by Olivia Hart
I went to the bathroom and started the shower. I was so glad that magic had given the Fae the ability to pump warm water. It was nowhere near as good as the ones in the Mortal Realm, but it was close enough. A soft stream of warm water began to pour from a small pipe made of stone into the bathtub underneath.
There was a combination of fairies who always manned the water pipes in the Tower. One with control over fire, and the other with control over water. The fire fairy would heat the stone, and the water fairy would push water from giant cisterns at the bottom of the Tower upward, no differently than a water pump from the Mortal Realm.
Standing under the water, I tried to be quiet. I didn’t want that damned puppy lizard to become interested in me. Not yet. I just needed a few minutes to wake up. I should be excited. I should be putting everything on hold to take in the pure awesomeness that a dragon was sitting in my bedroom. But I couldn’t. There were other things that I couldn’t put off.
At that moment, I was reminded of all the mothers on TV who seemed like they were about to collapse in their robes as children ran around the house like wild animals. They loved their children. They’d wanted them. They’d gone through hell and back for them, but during those mornings, they just wanted to lock them up in a shed outside so they could have a moment of quiet. Was this how they felt?
And there was Daddy Sebastian just poking them with a stick, stirring them up even more. Yes, I needed this shower and some coffee.
“Sweetheart, the coffee is here,” he said through the door. I shut off the water and ran a towel over my brown hair before putting on my robe again. Sebastian was tossing one of the unburnt logs from the fireplace across the room, and the dragon was chasing it.
I watched silently as I took a sip of the coffee. Oh, this was definitely what I needed. So dark it was almost mud. Just a hint of cream and no sugar. Perfection. Now, I could maybe, just maybe, enjoy watching my husband play with a magical creature who just seemed to want to play fetch.
The dragon brought the log back to Sebastian, and as he did, a great puff of smoke rose up from his nostrils. Sebastian grinned and tossed the log again, and the dragon chased it once more. As soon as he picked up the log, he stopped suddenly. Swiveling his neck like a dog who’d just been caught with his head in a trashcan, he stared at me. A stream of liquid began to spray underneath the dragon, and it took me a second to realize what was happening.
He was pissing on the floor.
I blinked several times as my brain processed that the most powerful creature in the Dark Tower was currently looking at me as he relieved himself on my floor. I didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t like I could rush him outside and walk him like a dog. There were a zillion stairs between us and the ground. Did he need a litter box? Could he use a toilet?
He turned around and brought the log back to Sebastian, his head turned to the side as Sebastian didn’t pick the log back up. He watched as Sebastian got up to get a towel to clean up the slowly spreading mess on the stone floor.
I stood there watching as Sebastian held the piss covered rag to the dragon’s face and said, “This is bad. You can’t pee on the floor, little guy. We’ll get something figured out, but Mom is going to smack you if you pee on her floor.”
The dragon let out a puff of smoke that looked strangely similar to a horse. Then it turned away from Sebastian and ran to me. I had to remind myself that it wasn’t going to attack me. It was just an idiot puppy with scales.
It stopped in front of me and began rubbing its head against my leg. I glanced at Sebastian who shrugged. “Maybe he’s trying to say sorry?”
“I don’t know, but we have our first meeting with the council this morning, and I need to get ready.”
“Okay, I’ll throw on some clothes and take this little guy for a walk. Then I’ll meet you at the meeting. Are you still taking Amra as you had planned?”
“Yeah. She needs to get some experience doing something other than hiding from nobles. She’s a Princess. She should be taking charge of things if we’re not available since there’s no one else of her rank in the Dark Court.”
I turned to go into the bathroom to get ready, and the dragon went to Sebastian. This morning was nothing like what I’d imagined, but for just a moment, I let myself remember that we had just adopted a baby dragon. It hadn’t been that long ago that I’d have been ecstatic about that. All of the stress of becoming Queen and dealing with my mother had eaten away at my childish wonder at the Immortal Realm, but I shouldn’t forget it entirely.
There was still a place for wonder in my life. I just needed to learn how to find it while still managing all of the other things that were being thrown at me.
Like this council meeting.
Chapter 3
Sebastian
We sat in one of the many rooms set aside for meetings within the Dark Tower. This one in particular was one of the more decorated areas with paintings hanging from the walls illustrating some of the more famous Fae from the ages. Unlike the Court of Light, most rooms in the Dark Tower were relatively austere, and the beauty lay in the simplicity.
Here, it wasn’t about the embellishments. It was about the quality of the creation. The art lay in the craftsmanship and the choice of materials. This room was an exception, most likely because of who frequented it: the most powerful Fae in the Dark Court as there had not been a Queen in almost a thousand years.
Around a small table made of torl wood, dark as pitch and hard as stone, the leaders of the Dark Court sat. The ones who had run the Dark Realm ever since my mother died. They were not Queens, but they were as well-known and as feared as one.
Two men and three women. All of them wearing black with silver decorations while Rose wore a blue dress that hugged her body. I’d never seen anything like it, and I couldn’t help but appreciate the way it looked regal while still emphasizing all of her beauty rather than just the parts above the waist.
Amra walked slightly behind Rose and to her side. She was still shy around all of the Dark Court, but that would eventually fade if she was forced into these situations. The girl had been trained to run from everyone her entire life, so it wasn’t surprising. At least she was wearing appropriately tailored clothing now, though it was strange to see her wearing a dark silver dress and glowing in the Dark Court.
Beryl was the oldest of the council, a female fairy with extremely dark gray wings. She’d run the financial side of the Dark Court since before my mother had taken the Throne. Her eyes were full of cunning and intelligence, and she watched us as we approached the table.
To her right was Therin, the only non-fairy on the council. A dwarf that tried to fit in with the rest of the fairy leadership, he’d even cut his beard short to where it looked almost human. He was in charge of construction and logistics within the city. I’d rarely had dealings with him even when I was trying to rule the Dark Realm. City improvements weren’t something that I’d ever worried about.
The realm’s truest politician, Braelle, sat beside him. Dressed in the latest fashion, she had annoyed me from the beginning of my rule. My mother had given her the position of focusing on everything outside of the city of the Dark Court. She had always seemed to be the most worthless of all the council members, but I’d never found someone to replace her.
Duma was next. She was a newer addition that I’d put in charge of running the Dark Tower itself. A pretty female, she would have fit in well even in the Court of Light. Prim and proper beyond the norm in the Dark Realm, everything about her demanded obedience.
Finally, Trelle finished the circle, a half-fairy who had managed to grow a white beard. He had been in power long enough to have become softer than a commander should, and the roundness of his stomach and his face told you all you needed to know about his recent activities. He was the only member that I’d had specific dealings with on a regular basis. I’d never been a good politician or manager, but I understood soldiers. Trelle was not my choice of commanders of the Dark Realm’s mi
litary, but he wasn’t the worst out of the bunch.
A chair had been set up for Rose, but Amra and I were not officially part of the council. Amra was only here to watch and learn, but I was here for more than that. I could have pulled up a chair and participated, but I preferred to sit on the opposite side of the table to Rose so that I could give guidance without the other members seeing.
Between Amra and me, the dragon lay down at our feet. I’d taken him outside and played chase with him while Rose got ready. I didn’t know what else to do with him. He’d have broken through any door we tried to place him behind. Until I had him trained up a little more, I really couldn’t leave him alone anywhere.
The council members gave us strange looks as we sat down, but Therin said what they were all thinking. “Lady, is that a dragon?”
“Yes, Therin. That is a baby dragon, and for the foreseeable future, he will be accompanying Prince Sebastian and me. I doubt he’ll eat you so you shouldn’t have to worry about him. I don’t remember very many instances of dwarves being eaten by dragons recently.”
Therin’s eyes opened wide at the comment, but Beryl began the meeting regardless of the chatter. She wasn’t one to let distractions interfere in business, one of the things I liked about her. She sat up just a little straighter and cleared her throat, signaling the beginning of the meeting.
“The treasuries are still slowly dropping. The dwarves are not producing nearly as much gold and silver as they have in recent years. They claim that the mines are drying up.”
“Don’t you dare make it sound as though the dwarves are lying,” Therin said as he jumped to his feet. He’d meant it as a threatening motion, but now that his head barely peeked over the table, it only made him look weaker. “You fairies lie better than any dwarf even with your ‘limitations’.”
I glanced over at Amra who seemed to be paying more attention to the dragon than to the discussion at the table. “Pay attention,” I whispered, and she gave me a sigh before returning her eyes to the bickering at the table.
“I said nothing of the sort,” Beryl stated without any emotion, her focus turning to the dwarf. “I am merely reporting what I’ve been told. We need to find new ways to increase production.”
“Can’t we cut back spending?” Rose asked, injecting herself into the conversation for the first time.
Again, without any kind of emotion, Beryl dismissed Rose’s suggestion. “Lady, have you read the year’s budget? Have you gone through the Royal Expenditure report line by line?”
“She’s kind of rude, isn’t she?” Amra whispered to me. “Should I be like that?” I shook my head. The last thing she needed was to pick up Beryl’s terrible attitude towards Rose.
Rose shook her head. “No, I didn’t even know that was something that was available.”
“That’s because it’s not ‘available’. It’s something I’ve put together for myself. I’ve been trusted to manage the finances of the Dark Court for more than a thousand years. If I say that we need more gold and silver production, then that is what is needed.”
I could feel Rose’s anger beginning to rise. She was so young. If she’d grown up as a fairy in the Immortal Realm, she wouldn’t even be considered an adolescent at this age. Yet, she’d managed to do things that no one else could. Things that made my heart sing.
“Is Rose going to kill her like she killed that fairy in the Court of Light? Should we stop her?” Amra whispered to me as she continued to scratch the dragon’s chin. Once again, I shook my head, but my body tensed as I watched Rose show the side of her that demanded obedience.
“Lady Beryl, I know that you have run the finances of the Court for a very long time, but I am still Queen. You will not dismiss me like a child. After this meeting, you will bring me all of your records.”
It was hard not to chuckle as Beryl sputtered, completely taken back by Rose’s demands. “Those are my records, Lady. Why do you believe that you can manage them better than me when I’ve been doing this for more than a thousand years? You’re barely a child.”
That last line brought Rose’s feral side to the surface. That part of her that had brought the strongest person in the world to her knees. The side that made me desperate for her. “I rule here, Lady Beryl. Not you.” She smiled, and I knew the sign for what it was. A challenge. “I never said that I wished to run the day-to-day finances, but I believe that you’ve never had a lick of oversight. I wonder how much of the treasury is going into your acquaintances’ accounts.”
She turned to the rest of the table as Beryl stared at her in a dumbfounded stupor. “This is not Catarina’s Court anymore. This is not Aurora’s or Seraphina’s. This Court is mine, and things will change.” She paused for a moment, letting the words hang in the air.
“Or my counselors will change.”
“All of you will make your records available to me. If there is even the slightest resistance, I will assume that you are hiding things, and I will have to find a new person to take over in your place.”
Silence hung in the air as Rose commanded the space in a way that none of these high-ranking Fae had ever experienced. Their attention didn’t waver from her.
“Now that we’re done with that, let’s cut to the most important issue. Trelle, Duma, and Braelle, my mother will almost certainly begin to undermine my ability to rule the Dark Realm. Braelle, Prince Sebastian will need copies of all reports of anything related to warbands. Anything at all. Banditry. Strange fires burning large sections of cities. Unexplained deaths. Especially near the border.”
I glanced at Amra who was bent over and rubbing noses with the dragon. She needed to learn how to pay attention to these meetings, but I tried to remind myself that she was still so young.
Rose turned to Duma, the manager of the Dark Tower. “Duma, all of the personnel within the Dark Tower that were hired to work within the last few months need to meet with me personally. There is a high chance that she has placed spies within the Dark Tower, and I will find out their motives.”
She would use empathy and the Gift of Sacrifice to determine why they were here. Clever girl.
“Trelle, I need to see our defenses. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if my mother launched a full war against the Dark Realm. She explicitly told me that she was willing to do this. I expect that your troops are not ready for war, and we need to make sure that they are. And soon. Send me a list of what you will need to prepare, and Beryl and I will work together to decide what we can do.”
Trelle shook his head. “Lady, there is no way to prepare for a war against Queen Seraphina in any short time. We would need years. Maybe decades.”
Rose was struck speechless for just a moment and then said, “You have, at the most, three months to prepare. You have been in charge of this military for longer than I have been alive. They should be prepared already. What have we been paying you and your men for other than the defense of the Dark Realm? If you are incapable of preparing both the city and the realm’s defenses, then let me know and we will find a more capable commander.”
He gritted his teeth, but he said, “It will be done, Lady Rose.”
“We will table everything else until next week’s meeting unless there are emergency issues that must be dealt with now.”
“Our council meetings are only once a month,” Duma said quietly.
Rose gave her a grin and said, “Not anymore. We will meet once a week. We’re working with a Mortal Realm schedule now, one of our few advantages, and things will progress in a timely fashion.”
“Yes, Lady,” she responded.
Rose stood up and looked at Beryl. “I will see you and your records this afternoon.”
Without waiting for a response, she turned to leave, and Amra, the dragon, and I followed her. We were silent until we reached the stairs. “I hate doing that,” she whispered as we began to climb the two flights to our suite.
“You did better than I expected,” I said just as quietly.
Amra giggled.
“I think that a few of them nearly fainted when you told them you were going to go through their records. Do you really know about finances, Rose?”
“I know enough. Maybe. Everyone deals with accounts and balances in the Mortal Realm. This can’t be all that difficult especially since no one ever checks over her. If it is, I’ll find someone else who can go through it with me.”
I glanced down at the dragon who didn’t seem to have any problem following us around. I know that Rose thought that he was like an idiot puppy, but I saw the intelligence in those eyes. He may have been young, but he was intelligent.
“We may need to replace Trelle, Sebastian. He seems like an incompetent commander. Do you have any thoughts?”
I looked at Rose, in all of her dark beauty, and it was hard to imagine that she was the young woman who had been chased by a unicorn in a field. The same woman who had been unable to use magic and just wanted to go home. She’d changed so much, had so much stress put on her shoulders. She was still beautiful, but the weight of everything was taking its toll on her. It was hard to find the sparkle in her eye that she’d had so often before.
“The Dark Realm has never really seen war, Rose. There is no experience in anything more than peacekeeping. Trelle hasn’t prepared the troops for war because no one thought we’d ever see it.”
“That needs to change because war is coming. I can feel it.”
I sighed. She was right. War was coming, and we were terribly unprepared, but she couldn’t fight this war all on her own. This was not just her war. It was all of ours.
If only she would let the rest of us help.
Chapter 4
Rose
“Dragon shit is the worst smelling substance in the world,” I said as the dragon sat in the first ever dragon-sized litter box.