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Her heart was pounding in her chest. After all the chaos that had engulfed her plans over the last few months, it was almost difficult to believe that she was this close to meeting Queen Lana herself—the dragon with the power to open the portal she needed to finally escape her past for good.
Now she just had to figure out how to compel a monarch into doing something like that for a complete stranger with a deeply suspicious past.
Chapter 21 - Callan
Callan carried Kaya on his back up to the plateau that lay exactly halfway up the mountain, at the point where the trees gave way to barren rock. It had been a formal meeting place for centuries, often for tense interactions between the wolves and dragons of the Valley. These days, with the new alliance between them, those meetings were a lot less tense—though he had to admit, waking to find three wolves circling him and Kaya hadn’t exactly been pleasant. When he’d made it clear he was from the Valley, they’d calmed down a little, but he wasn’t thrilled with how they’d spoken to Kaya. Recognizing her as a stranger was one thing, but questioning her species? Something about that was still troubling him as he landed, but he worked to put it out of his mind as he shifted back.
“I’ll be back as soon as I’ve spoken to the Queen,” he promised. He didn’t like leaving her out here on the Plateau alone, but he knew that bringing a strange dragon into the Palace unannounced would lead to far more discomfort than an hour or so on the plateau. He could tell the encounter with the wolves had left her unsettled too, and he pulled her into his arms for a long moment before he left her there, hoping the hug could do what his words couldn’t. Then he shifted back and headed home for the first time in months.
It felt strange, circling down through the enormous hollow mountain that had been his home all his life. How much of his life had he spent thinking that his little community represented the only dragons in all of existence? How much had his horizons broadened over just a few short years? It was hard to imagine how he could ever have thought the world was so small. Part of the widening of his perception was studying at Brisant, of course, but he couldn’t help but feel that meeting Kaya had had something to do with it, too.
He landed outside the Palace, feeling his claws dig into the countless grooves in the rock carved by other dragons’ talons over the centuries. His arrival had already drawn a few surprised glances, and he realized with a jolt that his arrival wouldn’t have been anticipated just yet. In all of the upheaval of fleeing Brisant with Kaya, he’d forgotten that he and Morgan wouldn’t have been expected home for another few days. Well, there were more surprises ahead. He straightened his back and headed for the Palace steps, feeling the odd shadow of his decades of service in the Palace Guard falling over him. It had been years, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling that he was pledged to this place. He thought about what Kaya had said about how difficult it was to trust after decades without practice. The conversation last night hadn’t exactly put his mind at ease—if anything, he was more confused now than he had been when she was missing, back at Brisant. But if anyone could sort out this mess, it was the Queen.
He made for Prince Conrad’s office first. The quiet man was always in his office, and while he was always the first port of call to arrange an audience with Queen Lana, Callan had another reason to want to speak with him. Aside from the Queen, Conrad was probably the dragon who was most familiar with the other world, the world that could only be reached with Queen Lana’s unique ability to form gateways in the Fog itself. After all, he’d met his soulmate there.
But when he reached Conrad’s office, it was Captain Acantha he saw sitting behind the Prince’s desk, her green eyes already widening with surprise as she looked up to see him at the door. Conrad must still be in the other world with his mate, Callan realized, feeling his heart sink a little. He’d hoped to have a private conversation with him ahead of a more public audience with the Queen. He trusted Lana, of course, but he’d known Conrad longer. And Captain Acantha still filled him with that old anxiety of living up to his commander’s exacting expectations.
“Callan, you’re back.” Concern colored her tone, held under close control. “Is everything alright? We weren’t expecting you back for another few days. Are Morgan and Archer with you?”
“No, they’re still at Brisant. They’re fine.” Acantha was looking at him closely, and he shifted his feet uncomfortably, aware that he probably looked a mess in yesterday’s clothes and his finger-combed hair. “Something’s happened. Something that the Queen will likely want to hear about.”
He hadn’t anticipated it would be Acantha he’d be spilling the story to first, but he straightened his back and did his best to keep calm as he gave a quick summary of the events. She listened with her characteristic stony silence, her expression barely shifting as he explained the precarious diplomatic situation regarding Kaya’s fugitive status not only at Brisant, but on just about every other insula. He found himself refraining from mentioning the nature of his relationship with Kaya—and if Acantha suspected anything, she didn’t let on. She just nodded for a few moments after he finished his explanation, then rose to her feet without a word and gestured for him to follow her down the hallway.
He’d been in the Throne Room hundreds of times before, of course, but always as part of his duties with the Palace Guard. There was something very different about going there for an audience with the Queen. Acantha gestured him through the open door and he had to stop himself from moving automatically toward the post he’d always taken during his shifts… a post that was already occupied by a guard.
There wasn’t long to wait. The Queen was seated in her usual position at the front of the room alongside her mate Seth, Alpha of the local wolf pack. They’d just dismissed someone who’d been making some kind of report, and Callan felt an uneasy shiver run down his spine when he recognized the woman as the leader of the wolf patrol that had found them that morning. She glanced at him as she left the Throne Room, her expression guarded, but it was clear she recognized him by the slight widening of her eyes. What had she been telling them? Relax, he told himself. It was most likely a routine report.
Acantha had moved up to the Queen’s chair to murmur an introduction, and she gestured Callan forward now, a look of bright curiosity on her face. Nobody had quite been sure what to expect when Queen Lana arrived on their doorstep a few years ago. An ancient prophecy had foretold her arrival and secured her claim to the throne—dragons were nothing if not sticklers for tradition—but even if she hadn’t been backed by the old tomes, she’d have earned their respect as a monarch and leader regardless. Queen Lana had been an outsider, he reminded himself. Surely she’d sympathize with Kaya’s plight.
“Callan, welcome back. I hope this semester has been as successful as the last?”
It took him a few heartbeats to remember what she was talking about, he’d been so laser-focused on the subject of his soulmate. He reminded himself to breathe, to calm down. He wasn’t on trial here. This was a test of the diplomatic skills he’d gone to Brisant to develop in the first place.
“It’s certainly been an eventful semester,” he said, glad that his voice sounded more confident than he felt. “I wanted to apologize for appearing without notice, but there’s a complicated situation developing and I didn’t want to waste any time. I’m here on behalf of someone who’s seeking refuge.”
Queen Lana leaned forward curiously, gesturing for him to continue. He told a more detailed version of the story now, aware of the curious attention of the rest of the Court. He told them about meeting Kaya at Brisant, about the project he’d embarked on under her, about the persecution from the Mage’s Guild she’d described—and about the criminal life she’d resorted to in desperation after the Guild had started hunting her. He found himself downplaying her deception, the things she’d held back from him, but from Alpha Seth’s well-placed, quiet requests for clarification, it was clear they’d picked up on it.
“And where is this Kaya now?” Queen Lana asked finally, when the story had been told. He hadn’t mentioned that it wasn’t her real name.
“Waiting on the Plateau below. I thought it might be unwise to bring her in unannounced, given recent events.”
Queen Lana nodded, her expression shadowed. It was no secret that the mages who’d attacked the Palace had been motivated in part by the prospect of kidnapping the Queen to take advantage of her unique power to manipulate the Fog. “Good thinking. Especially given her status as a wanted criminal—at the university as well as the rest of the world, it sounds like. This is a complicated problem you’ve brought us, Callan.”
“I know,” he said softly. “I’m well aware of the precarious diplomatic situation it puts us in. But I couldn’t stand by and risk her being surrendered to the Mage’s Guild. I can’t stress enough how extreme their punishments are when it comes to the sharing of secrets, even though it wasn’t Kaya who broke those rules in the first place.”
“I’d have done the same thing,” Queen Lana said, flashing him a small smile that went a long way to ease his concern. “Nevertheless, this is difficult. Does the Mage’s Guild know where she is now? Or any of her other pursuers?”
“The university administration will probably work it out shortly,” he admitted, shifting his feet uneasily. “Whether they send word to the Mage’s Guild then—if they haven’t already—we have no way of knowing.”
“Hmm.” Lana was quiet for a long moment. “Well, it doesn’t do anyone any good to have her sitting down there on the Plateau. I think our first move is to speak with this Kaya directly. We can send someone down to escort her, if you’d prefer to rest—”
“No,” he said, a little too quickly. “No, I’m more than happy to go and collect her, Queen Lana. My thanks.”
“Very well.” Lana smiled faintly, a curious look in her eye. But if she’d been about to ask a question, she clearly decided against it. “And while you’re doing that… Captain Acantha?”
“Majesty?” Acantha stepped forward with the rigid bearing of a soldier being called to battle.
“Is Cato available? I’d value his insight into the Mage’s Guild. I know he’s never been a sanctioned mage, but he’s the closest thing we’ve got to an expert.”
