48. Despicable Dragon-In-Law
Bazrosh
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A few moments ago
***
“How dare you, Bazrosh?” Mother snarls at me, her dark hair gathered in a severe knot, nostrils flaring. For a female dragon she’s taller than most. Almost close to my height.
“Go back to the Emberfang mountains, Mother. You’re not welcome here.” I calmly repeat myself even though I’m seething inside at the disrespect she’s shown me today.
“Is it that worthless succubus’s influence?” She sneers, looking down her nose as if I'm a lowly servant and not her son. “Treating family with disrespect?”
“You disrespected me first by bringing Moraine here after I told you that I no longer wish to be a donor for the sake of continuing our bloodline. It’s an insult to my mate.”
“You have a duty,” she commands. Nearby, Moraine plays demure, hands clasped before her as she watches the exchange. I know it’s an act. I’ve seen firsthand how manipulative and cunning she can be.
I never encouraged the candidates Mother threw at me, and Moraine’s behavior at the mermaid ballet crossed a line.
When I took her aside to call out her unwelcome, over-familiar attitude, she played the victim and criticized Aleiraah by fabricating insecurities.
I shut her down instantly, but Aleiraah’s patience had already snapped.
By the time I extricated myself, she had left us in the dust.
Moraine had tried to hang onto me afterward, but I had firmly maintained a distance. Only every time I went to visit Mother, she’d been lurking around like a bad smell I couldn't get rid off.
Meeting mother's eyes with an unflinching gaze, I remind her of our conversation. “And I gave it up. I clearly told you the last time that I’m leaving the Emberfang flight. You can choose whomever you want as your heir.”
I notice the collective surprise on Zien and Alistair’s faces. Archie, Azael and Silas are currently away investigating another missing case of brownie and nymph children. Rinn must be keeping an eye on Starling.
Shit! I hope Mother and Moraine leave before Starling finds out. I don’t want this nonsense to touch her.
“I don’t accept it!” Mother slashes her hand through the air as if her word is the law.
Out of the corner of my eye I notice Moraine’s expression shift. She wants a seat at the table, a position of power and with me leaving the flight that’s uncertain. She thought bearing my offspring would give her that right.
“That makes no difference to me, Mother. I gave you an ultimatum. To stop parading females just for the sake of begetting an heir. It's insulting to my marriage. You refused to listen. Now you have your heart’s wish.” I state, spreading my hands.
“You can be in charge of the Emberfang flight again instead of just being the advisory matriarch. You never really relinquished the reins after all.”
“Silence!” She shouts as if I’ve hit a nerve.
“Baz, darling, please!” Moraine steps closer touching my arm and I shrug her off.
“It’s Lord Bazrosh to you, Lady Moraine. And try to maintain decorum while addressing me. It’s unbecoming.” I say coldly, pointedly looking at the place on my arm where she had touched.
She looks like I slapped her, given that I had always been civil before.
“I––I was just trying to smoothen––” She fumbles but I interrupt her swiftly.
“You don't need to do anything. It's not your place. In fact, I'm wondering why you’re even here.”
She opens her mouth then snaps it shut looking at Mother who immediately comes to her defense.
“I brought Moraine with me because she's the best match for you, Bazrosh. Her bloodline is impeccable. She can give you strong offspring unlike that weak succubus you like to pretend is your mate.” She spits venomously and a film of red coats my vision.
Scales shiver all over my body and I clench my fists to curb the urge to shift.
“Enough!” I bark and she looks momentarily taken aback.
“You'll not disrespect my mate. Aleiraah is my perfect match. She’s the other half of my soul. You pushed me, threatened to cause discord in our marriage because of your political aspirations. I agreed to appease you. But never think for one moment that I’d have actually betrayed her by breeding with another female.
I only considered being a donor and I was a fool to keep it from Aleiraah. ”
“This only reaffirms what I said. She's a selfish weakling! With no real powers. She can only use her wiles to seduce men and spread her legs but bear no heir.” She glances at Zien and Alistair in disgust who look ready to charge.
"MOTHER!" Smoke flows freely from my nostrils, as my horns lengthen.
Angry growls spill from Zien and Alistair, waiting for my cue. Rage flows like lava beneath my skin, forcing a shift, but Mother continues her tirade.
“She’ll bring nothing but shame to the Emberfang flight. I expected her to be a passing fancy, that you’d grow tired of her in a couple of years. But it’s been a decade. You must do your duty!” She yells and I answer with a resounding roar.
Everyone flinches as I fully shift into my dragon. Mother finally sensing the danger transforms herself.
“Leave!” I hiss but she growls back, “I will not leave until you come with me!”
I prowl toward her to push her back and get her off the property. It was a mistake to ever let her inside the wards. Only she headbutts me, almost gouging my eye with her horn.
I dodge the pointed end at the last minute, breathing fire, and she swats me with her barbed tail. It scrapes against my hide, tearing skin. Not much can damage my hide, but another dragon’s talons and barbs can cause damage.
The fact that my own mother would try to hurt me over something like this is an eyeopener.
“Last warning, Mother! Leave this instant and never return. You’re deluded if you think I'll agree to your terms after you gravely insulted my mate,” I threaten, my voice comes out like the cracking of thunder.
Something changes in her eyes. There's an ugly sheen that I've seen only once before––when I became the leader of Emberfang flight after Father passed away.
"I see how it is." She says in an oily sibilant voice that just rubs me the wrong way. "But you forget son, one simply cannot abdicate. To win the leadership back, there must be a challenge. To death." She says menacingly.
"I don't wish to challenge you. And laws can be changed.
You're welcome to the Emberfang throne." I make my intention clear, hoping she'd leave before Starling catches us.
I don't want my fuck-ups to cause her unnecessary stress.
Two dragons circling each other in the front yard isn't exactly subtle.
“Those decrepit elders won't accept my leadership. It would've been so perfect if I could groom your child to be my puppet. The perfect heir I could manipulate, unlike you!" She hisses, her tail thrashing out at me, which I narrowly miss.
Disbelief ripples through me as the extent of her machinations become clear. She's never been a warm, loving mother, but this was a side to her which she hid well over the years.
"I'm your son!" I breathe out, baffled by her true intentions.
"And such a disappointment you are." She rebukes, her tone full of disdain. "In order to lead the Emberfang flight, I’ll need to defeat the current leader.” Snarling, she sidesteps and swipes her deadly talons at my belly.
I dodge the surprise attack and launch into the air, baiting her to follow so Zien and Alistair won't be caught in the crossfire.
She zooms up and tries to swipe her claws at me again. I evade by breathing a stream of fire, aiming for her wings. In a dizzying tactic she lobs several balls of fire while circling me.
Over the years I’ve trained with her and am familiar with her techniques. That’s the only advantage, because Mother is a formidable fighter.
“Mother! Listen carefully. I relinquished leadership. I’ll inform the elders too. The throne is yours for hoard's sake!” I roar, missing her barbed tail by an inch and swipe my claws at her left flank.
The air shimmers with heat and her slitted pupils constrict, “I mated your pathetic father so I could rise to power. And instead of making me his chosen heir, that spineless fool passed the mantle onto you!"
"Father was a scholar! He didn't care about politics!" I bellow, unable to hear another insult about him. The only parent who taught me how to read, and paid attention to me while growing up.
"He was weak! I'm glad he died when he did, else I might have finished him off myself!" She scoffs, her tone full of scorn.
"Are you even hearing yourself?" I ask incredulously, certain she has gone mad.
"And instead of following my edicts you abandoned your flight, for that pathetic creature.” Her talons gouge my back in a sneaky attack and I roar in pain.
“Watch your tongue! Aleiraah is my true family. Your selfish goals are the real problem.” I lunge, but she breathes a torrent of fire obstructing my vision momentarily.
Her crimson scales resemble flowing lava as she charges at me again just as the smoke settles.
I dive and ram into her with full force, scoring her underbelly with my horns.
It sends her crashing to the ground. She doesn’t stay down for long, and digs her talons into my wing joint, trying to snap the bone.
Shrugging her off with a growl and I throw up a column of fire. I don’t wish to hurt her irreparably but she lacks any such compassion. She tries to scrape her talons along my neck as soon as the fire dissipates.
“Really, Mother? You wish to behead your only son?” A bone-deep sadness makes my heart plummet, that my only living parent is trying to kill me.
“You're no child of mine! You're a traitor. I'll take the lead again as I should have from the start. You're your father's son. A bookworm with no grand ambition. A coward! You're better off dead than sully the Emberfang flight’s glory!” She rages on, her words reeking of mad retribution.
“You have gone completely mad!” I duck, swerving as she keeps coming at me with underhanded strikes, lacking any honor.