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Aeleftheria had had another close call.
Marli hadn’t been there to defend her home against the fleet of males that Clive and Merwin had recruited and led to Aeleftheria. They were vulnerable, and Sten was responsible for that. Who would come out of the shadows to attack them next?
Stenlen, Clive, and Merwin had been the original three to know the location of the island. Clive and Merwin’s followers had been shipped away along with them, but no one could be sure some hadn’t escaped.
He pulled his attention away from Marli to look upon the dead king’s face again. He was responsible for that, too.
He swallowed the regret.
It was for the best, wasn’t it?
He told himself that often. Maybe too often?
Elora entered the arch to the hall, her human husband next to her. She wore the same dress Kargassa had forced her to wear the night she was meant to witness her son’s indoctrination to Kargassa’s rule, as heir.
The difference was that her throat was bare of the magicked collar she’d worn since her capture and two decades of imprisonment in the mountain. A vibrant indigo flower was pinned to the fabric over her heart. With the three Aeleftherian warriors at her back, she entered the room with her head high, and with as much grace as a queen, gliding up the wide aisle between the standing males.
As Aeleftheria’s ambassador, she represented Queen Regina.
She stood next to her brother. Odson looked down on her with a mixture of pride and compassion. He exchanged looks with Jonathan over Elora’s head. Each of them took one of her hands in theirs.
Agent Carson Perenga and Bayn Long entered next, joining the other guests.
Eamerson entered ahead of Jori and Kymri. Marli fell in step beside him as they made their way toward the front of the hall. Marli caught Sten’s gaze, holding it as she moved.
Low male voices rumbled up through the rows.
She’d been placed at Eamerson’s side, not with the guests.
They stopped at Kargassa’s feet, opposite Sten’s position at Kargassa’s head.
When Jori and Kymri entered the hall, Goliath, Craig, Pete, and a contingent of newly appointed deputies brought up the rear guard.
Stenlen swallowed. He should have been anywhere, other than where he stood. Looking down, he noted how his hands shook. He clenched them into fists and inhaled, slow and steady, through his nose. His heart galloped.
I shouldn’t be here.
His gaze darted back to Kargassa’s inert body, stretched out on the slab.
I shouldn’t be here.
Not here.
His breath shuddered as he fought to control the tide of emotions suddenly washing over him. Sten blinked away the moisture threatening his vision and sucked in another steadying breath as Jori and Kymri took up their places at the head of the gathered crowd, facing Kargassa’s outstretched body.
One more breath, as Sten worked through the steps of the ancient ritual he’d had to memorize.
The great oak doors at the mouth of the cavern closed.
The massive space fell eerily quiet as everyone waited in silence; solemn, respectful of the ancient rites.
The burial of a dragon king was a rare event.
Baritone horns filled the silence, shocking Sten’s senses. The dirge rippled through him, disrupting the emotions trapped in his chest. The archaic sound called to their dragon souls, awakening the ancient seat of knowledge deep within them.
Sten’s dragon expanded within him, stretching, making his dragon magic crackle as it met the vibration of the Dragon King’s Dirge.
The horns fell silent. Sten drew a final breath, walking toward Eamerson and Marli.
