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I came to a stop where a pair of vents broke the walls near my feet. They opened close to the high ceiling of the council chambers and, if I lay on my belly, which I did, I’d also get something of a view of what went on below.
“So what is the holdup?” demanded the second eldest of the councilors. “We gave her to you some time back, and now you tell us you have not mated her? Why?”
My three dragons were lined up in front of the row of elders. They stood, legs braced apart and hands at their sides, but they did not seem to be answering.
“Speak now, or we will make our own assumptions.”
Jude glanced at the other two then spoke. “We will not share the intimacies of our female with this council. You told us she is our fated, and we go forward on that assumption, building in private what we do not choose to bring outside our home.”
“Are you telling us, you have not so much as managed to bed the lesser? How hard can it be to flip her over and take your turns?”
My jaw dropped. I felt it. These were the ones who had control of our people’s laws? Who were given great power and responsibility? And their solution to relationship building was gang rape?
Nico said, “You may be the council, but you will not suggest violence in our chambers. When we complete the mating, Freya will not be a lesser anymore, but even if she were, what you suggest would be despicable beyond measure. I think this meeting is over.”
“Do you?” The eldest, who almost never even came fully awake anymore rasped out, “If you take much longer, we shall remove her from your care and find others who can do what needs to be done.”
Before anyone could say anything else, the chamber rocked with an earthquake, the biggest so far. Furniture tumbled over and the oldsters clung to one another and to their assistants to keep upright.
“Freya!” Soren called. “She is all alone.”
They ran for the door and I shoved to my feet and ran for home, wanting to get there before I was found out. I had a great deal to think about, and I hoped to make it into my room before they returned.
I exited the tunnel near our main hallway and managed to get inside before the others arrived, but I was a sweaty mess. They found me standing in the middle of the living area, looking at the completely undisturbed furnishings and decorative items. That quake should have shaken the whole mountain, but it hadn’t. Or at least not enough to cause damage here.
How?
Chapter Eleven
I made it to the apartments just in time. The entire place was shaking, but this was so much more than the quaking I’d experienced before. The entire place shook but the shaking seemed to come from below me instead of all around me. I braced myself in what I figured was the strongest part of our home, right by the door. The area by the door was rounded and surrounded by thick rock from the mountain.
I crouched on the floor, awaiting my mates, or would-be mates, thinking about what the council had said. I heard what Nico said. He would not tolerate violence in our chambers.
At least, that was reassuring.
But there had been something deeper in his tone, something I wondered if the others had picked up on. His sincerity was so palpable that I swore it reverberated in my chest. No violence in their chamber.
His scars came to mind. Had there been violence against him at one time? Was that his past he so fervently spoke against in the council’s presence?
I had heard it said that hurt people, hurt people but, in my experience, that was the furthest thing from the truth. Hurt people made sure they were never hurt again, and they never wanted to hurt anyone else, never wanted to see others in pain like they were.
I was sure after mulling it over that Nico was one of those people. Hurt but would never be the pain inflictor.
One day, maybe he would share that story with me.
His walls were to protect himself. It became my mission, even with the mountain warring beneath me and all around me, that I would be his defender and would die before I ever hurt him.
Despite his gruff interior, I would bet my life he had the softest heart of them all.
I vowed to be the one to help him heal.
That was, if I lived through this earthquake.
“Freya!” I heard Jude scream as all three of them came into the apartments. Nico scooped me up in his arms and sprinted to the bathroom while the others followed. I realized, as we went through his bedroom, that he was taking me tohisbathroom. It was all black marble with streaks of white through it that looked like lightning. The three of them huddled together, hovering over me like an umbrella and pod of protection.
I’d never felt safer in my life.
That was, until the quaking changed. Instead of shaking the entire mountain, the quake seemed to focus. It moved more and more, but in little tremors instead of broad strokes.
