by Eve Laird
Dragon’s Oath
Dragon’s Oath
A House of Quercus Novella (Book 1)
Eve Laird
Copyright © 2018 by Eve Laird
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
For my husband.
You’ve patiently listened as I’ve talked about the House of Quercus and loyally supported me to follow my dreams. You’re always beside me and in my corner.
I love you.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
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Also by Eve Laird
About the Author
Chapter 1
The Angelic Realm
I stretched as I washed, my body still aching from my recent fight. I was getting so tired of Breena making up excuses to try to hit me. I smiled inwardly; if I felt sore, then she most certainly was.
For an Angel, her jealousy and her ambition should have drawn more attention to her. I didn’t know how she'd managed to stay within our Legion for so long. The sad thing was that she didn't even fight fair. She'd challenged me after training, and then turned up with three of her friends. I ended up fighting all four of them.
I glanced in the mirror; one of the few times that Brenna managed to connect with me she’d smacked me directly over my left eye. My reflection grinned, thinking that the blackened wound would be gone by lunchtime completely.
A Messenger rapped on my open door. I winced from my pain as I walked over to open it.
“The Commander wishes to speak to you at once,” she said.
“Now?” I sighed.
I was almost ready to leave anyway, but hadn't had any breakfast yet.
“Yes, now. I was instructed that you should come with me immediately,” she commanded.
At least she escorted me past the food hall, so I slipped in quickly, and grabbed an apple.
We continued to the other side of the barracks, to where the Commander would be preparing for her morning duties. No matter what tactic I used, the Messenger simply refused to tell me what this was about - most likely because she had no idea. Messengers obeyed orders, just like the rest of us.
We reached the Commander's quarters, but the Messenger kept walking.
“Hey, aren't we supposed to go in there?” I asked.
“No. The Commander is with the Senator. We are going there now,” she said, grimly.
That was not good. At all.
Moments later, the messenger and I walked into the Senator's rooms. Her guards allowed us to pass without question - they'd been expecting us?
“Ah, Vita.”
The Commander's voice was impassive.
“How good of you to join us. Avean, you can go,” she said and dismissed the Messenger.
The Messenger simply bowed and left, leaving the three of us alone in the room.
The Senator looked at me, disgust clear on her face. Her blonde hair was scraped back, as usual, and held in a high ponytail. I couldn't see it from this angle, but I knew the ponytail would run halfway down her back, resting between her wings.
“I have been informed of your continued impertinent behavior, Vita,” she sneered.
She walked towards me.
“And, I am disgusted to hear of your most recent attack on your comrades.” she said.
I looked at her in shock: an error.
“You dare to look me in the face?! Remember your rank, Angel! You may be a Prefect, but you are just a Prefect, not a Tribune, not a Commander, and certainly not a Senator - yet you have the arrogance to believe you are my equal? To dare to look at me?” she hissed.
She turned to my Commander.
“You see, your Prefect is not so perfect. You should be careful for whom you plead,” she snarled.
“My apologies, Senator.” I said, in my most humble voice, my eyes staring down at the dusty floor. “I did not mean to offend you, it's just I am unsure of what you are talking about.”
She turned to me angrily.
“You're unsure?!” she laughed dryly.
“You are unsure?” She stepped closer, now only a few inches from me.
“I find that hard to believe. After attacking another of our best fighters? You don't know?” she said, accusingly.
I grit my teeth. I should have known this was something to do with Brenna.
“Do you deny attacking another soldier yesterday?” the Senator asked, her voice hard.
“No, but...” I started, but she cut me off immediately.
“So, you don't deny it? You are aware, of course, that in-fighting is punishable?” she reminded me.
“I was defending myself,” I said, simply.
“Ha!” she spat, disgusted.
“A likely story.” The Senator paced the room.
“You're the best fighter in the region, and you're trying to tell me that this soldier attacked you?” she asked.
I stood silent.
I was not sure that any response would be a good one.
I hoped the Commander would side with me, and say something.
Anything.
After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, I got my wish.
“Please, Senator, Vita is a soldier of exemplary repute and value to our cause,” the Commander said.
These were words I'd never heard from my Commander, but they were also the last words I would ever hear from her.
The Senator held up one of her hands.
“Silence!” she said, and breathed a deep breath. “Do not speak again. In fact, leave this place. Now.”
I will never forget seeing the golden tear slip down my Commander's check as she departed.
“I'm so sorry,” she mouthed as she left.
The Senator grabbed me roughly, forcing my face to look at hers.
“I know of the ways you have tried to intimidate Breena. When her first reports went unheard by your Commander, she had no other option but to come to me.”
She squeezed my chin hard as she spoke.
“Breena has been reporting every one of your attacks to me. Leaving her with a broken arm, rib and fractures in her wing, you have left me with no other option.”
I gasped, Breena may have been a bit bruised from our fight, but I was certain no bones had been broken.
“The rites have all been said, there is only one last thing to do.”
She lifted her hands and placed them squarely on my shoulders.
“You are Cast Out.”
The triumphant smile across her face was the last thing I saw before the pain became overwhelming, and blackness took me.
Chapter 2
The Human Realm, 1714
I awoke in darkness to the soothing smell of horses and the distant sound of singing and raucous laughter. I knew I was no longer in the Heavens, and for a moment I feared that my wings were gone.
I closed my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. I could still feel their presence beneath my skin. As usual, within the Human Realm, they were concealed until I needed them. To the humans around me, I would appear like one of them.
I opened m
y eyes again and took in my surroundings.
I was in a stable lit by moonlight spilling through from the open door. At least I was on a mound of hay and nothing else, I thought to myself.
I heard the sound of a horse munching on some hay came from one of the stalls.
I was not alone.
I stood up, half expecting to feel dizzy but, in all honesty, I didn't feel any different; physically at least.
I'd heard whispered stories of Angels going crazy when they were Cast Out.
In truth, I didn't know anyone who'd ever met a Fallen Angel, so I could not be certain of the veracity of this information.
But, I knew that now wasn't the time for thinking about it.
I needed to assure my own safety for the present.
Reflecting on being Cast Out for something that I didn't do would have to wait.
I heard a door opening, the sound of the laughter and singing grew louder, then softer again. I heard footsteps coming nearer, and I scanned the stables for the best place to hide. I took my chance and slipped into an empty stall before hearing the distant sound of liquid splattering on the ground outside.
Ah. A drunk urinating on the side of the barn.
Lovely.
Welcome to the Human Realm, I thought, bitterly.
Whoever was outside didn't come into the stables but went away in the direction of the noise from whence they’d come. I wasn't sure I'd be safe here. I had been Cast Out so quickly I was still in my uniform. Since the Angel Guard only ever entered the Earthly Realm in civilian clothes, my current outfit would attract far too much attention.
I slipped out of the empty stall and into the one where the horse chewed its hay slowly.
There was the chance that the owner had left a bag with the horse, and maybe I would be lucky and it would have some clothes inside.
Of course, I was unlucky in that respect.
The only items were a bridle and saddle.
I'd have to find clothes from somewhere else, as I was pretty sure that being Cast Out meant that any of my powers would not work.
Without a sound I moved to the door, peeking out to indeed see an inn close by the stables. I could see from the signage that they offered lodgings and smiled inwardly. Guests meant clothes.
So, my first act as a Fallen Angel would be to steal.
I hoped that wasn't a harbinger of how things would be from now on. Believe me, the fact that I was an Angel but now also a thief was not lost on me…
I padded along the side of the inn towards the back of the building, staying very quiet.
My plan was to slip in, make my way to a guest's room, and ‘acquire’ some clothes.
What actually happened was I got to the back of the building and there were two humans complaining about the Landlord.
“I can't believe Junneh would just disappear. Have you heard anything?” the first woman whispered to the second, her accent unfamiliar to my ears.
“No, I've asked as much as I can, without bringing attention to it,” the second woman said, worried. “It's not like her.”
The second woman put her hand on the other's shoulder for comfort.
“I know. She was always a good girl. Young and silly, yes, but Junneh would never just run away like that,” she said morosely.
“At least not without telling us, or giving us the chance to go with her!” she added, and face showed a bright, fake smile, only half joking. But, her sentiment of wanting to leave this place was very clear.
Silence filled the night air between them for a moment.
“I can't take it anymore.” said the first woman. “I swear, the next time he tries anything, I won't hold back, I'll slap him. I don't care anymore.” she cried bitterly.
“You can't do that, Mary!” the second whispered, her tone scathing. “You'll get us all in trouble.”
Mary's shoulders straightened, defiantly.
“I'm just about fed up of how handsy he is.” she seethed.
“We all are, but jobs are hard to come by, and we need the work and the money... if you strike him, we'll all pay for it. Never mind what the Magistrate would do…” she whispered.
“Maybe I should make it count then,” Mary said.
A voice from within the inn bellowed, and they both rushed inside again.
I bit back the urge to find this landlord for myself.
I had long known that the Human Realm placed a higher importance on males than females; so different from the Heavens, where ability, rather than gender was the focus... mostly, at least. In the Angel Guard, males formed one Legion, females another.
The back door of the inn wasn't fully closed, and it might have been a perfect way to enter, except it would have been as obvious as walking in the front door. Too many staff were walking past the door, making entry impossible.
Then, I noticed the line at the far side of the building and various pieces of clothing hanging from it. They'd probably be damp, but I didn't care. Timing it as well as I could, I zipped past the half-open door and hid in the shadows.
Then, I grabbed what I could from the line and raced back into the stables.
Judging by what I'd seen the two women wearing, the clothes I'd seen were almost certainly for females. I changed, quickly, finding a few loose floorboards to lift and hide my uniform beneath.
In the whole time I'd been here, only that one drunk had come near the stables, so I decided that it would be a good place to stay for the night. Above the stalls, a floor had been put down and extra hay was stored there.
Exhausted, I decided it was the perfect place to sleep.
By the time someone tried to attack me, I'd probably hear them, and be very much awake.
I nestled in, pulling enough hay to cover me but not enough to overheat.
Yawning, I figured that I would rise early, steal some leftovers from the kitchen, which should be empty at that time of the morning, and get my bearings in daylight.
After that, I’d figure out my next steps from there.
I yawned again, hugely, and slept claimed me almost immediately.
The next morning, I awoke to the sound of someone talking in low tones to the horse.
“There boy, quiet now.”
I heard the faint sound of the man patting the horse as he spoke.
Impressive. It wasn't yet daylight, and I suspected the sun would not rise for another hour. It was summer, which meant that it could be no later than about four in the morning. At least I'd managed some sleep, I mused to myself, trying to keep still enough so the human wouldn't hear my presence.
Suddenly, I sensed something from the man below... he wasn't human.
I closed my eyes to get a better focus.
Vampire!
VAMPIRE!
I had to bite back the urge to fight, the reaction that had been drilled into me since I volunteered for the Angelic Guard.
Most angels were conscripted when of age, but with consent, I was allowed to volunteer early, to help the cause.
I tensed to attack, but reconsidered.
Fighting right now would do three things: draw attention to the fact I wasn't human; potentially alert the stable owner that they had an unexpected overnight guest - me alert any further Other Natured in the area of my presence.
Given my current status as a Fallen Angel, none of those were a good idea.
I slowed my breathing as much as possible.
There wasn't enough room for my wings in the confines of this small space.
I lay there, motionless, but I could still hear the vampire, below, talking to his horse.
He spoke out loud.
“I know you're up there, Angel,” he said.
His voice rose ever so slightly to address me, not that he needed to - we both have incredible hearing abilities.
“I do not wish to fight you, and since you are lodging with my horse, and not enjoying the meager comforts of the inn, I have the distinct impression that you do not wish to be seen by the humans. Am I
correct in my assumption?” he asked.
All my life I'd be trained not to talk with Vampires.
The only thing we ever did to them was kill them.
I'd heard of Vampires being taken and interrogated but that wasn't... hadn't… been my concern. I never had a reason to speak with one.
Staking them out was one of my specialties, and I was very good at it.
I grinned grimly, remembering the last dozen or so kills.
“Angel, as you haven't already attacked, am I to assume that you are indeed in hiding, then?” the Vampire asked.
I heard the door of his horse's stall opening and closing.
His footsteps stopped right below me.
“If you are not fighting me, then I am going to assume we have an accord, of sorts. I will be returning to the tavern to shelter from the sun, and enjoy the distractions of drink and women provided within. You should consider a similar way to spend your time. The landlord's stable of women has many different girls to choose from. I only use them to feed so I cannot recommend the best for... other distractions,” the Vampire said.
I felt somewhat repulsed by his suggestions. The vampire assumed I was male, and assumed that I would want to spend my time drinking and with whores. From the overheard conversation last night, I doubted whether the women had much to say in what duties were required of them by the landlord. I suspected they served multiple roles for him.
Bastard.
The Vampire walked away, his footsteps moving to the stable door, and he stopped.
“Come, Fallen,” he said.
I said nothing, but was shocked.