Claimed by the Dragon King (High House Draconis Book 5)

by Riley Storm

  But it was for the best that she was gone. Although he’d spoken up, Galen still wasn’t sure of his ability to move on. To accept the past and believe that, somehow, he’d been granted something nobody else had. It was…it made no sense, he knew that.

  “The others are doing the same,” he continued after a moment. “The women and the young. They are being sent to safety. Our species will live on, and it is with you that the responsibility for that exists. I cannot think of a greater honor to bestow upon you. Or four women more capable of ensuring we are not forgotten.”

  “We don’t want it,” Sarah all but snapped.

  Jax pulled her in tight to a hug, shooting Galen an apologetic glance. It wasn’t necessary though. Galen knew the women were just scared, that they were terrified of losing their mates, of being forced to confront everything that would come on their own. Most of them had been prepared to live out long lives while mated.

  When the dragons died, however, that bond would be shattered. The women would live on of course, but only for the rest of their short human lives. They would in, effect, be completely mortal once more. It was a shocking turn of events, so soon after some of them had just begun to accept their new reality.

  “None of us wants this,” he said calmly. “If you think any of us chose this, or are happy about it, then you’ve got another think coming,” he said, forcing a smile on his face for the benefit of those present. “The truth is, the vampires are a bunch of assholes. They don’t want anyone to be happy. Everyone needs to be as miserable as them.”

  He saw a few shoulders bounce at the lame attempt at a joke. It was better than nothing, and honestly more than he’d expected.

  “When do we have to leave?” Olivia asked quietly into the silence that followed.

  “When the attack comes,” Galen said. They’d been over this before, but he knew what the real question she was asking was. How much longer do we have? “It’s not coming tonight though, by the looks of things. My gut tells me it won’t be tomorrow night either.”

  “Why not?” Liz asked, rocking Melina gently while the babe slept, peacefully unaware of everything going on around it.

  Galen envied the child and its blissful ignorance of youth. Better not to have memories of a dark time like this.

  “The night after is the new moon. The least amount of light. It’s also supposed to be dark, overcast and perhaps even stormy,” he explained. “They won’t wait much longer, that much is for sure. Two nights from now, they will attack. I have already begun the preparations.”

  The women nodded, and the men pulled them close. Galen watched his House, his family, marveling at the brilliance of their love burning bright against the shadows that threatened to engulf them all. If there was one thing that would see them through this, one thing that would give them a hope against the darkness, it was that.

  Even as the others held each other close, Galen ached for a certain short-haired, dark gray woman with small eyes, thick cheeks, and eyelashes so long he could get lost in them. He missed Kyla dearly. More than he was willing to admit, to her or perhaps even to himself.

  “Get some sleep,” he said gruffly, turning and departing the room, leaving the mated pairs to enjoy the comforts of one another in peace.

  They didn’t deserve to be focused on him, not at a time like this. What they needed was one another.

  The way he needed her.

  He closed his eyes as he walked, sending his thoughts out through the ether of reality.

  Kyla…

  27

  “Took their sweet time,” she growled as the other Council members finally filed in to the chamber.

  “Play nice,” Loni said from at her side.

  Kyla glared at the younger mage, but there was no heat behind the look. Her angst was borne of the fact that she wasn’t sitting up with the rest of the Council but was instead down at floor level.

  That’s because you called the meeting. Which means you have the floor. Make the most of it.

  Chewing on her lower lip, she turned her back to the Council, who were taking their sweet time getting seated, chatting among one another, and essentially ignoring her. She was used to that, however, and paid it no mind.

  As the youngest person on the Council body, and a woman at that, Kyla received more than her fair share of scorn. Even Magruen, one of the older members and a woman, looked down at Kyla with some scorn.

  They’re old. Stuck in their ways.

  That was why Kyla had called a meeting of the entire Guild. All mages present at the Academy or within easy travel time had been invited to attend. She’d called for it within moments of returning to the Academy, before meeting with the Archmage, before meeting with anyone.

  Yet another reason for the cold shoulder you’re getting. The Council wanted you to report to them. Privately. Now you’ve called a public forum, one that they cannot control, and they aren’t happy about it.

  That was just too bad for the crusty old farts. Kyla needed to get her message out, and she needed to get it out fast, before the Council could try and censor it. And censor it they would, because once Kyla started speaking, she doubted a single one of the geriatrics on the Council would appreciate it.

  “Order.” The Archmage’s voice boomed out over the assembled crowd.

  Kyla noted the numbers and smiled tightly to herself. There were a lot of mages present. More than she’d expected. Many of them were young, in fact the majority of the crowd was, but then again, she’d long since accepted that she was a lightning rod for the younger mages, with her voice of change, of a desire to see things and do things differently.

  That hadn’t been her calling in life, or a desire of hers when she’d first started her ascent, but Kyla had recognized that fate had gifted her with an extraordinary set of powers, and that she should put them to good use.

  If I get the chance to.

  “Council Member Langston. You have called this general meeting of the guild,” the Archmage continued, looking at her, irritation plainly writ on his face.

  He hated feeling powerless, and that was what she’d just done to him by sending out notice before he could do anything about it. She’d trapped him. It was a dangerous play.

  “I have, Archmage.”

  “Why, pray tell, have you brought us all here on such short notice?” he asked.

  Kyla turned, putting her back to one wall so that she could speak equally to the Council, and to the other mages in the semi-circular meeting chamber. Her lips twitched. There had to be hundreds of her supporters present. Many others were there who could go either way, she knew.

  It all comes down to this.

  “I doubt any of you know this,” she said, speaking loudly, not needing any magic to make her voice be heard, unlike the Archmage.

  She saw the old man’s eyes twitch dangerously, a sign he’d recognized her little slight.

  “But recently the Council received information that the shifters—”

  “Council Member Langston, that is classified information,” the Archmage started, rising from his chair.

  “We received information that the shifters, with the dragons in the lead, had formed an alliance,” she continued, ignoring the Archmage.

  Whispers broke out around the chamber. Good, they still didn’t know this.

  “I was sent to investigate,” she said, her voice carrying to the farthest reaches of the chamber, even as the Archmage subsided into angry impotence. He knew that there was little he could do to stop her, and she was going to make the most of that. He wouldn’t dare challenge her, not in so public a domain. Not yet at least.

  “What I found was horrifying,” she said, letting the word echo out over the room. “Worse than we suspected, in fact. But far from what we expected.” This time, she dropped her eyes on the Archmage, watching for any sign that he wasn’t surprised by her admission.

  The elder mage regarded her with a steady, even gaze. Try as she might, Kyla couldn’t pick out any emotions on h
is face.

  “Well, what did you find?” another of the Council members asked. “What was so terrifying?”

  “They aren’t coming after us,” she said. “In fact, we weren’t even on their radar.”

  There was some soft muttering from the assembled crowd, and on a few faces she could see people asking themselves why the shifters would need to unite if they weren’t planning on attacking the mages again.

  “The truth is,” she said after a moment, “That they are preparing to fight another battle. Another war. Against an enemy even older than us.”

  “Older than us?” someone asked. “Who have the dragons even fought before us? Why, the only other war that I know they fought was against the vampires, and that’s…” the mage trailed off as he saw the look on her face.

  “Preposterous?” she said, swinging her arms wide, facing the rest of the Guild members now, turning her back to the Council itself. “That’s what I thought. I doubted them when they told me they had bigger problems. That they didn’t have time to cater to our self-important fantasies that they were uniting to come finish us off once and for all.”

  “You’re saying that they truly are fighting vampires?” The voice came from an unidentified member out in the curved rows of seating.

  “I am,” she said. “I have seen them with my own eyes. I have fought them with my own powers, when they attacked me, without provocation or cause.”

  “Come now,” the Archmage said from behind her. “Everyone knows the vampires are extinct. Councilwoman Langston, if you please, enough with this fairy tale. There is certainly something else going on here.”

  “There isn’t, Archmage. I witnessed it for myself. Who else can manipulate the shadows, calling them to their own will? Anyone?” She directed her challenge to everyone, waiting for an answer.

  None came. Mages could do a lot with magic. But they couldn’t do what vampires could. Neither could shifters. To her knowledge, there wasn’t a single creature, in the human world or the paranormal, that could do what vampires could. She waited for someone to prove her wrong, but even the Archmage could do little but look uncomfortable.

  “So they have come to kill the dragons?” the elderly mage finally asked.

  “No,” she said. “They have come to rule. All shifters. The dragons are refusing to bow before them, and so they are preparing for battle. A final battle.”

  “I thought you said they were coming to rule?” the Archmage said.

  Kyla could sense him getting ready to pounce, as if he’d sensed an opening, somewhere that he could inject himself and resume control of the meeting.

  That was the Archmage in a nutshell, however, always needing to be in control. Kyla knew she was going to have to fight him from here on out, and she wasn’t looking forward to it.

  “They are,” she said, taking a breath to continue.

  “Yet the dragons see nothing but a fight? That sounds like they’re just stirring up trouble with the vampires then. Not something to concern ourselves with.”

  Kyla’s jaw dropped open. “Not concern ourselves with? Not concern ourselves with? Are you listening to what I’ve just said? The vampires are back. Back. Returned. Centuries after we thought they were extinct, they’re back and feeling powerful enough to take on the dragons and any shifters who side with them.”

  The Archmage scoffed, but this time Kyla interrupted him instead.

  “Do you not think this is something we should, I don’t know, be doing something about? Preparing for? Or do you all wish to go back to being their slaves, like we were the last time they held power over this world?” She swept her glare across the Council, lingering on the Archmage, before turning it on the rest of the guild members in attendance, letting them all feel the importance of her words as well.

  “You’re young,” the Archmage said, immediately raising a hand to stifle her outburst. “None of us calls your power into doubt. However, it is unlikely it actually was a vampire. Instead it was likely some sort of demon or Fae that has made its way into this world.”

  The rest of the Council was nodding in agreement.

  Kyla looked at the assembled mages, noting many, many faces who disagreed with those sitting in power. She bit her lip, chewing on her next course of action.

  “So you will do nothing, is that what you are saying?” she asked slowly. “You will say that I’m young, that I don’t know anything. Easily excitable, I’m sure is a phrase you would just love to use right now. All because you’re too comfortable in your Council chairs, and you don’t want to believe that you might have to actually act, to do something!”

  The Archmage slapped his hand down on the table in front of him. The lights in the room dimmed. Kyla turned to face the old man, and with a focus of her power, the lights grew bright again.

  He glared at her, but she just stared him down. His little parlor tricks weren’t going to be enough to intimidate her, that was for sure.

  “You are walking dangerously close to a line you do not want to cross, young lady.”

  Kyla considered her next words. She could either back down, relent, and accept that the Council and the Guild would stay there and do nothing. Or she could go for the nuclear option. There was no in between. Not when time was of the essence the way it was now.

  “No, I don’t think I am,” she said, standing up proudly, facing the entire Council.

  Behind her, the audience gasped. Never had anyone defied the Archmage’s wishes, and she knew that they would all be waiting to hear what she would say next. What was about to happen, they would be thinking, asking their neighbors. Was she going to take it any further?

  “Councilwoman Langston, you are out of line. As Archmage—”

  Ah, fuck it.

  “As Archmage, you are unfit for the current era, and you are endangering mages worldwide with your complete and utter ignorance and prejudice against shifters. The vampires will come for us next, but you are too scared to face it.”

  The room was deathly quiet. Even the Archmage, though he was going red in the face, didn’t seem to know what to do.

  “I was prejudiced too,” she said, turning to face both Council and Guild at once. “But then I spent time among the shifters. I learned about them. I fought vampires side by side with one. I nearly died to them. We must act, now, before they grow stronger.”

  She took a deep breath before uttering her next lines.

  “And if you won’t do it, then we need someone sitting there who will.”

  28

  The room went berserk.

  Kyla stood quietly, staring directly at the Archmage as the rest of the Council and the Guild members leapt to their feet, yelling and shouting. Some were yelling at her, some at each other.

  She had numbers on her side, that much was obvious to Kyla and had been since the meeting started. It felt good, but unfortunately, much of the power of the Guild resided in the hands of the older mages. If she couldn’t convince them that now was the time to fight, then it all might be for naught anyway.

  “I will have silence!” the Archmage all but shrieked, and the lights again dimmed.

  Kyla didn’t fight him. Not this time. It wasn’t worth the energy. She wanted to let him speak now. Everyone had heard what she needed to say, and now it was all up to the Archmage.

  “You certainly seem to have grown fond of the shifters in your limited time there, Mage Langston.”

  “I am a member of the Council, and you will address me with the respect due my position,” she said calmly.

  “We don’t accept traitors on our Council. Or do you deny that you have been seduced by one of them?”

  Kyla stiffened. How could he know? How could he possibly know?

  The look of triumph in the Archmage’s eyes at her reaction told her that it was a guess, nothing more. She’d just confirmed it.

  “No traitors, and certainly no shifter whores,” he spat.

  The crowd inhaled audibly.

  Kyla shook her head. She w
asn’t about to let herself get baited by the old fool.

  “You don’t deny it then,” he cackled. “She has slept with one of them. Spread her legs like a common slut!”

  “You’re an idiot,” she called back. “You are so terrified of what the vampires returning means, that you refuse to even acknowledge it. Your hatred of shifters is over the top and unneeded in this day and age. You are unfit to lead us. I Challenge you.”

  Everyone paused, waiting for the Archmage’s response. A Challenge was formal, it depended on the Archmage to acknowledge it. He could either accept, and the two would duel, or deny it.

  If he denied Kyla’s Challenge, however, he would be forced to step aside, publicly admitting that he did not feel competent to lead. Kyla didn’t expect he would ever do such a thing; it would ruin the arrogant, prideful old man. No, he was going to fight, and he was going to do so on his terms.

  “I accept!” he shouted, lifting his hand.

  Kyla was ready for it though, having expected such a pathetic attempt from him. He was so predictable. Challenges usually took place in practice chambers, but they were not required to. In theory, the mage Challenged could pick when and where the duel would occur.

  Which was why a shield of brilliant jade green blazed to life in front of her as the Archmage’s spell zapped toward her, an angry red line of energy.

  The other mages scrambled for safety, not wanting to be caught in what was sure to be a growing conflagration. Many of the other members of the Council called upon personal wards of protection and stayed where they were, though she saw two of them get up and leave, obviously uninterested in the outcome.

  “Don’t you get it?” she shouted over the crackling sparks as her shield neutralized the attack. “If the shifters fall, we will be the only other paranormal power in the human world. The vampires cannot ignore us, nor what we represent. They will come after us. We must stand together!”

  Her words weren’t for the Archmage, however, but for the others in the Chamber, both on and off the Council. They needed to hear her message. To consider their own options, and be ready to pressure the Council to move in the event she lost.