At his words, my hands fisted in my skirts, the nails digging into the fleshy parts of my palm, but I couldn’t feel their bite. I’d gone numb. “I beg your pardon?”
Gideon eyes flashed in annoyance, but I was used to his quick temper. He may be composed most of the time, but it didn’t always outdo his natural character. Like most other males, it was hard for him to see logic, reason. I’d been compelled to follow his directives when I was younger, but I’d come into my own in the years since he secreted me from the castle. I wouldn’t follow him blindly, no matter his reasoning or the difference in our age. “Lord Blaque expects you at the castle within a week’s time to take your place as his mate. You’ve known this was coming, even if you can’t shift, you’re still of royal blood,” he added in a low voice.
It had been years, but the part of me bruised by my failure still ached. “Thank you for reminding me,” I said. He sighed and even if I wasn’t gifted with the power of empathy, I sensed the waves of frustration emanating from him. “Is there nothing else that can be done?”
“Elena, don’t be stubborn about this. If we back out of the contract, it would be devastating for Acasia.”
That he would bring this up today when my longing for the capital and the castle was so strong wasn’t fair. I turned away from him to give myself time to think, without the pleading look on his face swaying my decision. My mind raced, which caused me to pace. Since they had sequestered me in the temple, I’d learned to be patient and consider my words before speaking. But I didn’t want to be patient or thoughtful now. As much as I loved the temple and my work, it wasn’t home like the castle.
“Gideon,” I winced at the pleading tone in my voice.
He sighed without meeting my eyes. “This isn’t only about The Dragon, Sister, or the crown. It’s about Father.” There was a pregnant pause until he continued, “He’s dying.”
2
Rhysander
Old as the land itself and once teaming with magick as ancient as the stone, the mountain that surrounded the Northlands had been home to the Dragon-Clan for as far back as Immortals could recall.
My father used to rattle about the endless crypts, plumbing their depths and spinning tales about our ancestors until he joined them many years ago, when I was still new to my wings. His spirit still lingered and as I’ve gotten older, I retraced his steps, though much has changed since he was alive.
The constant drip of moisture from the ice river above kept me company as I wandered down the twists and turns. I could sense the loss of magick, of life. It’s as though the heart of the mountain, the stronghold of the Dragon-Clan, was ceasing to beat.
I reached out a claw to trace the etchings in the stone walls that were wornsoft with time. The drawings depicted different scenes from our history, the rise and fall of the Dragon-Clan—still the most powerful shifters in all of Acasia—but certainly not as strong in numbers as we were in days of old.
“You spend too much timein these crypts, my friend,” came a familiar voice.
I looked over my shoulder to find Alaric studying an etching of a dragon egg hatching from a bed of roses. “Better here than up there,” I answered. “Besides, I’m not the only one shirking my duties.”
Alaric merely smiled serenely. What was it about the Fae that made them seem so aloof and mischievous at the same time? “We readied the carriages. Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you? Traveling alone in this climate is dangerous. Even for the mighty Lord of Dragons.”
I allowed him to guide me through the passages back to the surface. Alaric knew the cryptsalmost as well as I did, though it wasn’t because he was raised here, it was because his Fae senses were more sensitive than my own. “I’ve more use for you here while I’m away. The humans are growing more and more restless, and I fear another attack is forthcoming. I’d rather travel with a small group of my best soldiers with you here to supervise.”
Alaric studied me in the dim candlelight of the castle foyer. The sun shone in the Northlands most of the day, but it was almost always from behind a cover of dull, gray clouds. “You don’t want to take your time with your new bride? It will be your wedding night after all. Perhaps I should send along a gift.”
I snorted as I dressed in a heavy cape and fastened the buckles on my dragonhide boots. “The last thing I want is to spend more time with the girl than I have to. I’ll fetch her from the castle, let the priests perform the binding ceremony, mate her, then bring her home. If I’m lucky, I’ll only have to see her at night thereafter to make sure she’s bred successfully. And there’s no way in Slaine I’d want a gift from you. The girl already has enough strings attached to her, I don’t need a faerie bargain along with it.”
“If you think any woman wouldbe happy with that arrangement, I think you’re sorely mistaken,” Alaric said, ignoring my dig. “Shifters are a feisty breed and their women are the worst of the lot. Giving orders and disparaging their males.” He shook his head. “I don’t know how you do it. You’re a glutton for punishment.”
I didn’t answer as we headed for the carriages at the front of the castle and he knew I wouldn’t. I rarely talked about my first mate, and liked even less to be reminded of her. If I had a choice about the matter, I’d live the rest of my days in solitude along with the dying mountain, mating be damned.
As the Lord of the Dragon-Clan, it was my responsibility to provide for their future and part of providing was continuing the line and delivering an heir. Like the rest of the shifters in Acasia, the Dragon-Clansmen had suffered from reduced numbers over the past few centuries, so continuing the line is even more imperative than ever.
It’s why I agreed to the arrangement with King Baron twenty years ago. In exchange for my clansmen’s protection along his southern borders from the humans, he promised the hand of his firstborn daughter in return. In theory, a powerful shifter should be strong enough to carry a dragonborn child to term, especially if that shifter were the future queen. With most of my men at the southern border aidingthe shifters in defending their lands against our restless human counterparts, we’re more in need of fresh blood than ever.
Alaric stopped me as I prepared to mount my horse. Normally, I would have flown to the capital in my shifted form, but my future mate would need the carriages that followed me for the return trip.
“You’ve heard the rumors, haven’t you? About the princess.”
Oh, I’d heard rumors.
That Elena of the Avian-Clan was more beautiful than the sunrise. That before she’d been disgraced, it had been foretold she’d be the most powerful queen of the age, even more powerful than her mother, who had been a rare shifter indeed. It’s why she they cast from the castle when she couldn’t shift. Cursed, they said.
But who wasn’t cursed in this world, in one way or another?
I lifted a brow. “I’ve heard the rumors, but I would prefer to observe them for myself.” My tone brooked no argument. Naturally, Alaric took no notice.
“Her cousin, the queen-regent, another Avian-Clan named Seleste. Wouldn’t she suit better? Certainly, she’d be a more powerful alliance than the princess.”
