At the same time, I notice there’s a secondary door behind the throne, out of sight and barely visible but for the round knob. It’s made to look like it’s part of the wall, and I assume it’s meant for Lord Bemmar to remove himself quickly and discreetly from this space.
I file it away. I might have use for that door.
“Go on,” I mutter.
Dayn pauses, then exhales as though confessing something weighty. “I didn’t tell you everything about our kind.”
I almost snort. “Clearly, you did not.” I point to practically everywhere around us.
“But I’m sure you understand why.”
I do. It doesn’t make it an easier pill to swallow. “Why’d you leave Draethys?”
“I had hopes for the world above,” he admits, gaze lowering. “I thought that if I studied your people—observed, traced the patterns—I could find the right points of influence. Enough to restore balance. Dragons, magicals, humans… living under the same sky again, most unaware of the others.”
“That sounds idealistic.”
“Maybe it was.” A flicker of something unreadable shadows his face. “But I did find kindred spirits during my time above. Some of them… were part of your bloodline.”
Dayn mentioned my ancestors. The memory of that incident had almost slipped my mind, but it is back now, clearer and louder. “You knew Helena. My great, great, great grandmother.”
“And her daughter Galia. Esther’s grandmother,” he says. “Yes.But that is a story for another time, Esme. We have more pressing issues to deal with.”
“It sounds to me like you’re just buying yourself time while trying to rope me into another scenario that may result in my death. That’s one pattern I’ve already identified about you.”
A smile tests the corner of his mouth. I catch the edge of my tongue between my teeth, pretending it doesn’t make me want to move closer, to breathe him in. His heartbeat thrums through the space between us, heavy and magnetic, and it makes me… thirsty. If dragon blood is addictive, I may be in a whole different kind of trouble.
“You are my guest here, Esme,” Dayn says evenly. “And I am heir to the throne. Which means you’ll follow Draethys’s laws for the duration of your stay.”
“The duration of my—” I snap. “Dayn, I’m not staying here. That was never part of my deal!”
“Nor mine,” he answers, sharp but steady. “But your people—and Heathborne’s lunatics—left me no choice. And Draethys isn’t as I left it. For both our sakes, we’ll have to rely on each other until I sort out what’s happening.”
“What do you mean?”
His gaze flicks to the door, a flare of golden fire in his pupils. Listening. Cautious. My skin prickles as I follow his glance, but the double doors remain shut. Guards outside. If they’re not who he fears, then who else is listening?
“No more cryptic bullshit, Dayn,” I bite out. “I need the whole truth. Now.”
“That makes two of us,” he murmurs, eyes sliding back to mine. Heat creeps up my neck despite myself. “There’s much I don’t yet know. About my father’s rule. About the council. Who’s a friend. Who’s a foe. But the codex hasn’t changed. You are under me, Esme. Yet you will abide by our customs.”
I stare at him. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You are under myprotection,” he says, voice low, though I don’t trust anything about that word. “Given our… bond, you’ve attracted the elders’ attention. They’re curious about you. About your new abilities?—”
“You told them?”
“They didn’t need telling.” He exhales, shoulders dipping briefly. “They could feel my blood in you. Your nature made the rest obvious. Darkbloods unsettle them. They don’t yet know what to make of you. Or what to do with you.”
My stomach tightens. “What to do with me.” The words taste wrong. “What could they possibly…” But I stop myself, already finding the answer hidden somewhere in the recesses of my tired mind. I’ve heard it somewhere before, not that long ago. That I’m to be used.
A weapon of sorts.
“So let me get this straight.” My voice sharpens. “You conned me into helping you break Heathborne’s fifty-year-old hold over you.”
“We collaborated,” he corrects, unflinching.
“Collaborated,” I sneer. “Then you hurt my friends. Isander was saving me, and you—” My voice cracks. “I don’t even know if he’s alive.”
