Chapter 37
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SIRRUS
My heart stopped as Lena stepped away from me.
“I will make you a vow.”
Every eye locked on her. My fragile little human. And I swore the air grew tight with interest and malice. We had allies, few as they were. I saw them in the crowd with small signs of sympathy on their faces. But they weren’t enough to make a difference, and to voice that opinion could lead to their death.
As much as I wanted to scream at them to speak up, I couldn’t blame them.
Lena lifted her chin, ever the proud princess, and stars, I loved her.
The brand new thought didn’t feel strange. Because of course I loved her. How could I not love her? This brave princess who was willing to marry a monster and die if her people required it. This mortal woman whose death would no doubt destroy me, whether it was now or in fifty years.
“I will make you a vow,” she said again. “However you need me to do it to prove it is the truth and make it binding. I will never intentionally harm a dragon. It is not and has never been my goal. There are many humans who want peace and wish things could go back to the way they were. Those who pass down the stories of what it was like to be allies of the dragons and not enemies. Please.”
Her last word shattered my heart. Softer and just a little broken. Without it, there would be no sign that she was afraid. She stood in front of a host of dragons with nothing but a dagger strapped to her thigh, and she was beautiful.
We could merely command you to do such a thing, human.
“As you have repeatedly reminded me, I am human. My instincts do not bow to yours. You cannot command me as you do your subjects.”
Pride swelled in my chest. A lesser mortal would never dare to defy them or would simply believe Mizyn’s bluff. I couldn’t help but smile.
If dragons could command humans, the war would not have happened. They would have simply bound the humans they gave the magic to with a command to never turn it back on them. None of our history would exist.
Varreo turned his gaze directly on me, dripping with anger and disgust. My sire could feel however he wanted. I didn’t care. The world would be a better place if he had faded long ago.
“But I will vow it.” She looked at Idroal. “Is there a way to make it binding?”
“Not magically, no.”
Lena paled, but straightened her shoulders as she faced the Elders and the crowd. “What will you accept?”
Hissing steam, Varreo lowered his head nearly to the ground, extending his neck way too fucking close to Lena. You speak as if it is a foregone conclusion we will accept this vow. From a species that is weak and disloyal.
“You could have killed me the moment I appeared,” she said quietly. “But you have not.”
I could kill you now.
“If you do so, you will no longer have an Heir,” I snarled.
Blood and flame,Eloith said. I myself will accept a vow of blood and flame.
None of the Elders spoke, but neither did they tell her to stop. It was as much approval as she’d get from them.
“What must I do?”
Endre stepped close, but called out. “Bring a chalice.”
One of the dragons I’d marked as an ally did so, hurriedly running out with a smooth silver cup and handing it to him.
I stepped forward and allowed my hand to grow and turn sharp, showing the claws hiding beneath my skin. “Your hand, Princess.” My voice was even, not betraying the tension I felt in every moment. In the back of my mind, Endre and Zovai had the same roiling fear. Everything about this meeting was an oil-soaked rag waiting for an errant spark to set it aflame.
My muscles still ached from being forced to release Relkym. But that male had signed his own death notice. I would kill him. It might not be today, but he would perish beneath our claws. Just thinking about ripping his throat out with my teeth gave me grim satisfaction.
Lena gave me her hand. I lifted it and kissed the palm, knowing it scandalized everyone within view. I didn’t care. Fuck them and their judgement. Then I sliced along the side of her thumb and lower, so blood seeped down into the cup.
She sucked in a breath at the pain.
“Speak your vow,” Endre said.
Her voice shook, but she did. “I vow I will never intentionally harm a dragon for as long as I am alive. Nor will I intentionally betray a dragon, or take any action that could knowingly lead to their harm.”
The vow made me grit my teeth. It was carefully worded, so it wouldn’t get her into trouble, and unlike a dragon’s vow or command, it wasn’t binding. But it was still a dangerous thing all the same.
Zovai grabbed her hand and allowed his power to flow over it, healing the cut into a smooth pink line. Endre moved a few steps away and set the goblet on the ground, and back again before unleashing his fire on the vessel. It licked inside of it, flaring red with Lena’s blood before melting the silver into a puddle of nothing on the pale stone.
Are you satisfied?He asked.
Your flair for the dramatic, as always, is unwelcome, Endre. Mizyn looked furious. But the rest of them… I couldn’t read them save Eloith. She seemed pleased and content, but then again, she had not said anything against us. So she was with us from the beginning. I didn’t know if the others had changed their mind.
Cieso growled so low it rumbled the earth beneath our feet. The Elders had long ago abandoned their physical forms, allowing their beasts to grow unchecked to the monstrous size in front of us. Their power remained the same—just above the three of us until they faded and relinquished the title of Elder—but their forms dominated.
Yes.Cieso purred the word. It set every instinct I had on edge. I will accept your vow. Perhaps you are different from the humans that came before you.
Lena turned and buried her face in my chest, her entire being sagging in relief. I gripped her hair and held her to me.
My brothers stepped in, slightly angling outward in defensive positions. The danger was not over yet, though my heart felt lighter.
Looking down at me, my sire had the same smooth tone. Too jovial and too placating. They weren’t happy about this. Who among us has not felt the pull of our primal beast? The urges aren’t controllable. They are irresistible.
Behind us, I heard a flurry of wings. Too many for the casual flights around Doro Eche above us. I tried to look back, but I could not. My arms locked, and my body wouldn’t respond to me.
No.
The words of my sire thundered in my head. You will make no move. You will not use you physical voice. You will not fight. You will stand and you will watch.
Magic, thick and oppressive, weighed me down. A command delivered from the heart of power directly to us. Because it was all three of us. Lena still held me, breathing deeply, and I could not open my lips to tell her to run.
Idroal’s head snapped toward us too late.
Unfortunately,Cieso said, his dragon mouth curling into a garish smile, those instincts take centuries to control. And sometimes only by force.
Lena looked up at me. The fear there cracked me into pieces I would never recover from. “Sirrus.”
I dove down into the well of power within myself and reached. The only thing they hadn’t bound. Forced every bit of magic I had outward and was met with nothing but pain and the barest hint of movement.
It wasn’t enough.
I locked eyes with my sire. Don’t you dare.
He looked away.
Dragons slammed into the ground in front of us. Soldiers and guards summoned by the Elders for this moment. They hauled a piece of wood that looked like it was merely the trunk of a tree to the center of the stone ring and stood it upright. One of the dragons moved, calling roots to bind it in place with his gift, the plants slithering through the stone like nothing.
And then the roots came toward us.
NO.
Cieso’s wings spread wide as he looked down at us in total victory. Katalena Isabel Arslan Savea. We thank you for your vow. There is every chance you are different from your ancestors, but the chance of your betrayal is not one we are willing to bear. Your kind’s treachery will never be permitted again. And so, it is decided.
Every Elder spoke as one. Even Eloith, with sadness in her gaze.
You will burn.