Chapter 29
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ENDRE
We dropped.
The bastion had no windows, but there was a landing room one floor above, where clothes were kept for modesty. It was one of the jobs in Skalisméra to keep all the public landing rooms supplied with the shared clothing.
I pulled on a pair of loose trousers, tying them off and doing nothing more. The Elders held Idroal’s mind, and that wasn’t a good thing. It was obnoxious at best, painful at worst. Behind me, Sirrus and Z did the same, pulling on just enough not to have our cocks out for the majority of the city.
Dragons didn’t hold to modesty so tightly that anyone would care. We’d all seen more than enough bodies for a hundred lifetimes. It was just courteous.
And given we were walking into a meeting with the Elders, if they looked out through Idroal’s eyes, I’d rather have the conversation clothed.
I pushed the door to the bastion open hard enough that it echoed. The room went silent and stayed that way as we passed through. Idroal was entirely still when we entered their small space. It was easy to tell they weren’t in control of their body. The eyes that looked out from their face were cruel, while Idroal was anything but.
“Kind of you to make an appearance,” Idroal’s voice said, but it wasn’t them.
“Mizyn,” I greeted them. “When you hold someone captive, it makes us move faster.”
A short laugh. “Fast enough to run down some stairs, but clearly not fast enough to return to Doro Eche.” The eyes dragged up and down my body. “You don’t look in dire need of rest and relaxation.”
“You don’t usually care what we do,” Sirrus said, stepping up beside me. “Why are you involved now?”
“We’re all involved now,” Mizyn hissed. “We sent you to do a job, and you have yet to tell us if it’s been completed.”
“We will tell you everything in due time.” I kept my voice as calm as I could. “If you are so concerned about the status of our task, send someone else to Rensara.” Then I smiled. “If you have someone you trust not to make things worse, or get carried away.”
The Elders fed the hostility between humans and dragons like a fire that needed kindling. Most dragons now couldn’t be near humans now and not feel the urge to kill. There were plenty who felt as we did, but just like the human world where those who felt any sympathy must hide their sentiments, it was the same in the dragon realm.
I barely kept my temper and my face in check. Even now, there was far more that humans and dragons had in common than different.
Mizyn surveyed the three of us with disdain. “How is it that after four centuries you have not yet learned your place? Or how to offer the respect we are due?”
Rage roared inside of me, and I stepped forward with aching slowness. “How is it that after a millennia the Elders have not learned that actions have consequences? You want me to do your bidding? Then return my power and allow me to do so as you were supposed to two hundred years ago. You want respect? Then fucking offer it instead of gripping so tightly your claws leave nothing but shredded remnants of both your Heirs, your subjects, and the world you inhabit.”
I felt Sirrus and Zovai bristle behind me. It was treason to say such things. But the Elders knew how I felt. They’d known forever, which was exactly why they kept my power bound as it was. Because they knew if I was unleashed they might hasten their own end.
My brothers felt the same, and we’d spoken of the changes we could make countless times. But never where others could hear and never in the faces of the Elders. If Idroal could hear what we said, I knew they would not disagree.
“Words like that won’t get your power back sooner, black one.”
“Nor will bending the knee,” I said. “I know that all too well. I’ve done that every day since you bound me and it has never been enough. So why should I care about what words I speak to you, when you’ve made it clear it does not make a difference? Now are we finished? There are better uses of my time than justifying actions you have caused.”
My powers weren’t the reason we hadn’t returned to Doro Eche, but the responsibility for why we were here still fell to them. They sent us to Rensara in the first place. After that, it didn’t matter. This was their fault.
“We will expect you in Doro Eche tomorrow.”
Zovai laughed. “You can expect it all you want. We won’t be there.”
Mizyn used Idroal’s eyes to drag a scathing gaze over us. “We shall see.”
The Elder released them, and Idroal’s body swayed, smoke flying out of their lungs with a cough. “Fucking stars, I hate it when Mizyn does that,” they said. “Of all the mind walkers I’ve had the misfortune of experiencing, theirs is the most foul. It feels like your mind rots where the claws hold you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I assume they’re gone, if you’re saying such things.”
“They are very much gone. But you must be careful. Do not underestimate the Elders’ anger. It is much greater than they are revealing.”
Sirrus leaned against the wall, the picture of ease. I felt how much that ease was a lie. “Does Mizyn know how much you sense of their mind when they take control?”
It wasn’t the first time the mindwalking Elder had done this to speak with us, though the instances were few and far between.
“No, and I would prefer to keep it that way. Though I did not glean anything beyond rage at the perceived disobedience and disrespect.”
If we started flying now, we could indeed make it to Doro Eche by tomorrow night. Earlier than that. It wouldn’t take more than the length of the day. We would reach it before dawn. But I had no desire to return and be interrogated.
However…
“If we left Lena here and went. What are the chances the Elders would believe we killed her as we were meant to?”
“Very little,” Idroal said. Then shrugged when the three of us looked at them. “I don’t know if the question was addressed to me, but I might as well be honest. Their anger toward you will lead to suspicion of anything you say. And though you two,” they nodded at Sirrus and Z, “might have a chance of resisting a mindwalk through your memories. You have no chance at deception, Endre.”
My hands curled into fists. Not because they were wrong, but because they were right. The power in my body bowed to the Elders, as was the way of dragons. But being bound by their combined commands, I could not fight them.
Grief and pure emotion turned to rage and back again. I turned away from the three of them, trying to control my breath. “And if we leave her here and they find out about her?”
“Do not do that,” Idroal said. “Do not leave her here unprotected.”
“You would not protect her?” Sirrus asked. There was no accusation in his voice. Merely curiosity.
Rising, the dragon lit a pipe sitting in the corner and pulled in a hearty breath before blowing it out again. It wasn’t simply smoke, but after having their mind held captive by Mizyn, I didn’t blame them in the slightest.
“Of course I would attempt to protect her. But you know as well as I do, my power bows to both theirs and yours. They can undo your edict with a thought, and if they did? She would be at the mercy of any who wished her harm, and it would be unlikely those of us who favor humans could stand against them. Or worse, they will simply command one of their allies in this city.” They turned back to look at me, face bleak. “She would be long dead before you returned.”
The thought of Lena dead was a punch straight to the chest. It was physical pain. Unthinkable, unspeakable pain, and my brothers felt it just as deeply.
I braced myself against the wall, bending nearly in half to combat the phantom sensation. “Idroal what is this?”
“I cannot speak of it.”
“But you know?”
A deep inhale and exhale with the fragrant scent of sapphire sage smoke. “I suspect without confirmation.”
Rage and power flowed into my body, bringing heat. It welled up against the bonds on my power, doubling back on itself and becoming painful as it reached the limits.
“Endre,” Zovai said quietly.
The word didn’t fully reach me. I was sinking into the storm inside myself, trying to find a way beyond the restrictions. To find some hidden well of strength that would let me overcome.
My muscles tightened, my human form creaking with the need to shift and explode. Find a way find a way find a way.
Before all of this, my power brushed the edges of the Elders. Sirrus and Zovai were a breath behind me, but enough that they weren’t considered rivals. I was at once a rival and a gift. Proof that the dragons weren’t failing and weren’t perishing. We would live on.
And now…
A hand dropped on my shoulder. My skin hissed with the heat released. I was so close. If I’d been smarter or faster. If I’d found a way to increase my strength just a little?—
“Enough.”
Sirrus pushed force into the word. The power of equals. It could knock me sideways and not down.
“You’ve already tried this path too many times.”
“There has to be a way,” I ground out. “I can’t—” The bonds forced me to release the gathering fire along my bones. “I can’t simply exist like this forever. None of us can. Not if any of us want to live. Humans. Dragons. Lena.”
I needed to scream and tear the walls of Doro Eche to shreds to remind them of the truth. Set the tree of the Elders aflame with my fire simply for the satisfaction of watching it burn. If I lived—if we lived to become them, I would never live in that fucking tree. I would burn it first.
“There has to be a way.”
“There isn’t,” Idroal said gently. “If there were a known way, you would have found it, or someone loyal to you would have.”
Shaking my head, I pressed it against the wall. “There has to be a way. I don’t care if it isn’t known.”
“Endre—”
A snarl tore out of me. “What are we supposed to do? Present ourselves to Doro Eche without her knowing it will happen exactly as you say, or take her with us, risk their wrath, and maybe lose her anyway?”
Idroal smiled. “Take the time you have demanded. There are different kinds of rest, and you deserve them. The Elders are not foolish, even bound as you are, they know they cannot push you too far.”
The inexhaustible fire in my chest surged like lava. It sat, a white-hot core ready to consume anyone in it’s path. No matter who. No matter what.
“Thank you, Idroal,” Zovai said. “If you hear anything else?”
“You’ll be the first to know.”
Sirrus was the one to tug me toward the door. “Come. It has been far too long since I pummeled you into the dirt.”
A choked laugh. “Not once have you ever done that.”
“That’s a lie, and we both know it.”
It was.
The sudden grief and rage rose like a tide once more. “Lena,” I said, her word both a plea and a prayer. “I don’t want her to see this.”
“You shouldn’t keep who you are from her,” Z’s voice was soft.
“I don’t want to harm her.” My dragon was so protective of her, I didn’t think I would, but the anger surfacing now was old. Ancient compared to the fragile human waiting in our beds. I wished I knew that my dragon would put her above the call of that anger, but I didn’t. “Not hide. I just?—”
“Don’t worry. I’ll distract her.”
The intent in Zovai’s tone had me laughing in spite of everything. I covered my face with my hands. “Do your best. Or your worst.”
He chuckled. “Perhaps both.”
“Let’s go.” Sirrus punched me in the arm. “Time for me to remind you who the strongest is.”
My dragon growled at the challenge, and we followed him, intent on proving that it was me. And even if he beat me, this was good. Comfortable. Familiar. Safe.
To keep her safe.
It was all that mattered.