Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Lila
W e get everyone settled at Mira and Murphy’s and try to make contact with Xavier’s parents. We get no response from them, which is worrying. Xavier said he hadn’t heard from them since they first advised us that Silac’s father had been turned to stone and was being held for ransom, but he said he hadn’t been concerned because that’s not unusual for his parents, but for them not to respond now that we are actually on the planet has his magic sparking wildly.
“The only reason they wouldn’t respond to me is if they had also been turned to stone.” He stalks back and forth across the warehouse office. We are using Caspian’s family’s warehouse to make our plans. It’s located near the naga shipyards. It’s why Cas and Silac have been friends for so many years. They grew up in the same circles.
“We need to get eyes on the place and get an idea of what kind of forces we are up against before we step inside to make negotiations.” Saxon is in general mode, and he’s looking over blueprints. “The last thing we need is for all of us to be turned to stone as well. I’m assuming that’s what the basilisks want to do, so they can fully take over your family business. Have you been able to reach out to your mother or siblings?”
All eyes are on Silac when Saxon poses this question. He is in half form, and his tail twitches behind him, and his hood flares and retracts every couple of beats. He’s barely keeping himself under control. “No, I haven’t been able to reach any of them since Cronus advised us that my father had been turned to stone.”
“This is not good. We don’t know how many are on their side, and they have hostages. I’m assuming that if they destroy the stone statues, then they will kill the person inside, yes?” Brannock looks at Silac for confirmation. He gives a little hiss and flick of his tongue and nods.
“Yes, it is a permanent death.”
“We need a plan so we can avoid any casualties on our side, and possibly a greater force. It was different when we could rely on the warlock king and queen, but now it seems like they have been taken out of the equation.” The Aaz’axian looks at our small group. There are only seven of us in the rescue party, and despite our combined skills, Brannock is right, we need more intel.
Xavier sparks with fury at the thought that his parents have been turned to stone, but I guess it would be an effective way of taking them out.
“We will head to my family compound. My father will gladly help. He has been complaining about the basilisk family for many years, but they have not gone so far as declaring war, and that is exactly what they have done if they turned the warlock king and queen to stone. He will readily lend assistance.” Smoke drifts from Tirrian’s nostrils, and his eyes flare with anger.
“That’s probably a good idea. We need more help, and I’m assuming your father has probably been keeping tabs on their operations?” Link’s keeping a cool head, as usual. I wanted him to stay behind, but he assures me he is capable of fighting but prefers healing. He also said it is easier to hack into surveillance systems when he’s closer to the source. He and Silac have been trying to gain access to the cameras so we can get a better idea of what we are walking into.
“Yes, he should at least have a list of the current family members. The family relationships are turbulent, and leadership changes hands regularly. They turn their own family members to stone for a while to assert their dominance. I have no idea who is in charge at the moment. It may not even be Sissolic, but one of his brothers.”
“Sissolic is the father of your fiancée, right?” I ask Silac.
“Yes. He was the one who issued the ultimatum that I was to return and marry her immediately in exchange for my father being reanimated.”
“Well, why don’t we just give him what he wants? Then we can crash the wedding and rescue whoever needs to be rescued and take out as many of the basilisks as we can,” I suggest, but Saxon shakes his head.
“We still need to know the key players so we don’t end up hurting any innocents who may attend the wedding. I’m assuming it will be a fancy affair?”
“Yes. Sissolic or whoever is in charge will want to make a show of them grabbing our families business from us. It’s a power play more than anything else. Sadly, my father’s desperation didn’t let him see the catches.”
“I’ll teleport us to the dragon compound, and hopefully King Tysar will be able to assist.” Xavier waves us all closer, and we gather around him, each putting a hand on one another so we’ll travel together.
With a flash, we move. The dragon compound is located in the mountain ranges of Fluxx, and Xavier has obviously been here before, but when we rematerialize, we find ourselves surrounded by sword brandishing warriors with dragon scales flickering across their skin and wings tucked into their spines.
“Stand down,” a voice shouts behind us, and I wait for the guards to follow the instructions before I move—I don’t want anyone to get trigger happy. They are quick to respond though, and they all melt back against the walls of the throne room. “That was quite an entrance, warlock. Luckily I was expecting you, or you might have been BBQ and a late supper for our dragons,” a rumbly voice calls sardonically.
Tirrian pushes his way to the front, grasping my hand firmly in his, and walks to the smiling man who bears a striking resemblance to him. “Papa, meet my mate, Lila Adams. Lila, this is my father, King Tysar of the dragon clan,” he announces as we reach the formidable man.
Before he can respond, though, there is a commotion behind him. “That’s the bitch who got my son shunned from the circus and dragon kind. How could you betray your family by taking her for a mate?”
As one, Tirrian and his father turn to face the newcomer. Unlike the two men standing with me, who are both built tall and broad and have the same stunning pink and black wings, this man is slimmer and shorter and also bears a resemblance to his aforementioned son, Dylan.
“Destir, I suggest you mind your tone when you speak about my son’s mate. We all know the circumstances of your son’s disgrace. Keep that in mind if you don’t want to join him in exile,” Tysar cautions with a low rumble.
Destir sneers in my direction. “Your son has been fooled by the Skarrian slut before you. Maybe he is no longer in his right mind to be your heir.”
A low growl rumbles from Tirrian’s chest, and smoke drifts out of his nostrils as his whole body tightens in preparation for an attack. I reach forward and stroke a hand gently between his wings that have spread out to block me from his uncle’s view. His scales shimmer in the gap between his wings, and his body shudders. I smirk, thinking of what I’m doing to him in front of an audience before pulling my hand away now that I have his attention.
“Ignore the jealous, bitter man. His words really don’t hurt me. I am Skarrian and, by my very nature, slutty, but you also know I am picky, and only the best males will do for me. It’s probably why Dylan attacked me. He knew he never stood a chance with me or turning Caspian’s attention back his way.” My words are said quietly, but I know dragon hearing is super sensitive, so there is no way Destir doesn’t hear the implication that his son was never good enough for me. That should be a big enough of a hit to his ego that not even a slutty Skarrian would think his son was worthy. Besides, we have way more important things to worry about.
“I saw Dylan recently making deals with a Madovian. He wasn’t looking so great, so I wouldn’t cast stones in glass houses, if I were you. How can I fault my wife for her nature when your son goes against everything dragon kind stands for? Mates, women, and children are to be cherished, and your son tried to claw Lila’s eggs out of her body,” Tirrian says loudly for everyone to hear, and it gets the reaction he was looking for.
There’s a large gasp, and when I look around, the throne room is actually more crowded than I thought. Not only are the walls lined with guards, but there are also courtiers sitting around tables piled high with food. None of them look impressed by this announcement. In fact, they look downright lethal with fangs bared, smoke drifting from their noses, and wings arched up amongst the gathered.
The long table behind the king not only has Destir seated at it—or he was seated, because he’s now standing and leaning aggressively toward us—but there are two slightly older females. I’m going to take a guess that these are Tirrian’s mother and Destir’s wife. They have opposite expressions. Tirrian’s mother is looking at me with glistening tears—I’m not sure if they are from joy or sadness, but I guess I will find out eventually—while the other woman glares at me with as much venom as her husband. I move my gaze to the younger people at the table. I know Tirrian said he has siblings, but there seem to be a lot. Maybe some of them are Dylan’s siblings too. I try to figure out which ones, but none of them seem to show any venom like their parents, just mild curiosity. Perhaps I’m not the only person who hates Dylan. Although he sure had Tirrian fooled when he first arrived, maybe Tirrian’s had time to convince the rest of his siblings and cousins that I’m not a mate stealing whore.
“Outrageous accusation! What proof do you have?” Destir scoffs, and I feel Xavier’s power crackle behind me as he takes a step closer.
“I witnessed it. Are you calling me a liar?” he snarls, and this has Destir’s black skin turning a pale shade of gray. He sits down quickly, shaking his head.
“No, I must have been mistaken,” he mutters, and I hear Xavier scoff behind me.
“That’s what I thought.”
“Well, now that the little bit of drama is over, let me be the first to welcome you to the family, Lila.” Tirrian’s father holds out his hands, taking both of mine and giving me a kiss on each cheek. “I can’t tell you how thrilled Tisa and I are that Tirrian finally took a mate, and what a beautiful mate you are. He tells me you can shift into dragon form. We would love to see it.”
There’s a rumble of voices, and I hear a few skeptical mutterings from the courtiers.
“I would be happy to shift for you if we could beg a moment of your time when you finish your meal. I’m afraid this is not exactly a social call.” I can tell by the knowing look on Tysar’s face that he knows exactly why we’re here. I’m sure Tirrian has briefed him on the reason we are on Fluxx.
“Shift and share a meal, then I and my dragons will assist with anything you request. You will be queen of them one day, and I’m sure they will jump at the chance to curry favor with their future queen.” He winks when there are more mutterings from the surrounding court, and I smother a chuckle. I get the feeling this man likes to stir shit, much like Xavier’s father. I wonder what dinner will be like with both men at the table, and goodness knows I probably shouldn’t let either of them babysit, let alone together.
With a snap of his fingers, chairs are placed along the opposite side of the table from the already seated guests. I find myself sitting next to Tirrian and across from his parents.
“Lila, we are so happy to meet you, but where are your babies I’ve heard so much about?” Tisa, Tirrian’s mother, asks, smiling widely. I look at my dragon mate. He’s blushing adorably. It’s fun, his cheeks turn the same pink as his wings so it’s not hard to miss.
“We left them with their fathers at Caspian’s parents’ place. We didn’t think it would be safe bringing them with us until we had dealt with the basilisk problem,” Xavier, who is seated on my other side, explains.
Her smile droops, and I feel terrible. “Don’t you worry. Tirrian has promised to retrieve them and bring them back to see his hoard as soon as we have,” I add, hoping that will make them feel better.
“That is excellent. We have arranged for six more caverns to be dug out for their own treasures. They are ready to be filled immediately,” Tysar tells me, taking a sip from the goblet in front of him and leaning back casually.
“Six? But I only have five children at the moment. And they really are too little to be collecting a hoard.” I look between the royal couple, and Tisa smirks.
“Yes, but you’re part dragon now, dear. You’re going to want your own hoard.”
“And it’s never too young to start. It is a tradition that everyone in the dragonling’s family donates something out of their own hoard to help start the new one, so all of us will be presenting them with something to start their collection,” Tysar explains, waving his hand up and down the table.
“Usually it’s not six items at once,” one of the men on the right of Tisa grumbles, but I can hear that it’s good-natured instead of resentful.
“She already has one, it’s just full of men.” The girl sitting next to Tisa winks at me cheerfully. “Hi, I’m Tallon, Tirrian’s sister. It will be nice to have more girls in the family. I only have brothers.” She points at the two males on her other side. “That’s Titas and Thorn.” Both brothers give me a cheerful wave. Titas is the one who grumbled about giving up his treasures.
“We can’t wait to meet our nieces and nephews. Tirrian is the first of us to have children, and on behalf of the rest of us, we thank you.” Titas grins broadly as plates of food are placed in front of us newcomers and liquid is poured into the ornate goblets at each of our settings.
Thorn stands up. “A toast to Tirrian and Lila, may their lives be full of happiness and their nest full of eggs.” The crowd shouts their toasts, and there are cheers and laughter as Tirrian blushes once again.
“You know he’s always dreamed of having many children. His dragons were so fussy, but obviously they were holding out for the right one,” Tallon says in a fake whisper, and Tirrian growls at her, but she just laughs.
I hear a grunt of disapproval on the other side of Destir. “The throne can’t be handed to a non-dragon. She is going to have to prove she can give birth to a purebred before you get too excited.”
I turn my attention to the sour-faced woman, but before I can even form a response, someone else does. “Now, Mother, don’t be like that. Uncle Tysar and Aunt Tisa have other children who will get the crown before any of us. You need to stop with your scheming, or you’re going to be accused of treason,” the female dragon sitting next to her hisses before turning an apologetic smile on me. “I’m sorry for my mother. Dylan’s treachery surprised us all. We hadn’t realized how unbalanced his dragon had become. Can you please forgive us?”
“No one blames you, Dacia,” Tirrian says to the female. “It was not your responsibility as his sister to make sure he was sane, nor yours, Darcan. Maybe your parents should have been paying more attention than spending so much time plotting.” Tirrian glares at Dylan’s parents, who glare back just as fiercely.
The male next to Dacia inclines his head. “Nevertheless, we don’t want you thinking everyone in this family supports our brother. As far as I’m concerned, he’s as good as dead.”
His mother, whose name I still don’t know, gasps and stands up.
“I can’t listen to any of this. Are you happy now?” she spits at Tysar. “You’ve turned our children against their brother and us. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Tysar stands up, his fists clenched. “Brother, I suggest you get your wife out of my face before she says something she cannot recover from, and the two of you find yourselves joining your son in exile.”
Dylan’s parents quickly remove themselves, throwing looks of utter loathing at me.