“He is a very prodigious Dette. Twelve pups.” Ashwin held his hand out and received another paper. “A nice balance of Dettes and Drakes. He upholds the family name. Even if the mating is unorthodox.”
The two Hijada at his side kept their heads lowered, shoulders rounded. They made no effort to take a seat, even as Sile gestured for Viraj and his mates to sit as well.
“And you. You’ve been with these two Drakes since your arrival?” Ashwin glanced between the males. “If anything, it proves even our defective Dettes are superior.”
“I am not a defective Dette. I am a Dette. When given an appropriate amount ofjeevan ka phool—” Viraj started but received a sharp hiss in rebuttal.
“Father, the flower is extinct after the last war, no?” Viraj bobbed his head.
“You do not speak ofjeevan ka phool!” Ashwin hammered his hand on his armrest. The two Hijada at his side cowered. His own children, Viraj’s siblings, mere servants. Dragons.
Viraj could very well have been one of them.
He could have spoken up when he first had thoughts.
But he didn’t. All he could think about was the silver pin imbedded in the nape of each of their necks. The one that would work its way deep into them should they ever shift, and eventually be the cause of their death.
They would never know their dragon or live a dragon’s life.
Viraj buried his anger as he’d always done.
“Ashwin?” Sile reached into his desk and pulled an envelope up for him to see. From within, he drew a pressed flower and tossed it on the desk. “Someone’s already figured it out.”
Ashwin paled as he stared at it. “Where did you get this?” His hand snatched out, ringed fingers clawing for the pressed flower with frantic greed gleaming in his eyes.
“There’s a Drake that spent his life searching for them and cultivating them back to a stable population.” Sile stared at his nails as Ashwin held the flower to his face and inhaled deeply. “This was stolen. This was stolen from my family! This belongs to the Vritra by rights.”
Viraj rested a hand on his belly as his insides twinged, stomach clenching awfully. “It does not belong to the Vritra any longer, Father. It went extinct, and another dragon spent a hundred years hunting down flowers like it in other countries. This particular flower is a deeper color, similar but more potent than I remember.”
Ashwin’s calculating gaze honed in on Viraj and stared, the animosity in his features slackening as something calculative flickered there in the empty rage. “Then, I must have them to restore my gardens. Allow me to purchase—”
“Certainly, you may purchase some live flowers, dried flowers, oil, and isolates. We use them as medicine, now.” Sile spread his fingers, hands open.
“I will require seeds and roots.” Ashwin turned his gaze to Sile and offered a wan smile that Sile didn’t return.
“That is beyond my permission. I would need to contact Hallr Nielsen. He’s the one that restored them.” Sile pulled his phone from a pocket and let his thumb fly. “Fortunately, I foresaw this, and he’d be willing to meet with you. Tomorrow?”
“He lives near my summering estate, and Ryan’s main residence.” Viraj caught his father’s jaundiced gaze and earned a short nod, before his attention turned to Teige and Gatlin.
“So, the Drakes my son has chosen.” Ashwin consulted his papers, face twisting. “Gatlin and Teige. Lochs—no, Stoors.”
Gatlin and Teige didn’t flinch when addressed, not even at the intentional mistake.
“Aye?” Gatlin raised his head. “Your son has been the light of our lives for over a century.”
Ashwin forced a smile, slathering on false charm that Viraj detested.
“Nine eggs. I suppose we’ll see how many he crushes during laying. Such is the flaw of prodigious Dettes.” Ashwin didn’t even flick a glance Viraj’s way, as if he no longer mattered. But had he ever, really? Ashwin had always taken a commission off his Dette children, accompanied them with a son, and given them their start on a Dette’s back. The thought of crushed eggs, foulness, sepsis… “Would you prefer more Dettes or Drakes? I recall Lochs have a preference for Drake children.”
Viraj held back the urge to be sick.
Teige shrugged. “Doesn’t matter at all.”
Not the answer Ashwin wanted. His twisted lips and furrowed brow lasted only a moment. “Surely? I have preference for Dettes.”
“Either way, we’ll have nine little hoards to stock.” Gatlin reached for Viraj’s hand, squeezing it with a slow rub of his thumb.
“Hah! Truly you would give a Dette a hoard?” Ashwin shook his head and snorted. “I might as well give the servants one!”
