Fated Hope

by Sariah Skye

  I nodded knowingly. “I see.”

  “That is why I understand where your King is coming from.” Darzius stepped forward and extended a hand to Maxxus. “Please accept my apologies for my garishness.”

  Maxxus clasped his hand. “Forgiven.”

  “Oh dear gods…” I threw up my hands in the air in exasperation, as Irelle chuckled.

  “Guess some things are the same from kingdom to kingdom,” she said, with a giggle.

  Maxxus and Darzius, who five minutes ago were about to kill each other, now laughed and joked like best friends.

  UnderPrincess Garaneth spoke up cheerily. “More ale for all!” She clapped her hands, and two of her male attendants started pouring ale from a golden keg into tankards standing nearby.

  “I think we’ve imbibed enough!” My grandfather spoke up with a commanding tone. “I believe we should depart for dinner hour. A good meal will do us all some good!”

  Maxxus gestured towards the door, and invited everyone for a castle dinner. They filed out, leaving Maxxus and myself behind; my grandfather the last to shoo them out.

  “Are you sure you’re okay, Maxx?” I demanded suspiciously, looking him over, especially in the eyes which showed no sign of their earlier color change. “I swear when you were angry like that, your eyes appeared to change.”

  “Change?” Maxxus repeated, taken aback. “How is that possible?”

  My grandfather still lingered behind, pausing from following the group to turn to us. “I am sure you just witnessed the dilating of the pupils, in bloodlust.”

  I considered this. It was only briefly of course. “You’re probably right.”

  “We do strange things for our families,” my grandfather added with a laugh. “It was probably just an over-extertion of testosterone and magic. Nothing to worry about.”

  “No, but just in case…will you escort Leorah to our chambers? I am going to Finnian, just to make sure that is all she saw,” he said nervously.

  “A wise precaution.” My grandfather held out his elbow. I reluctantly looked at him before softening my resolve, and taking his arm. Maxxus pecked me lovingly on the forehead, and patted my grandfather on the back. “I will return.” He disappeared behind the delegates through the doors.

  “I should go with him,” I said, trying to convince myself through a sudden yawn. My stomach churned indicating that the bread wasn’t sitting entirely comfortably and my muscles that had been tense with anxiety. “But, I’m quite sleepy and would rather get to bed. He’ll be fine on his own, right?”

  My grandfather laughed reassuringly. “Yes, he will be fine.” I allowed him to walk me back to the bedchambers, where he stayed until I was changed for bed in my favorite Star Trek t-shirt and blue and white flannel pajama pants. He prompted me into bed after clearing away the dinner trays, setting them on the vanity table. Sona leapt on the bed, taking her spot on my pillow as usual. As I lay in bed to get comfortable, he dotingly tucked the quilts up to my chin and smiled over me, as his long beard trailed down, tickling my chin. I giggled, as a flash of being a young drake again entered my mind, when he would tuck me in every night in absence of my parents who couldn’t and every time his beard would tickle me.

  “Grandfather, you really should shave that off!” I would insist.

  And he would just smile. “I will not, because it makes you giggle every night without fail. As long as I’m here, I will continue to wear this beard to make you laugh as long as you’ll let me.”

  “What is it?” he asked with worry, and I realized I must have been far away.

  I smirked. “You really should shave that off.”

  A grin spread over his mouth. “Ah, I will not. It makes you giggle. Good night, darling granddaughter.”

  “’Night.” And even though I’d been resentful towards him before about the magic spell, all anger had melted away with that memory. I closed my eyes feeling relaxed, with a smile, feeling relieved that I’d been able to forgive him fully, not realizing until just now that I needed to.

  Chapter 22

  I bolted upright from a dead sleep, interrupted by the awful sound of rumbling, roaring monsters.

  “What the hell!” I cringed, prying my sleepy eyes open, noticing the sun was barely streaming through the window overhead. “Uggh!” I shouted, as the rumble sounded again, deafening in my ears. I pressed my hands against them, trying to drown out the noise.

  Nearby I could feel the slight vibration of a furry object near my back. I craned my head over my shoulder to see Sona, perched on my pillow as usual, hair on her back standing upright, ears flattened on her head, her green eyes narrow. She was hissing violently, scratching at the air in front of her.

  “What’s wrong girl?” I followed her line of sight and found the disturbing source of the roaring monster.

  Maxxus was laying on his back, arm draped over his chest, the other hanging off the bed, his mouth wide open, making the most disturbing snoring sound I have ever heard. If this was a cartoon, and we had drapes, I’m entirely positive he would be sucking in the curtains from his heavy, snarling breathing.

  “Maxxus!” I hollered, to no avail. He didn’t budge, of course.

  I recalled stories that Madison and Emily would tell, about Emily’s father who had sleep apnea; the poor girls would be sleeping over at Emily’s house and from any point in the home, they could hear her father snore quite audibly. They would speak of how annoying it was, that they couldn’t get any sleep and it was so bad Madison refused to sleep over at Emily’s anymore unless he was out of town; which was quite sad for the pair of best friends. I figured that they must have been exaggerating—surely, a full-blooded human couldn’t be that noisy! And, certainly not noisier then a damn, snarling, growling dragon.

  Oh, was I ever wrong. Or perhaps, Maxxus was worse because he was a dragon, I don’t know. I didn’t care. I just know, I needed it to stop right now!

  “Maxxus!” I yelled a bit louder, pushing his side.

  He snorted and closed his mouth briefly, turning his head to the side before being silent.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank the gods.”

  Then, Maxxus let out the most disturbing, gurgling, demonic noise I’ve ever heard.

  Sona jumped straight up into the air and meowed in fear, darting around me and cowering by my side.

  I patted her gently. “I understand. And I’m pretty sure he’s been possessed by a demon.”

  Sona let out a meow that sounded strangely like an agreement. I chuckled but my amusement was short-lived, as Maxxus let out another blood-curdling, gag-enducing snore.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” I ground my teeth and balled up my fists by my ears. I grabbed the nearest pillow while he was in mid-snore and started smacking him repeatedly with it. “Wake. The. Fuck. UP!”

  Maxxus snorted, roared and jumped from his sleeping position, to roll off the side of the bed in a heap. He landed with a thud on the hard stone floor, grumbling unintelligibly.

  I bit my lip to stifle my laughter, but I let it free when I watched a disgruntled green dragon, climb up the bed, hands first, then his disheveled bed-head followed by his angry face.

  “What the hell, Leorah?” he demanded grouchily.

  I threw my head back and laughed, watching him pull himself angrily back onto the bed.

  “It’s not funny!” He protested, puffing out his lower lip and glowering at me.

  “The hell it isn’t! That’s what you get for snoring like a fucking beast! Cripes!” I retorted.

  He side-eyed me with dismay. “I do not snore.”

  “I suppose not, you were summoning Satan himself with that noise!”

  A tiny smile started creeping up at the corner of his mouth. “Was I really snoring that bad?”

  “Were you—” I began with amazement, shaking my head. To properly display my point, I grabbed for the angry cat cowering behind me. Her hair was still standing on end, ears angry and she was shaking with crabbiness. She pa
wed at the air in front of her and let out a long, long hiss.

  Maxxus’ eyes widened at the cat’s disgruntled display. “Whoa…I’m sorry, kitty.” He reached out towards her to attempt to offer her a comforting pat of surrender, but she wasn’t having it. She opened her mouth wide and chomped down with her kitty fangs right between his pointer finger and thumb.

  “Sona!” I scolded her, as he winced, pulling his hand away. I sighed, shaking my head and releasing the cat onto the floor to allow her to escape to what she deemed as a safe place in the wardrobe. “Sorry,” I apologized to him.

  He held his hand against his chest and shrugged. “No, she’s still not okay with me, I shouldn’t have tried to touch her, especially when I was angry.”

  “Probably not,” I agreed. I held out my hand and invited Maxxus to put his hand in mine to heal. “Let me.”

  “It’s just a scratch,” he protested, but allowed me to take his hand anyway. Blood had risen to the surface, but it wasn’t dripping, indicating that it was only a warning bite. “You’re lucky; the first time she met Braeden she took a chunk out of him, and of course I couldn’t heal at that point so he had to be subjected to the torture of peroxide and Band-aids.”

  Maxxus wrinkled his noise. “Sounds painful.”

  I nodded vigorously. “Oh, it is.”

  Without having to try hard, I concentrated on the warm magic inside and hovered my free palm over his hand, willing the cut to heal.

  Even though I could see the healing mist float around his hand, the bite didn’t disappear.

  I cocked a brow. “Why isn’t this working?”

  Maxxus gently pulled his hand away. “Maybe it’s the pregnancy?” he suggested.

  I shrugged. “Maybe but…I don’t see how. If anything I should be more powerful.”

  “It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt bad.”

  I gave him a strange look but relented. “Fine. I guess I’ll go see Evie and see if there’s something wrong with my magic.”

  He nodded in agreement. “Couldn’t hurt.” He glanced at the window, at the small amount of light pouring in, running his injury-free hand through his hair. “It seems rather cloudy out.” He stood up to gaze out the window, where he let out a low whistle.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Snow. It’s really coming down.”

  I grumbled. “That is not good. We should probably get ready to prepare for the day. Shit will probably be hitting the fan about it.”

  Maxxus agreed. He hit the shower while I texted Kiarra to ask about the day’s plans.

  The shouts in the castle radiated through the walls before we could even arrive at the throne room.

  Parts of the castle that had been empty for days—even weeks now—were now completely full of disgruntled dragons in their human forms. All of them in their various colored robes, appearing chilled and completely soaked to the skin.

  Baron Gaster and Braeden had to escort Maxxus and I to the throne room, to hear the irate shouts of the various Anarachain citizens who were utterly troubled by the snow storm. And, rightly so.

  “I have never seen anything like it in Anarach!” one male dragon protested—from where, I couldn’t tell throughout the shouts.

  “It’s like being in the Northlands!” A female dragon shouted.

  “All our crops are dead, or dying! You need to do something!”

  All the voices began to blend together, in one enraged cacophony. I winced while walking to the throne room, avoiding the desperate citizens grabbing at Maxxus and my robes, while Braeden and Gaster pushed them away. Valessia and Kiarra took flank around us, looking regal and utterly undisturbed in their flowing blue robes, both each a distinct shade, though I could feel the panic wave off them both. They showed no indication of their anxiety, though. Which is more than I could say for myself.

  I am sure I looked completely terrified, walking through the hallways of the castle, amongst the screams and shouts of the angry dragons, all peeved for their own reasons—and frankly, rightly so.

  I attempted to hold my head high, gingerly touching one of the slight spires of the golden tiara I wore atop my head. Apparently, at one point Maxxus had altered the official circlet and made it prettier, more comfortable. I was thankful for it now, as it helped me to feel more in control. I slyly wondered if he’d worked his blacksmith magic on it, helping me feel the way I did. Sneaky bugger, I thought to myself, holding back a smile. I didn’t want to appear patronizing to the citizens’ plight.

  Relieved when we arrived at the throne room, the arguments were more fevered and intense. My poor grandfather and a couple members of the Court were trying to hold a discussion about what they were going to do about the storms. My grandfather was insisting everything that could be done, was being done, but I could sense the lie on his tongue. It was only a half lie though; there wasn’t much that could be done right now with most of the dragons of the magic meteorology “department” out of commission.

  My brother announced Maxxus and my arrival in an official capacity, and the room hushed for a brief moment, as Maxxus and I took the thrones in the center, with as much dignity as we could muster.

  I had little more than brushed my pink robes aside when the yelling began again.

  Valessia stood on Maxxus’ side, Kiarra on mine and we just listened as the citizens argued about their plight.

  I leaned closer to Kiarra and whispered behind my hand, “What can be done about the storms? Seriously?”

  Kiarra’s eyes widened slightly. She spoke behind her own palm with all seriousness: “Nothing.”

  I grimaced. “If this keeps up we’ll be killed before we even reach a month on the throne.”

  “If this keeps up you won’t last the day.”

  I frowned. I turned and exchanged a glance with Maxxus, who’s chest heaved and fell with a calming breath. He stood up, attempting to command the room, holding his palms up and facing the crowd. “Citizens, please! One at a time! We cannot possibly address all of you at once!”

  Everyone hushed, and Maxxus, feeling satisfied dropped his hands.

  It was short lived before everyone began shouting again.

  I slapped my palm against my face, as Maxxus and my grandfather tried to shush the crowd.

  “Use your magic,” Kiarra whispered to me.

  I glanced at her hesitantly. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. They hate me as is, mind-controlling them might not be the best option.”

  “I’m not sure we have much choice,” Kiarra said. “The delegates have agreed to lend us a hand with this matter, but even still there isn’t much they can do. But we might be able to lessen it some, in key areas to allow everyone to at least take a few precautions and save some of their yields.”

  I drummed my fingers on the arm of the throne, deep in thought. “I’m not sure I can. I tried to heal Maxx earlier and I couldn’t.”

  “Really? That’s strange.”

  I nodded in agreement.

  “Evie should probably examine you again. You’ve been sick right?” she asked.

  “That’s an understatement,” I said with a chortle.

  “Perhaps you’re just dehydrated and tired and it’s affecting your magic.”

  I considered this. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Right after this…I’ll do that.”

  “In the meantime just…try.” Kiarra pleaded. She nodded towards my grandfather, Maxxus and Valessia who were trying to sort through the yells and frantically answer questions. “I don’t think anyone is going to notice you.”

  “Meh.” Reluctantly, I agreed. I pursed my eyes slightly and scanned the crowd.

  Quiet. Calm. I repeated the mantra in my mind as I looked over everyone. I couldn’t exactly penetrate everyone’s mind individually, but with deep enough concentrating I might be able to affect them on a larger level if I keep it simple enough.

  I continued to scan, feeling the magic inside ignite and grow in intensity as I released the magic over the group. I could see th
e mist hover and hang pointlessly, before I subtly spun my finger below the arm, calling for a small gust of wind. Hopefully, everyone would just think it was a draft in the big, old castle and think nothing of it. I gathered the magic in the wind and dispersed it carefully over the group. As it fell, all the angered dragons began to hush.

  Kiarra elbowed me. “Nice,” she barely spoke, as it was now quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

  Maxxus and my grandfather turned to me, knowing exactly what I did, but didn’t allow their faces to betray them.

  Now, all the dragons’ eyes were on me.

  No pressure, or anything.

  I rose carefully, careful not to trip over the length of robes that gathered at my feet.

  “Listen everyone. I know this is hard for you. I know you’re worried about the weather, and losing your crops, and everything else. We know this. We want to help, but to be honest, with the majority of the Court out of commission, there is only so much that can be done,” I said, addressing the room with what I hoped was a calm yet firm tone.

  A handful of dragons began to protest, but I held up my hand in a gesture of silence. A little bit of magic might have influenced them too, I’m not ashamed to admit. “Yes, I just used magic to help the group calm. I am being honest with you so that you know I’m not trying to deceive you, but we need calm in order to figure out a solution. So, please, just allow the king and Elder to speak!” I insisted.

  Dozens of eyes before me widened, but no one spoke out of turn.

  I dropped my hand and smiled. “Thank you. One thing I know for certain, we will not allow anyone to starve. There are provisions in the castle—”

  “—and we have things stocked away, just in case,” my grandfather interjected.

  “Right.” I said. “I also have contacts in the human world. If absolute worse comes to worst, supplies can be purchased and brought over from Minnesota—it was where I resided during my time on the human earth. There is plenty of food there, and no chance of shorting out. Remember, they work without magic, so they have a system in place. Winters are harsh there, but they still make it work, planting in warm seasons and harvesting in the fall, and stockpiling as well as sharing with the community. They make it work, and so can we. It is only temporary, I promise you. Next season, if the Court will finally allow healing and purging of the Shadows, they will be able to do their jobs again. In the meantime, we’re just going to have to work it out. I hope everyone understands.”