Chapter Twenty-Four
I knew that wasn’t good, and that was before I saw Remy’s face harden like someone had turned his skin into stone.
“Tell Lord Morsyn’s runner that I already left, but you’ll see to it that I get his message.”
“He didn’t send a runner.” Mandal’s flat tone was more ominous than a shout. “Lord Morsyn came himself.”
“Fuck,” Remy said with such vehemence, a strong vibration thrummed through me.
I might not know supernatural etiquette, but even I could guess that rulers of hidden lands didn’t come personally to demand a meeting unless the shit was about to hit the fan. Had someone spotted Remy when he was in Orion? And tattled to its ruler that fast? We’d arrived less than an hour ago!
I just violated our truce by coming after you myself.
And I’d thought he might be lying about that to manipulate me. “Sweet,” my ass! I was as jaded as the day was long.
“On a scale of one to ten, how bad is this?”
Remy’s look raised the hairs on the back of my neck. “Scales only pertain to dragons when weighing their gold.”
Right, Remy had said that Orion’s ruler was a dragon. We weren’t just fucked. We were chicken-fried fucked.
“Bring Lord Morsyn to the reception hall,” Remy told Mandal. “Serve him delicacies and libations, and have all available performers entertain him.”
Mandal let out a grunt. “In other words, stall.”
“Exactly,” Remy said dryly.
Mandal left, and Remy turned toward me. “I’ll get us some suitable clothes. You shower.”
He was gone before I could reply.
I got my wish for a hot shower, but I kept it as brief as possible. I didn’t have time to style my hair, so I twisted it up in a bun while slapping on some makeup.
When I opened the bathroom door, I was surprised that Remy was on the other side of it. One glance showed that he’d showered and dressed somewhere else.
“Your dress,” he said, handing me a bagged garment.
I went back into the bathroom. The dress fit me like a glove, and the pleated skirt billowed when I walked.
“Thank you again,” I said as I opened the door. “Now, what should I say at this meeting? Or not say?”
“That depends on Lord Morsyn. He clearly suspects my presence in his lands, but if he has no proof, then he can do nothing and our treaty still holds.”
My jaw clenched. “So, our plan is to bluff and make him show us his cards?”
Remy’s laugh was low and appreciative. “Exactly.”
Take that, Dad, I thought with a flash of dark humor. You’re the compulsive gambler, but I’m about to make a bigger bet than you ever did, and you squandered away my inheritance and our second mortgage.
“All right, then. Let’s go bluff a dragon.”
We went back through the garden gateway. I fought the urge to wave at the gargoyles as we passed them.
“Are they magic statues?” I asked. “Or real creatures?”
“Gargoyles are disembodied forms that can bring stone to life. The statues are fashioned to show fearsome creatures as a warning, but a gargoyle’s true form is known only to them.”
“It must have been wild, growing up surrounded by all this stuff,” I said as we got into the crystalline elevator.
“I didn’t grow up that way.”
I stared at him.
A sardonic smile played on his mouth. “I didn’t know anything about magic or fantastical creatures until I was eleven.
My father and I were riding into town when we were ambushed by horse thieves.
My father fought to protect us, and one of the thieves shot him.
I screamed, and the vibrations from the sound crushed the shooter’s skull.
The other thief was so frightened at what I’d done, he ran off.
That was the first indication I had that I wasn’t a normal boy. ”
I was open-mouthed. “Why did no one tell you? Your grandmother was a big-shot Warden back then, wasn’t she?”
“She was.” He gave me a jaded look. “But potential Warden traits are very rare, and can skip several generations. Why tell every Warden’s descendant about magic, hidden lands, and supernatural creatures when in all likelihood, those descendants will live a normal human life? Or so my grandmother reasoned.”
“So, your parents were … regular people? No magic?”
“None,” Remy said, his mouth hardening. “If they’d had any, my father wouldn’t have bled to death in my arms that day.”
I winced. “I’m so sorry.”
That hardness didn’t leave his expression, but he did take my hand. “I know you understand.”
I did, and watching your parent get murdered was the shittiest club to ever be a member of.
After a squeeze, Remy released my hand.
“Of course, displaying the potential to be a Warden doesn’t mean you will be one.
You have to be chosen. This requires a brutal period of apprenticeship that can last centuries, which is why Potentials stop aging once they reach maturity.
If they’re chosen as a successor, they’re then bound to the current Warden’s power in much the same way that I bound you to mine. ”
“What if you don’t want to apprentice to be a Warden?”
Remy’s smile had no humor. “Few turn down the chance. Those who do are usually compelled to apprentice anyway, since it would be chaos to have a Warden die with no successor.”
“Did you want to apprentice?” I asked, then could’ve kicked myself. That was none of my business.
Remy sighed. “After my father’s death, I wanted to maximize my abilities so no one else I loved would meet such a fate. Apprenticeship was the only way to learn how. But I didn’t want to be a Warden. That was decided for me, not by me.”
Don’t ask, don’t ask, don’t ask.… “How?”
Another humorless smile. “My grandmother, Juli, willed her power into me, and my objection did nothing to stop it.”
The crystalline doors opened, stopping me from asking a dozen more questions.
We entered a hallway where the ceiling had to be four stories high and archways lined the massive corridor.
Their inverted U-shapes were adorned by flowers that seemed lit from within.
The riotous colors reflected off countless golden shields affixed to the hall.
Each was the size of a car, and angled to maximize the light from the glowing flowers onto the center walkway, meaning Remy and I were bathed in colors.
Walking down the hallway felt like walking inside a literal rainbow.
“This is beautiful,” I whispered.
“My grandmother designed it.”
I tipped my hat to her even as I wondered why she’d forced Remy to become a Warden. Had Juli been one of those “I know best, so do as I say” relatives? Or were the other Potentials inadequate? Remy had said there’d been few to choose from.
The ceiling was even higher in the room Remy led me to, and orbs floated like free-form chandeliers that changed into new designs every few seconds.
A grayish material, like melted wax, sprang up from each corner of the room and disappeared into that soaring ceiling, reminding me of trees winding through ruins when forests reclaimed ancient cities.
Except nothing about this room was in ruins.
The pale walls looked like polished stone, and the floor was so clear it resembled glass.
Ahead of us, white pillars stood behind a huge table shaped in a semicircle, but I couldn’t tell if anyone was seated there.
As directed, there was a small army of entertainers between us and it.
I wouldn’t even see the table except that it was located on a raised dais.
Every performer stilled as Remy was spotted.
Then they parted to either side of the room to clear a path.
Now I could see the entire raised table.
A russet-haired man sat at it. He was Caucasian, maybe in his early thirties, and he uncurled himself from his chair with a lazy gracefulness as Remy and I approached.
When he stood, his black coat revealed a scarlet-and-gold interior lining that contrasted like a fiery sunset against his ornate black tunic and molded black pants.
I finally got close enough to look into his eyes. When I did, their iron-colored depths pierced my gaze like a blade.
Which dragons are the dangerous ones?
The ones that look human.