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Luca rose and took her hand. He knew she didn’t understand the gravity of the gesture in their culture or how few people had ever been given such respect without fear fueling it. Ash took a hesitant step forward, more uncomfortable with the extended kneeling by the moment.
“Thank you so much.” Ash hated the quiver in her voice, which dominated the silent room. She was unnerved when every eye in the room turned toward her, but she didn’t let it stop her. She continued in a steadier voice, “I am honored and humbled by your respect and this wonderful gesture. Please, stand up. That can’t be comfortable, and you’ve all been through so much in the past few days. You must be tired.”
Ash swayed at the strength of the affection the crowd directed at her expression of concern about their comfort and well-being. She needed to work on her mental barriers. Luca couldn’t wipe the grin off his face as he stood beside Ash and brought her hand to his lips before he faced the crowd.
“As you can see, the rumors are true. Some of you started whispering that I’d taken a mysterious human lover when I came home for Alle’s wedding,” Luca said, wincing internally at the reminder of his loss. “We were only colleagues at that point, but finding one’s true mate leaves a mark on a dragon. After my dear sister crashed into the war room towing a vampire, more of you grasped the big picture.”
He turned back to Ash, adoring every graceful curve and regal feature. “They figured out that the only reason a human would willingly turn vampire to save a Therian prince was for love.”
Ash smiled, the love she bore for him shining through. She glowed for a moment before it faded. “They were correct. You can’t discount being stupid and selfless for a noble cause, though.”
“We already pledged our fealty to the king, my lady,” one of the Therians near the front of the room interrupted. “We’ve come to hear the tale of how you defeated Nadya and to pledge our allegiance to the woman who will be queen.”
After freezing for a moment to absorb the shock of what he said and the murmurs of agreement from the rest of the room, Ash sighed in relief. She could work with this. It was a far better reception than she had hoped for. She’d expected to start by having to convince them that she wasn’t evil. “I can do story time. Just one second, let me do something so everyone can hear.” She turned to Luca. “Do they even speak English?”
He smiled and shook his head. “Most know a few words, but many won’t understand.”
“They all speak Russian?”
He nodded. “Everyone who lives here and all the diplomats. It’s been the official royal language for centuries.”
“Okay, we can work around that.” Ash reached out to Eiko. She could feel the witch watching from the balcony above. Her new powers were handy, even if they came with mental instability and a metric shit-ton of trauma.
Eiko-sensei, I need your help! Can you do something that translates my words into Russian and amplifies my voice?
Ash felt Eiko’s amusement. I can do better than that with your consent. You’ve been through so much. We can cut corners on your Russian lessons with magic.
Seriously? Yes! Arigato, Eiko-sensei. Ash found her mentor in the small crowd on the balcony and bowed her head in respect and thanks. A cold tingle washed over her, starting at her head and trickling down. Her throat tightened, and she whispered to test the effect.
“Luca, am I speaking Russian right now?” Her voice came out as if she were speaking normally, confirming the efficacy of Eiko’s translation spell. Effortlessly, her tongue shaped the foreign words, and Ash grinned when her mate looked surprised.
“Yes, and with a flawless accent that carries a hint of Japan.” He was impressed by what they’d done. “Please, tell your story, love. It will make them respect you more than my words can.”
Ash turned back to the waiting Therians and smiled warmly. They were her people now. “This should work a little better. I want us to understand each other. If you’re here for a story, I suppose I’d better start at the beginning, and since I’m to be your queen, I must be honest.
“My name is Ashlynn Mosier, but everyone calls me Ash. Until a few months ago, I was an American college student. A human, as far as I knew.” Her words came out in flawless Russian that carried to every ear in the room. Many onlookers’ jaws dropped in surprise.
Luca, I’m going to tell them everything. They need to know to accept me.
Share whatever you want to, Ash. This is your story to tell. You have my support, however you want to do this.
“I met your king when he was my history professor, in exile and living as a human. He became my boss when I accepted a position as his teaching assistant, and we started spending more time together. We got closer when my father fell ill, and soon after that, vampires attacked me. They said my spark had called them.
“I fought off the first one with a knife I always carry since I was attacked by a murderer when I was ten. He killed my best friend’s mother and came after her. My father and I got in the way, and both of us sustained substantial injuries, but the murderer didn’t get to Dani. My parents adopted her and raised Dani as my sister. Some of you might have seen her at the funeral. She’s pure human. Anyway, we trained relentlessly, determined that neither of us would ever be a victim again.”
Ash paused and said a silent prayer of thanks for her father and his encouragement.
“That training allowed me to surprise the first vampire, and Luca arrived before the second one could kill me. That’s when he told me about the spark. I was born human to a family of humans, though there seems to have been a witch or two among my ancestors, but the thing that makes me different is Maerlin.”
The crowd gasped, recognizing the name of the legendary shapeshifter. Snippets of feelings slipped past Ash’s barriers, and she realized that many saw Maerlin as Gaia or Mother Earth. Ash having a connection to a being of incomprehensible power left them stunned and made her instantly worthy in the eyes of those who worshipped the oldest gods.
“During one of her human lives, Maerlin was a fertility doctor who befriended my mother and helped her conceive. I don’t know the whole story, so I’ll make some educated guesses. Maerlin was a frequent presence in my life until I was two. She’d seen the magic growing within me and knew I wasn’t ready to handle it yet, so she placed a seal on my soul to bind my powers. I wouldn’t want a toddler running around with the power to level cities, either. That seal held until I met Luca.
“As you know, ‘the spark’ identifies a person as a descendant of Maerlin, however distant. I suspect mine is this strong because science wasn’t enough. I think she used her magic to help my mother conceive, tying her life force to mine and making me one of her children.
“Not long after that, Luca and I formed our mating bond, and I began having prophetic dreams that told me I needed to stay at my mate’s side. The next day, we received word that Nikoli had imprisoned the queen, and we immediately came here to help. When Nadya captured Luca, intending to turn him, I had no choice but to act. Through magic and willing sacrifice, I became a vampire, though not of Nadya’s making, hoping to make myself strong enough to withstand the fight I saw in my dreams. I was at Luca’s side when Nikoli fell, using my power to protect my mate.”
Ash paused again, and her voice was thick with emotion when she continued. “I don’t regret turning since it kept him alive, though it also meant we couldn’t be together at first. I would not jeopardize his claim to the throne by causing division among the Therians, and few of you could have accepted a vampire as anything but evil, with good reason.
