by Zoey Ellis
"You were already planning this?" Elora asked.
"Yes. My mountain was never going to withstand Yorgynel’s treatment of it forever," Zendyor said. "It was necessary for us to prepare somewhere else when it finally became too dangerous.”
Elora was quiet for a moment. She had no idea this was even happening. "Were any of the staff aware that you were doing this?"
"Some of them," Zendyor said, "but the stewards arranged most of it."
Elora nodded. That may have been why she still hadn’t met some of the stewards.
Zendyor turned to face the window. "Do you like this view? This room will be our chambers.”
Elora stared out at the grey and white landscape once again. Even with everything that happened today, the mountains still looked as peaceful as they always had. "I don't think I could ever get tired of looking at this view," Elora said.
A knock at the door interrupted their reflection.
"Come in," Zendyor called.
It was Marahl. "I'm so glad to see you, my lord," she said, “and that you are safe, Elora. We are trying our best to adjust to this new setting, but it will take some time. Many things were lost in the old lair.”
Zendyor nodded. "I know."
"Your brothers have just arrived."
"Let them in," Zendyor said.
As Marahl left, Elora clung to Zendyor, nervousness stirring in her stomach. "I'm not properly dressed to meet your brothers," she said, nervously.
Zendyor glanced down at her, a smile playing on his lips. "As long as your entire body is covered, you are appropriately dressed," he said, that intensity returning in his eyes. He held her gaze as her stomach began to tingle once again for him. Would she ever get tired of this man?
When the door opened again, four dragorai-alphas strode in. Elora was speechless. They were huge. It was almost as if she was a tiny mouse among giants. She cuddled in closer to Zendyor and he held her firm, secure against him.
"Are you both okay?" the one Zendyor called Tyomar said.
"We are," Zendyor said tersely. "But what were you thinking? You were trying to negotiate with that fucking insane omega."
"Your omega was at risk," Tyomar shot back. "If we could have saved her without her being hurt, that would have been preferred, wouldn't it?"
"I would have preferred to rip her limbs from her body," Zendyor said, hotly. "She dared to attack me, grab my omega, and attempt to kill all my staff. She must wish to be gutted, and forced to eat her own—" The haze of anger began to cloud him, and Elora placed her palm on his chest, looking up at him with a smile.
Zendyor glanced down at her, his rant turning into a long rumble. He took a breath.
“Welcome,” Tyomar said to Elora. “I am Tyomar. Impressive you can calm him like that. I’ve been trying for centuries.”
“Sethorn,” said another one of the brothers. “And this is Khyros, the head of the clan.”
“Welcome,” said Khyros. “We are pleased you are safe.”
Nyro simply nodded at her with a smile.
“Thank you all for helping to get me back,” she said. “It was my fault she caught me.” She glanced at Zendyor, who nodded. “I left Zendyor’s lair and she saw me climbing down the mountain.”
“What?” Tyomar said puzzled. “Why were you climbing down the mountain?”
“It was the only way to get out of his chambers.”
Tyomar stared at her. “The barrier didn’t stop you? The one at the window?”
Elora shook her head. “It let me pass right through.”
“It’s the same with I’mya,” Nyro said. “But it makes sense, the barriers don’t work on dragorai.”
“I still don’t understand why she targeted me specifically,” Zendyor growled.
"She saw you as the biggest threat," Sethorn said thoughtfully. "The one most battle-ready and with the most experience. It would make sense for her to target you and get you out of the way.”
“Then it’s also an insult to the rest of us,” Nyro muttered.
"I want to know how she knew your mountain was weak," Khyros said. "We have been under the impression that the king and queen have not paid much attention to us, or that they are unaware of some of our circumstances in the Forbidden Mountains. But the queen had a lot of information—not only that Zendyor’s mountain was weak but where it was located."
"How the fuck did she get away?" Zendyor asked.
"We were all helping your staff," Nyro pointed out. "We couldn't get them all out and chase her."
"Then we need to go to her immediately," Zendyor said. "This insult cannot stand."
Tyomar gestured to Elora’s neck. "You cannot let that close up," he said grinning.
The other brothers peered at Elora, and at the sight of her claiming bite, they all relaxed, smiling at her and Zendyor.
"Congratulations," Nyro said. "I'mya will be thrilled. She has missed you."
Elora's brows shot up in surprise and delight. She was going to be part of the clan with I'mya. "Thank you," she said. “I’ve missed her a lot. All of the staff, actually. I still can't believe I am…” She glanced up at Zendyor, feeling strange to say it.
“You are,” he insisted.
“Did you see the Goddess again?” Khyros asked.
Before she could answer, Zendyor intervened. "We cannot have a clan meeting right now," he said sternly. "My omega needs to rest and gather her bearings.”
"Of course," Sethorn said. "But I gather from the fact you can understand us that you understand Thrakondarian.”
Elora nodded.
"All right. Let us settle these two in and then we will talk about the queen," Khyros said.
“We can help you furnish this place," Sethorn said. "I have plenty of idle designers who are looking for a new project, and I think this would be a good one for them."
"Yes, me too," Nyro said.
Zendyor looked down at Elora. "Would you like to lead on this?" he asked.
Elora's eyes widened. "Lead on the design of the lair?"
"Yes," Zendyor said. "Every room needs decorating, and each one needs to have a function. Normally I would do it with the stewards, but this is your home too.” He glanced at his brothers. “And we have a lot to plan. Are you interested?"
Elora beamed. "I would love to do that."
"Good," Zendyor said. "I will not allow you to be overworked while you are still recovering from this ordeal, but it is something you work on with the stewards. The rest of the staff will be uncomfortable until some of the decisions are made."
Elora nodded. "Will Marahl help me?"
"You can have anyone you want helping you." Zendyor said.
Elora grinned at him, barely able to contain her excitement. A brand new lair to decorate would be perfect, especially now that she also had to reestablish herself with the staff. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. "I spoke to a member of your staff who said that the lair used to be filled with lots of people, then everyone began to disappear and the staff became overworked. Is that because they were working to prepare this lair?"
"Yes," Zendyor said. "Many of the staff members with manual skills came here to help create the new lair. They have been here for over a year working on all the rooms and making sure all of the water, steam, and heat conduits work efficiently. We had to move them away from the old lair so they could focus all their time on this one."
"Why didn't you tell the rest of the staff?"
"It would be too frightening for them. We didn’t want them to think the mountain was about to collapse at any minute. It would have been too stressful."
"In reality," Tyomar said, "that mountain had at least another five years before it would have been in any serious trouble."
"Which brings us back to how the queen knew," Sethorn said.
Zendyor made a noise in the back of his throat. “Brothers, I am grateful for your presence, but my omega and I need a washroom, some food, and a bed... or a wall. You are welcome to stay, or I will see you a
t the next meeting.”
He strode toward the door while his brothers chuckled and bid them farewell.
Elora poked him in the chest. "Zendyor," she scolded. “That was rude.”
“It wasn’t. I don’t want to have a meeting right now,” he said irritably. “There is a lot to do from all angles, but you are feeling unsettled. That is my priority.”
Elora smiled up at him, closing her eyes and nuzzling her nose into his chest. “Thank you,” she whispered.
12
Organizing and redecorating the lair was a lot harder than Elora thought it was going to be, but it was also so much fun.
She finally met all the stewards and the rest of the staff who had been working in the lair for over a year. They were all extremely excited that their lord was the next to find his mate and congratulated her profusely.
All of the staff from the lair who she’d spent the most time with all claimed they knew it was coming.
"I told you all she was going to be next,” Askel said, pointing at the rest of them. “I should have bet on it.”
Cyndra simply laughed. "I'm just glad you are with us again," she said to Elora. “Those few days when you weren’t around just before the mountain collapsed felt really different."
Pelles agreed. "We thought maybe something happened," he said, glancing at the group. “We were preparing to go and speak to our lord to find out where you were… and maybe see if there was something we could trade or offer for you to stay with us."
Elora was so touched, tears sprung to her eyes. She knew how terrified Pelles was of Zendyor, so the idea that he might question him about her meant that he really was worried.
“I’m not going anywhere, Pelles,” she smiled, blinking away the tears. “Who will I beat at Dao if I do?”
They all laughed at Pelles’ scowl.
Sarai was ecstatic about Elora becoming Zendyor's mate, but she was even happier that she finally located her brother. "He was one of the people who came here to work on the lair," she said excitedly. "That’s why we couldn’t find him before in the lair, when we were trying to help relieve him of some of his workload." They planned to spend more time together as things settled down in the new lair, and Sarai wanted them all to meet him.
Elora grinned, glad that she was able to find and be with her family.
The number of stewards seemed small in comparison to the size of the servants when they were all together, but the four of them insisted that they were able to cope.
"I should have known." Marahl grinned when she first saw Elora after the move. "He was very focused on you and I couldn't figure out why. I feel foolish now that I didn't put it together."
"Don’t worry, you had plenty of other things to be concerned about," Elora pointed out. "You're practically running this lair with only three other people. I don’t know how you do it."
Marahl practically blushed. "Well, I am glad you are organizing this lair with me," she said to Elora. “It would have taken much longer without you, and we really need to settle in as quickly as possible."
Because all the staff were now in one place, they were also much bigger than they had been before so the first thing they had to do was assign quarters.
"We may not have the space for everyone to have individual quarters now," Marahl said, frowning.
"See if anybody wishes to pair up," Elora said. “In fact, suggest it. It will free up some space for other things.”
The next thing was finding Boe a suitable kitchen space. He was unhappy with most of the spaces that they suggested, but finally found one that was big enough for him to have an area to put platters for staff to pop in and try some of his new recipes. Elora also made sure she found and allocated communal spaces for people to spend time in including a dining hall, a Dao room, a singing space, and a story room.
Once the most important places were allocated, the decorating was much simpler. Staff offered their own skills to create furnishings and various items that would be useful for new spaces, and the other dragorai offered the skills of people from their lair to create new rugs, chairs, tables, candle holders, beds and everything else they need. It would take some time before everything was completely furnished, but it was underway.
Elora left the organization of the staff and their duties to the stewards while she focused on ensuring that Yorgynel had a lair that was big enough for him and had space for the things he needed.
The first time he went into the space, she had to encourage him to put his treasure on one side and to eat on the ledge just outside of his den. Once he got used to doing that, he would burn the remains to ash, which would float away in the wind without Elora having to do any cleaning. In the meantime, he was happy with his treasures being in his den with him. Each time Elora visited, he had melted something for her, usually very small items, and very occasionally something large for her to display. She displayed them all around the lair, and particularly their chambers, much to Zendyor's annoyance.
"He never does this for me," Zendyor fumed one evening, when Elora bought yet another gift from Yorgynel.
"Leave him. He hasn't got a mate to treat," Elora pointed out.
"That doesn't mean he should be courting mine," Zendyor bellowed, irritably.
Elora put her hands on her hips. "It's not like you court me with gifts," she said, a twinkle in her eye. “I have to take them where I can get them.”
At that Zendyor roared in annoyance and grabbed for her as she giggled and tried to escape him. Lifting her into his arms, he threw her onto the bed to show her exactly what gifts he had for her.
Within a few short weeks, the lair was feeling more like home—her home. And the staff told her they were much more comfortable here than in the previous lair.
Even Telyssa, who sheepishly waved at Elora the first time she saw her, decided to be more social and she spent the majority of time in the Dao room and the story room.
Of course, most people were worried about the same thing happening in this lair that happened the last one, but she assured them, as Zendyor had assured her, that it took years for a mountain to get to that stage, and with Yorgynel much calmer now, it was unlikely to happen so quickly.
The mountain was not what worried Elora, it was the queen finding out where they were. If she found them once, she could surely find them again, but Zendyor was adamant that it wasn't something she had to worry about.
"First we make sure we are bonded,” he said, “then we focus on your ordination. Then we figure out how to fucking obliterate the king and queen.”
His concern about ensuring she was bonded to him as well as being inducted into the clan outshone everything else. Before they could have a clan meeting, he wanted both of those things completed. She knew from the way he talked about his brothers that they disagreed with holding off the meeting, but he was adamant that he was not going to have her at risk again without being officially recognized as his mate and a Vattoro.
It was endearing that he wanted to display how much she belonged to him and to the clan, but she was just happy to belong.
Elora lay as still as she could, trying not to irritate any of the skin on her body, which was still delicate from her burning. She’d known what it meant to bond with a dragorai, but it had never been something she ever thought she would go through. It hurt like all seven hells. Being enveloped by the naked fire from a dragorai-dragon—the hottest fire there was—flames tearing away at your skin and shriveling your hair to a crisp, didn’t seem to be worth it—but that was before Zendyor. And she still had been apprehensive before it took place, but she needed to do it for her alpha and her dragon. I'mya had told her how deeply the bond connected her with her mate and their dan askha, which would help settle both Zendyor and Yorgynel. But setting herself on fire was another example of the Goddess’s explanation about pain accompanying the good things in life.
She stared up at the ceiling, wishing there was more to do than just lie around waiting for her body to heal, but that was mos
tly what this part of it was about. She was supposed to be contemplating her role in the clan, according to some of the scriptures about the dragorai and the mating process, but Elora had no idea if she would have any kind of serious role. She wasn't like I’mya, who was pretty experienced in gathering data and information about the North Cities, nor was she like Oshali, Tyomar's mate, who she'd heard had been brought up by the Mheyu guardians and had studied the Goddesses, the dragorai, the Twin Realms, practically anyone of importance. In comparison, Elora had little to offer.
Thankfully, before she went out of her mind with boredom, there was a knock at the door. It was Marahl. "You have a visitor."
"Let them in," Elora said. She tried to sit up, but decided against it.
When the door opened, I'mya came through, followed by another young woman she didn't recognize.
"Elora!" I'mya said, rushing to her bedside. She leaned over and gently kissed her forehead. "You can't take more than that right now," I'mya said knowingly. "This is the bit that I really hated."
Elora sighed exasperated. "I hate it too! What are we supposed to do while we heal?”
“That’s why I’m here.” I’mya grinned. “And this is Oshali, Tyomar’s mate.”
“Oh, good day,” Elora said, smiling at her. "I've heard a lot about you."
"And I you." Oshali grinned. "I'mya has told me so much.”
“I’m so excited I’m not the only one anymore,” I’mya said. “The brothers are great, of course, but it’ll be nice to have some women at the clan table.”
Elora made a face. "I don’t think I’ll be at the clan meetings. I'm pleased that I get to be part of this, but I’m not an expert at anything like you two are."
“Um.” Oshali glanced at I’mya before turning back to Elora. “Is it true you met a Goddess?”
Elora laughed gently. "Yes, but that’s not the same—”
Oshali clasped her hands together and squealed. “That’s so exciting!”
“I know that you grew up studying them," Elora said. “And it was exciting at first, but then….” Her voice petered out.
