Shifter Queen (Dragons & Phoenixes Book 3)

by Miranda Martin

  "If you will please hear my granddaughter out," she said, deliberately highlighting our relationship. Throwing her weight behind me. No pressure at all. I took a deep breath. There was no going back now.

  "I'm sure many of you already know that Sven is an integral part of Emberich's court," I started again. "But he is also a part of a brewing rebellion that wants to overthrow the Phoenix King." This next part was going to be hard to convey in the right light. I could completely see how this would seem like a simple power grab to anyone who just heard this part. "He came to me after the attempts on my life," I started, wanting that part to be clear. "The faction plotting against Emberich needs a blood relative of his to stabilize the throne after they overthrow him."

  "And I suppose you have aspirations to be that blood relative," the young woman who had spoken up earlier said in a dry voice.

  Saying exactly what I feared they'd think.

  "She is our only option. Emberich cleans up his loose ends too well," Sven interjected in a quiet voice.

  The woman did not seem pleased to have him respond to her question.

  An older man about Cinira's age cleared his throat and everyone settled down again. His salt-and-pepper beard and the mostly salt of his thick hair lent him an air of dignity. His plain black tunic and no-nonsense gaze made me take notice as much as everyone else's reaction to him. This man was well respected.

  "I am sorry, Cinira," he started in a deep, somewhat raspy voice. "I am somewhat confused as to why we were called here. You seem to have been attacked because your granddaughter is here. And it she appears to be talking about overthrowing Emberich, so I wouldn't even say that the attack was unprovoked. To me, this seems like it is a family matter. Or a phoenix political matter. And, in either case, it is definitely not a dragon matter."

  Murmurs of agreement traveled through the room.

  Cinira inclined her head respectfully.

  "I thank you for your input, Tanar," she said. "But I do not think that this issue exists in a vacuum. It affects all of us."

  From the murmurs I overheard, nobody seemed to be buying that either.

  I tried a different approach.

  "Wouldn't it be better to have an alliance with the phoenixes rather than this fragile truce that keeps being broken?" I said. "I know there are still skirmishes. Skirmishes that hurt both sides. But Emberich will never let a truce happen. Not a true one." I met eyes as I looked around the table, trying to get through. "His power depends partly on the phoenixes having a common enemy, having someone else for them to focus their anger at. Without this feud, he would have an even harder time holding on to his power."

  Sven stepped forward.

  "And I can tell you that the people tired of Emberich's rule are not a small minority." The attention shifted to him grudgingly. "Many who are not actively participating are still sympathetic. Being ruled by someone who is egomaniacal, selfish, and power hungry is not healthy for any society. Overthrowing him would benefit us, yes. But Mia is correct. It would also be good for you." He spread his arms out. "Having a working relationship, a true one, would only be mutually beneficial."

  They didn't seem to be buying it.

  It looked like they were having a hard time getting past the fact that Sven was a phoenix.

  Tanar spoke up again.

  "It sounds to me like you want all of the dragon skeins to engage in the war to overthrow the Phoenix King. Now, I and the rest of us are not fans of Emberich." Everyone murmured their agreement once again. Tanar looked like he was the man to convince. "But you are talking about overthrowing someone else's government. That will cause destabilization no matter how hard you try to mitigate it. That destabilization will only hurt everybody. Any kind of war will result in casualties." He sighed, folding his hands over his flat stomach. "I do not see a compelling reason here to risk my people to get your granddaughter onto the phoenix throne." He met Cinira's eyes. "And I find it irresponsible of you to ask." His voice was measured and thoughtful, which only made the words even more of a blow.

  Tanar stood, his frame straight and tall. And it was as if that was the cue for everyone else to stand up as well.

  "I wish you the best, as I'm sure the rest of my counterparts do. But I am done here."

  He nodded at me and at Cinira, and then he turned and walked out, his guards falling into step behind him. The scrape of multiple chairs followed as the rest of the table followed suit.

  I pressed my lips together tightly. There was nothing that I could do apart from pleading my case, which I had.

  There was no way to call this meeting anything but what it was.

  A complete and utter failure.

  Chapter Nine

  The silence in the room was deafening as the last of the delegates left. The doors closed behind them with a quiet whisper. Just to add insult to injury, Cinira's people were still aligned around the room to witness the failure. There to watch us crash and burn. I'm sure it really added to their already stellar opinion of me.

  "We will adjourn to my study," Cinira said in a calm voice after a few beats. "Everyone assigned to stand guard may go back to their regular duties. Thank you for coming. Report to Rama if you are free. She is tasked with organizing the cleanup efforts." She looked at the people still along the walls. "Go."

  They filed out without a word, their faces carefully expressionless.

  With that announcement, Cinira headed straight towards the doors that let out as well.

  I looked over at Ashur.

  He shrugged.

  "Time for the post-mortem I guess," I muttered as we followed after her.

  "It wasn't that bad," Ashur murmured, taking my hand in his.

  "It was worse," I returned, though it was nice of him to try to make me feel better about it.

  Ashur's people and Sven trailed behind us. I didn't know if Cinira meant to include them as well, but I figured we all needed to talk about what just happened. Including Sven. So we all trudged over to the elevator and took it up to her study, the mood definitely down. Cinira didn't bother telling Lumena or Fogor to wait outside this time. They'd already heard everything anyway. As had the rest of her people at this point I was sure.

  She lowered herself into her chair with a sigh, moving as if she was older than she had been just this morning. Lumena and Fogor took up stations directly behind her. I guess they didn't trust us enough to be further away by the door. Ashur and I took the chairs across from her and waited for her to start.

  I didn't know what to say.

  Cinira rested her hand on the desk in front of her, tapping her fingers.

  We all waited in silence.

  After maybe a minute, she glanced up.

  "Well," she started, leaning forward, folding her arms on the desktop. "That was...a spectacular disaster."

  "Yes," I agreed. "Spectacular about covers it." There was no way to call it anything else.

  "It could have been worse," Ashur pointed out.

  Cinira let out an irritated breath as she met his eyes, obviously not in the mood to hear anything positive. I completely understood.

  "Please, my fellow Dragon Lord, enlighten me." I didn't know how she managed to make the title she shared with him sound almost like a mocking insult, but she did. "How in the hell could it have been worse?" she said.

  I was kind of on the same page.

  "Nobody died," Ashur said, his tone and his eyes steady. Not at all intimidated by the fact that he was in Cinira's territory and she was not in the mood. "The talk went terribly, I will admit that. I'd be a fool not to. And despite what you may think, I am no fool." He leaned forward. "The truth is, we're not any worse off than when we started," he added, shrugging. "Practically speaking."

  Cinira closed her eyes tight and let out a breath.

  "I suppose you are right about that," she conceded, leaning back in her chair again. "But that still means that we're at an impasse." She looked at me. "I don't see a feasible road forward at this point, Mia. I am s
orry. Perhaps with a bit of time, I may come up with something else."

  "I'm sorry you had to put yourself out on the line there like that for me," I said. "And that nothing came of it." I raised my hand to rub at my eyes. "Thank you for trying."

  "Of course," she murmured. "I have a stake in this as well." Her eyes shifted to take in everyone else in the room for a moment before returning back to me. "If there's anything else you need, I really hope you will come to me in the future as well," she added.

  I knew she meant it.

  "I will. Thank you."

  There wasn't much to say after that. We headed back to our suite and Ashur's people went back to the rooms assigned to them to pack up.

  There was nothing else that we could do here now. I'd offered to help with cleanup, but Cinira had just shaken her head.

  "My skein needs to lick its wounds right now," she said. "And your being here, as well-intentioned as your presence would be, might rub some the wrong way."

  I thought she hadn't noticed it the cool reception her skein had given me. Stupid. Cinira noticed everything.

  "I understand," I replied, accepting the refusal. I didn't want to inadvertently make things more difficult rather than easier.

  We left our suite with our stuff in tow. The square was mostly empty when Ashur and I went back to the car that had been brought out from the parking garage. A stark change from the scene when we'd arrived. But Cinira's people didn't have time to stand around and gawk at us. Everyone was busy with the cleanup efforts. They had more important things to do.

  I walked over to where Cinira was waiting to see us off. Stepping in close, I gave her a tight hug. It was odd how familiar she felt even though she'd only just become a part of my life.

  "Don't be a stranger," she ordered as I moved back. She took my hands in hers, her grip firm. "And next time bring Omari with you," she ordered.

  I smiled back at her.

  "I will," I agreed. "Thank you again."

  She waved my thanks away as I moved to the side to make room. Ashur stepped up into the space and took her hand in his, bowing over it.

  "I thank you for your hospitality," he said formally. "I appreciate the effort it took on your part."

  "Oh, shut up," she said mildly, shaking her head and pulling him in for a hug instead. "It seems like I'm going to have to get used to you now," she said in a wry tone. "Like it or not, I'm now your grandma too," she said.

  I almost laughed when I saw Ashur's expression. He looked horrified.

  "Well...that is very generous of you," he said carefully.

  "I know it is," Cinira agreed, as she stepped back.

  Ashur looked over at me with a pleading look in his eyes. I took pity on him.

  "Will you let me know of any new developments?" I asked as I stepped towards the car, signaling that we were leaving.

  "I will. I would ask you do the same," Cinira responded. "Have a safe trip."

  When we got to the car, Enzi and Sven were already waiting next to it, having come up while we were occupied. We'd decided to drive back with Sven rather than having him carried because it made more sense not to burden someone with that job if it wasn't necessary. Enzi came with him to make sure he stayed in line. Fuera and Hathai had already changed into their dragon forms and were circling above us to act as our escort for the trip back. We all piled into the car quickly, with Sven and Enzi in the back. We were all ready to be gone.

  The mood on the way out was less nervous and more somber than it had been on the way in. It was quieter even though there were also twice as many people in the car this time. We drove down into the tunnel and back out onto the flat area directly before the rocky maze.

  That was when Sven decided to speak up.

  "You know, we don't need all the dragons behind us," he said into the silence. "I can guarantee a quiet coup, one where Emberich is out of the picture before everyone even knows what happened. I have enough people inside to do it."

  I twisted in my seat to look back at him. "And then what?" I demanded. "Even if you could guarantee such a thing, which I think is a strong statement to make, Cinira is still right that I could be easily unseated. I know that you aren't the only faction or the only school of thought when it comes to Emberich among your people. Those guys who attacked me in the city dome agreed with Emberich getting rid of me because they didn't think I was a fit successor. That's straight from the horse's mouth. And I know there must be others like them, those who think that the fact that my genetic makeup isn't pure phoenix means I'm not good enough." I shook my head. "You know that's true. Which means that there could be some very strong opposition to me. So. If you think that the transition would be at all easy...you're crazy."

  A moment of silence as he absorbed that.

  "Maybe there would be opposition," Sven admitted. "But we can ease the transition."

  "How?" I pushed. "If someone doesn't like what I am, how do you propose to change their mind? Biases like those aren't just baked in, they're welded in, cemented with generations passing on those same ideas."

  Sven opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it again and looked out the window, his jaw tight.

  "Perhaps you are right," he murmured. "Perhaps I'm grasping at straws because I simply cannot abandon hope."

  I sighed, turning back around in my chair to face forward. I could understand his reason for holding on to this plan. I could even sympathize. But I was not leading anyone into a suicide mission, including myself, not when there were other options. Maybe the other options weren't palatable, but I would deal. I had to.

  The rest of the drive was mostly quiet and uneventful. I think everyone was exhausted.

  When we reached the edge of Ashur's territory, the two shadows following above us were joined by six more.

  Ashur had ordered security beefed up after the attack on Cinira's skein, a necessary measure nobody could argue against. Halfway to the city, the dragons following us from the edge of the boundary did an abrupt turn back, leaving just the two dragons that had come with us. And then six new ones arrived and followed us to the city itself. They must have established zones to patrol.

  As we drove into the city, we also ran into a good old-fashioned vehicle barricade as well, but the four people in charge of the blockade simply opened up the gate as soon as they saw who it was.

  Ashur came to a slow stop next to them instead of going straight through.

  A younger woman with her brunette hair in a high ponytail bent over so she could see him, an attentive expression on her face.

  "Everything quiet while I was gone?" Ashur asked.

  "No incidents to report," she said formally.

  "Thank you, Primm."

  She nodded as she unbent and stepped back.

  We drove through the barrier and then the rest of the old part of the city. The empty and worn part. Well, not so empty now. There seemed to be some other patrols on foot in this area now too. Ashur had not been playing about security. We reached the newer part of the city not long after that.

  After we parked, we headed straight to Ashur's building, Ashur fielding greetings from everyone around us. They were clearly happy to see him. To my surprise, I got a few greetings as well. Maybe they were starting to realize that I didn't actually have devil horns. I could only hope.

  Sven was going to go back to the building where he was being held before, but he stopped us when we were about to separate.

  "Can I check my messages?" he asked.

  I glanced over at Ashur.

  "All right," Ashur said. "But you can only check them, you can't return anything," he warned.

  That made sense. Who knew what kind of hidden message Sven could embed in anything he sent back, even if it seemed innocuous to us.

  "That's fine," Sven said.

  Ashur pulled his pad out and handed it over to Sven, both of us stepping behind his shoulders so we could watch. He signed into his account and checked his incoming messages. There was nothing ne
w. Sven frowned as he stared at the empty inbox.

  "Were you expecting something?" I asked.

  He nodded slowly.

  "There should have been a check in," he explained, sounding worried. He looked up at us. "This isn't a good sign."

  Ashur and I glanced at each other.

  Wonderful.

  Chapter Ten

  What if we went after the individual flocks that Sven could point out as harboring anti-Emberich sentiments?

  I clicked send.

  I'd been messaging Cinira trying to figure out a way to crack through the Dragon Lords' thick skulls so they'd listen. So far, the result had just been pure frustration, but I wasn't giving up yet.

  A new message dinged.

  It is not a bad idea. However, how do you propose we reach out to those flocks? They might think we are full of it. Not to mention the risk of Emberich finding out and escalating the whole thing before we're prepared for anything like that.

  I sighed as I read the message. She had a point. We could conceivably go through Sven, but then we'd have to trust him a lot more as well. And even if we did do that, her last point about Emberich finding out was a very real concern that we couldn't dismiss. I was filing this away under a possibility, but not an ideal plan. Still, it wouldn't hurt to kick the tires on it a little more.

  If we were to go through with it—hypothetically—how many of the phoenix flocks would we have to speak with and get their support before the Dragon Lords might take us seriously?

  I clicked send.

  I had no idea how many we'd be able to get, but a ball park of how many we needed would be helpful in case we were to ever actually consider doing this.

  The problem was, even if there were a number of flocks that severely disliked Emberich and would rather not have him be their king—as Sven was certain of—many of them could still refuse to aid a rebellion attempt simply because they wouldn't want to take the risk. And I wouldn't even blame them.