by Silver Milan
“No,” Gwendoline said. “Not this time. Gabriel will never allow a human witch into his presence. He hates humans and other shifters. He’s one of the biggest advocates of the First Rule. In fact, if you come, he’ll probably punish me for allowing you into the city without notifying him or security.”
“But—” Mathis began.
“No buts,” Gwendoline said. “You can’t come. I’m sorry.”
“I, on the other hand, can join you without issue,” Ephephany said.
“I’d prefer to meet my brother alone,” Gwendoline told the witch.
“Of course you would.” Ephephany calmly smoothed her skirt. “But if it’s a trap you’ll need me. As adviser to Midnight, I highly recommend you take me with you.”
Unless you’re undead and under the control of a vampire, Ariel thought.
“As I told you before, he refuses to grant even me an audience,” Ephephany continued. “Forcing me to meet with his advisers instead. I need you to meet with him in person. If you let me come, perhaps we can find out what is going on. If we can confirm that he’s under the influence of some non-dragon party, I’ll be able to help you retake the city.”
Gwendoline studied the witch uncertainly, as if like Ariel she, too, was having similar doubts about the dragon woman. Finally Gwendoline said: “All right, come then.”
“If it is a trap, will you be able to fend off capture?” Mathis asked Ephephany. “Are you strong enough to face a vampire witch, given the suppression?”
“It depends on whether the vampire witch is acting alone,” Ephephany said.
“I won’t allow you to go without some of my White Swords,” Jett told Gwendoline. “You’ll take Titan and Cronus. Since you officially own the White Swords now, you won’t need to give Gabriel any excuses as to why you have them with you.”
“Except that I’ve never taken any guards with me to visit him before,” Gwendoline said.
“First time for everything,” Jett said. “If he asks, you’ll think of something to allay his fears, I’m sure.”
“I hope so,” Gwendoline said.
“What if he decides to give you over to the witches after all?” Ariel said. “And we lose you?”
Gwendoline looked toward Ephephany, as if hoping to hear that the witch would protect her.
But instead Ephephany said: “If that is what the king chooses, I can’t intervene if we have no proof he’s under control of a vampire… my role is to advise, remember.”
Gwendoline slumped slightly.
Mathis wrapped his hand around Gwendoline’s palm. “Are you sure about this, my love?”
Gwendoline nodded. “I am. I have to look him in the eyes. See for myself if he’s insane, or undead.”
Jett stepped forward and gave her a hug. “Good luck, little sister.”
“Thanks, big brother.” Pulling away, she added: “Now if you don’t mind, there’s someone else I’d like to say goodbye to.”
Gwendoline and Mathis moved to a corner of the room, and then hugged and whispered into each other’s ears. When Mathis seemed on the verge of tears, Ariel couldn’t watch anymore, so she looked away.
“What about you?” Ephephany asked Jett.
“We’ll wait here in my sister’s estate until we hear from one of you.” Jett lifted his sat-phone. “You both have my number.”
Flame came forward. He glanced at Ephephany and bowed to her respectfully, then to Jett. “Sire, if I may...”
“Speak freely, Flame,” Jett told him.
Ariel wondered why Flame was being so formal. Jett never required his White Swords to bow.
Flame glanced at Ephephany nervously, then turned his back on her so that she wasn’t in his line of sight. Doing that seemed to calm him somewhat.
“I want to go in the place of Titan or Cronus,” Flame said.
“Can’t let you,” Jett said. “If Gabriel recognizes you, it’s all over. He knows you’re one of the dragons who attacked the witch tower. He won’t let you leave his presence.”
“I won’t be recognized,” Flame said. “I’ll bring my hood, and cover my face in black face paint. I’ll stay in the shadows during any audience. With Dan offline, the computer system won’t identify me to him.”
Jett shifted uneasily. Ariel understood that it was unlike Flame to put him on the spot like this, and to question his orders. She’d never seen the White Sword do anything like this before.
But when Flame glanced at Ephephany, and looked back at Jett once more, Ariel suddenly understood. The concern in those eyes, the torment...
Flame was in love with Ephephany.
Of course. She wondered if Ephephany knew. She certainly seemed oblivious. Or acted like she was.
Flame lowered his voice and almost whispered in Jett’s ear. Ariel barely heard his words.
“Do you really trust the White Swords we left behind?” Flame said. “How can we be sure Titan or Cronus haven’t been tainted by whatever malevolent force has taken hold in the city? Let me go to keep tabs on them, if anything else.”
“You’ll wear your hood and black face paint?” Jett asked.
“I will,” Flame promised.
“Then you’ll replace Titan,” Jett said. “You and Cronus will escort escort Gwendoline and Ephephany.”
“Thank you, Sire,” Flame said, bowing.
“And Flame?”
“Yes, Sire?” Flame asked.
“You better not make me regret this,” Jett said.
“You won’t, my king,” Flame said.
“And for the last time, I’m not your king,” Jett said.
“Yes, Sire,” Flame told him.
Jett sighed.
9
Gwendoline made her way through the dark streets with Ephephany. Flame and Cronus provided armed escort. She wasn’t sure how much she trusted either Ephephany or Cronus. Flame she trusted fully, since he had been with her since before coming to Midnight. But the other two? Only to a degree.
Flame was wearing a hood and cape combination, with the hood raised to hide his face in shadow. He had also smeared his features in black as an extra precaution. If Gabriel asked, she planned to tell him Flame was Mamba. Jett’s brother had never really paid much attention to Jett’s personal guard while Jett had been king, so she doubted Gabriel would recognize the White Sword. He might remember that Flame had red skin, while Mamba’s was dark and reptilian; in the dim light Gabriel would easily confuse Flame’s painted features for Mamba’s.
Cronus meanwhile, looked like a Greek statue of the Titan he was named after. He was a colossal of a man, looking like a pumped up basketball player on steroids. His arms and legs were inhumanly thick, and his chest was a veritable barrel—though it tapered down nicely at the waist, allowing the striations of his abs to show through. Veins were visible all over his body. Gwendoline never really found veins all that sexy on a man, but some women liked them, and they were a big indicator of how low his body fat was: in the sub four percent range. She had heard that some males who possessed such extremely low body fat percentages had trouble getting erections, but in the few times she had invited Cronus to her bed, the massive man hadn’t had a problem. This had been long before she got back together with Mathis, of course. Almost two hundred years ago, when she had first left the Steel Tower a broken woman. All she could remember about Cronus’ love making was that it had seemed cold, almost mechanical. Like most of the sex in those days. Nothing like the love and attention Mathis showed her.
She wondered if Cronus could ever harm a woman he had been intimate with.
If he’s undead, it wouldn’t matter. He might not even remember ever being with me. Perhaps I should have insisted Jett send Viper instead of Cronus.
Even Mathis would have been a better choice. But she meant what she said about Gabriel arresting the human witch on sight. She definitely didn’t want to put her love in harm’s way.
Thinking of him relaxed her. Oh, what Mathis could do to her. His touch. His lips. His
spirit…
They had been apart for so long. Centuries. And to finally find him again, after all these years… she couldn’t be blamed for wanting to protect and shelter him. If he didn’t ask her to marry him soon, she would do it, to hell with the First Rule. Let the dragons find out. Because then she could be free.
Even if Midnight fell, she would have Mathis. It was perhaps a traitorous thought, and it made her feel slightly guilty, but it was true. The city didn’t hold the same allure it once did. She didn’t need to live with the dragons to feel complete anymore. Mathis was her world now, just as she was his. He had given up the Wayfarers, become a rogue witch, to join her side. Gwendoline was ready to give up her own people to do the same for him. After all, what had the dragons ever done for her other than cause her grief?
Yes, perhaps those were traitorous thoughts, but it was how she felt. Even so, they were her people, in the end. It wasn’t right to abandon them, not without at least trying to help them. She would do whatever she could to save Midnight. She wouldn’t stand by while all the dragon inhabitants fell to the vampires and became part of an undead army. Should the capital city succumb, the ramifications for the entire shifter population of North America wouldn’t be pretty. But at least she would still have Mathis…
It was this final thought that gave her the calm she needed to travel these darkened streets, walking through a dragon capital city that was probably no longer actually controlled by dragons.
Gabriel’s estate wasn’t far from her own, and when a patrol came into view on the street ahead, Gwendoline didn’t hide. She stayed out in the open, her stride purposeful.
“Halt!” a voice came. “Curfew violators!”
Gwendoline glanced at her companions and then raised her hands. The other three followed suit.
The soldiers, dressed in dark camos, jogged over, rifles hanging from their shoulders. They also carried swords strapped to their hips.
“They’re armed!” one of them said.
The soldiers instantly flung their muzzles upward, pointing them at Gwendoline and her escort. Bullets would be useless against her and her party…
Even so, in an instant Flame was standing in front of Ephephany, both blades drawn. He wasn’t going to be taking any chances, apparently.
“Stay behind me,” Flame told the witch. There was a strange fire to his voice. Almost… passion?
Cronus assumed a similar posture in front of Gwendoline.
“Drop your weapons!” the leader of the patrol said. “Now!”
“These are my bodyguards,” Gwendoline said imperiously. “They will do no such thing.”
Gwendoline realized she and the others were standing in the shadow of a building, and their features weren’t entirely visible. The guards must have thought she and the others were vampires, otherwise they would have drawn their Strength-enhanced swords instead.
Beside her, Gwendoline could feel Ephephany Siphoning the Strength, likely preparing some Weave to bind these men if they made a move against them.
Perhaps I can trust her after all. Then again, maybe she wants to keep me alive for the vampire.
Still, she doubted even Ephephany could subdue these men before they switched to swords and attacked.
“I’m going to step forward,” Gwendoline said. “So you can see who I am.”
“Don’t move!” the leader said.
Gwendoline didn’t want anyone to get hurt, so she obeyed. She was going to have to get Flame and Cronus to disarm. She didn’t see any other way…
Ephephany solved the conundrum. Apparently she hadn’t been intending to bind the men after all, because the light levels in the shadows increased. There was no sudden flash or other movement that would trigger the men, just a slow, gradual rising in illumination, until Gwendoline could make out the faces of the soldiers in front of her. They were all dragons, judging from the tanned features. She recognized some faces as belonging to the city guard.
Apparently the recognition went both ways, because the leader stiffened.
“Your majesty! Weapons down, men. Down!” The men obeyed, and when the leader knelt, they followed suit. “My apologies, I didn’t know it was you.” He glanced at Ephephany, and apparently recognized her, too, because he winced and bowed deeper.
“Stand up,” Gwendoline said.
The man obeyed, as did the other soldiers.
“I wish to see my brother,” Gwendoline said.
The man glanced up. “At this hour?”
“You will escort us.”
“Yes, majesty!” He glanced at his men. “You heard her. Escort positions. On the double!”
They led Gwendoline and her small party to the estate, and the entrance guards let her pass when they realized who she was.
A short time later she found herself waiting in Gabriel’s sitting room with Flame, Cronus, and Ephephany.
A small dragon shifter she recognized as Cornelius Heftly stepped into the room a moment later. The man was so diminutive he could have easily been confused for one of the dwarves that worked the subterranean city’s mines. When she had first met him, Gwendoline had done that very thing. The man had never forgiven her for it.
Beside him stood two headset-wearing vampires, clad in black, armed with pistols. Collars tightly clasped their necks. They had their fangs out, obviously hoping to look as menacing as possible. But they only looked like idiots to Gwendoline.
“Well well well, look who finally decides to show her face,” Cornelius said. “The imperious sister herself.”
Gwendoline ignored his haughty tone. “You’re Gabriel’s new butler?” Gwendoline said coldly, automatically assuming her court voice.
“Butler?” Cornelius said. He laughed, a sickly, tinny sound. “More like the king’s preeminent adviser. I’m with him all hours.”
Gwendoline couldn’t hide her doubt. “I didn’t know the Heftly Dragons had risen to such prominence in my absence from the court.”
“Oh, there’s a lot you don’t know,” Cornelius said with a sneer. “Much has happened since your so-called absence. Your little traipse across the countryside has been pleasant, I presume?”
Gwendoline wasn’t very pleased that Cornelius knew she had been away from Midnight. It was the little man’s way of showing her he was definitely high in Gabriel’s favor, because only his closest advisers knew that. She kept her expression blank however.
“I want to speak to my brother,” she said.
“Now?” Cornelius said in disbelief. “Come back tomorrow. Though I can’t guarantee he’ll see you. He rarely sees anyone these days, you know. Even family. However, I do operate with his full authority, so you may address any qualms you might have directly to me.”
“I don’t recognize your authority,” Gwendoline said. “Wake him.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Cornelius said. He glanced at the two guards with him as if he was about to give the order to throw her out.
But then a shadowy figure appeared behind Cornelius.
“I’ll see her,” a man’s voice said.
The figure stepped into the light. Gabriel.
Her once beautiful brother looked extremely pale and malnourished.
Despite herself, Gwendoline dashed forward and gave her brother a hug. “Gabriel! What’s going on? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Gabriel said, pulling away from her embrace. He glanced at Cornelius. “Leave us, Heftly.”
Cornelius bowed stiffly. “As you wish.”
The vampires started to withdraw as well, but Gabriel looked at them. “You stay.”
Gwendoline noticed he was wearing a headset like the guards. That wasn’t unusual in and of itself, but that he wore it at this hour was.
“Good to see you, sister,” Gabriel said. “Now what can I do for you?”
No asking how she was, or what she had been up to in the countryside lately, but straight to the point. The late hour might have something to do with that. Or something more sinister
…
“Is everything all right?” she tried again.
Gabriel’s lips tightened. “Yes, fine.”
“Why have you been acting so strange lately?” Gwendoline said. “Rounding up and executing your closest advisers, only to replace them with men like Cornelius Heftly. Stationing Black Guards around the estates of the nobles, watching them at all hours as if you plan to seize their lands. And now issuing a blood drive…”
“I’m preparing for war, as I said in my Intranet post,” Gabriel told her. “I executed my advisers because they didn’t agree with my plans. As king, my loyalty is first and foremost to my people. All others come second, including my advisers, and the nobles.”
“The nobles are your people, too...” Gwendoline said.
“Yes,” Gabriel said. “But they compose only one percent of the population. Meanwhile their estates and hoards make up ninety-nine percent of the city’s wealth. If they refuse to surrender what the treasury needs for the coming war, I will take it by force, and make an example of those who resist.”
“Are you sure you’re yourself?” Gwendoline said. As if he would admit he was under duress. Perhaps one of the vampires lurking behind him at that very moment was his master.
“You doubt I am myself?” Gabriel said.
“All those previous times when you governed in Jett’s place, your rule was wise, just,” Gwendoline said. “But now it just seems... misguided.”
“You always were naive, sister,” Gabriel said. “During those earlier times you speak of, my rule was only temporary. Jett merely Slept, weary of the throne. He was always coming back. But now, I am truly in command. Jett will never return. I can do what I want.”
“But you could have easily usurped the throne if you wanted to do ‘what you want,’ as you say,” Gwendoline said. “Killed Jett while he slept.”
“I wouldn’t do that to my brother,” Gabriel said. “Risk sparking a civil war? What kind of ruler do you think I am?”
“And yet you send a raiding party to his pride, so that you can capture him and ship him off to the Wayfarer witches?” Gwendoline said.