The Dragon Queen is Crowned
Now that we finished what we needed to with the viceroys and Helena, I decided it was time to travel back to the castle.
I wanted nothing more than to hide away in the uncharted halls of the past and learn what mysteries it held.
It didn’t take us long to saddle the horses and ride up the road.
The guys felt it was safe enough to let the horses cross the drawbridge if we did it one at a time so there wasn’t too much weight.
It took a little bit to find the stables once we all crossed, but when we found the smithy, I knew it had to be close.
It was a long, narrow barn with stalls on either side facing each other with a dirt aisle down the middle.
Everything was in perfect shape, not seeming to have aged a day, so we unsaddled the horses and set them up in the stalls.
They were empty with no bedding, but it would work until we headed back for the night.
Once we had the bridge fixed and it could handle wagons crossing it, straw would be delivered and the stalls set up.
Standing in the middle of the courtyard, I looked up at the sky with the sun beaming down on me, warming my face. I took in a deep breath of the crisp, clean air filling my lungs, invigorating me.
“You look like you already belong here,” Abbott commented.
I tilted my head to look at him better. “Is it odd to say that I do feel like this place has been waiting for me? Right now, all I want to do is dive into its history, ignoring all the other responsibilities pressing in around me.”
“No, I wouldn’t say it’s odd. The fact you are such a bookworm is what’s odd,” Cole interjected, coming to join us.
“Who knew a noble woman could be so enamored with the past and learning things like you are? I always thought they would be more concerned about their dresses or dancing shit like that.”
“It’s the one thing my father did right,” I murmured, shaking myself out of my daydreams and walking up to the castle doors, unlocking them, and shoving one side open enough to enter. “Best we light the lanterns while we can still see what we are doing.”
Izel came up and handed me one already lit as if he knew I would ask for it. “Figured it would be best for you to have your own so you can investigate things as you please.”
Leaning forward, I kissed Izel lightly on the lips. “Thank you.”
“Well, shit! If I knew doing something so simple would get me a kiss, I would’ve been the first to do that,” Paxton grumbled.
“Bold of you to assume you would get a kiss from our queen, being so new and shoving your foot in your mouth every chance you get,” Jade shot back. “Do us all a favor and think before you speak.”
Paxton looked ready to pounce on Jade, but he glanced at me and shoved past him, muttering to himself.
That was an improvement—a small one but enough to show me he was trying to make an effort not to fight with the others.
I followed after him into the darkness of the castle nave with its vast arched ceilings that our feeble lantern light wasn’t strong enough to penetrate the darkness.
On either side of the nave, you could step up to benches for people waiting their turn for an audience with the queen.
Glass windows at least twelve feet tall stood every few feet, shuttered, leaving us in a soft darkness.
I approached one and unlatched the first section of the shutters, but to get to the upper two, I would need a ladder.
“Here, let me help with that,” Dayson said behind me before he swooped in, scooping me up to sit on his broad shoulders. I tried to hold in the yelp of surprise, but it echoed around the empty space, making the others chuckle. “Can you reach the latch?”
“I can get the middle one but not the top one. Who has a sword?” I called out to the others, having an idea.
“Yeah, I don’t think any of us are going to hand over a sword for you to wave about in the dark, mouse,” Cole objected.
Scowling at him, I set my hands on my hips. “Really, is your faith in Abbott’s training so little that you don’t trust me to hold a sword?”
Hearing this, Abbott turned to face his friend with a questioning brow, waiting for his response.
Cole tried to speak a few times but gave up and tossed his hands in the air.
“Fine, fine. I’ll give the crazy lady sitting on the shoulders of an idiot a sword.
Watch out Dayson, she might accidentally stab you in the process of opening the shutter.
Don’t blame me if it happens, I was just trying to look out for everyone. ”
Even though I tried to keep a straight face, I couldn’t do it, and I burst out laughing and almost fell off Dayson’s shoulders in the process. “Whoa, watch out, Cassy-bear… wouldn’t want Cole thinking he was right about this situation, now would we?”
“No, that would be a travesty to inflate his ego even more than it already is,” I answered, trying to pull myself together. “Okay, I’m good. I’ll take the sword now.”
Cole stepped up and held out the hilt of his sword but paused just before I could grab it. “You sure about this, big guy?”
“Give her the damn sword already,” Dayson growled out.
Shrugging his shoulders, Cole handed over the weapon, and with Dayson’s help, I was able to get the last latch free without any incidents. Izel and Abbott pulled open the shutters, and the room became much brighter. We would need to open a few more to negate the use of the lanterns, but it helped.
“Well, since you’re up there, want to open more of them? We’re gonna need to get to them all eventually, so why not start on this side?” Dayson suggested as he moved to the next window.
After a few, we figured out a perfect system and opened all the shutters on one side of the room, flooding the place with light.
We would eventually do the same with the other side, but for now, this was more than enough to see by and take in the splendor of the stonework in the space.
I returned the sword to Cole before Dayson set me down so I could wander the room.
We were close to another set of tall wooden double doors I guessed would be the throne room.
As I got close to the doors, I noticed that dragons were carved into the wood as if they were facing each other, a clawed hand resting where the door rings were, making it seem like you needed to get past the dragon to get to the throne.
I gasped as I entered, awestruck by what lay before me.
The ceiling was made of glass so the room was bright, showing off the polished marble floor with gold veins running through it.
The room was about half the size of the nave we just walked through but just as impressive with its high ceilings.
At the far end of the room was a massive black stone dragon with jeweled eyes that glimmered in the sunlight, its tail wrapping around the throne as if protecting it from those who would dare take it from them.
Before I knew it, I was walking up the steps to the simple stone chair with black velvet cushions that seemed lush to the touch.
When I reached the top step, I felt something shift in the air, and the stone dragon came to life, lifting its head and inspecting me as it sat on its haunches.
Its emerald eyes bore into my soul as its wings flared out, trying to intimidate me.
“Who dares approach the Forgotten Throne?”
“I, Cassarah of the Raven Rose clan, Dragon Queen of the Mercenaries,” I announced to the dragon. “I have come with our people who have been gone and return to our home in our time of need. It is time for the people and dragons of Sheca to rise once again and take their place in the world.”
The dragon blinked once, the only sign that he understood what I’d just said.
“Prove you are the Dragon Queen, the heir to the Dragon Castle and the Forgotten Throne. Take your place on the throne, and it shall decide if you are worthy, Cassarah of Raven Rose.”
“Cassarah, don’t you dare do what the creepy stone dragon is saying,” Jade barked out.
I whirled around, seeing them fanned out at the base of the steps, watching what was happening.
“She needs to prove to the magic in the castle that she is who she says she is. No harm will come to her. This is her rightful place… trust in our queen,” Zan countered.
“Oh sure, of course, you believe that you come from this crazy place where magic is normal, and stone dragons coming to life isn’t a sign you might be going crazy,” Paxton muttered. “But sure, tell the woman we all have feelings for to sit on the throne and possibly get burned to a crisp.”
“How little faith you have in your woman,” May stated, crossing her arms. “Sit on the damn chair, Cassarah, and prove to them you’re the warrior that you are so they stop treating you like a fucking flower.”
Hearing May’s words made me grin, but I knew she was right.
As much as the guys cared, they did see me as something delicate and to be protected at all costs.
This moment was the turning point—I knew it deep in my soul.
The moment I sat on the throne, no matter what happened, I would be crowned the Dragon Queen, the dragons and the gods sealing my fate to these people for the rest of my life.
With this choice, the coronation didn’t need to happen, and I’d be lying to myself if I wasn’t a little grateful for that.
I stepped forward before turning and slowly sat on the throne, resting my hands on the armrests, sitting tall, and squaring my shoulders.
This is where I belonged, and nothing was going to change that, not even a stone dragon.
I knew it just like I knew the men and women standing before me would stay by my side forever, no matter what came our way.
In this moment of perfect clarity, I also knew each one of those men would hold a piece of my heart, and without them all, I wouldn’t be whole nor would they.
The gods brought us together because each of us held something the other lacked, but together we were complete, able to accomplish anything we set our minds to, like stopping the Lost King.
As all of these thoughts came rushing through my mind, I noticed I had closed my eyes at some point.
When I opened them, I found myself in a swirl of blue light.
My Birthright was like a tornado around me, and when I realized it, the magic burst from me and flowed through the castle, and I could feel it unlocking every door and bursting open every shutter like the castle was welcoming me back with open arms.
I could also feel Vasin was nearby, perched at a roost made in one of the castle’s towers created just for the ruling king or queen’s dragon. Our bond hummed as our magic flowed through the rest of the castle and each other, creating the final piece to our already powerful connection.
“Cass, do you know what you’ve just done?” Vasin asked.
“Become queen?” I answered hesitantly. “Because that’s what I was trying to do.”
“You have done more than that. You’ve just freed the dragons from the deal they made with the first king of the mercenaries, allowing them to no longer be drawn to the magic held by any ancestors that still have it.
Any bond that is made from this point on will be made out of free will and free will alone.
You have just changed history, my dear Cass. ”
“How could I have done that? I just sat on the throne?”
“When you reached out to me just now, you gave yourself completely over to our bond, wishing for nothing in return except my friendship and happiness. You don’t wish to control me or take anything from me that I’m not willing to give, making a new agreement with the ruling dragon and the ruling mercenary.
Once a new oath is made, it cancels out the old one, freeing all dragons alive and to come from what was done in the past.”
I had no idea what to say to that, and before I got the chance to ask anything else, I was yanked back to the throne room at the pain of something being burned into my skin in the middle of my chest. I let out a scream that was echoed by others, but I couldn’t focus on anything outside of what was happening to my body.
Then it was over just as fast as it happened, causing me to slump forward in the throne, panting as I regained my senses.
There was a strange weight on my head along with a dull ache in my chest, causing me to raise a hand, but it was met with cool metal instead of my hair.
Confused, I lifted the metal off my head, held it in front of me, and found it was a crown.
It wasn’t gaudy or covered in jewels. It was a simple peaked circle with delicate metal stamping that made it look like dragon scales were pressed into the metal.
“In the sight of dragons and gods, you have been chosen, Cassarah, Dragon Queen, ruler of the Dragon Castle, who sits on the Forgotten Throne. May your rule be long and prosperous.”
The stone dragon intoned as it returned to its original position like nothing had ever transpired.
“Ah, guys… did anyone else just get branded?” Paxton asked, pulling at the collar of his tunic.
There, right over his heart, was angry, raised pink skin in the shape of a heart with a crown around it. That had me looking at my chest, but mine was in the center just under my throat, and it was a crown that matched theirs and the crown I held in my hands. “Why is mine different?”
“Because you are queen, and we are your consorts,” Zan said as he ran his fingers lightly over the raw skin. “You claimed us all…”
I shifted my gaze over to May and Becka, whose eyes were wide, watching us. Becka tossed up her hands and shook her head. “Cassarah, you know I love you but not like that. May and I didn’t get another mark. I think Zan is right about the consort theory. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
Slowly, I pushed myself up out of the throne, my whole body aching from the amount of power that just coursed through me, making me a little unsteady.
Walking down a few steps, I stopped when I was at eye level with all the men I’d just marked.
The certainty I’d had in the midst of all that had just happened was now gone, and I felt vulnerable as I looked each of them in the eyes. “Are you all accepting of that mark?”
Jade was the first to act, stepping up and grabbing my hips to twirl me around before setting me down and kissing me soundly on the mouth. “My little bird, there is nothing I want more than to be by your side and in your bed for the rest of my life.”