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“And there is more than one way to wreak havoc and destruction. If you put everything into the first three rounds, and it doesn’t finish the fight, you’re not going to have anything left for the championship rounds. At best, you will grind out a lackluster decision. At worst, you will get injured and be finished.”
Dekka, making a combat sports reference? The end timeswerenigh. But after everything I’d seen in the ship, in Atlantis, Immoalen, in the echoes of those bones, it was all going to happen again.
And now that I was fully molted, I could feel thebadnesscoming. The water had rushed away from the beach, and that meant a tsunami incoming. In human form, standing there with Dekka, it was a feeling of mild dread I couldn’t shake. In dragon form, it rushed along the tips of my scales like a breeze on wet skin.
Dekka moved her fingers over her desk, panning through a few windows and lists, before she looked back at me. “On the other hand, I suppose your being a Chaos dragon is not something we can continue to keep secret, and the natural extension of that would be a final, brief effort to evaluate the possibilities that presents. The longer I keep the secret from the rest of the Wyrms, the angrier they will be when finally told.”
“Half the Seat knows anyway. It’s not like you can keep it a secret much longer from the others before they get angry they’re the last to know.”
Dekka watched me a moment, expression that of a Soul Wyrm weighing whatever she’d seen in my soul. And whatever she’d seen over her long life. “Those of us who know keep it a secret for a reason. There are many things I want to discuss with you, however. Including how I intend for you to grovel before Mayriel, considering I had to ask herverynicely to let you go through the intake.”
Dekka’s eyes narrowed.
Dekka’s rage was nothing compared to how scared I was of the K’Dol portal. “No regrets. But I’m not going to be explaining it to anyone not named Keon.”
“Then should I speak with Keon?”
“Keon probably won’t tell you.” Defying Dekka was a good way to die, but I was fine with my life choices. With the way dragon magic worked, I had no idea what might happen if I told any of themnotnamed Keon about the...entity... in the portal. Especially not after what had happened in Atlantis. Especially notDekka.
When I’d been in the memories of the dragon that had died on the ship, I’d seen, through him, what the portals were for normal dragons. Dragons perceived the portals as nothing, and they understood that it wasagainst the rules.
Chaotic me? I saw the portals as something else entirely. And that was fine, and would have been fine, if the K’Dol portal hadn’t been... you know,haunted. Or possessed. Not sure which. But having been in the Atlantis portal, K’Dol’s creepiness was solidly confirmed.
And I could not risk telling the dragons that, because with their magic, if they became aware that the portals were anything other than what they perceived them to be, Very Bad Things might happen.
“Helena,” Dekka said.
I breathed as my heart rate jumped into a wild sprint and panic sent tingles through my system and my skin flickered with soft magenta pink scale patterns. “I’m okay.”
Dekka stood. “No, you are not. It is time you realized and accepted you arenot, and that you need to turn your efforts inward. I will speak with Keon. I will accept if he tells me I should not pursue this K’Dol matter and must owe Mayriel a personal favor. Neither item I appreciate.”
I tucked my hands behind my back and fiddled with my fingers.
“My patience for you, roost daughter, is at an end. You are grounded. I will tell Hekon you arenotallowed access to these Archives, the topside drakes arenotto discuss anything with you. What information you are given is what informationIpermit you to have. You, instead, will focusallyour mental energy on building your tethers with your consorts so that you will be able to finalize the vowsandmastering the basics of magic. Like breathing independently.”
Fuckingouch.
“We will reevaluate this when you master breathing,” Dekka said darkly. “And can reliably shift forms without having a quantum spasm and dropping through the planet.”
My resistance crumbled as Dekka kicked my legs out from under me and I hit the mat flat on my ass.
She flicked a finger towards the exit.
I slunk off to my room.
Two
Istretched out my arms. Neither Auryn nor Akoni were in bed.
It was stupid, but it would have been nice to just wake up with one or both of them once. Back when Auryn and I had just started dating, he’d also rarely woken up with me, and it’d always felt special to have him still be in bed and get in some snuggling.
I squeezed my pillow and patted my hand on the empty space. Cold.
Too much likethatmorning.
My tethers yanked like rope sliding over raw skin.
Auryn came into the bedroom (it wasn’t aroom,exactly, more than it was a semi-walled area on the far side of the roost-donut with the common areas on the other side and the trunk of the house blocking the view). “Helena.”
