“Your father searched for one for many years, even though the Regina left the islands and did not return. George too, looked for a cure, and I believe he found one.”
“Why didn’t he use it on the Regina?”
Pax gave me a look like, ‘come on? You don’t need me to spell it out for you’.
“So, I need to save my grandfather now to save Wyvern,” I mumbled.
“If you had not decided on it, I would have insisted. I will not run the risk that Reeves will kill George for any longer than I have to. If we cannot cure him in the way you believe will work, I will take him here with me.”
“Um…” I swallowed down what I was going to say, as he definitely wasn’t asking my permission. “Wait—you’re coming with me? To the surface?”
“Of course, my dear, George is my son.” There a growl in his voice when he said the word ‘my’.
“There’s a girl running around with a weapon that can kill dragons. They probably want the dragons to come up—this could all be about luring the dragons up there.”
“I do not think so. If these ‘Extinction’ humans, as you call them, acquired the gemstone from Albonia, what do you suppose they would do? What would your grandfather do if he found this type of treasure?”
“Track down its origin, learn its history, secure a supply and insure its secrecy. Oh, I see.”
“I believe that silencing your grandfather and gaining access to his hoard would be their first objective.”
“And me, they want to kill me.”
Pax sighed and got to his feet. He held out a hand to me. “That, my dear, is likely another issue altogether.”
I hesitated before taking his hand. “What other issue?”
“An issue that has everything to do with the dragon who is currently destroying my hoard, I think we should go check on him.”
I took his hand, letting him pull me up. “Oh, wow, this dress is so big.”
“It is yours, my dear. As my forebear, I expect I do not need to impress upon you the importance of keeping the secrecy of what George did with the gemstones.”
“The only people who matter are those who are related by blood, everyone else is replaceable.”
“Those are my words,” he said.
“I thought they might have been. Though there are a couple people I’d add to that now, actually.”
“That does not surprise me in the least. You are very like your father.”
“Really?” I whispered.
“Spending this time with you, is a great gift, even under the circumstances. It is like being with him again. He was also half-cheek and all heart.”
“Ha, that’s what my grandfather says about me.” I wiped away a tear.
“I am not surprised. I ask you to enter with me, but do not release my hand. If I have to teleport you somewhere else and leave you there, do not make a sound and listen carefully.”
“I understand.”
He gave me a wide grin at the words, as if it was all just a great job we were plotting. “And then we will go about stealing the Regina’s body.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
A second later, the room around us vanished. When we reappeared, it took me a second to recognize the large space as the hoard we had just left. Most of the walls were small jagged spaces separating large holes that gave glimpses of rooms beyond. Large melted gooey puddles covered the once neat piles of gold and gems.
The white dragon raised his head sharply from where he crouched on the other side of the large room. The line between me and Wyvern led directly to the space between the dragon’s legs. As the dragon raised its head to examine us, I could just see peaks of Wyvern’s long, mostly transformed body between its forelegs. The dragon bared its sharp teeth, a low reverberating sound coming from its chest.
Pax’s hand tightened around mine as we vanished again, appearing in the stone box I had portaled to. Pax gave me the slightest of smiles, and then vanished.
There was a loud roaring sound, then the sound of something crashing. A second later, Pax appeared with me.
I blinked at him, seeing no giant dragon soul around him.
“Doppelganger,” I mouthed.
Pax raised his eyebrows, then a finger to his lips in a ‘be very quiet’ gesture.
Outside of our area, I heard more crashing and then a loud screeching sound.
“I expect compensation for every coin, I hope you know,” Pax called from somewhere outside in the hoard.
There was another long, loud screeching sound.
The Pax nearby me shook his head.
Outside, I heard another Pax say, “I did not cost you your son. It was your arrogance and pride that has nearly cost us both our cherished sons.”
Another loud, longer screeching sound reverberated through the room.
“We had kept her existence secret for years, then in a couple boastful words you have brought the attention of all kingdoms on my family. Did you really think that the other dragons were so unintelligent that they could not do the calculations? The moment you told the High Rexes that your son had found a potential mate who was twice as powerful as she should be, they realized that any offspring between the union could produce a dragon unmatched in power.”
There was another growling sound, though much of the ferocity had seemed to ebb.
“The appeasement was only to the Europan alliance. It was obviously not enough and not to the ones that truly needed to be appeased. Whoever did this, used human extremists that had already infiltrated your son’s household.”
Another short, snorting growl sounded.
“Not until you turn into a less threatening form,” was Pax’s reply.
There was silence for a long while, a deadening of the air.
I heard a quiet, mumbled, “Thank you,” but it wasn’t from Pax.
After another extended silence, the Wyvern Rex’s voice said, “You can bring Dakota out now, I will not harm her. You have my word.”
The Pax doppelganger offered me a hand and a grin. When I took his hand, we instantly vanished again, reappearing within a large crowd of Pax’s. The true Pax stood directly beside me, his soul large and already familiar to me.
I let go of the doppelganger’s hand, and offered my hand to the true Pax.
He glanced over, eyes wide and grinning. “George told me that you could do it, but I never believed him,” he said in a low voice.
“How will I speak to her if I cannot even see her?” Wyvern Rex senior’s voice was still almost a growl in its human form.
The crowd before me parted, though not far. Pax’s doppelgangers turned so that they stood shoulder to shoulder in a long corridor between the Wyvern Rex and me.
The moment I saw him, I lowered my head in a bow.
Honestly, I needed to give myself the moment, as it almost hurt to look at him; he looked so much like my Wyvern. At the same time, he looked so other, so dragon and terrifying. All the Paxes in the world would not be enough to separate us.
“Did you play a part in killing my son?” he asked, his head lowering though his eyes were sharp on mine.
I touched where the small tugging sensation still pulled at my chest. “Wyvern isn’t dead.”
The Rex glared at me, white hot furry rolling off his soul. “You lie to me?”
“Check for yourself, he’s not dead.”
The Rex crouched down over Wyvern, who was still at his feet. Still glimmers of the man showed in the large dragon he now was. His nose’s arch was not as strong nor defined as it should be. Over his whole body, his scales were not as defined as they usually were.
The Rex’s head came up suddenly, his gaze meeting mine. “How did you know?” he said in a low voice.
“Because… I think I’m keeping him here,” I said.
“How? He should have died within minutes.”
“I accidentally exchanged pieces of our soul. A piece of his soul sunk into mine and mine into his. I think it is acting as some sort of tethe
r. I’m hoping that it will give me the time to save him.”
“Your soul is what is keeping my son alive?”
“I think…”
He stood slowly as he spoke. “I see. And you expect me to believe that it is some sort of coincidence that he is the first dragon to suffer from a wound made from a mortemgemma in a thousand years, when your family has had the task of guarding the only known source?”
“He’s not the first.”
“You lie! I would be the first to be informed.”
“The first and second were dracons in the Albonian court. The third who received the same wound was the Regina of Oceania. The fourth and fifth were family most dear to me.” I wrapped my arms around my chest. “Then there were the three Dracs in Mailua, they were all attacked with that stone. When we were examining the place the Dracs died, the security team Wyvern assigned to me turned on us and attacked Wyvern with the stone.”
Wyvern Rex senior regarded me for a full minute. “You did not betray him?”
I glared. “I followed him to the Dragon Kingdoms. I almost died to do it too. If that doesn’t prove my feelings for your son, nothing I say will.”
His mouth pursed, but his eyelids seemed to relax just a little. “I had heard of those attacks, but I had not connected them to the mortemgemma.”
“My family might guard the source, yet, when your rule annexed the islands you insisted that it be a center for world trade,” Pax said.
“A decision your son greatly profits from,” Wyvern Rex Senior snapped.
“As does your rule. Regardless, the source has not been secure for centuries. No effort of ours could stop new gems from forming. Moreover, my family did not keep the secret alone of the mortemgemma’s existence. All four of the High Dragon Rexes know of the gem and its site of formation. I have suffered more than you in this. I have a most cherished son at the point of death, a grandson who suffers the same affliction and may only last days more, and an exceptional great-granddaughter who will never reach her potential because she too suffers from a mortemgemma wound.”
“Lorelei’s loss is great indeed. I will take Dakota to my keep to insure that she does not suffer the same fate.” The Rex took a step forward, as if he could just waltz down the line of doppelgangers and take me.
In one synchronized move, the doppelgangers pivoted, closing ranks around me. “You will not take her! The fate of both our sons rest on her ability.”
“The fate of my son rests on her continued survival and I can only ensure that she remains so if she is not free! I will not lose both her and my son to this!”
“She is not yours to lose!”
“According to the contract, she is ours until my son releases her. As his patriarch, I have the right to assume her protection until my son can take over. Step aside.”
Pax didn’t, and neither did any of his doppelgangers.
“You stand in the way of my right to protect her? You would break the terms of the contract?” Wyvern Rex whispered.
“I do.”
“Then I have the right to imprison you as well, and assume all your holdings!”
“You can try,” Pax said the words almost gleefully.
“No!” I shouted. “Wyvern gave me the right to end the contract at any time I wanted. I end it now!” Sudden, unexpected tears fell from my eyes.
“I do not believe you!” Wyvern Rex shouted.
“I will swear it with blood! He told me that whether the contract continued or not was my choice. I choose to end it.”
“Then swear it with blood! I will take nothing less. And if you are lying to me, Dakota, you will be punished within my keep for years.”
One of the doppelgangers vanished, reappearing with a wicked looking dagger.
My hand wrapped around the hilt of the dagger. Within one blink of the eye, all the doppelgangers vanished, leaving only me and the true Pax, facing the Wyvern High Rex.
I cut into my hand, deeper than I intended as the blade was ridiculously sharp. I inhaled sharply, then turned over my hand to drip blood.
“I swear that Wyvern Rex, the dracon Rex of New Anglo, said these words to me: you can end the contract whenever you want. If you say it’s over, it’s over. If I am lying, may I be dragged to serve in my great-grandfather’s halls for eternity.”
As the High Rex examined me, I forced myself to hold his gaze. My fists wanted to clench, my breath wanted to speed up, and I was almost sure he was going to ask me what I had promised in exchange, and if I had lived up to that promise. I believed technically I could end the contract according to Wyvern’s terms; Wyvern did not specify that I needed to see a tutor before I ended the contract. However, I was sure that the High Rex would grab any opportunity to take me.
“If you do not save my boy, I will take you to serve in my halls for the rest of your life,” the High Rex said, his gaze still locked on mine.
“That will be an act of war,” Pax said, almost casually.
The High Rex’s attention turned to Pax. “I could wipe out your progeny in seven days, and you in seven minutes.”
“All these sevens, why not six? It would have been more of a threat,” As Pax said the word ‘six’, five doppelgangers appeared, surrounding the High Rex, but only standing casually about.
I took a step forward. “And if I save him from this, you’ll remain in an alliance with my family and Pax for a hundred years even without the contract. And, in that time you will never attempt any contact, whatsoever, with me or my sisters.”
“Why would I deal with you?” he growled.
“Because war is messy, and this way if Wyvern dies, I’ll deliver myself to you. I’ll put a freaking bow on my head.”
“You do not need to make this deal Dakota. Wyvern is an infamous braggart.”
Wyvern Senior growled at Pax.
“It is a fact.” Pax raised an eyebrow at me.
I held out my bloody hand to the Wyvern Rex.
An almost-grin touched the side of his lips as he took my hand. His grasp was a little too tight and I could not stop the small gasp that escaped me.
“I will accompany you to the surface. As interesting as it would be to acquire you, I would still prefer my son to survive and it seems that your continued safety and this soul connection is the key to that.”
“Then I propose a temporary alliance, until the moment your son either heals or perishes.” Pax held out his hand.
The High Rex slowly released my hand, then exchanged my hand for Pax’s. When they released each other’s hands, I noticed that all three of our hands were bloody.
“Your son will be as safe here as he would be anywhere.” Pax raised his hands up to gesture the destroyed hoard.
The Wyvern Rex glared at Pax. “You attempt to fool me?”
The five other doppelgangers vanished. “Not me.”
“You will release him?”
“At any time,” Pax replied.
“Then I accept.”
“Can we portal home from here?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, no.” Pax shook his head. “Any portal to the surface is owned by all kingdoms, the law states that they can only be reached by mundane means.”
“Mundane?”
Pax’s eyes seemed to twinkle. “Flying.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
I realized almost immediately upon push-off, there was a big difference between flying clutched in a dragon’s arms than their legs. I was almost comfortable as Pax cradled me between his arms like a giant baby, while I held onto a big bundle of fur coats in my arms.
Every place the fur touched me was slick with sweat. Rivers of sweat rolled down my face and back. My great-grandfather’s keep must have had the dragon equivalent of high-power air conditioning, because the moment we teleported onto the roof I nearly passed out from the heat. Even the wind that buffeted against my face was hot air.
I glanced down as we rose, my great-grandfather’s keep now only a small stone block in a forest of craggy rocks i
n the distance below. Rocks jutted from the sandy-ground in all directions as far as the eye could see. Some of the larger rock formations had too-uniform looks, making me think that they were perhaps dwellings or keeps. Intermittent between the jagged outcroppings, large chimneys of rock released black smoke into the air.
Pax’s heavy wings made a loud whooshing sound every time he pushed us higher. Beside us, the much smaller Wyvern High Rex flew almost leisurely. At moments he would fly ahead, then turn around to match our pace.
Pax thrust us even higher and the clouds that engulfed us were every shade of yellow, from a light off white to a deep sickly, almost-green color. A streak of lightning shot past us as we continued to climb.
The clouds thickened, filling my nose with a noxious sulfuric smell as lightning cracked all around us. The High Rex, soared around us, spinning and dodging the bolts, almost playfully. Pax flew straight, his course unfaltering. My fingers dug into the fur of the coats as a bolt shot right past Pax’s wing.
With a heavy thrust of his wings, Pax broke out of the clouds and into open air. I blinked, at the sight of what lay above the cloud layer.
In the distance my eyes could make out an inverted city. Thousands of dragons flew all around the buildings in every size and color. Large towers plunged down, surrounded on all sides by smaller structures. Mirroring its dragon citizens, the city was painted in a thousand shades of color, random and beautiful.
Some structures looked as if they tried to mimic scales, or maybe gems, reflecting back the low light that escaped through the clouds. Large fires burned from thousands of open patios and from within windows, making the area look almost like what it looks like to fly into Waibibi City at dusk, which I’ve only done once. Though, instead of the horizon curving down, this horizon curved in.
“Wow,” I whispered.
Pax gave me the slightest of squeezes, as he continued to fly upward. The Wyvern High Rex shot ahead of us, one moment he was parallel with Pax’s wing, the next he was a blur of white shooting toward one of the larger towers. Pax continued his same pace, never jostling me in the slightest even when the High Rex disappeared into the lowest level of the tower.
Rex (Dakota Kekoa Book 2) Page 27