by Eva Brandt
“I tested the magic with my own, and at first, it seemed harmless. Of course, I couldn’t have been more wrong.”
I really didn’t like the sound of that, and I liked it even less that as she spoke, she turned away from us and looked out the window, instead. Then again, I had seen this coming. The enchantment might have vanished, and she might’ve been as powerful as before, but that didn’t mean there hadn’t still been effects after the experience she’d been through.
Cassia fell silent, and despite my anxiousness, I gave her time to gather her thoughts. My patience was rewarded when she finally continued, “It appears Jack took it up on himself to cast a spell that would summon a soulmate for him.
“It didn’t work quite as planned. That spell has detrimental effects on users of ice magic. It was an enchantment that was created a long time ago in Ton Daímon, and was forbidden by my father before I even became queen. The... heat that comes with it contrasts sharply with our core nature and has been known to cause extreme side effects.
“But the dangers that came with the spell didn’t mean it failed, at least, not exactly. Jack had the power to bring his soulmate to him, only she was already here.”
“Already here?” I repeated in disbelief, despite the fact that I had decided to not interrupt her. “How could he not have known about it if she was here?”
I thought back to what I knew about Jack—which was honestly, not a lot. Cassia had said he was a prankster, but also a powerful mage who’d shown dedication to his realm in the past. Lerna had described him as a rash, but good person who deserved a second chance.
Oh. Oh.
“In any case,” Cassia continued, “since his enchantment was not necessary to achieve his purpose, it connected to my magic, through the bond I have with this realm, and ended up bringing you to me. Because you are my soulmates.”
As she said those latter words, she turned to fully face us once again, her beautiful eyes sharp and expectant. To my shock, I realized that for some obscure reason, she was nervous about what she was telling us.
I could not even begin to understand why that was. In fact, I had trouble processing the whole thing altogether. Soulmates were a legend among my kind. It was so rare for a dragon, no matter what type they might be, to find their destined partner that most of us stopped looking before we reached mating age. We were content with having mates that completed us in other ways, even if it was never the same thing as it would have been with that special person who had been born for us. Raijin, Emmerich and I had been no different, not until we’d come here.
In hindsight, Cassia’s words explained so much about everything that had happened lately. Now that I thought about it, I had to admit that it had not made sense for us to agree to share a powerful female overnight without having a real fight about it. Dragons were a possessive species, and even if we had decided to make the attempt to pursue this kind of relationship, we should have clashed about the dynamics of what we had done in bed together. We hadn’t.
Yes, that explained everything, except for Cassia’s obvious uncertainty about our dedication. Was I perhaps reading her wrong and she did not want to be our soulmate after all?
It was just like Raijin had said the first time we’d discussed the issue. She was a queen of an important realm. We might have been nobility in Terra Dracones, but that didn’t really mean much, not here, not compared to her title and her power.
Oh, for gods’ sake. What was I thinking? Such trivialities didn’t matter between soulmates.
“I don’t know what we’ve done to deserve this, or you, but I promise you, Cassia, that we won’t let you down.” Unable to endure the distance between us even for a second longer, I left the bed and made my way to her side. “I realize that this is very new and maybe you’re doubting us. I don’t blame you for that. But rest assured that as long as you want us here, we’re not going anywhere.”
“I think this has come as a surprise to all of us,” Raijin added as he slid out of the bed as well, “but it is also a gift more valuable than I ever thought I would receive.”
Cassia arched a disbelieving brow at Raijin, perhaps not entirely convinced by his words. “And yet, I can’t help but notice that you aren’t as surprised by all this as I was.”
Emmerich shot her a sheepish look. “Well, treasure... How should we put this? For us, having a soulmate has always been something like an unachievable dream. We didn’t consider it a possibility at all. But that competition we mentioned yesterday? That was organized by our rulers to help young males gain the attention of a good female who could help them start a family.
“The three of us hated each other before it even happened. Rivalries like that... They’re really not unusual between males from the same generation. But once we were here, once we agreed to work together for your sake, all of it faded away.”
Raijin and I guided our female back to where she belonged—the bed—and fortunately, she went along with it. “I did wonder how the three of you managed to reach a consensus so quickly, considering the fact that one of the first things you did when you woke up was to attack one another,” she said, her earlier apprehension having been chased away by a hint of levity.
“Normally, there’s very little dragons wouldn’t do when trying to earn the attention of a would-be mate,” Raijin answered. “The number of females in Terra Dracones is far smaller than that of males, so such a fight would’ve actually been pretty common. But that’s just it. When we met you, our competitiveness didn’t matter anymore. We knew that everything else except our female was irrelevant.”
Cassia tilted her head inquisitively at us. “So is that what I am? Your... female?”
Raijin shared a panicked look with Emmerich and me. I knew what he was thinking. Had that been offensive? I’d have been inclined to believe that the whole soulmate thing would indicate otherwise, but we didn’t actually know that much about the culture in Chronikos.
“I’m sorry,” Raijin said quickly. “Do people here refer to their... err... romantic partners differently?”
“There are as many ways to refer to a romantic partner in Chronikos as there are species. I don’t mind you calling me your female. In fact, I find that I rather like it. It’s what I am, after all.”
She liked being called our female. More than that, she liked being ours. It almost seemed too good to be true.
In a way, it was, as despite having succeeded to lure Cassia back into bed, we weren’t able to do anything with our accomplishment. A knock sounded at the door, and Ded Moroz’s voice echoed into Cassia’s chambers. “Your Majesty? Is everything in order?”
Just like that, the beautiful intimacy of what we had shared was set aside, and a veil seemed to slide over Cassia’s face. “Yes, Ded Moroz. I will be with you in but a moment. Wait for me in the throne room.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” the old man replied.
As soon as he was gone, Cassia let out a low curse. “This isn’t going to be pleasant. All right, my dragons. For the moment, we have to set our discussion aside. It seems that I am once again required to be Cheimon. Right now, that will have to take precedence.”
“Of course, my queen,” I replied, easily sliding into the role both I and my fellow dragons had embraced the day before. “Is there anything we can do to assist you?”
“There might be,” Cassia answered with a smile, “but not yet. For the moment, we need to get you all some clothes, and I need to talk to an old friend. I’ve already left that conversation pending for far too long.”
* * *
Cheimon
Once upon a time, when we had been children, Jack had told me that there was nothing he hated more than queens. I hadn’t been offended, because during those days, my mother had only been a commoner, just an anthousai who’d happened to catch the eye of a man with more power than was probably wise.
I’d long ago realized that it had been rash to forget about Jack’s statement with such ease. But even after I’d acknowledged
the underlining reasons of the fissure between us, I had never believed that there would come a day when my friend would put me in the position to try him for treason.
I found him in one of the healing chambers, sleeping, under the watchful eye of one of the nisse healers. There was no guard at the door, but I supposed that made sense, since my lieutenants did not know he was involved in the enchantment that had nearly killed me and I’d made it clear that I believed his absence must have had some kind of justifiable reason.
I waved the nisse off and, as soon as he disappeared, directed my attention to my slumbering friend. “You’ve gotten yourself into such a mess this time, Jack,” I whispered under my breath. “What am I going to do with you?”
My dragons watched me in silence without intervening in any way. The tension in their stances made my heart clench, but I couldn’t do anything about it now.
I sat on the edge of the bed and let my magic slide over Jack. I’d done it countless times before, in the past, but for some reason, today, it felt off.
Was it a remnant of the Ton Daímon magic that had affected both of us? I wasn’t sure. So far, it appeared that the healers had been unable to determine the real nature of the spell, and while that worried me, it was also something I could use in my favor.
As I pondered the potential consequences of our current situation, Jack’s eyes shot open. He blinked several times, as if to clear his vision, his own powers tentatively tasting the air around him. “Cassia?” he asked as he rubbed his temples. “What happened?”
Instead of providing a reply to his question, I asked one of my own. “You don’t remember?”
“Err... Not really, no. Gods, my head hurts. What on Chronikos did I do last night?”
“Probably drank a whole cask of satyr wine all on your own,” Kerryn murmured behind us. Or better said, pretended to murmur. He said the words just loud enough for Jack to hear. It was unsurprising, since my dragons weren’t very happy with my plan to deal with Jack in person so quickly after his enchantment had hurt me. While their reluctance was not ideal, I trusted them to not say anything in front of the court. Private conversations were an entirely different matter.
Jack looked past my shoulder, at my three dragons, and frowned in confusion. “Excuse me? A cask of satyr wine? What are you talking about? And who in the world are you?”
Well, that was an interesting question. Considering what my dragons had told me, Jack had been awake for at least part of the return to The Frozen Peaks. Why had he forgotten about it now?
“They are my soulmates,” I replied in Kerryn’s stead, all the while scanning Jack’s face for any deception. “And you just happened to bring them here, through a very powerful, but forbidden spell.”
My words, while blunt, had the desired effect, and the lingering haze of bewilderment faded from Jack’s eyes. “The spell...” he whispered. “Yes, I remember now. I... I thought it had failed.”
Maybe he had, and maybe he hadn’t. At this point, I wasn’t really sure. But I did know one thing. Jack couldn’t have missed the fact that his enchantment had been the true cause of the flooding, nor could he have forgotten the problems it had caused the first time it had been cast. “Jack, don’t play games with me. Now isn’t the time. I think you understand what you’ve done as well as I do. What could’ve possibly possessed you to risk both your sanity, and the safety of our realm in such an arrogant way? You know better, damn it!”
“What could’ve possessed me?” Jack repeated in disbelief, clenching his fists. “How about the desire to find someone to love? How’s that for a reason?”
He glowered at me and his magic stirred, flowers of frost blooming over the bed and its headboard. I narrowed my eyes at him, unimpressed. “Nice try, but you can’t scare me with your magic, Jack. I can’t really blame you for wanting to find a romantic partner, but your approach was foolish, especially since your soulmate was already here.”
Jack was just as surprised at my words as my dragons had originally been, but unlike them, he didn’t have any miraculous epiphanies. “My soulmate is here? Don’t jest about such things, Cassia. It is beneath you.”
His answer came off as hostile, and predictably, my dragons didn’t react well to it. “Do you know, Jack Frost, that a lot of people still do not realize that dragons are almost all shape-shifters?” Emmerich snarled. “It’s not a secret, but for some reason, it’s not something that sticks in the mind of your regular person. Perhaps we’re just too terrifying.”
He certainly looked terrifying then, with his eyes glowing and his claws emerging from his fingertips.
“Also, do you know that the hydra is actually a very rare species of dragon?” Raijin asked in a mild, but no less threatening tone. “I won’t go into historical details, because that hardly matters right now, but I think you can understand what we’re getting at, either way.”
Jack’s eyes widened. “Lerna? Really?”
“Yes, really,” Kerryn answered. “Congratulations. You cast a forbidden enchantment for no reason at all, and because of your blindness, probably endangered your relationship with your female.”
Jack’s lost expression made me feel a little bad for being so harsh about the whole situation. I had only realized the potential of my relationship with my dragons when they had changed shapes, and Lerna obviously hadn’t done that. It was easy for a person to miss what was right in front of them in such a case, more so if said person was an ice magic user.
But as much as I understood his plight, it didn’t change the fact that he’d committed a crime that came awfully close to treason, when he had been fully aware of the risks. I certainly wasn’t going to tell my dragons off for chastising him, not when he had more than earned the reprimand.
Indeed, as interesting as it would have been to talk about the details of his relationship with the hydra, that wasn’t truly what we were here for. “Jack, you’ve put me in a very difficult position right now,” I told him. “I can’t say I don’t understand your train of thought, because I do. But this is a crime I cannot clear you of, regardless of how I might feel.”
Jack nodded and let out a slow breath, as if forcing himself to accept what I had just told him. It didn’t really work. He looked past my shoulder, at my dragons, and defiance flared into his eyes once again. “So what comes next then, Queen Cheimon?” he asked. “Death? Will you imprison me like you did—”
“Don’t even go there,” I snapped at him. “I believe we both know it would not be a good idea, for either of us.”
Jack clenched his jaw, and I suspected he already regretted making the comment. I knew better than to think he would apologize, but I also had no desire to fall into further drama. Some things were truly best left off simple. I had already decided on an idea, and as long as Pandora didn’t give me any issues, it would be a perfectly workable solution, at least for the future. For now, Jack had shown no regret whatsoever over his actions, and as long as that was the case, I couldn’t risk going through with my plan.
“I don’t think you understand your situation. The damage you’ve done to the realm is immense. As far as I know, I’ve managed to prevent any loss of life, but it was a very close call.”
Closer than I’d ever tell anyone. If my dragons hadn’t shown up when they had, I’d have probably lost control and become fully unable to hold my abilities in check.
Because of their prompt intervention, the person who’d actually received the worst injuries had been me, and I didn’t mind it. The structural damage persisted, though, and we’d have to work for at least a couple of weeks to fix it. I considered myself lucky that the snow that had fallen was not bloody, but that didn’t mean I could give Jack a free pass for his stupidity, just like that.
“Loss of life?” he asked. “The flood was contained, and nobody in the area of the Topaz could’ve been killed. I know. I made sure before I even left.”
“Spells like that have a way of going awry, Jack, you know that. But now that you’ve menti
oned it... Why did you leave? Why the satyr brothel?”
Jack blushed and looked away, obviously embarrassed. “I’d been feeling off, for several days. Side-effects from the spell. Echoes. I didn’t know what to do. I thought that if I went there and got some of it out of my system, I’d be able to at least function like before.”
“But it only made things worse, didn’t it?”
He didn’t answer, but that was, in a way, an answer too. I’d already guessed the truth. The spell had probably hurt him while he had been on Pandora’s territory, but after he had passed the river—where Lerna was—and returned to the realm that was his home, it had given him some quarter. Enough, at least, that he was no longer in whatever condition he had been in when my dragons had found him.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, I found that one of the things that bothered me most was the fact that he had not trusted me to help him when he had obviously needed it. “Why didn’t you come to me? We could’ve worked something out, found another solution.”
“Yes,” Jack answered, turning to face me once again, “but then I would’ve had to mention the spell, and I didn’t think that would go over well, considering. I had hoped to not have to put you in this position.”
I let out a slow breath, pushing back my frustration and exasperation with my friend. That hadn’t worked out very well at all, although I could appreciate the thought.
“It doesn’t matter anymore. For the moment, I will allow you to remain with the healers, under guard, until your trial. Please stay here and don’t do anything unwise. The consequences will be extreme, should you not comply.”
“Really, Your Majesty?” he drawled, my threat drawing out his inner asshole once again. “You don’t—”
Too exasperated to control my temper, I punched him in the face. Normally, I would not have stooped to physical violence, but it was satisfying to feel his nose break under my fist, even if it hurt my knuckles.