asked, knowing he had to kill in order to bring this war to an end.
“I’ll be better when I’m able to hold you in my arms again,” he replied wistfully. “Everything will feel like it was worth it then.”
The next day I decided to ride Vincent to Iron City. Since I didn’t have to be there until noon, we had plenty of time to enjoy our last flight together, and I wanted to spend some time with my friend before he and the other dragons had to return home.
It was a bittersweet time for me. Since Gabriel was now Karis, I had to leave behind one of my best friends, not knowing when we would be able to see each other again.
“Promise me something,” Gabriel said as we stood beside Vincent before my departure. “Live a happy life.”
“Can I ask you to promise me the same thing?”
Gabriel gave me a closed lip smile that held more sadness than happiness.
“I’ll do my best. That’s all I can promise you right now.”
I leaned in and kissed Gabriel on the cheek. “Thank you for everything, and I expect to see you again in Iron City. I think we need to sign a new peace treaty to prove to the world that we’re united again.”
Gabriel nodded. “Agreed. We don’t need to give the other island nations a false hope that they can use this war to their advantage. We need to show them that we’ll stand together to protect our island.”
“Queen Emma,” Lanai called out as she walked over to us.