Chapter 3 #3
I look at the pretty human again, smelling that mouthwatering scent.
Tor was right. It’s already growing on me.
And she’s more than pretty, I realize. She’s beautiful.
Despite what my brethren think they know, it’s been a very long time since I indulged in a female at all, much less a human and Drey will give her to Aziel.
He will demand it. Tor was right about that too.
‘There’s only one way,’ I murmur. ‘You’d never get away with it if it was just you… but both of us? It might be enough and even Aziel won’t be able to do anything.’
He stands up, the bottle in his hand forgotten. ‘Stake a claim, you mean? Both of us?’
He looks more intrigued about sharing her than pissed and I raise a brow. That’s a start, I guess.
‘Why not? It’s done with the dragon females all the time.’
‘Only so there’s more chance of producing offspring because there are so few,’ he argues, his hands running through his sandy hair roughly. ‘That doesn’t apply to humans. There’s a fucking ton of them still.’
‘Do you know the law?’ I ask. ‘I mean the exact words?’
He shakes his head. ‘No, not the exact words.’
‘Well, I do.’ I lean toward him slightly. ‘You know there’s no mention of dragons or humans at all. Only ‘female’.
His eyes widen. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Hundred percent. Part of my job is knowing our laws. We claim her, both of us, and we create ‘a nest’. The nest is protected by our oldest decrees. Thousands of years of cases back it up. Drey wouldn’t be able to go against it, and, more importantly, he wouldn’t be expected to.’
‘So Aziel wouldn’t be able to use it against him,’ Tor finishes.
I nod. ‘Never know, our illustrious leader might even thank us. It’s rare that Aziel is put in his place these days.’
‘I didn’t think you’d be prepared to…’ He trails off and I quirk a brow at him.
‘Move against Aziel?’ I grin, glad to see that my acting skills are good enough that even my friend can’t tell what’s real and what’s not. ‘He told me to do it, you know.’
‘Drey? Do what?’
‘Get close to that asshole. Make sure I’d know if he was plotting something real.’
Tor’s surprise is evident. ‘At first, that’s what I thought but the months went by, and you argued against Drey more than once. You treat the humans the way he and his allies do.’
I give him a small stage bow. ‘Smoke and mirrors.’
Tor looks down at the human. Soon to be our human, I remind myself. I should be surprised at myself. I’m not one who likes the idea of being tied down. But there’s something about this one. Humans don’t usually earn a second look from me, except when I’m pretending they interest me.
‘If she’s going to be part of a nest, our nest, you won’t treat her like you do the others,’ he says quietly, his voice like steel.
I don’t look at him. Of course he’d think it was real.
Everyone else does. All the humans cringe away from me when they cross paths with me as much as they do Aziel and his ilk.
Hannah is very good at making sure everyone thinks she’s terrified of me.
If we’re going to go through with this, I won’t be able to protect her anymore, I realize.
I’ll have to move up my plan to get her away safely.
‘Things aren’t always as they appear,’ I say quietly.
My friend gives me a thoughtful look. ‘I guess not.’
‘We’ll have to do it before we leave here,’ I say. ‘The scents on her have to be strong. Irrefutable to the others.’
‘I know.’
But still he hesitates.
‘Why are you so okay with this?’ he asks.
‘Is ennui an acceptable answer?’
He lets out a choked chuckle. ‘No, Brax. No one decides to do something like this out of boredom. Not even you.’
‘The truth is, I don’t know. It just feels…’
‘Right,’ he finishes in a whisper, and I nod.
‘Yeah.’ I put my hand to my solar plexus. ‘Something deep.’
‘In the other half,’ he says.
I don’t look at him, but I realize that’s why it’s not really bothering me. It’s not really coming from me. It’s coming from my dragon, who’s been unusually quiet since I got here.
What’s this about? I ask the other side of myself silently, but the reptile doesn’t answer. All he gives me is an odd sense of smug condescension, as if my human brain wouldn’t be able to grasp whatever it is he’s keeping from it.
I roll my eyes. Fine.
‘It might be best to do it while she’s asleep,’ I say quietly.
‘No.’
His tone brooks no opposition, and I make myself shrug.
Is his dragon coming back so strongly that he’s going to try to fight Drey for leadership?
We already have enough strife within the faction to keep from our enemies.
We don’t need more. I’ll have to keep a close eye on him.
Maybe being nest-brothers is a good thing in more ways than one.
He won’t be long out of my sight once we claim the human between us.
‘Have it your way,’ I concede, ‘but it needs to be done whether she wants it or not if you want to keep her safe.’
He sighs, bending over the unconscious human. ‘I’m aware.’
‘What exactly have you done with her so far?’ I can’t help but ask and his lips curve up into a self-satisfied smile.
‘Not much,’ he says cryptically.
‘No? it’s been hours since you sent the whelp away.’
‘I was taking things slow. She’s a novice.’
I snort. ‘You don’t get many humans her age like that these days.’
‘Nope.’
‘Why did you send Orin back? Just out of interest?’ I ask.
Tor gives me a look I can’t discern. ‘You know that some of the young ones can’t control themselves,’ he says.
I make a noncommittal noise, wondering at the tightening in my chest when I think of this little human being attacked by that jumped-up boy. ‘Many of them don’t bother, you mean.’
He gives a small nod. ‘Especially when Aziel and his followers don’t curb their appetites. I was hoping under my tutelage Orin would be different, but,’ he sighs, ‘I was clearly too late to be a guiding force to him in that way.’
‘Aziel’s influence over the faction in general grows daily.
He tells them what they want to hear: stories of prevailing over our enemies, of glory in battle, or new female dragons from other factions to bear offspring.
He feeds all their male lusts. It’s in his favor when they don’t curb their appetites. ’
‘Does Drey not understand how far Aziel’s reach grows?’ he asks.
‘He knows. There’s just not much he can do, Tor. His hands are tied with the power split between him and Aziel. Aziel isn’t ready to show his hand yet, and challenge Drey for leadership, but that time is coming soon.’
‘Drey is stronger,’ Tor says with conviction, and I nod.
‘He is,’ I agree, ‘and Aziel knows it, which is why he waits. But it won’t matter.
Even if Drey forces his hand and fights him, when he beats Aziel, he risks the entire faction.
Either one of the others will take Aziel’s place, ensuring the power split continues, or Aziel’s allies will leave and start their own faction elsewhere.
We will no longer have the numbers we need to survive, nor the females to sustain a full clan.
We’ll be picked off and the Stormriders faction as we know it will be no more. ’
He sighs. ‘Fuck Morcai for his mismanagement, for leaving a mess so big that it couldn’t be cleaned up.’
I sink down to the couch next to the human, suddenly weary down to the bone. ‘He needs leverage,’ I say.
‘What do you mean?’
‘He needs something to show the others that he’s worthy, more than just killing Morcai. Once, that would have been enough, but the world has changed, and we’ve changed with it. He needs something that will ensure the clan’s loyalty to him.’
‘But what?’
‘Females perhaps. If he could entice some factionless ones to join us, or some from other factions, perhaps that would be enough. The last youngling born to the Stormriders was over twenty years ago. There haven’t been any viable pregnancies since then.
We only have a few females in the entire faction, and they aren’t breeding. Why? There must be a reason.’
‘The toxins in the air, perhaps. The fallout from the humans’ temper tantrums?
’ Tor murmurs. ‘Many of the humans have the same problems. There are far fewer of them now, and it wasn’t just the bombs that killed them.
It was the aftermath. Perhaps their numbers are waning as well, we just haven’t realized because there were billions of them to our few thousand before the Fall. ’
‘Perhaps,’ I murmur, looking down at the human.
I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, to start to panic and realize that what I’m doing will have lasting and acute consequences, not just to my life, but to Tor and Drey, to our entire faction potentially, and of course, to the girl herself.
But I’m not worried, not even about turning up with her in tow, irrevocably bound to us according to our laws.
In fact, I can’t wait to see the look on Aziel’s face when he finds out she won’t be his to bend and break and use as leverage.
He’s been looking forward to demanding the Tribute, I know he has, and it’s been far too long since he was taken down a peg or two.
‘What’s her name?’ I ask.
‘Mari.’
‘Mari,’ I echo, and she groans at my use of her name, her eyes fluttering a little.
Anticipation coils through me. If she knew our plan, I have no doubt she’d feign sleep for a while yet.
I should try to get to know her a little.
She’s about to become what in human terms would be a wife to two dragons.
But the truth is, there isn’t time. If Tor wants her safe, we need to do it as soon as possible to give our scents time to mingle with hers enough to settle.
Then, there can be no argument from Aziel, or the others. There will be no going back.
‘Who are you?’ she asks, and I find her eyes on me, looking her fill.
I almost preen at the way her gaze moves over me. She likes my appearance. I’m sure of it.
That should make this go easier.
‘We need to talk,’ Tor says.