Chapter 6 #2
He glances up when the human girl screams loudly and he rolls his eyes.
‘Punish her elsewhere, Bron!’ he booms.
The noises cease and I hear a door close a moment later.
The Commander looks down at me again.
‘The Tribute,’ he mutters, a brow raised.
Then he frowns and his nostrils flare. He looks past me and I glance back to see Tor holding his gaze.
I hear whispers break out around us.
‘She smells of Tor,’ I hear someone close by whisper.
‘Brax too.’
The Commander gets to his feet in a fluid motion, his jaw ticking.
‘My office. Now!’ he snarls through clenched teeth.
I hear a small gasp, and his eyes move to a scared-looking Raina.
‘Not you. Him.’ He points at Tor.
She bows slightly, looking relieved, but when she grabs my neck and pulls me back, he stops her with a look.
‘The Tribute too.’
‘The Tribute is for Aziel,’ someone says from the tables.
The Commander’s face contorts into amusement as he looks at whomever said the words, his lips turning up into a cold smirk. ‘I thought I was the Commander here, Goliath.’
‘You are, sir,’ the male says more quietly. ‘Of course. Apologies.’
The Commander snorts. ‘Now, Torvial.’
He leaves the dais and stalks to the front of the room, pushing open a nondescript door.
Tor takes my arm, gripping it firmly as he leads me toward it, thrusting me ahead of him when we get it to it and pushing me inside.
He closes the door behind us with a click and I glance around.
There’s a dark wooden desk with two red leather chairs in front of it, a matching couch on one side of the room, and some bookshelves along with a huge map on the opposite wall, I guess of the faction’s territory.
The Commander reaches his desk and whirls around.
‘What the fuck have you done?’ he grinds out low.
He lunges forward and I cringe back, sure he’s going to attack me, but it’s Tor he punches in the jaw.
The dragon man staggers back a couple of steps.
‘I had no choice, Drey!’ he hisses.
The Commander paces the room, drawing his fingers through his longish dark hair.
‘And what about you, Brax?’ he says over his shoulder. ‘What do you have to say?’
His second in command appears in the open doorway that leads to the next room.
‘Same,’ he says, crossing his arms and leaning on the door jam.
‘That all you’ve got? Really?’
Brax shrugs. ‘What else is there to say? She’s ours. Clearly marked. The Nesting Law is enacted. Aziel can’t have her.’
Brax’s eyes shift to Tor. ‘Neat trick not letting anyone smell her until Drey did.’
Tor’s lips twitch. ‘I might not have Drey’s scent masking skill perse, but I do have some up my sleeve.’ Then he frowns. ‘But you were supposed to explain things to Drey before we arrived. The Commander not knowing what’s happening isn’t a good look.’
Brax looks uncomfortable, his eyes are apologetic when they find me.
‘I had a female in my apartments. Hannah.’
Tor’s brows rise. ‘The last one Aziel gave to you to kill after you were finished with her?’
He nods and side-eyes me. ‘I don’t kill them, just so you know,’ he says to me. ‘I help them. When they’re healed enough, I get them away from here. I’m sorry I wasn’t here in time to tell Drey what was happening, but I had to make sure she was safe.’
Tor lets out a sigh. ‘Anyway, it’s done, Drey. No going back. They all smelled her when you did. Everyone will know by now. Aziel will know by now.’
‘I won’t be in Aziel’s inner circle anymore after this either,’ Brax says apologetically. ‘But it couldn’t be helped.’
‘Fuck’s sake,’ Drey mutters, closing his eyes for a moment. ‘You two couldn’t have picked a worse time to go rogue on me.’
Brax pushes himself off the doorway and steps into the room. ‘We know, and we’re sorry. But the way it is, is the way it is.’
‘And both your dragons are in agreement? Even yours, Tor?’
At Tor’s answering nod, Dreythos tilts his head. ‘Last I heard your dragon didn’t speak to you anymore.’
‘That was true until…’ He glances at me helplessly and his eyes soften.
He’s looking at me the way he did at the dam.
‘Can’t get him to shut up now,’ he breathes.
The Commander’s surprised expression falls to me, and he finally seems to look at me properly, his eyes coming to rest on me for several long moments.
‘Why her?’ he finally asks. ‘She doesn’t look like much.’
For some reason, his assessment bothers me, but I push the feeling away. What do I care what this dragon man asshole thinks of me?
‘Maybe our dragons are just sick and tired of Aziel getting everything he wants,’ Brax mutters.
Drey snorts and then goes behind his desk, sinking down in his chair with a sigh. ‘You know what has to happen next, right?’
‘Yep,’ Brax says, and I frown.
What’s he going to decide?
‘So, what’s it to be, boss?’ Brax asks with a rueful grin. ‘Half our hoards? Hunting duty for the next decade?’
‘You two are my oldest friends and I love you both, but if you think that a token slap on the wrist is going to be enough to assuage Aziel and his allies after you’ve taken the Tribute out from under him, you’ve been under a rock for the past forty years.
He’ll see this as a blow to his political machinations.
He was planning to parade her around, show the other factions how we subjugate her kind at the meeting in a few months. ’
‘But things are changing,’ Tor argues. ‘We need treaties with the humans if we want to survive.’
Dreythos snorts. ‘That’s true, but there’s another movement growing that would have every human in this world on their knees before us or burning. That’s what Aziel wants.’
I shiver at his words, but I stay quiet, listening to everything and committing it all to memory for later.
‘So, if the punishment is going to fit the crime, Drey, what’s it to be?’
Drey sits back in his chair and regards his two friends. ‘I’m sending you to the Borderlands. There’s been trouble there with rogues. Probably incited by another faction, but I can’t prove it. But regardless, the humans won’t trade with us anymore and there are dragons turning up dead.’
Brax’s jaw drops and my heart thuds. ‘But that’ll be weeks! I can’t just—’
‘Both of you, Brax. With Tor’s dragon back, there won’t be any more skulking in the background.’
‘Drey.’ Brax’s tone turns almost pleading. ‘You can’t—’
‘I can!’ Drey snarls and then lets out a sigh. ‘I have,’ he adds more quietly.
Tor’s fist comes down hard on the desk, making me jump though Drey’s lips twitch as if he’s fighting a smile.
‘You can’t do that, Drey. The Nesting Law—’
‘Is a stretch,’ he interrupts. ‘While paramount in our species, it says nothing about humans at all, which could be argued both ways and you know it. I’m allowing it because your dragon has returned and that means something.
Whether that has to do with the human or not remains to be seen.
And Aziel doesn’t know the law well enough to make a case that the Tribute can’t be counted, but we both know that it always had more to do with begetting offspring than the safety of a female, which is what you’re using it for. ’
Neither of the other two speak, but Tor’s fists clench and Brax’s playful demeanor has all but vanished.
‘Believe what you like,’ Brax finally grates out, ‘but Mari is ours.’
‘Mari,’ Drey says softly, looking at me for a moment before turning back to the others.
‘I’m not disputing your claims, Brax. And if any of the others question it, I’ll fight your corner.
But you will both go to the Borderlands.
You’ll untangle the problems, and you’ll get your heads on straight.
Aziel knows he can’t win if he challenges me, but it’s only a matter of time until he tries something else.
I’ll need you both with me when that happens.
It’s only a few weeks. Your human will be safe here. ’
‘The hell she will!’ Brax scoffs. ‘One of the human girls was just raped in front of you and you did nothing but tell Bron to do it elsewhere!’
Drey looks away. ‘What else could I do?’ he hisses.
‘Bron is one of his. The equilibrium we have is tenuous. If I had my way, the humans wouldn’t be here at all.
We wouldn’t even interact with them except through trade.
But they are and we do. Aziel’s supporters grow while mine dwindle.
If it keeps going this way, my claim to leadership of this faction will be moot.
Aziel will have it by default, and then he’ll have me and anyone who follows me slain. ’
He closes his tired eyes for a moment.
‘I will keep your human safe. You have my word.’
Tor paces in front of the desk. ‘But Aziel—’
‘Aziel still has to abide by the law, and I’ll make sure it goes your way. He won’t be able to take her. No one will.’
I feel his eyes on me.
‘She’ll stay in my private rooms when she’s not earning her keep.’
‘Fuck,’ Brax mutters. ‘You can’t have her work—’
‘She’s still a human,’ Drey interrupts, ‘and every human here has to work. Even a Tribute. I can’t do anything about that, Brax.’
‘Fine,’ he snarls, ‘but we want her to see Del. Mari was out in the wilds all her life. She might need meds.’
Drey stands. ‘I’ll take care of it. Say your goodbyes. She’ll be here when you get back.’
He leaves the room via the smaller door at the back of the room, and I get a glimpse of a black couch and a grey rug beyond before it closes.
Tor is cupping my face and Brax’s arms are curling around my middle before I can draw my next breath.
‘This isn’t ideal,’ Tor breathes.
‘But it’s gone better than it could have,’ Brax finishes.
‘How long will you be gone?’ I whisper, biting back the anger I feel at them throwing me into the deep end like this.
‘Five weeks at least,’ Tor answers, ‘but we’ll do everything in our powers to make it less.’
‘Why didn’t you warn me about any of this?’ I ask, not keeping the reproach from my tone.
They glance at each other over my head.
‘Because you were scared enough,’ Brax says. ‘We didn’t want to add to it. We’re sorry we didn’t prepare you better.’