Chapter 7 Darrokar
DARROKAR
The blood-flame pulsed in its cradle. I stood with my back to the chamber's entrance, wings folded tight, every muscle locked in the stillness that came from hours of guard duty. Rath flanked my left. Nyx held the right, gray as stone and just as immovable.
One hour until the Skalanth officially began.
One hour until novice warriors would attempt to breach the sanctum, navigate the traps and obstacles we'd designed, and claim the blood-flame for themselves. Most would fail. Some would get injured. A few might actually make it this far, only to face the three of us blocking their path.
It was tradition. Sacred. The kind of duty that demanded full attention and unwavering focus.
So why couldn't I stop thinking about Terra?
I hadn't seen her since dawn. She'd been gone when I woke, her side of the sleeping platform already cold. Not unusual. She often rose early to train or meet with the other humans. But something about her absence this morning felt different. Secretive.
My claws flexed against my palms.
"You're thinking too loud," Rath said without turning his head.
"I'm not thinking anything."
"This will be fine." He shifted his weight, tail swaying slightly. "We stand here awhile, hold off the younglings, and then return triumphant to our mates," he glanced at Nyx, "or an empty cot."
Nyx made a rude gesture.
Rath was right. We simply had to wait it out, and then I could find Terra and figure out what was going on.
I forced my attention back to the sanctum. The blood-flame sat in its cradle on the sacred podium. The chamber remained empty except for us. Everything was exactly as it should be.
Except for the growing unease crawling up my spine.
Our conversation played through my mind on repeat. Terra asking about the Skalanth. Suggesting she participate. Me refusing. Her kissing me instead of arguing, which should have been my first warning that she hadn't actually agreed to anything.
"I told her not to come," I said, half to myself.
She wouldn't.
Would she?
"And your mate will do as commanded," Rath said, his tone casual. Too casual.
The words hung in the air.
Silence stretched between the three of us, heavy and damning.
Then Nyx turned his head, slow and steady, to look at me. His expression said everything his mouth didn't need to.
"Hells," I breathed.
Before Rath could make another jab, footsteps echoed from the corridor outside.
A young messenger, barely past his novice trials, skidded to a halt at the sanctum entrance.
His chest heaved, scales flushed dark with exertion.
He had his wings held in tight to his back and looked a bit overawed to be in front of me.
"Warrior Lord." He bowed, nearly losing his balance. "A message from Commander Khorlar."
My spine locked. Khorlar wouldn't send a messenger unless something had gone catastrophically wrong. Was it Ignarath? We didn't war over the sacred holidays, but I wouldn't put any treachery past them.
"Speak."
The youth straightened, held out a slip of paper. His claws trembled as he extended it. "The Commander said it was urgent, my lord. That you'd want to know immediately."
Khorlar's sharp script cut across the page in three damning lines: Your mate joined the blessing ceremony with the other warriors. She's entering the Skalanth.
Ice flooded my veins.
"No." The word came out flat. "No, she wouldn't."
Gods damn it.
"Hells." I crumpled the message in my fist. "Damnation!"
The messenger flinched back.
Rath moved closer, reading over my shoulder. His expression shifted. Confusion, then understanding, then grim resignation.
"Well," he said carefully, "at least now we know where she is."
The truth washed over me. Terra was entering the Skalanth. Despite what we'd said. Despite my warnings. Soon, she'd be in the maze of corridors and traps.
My mate was competing against warriors twice her size with advantages she'd never possess.
I was moving before I'd made the conscious decision, wings spreading, ready to launch myself toward the exit.
Rath's hand caught my shoulder. "Don't."
"She's out there."
"I know."
"Alone. Vulnerable. Facing gods know what obstacles and warriors who already hate her." My voice came out as a snarl, barely recognizable. "I'm not standing here while she risks her neck for their approval."
"Yes, you are." Rath's grip tightened, claws digging in just enough to ground me. "Because abandoning your post one hour before the trials begin will give Karyseth exactly what she wants."
"I don't give a single damn about what Karyseth wants."
"You should." Rath moved to block my path entirely, his bulk filling the space between me and the exit.
"Those yellow-robed priests are everywhere today.
Watching. Waiting for any excuse to claim you're unfit to lead.
That your human has messed up your judgment.
That you value her over Scalvaris itself. "
"I do."
Nyx hissed at that, but neither he nor Rath argued.
"She could die crossing the market on any given day.
It didn't stop you from letting her have freedom before.
" His eyes held mine, hard and uncompromising.
"This is no different, and you know it. This is her choice.
Her risk. And if you interfere, you undermine her every effort. This would be for nothing."
The logic was sound. I still growled.
"Besides," Rath continued, his voice softening slightly, "you storming out there won't help the larger mission.
We need political capital for the Ignarath rescue.
The Council's barely agreed to consider it after the Skalanth concludes.
You cause a scene now, abandon your sacred duty for your mate, and that approval disappears.
Along with any chance of reminding Ignarath of their place. "
Rath was right. Damn him, but he was right.
I looked at Nyx. I would be missed. He wouldn't be. Not here, not now. "Go. Shadow her," I said. "Don't interfere unless absolutely necessary. But keep her alive."
"Understood." Nyx paused at the threshold to the entrance. "She's stronger than you think."
"I know exactly how strong she is. That's not the problem."
He left without another word, disappearing into the corridors beyond.
I turned back to the blood-flame, forcing myself to resume my position. To stand guard like nothing had changed. Like my mate wasn't somewhere in this mountain, ready to face trials designed to break Drakarn warriors.
Rath settled back into his own stance. "She'll be fine."
"You don't know that."
"No. But I know Terra. She doesn't do anything without a plan." He was quiet for a moment. "Even if that plan is going to give you gray scales."
"I don't have gray scales."
"Give it an hour."
The attempt at humor fell flat. I couldn't find it in me to laugh, couldn't pretend this was anything other than torture. Every instinct I possessed screamed at me to hunt, to find her, to eliminate any threat before it could touch her.
Instead, I stood in a sacred chamber and waited.
Time crawled.
My claws flexed rhythmically, the only outlet I allowed myself. My tail lashed once, twice, before I forced it still. Wings wanted to spread, to carry me through these corridors until I found her. I kept them folded through sheer will.
"Why would she do this?" The question escaped before I could stop it.
Rath didn't pretend to misunderstand. "Because she's trying to survive in a world that wasn't built for her. Because she's tired of being seen as your weakness. Because she's probably a little bit insane."
"She has nothing to prove."
"To you, maybe. To herself?" Rath shrugged. "That's different."
I thought about the novice warriors who'd confronted her. The ones she'd tried to hide from me. The constant pressure of being the Warrior Lord's mate, of representing all humans to a population that largely wished they didn't exist.
She was trying to claim space in a world determined to deny her.
I understood it. And I wished I could change this world so she never had to worry. But a Warrior Lord's power only stretched so far.
"If she gets hurt," I said quietly, "I'm going to tear apart every warrior who laid a claw on her."
"Fair enough." Rath's tone was mild. "Can you wait until after we get the agreement to attack Ignarath?"
"I'll consider it."
He snorted. As if Rath was any more sane when it came to his own mate. He'd been lucky she was no warrior.
The sanctum fell silent again.
Somewhere in the labyrinth beyond, Terra would soon be fighting. Climbing. Surviving. Proving herself to people who would never see her worth no matter what she accomplished.
And I was stuck here, playing my role, maintaining my position, being the Warrior Lord instead of the mate who wanted to burn down anything that threatened her.
Nyx would keep her safe. I had to trust that. Had to believe in his skill and his judgment and Terra's own capability.
But trust didn't make the waiting easier.
My claws flexed again.
One hour until the Skalanth began.
One hour of not knowing if my mate was safe.
One hour of forced stillness while everything in me demanded action.
One hour of understanding exactly why Terra had done this, even as I wanted to lock her in our quarters and never let her face danger again.
"She's going to be insufferable if she succeeds," Rath observed.
"She's already insufferable."
"You love it."
I did. And I couldn't stop from grinning.
The waiting continued.
My fury simmered.
I couldn't believe she'd done something this stupid.
Except I knew my mate. And, of course she had.