Chapter 43
________
KATALENA
“What does that mean?” I whispered.
Endre was already gone, but I needed to know.
“If it’s something only he can tell me, I understand, but?—”
“It’s not.” Sirrus squeezed my hips. “It’s just hard to talk about. Black is the color of death for dragons. Ashes. Charcoal. Anything burnt. It symbolizes the end of fire. Whether or not it’s in our nature or some subconscious choice by our beasts, there aren’t any black dragons naturally. At least while we are alive.
“Those who earn it are burned when we die. But if we are left to wither, our corpses do turn black and then to ash. It’s what’s been done to him. Endre did not lie when he said it took everything, and the Elders bound him when he still had so little of his strength, he was already turning black.”
“But he looks healthy. The black is so beautiful, just like every other dragon.”
“Because he is healthy. He is recovered. But his power hasn’t. He has enough to live, but like you saw on the beach, using too much exhausts him. It hurts him. There is a part of his dragon that still feels like he’s dying.”
I turned in his arms and buried my face in his shirt. Zovai’s body warmed my back moments later. “I’m sorry I mentioned it.”
“No.” Zovai brushed his mouth over my ear. “You’re our mate. You need to know. He wouldn’t have kept it from you. It’s just a hard thing to live with. Especially here under the watch of the Elders who want nothing more than to make us suffer for our defiance and disagreement.”
I nodded, closing my eyes.
“Tonight, no more thinking of it.” Sirrus ran his hands down my arms and took a step back, looking at my dress. “You look incredible, mate, and I can’t wait to dance with you in front of every one of those assholes.”
A laugh burst out of me. “As long as you stay close. They may not be able to hurt me, but there are plenty of other things that can happen.”
“Like?” Zovai asked.
For once, I knew something they didn’t. Though they were royalty, they had never spent time in a real court. I didn’t get the impression the Elders held it in the same way as human royalty. But based on what Soza had already done, I felt the actions could be the same.
“Words don’t physically hurt me. Nor does dumping wine on my dress or hair. Even tripping me in an attempt to get the dress to rip wouldn’t fall under that category.”
Both of them looked horrified, and I giggled again. “Females, both human and dragon, are creative when they’re angry, and I just took away the chance with you from all of them.”
Zovai’s brow furrowed. “They never had a chance with us.”
“They won’t see it that way.”
Their emotions rumbled through our connection, along with determination to keep me close. I wasn’t going to argue.
“We should go,” Sirrus said. “At the very least make an appearance and have a couple of dances before I can no longer resist the temptation to tear this dress from your body.”
“Don’t you dare tear it. Belleo made it for me.”
He surged forward, teeth finding his mark on my shoulder. Need poured over me like a waterfall. “Fine, mate. I will very carefully unwrap you from this dress before I pin you to the bed.”
“I won’t argue with that.”
“Good.”
They tugged me out of the library and down into the main courtyard. Endre waited, looking out the arched door and down a path curling through trees and flowers. “We’re walking?”
“We thought you might like to see the city. And that we should keep our clothes intact for a little while.”
“Good,” I shot back.
They chuckled at the possession they felt from me. Now that they were mine, I didn’t want anyone to see them bare except for me, and they felt exactly the same way.
I wrapped my arms around Endre from behind and pressed my face to his spine. “I am sorry.”
He grabbed my hands. “It is my pain to bear. Not yours. And I am used to it.”
“That doesn’t mean you should have to be.”
Turning, he kissed me. “I love you.”
There were no more words. Instead they guided me out of the house and down the path. As soon as we stepped out onto the central road, everything was different. Sounds filtered to us where the grounds of the house had been quiet. Dragons walked in human form and beast form along the way as well as flying, and there were no colors I couldn’t see. Every combination I could imagine and many I hadn’t. But there were no black dragons, just like Endre said.
As we walked, everyone we passed stopped and bowed. More than a few dragons stopped in shock when they saw the marks on my skin. If gossip here flowed the way it did in Rensara, there would be few who did not know what happened last night.
“Are we returning to the same place? The circlet?”
“Yes.”
I winced, and Zovai took my hand. “There is no trace of it. I already made sure.”
If I were honest, I wasn’t sure it mattered. I would always look at that spot and know what it was like to think I was about to die. But they knew, and without even speaking I felt they would reassure me. I felt it. They would keep me distracted any way they could, and that included ways that weren’t at all appropriate.
A flash of gold fluttered across my vision, and a weight smacked straight into the center of my chest. Varí crawled up onto my shoulders, rubbing himself over my face and beneath my hair. “Why, hello,” I laughed. “You seem happy.”
“He is.” Idroal approached us with a smile. They too, looked resplendent in rich red robes that brought out the intense green of their eyes and the pale gold of their hair. “And he wanted to show you.”
“What?” I held out my hand for Varí to perch on, which he did, flaring his little wings and showing off the new pouch that matched the gold scales he currently wore. Shining in the same way as my dress. “That’s beautiful.” I glanced up at Idroal. “Did Belleo make it to match?”
“She did.”
“I love it.” I scratched behind his ears and grinned at his preening. “You’re going to stay with me, right?”
Varíchirped, bringing laughter and joy from my other dragons. “I daresay you’ll be drawing more than one kind of envy tonight, Princess. Our small cousins are notoriously reclusive. They rarely stray from their forests in the east.” Sirrus reached out a hand for Varí to nuzzle against.
“Maybe it will help me,” I said. “It helped me with you.”
“It did.”
We weren’t flying into the circlet this time, and we weren’t sneaking in from any hidden alcoves. The main road through Doro Eche led straight here, and I couldn’t keep my eyes still. Beautiful, blooming buildings that were far more graceful and natural than human ones. They were also designed for an entirely different purpose. Most dragon architecture was porous, with larger windows and doors made for flight. Sometimes I saw giant passageways directly through so they didn’t even have to stop.
I sighed. “I suppose being your mate doesn’t mean I somehow get wings.”
Endre chuckled. “Sadly no. You would be beautiful with wings, but we have yet to find any artificial ones that work well.”
“You’ve tried?”
“Before the war, humans and dragons were working together on it. So that humans wouldn’t have to rely solely on us for flight.”
Now they had the draygs. Few of them that there were. Craisos was the kingdom who held them and most of the weapons against dragons, and, like the origin and breeding of the draygs, they guarded the secrets closely. If I had become their queen I might have found out. But based on what I knew of Andaros, I doubted it.
An inelegant snort fell out of me, drawing gazes from my mates and Idroal, and a few other dragons within hearing.
“Something funny?”
“The idea that Andaros would have actually shared anything with me had I become his queen.” Immediate, low growls had me smiling. “You marked me for life. Don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried,” Zovai muttered, unconvinced. “But I still should have killed him when I had the chance.”
I took his hand. “I think you almost did.”
“Almost isn’t enough.”
Laughing, I leaned my head on his shoulder, and then stopped. The giant archway leading to the court rose in front of us. I hadn’t had a chance to see it much last night. Not just a single, massive arch, but a curving row of them that blocked off half the circle and brought the central roads of Doro Eche together. The tree rose straight beyond it, the Elders holding court below. In the rosy light of evening, it truly was stunning. And the massive dragons were terrifying.
“Idroal?”
They looked over at me.
“Why are they so large?”
Both they and my mates laughed quietly. “If a dragon refuses to utilize their human form, their dragon can grow almost infinitely in size. It does not affect their power. Body only. But the Elders have not made the shift in a millennia, nor would their dragons allow it now.”
Relief flowed through me. “So the three of you aren’t going to be that large?”
Sirrus covered his mouth to stifle the laughter that flew from him. “No, mate. We won’t. I think we’re already big enough for you, or am I wrong?”
My entire body flushed with heat, and I cleared my throat, focusing back on the archway in front of us and pointedly ignoring the comment. I swallowed. “Do we have to make an entrance or something?”
“Do you want to?” There was a smile in Z’s voice.
“Stars, no. I’m sure I will already get more attention than any of us want.”
“Then no,” he said. “You are correct. Everyone will know we are present without us having to announce it. After all, the celebration is for us.”
“Right.” I tried to check the burst of fear that followed and failed.
Everyone we passed still bowed, the crowd growing thicker the closer we came to the arched entry. “Is all of Doro Eche in attendance?”
“Most of it.”
Stone loomed above us. I had no hesitations or regrets about my bonds to these dragons, but the thought of being the center of all of it was daunting. Especially knowing how fraught that attention might be.
Endre turned to me. “Come here, Lena.”
I released Zovai’s hand and joined him in the center of the arch, in full view of the Elders and every other dragon coming and going in their finery. “Yes?”
He smiled at me—that rare smile that lifted him and made him feel lighter both inside and out. “No entrance.” His voice was quiet. “No announcement. But I will not let you or anyone else doubt exactly what you are. So…”
The next breath I was in his arms with his mouth on mine. One hand wove up into my hair, grip desperate. Just the feeling of him made me want to tear both of our clothes off, and the connection between us told me he felt the same. Somewhere outside the two of us and the feeling of his lips I heard sounds of shock, some of anger, and the responding growls of my mates telling those dragons exactly how far those feelings would get them.
Smiling into Endre’s mouth, I played along. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back. He was claiming me in front of more dragons than had been present last night, and the others were setting the expectation of how the news should be taken. It wouldn’t work with everyone, but it would with some.
I pressed my lips together when he pulled away. “You can’t do that too many times tonight.”
“Because you won’t be able to control yourself?”
“Yes.”
“In that regard, mate, you’ll have to get in line.”
My cheeks flushed as he pulled my arm through his and guided me into the celebration. Varí huffed, annoyed to have been pinned in our kiss but unwilling to leave his place on my shoulder. I curled the end of his tail around my finger and tugged. It earned me a small purr.
Every eye was on us now, including the Elders. Not an official entrance, but one that had been needed. “What do we do now?”
Music already floated through the air, dragons in their human form dancing across the polished stone. Above us, dragons danced as they flew in entrancing circles. I’d never seen anything like it.
What I wouldn’t give to be invisible and simply observe.
“Now,” Endre said, lifting Varí from my shoulder and passing him to Sirrus, “I dance with my mate.”