Chapter 1
My life is not yours to command , my fingers shook as I angrily flew through the movements to sign out the words. I will not marry him—or anyone of your choosing.
You will do as you’re told! Garlon angrily signed back. Between the spittle that flew from his lips and dark red flaring in across his cheeks, I knew he was yelling too even if I couldn’t hear it.
No. I pinched two fingers against my thumb and before slashing my arm out. I. Will. Not.
Garlon was a big man. Easily six and a half feet tall and bulky. He knew his size intimated people and he enjoyed it. My father was a fucking bully.
I knew better than to stand up to him directly like this. Not because he’d hit me but he’d make me pay in other ways. Often ones that involved hurting my friends.
Usually I was better at controlling my temper than this.
At managing my father and his outrageous demands.
But in my defense, my mother died a week ago and it turned my world upside down.
Not only because she’d been my shield against my father, using her own political machinations to keep me safe, but because I loved her.
She’d been everything to me—that one steady and resilient presence in my life for the last five decades.
And now there was a gaping wound in my soul and this asshole in front of me had the audacity to declare I was to marry someone? Another dragon he chose who would no doubt be a piece of shit just like my father?
As my best friend Cerri would say, that’s going to be a resounding no and honestly I don’t even know why you asked the question.
We stood there in the main living space of our quarters at the citadel.
Thanks to my father’s high-ranking position on the dragon council, it was a large space with three bedrooms in total and a private balcony.
And more importantly, it was safe from the trakdi who occasionally scaled the walls of our cities.
My father’s pissed off expression smoothed out and I instantly knew I had played this wrong.
I darted towards the balcony. Sometimes if I gave my father a few hours too cool off, he’d let things go, or at least be more open to negotiating.
But I’d barely made it two steps before his meaty fingers closed around my arm and he jerked me back.
Something cracked in my arm and I let out a sharp gasp even as I tried to breathe through the pain. I was a dragon—a broken arm was nothing.
I was far more concerned about where my father was dragging me. Was he going to take me directly to whatever dragon he’d decided I should marry? Fear shot through me.
No. Despite how fucked up everything had gotten in our realm.
Marriage could not be forced. Not obviously anyway.
My father had to get me to agree to it. I might have taken after my mother with a delicate build instead of his foreboding presence.
But my will was strong—stronger than his—and I would not break.
A tooth cracked as I ground my teeth together as he pulled me out of our living quarters and into a wide stone hallway.
The citadel had five stories and each was divided into multiple wings.
This section only had a few other dragon families living in it and they were all loyal to my father.
Even if I did try and get their attention for help, they were more likely to help him than me.
So I stopped struggling and did my best to keep up, only balking when my father took us up a set of stairs that was rarely used because it led to a tower that was used for storage—back when we actually had extra food.
With a hard shove, I was thrust into the small round room. My knees slammed into the stone floor and I turned to face my father, letting a small amount of hatred leak into my eyes but keeping the pain off my face.
It’s a dangerous world out there, daughter. He smiled at me as he took his time signing each word that condemned my fate. For your own safety, I think it’s best you stay here for now. We’ll discuss it again in a week.
I don’t know, Eddie said in my mind. Could be worse.
Really? I gave him a questioning look. Technically I didn’t have to sign anything.
Eddie was from a rare bloodline that had strong telepathy not only in dragon form but in our human form as well.
It was kind of a miracle that he was still alive because most of his kin had met misfortune over the years—the kind that involved their gruesome deaths.
Secrets were guarded viciously amongst dragons and nobody was particularly keen on some being able to pluck them out of their minds as if it were nothing.
Eddie was only alive because he had downplayed his abilities and convinced everyone that the blood that ran through his veins must be watered down because he was barely a stronger telepath than the rest of us.
It was a lie. One I kept because not only was Eddie my friend, but he was also Cerri’s mate.
Not officially. Cerri’s father was worse than mine in many ways and had even more political power.
He would never allow his daughter to marry someone like Eddie—a no name dragon with a smart mouth and brazen attitude.
It was a testament to Cerri’s sharp mind and savvy political moves that Eddie was still alive because the gods knew that dragon ran his mouth at the worst times.
View’s nice. He waved a hand at the narrow windows that looked over Anspolis.
It was one of only three cities left and the place I’d called home my entire life.
He wasn’t wrong. The view from the top of the citadel is quite stunning.
All three remaining cities were built on top of mesas that rose above the harsh landscape.
And in the case of Anspolis, the citadel had been built on a higher part of the mesa so that it towered over the rest of the city.
Most of the population lived outside these stone walls, only the dragon council and those who had earned their favor got to reside within it.
Everyone else had to fend for themselves.
Granted the cities were protected by regular patrols and there were always dragons on duty guarding the perimeter.
But that didn’t make them safe, only less deadly than the rest of our realm.
I could turn into an enormous fire-breathing damage but that wouldn’t do me a lot of good against a trakdi.
The reptilian beasts couldn’t fly but they were just as large as us and they were immune to both fire and magic.
Our people were slowly dying out and instead of doing anything about it, Cerri’s father and mine were more concerned about clinging to political power by any means necessary.
Something hit my face and I looked down at the dried fruit that was sitting in my lap. I made a face at Eddie and he just shrugged unrepentantly. You were getting trapped in your head again.
So you threw fruit at me?
Works on Cerri. He smirked. Had to throw nearly half a bag at her yesterday.
I shook my head even as a smile quirked up on my lips. How is she?
Eddie’s grin wavered and my heart sank. She’s fine, he said quickly. Her father is currently distracted which is good in some ways—he’s not pushing her to marry the way your father is—but that also means he’s plotting something.
Something that we no doubt wouldn’t like.
We were ruled by a council of roughly a hundred dragons but power within the council wasn’t equal and Thorod—Cerri’s father—was arguably the single most powerful dragon.
There were still plenty that opposed him, but some like my father were throwing their political weight behind him.
Cerri’s mother had been killed in the same attack that had claimed my mother’s life.
And like me, she hadn't been given any time to grieve. I wish I wasn’t locked up in this stupid tower so I could support her better.
Instead she was having to send her lover up here to sneak in and give me food because my father either forgot to send food up to me most days or purposely was trying to starve me.
Probably the latter. He’d posted guards outside the door and had refused to let Cerri or anyone else see me. But that hadn’t stopped Eddie from breaking in. He always found a way. It was one of the many reasons why we adored him and put up with his occasionally exhausting bullshit.
Eddie’s head suddenly cocked to the side sending his dark blond hair cascading over his shoulder. The way his rust colored eyes were focused on the door, I knew he’d heard something.
Gotta go, he said quickly into my mind. We’re trying to get you out but I’ll be back tomorrow if you’re still here.
Thank you, Eddie, I signed but also thought the words loudly in my head because I knew Eddie would pick it up.
He didn’t try to listen in on our thoughts but he couldn’t help it sometimes.
I watched as quickly scurried up the rope that he’d dropped down from the ceiling where the sky light was large enough to slip through unlike the windows that lined the walls.
No worries. He pulled the rope up and waved at me one last time. Be safe.
You too.
Eddie vanished and seconds later I spotted his black dragon form sailing away. A minute after that, the door opened revealing my father’s broad frame. His mouth was in a hard line. Did he suspect something? Eddie had been quiet when he was here and we only spoke though signing or telepathy.
I kept my face carefully blank but didn’t say anything. Garlon’s eyes fell to my lap—to where the dried piece of fruit still sat.
Fuck.