by Riley Storm
Kyla’s face went dark, her eyelids closing to slits. “We were their slaves,” she said, biting the words off. “We don’t study the ancient texts much. Our lifespans are shorter. That was a long, long time ago for us.”
“Not so long ago for us,” Galen rumbled. “Not so long ago.”
She nodded, looking out the front gate again. Galen let her have her thoughts, wondering if he’d managed to convince her of the magnitude of the threat. The mages would be better off going to ground, scattering and blending in with the rest of humanity. That way, they would stand a chance of surviving.
It’s our fault they aren’t strong enough to fight back either, he thought. Our fault they’re limited in their powers and knowledge.
After the final battle of the shifter-mage war in 1912, the two sides had signed the Novarupta Accords. It detailed the mages’ surrender and the destruction of all texts that taught the most powerful spells, the deadly blue magic.
Some would have survived, the dragons weren’t stupid. But they had included a provision in the accords that said casting blue magic was a death sentence. Each shifter House had spent the following years creating and training an anti-mage squad, whose members would go out and hunt rogue mages who defied the Accords.
They were very, very good at their jobs.
Now few of the mages alive today would know how to cast such spells. Spells that would be necessary if the mages were to have any chance to hold off the vampires. And it was the fault of the dragons that they didn’t have them.
“Assuming I believe you,” Kyla said. “Which I sort of do. Despite your complete and total lack of evidence, the picture you paint is bleak.”
He nodded. She wasn’t wrong.
“Do you and your brothers have any hope of beating the vampires? What are the odds you can win? Because, based on what you’ve told me, it doesn’t seem like you have much of a chance.” Kyla winced as she spoke, but followed it up with a shrug. She wasn’t taunting him, but speaking what she felt was the truth.
“No,” Galen answered, the weight of his answer resting heavily on his shoulders.
His brothers had used the magic to awaken him, hoping that he would be the leader they needed to win the coming battle. To help them and their species survive the rule of the dragons. Yet here he was, admitting to a mage he barely knew, that he expected them all to die.
“Still,” he said, anger at himself and at the hopelessness of the situation bleeding through. “We can’t stand around and do nothing. We have to make a stand. To fight.”
“You might die,” Kyla pointed out carefully.
“And so we might,” he growled. “But better to die fighting for freedom, than to bow down to the likes of them.”
Kyla took a step back, lifting her eyebrows. “So you won’t bow down to the vampires, but you have no problem making others bow down to you? That seems a bit hypocritical, don’t you think?”
Galen blinked. “What are you talking about?”
“The other shifter Houses,” she said. “The reason I came here. You’ve forced them under your heel, making them come fight for you.”
Staring incredulously, Galen searched for his voice, too stunned by the accusation to immediately respond.
Kyla expelled some air through her nose loudly. “Unbelievable.”
“Is that what you’ve heard?” he finally managed to say. “That we’ve heavy-handedly forced the other Houses to come to our aid? Are you serious?”
“What then, if not that?” she challenged.
“An alliance. Of equals,” he said, spreading his hands wide. “We are, all of us, threatened by the vampires. They attacked the Shifter Court,” he explained. “Or did your “intelligence” fail to notify you of that? The dragons are the focus for the moment, because we are the strongest. But the others know that if we fall, so do they. And none of us will willingly submit. So we work together. As partners.”
Kyla looked down in what he hoped was shame, for believing such nonsense.
Galen rolled his eyes. “Now go,” he said darkly. “The five of us have much work to do before the attack comes.”
He spun and headed back to the Keep. Turning his back on the mage was a calculated risk, but one that he was willing to take. The faster Kyla was gone, the faster he could be rid of a reminder of his moment of weakness.
He already had the memory of kissing her, of the heat he’d felt from her body as she ground her hips against him, and the way he’d responded. That was enough to plague him with guilt. Keeping her around, where it was a constant fight to focus his eyes on her body and not the rest of her, was more than he felt like enduring.
Things were already dark enough. He didn’t need Kyla adding to his grief.
12
Kyla watched the proud dragon walk away, her eyes darting between him and the path back to the Keep, and the gates and the way back to the Guild.
Though he had shown her no evidence, and she still retained some doubt over the truth of his statements, she no longer feared that the dragons were trying to come after her people. That just wasn’t Galen, and those weren’t the actions he would take as King.
Which likely means that he’s telling the truth about the vampires, though I don’t know if the threat is as big as he presents. He could be exaggerating.
Yet he’d told her himself, the magic wasn’t working to awaken the rest of his brothers.
Magic.
She sighed, rubbing her hands over her face. What she was thinking…if the Council found out, she would be in a lot of shit. A lot. Stripped of her position at a minimum, most likely. Possibly worse.
Yet if Galen was telling the truth, if the vampires really were such a huge threat, then could she just stand idly by?
The Archmage and the Council would say yes. Let the dragons handle their own problems. The Mages will be fine, they would say, she was sure of it. The threat isn’t that big. We don’t need to help our enemies grow stronger, is what they’d tell her, just before they likely executed her.
So why the heck are you considering helping them out anyway?
“Do your duty,” the Archmage had said to her. “As you best see fit.”
She pondered this for a moment. If the vampires were real, then she could say that, by offering her help, she was ensuring the dragons would deal with the threat and take the brunt of the fight, instead of the mages. So she’d done it to further insulate the Guild from threat. It was a flimsy defense, but she could justify it. Hopefully.
“Galen,” she called at the retreating dragon’s back. “Wait.”
He paused, running a hand through his hair as he waited for her to catch up to him.
“You’ve tried to awaken the rest of the dragons?” she asked, putting the gate at her back and continuing to walk back toward Drakon Keep.
What I wouldn’t give to be able to just open a portal back. So much walking!
“Yes,” he said, biting the word off.
She stared at him, not impressed with his attitude toward her question.
“Why do you want to know?” he asked with a sigh.
“Like you said,” she explained. “If you shifters lose, then we can expect to have trouble as well.” She looked skyward. “This goes against everything I was told. I was to stay neutral, to not get involved in anything.”
“I’m sure that’s all you were told,” Galen grumbled. “I’m sure your vaunted Archmage didn’t make any comment whatsoever about you striking at us if the opportunity presented itself.”
“The Archmage isn’t here right now,” she snapped. “I am, and I’m offering you my help.”
Galen lifted his eyebrows in silent question.
“If you’re telling the truth. If the vampires are real. Then the stakes are high. Higher than they’ve been since the last days of the war between our kinds.” She looked up into the bright blue morning sky, noting the line of gray clouds moving in.
“And your point is?” Galen pressed.
“My
point is, that I can’t stay neutral. Not if I have the chance to help,” she said, wondering if this was the best course of action after all.
“Help? How could one mage help us? You’re strong, very strong. But you’re just one. Besides, I’m not sure your Council would approve of this.”
Kyla smiled tightly. “The Council is operating on flawed logic. You know this as much as I do now. They think you’ve brought all the other Houses under your command. That you are ruling them all now, getting ready to strike at the mages.”
Galen sighed. “How many times do I have to tell you? Even if the vampires weren’t a threat, as long as you don’t break the Accords or cause us trouble, we don’t care. War isn’t something we want, nor are we looking forward to it, Kyla. We just want peace. To find our mates, to raise our young, and maybe, just maybe, gather a big pile of gold.”
She couldn’t help but smile at that last. “A dragon sure does love his treasure,” she said, and Galen nodded along with her. “But there won’t be any more treasure if the vampires win. And you need all the help you can get.”
The dragon king went still at her reminder.
“What are you suggesting then?” he asked, now more curious than anything.
“You told me that the magic didn’t work,” she said slowly. “That it didn’t awaken the other dragons the way you wanted.”
Galen nodded slowly. “Yes. It’s…more complicated than that, but that is the gist of it, yes. Only the five of us are awake. The artifact, it didn’t awaken the rest like we were told it would, in times of need.”
Kyla steeled herself for his outburst. “Let me try.”
His mouth dropped wide open. “What?”
She scratched at the back of her neck, trying to shrug off the shiver that had run down her spine at the look he’d given her. “I know, I know. It’s crazy. Absolutely crazy. I saw how you reacted to me just being in there, but think about it, Galen.”
The dragon king seemed ready to pick her up and throw her over the gates at the mere suggestion. So why was she continuing to argue her side, to try and convince him? What was pushing her to want to help him and his brothers?
“How could you help?” he asked disdainfully. “You don’t know anything about it.”
Kyla crossed her arms and just stared at Galen, waiting for him to realize the level of disrespect he’d just given her.
“What?” he snapped after a moment.
“Tell me then, Galen Drakon, King of House Draconis. What do you know about the process of reanimating a stone dragon?” she challenged.
Galen opened his mouth to respond immediately, then clamped it shut, a small crease in his forehead the only sign that he was thinking her words over.
“You said there was an artifact that awakens them, is this correct?”
He nodded. “I shouldn’t have told you that.”
“Too late, cat’s out of the bag now,” she said, waving it off. “You know how to use it, that much is obvious since some of you are awake. But tell me, do you know how it works? Do you know what actually happens?”
Galen shook his head bitterly. “No,” he admitted after a moment. “Just how to use it. But you don’t know anything about it either,” he pointed out.
“No, but there’s one thing I know better than you,” she said. “Magic.”
She held up a hand as Galen started to speak again.
“You dragons, you can use magic. Naturally. You just do it,” she said. “At least according to our texts. But we study it. We learn it, we experiment with it. I could never match your mastery of the wind, Galen, but I would argue that you cannot come close to my knowledge of magic and how it works.”
The big dragon shifter closed his mouth and looked over her head. She let him think in silence, knowing that right now wasn’t the proper time to interrupt him. He needed to accept her offer of help, and she couldn’t force him into it.
This is crazy, she thought to herself as the implications of it all settled in. So why does it feel so right, helping the dragons?
But it wasn’t the dragons that she felt right helping, Kyla realized even as she thought it. No, it was one dragon in particular. One big, proud, well-endowed king of all dragons. That was who she wanted to help. Who she wanted to stay around.
“Tell me,” she said quietly once their eyes met again. “What do you have to lose?”
13
“This is a bad idea,” Victor growled. “Letting a mage discover our most sacred of places, and touch the artifact. What if she breaks it?”
Galen could sense the assembled irritation from the others, and he knew that his choice didn’t sit well with them. It was also the first time he had made a decision as King without their input, and he realized it might be his last. If he was wrong about Kyla…
He wasn’t, though Galen wasn’t sure how he knew.
“The decision is made,” he said, cutting off further protest.
Nor did he bother to tell them that Kyla had been down in the cavern before. They didn’t need to know that, just as they didn’t need to know what had occurred in the chamber above, where Kyla and he had battled.
You did more than just battle the mage.
Galen shoved that thought from his mind. Each time he relived that memory, he was filled with guilt, with anger at himself for being weak. For so long he had been strong, and it irked him to know he’d fallen under her spell, even if just for a few moments.
I am stronger than that.
“Have you considered all the outcomes of this?” Aaric said, standing off to the left, arms crossed unhappily. “What she might be able to do with the knowledge you’ve given her?”
Galen shot his defacto second-in-command a look. “What do you mean?”
“She’s examining the artifact,” Aaric said bluntly, pointing to where Kyla stood in the very center of the cavern, holding the black box in her hands. “What if she learns how it works, how the spell works? What if she can do something with it?”
“Like wake up the rest of our kin?” Valla countered.
The other four dragons turned to look at him. Galen was surprised the youngest had spoken up in challenge the way he had, though he wasn’t disappointed. Valla was slowly finding his voice among the others, and Galen liked who the young dragon was becoming. He would make a fine choice to replace him as King one day.
If we survive that long.
“I’m not comfortable with this either,” Valla said to the curious looks directed his way. “But we have to consider the fact that the five of us, we aren’t enough. We all fought the elder vampire. Honorius is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. He held us all off like it was nothing. A casual display of his powers in the middle of the day.” Valla pointed at Kyla. “We need all the help we can get, and if she can awaken even one more dragon, it increases our chances.”
Aaric shook his head. “What if she’s not on our side, like she says? Consider that outcome, brothers. With the artifact in hand, she could learn the spell.”
“And then what, never use it?” Valla snorted. “That seems pointless.”
“Or she could reverse it,” Aaric said. “She could put us all back to sleep.”
The others stiffened in alarm at this proclamation. Galen did not, for two reasons.
First, he trusted Kyla, though given that he couldn’t identify why, he would not be able to convince the others that she wasn’t here to hurt or betray them. But it was his second point that trumped the others anyway.
“And what if she does?” he said with a shrug, not particularly caring. “She could send us to sleep and bury us here. Maybe. I don’t know. But how is that all that different than going out and dying to the vampires? The overall result to the rest of the world is the exact same.”
“He’s right,” Victor said. “I don’t like it, but he’s right. We’re in a hopeless situation right now, my brothers.”
Galen nodded, appreciative of the support from a once critical voice. He didn’t need them to
like his decision. Just respect it.
“We need any advantage we can get,” he said quietly. “No matter how crazy or far-fetched it sounds. Anything that might help us win the day. Otherwise, nothing we do will matter. This is the fight of our lives, brothers. More so, I daresay, then even the last battles against the mages. Because if we die this time, then the blackness of the vampires will spread across the world, and all of humanity will suffer. We must take chances. For them.”
The other dragons hung their heads, absorbing his words. Galen let them think, let them reflect on everything that they had to lose. These were desperate times, and the dragons must be willing to take desperate measures.
Not just for themselves, but for his four brothers at least, for their mates, and their babies. He hated forcing them to think that way, hated the despair that it brought over his House, but Galen could see no other way.
They must be willing to risk everything to protect those that they held dear.
Leaving them to their thoughts, he walked across the cavern floor to where Kyla was now sitting, eyes closed while turning the box over and over in her hands. He couldn’t imagine what she might be seeing behind those eyelids, but she didn’t seem to have given up yet. That alone was progress, he hoped.
“This is amazing,” she said softly. “It’s magic, and yet…and yet there’s more to it. Almost like it’s…programmed. Like a computer.”
Galen frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean like, think of magic that could be designed by someone behind a keyboard. It feels manufactured. Like someone designed the magic with the aid of a machine. I don’t know how to explain it,” she said excitedly. “But I’ve never felt anything like it. Where did you say you got the artifact from?”
Galen shrugged. Then, realizing she couldn’t see him, he responded. “I don’t know. It’s been in our possession for as long as I’m aware. Many of our leaders used it to leapfrog through the down years of our conflict with you, going to sleep and awakening when they were needed. But I’m not aware that anyone knows the truth behind it. The origins of our people are…murky.”
