by J E Mueller
As things came to a close, she dismissed her congregation. Some left immediately after bowing, while a few lingered, begging to approach the throne.
“What can we do to aid you, Mistress?” a few of them asked.
“What do you require of me?”
“Is there anything you desire I may take care of?”
She watched the lot of them with a sly smile on her face. “Thank you all. I am pleased with your continued devotion.”
“Anything for you, Mistress.”
“We are here to do your bidding.”
“We owe you everything, Mistress.”
“Please, allow us to help you.”
Saelnesia rose her hand to silence them. “You do very well. There is much I could use right now.” She slowly stood as she took in her subjects. “I have an experiment I wanted to test but am feeling far too stressed.”
“Let me help you!”
“Anything for you, Mistress.”
“What may we do to aid you?”
“Please, allow me!”
She continued with her wicked smile. “You are all too wonderful. Karmathin, Jacfyr, will you stay with me? In a few nights, I might require the rest of you.”
“As you wish, Mistress.”
“Thank you, Mistress.”
“We will always be here for you.”
She waved those she hadn’t named away. When they were gone she stepped down from her throne and removed her cloak, letting it fall to the floor. “My dears, it has been too long.”
“Far too long, Mistress,” they both agreed, hungry looks on their faces.
She left with both through the side door, not even giving me so much as a passing glance.
While I hated being a captive, twice in such a short time, I had to admit this one currently had far fewer negatives. I was aching, tired, and hungry, but Saelnesia was not trying to manipulate me. She had already seen I could hurt her if she hurt me so I wasn’t worried about abuse anymore, but the lack of food was starting to give me a headache.
When my captor finally returned it was with several guards. This time she was wearing a form-fitting red dress with a slit up the leg. Her back was exposed and I had every guess that it served a dual purpose. It would easily allow her to access her half form as well as show off her figure.
“Now what to do with you?” Saelnesia clicked her tongue after having set her guards where she thought they would best be placed.
“Set me free so you don’t have to worry about it,” I suggested tiredly.
She raised an eyebrow at me. “We both know that would do me no good. I don’t know why you’d bother with such a stupid suggestion.”
“There’s nothing more to suggest, unless you want to discuss the different aspects of scrying and how flames are the least reliable.”
“For you humans, yes. Scrying is heavily unreliable in general. Dragons are more refined and better natured. Magic doesn’t fail us.” She scoffed and turned to the guard stationed closest. “Bind her hands and mouth. I don’t want to hear a word from her.”
“Afraid my words are right?” I snickered as she glared.
“Your words are as flawed as you are.” She took her throne as her guard completed her order.
I wasn’t bothered by the cloth. My magic was steadily returning, the healing within me doing wonders to push all the toxins out. Rescue or not, I would have the power soon to free myself. I just needed the right opportunity to do so.
So I waited. Biding my time, saving my strength and energy. I likely would only get one chance. My small duel with Eastyn had been exhausting and that had been after some real healing. I wasn’t sure how much the dragon magic would actually help me, especially since I had only transformed once—and that had been with help.
Time ticked on. Saelnesia ended up lazing upon the throne, tapping her fingers along the armrests. After seeing her well put together ceremony, this amused me. She was all show and no patience. I hoped she continued playing up her own ego.
Finally, two dozen guards armed with swords entered, followed by Aylum, with a larger group of guards following behind him. Saelnesia straightened and smiled, all too pleased with herself.
“As the flames have shown,” she said in a way of greeting.
Aylum stood several feet away from the throne, blocked from further progression by the guards. “If you choose to follow corruption it will be your death. You have this last chance. Let my Kareia go.”
“No,” Saelnesia said pleasantly. “You are to be mine, or she will die. That is your choice here.”
Aylum took the time to glance around and saw me. “My Kareia.” I was surprised to hear his voice, which must have been obvious. “We have a connection now. Not a strong one yet, but enough.”
He directed his attention back to Saelnesia. “I decline both options.”
Saelnesia was up in an instant. “You have a choice, and that is not one of them!” She began to pace, moving behind her throne. “You must make a choice. Either you can have me as things are now, or you can have me knowing you could have prevented her death.” Saelnesia came to stand behind me, flicking out a dagger. “Decide.”
“I’m not without power, you know. You will lose this.” Aylum kept his voice calm, his fists clenching at his side. “I can sense your magic. Do you think you can transform?”
“I hope I can.” I really hoped so. I began to slowly hoard magic around me, hoping the steady increase wouldn’t raise alarms.
Saelnesia moved to block my view. “The flames show nothing of the sort. You can bluff all you like. Your family wouldn’t have allowed you this far had they come. If we sensed them, we would have left.”
She crossed her arms and began to call her own magic, steadily feeding the flames. The spectacle was already boring me, but an excellent cover.
“And I know no one else? No other friends or guards you may not know?” Aylum laughed at the notion.
“None sensed. Not a one on the horizon. We watch far and well. We know.” Saelnesia radiated confidence, all the while I continued to build my power.
I closed my eyes and tried to tune the two of them out. How did I transform on my own? It wasn’t going to be easy, the magic was so new. The power confusing and somehow right. What exactly had it felt like? It nudged and shoved when the others had sent a wave at me. It hadn’t taken long for it to find the right crack, to course through me. It begged to wrap through my entire being—heart and soul.
That’s what the feeling was. Something deep within, letting the magic bring it out. It wasn’t like casting a spell, it was letting the inner magic be all it could be.
“What?” I heard Saelnesia screech as I felt the magic release, my transformation complete.
I opened my eyes to see her shocked expression as Aylum shoved into a guard, stealing a sword from them. It was hard to move. I was taking up so much room now. Everything was too cramped and I shook to try and be rid of the feeling, knocking Saelnesia over roughly.
The cloaked guards were falling into combat for half a moment before several revealed themselves to be Solea, Edelora, Adyana, and people I hadn’t yet met but who were clearly on our side.
I could feel Saelnesia pulling magic and whacked her hard with my front leg, knocking the wind clear out of her. Aylum removed his jacket, taking his half form and rushing to me to deal with her himself.
She saw him coming and jumped up, only for me to knock her back down. I didn’t need to know how to fight well in this form to be able to cause damage. All I needed to do was exactly what I desired, and that was to shove her around a bit.
There wasn’t a chance for any more, Aylum reached her and pinned her to the ground, his sword piercing through her shoulder. She screamed out with pain and it was surprisingly hard not to instantly heal her. It ate away at me, my stomach churning despite knowing that she would have killed me without a second thought or remorse.
“Make the screaming stop,” I begged.
Aylum didn’t que
stion it and removed the sword, holding her down with his foot. “What should her fate be?”
I stared down at her for the briefest moment before making my decision. The world was better off without her. I nodded at him, giving Aylum just enough time to move before I turned and crushed her with my foot.
I could feel her magic releasing into the universe as bones cracked underneath me, her death far swifter than she likely deserved. There were no regrets.
Epilogue
I opted out of the next several days of the festival. Instead, I spent time healing and playing with Luniria and Nyria while the rest of the family dealt with the fallout.
Aylum was there every moment he could be, and Soleia was hardly away from my side. I was beginning to think I would need to adopt Edelora and Adyana with how frequently I saw them.
I never expected to have sisters, let alone so many so suddenly. It filled me with joy to have a family like this.
“Do you think you feel up to the festival tonight? It’s the last day,” Soleia asked in the early afternoon.
We were sitting out in the garden, enjoying the sun and the rows of colorful flowers. “I don’t know. I imagine there’s little to worry about.” I shrugged. “But I’m still not sure how I feel about it.”
“They wiped away all the cult they could find, did they not?” Edelora asked.
“They did,” I confirmed, a slow smile crossing my face. “Including the woman who was pretending to be my mother all these years. Though they aren’t exactly sure how she died.”
Soleia snorted. “That was me.”
“What?” I hadn’t heard that yet.
“I saw her in the healing chambers when we were posing as normal guards and I might have slipped up and poisoned her.” Soleia shrugged nonchalantly.
I laughed, amused by the karma. I would not miss her an ounce after all the pain she caused me. “Seems her scheming finally caught up with her.”
“Good. What a hateful woman. I’ve heard nothing good about her.” Adyana sighed.
Soleia leaned against me. “You’ll be more than safe if you decide to come. With your track record, they won’t let you near any crowds without extra magical protection.”
“With my track record I’ll need at least that, if not somehow double that.” I chuckled tiredly. “Can we talk about how this came to be the most complicated month when all I wanted to do was just try and get my life in order?”
“Good thing it's settled now.” Edelora laid across our laps. “So, festival tonight?”
“How can you be so sure it’s all done with?” I laughed.
“This last installment of drama solved the random dragon attack,” Adyana pointed out.
“And that gross slob of a what was it called? Oh a Promised, he’s gone too. There’s nothing left of the major issues,” Edelora agreed.
“Just a little schooling left and your happily ever after.” Soleia smiled.
I couldn’t help but laugh hard at her words. “I love how the happily ever after part doesn’t get to start until after school is complete.”
“Nothing happy starts until after lessons are complete.” Soleia sighed dramatically.
“And how are you ladies?” Aylum asked as he joined the group.
“Trapped under a pile of dragons.” I laughed at how I was comfortably surrounded.
“We take our protecting duties very seriously.” Adyana leaned on my other shoulder.
“I’d ask if I had a choice in the matter if I thought I ever would.” I wasn’t bothered.
“May I please steal my fiance back for a while?” Aylum asked, smirking at the group around me.
Adyana and Edelora sighed before getting up. Soleia nudged me. “Thoughts on tonight?”
“I’ll figure it out soon and let you know,” I promised as we stood up together. We had been working hard on how to establish a long-lasting mental link. It wasn’t difficult to connect to, but learning to initiate it over distance was taking some time.
Soleia nodded and stepped back. “We hope to see you later.”
“I’m sure it will be sooner than not.” I waved as they left before turning to Aylum. “And how did things go for you?”
“We haven’t found anyone trying to restart the cult and have heard no word of it. The Ocumu Emelor and his wife Darrolia have both been taken into custody and will be hanging out for a bit, rotting in the dungeons while they await trial.”
“I assume dragon dungeons are much harder to break out of.” I had hoped so anyway.
“Much harder. Plenty of magic and charms that prevent them from transforming.” Aylum shrugged. “It costs too much to maintain everywhere, but for the dungeons, it is obviously worth the expense.”
“I admit I’m almost excited to go back to school and have more mundane problems to focus on.” I sighed.
Aylum wrapped me in a hug before kissing the top of my head. “Things will settle down. I’m sure of it.”
I held him tightly. “I think they will now, too.” I smiled up at him. “Maybe it would be fun to dance some tonight.”
Aylum smiled. “I would love nothing more than to spend the evening and forever with you.”
“That sounds absolutely wonderful.” I stood on tiptoe to kiss him, happy to have exactly the future I wanted ahead.
Bonus Scene
The questions started sooner than I expected. A dragon from Arix? Where did my kin originally hail from? There were no answers, only guesses. My scales were pastel purples, the common coloring of the dragons near the Lake of Serenity.
“Why did I let you talk me into this?” I whined as I paced the small room we had been given. Aylum said nothing as I ran my hands through my hair, spun on my heel, and continued my frantic pacing.
The room was nicely decorated. Fresh wildflowers in pretty, bright shades sat on an end table while the sun tried to break through the curtains I had pulled down. I was terrified of potentially seeing someone. There was no shyness, just awkwardness. Finally, I threw myself on the bed and let out an exasperated sigh.
“It’ll be fine,” Aylum reassured me. “And we both know there is no talking you into something you are not already interested in.”
I grumbled at him for a moment but he was right. The more time I spent with Aylum’s family, the more curious I was about mine.
But there was a difference between knowing and imagining.
In my mind, they could be anything, including perfect, loving, and attentive —qualities the family I was raised with did not have. For all the affection and parenting ‘Father’ attempted to try, it came across more and more half-hearted. Or I had finally started noticing it. No one argued the fact when I brought it up, so that seemed like it might be the case.
“Can we go over again what’s supposed to happen tonight?” I asked.
Aylum chuckled as he walked over and sat next to me. “Of course. You’ll prick your finger, give a little blood to the potion and the mixture will be spread out into several vials. The vial that lights up will be the one that is your family. No one will be directly present. The families who might be connected to you are staying nearby. The correct one will be contacted and you’ll be able to meet them once both sides are ready.”
“What if I’m never ready?” I closed my eyes, the weight of anxiety pressed in, blanketing me with exhaustion.
“If you could face down your fake mother, duel that sleazy excuse of a human, and take down a dragon cultist, I have zero doubt you’ll be ready when the time is right.”
I felt his arm at my side and pulled him to lie down with me. “What if none of them are right?” The words came out whisper soft, a fear I hadn’t admitted aloud before now.
Aylum cuddled alongside me, his warm form pressed against me comfortingly. “Then we try another place. It’s not a hard ritual to repeat. Anyone missing a child would want a shot at an answer.”
It was silent for only a moment before a knock came at the door. Aylum got up, and I followed a step behind him.
Aylum cracked open the door.
“Is she ready?” I heard Soleia ask.
“If I say yes, would you believe me?” I called around him.
Soleia laughed. “It’ll be fine.”
Aylum opened the door more. “I’m sure it will be too.”
At Soleia’s side were Edelora and Adyana, both of whom were keeping a sharp eye on the hall. I didn’t think there was a reason to be concerned, but with my luck, I didn’t blame them. No one knew when exactly we were arriving, the families had been given a week span so as to give time for set up and security. At least that’s what they were told. We had come three days early and I was regretting every moment of it.
It gave me too much time to needlessly worry.
“Well, let’s go.” Soleia gave me a look that screamed she would drag me out if I tried to stall. She was the only person who could get away with it too.
Edelora and Adyana led the way, Soleia falling into step a beat behind Aylum and myself. As we passed the first set of doors, two more guards dressed in official uniforms fell in line behind us.
For the average onlooker, most would look past Soleia and her mates, not realizing they were well trained. Their normal attire helped them blend in, and if I was being honest, I preferred it. It was sometimes a little odd that my best friend was now my primary guard. Durning school, I had expected everyone I knew to end up being stuffy housewives. So much had changed since then, and for the better.
The long halls of the Altocumu’s building were empty of people. Cedralla and her wife Mollria had given any extra staff the week off, only keeping the most essential. No other visitors were here, no additional company staying. The combination of additional security and privacy was something I was grateful for. The quiet had been soothing when we first arrived; now I was certain my rampant heartbeats could be heard echoing down the corridors.
The two hostesses were amazing women. I loved the brief tour of the land that they gave us, and how Cedralla showed me the joy of water landings. They were hard to master, but since she started me on them, I planned on mastering it before we left.
