Chapter 22
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KATALENA
I’d never seen such a place. Not in real life.
In Rensara I was told there were places like this at the university, and even larger ones in Kingdoms outside Gleira. But it was hard to imagine something grander than this.
The cavernous space deep in the mountain had no windows, but it was bright and light like sunlight itself poured through the ceiling. I spotted crystals that were filled with light, but I didn’t know how they held it.
Glass bottles of ingredients lined the walls alongside scrolls stuffed into places far too small. A large central fire burned much like the Heirs’ room, but this had pots around it, each brewing something different. Smaller pots and open flames sat on tables cluttered with measurements and notations, reminding me of the chaos in Taia’s shop.
It was incredible.
“What is this place?”
Belleo laughed. “It doesn’t have a name. Not really. No one comes here except for Ravi, Mesene, and myself.”
“And every time you do, your beauty makes it shine a little brighter.” The voice came from elsewhere. Around some shelves, muffled, like the source was covered with a cloth.
I looked at Belleo, and she shook her head with a smile. I knew that look. It was the look Taia had when Baris did something foolish, yet she still loved him. But the dragon behind the shelves wasn’t male. A tall female dragon with hair of the palest violet bent over a scroll with a magnifying glass, trying to make out script so faded I could barely see it.
“You will ruin your eyes,” Belleo said.
“How could I, when seeing you heals them every time?” The dragon straightened and turned, ignoring me completely in favor of Belleo, sweeping her into an embrace and a kiss far beyond what would have ever been appropriate in the human world.
“You know that’s not how it works,” Belleo said.
“Well, we don’t know that. Who have you brought me?” She finally turned her eyes on me. Sharp intelligence lay there. “The human princess?”
“Human, yes,” I said. “Princess, I am no longer sure. I was studying the craft of potions, but looking around, I fear I will be out of my depth.”
Varícrawled down my arm, dropped to the floor, and scuttled away to explore. “Be careful,” I called. There was so much glass, I didn’t want him to disrupt any of what was being created here. He puffed his wings in answer.
“Mes, I grabbed as many roots as I could. They’re growing thinly this year. We’ll have to be careful if we want them to continue growing naturally.”
A male dragon appeared, startling when he saw the two of them, then smiling. “Sobatí.” He kissed Belleo too, and then Mesene.
I couldn’t help but stare in shock. Belleo had told me as much not minutes ago. That anyone here was free to take their pleasure with anyone. The heirs mentioned sharing. But it still had never occurred to me?—
Turning away to give them privacy, I realized how little I knew of the world. Beyond merely being cloistered behind palace walls, so much was obscured by the blind hatred of all that dragons were and the message that they took something from humans.
So far, nothing could be further from the truth.
“Lena, this is Ravi and Mesene. My mates.”
“It’s nice to meet you.”
Belleo’s eyes sparkled. “I’ll leave you in their care and let you know when the clothes are ready.”
Before I could say anything else, she embraced her mates and slipped through the tables and bubbling potions out the door.
I clasped my hands over my stomach, unsure of what to do. “I apologize. I asked if there was a place I might study. I thought it might be a library.”
Mesene studied me carefully. “We have a library, but I’d much rather have you here. I must say I am fascinated. A princess who studied potions seems out of place in the human world.”
“It is.”
She took what Ravi held in his hands and touched his cheek gently. “This is lovely. And the stone shrub?”
Sighing, he closed his eyes. “I flew right past it. I’ll be back.” He kissed her again before he left at a jog.
“Come.” Mesene pointed to a stool near a table. “Sit there. I am curious what you know, and what I might teach you. Few in this city care to learn from me except Ravi and Belleo. At least not anymore. One too many accidents.” She smiled like she was joking, but I wasn’t sure if she was.
“My grandmother spoke of mates once.” The words slipped out before I could stop them. “Or she told the story that had been passed down. That mates among the dragons were rare and beautiful.”
“True mates are indeed both rare and beautiful. But there have been no true mates in centuries. The three of us are mated by choice and love. We are bonded together, but we are not mates in the manner you describe.” She spread the delicate green roots across the table and took a knife to them, slicing them lengthwise into even more fragile slivers.
“How are you bonded?”
Her eyes met mine. A stark shade of purple far more vibrant than her hair. “Perhaps we shall trade? A story for a story. A fact for a fact. Like my mate, I have many questions about humans and your world.”
“I’d like that.” Excitement thrummed under my skin. Truly, I wanted to know everything. And if Belleo was mated to this dragon, I trusted her. “What do you want to know?”
Mesene stared at me. “I’m told humans only ever mate with one partner. Is it true?”
“Yes. Unless their partner should die. Then they might take another.”
She frowned. “That seems like a waste. Is there something about you that cannot accept more than one partner?”
“I… do not believe so, but I would not know.” Her head tilted to the side in that distinctly dragon way I’d come to know, prompting me to speak further. “I have had no partners.”
“I see.” More questions swam in her eyes. “It is your turn.”
“What are you making?”
Her eyes glowed with power and delight. “I’ll show you.”
And so it went. The dragon asked me questions about my life, and I learned more about the brewing of potions in one afternoon than I had in months of my own studies. Only Taia had taught me more, and it was because I had studied with her for years.
When Mesene needed to concentrate on something delicate, I chose a scroll that spoke of healing potions, specifically for those with burns, and began reading. And then another one. And another.
Belleo and Ravi came to collect Mesene, and I didn’t want to leave. They saw it and took mercy on me. “You are always welcome,” Mesene said. “Any time of day or night. No one will bother you while you are here.”
“No one will bother you at all,” Belleo grinned. “Not with the Heirs watching her back. Enjoy yourself, Lena. And try not to lose too much sleep. These two stay here far longer than they should, and are always grumpy the next day.”
Ravi wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. The movement was soft, tender, and filled me with longing I couldn’t name.
“Thank you.”
They departed, leaving Varí and me alone. He slept in an empty mortar bowl, tail curled over his nose, and I went back to reading about herbs I’d never heard of in my life. Some of these only grew on mountains like this one, far above where any human would be able to access them.
When I surfaced from the scroll, time had passed. I only knew because the few candles in the room had burned down, despite the airy light of the crystals being the same. But something else had changed. An energy or presence.
“Hello?” A moving shadow made me jump until Zovai stepped into view. My hand flew to my chest. “You frightened me.”
He smiled. “That wasn’t my intention.”
“Is it all right that I’m here?”
“We’ve already been informed that you are more than welcome,” he said with a smirk. “Mesene seems quite taken with you.”
“Quite the change of pace.”
Zovai’s hands were in the pockets of his trousers as he approached the table where I read. The deep tan of his skin looked warm in the cool light, and those eyes, fixed on me, reminded me of autumn leaves. Nearly shifting in color. His hair, too, seemed on the brink of shifting through tones of red, brown, and gold. If I blinked, it looked different.
I realized we were staring at each other without speaking. He seemed to realize it too. “None of us had seen you today, and I wondered where you were.”
Was I supposed to tell them where I was? I said nothing, unsure. Like every time I stepped in their presence, I felt like I stood on shifting ground. Nothing was even and I could slip and fall at a moment’s notice.
Part of my mind said the fall wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Zovai blew out a breath and stepped back, palming the back of his neck as he looked at me. “I do not know what to do about you, Lena.”
“What do you mean?”
He came around the table toward me, and I turned on the stool to face him. “I mean that I still do not understand what it is about you that stayed my hand.”
I smiled in an attempt at levity. “I suppose we still don’t know if you will.”
Stepping into my space, that same hand suddenly slid around my throat, holding me in place. “Killing you would end me. I know it, and my dragon knows it. If you die, it will not be by my hand or claws.”
“Doesn’t mean the others won’t kill me.”
A flicker of a smile. “Endre is right. You do have a death wish.”
“No. But I will not allow myself to hope.”
Zovai leaned in, that same hand sliding to the back of my neck in order to bring me closer. Somehow my hands were on his arms and I didn’t remember how they got there. His mouth brushed the skin of my cheek. “Would that you were a dragon. It would be so simple.”
“How?” Did I only imagine how breathless I sounded? My eyes fluttered closed when he inhaled, long and deep.
With a soft voice, he spoke, and I swore I felt his voice everywhere. “Dragons need no more than scent and instinct. And had you been a dragon, you would have been naked and beneath me long before now.”
I swallowed as his lips moved upward, brushing across my temple, never wanting the touch to end.
“How much do you know?”
There was no need to specify what he meant. And I did know. Those alleys I walked by and the teachers who instructed me. But I also knew that the fact and the reality lived in wholly different realms. “Not enough. Practicality and not experience.”
“And tell me the truth. Though I suspect I already understand. If you came to our beds willingly, and you were sent back, what would happen?”
“They would execute me as a traitor after compelling me to tell the truth.”
Where this thumb rested beneath my jaw, he moved it back and forth gently, bringing those nerves to life like they’d never been touched before.
He growled so low it made my hair stand on end. “So you cannot say yes for fear of your own life, and I cannot keep myself away from you. Your scent lives in my nose even when you’re not in my presence. The brief touches of your skin have burned me deeper than dragonfire. I crave more.
“I want to show you what it’s like to be wanted by a dragon. Teach you everything. Though I should let you go and leave you alone.”
“I—”
Zovai’s lips touched mine. The softest kiss, silencing me. “If you tell me yes, and are then executed, you will still have been executed because of me. So do not say yes.”
My entire being wanted to say yes. “What should I say then? Should I refuse you? So if I tell the truth they vow to hunt you down and kill all of you slowly?”
His lips moved to the edge of my mouth and along my cheek. Kissing slowly down beneath my jaw. I couldn’t breathe, desperate for more, and if I moved a muscle I feared he would retreat.
“Say nothing,” he whispered. “Say nothing.”
The heat of his lips on my skin, the teasing gentleness of the movement, made chills rise. My fingers dug into the fabric of his shirt, instinct telling me to pull him closer, and reality telling me I didn’t know what I was doing.
“Lena, if you’re still here—” Belleo came into the room and stopped short, seeing us. She blinked and bowed. “My apologies, my lord. I merely wanted to make sure the Princess was not lost and could find her way to her rooms.”
Zovai pulled away, looking at me with eyes filled with heat. “How very thoughtful of you. I will not stand in your way.”
Before I could pull him back, he forced himself away from me and out the door. Varí blinked sleepily from his little bowl, and Belleo covered her mouth to stifle the laughter. “Sorry to interrupt. Having a good time?”
Shaking my head, my mind was still blank. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around what happened. When I didn’t speak, she did laugh, helping me off the stool and guiding me from the room. Varí came with us. “Are you all right?”
I only told her the truth. “I have absolutely no idea.”