Chapter 45
________
KATALENA
Sirrus pulled me firmly against his body. All three of my mates felt like taut bowstrings inside. A second later, I saw why.
Before the Elders, Soza was on her knees, glaring hatred at me. I didn’t even notice Sirrus walking us forward together until Soza saw the marks on my skin. Her eyes went wide, and she blew fire straight in my direction.
Relkym moved, striking her across the face so quickly I gasped. “What is she doing here?”
“Nothing good,” Zovai muttered.
The older female on her knees beside Soza looked just like her. Her mother? Siolli?
Sirrus’s voice echoed in my head. What gift is this, Sire?
The large dragon rustled his wings, and at the sound Varí was suddenly with me again, curling beneath my hair.
A gift and a lesson,Cieso thundered. A gift of revenge in honor of your mate. And a lesson. He looked out over every creature assembled, and it felt like his gaze fell on each of us in turn. If you come to us with knowledge, be absolutely sure of what you speak.
Apprehension flowed through my mating bonds. Soza had already been punished, and though she still clearly wanted me dead, I wasn’t the same. The vow I took in front of the Elders wasn’t one I planned on breaking.
All the same, I saw through the charade just as my mates did. Soza came here trying to force their hand. Reporting that my mates were taken with nothing but a human. And when I’d failed to die, they’d been humiliated in front of most of their court.
Only a day after meeting them, I knew the Elders didn’t like being humiliated.
Eloith inclined her elegant head, nodding at the four of us clustered together. Would you carry out her sentence?
No. Endre’s voice was final. Her punishment is clear. I wasn’t sure how I knew, but it felt like the next words were directed outward at the crowd. In Skalisméra this dragon attempted to trick us and our mate. I won’t dignify it with words. Her wings have been clipped, and you see the scar she now bears. For our part, her punishment is complete.
A snarl came from the direction of the Elders. Cieso. Rage pulsed from his direction like a living thing, and Endre’s emotions allowed me to understand. Nothing was more vile to Ciesothan the fact that his offspring would show mercy.
Given what I now knew about Endre’s past, it made sense.
And I hated this dragon for it.
What will you say for yourself?Aeghi asked the kneeling dragon.
Soza lifted her chin. Nothing but the truth. They didn’t know they were mated, and it should have worked. We would all be better off if she were in pieces.
Stunned silence fell. Maybe I had more allies than I thought in the crowd? Or perhaps it was shock that she would say something so blatant after we were already mated?
Siolli didn’t look up. Her eyes were fixed on the ground. Mizyn turned their eyes on her. And you, Siolli?
Her shoulders rose and fell. I stand with my offspring.
No admission of guilt or remorse. She knew it was already too late, and with Doro Eche watching, she wanted to be remembered as loyal, no matter what.
Very well.
The Elders reared their heads, and I threw myself into my mates’ arms as all six Elders opened their mouths and burned the dragons to ash.
Heat washed over us, so hot I wondered if my clothes would once again burn. Even a dragon could not withstand the flames of the six most powerful dragons in Viria.
Zovai wrapped himself around me, the others shielding me as best they could. The roar of fire blocked out anything else. And still, though there was nothing but silence and flame, the air was filled with satisfaction.
The Elders’ satisfaction.
They punished those responsible for their perceived mistake, so in the eyes of all the dragons they could claim innocence. A subtle burst of power flowed through the air, sliding over my skin like phantom fingers.
Silence reigned.
No more music and no more flames. Only retreating footsteps and the flap of wings as dragons flew away.
Zovai stroked his hand up and down my back slowly. What I felt from them was tense and alert. They hadn’t expected this, which wasn’t a good thing.
I felt the other’s warmth behind me as they stood close, instincts telling them to make sure I was behind them.
That’s one way to end a celebration, Sirrus said.
Beimani snorted. They did not have to leave. It was their choice.
For some reason, I didn’t believe him.
I didn’t dare move to look around and see if all the other dragons had left or even if there was anything left of Soza and Siolli. Instead I kept my eyes closed, face pressed to Zovai’s chest, inhaling the soft scent of his shirt and the underlying earth and fire that was all him.
You never do anything without a point, Endre growled. We understand. You needed to vindicate yourselves, so you held the celebration to spread the word. If that’s all, we’ll be taking our mate home now.
No. Aeghi said. Not yet.
My hair stood on end. What did they have planned now?
You are young enough to not remember the mating customs,Eloith said. For true mates at least. It is tradition that the Elders bless the union, which I see you have finalized.
Zovai’s grip tightened on my waist. None of us imagined you would be willing to bless our mating.
Slowly, I turned in his arms and saw nothing but charred black on the marble. And the combined weight of the Elders’ stares was on the four of us. No one was here. The circlet was entirely empty. Now that the sun had set and there was nothing but the dragonfire lights and the shadows of the trees, it was eerie.
You have given us little choice in the matter. That was Cieso.
Endre growled. You have given the three of us no choices for centuries, I would think you’d be used to the treatment.
I hoped he felt the pride bursting from my chest at his response. They’d done so much to him. There was nothing left to say.
And I had hoped that after these centuries you would have the sense to turn from your traitorous ways. But you have not.
Not wanting to end human kind without remorse is not traitorous,Zovai snapped. Your age has made you callous and blind. Idroal spoke correctly. You insist on damning an entire species on the actions of a few instead of wondering if they are capable of change.
Varreo’s long neck snaked down in front of us, coming to look at all of us in the eye. The Elders truly were enormous, and staring into his giant golden eye reminded me of the fear I had when Zovai had looked at me exactly like this in Rensara. But there was no chance of Varreo not wanting to kill me.
You are very quiet, human.
“I did not know you wished me to speak.”
He tilted his head, and Varí curled tighter on my shoulder. Your mates accuse us of untold cruelty. Have you no thoughts?
Endre took my hand. A silent sign of support and encouragement. “I am new to this world,” I said. “I am still learning the true history, because so much has been lost to time for humans. It would be unwise for me to draw conclusions without understanding the whole picture.”
Hmm. He raised his head and stared down at us.
Aeghi grinned. He grinned. With his size, in his dragon form, it was horrifying. Mate or not, if you had completed the task we’d set for you, all of dragonkind would be better off. You say our age has made us callous? I say it has shown us the paths of the world and the cycles that continue to move. There is no cycle involving humans and dragons that does not end in war and devastation. It is better for things to take their natural course. Merciful, even, to let the humans die.
Merciful? People were beginning to starve. It wasn’t merciful. It was a long and drawn-out execution. I understood from their perspective why simply burning every human could be a mercy. But whether or not humans could live was not their decision to make.
And we were content,Mizyn said, to wait until it happened naturally. While the humans did not approach us out of fear, it was an easy solution. The massive green head swung toward us. Until you went to Rensara and killed the wrong royal.
My mates stiffened. We killed no royals.
No?If you did not, then why does Andaros wear the crown of Craisos?
Nausea twisted my stomach. King Edwan had been thrown out of my line of vision when Zovai struck him. He’d died?
He succumbed to his injuries in the aftermath, Eloith said.
Cieso turned his head, fire spewing from his mouth onto the edge of the circlet. It raced around the border, leaping to unnatural heights with speed that hissed and spat. The entire circlet was surrounded with flames in seconds, blocking us in.
“What’s going on?” I murmured.
I don’t know. Sirrus’s voice that I knew was only for me.
You put a human worse than the Instigator on the throne. Aeghi was seething. Even the alliance we sent you to prevent would have been preferable with Edwan at the helm. Andaros is not content with things as they are.
My blood ran cold. I squeezed Endre’s hand. “Is not content?”
I might not know everything about the world of dragons, but I knew that every dragon, no matter who they were, chose their words with care.
A shiver went through the air. Like the one I’d felt after they’d executed Soza. This time, my hair stood on end. “Varí,” I whispered. “Under my skirt. Now.”
He obeyed, snaking down my side, hidden from view by Sirrus. I didn’t have my harness because the knife had melted. But he clung to my undergarments as he once had.
Rage and terror burned in my chest.
What have you done?Endre asked.
Somehow I knew. I felt it.
I turned, and through a break in the flame, with a new scar across his face and a crown upon his head, was Andaros.