Chapter 98
Xander
Aurelia seems quite taken with the Boneweaver, King Ashzale, who looks every bit of a kingly male for this island kingdom of animalia.
Jealously seethes through me at the wonder that fills her eyes as she steals glances at him, but I have to remind myself that he may be her only living blood family.
And we all know how special Boneweavers are.
The place feels like magic lives here in the very air, so when Queen Altara indicates we should follow them, and the traitor Henry, down the stone path around the very ancient-looking temple, I can’t help but stare like a child in a confectionery store.
They also have no trouble turning their unguarded backs on us, and I don’t know whether to be insulted by that as I stare at the naked, muscled backs of the beasts stalking behind their king and queen.
These are a different sort of animalia, and I don’t think our modern rules apply to them.
The temple ends up being behind a house that might be a caretaker’s dwelling, and Zale levitates a table and chairs from inside the house like he does it every day.
His accuracy and speed are like no feline or dragon I’ve ever seen.
In fact, I think my own father, who would sneer at everyone except dragon lords, would have been taken aback by this male.
I know how important family is, and this is something that has been stolen from my regina.
She’s already looking at Altara with tears in her eyes and a smile like I’ve not seen before.
If she can find kinship here, perhaps that will heal the piece of her heart that broke when serpent court exiled her.
We sit, and the white-haired Kai runs inside and brings glasses of cold-pressed fruit juice, which none of us are keen to drink just yet. Our new friends do the courtly mannered thing and pretend not to notice this, which already puts them higher in my books.
Aurelia begins explaining our situation straight away, and it seems like Queen Altara is using their helping us as a means to prove them all trustworthy.
Lyle and Scythe sit next to her as her guards while Savage and I stand up, keeping an eye on the two beastly lords, who have no trouble staring at me.
“Ghoul is a basilisk,” Aurelia says. “Do you…have those here?”
The king and queen exchange a look before Zale says, “We have large serpents, yes. Also my cousins, in fact.”
Aurelia nods slowly. “He has power over shadows, and we discovered that he can use those shadows to build a big…cyclone.”
“Like a hurricane.” Altara nods. “We can get them here.”
“Except this cyclone is expected to send beasts to hell…instantly.” Aurelia clasps her hands on the table. “I’ve never seen anything like it, and now we expect my father to come to my…castle and annihilate everyone in it.
“Aurelia’s father,” Scythe says. “Wants Serpent Court to rule the state without any other competition. He will destroy all beasts except serpents.”
“And there is no way you can stop him?” Zale asks, raising his brows as if he thinks he’d have no trouble stopping Ghoul.
Aurelia’s eyes move as she ponders this. “Although he doesn’t want to, if he is ordered to do it, he will have no choice but to obey because of various enslavement spells. So there is that possibility.”
Zale’s face suddenly darkens. “He is a captive then, as I once was.” I’m surprised he’d reveal something vulnerable like that. He must really think we’re not a threat.
“That is quite an enemy,” Altara says. “We understand this type of foe, Lady Aurelia.” She rubs her stomach as if it bothers her, and Henry zips over to her stomach again, plonking himself down to sit on it.
I wonder if she’s getting Braxton-Hicks contractions.
“I am also familiar with dark magic. A power vacuum like that would require an equal force as a counter to close it. This is a known rule of magic. Power must counter power of equal value to void it.”
Zale scratches his jaw. “As his bonded-mates, you are equally powered, yes?”
Aurelia goes still. Immediately, I know what she’s thinking. That fell light in her eyes as a dark idea blooms like a corpse flower in that mind of hers. While we males are equally powered, our regina trumps all of us.
My dragon takes over, firing me up and making my voice deep. I don’t fight him anymore, because we’re the same person and I understand him now. “Don’t even think about it.” My voice emerges guttural and deep, a living flame exploding from me.
The standing Boneweaver males take a step back, staring in disbelief, but my eyes are not for them. “You will not sacrifice yourself for him, for us. Not in this life, regina.”
She looks at me with that perfect mouth parted, her eyes wide and fixed on me, her breath heaving with emotion. “You don’t get to tell me what to do, dragon,” she snarls, not blinking as she commands me.
“I will always do as you command, sapphire-of-my-soul, but not in this.”
She closes her eyes. “We’ll discuss this later.”
I bare my teeth at my brothers, silently asking for their backup. It’s Scythe who enters my mind. “I agree, fire-brother. She will not sacrifice herself.” It’s only this that placates me and puts my fire out. For the moment.
“So there is no other way?” Lyle asks, looking between the two royals. “Someone must actively counter the force of the shadow vortex?”
“Unless you can kill him before he does it, yes,” Lord Raen says. “I do not see another solution for this, do you, my king?”
King Zale looks from Lord Raen to Aurelia. “The shadow realm is an unpleasant place. It will not respond to anything but the person who opens it unless they are overpowered.”
Aurelia sits back in her chair, inhaling deeply. Savage, jittery by my side, wanders over to sniff at the trees surrounding the garden. Lord Kai cocks his head and follows him. We all turn to watch the two of them, seemingly the most volatile of us, for a moment.
Kai narrows his eyes at Savage, sniffing the air around him. “You smell odd.”
Savage mirrors him, narrowing his eyes too. “You smell odder. Can I see your sword?” He points to Kai’s black earring.
“Sure.” Kai unhooks the earring, and immediately it grows until it’s a full-sized black blade. The white-haired male holds out the weapon for an awestruck Savage’s eager inspection.
“You.”
I turn to the group at the table, and it takes me a second to realise that it’s me who King Ashzale is regarding, his voice not threatening but soft, almost reverent as those eyes he shares with my regina look me up and down.
“One of you has not been seen in these lands for nigh on a thousand years. Progeny of the Old Kings of Black Fae Court, if I’m not mistaken.
They can’t shift anymore, but they still take the name Darkcleaver. ”
The world seems to stop. I stare him, my breath suddenly burning in my lungs in recognition. My eyes find my regina’s as she too blinks in surprise. “They know my name, regina.”
“It makes sense,” Scythe says softly. “Your mother’s kind are unique, Xander, like Aurelia’s people.”
Perhaps for the first time in my life, I don’t know what to say. But Zale’s mouth quirks up into a hint of a smile that sends the beast in me rearing up. “Can we see it?” he asks. “Your dragon form?”
I look to Aurelia for permission, and my beautiful regina smiles, biting her lip. “You can’t say no, Xander.”
“I can’t,” I agree, grinning.
They walk me out to the front of the caretaker’s house, where a well-worn dirt road with cart tracks is bordered by wild jungle. Everyone steps back, and I’m pleased to see the excitement and curiosity glimmering in the eyes of the Boneweaver king.
“Any excuse to show off,” Savage says as I take off my clothes and leave them in a neat pile.
“You can’t exactly blame him,” Lyle says begrudgingly, zipping my clothes towards him. I take my time to shift, letting my spirit take me over, letting the scales and fangs and wings overcome me until I’m drunk on my own greatness.
Kai gasps, and the other males mutter something to each other while their queen claps and cheers, looping her arm through Aurelia’s. I look down at them all as they gaze upon me in wonder.
“Give them a ride,” Aurelia calls. I think she wants to thank them for their help, or merely their solidarity with her. So I snort and toss my head.
The males waste no time and climb up my foreleg quickly as if they were born to it. “Hard as a rock,” Zale says, rapping his knuckles against the scales on my neck. “This is very impressive, Lord Xander.” I toss my head in agreement and stretch out my wings, squatting and shooting up in the air.
The males whoop with joy at the speed as we ascend above the humid heat of the dense jungle below. I take advantage of my bird’s-eye view to see more of this island Zale rules over.
“There is my castle in the south,” Zale says, and I can hear his smile as he gestures to a magnificent, sprawling complex, newly built. “And far to the north are the two islands that make up the Ellythian Isles, where my wife’s ancestors on her mother’s side hail from.”
We’re high enough now that I can see a second island in the distance, heavy with green jungle and steam rising from its canopy, surrounded by vibrant blue ocean to rival Boneweaver eyes. It’s a stunning environment, and I let myself circle for a minute.
Something powerful brushes against my mind. It’s vast and has a tinge of something infinitely dark, but is ultimately full of light. I recognise it and accept the request for communication.
“My wife tells me,” Zale says. “The bond between you and my cousin is dark, unlike her other mates.”
“She can see bonds?” I ask after a moment.
“She has many powers, being a descendant of the powerful sorcerer queen, Ellythia,” Zale says. “Including healing. But yes, seeing bonds is one of them.”
“I made a grave mistake, Your Majesty, and I pay for it every day.”
I have questions to ask of this king, and I broach him telepathically.
He allows it and answers me honestly. Only then do I begin my descent.
There are some people in a small town a little to the north of where we arrived through the portal, and many of them see me, pointing and shouting as I become more clearly seen.
I enjoy this for a moment before landing among our companions.
The males climb off, windswept but bright with exhilaration, and when I shift back into human form, Kai runs up to me and leaps, throwing his arms and legs around my neck.
“This is the most fun I’ve had in an age, Lord Xander!” he says as he climbs off me and sets his bare feet back on the ground. “Many thanks!” He runs back to Lord Raen, babbling about the height.
“You realise they’ll be able to shift into dragons now,” Aurelia says wryly.
I look at the way King Zale brushes his fingers along his wife’s cheek, smiling in a way that is all too familiar. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”
“We need to get back,” Scythe announces. “We thank you for what you could tell us.”
“I wish we could do more,” Altara says, taking my regina’s hand. “If there is more we can do, please let us know.”
“You’ve helped a lot,” Lia says. “We have more information…and more hope than we did before.”
“Do me a favour,” Zale says, with something that could only be described as a mischievous smile. “Be the Boneweaver queen of that world. I won’t have us not represented.”
Altara laughs. “Yes! And you must come again, cousin, when your world gets boring.” She pats her stomach. “This baby would love another aunt.”
“Can we, regina?” Savage asks eagerly. “For a holiday?”
Aurelia, her eyes glistening with what I’m sure are a lot of mixed emotions, cups her wolf’s cheek. “Anything for my mates.”