Dragons Sky

by Noah Harris

  He perceived the stiffness of politics. Saw when people were tense and polite and when they were relaxed and open. It was easy to discern who liked whom and who set who on edge. He could see who had secret agendas, who were crafty and cunning and careful getting what they wanted. It was easy for him to see Lyphnia’s loyal servants moving through the crowd, to see who was easily affected by her sweet word and bold promises.

  Mostly, it was easy for him to see the true colors of his people, and it was something he admired greatly. He loved watching interactions between friends and family and lovers. It was something they never exhibited when around him. He set people on edge simply by being who he was.

  At least, that was the case for most. There were a few who treated him as an equal. And if not an equal, then at least like a friend. His brother, Gerrald, was one of them. His other siblings, those he had left, saw him as little more than a stranger. Even the few children he had living placed him at a distance, though he wondered how much of that was because of him and how much was their desire to avoid their mother. The Elders had always treated him with respect, but also with blunt honesty, and he had appreciated that.

  He’d had more close friends in his youth and at the height of his power. He’d had an entire circle of trusted friends that had been more like family. He would have trusted them with his life, and he had. Just as they had trusted him. There weren’t many of them around anymore, and those who were left had drifted away from him. He didn’t blame them. After the Purge, after Lyphnia’s last rebellion, after she had gone and locked herself away to leave him to grieve for their children and their people alone, he hadn’t been the same. He had distanced himself from dragon-kind, and that distance had never gone away. Only Gerrald remained of their once numerous friends.

  Him and Lyphnia. Lyphnia, who had been strong and beautiful in her youth. Cunning and clever. She was desirable, and she knew it. She used it to her advantage. She held herself high above all possible mates, eyes set solely on Arulean. And he had fallen for her. She was the only one, of all possible mates, who seemed worthy of him. She worked for his attention without seeming to work at all. She seduced him, and he came willingly. Together they rose in power. Together they were invincible. They ruled their people with a combined iron fist and a passion that sparked through the ages. They were happy, and he was far too young and naive to see her for who she truly was. Far too blind with himself and his own pride to see that she never truly loved him, but the idea of him. That she craved him because of his station and had he been anyone else, she never would have come to his side. He had been too foolish and hungry for more to realize that he was the same way with her.

  They were happy, and passionate, and once they had been in love. But it was never for the right reasons.

  He had never expected to find someone else who treated him as an equal. Not in this day and age. Not after everything that had happened.

  He had never expected Rajiah Bronze.

  The man was a complete anomaly. Arulean found himself observing him more and more frequently the longer he stayed in the valley. What originally started as mild curiosity was quickly changing into something deeper. An interest. An interest that was slowly consuming him. An interest that he didn’t want to name for fear of falling even deeper.

  He watched Rajiah whenever the omega was near. He watched him at festivities, at gatherings. Watched how he interacted with others. For while others seemed more at ease outside of his immediate presence, Rajiah was the opposite. He seemed tenser around crowds of their own kind. Even while he smiled and chatted politely, there was a stiffness about him, something that was holding him distant, a tenseness that spoke volumes for how uncomfortable he felt. He wasn’t sure others saw it, but for one as attuned to observing as Arulean was, he saw it clearly. He watched as Rajiah would glance around, eyes always on a method of escape, watched as the young man took it, watched as he slipped away unnoticed by all but Arulean.

  And he noticed how Rajiah didn’t seem tense when it was just the two of them. It was strange. A one-on-one interaction with nearly anyone always made the other party tense, but not Rajiah. The bronze dragon wasn’t afraid to scoff at him, mock him, tease him, or to call him out. He wasn’t afraid to voice his opinions. He never backed down from Arulean’s powerful alpha presence. Not even when they first met. He was always standing strong and firm, meeting his gaze steadily where others would have looked away.

  He wasn’t afraid of him, and that was a novelty that Arulean wasn’t used to.

  He found himself drawn to it, intrigued, unable to pull himself away. Unable to check himself.

  “He’s an interesting lad, isn’t he?” Came a deep, gruff voice, close to his ear.

  Arulean was internally startled, but outwardly he barely flinched. He blinked, realizing he had been watching Rajiah again. They were still seated at the head table, but Lyphnia had dragged her brother down into the crowd to mingle. The two of them were currently surrounded by a small group of higher-ranking alphas, all of whom had thirsty eyes for the unmated omega, but were giving their attention respectfully to the queen. Rajiah was undeniably trying to hide behind her.

  He tore his eyes away, glancing sidelong at his own brother. The man was giving Arulean a knowing look, waggling both eyebrows as his lips pulled up into a small smirk.

  Arulean held his face firmly neutral. “I cannot deny that he is, indeed, interesting.” He said carefully, lifting his goblet to his lips to sip his wine.

  Gerrald snorted, leaning back in his seat, legs sprawled beneath the table, leaning heavily on one arm of the chair to talk in low tones to Arulean, too quiet for others to overhear even with shifter hearing. “You can’t fool me, Arulean. I know just how interesting you think he is.”

  Arulean raised both brows, trying for nonchalance. “Do you now?”

  His brother’s grin only widened as he tilted his chin down, gazing up at him with a sparkle in his gray eyes. “I saw you during the flight on the first moon. When he was leading a chase. I saw you when he flew past. I saw how you reacted to his scent.”

  Arulean bristled, setting his goblet down carefully. “Only a fool wouldn’t be affected by him in some way. It’s simply biology.”

  A shiver ran through him at the memory, his eyes finding the man in question, lingering on his thick dark hair pulled into a low ponytail at his nape, exposing the slender lines of his neck. It was once again adorned with a plethora of gold jewelry, as were his wrists. Arulean wasn’t sure if he had ever seen the man without them.

  He found it difficult to explain, but the strength of the memory was undeniable proof: Rajiah’s scent had affected him strongly. More than any scent ever had.

  During the flight, he had seen Rajiah leading the chase of many alphas, hungry for the omega. He had seen it, and it had caused something dark to fire up in his gut, but he had held his distance. It wasn’t his place to interfere, and if the omega wanted to find a mate, that was his choice. But Rajiah had stayed far ahead of them, not letting any of them near and pulling off movements that looked more for a show of power than anything. It reminded him a lot of Lyphnia in her youth, when she was trying to prove she was a worthy mate by showing none of the others were worth her time.

  So he had ignored, or at least tried to ignore, the omega shifting through the winds with the trail of alphas behind him. Even though his dragon wanted nothing more than to dive after him, batter away all the others, and take him for himself. The desire had been strong, but Arulean had always been a man of strong will, so he had resisted.

  Then Rajiah had playfully circled him, teasing him, urging him to join whether he meant to or not, surrounding Arulean with his scent.

  He’d had to physically stop flying to keep himself from diving after him in that moment. His will had nearly snapped. Rajiah’s scent was powerful that night. Sweet and alluring and burying itself deep in his senses, making his mind go hazy with lust and desire and nearly pushing his logic away. It had awoken something
in him that had long been dormant. An alpha’s instinct, his need. It came roaring back with a vengeance and it had been so startling, that Arulean had nearly lost to it.

  If he had, the consequences would have been dire. So, he had resisted, but only barely. No one had been brave enough to bring up his moment of weakness. At least not to him. He could see the anger and accusation in Lyphnia’s eyes though. He could see it in the way she shielded Rajiah with her own body, steering him away as soon as was acceptable.

  He knew that no alpha would blame him, however. All of them, even the happily mated ones who didn’t join the chase, couldn’t deny that Rajiah had the most alluring omega scent they had encountered in centuries. This was the fate of a child of the Great Mother, he supposed.

  Still, it posed an odd question: if his scent was so strong that night, why was it so weak now? The adrenaline from the flight and the chase and the full moon would have made his pheromones stronger, but the difference went beyond reason. It was mind boggling enough that whenever Rajiah was near, Arulean found himself breathing deeply, trying to catch a glimpse of that tantalizing scent that still haunted his mind, echoing ripples of desire throughout his body whenever he recalled it.

  Rajiah Bronze was an anomaly, a puzzle, unlike anyone he had ever known, and Arulean found himself indisputably drawn to him. And it was a battle he was starting to lose.

  Gerrald only shrugged. “Biology or not, you were intrigued. You still are. I can see it in the way you stare at him.”

  “I watch all of our people.”

  “You watch him specifically. More and more as the days go on.”

  “He is strange. I am only trying to understand his motives.”

  Gerrald raised both brows, but his smirk stayed in place. “Motives? He has motives now?”

  “Everyone has motives. Especially when it comes to me.”

  “What could his possibly be?”

  “He is Lyphnia’s brother,” He said plaintively, giving Gerrald a look. “I know better than to blindly trust anyone close to her.”

  “He doesn’t really strike me as someone loyal to her though,” He said, idly scratching the stubble on his chin.

  Arulean frowned. “And you would know because...?”

  He shrugged, small smirk playing on his lips as he gazed over the crowd. “I’ve been watching him, too.”

  Something in him shifted, a heaviness, thick and black, sliding into his stomach, tightening it as it coiled into his chest. He stiffened just a fraction, fingers stilling on the table top. “Have you?” He asked, voice far too neutral to be pleasant.

  Gerrald snorted a short laugh, smile widening as he nudged him with an elbow. “What’s the matter, brother? Jealous?”

  Arulean forced himself to make a disinterested sound, looking away. He forced his gaze to bypass Rajiah, scanning the crowd instead. He refused to admit his attention was still hyper focused on the spot where he and Lyphnia stood. “Hardly.”

  Gerrald nodded, suddenly far too serious and far too grave, cluing him into the farce. “Of course, you’re loyal to your mate. Your mate whom you shun from your bed and your heart, but refuse to find another.”

  “You know my reasons, Gerrald.”

  “I do, but I don’t agree with them.”

  “As you’ve made clear.”

  He idly tapped out a rhythm on the arm of his chair, humming thoughtfully. “I haven’t had a mate since Terin passed, Elders rest his soul.” He said idly, and far too lightly. Arulean knew that Terin had meant the world to his brother. Their bond had been strong. Terin had died in a stress induced miscarriage during the purge that had taken both his life and the baby’s. “I’ve been thinking about finding another. No one could replace Terin, but life is lonely. I could use a companion to share my days and nights.” He leaned a little closer, nodding in the direction of Rajiah. “And he’s a pretty little thing, isn’t he? There’s a fire about him. A stubbornness. I’m willing to bet he’d make all sorts of pretty little noises--“

  “Enough,” Arulean snapped, surprising them both. The black feeling was seething inside him, twisting and coiling and sinking claws into the inside of his ribs, crawling up his throat.

  The thought of Rajiah with another alpha, with his brother or anyone else, someone taming that fire, feeling it in the throes of passion, getting to witness his face and body writhing in pleasure, hearing his voice, cracked and hoarse, body damp with sweat and scent glands swollen and sweet-- he didn’t like it. He didn’t like that thought one bit. He felt a shifting beneath his skin, his inner dragon rising close to the surface in his agitation. He breathed heavily through his nose, trying to calm himself.

  “Jealous?” Gerrald asked, clearly amused.

  “No.”

  “I think you just proved otherwise.”

  “If you want him, you should take him.” He said through gritted teeth, feeling the ache in his jaw. His hands curled into tight fists. “Before Lyphnia mates him off to another alpha.”

  At this, Gerrald snorted again, and when he spoke, his voice was much softer and kinder. “I don’t want him, Arulean. I was just trying to prove a point.” He reached out then, gently taking Arulean’s hand in his own. The light touch of his calloused fingers was startling enough for him to relax his fist. His brother held his hand, palm up, and Arulean stared in surprise at the streaks of red that oozed from the half crescent holes in his palm from his nails. Gerrald grabbed a cloth napkin and gently dabbed away the blood before it could run down his wrist. “I believe my point was proven sufficiently enough.” He looked up at Arulean then, lips forming a tight line, eyes hard and unyielding, but open and honest. “You want him.” He said bluntly.

  Arulean didn’t see the point in denying it. Not to his brother, who knew him so well. After that display, Gerrald wouldn’t believe him anyway.

  Arulean stared down at his hand, closing it gently around the cloth. “It does not matter.”

  “Of course it does.”

  “It doesn’t.” He repeated, eyes automatically searching for Rajiah again, only to find him missing from Lyphnia’s side. He caught sight of him just as he slipped out a door, silent and fleeting as the wind. “I cannot allow myself this.” He said softly.

  Gerrald made a noise in the back of his throat, indicating just how much he disagreed with that statement.

  Gerrald’s words haunted him for days. Every time he saw Rajiah, he felt a sudden quickening of his heartbeat, a strange fluttering in his chest, and an odd shortness of breath. He found his eyes following the omega’s movements, and his own steps subconsciously trailing after him. Even when Gerrald wasn’t with him, he could hear his brother’s words in his ear, urging him to go after what he wanted, chase his happiness and let the consequences be damned. And he wanted to. Gods, did he want to.

  When Gerrald was with him, he would nudge Arulean playfully and smile teasingly as his eyes drifted to the bronze dragon. These antics often had the effect of making heat flood his face in a blush. A blush! He was Arulean Black, the last dragon king appointed by the Elders. He did not blush.

  Yet, he found himself giddy as a young alpha whenever he was around Rajiah.

  Instead of retreating to his study, he found himself retreating to the library in hopes of crossing his path. They did several times, and each time he teased Rajiah about avoiding others only to be teased in return. It was an odd familiarity, a comfortable back and forth they developed. He cherished it. It was refreshing and new. Rajiah grew used to him quickly, and any odd tension melted away from their interactions. He showed Rajiah around the library sharing his favorite volumes and digging up ones he hadn’t seen in years in hopes they would interest him.

  They talked more than read on these occasions, but when they did read, the silence was comfortable and cozy.

  Whenever they crossed paths and Lyphnia was around, she would hurry Rajiah away on one errand, excuse or another. Or simply put herself between them. It was in those times where she got more tactile than she
had in years, touching his arm, caressing his shoulder as she passed. It took everything in him not to pull away from her touch.

  Lyphnia couldn’t be with him all the time, however, and Rajiah was a master of sneaking away from others. And Arulean was a master at finding him and running into him as casually as he could.

  At feasts and group festivities, they often made eye contact, and Rajiah would make faces at him while one dragon or another droned on and on about something unimportant. Arulean had never found it so hard to keep a straight face. Rajiah took to hovering near him, finding him to be a better deterrent for unwelcome alpha advances than his sister. He didn’t mind. He would rather no one approach him with mateship in mind.

  It didn’t take long for him to feel oddly protective over the omega, despite not having a claim to him. He glared down some of the more persistent and touchy alphas, and there were a few times he distracted a few before sending Rajiah a small wink or a subtle hand gesture to urge him to slip away. The small, thankful smile Rajiah always sent him was well worth the trouble of being trapped in a dreadfully boring conversation.

  When Rajiah visited him, he started sneaking him sweets and chocolates and desserts from the kitchens. He always slid them across a desk or into his hand with a small, mischievous smirk before striding away. Arulean could have gotten them at any point on his own without qualm, but there was something sinfully delicious about receiving them from Rajiah’s thieving antics.

  He took to showing Rajiah all the secret passages and best ways to move about the castle without being caught. He showed him the quickest paths to take and the ones to avoid.

  Their time together was rarely long. The castle and valley were inhabited by several hundred dragons, and he had a Summit to see over. There was always one thing or another to pull him away from Rajiah, and he always went, even though everything in him begged him to stay. Still, he cherished the short moments, the secret smiles, the light and hesitant touches.