13. Aurelia
Chapter 13
Aurelia
“ S o that’s interesting.”
I look up at Selena, as I scuttle in her wake, as she blessedly strolls away from the main party. She glances down at me, bringing out a black material that I realise is my dress. “Oh, you can shift back now.”
With surprise, I glance behind us, realising she’s brought me around a corner where the bushes will conceal human me.
Selena respectfully turns around, clearly intending to give me privacy. My brows are still raised once I’m in human form, wrapping the dress back in place around my body and tying the strings.
I cast her a sideways look. “What’s interesting?”
Xander’s sister turns around. She’s a few inches taller than me, slender like a sapling under her rich black gown, with almond-shaped golden eyes that search mine as she raises her hand to indicate the chain. “He let me have you. He doesn’t believe you’re a real threat to me. That you would try to seek revenge after what he did.”
I have to cast my eyes down to the dark grass at my feet, and I’m not sure if it’s shame or grief that makes the backs of my eyes burn. Perhaps both. “I would never think to hurt you. Even after…everything.”
“I believe that,” she says gently. There’s a moment of soft silence between us before she clears her throat. “Walk with me. That seems to be the thing one does at garden parties.”
She turns, and keeping the chain slack, begins to stroll back onto the lit path. “You don’t have these soirees often?”
She hums as if this is troubling. “This is actually our first since the twins were born.”
“How old are they?”
“They just turned eight, thank the Wild Goddess.”
We come to an intersection in the path and she turns left. As she walks next to me, the giant ruby set in gold around her neck shimmers like it has magic. Is it some kind of protection charm? It’s stunning over the glittery sweetheart neckline of her gown. Suddenly, I realise I’ve not yet met her mate. Where is the father of her children? But instead, I ask, “You believe in the Wild Goddess?”
“Everybody believes in something.” She casts me a look. “What do you believe in, Aurelia?”
Only one word resonates in my heart. Through my entire body. I only believe in one thing now.
“I’m sorry,” Selena says, turning down another intersection. “Let us talk of more pleasant things. At Drakos Estate, we pride ourselves on being as self-sustaining as possible. We have a small herd of goats and cows who give us milk, a crop of vegetables, and here”—she gestures to a shadowy enclosure and I stop short—“are our chickens. They give us a great supply of eggs.”
It’s a huge coop with a knee-height, wooden enclosure around it, giving the birds plenty of space to roam. Chickens cluck low and softly in their sleep within the coop, but outside, a couple of white-feathered silkies roam. But one of them is black. And staring right at me through bejewelled leather goggles on is?—
“Oh, we have a new rooster,” Selena laughs under her breath. “I wonder if he has an eyesight problem. The twins will love him.”
My heart suddenly rockets in its rhythm. I want to cry. I want to jump in there and pull Eugene into my arms and kiss him.
A friend. I’m not alone.
How the hell did Eugene get here? He must’ve snuck into the convoy somehow, because at the academy, I’d left him in Minnie’s room after we left for the ball.
As if he knows he’s undercover, Eugene casually looks away, pecking at the dirt for no reason. I clutch at my stomach, swallowing hard before my tears betray us completely. I wonder if Xander knows he’s here.
“Birds,” Selena muses. “The ultimate survivors. The only dinosaurs to make it out of that meteor’s destruction alive. It was all down to their beaks. When there was no flora and fauna left, they learned to burrow for seeds with their sharp points. That single thing kept their entire species alive.”
Eugene pecks the ground again and I blink hard. Selena turns to me and under her gaze I don’t feel so much like an insect.
“There they are!” a shrill voice tunnels across the lawn from where a group of dragons observes us. “Bring the Boneweaver back at once, Selena!”
Xander’s sister makes an annoyed noise in her throat. “It seems our tryst has ended.”
As she leads me back the way we came, I curiously observe this dragoness, who seems to live by such strict rules. Then I think of her mother. Such powerful creatures who are forced to live according to such rules. The Drakos family adheres to the Old Laws in the worst possible way, and of course, the animas take the brunt of the negative aspects.
It’s Damien Agnis who bounces excitedly on the balls of his white loafers right at the front of the group of interlopers. They tower over Selena and me, mythical, golden eyes gleaming with curiosity and something more sinister.
“She’s quite pretty,” remarks a dark-haired older male with golden eyes, casually smoking a cigar. He’s striking, with a salt and pepper beard, and distinctly familiar.
“We don’t require her for prettiness,” says another male quite rudely. “Just for her womb.”
“Sure, but it’ll make the process easier.”
Multiple males in the group chuckle.
I glare at them. Disgusting brutes.
Damien beams, barely containing his excitement. “Human women can have, what, up to ten children before pregnancy becomes truly life threatening? A Boneweaver could have many more than that. My bet is on thirty.”
Nausea churns through my gut. My eyes flick down to the cage in Damien’s hand where the nimpins sleep all piled on top of each other as if to seek comfort. Henry sits at the top of them, like a mother hen. But his eyes are open.
I can’t kill these bastards with my powers but… “Imagine talking about another animalia like they’re cattle,” I say breezily. “The mark of highly uncivilised creatures.”
Selena makes a sound of amusement so tiny, I’m sure I’m the only one who hears it.
But my words have left no mark on the others because Damien sneers down at me like I’ve ruined his golden moment. “You’ll be passed around each time you are ripe. Ready for the next mythic shifter’s cum with the most money, funding Serpent Court’s militia as you go.”
“Oh,” chuckles a dragoness in a very real-looking tiger’s pelt covering her broad shoulders. “You are quite ruthless , Lord Agnis.”
As I fight the urge to sucker punch him, Damien waves a flirtatious hand. “She surrendered herself willingly. She knew exactly what she was getting into.” He smirks at me. “Wants it, some would say.”
“Surrendered?” Selena says, glancing at me with surprise. “That wasn’t the story we were told.”
The older dragon with the cigar narrows his eyes at her. “Unless you’re going to do your duty and have more hatchlings, Selena, I suggest you keep your mouth shut.”
Suddenly, I remember where I know this old dragon from. Unbidden, my power flares out, raging, rising up within me?—
“Uh, uh, uh!” Damien raises the nimpins’ cage threateningly.
I take a conscious step away from them all, averting my gaze to the ground as I clench my jaw. I’ve never felt a murderous urge this strong. Never felt the need to tear and rip and shred and ruin a person.
“Did you feel that?” the dragoness with the tiger pelt says. “Remarkable!”
“Oh, we knew she had power,” drawls Damien. “That’s why I?—”
“Are we appreciating the property, Fabian?” King Flores Drakos rounds the corner, a golden chalice of wine in hand as he coolly surveys us.
“Quite, brother,” says the cigar-dragon. “There’ll be an extravagant turnout at her auction.” This is Xanders uncle. Otherwise known as Fabian Drakos. The dragon who’d won the auction for Scythe’s fifteen-year-old virginity.
A darkness shrouds my heart. Captures it so completely I think I’m going to choke on it.
That word from before. That thing that’s all I believe in now?
Vengeance.
Flores Drakos takes my leash from Sissy, and I immediately miss the young woman. Her expression is reserved as I’m passed over, and I might be imagining it, but there could have been a hint of worry in her eyes.
I’d be kidding myself if I wasn’t also worried. I’d been wondering about their plans for me, because I had no doubt they’d been meticulous in deciding how to proceed with my surrender. My father has been plotting my use for so long that the terms of the auction have been set in stone for ages, and likely now only adjusted for inflation. Flores parades me around the garden while the other dragons ogle me.
“Raised by a serpent, such a shame,” says one male, leaning down to stare at my mouth. “How was it that Mace got so lucky?”
“Oh, he’s quite powerful for a serpent,” Flores says. “It’s how I knew.”
I stay the need to stare at the dragon king. So the fact that my father was mated to a Boneweaver made him certain of his power? That had been his deciding factor? What, then, do they think of my mates?
Flores continues around the garden before bidding everyone goodnight and heading inside. Sissy appears from nowhere, trailing us.
“Are you hungry, Lia?” she says. “I don’t think you had dinner.”
“Keep her lean,” Flores drones as my stomach rumbles. “It will be better for her fertility. In fact”—he stops and turns to his daughter, eyes flicking down her body—“you should try the same, Selena.”
Sissy’s cheeks turn pink just as I stop the growl in my throat. But like his words aren’t completely awful, Flores continues strolling into the house. “You need your sleep in preparation for tomorrow’s testing,” he says, leading me up the stairs, his daughter our silent tail.
“Why? What will that entail?” I ask bravely.
“Oh, many things.” I don’t like the way his eyes gleam as he glances at me. We stop outside Xander’s room and Flores knocks with a casual hand.
The door opens on its own accord and we find Xander sitting by the fireplace in his relieving room, smoking a joint. Perhaps his last little meeting didn’t go so well.
“I’m returning your pet,” Flores says. “Put it to bed.”
“Yes, Father.” Xander stands and holds his hand out for the chain. Flores passes it over, and like some sort of disease, I’m passed from one beast to the other.
It’s hot, borderline stifling, in the room, and I’m not sure if it’s a dragon thing, but none of them seem to notice.
Flores turns as if to leave, but then pauses. “Just one last thing.” Flores whirls around, and before I can jump back, slashes at me with one extended claw. I cry out as pain slices across my chest and sticky blood appears in a jagged line.
I step back, staring between the dragon king and his son.
Xander does nothing. Merely blinks those glowing eyes and raises his hand to take another drag from his joint.
“You should do another to make sure,” he says dryly. “I promise you, the bond is quite severed.”
“I could have told you that,” I scowl. Every beast can fucking feel it.
It was a test. A fucking test, and Xander passed it with flying colours.
Flores hums with scientific interest. “Very good. I bid you a goodnight.” He leaves but Selena lingers in the doorway for a moment longer.
“Can I help you?” Xander sighs.
Selena’s face tightens. “Not anymore.” Then she too sweeps away with a rustle of her gown.
I frown at her choice of wording until Xander snaps off the chain. “Cage,” he barks.
“Cunt,” I retort in turn.
His shoulders tighten before he proceeds to ignore me and returns to his chair. Though the shallow cut on my chest is already healing, I’m careful to take my dress off for the night and drop it onto the carpet. After using the bathroom, I crawl back into my cage and lock the door.
Such a good pet.
Goddess, it grates at my nerves to sit there, the bars cold against my bare back. Eventually, Xander goes to bed, flicking the blackout curtain down so I’m swallowed by darkness again.
I don’t sleep like the previous night. Can’t. Not after the events and words of the evening. Putting my head down on my makeshift blanket pillow doesn’t help, and there’s definitely something about sleeping in this foreign place that makes me uneasy.
Xander makes no noise in his bed, and I wonder if he’s asleep or just pretending to be. “Did you find your wife tonight?” I mutter.
“Don’t make me tape your mouth,” he mutters back.
So I lie there for what seems like hours, my eyes blinking at the black material.
Until I hear it.
A faint whisper makes my heart stutter in my chest. It’s breathy, faint, but definitely feminine.
Is this place haunted? I wouldn’t be surprised, an old rotten place like this.
I hear it again and I sit bolt upright, almost banging my head on the top of the cage. The whisper made words. Hurried and desperate. I imagine someone with wide eyes, gripping the bars of her own cage, beseeching me. Begging me.
Don’t open it.
I frown, straining my ears. But the words are no different the second time.
Don’t open it.
I don’t sleep at all after that, but the voice does not return.