by K. E. Young
When I had finished I found that Mero had wandered out to the sitting room and was talking to Dantalion and Koris. I joined them and collected a long stare from Dantalion.
"Well, The court does it's best to ignore us when we join them for dinner, but I think they will have a very hard time ignoring you. You look exotic and very wealthy."
"Ah. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
He shrugged. "We shall see. For people so strict about politeness and protocol, they can be incredibly rude sometimes. Is this the infamous dress that would have caused a riot?"
"No. That one was a sheer fabric and the blouse I wore with it cut off just below the breasts leaving rather more of my middle bare."
Dantalion looked at my midsection for a second then grinned wryly and said, "Ah well, I can understand the riot thing now. Mero's right, it would have been a problem. You'll garner a huge amount of attention as it is, but it shouldn't become a riot. Your new status as a dragonlord affords you protection you wouldn't have had before."
Wonderful. "What should I expect from these people?"
He snorted. "Rudeness. To the men, a woman is ornamental and should be grateful for his attention, to the women you're competition and you're better than they are in every way. Envy isn't pretty."
I sighed. High school politics in a venue with assassins. Yay. "Ah well. I had hoped. Will you be there?"
Dantalion's grin was sympathetic. "I'm sorry, but no. I just wanted to express my support and see how you were. You collapsed rather quickly this afternoon."
I nodded. "Mero says it happens that way the first time."
"It does, but in my admittedly limited experience, it normally doesn't hit that fast or that hard. It worried me."
"I have been rather busy the last few days. I haven't even been in Vallen a full week yet. There was grandmother's funeral, which was exhausting in its own way, followed by coming through the portal, being beaten by Karthim, and the ensuing battle. I did get some time to rest on the boat trip here, but then I've had to absorb a lot of information, the arms testing, my magic test yesterday, last night's party, then not being able to sleep, the bond showing up, and now all this. You must admit, it's a lot to deal with."
"Ah, Mero hadn't mentioned those last parts. So how are your magic lessons going?"
"Hanat thinks that not only is she powerful but talented as well. He says he's never seen a smooth flow releasing into the earth on the second try."
Crap. Hanat blabbed. If the lords were the threat Sebas implied, it might have been better to keep that part quiet.
"God's above and below, I took a dozen tries just to do it, it was a week before I could do it smoothly!"
I snorted. "It's just a fluke. During my lesson today, the best I could do was a flow that felt more like curdled milk."
Mero ran a hand down my arm. "You still did very well though. We must arrange time for you with Magiri. It's probable you're an earth dragon and he's the only other earth dragon here who can teach you the special skills that come to them. Oh, demon spit!"
The dismay on his face would have been comic if it hadn't matched the feelings I got through the bond. "What is it? You look like someone just told you you'll be dining with the court permanently."
He gave an exasperated huff. "No, I just realized that when my uncle learns that I'm mated to the first female dragonkin in hundreds of years and that she's royal blood, he's going to visit."
Dantalion's smile vanished and he looked disturbed. "Maybe I can go back to hunting bandits on the border for a couple weeks."
Mero looked sharply at Dantalion, anger flickering in the bond. "Don't you dare abandon Kendra and me! I'll hunt you down and bring you back if you try. Meanwhile, it's time for dinner. I would prefer being tortured by Karthim, but Geran's orders must be obeyed."
Dantalion solemnly declared. "I will celebrate in your stead, my friend. We'll get together afterward for a drink or two." He kissed my cheek and wandered out.
I contemplated Mero's troubled expression. "What is the problem with your uncle visiting?"
Mero's expression was grim. "It's not so much my uncle, although he's bad enough… it's his wife. After my father died, he married my mother."
My mind skated over the stories he had told me. "The one with the tacky promise bracelet?"
A smile teased the corners of his mouth. "The very one."
There had to be more to it because I could feel him holding back. This bond thing was coming in handy. "Is that the only problem?"
He paused, reticent. He really didn't want to answer. I wouldn't let him chicken out though. I was a stubborn bitch. Evidently, he realized that not answering wasn't an option. "You should know that she has tried to crawl into my bed every time she's visited here. Uncle knows she does it but hasn't seen fit to put a stop to it." A great deal of anger accompanied this last bit.
Geran's fears about Mero's inner darkness came to mind. I doubt he knew about this. In fact, I doubt that anyone outside Mero's immediate family knew about this. That was troubling. It made me wonder if there was more to his throwing her out than he had mentioned. What else was wrong with her?
"Mero, what she did was not right, but it's not your fault. In my old world, people went to prison for stuff like that and they often died there because the other prisoners see it as evil. Which says something about that kind of crime, doesn't it? Killing a man in cold blood is considered cleaner, somehow more understandable than this. How could she do such a thing to her own son? It's a profound violation of trust."
Mero shook his head, as baffled as I was and still angry. "I don't know. Every woman has the right to share herself with others, but that normally stops when they marry just as it does for a man. She didn't. She showed no restraint at all. It's why my father would have declared me a bastard if I hadn't looked so much like him. But me? Such urges are wrong and I do not understand how she can have them."
"There's no chance your uncle could have sired you?"
He snorted. "No. Uncle is sterile, a training accident as a youth. He tried to shrug it off at the time since there were no outward signs of damage. By the time he got to the healers, it was too late. There was too much scarring."
"So how could your father not know she was capable of all this when he bonded to her?" I could feel Mero through the bond. I knew his feelings and attitudes. What had Mero's dad felt?
Mero wiped his face as if trying to wipe away bad memories. "The bonding failed. It was a political marriage and my father's dragon was ambivalent at best so they decided not to push the matter."
It sounded as if the marriage was ill-fated from the start. What kind of effect would a person like that have in a leadership role in the clan? "So, how much power does she have in the clan?"
Mero was calmer. From the complex lattice of feeling I received through the bond, I think he was grateful I hadn't rejected him. "Very little. Clan matters are decided by the clan lord, not his mate. She only holds sway over those members who are part of her own family line. In practical terms, that means just my sister. Of course, if I were to resign my post here and return to Drakken I would take up the title again and it wouldn't matter. I disowned her so she gets no power or influence from me. The woman is a snake."
I didn't care if she was his mother, she would keep her hands to herself or suffer the consequences. Mero was mine, an opinion my dragon shared. "Well if she tries it again, I'll chop her hands off and make a pair of boots out of her hide." It was a phrase I had heard used by one of the warriors and it fit my mood. I decided I liked it.
Mero laughed. "Now that I would like to see." He leaned down and kissed me. "We have to go. Geran will have my hide for boots if we're late."
I smiled. "You would make beautiful boots but I would rather he didn't. You could always say it's my fault. Women are infamous for taking too much time to get ready in my old world. I can't imagine it's different here." Mero laughed again as we made our way to the door. "Did you ask Anis what she's heard ab
out me from the servants on the court side?"
Koris snorted and Mero cackled. "Oh yes! They were very confused indeed over there. Evidently, the whole idea of a female warrior was just too much for them. They decided I must have fought a male warrior. I couldn't possibly have lost to a female. They somehow decided the real story was that you came from Drakken with a warrior guard. You must have ordered this warrior to fight me, and he won. They believed the fact I lost would have turned me against you. Therefore, you were no threat to them at all."
I stopped dead in astonishment. "You have got to be joking! They totally rewrote the facts because they didn't like them?"
Mero's eyes were merry. "My love, I don't believe it's a dislike of the facts. I think it's an honest inability to comprehend."
Huh? "But there are already female warriors here. Tani is one."
Mero's expression twisted in amused bafflement. "I'm coming to the belief they just don't see them. In their eyes, those warriors are not women, not female, but slender men."
Wow. That takes the ostrich defense excessively far. "This place needs more help than I thought."
✽ ✽ ✽
The court's dining hall shared a wall with the dragonlords' dining hall and was more ornate and formal than the one with which I was familiar. Mero and I entered side by side with Koris acting as a crutch.
Geran already sat at the center of the high table. To his right was an elderly man with too much jewelry and to his left was a gentleman who clearly wasn't happy that he wasn't the center of attention. I suppose you could call him handsome except that his expression was overly arrogant. He was in the middle of verbally ripping a servant to shreds. I hoped I was to sit next to the old guy.
A greying man with too much about the middle and a pout twisting his mouth met us. I didn't even know who he was yet and I didn't like him. "Ah, Lord Cassettis, you will sit to the right of Lord Sandish. Don't forget, he's deaf in his right ear so you must speak up. Lady Kendra, you will sit to the left of Lord Nurian."
Mero had been right about this, and now he would learn that I hadn't been kidding. "No."
Mr. Prissy-pants looked shocked. "Excuse me?" The poor man looked as if a chair had taken on animate life and attacked him.
I was determined. My rules. "No. I will sit next to my Chosen or I'll eat in the Dragonlord's dining hall. I don't care what Geran says." Mero smiled gently at me while Koris tried, with little success, to smother a grin. I wasn't about to let these arrogant assholes treat me as if I didn't matter.
"But…"
"No buts. Next to Mero or I walk away. Decide." Koris' wasn't suppressing his grin anymore and while Mero's smile was distinctly Zen-like, his eyes sparkled merrily. I looked back towards Geran to see that he too had a Zen smile and I realized that he knew what was happening and approved my tactics.
Prissy-pants looked like he was chewing lemons. He wasn't taking me seriously. "Lady Kendra, protocol…"
I interrupted. "Let me make this perfectly clear, and I'll use small words so you can understand. I am aware that the court thinks women should be silent, decorative, doormats. Property. However, you need to remember that I am not one of your court ladies. I am a warrior, a dragon, citizen of a land that determines rank by ability, not sex, and I grew up in a culture that asks 'what have you done of worth lately'. Where I come from, you do not rest on your honors, but strive to be more. You have never met anyone like me and I will eat you for breakfast if you cross me." My tone left no doubt that I thought he was a worm I could easily squish underfoot.
I took a firm step forward, forcing him to back up. "If you think for even a moment you or anyone else here besides Geran and Mero have power over me, I will be most willing to prove to you how wrong you are. Now. I will sit beside my chosen, regardless of protocol, or I will go elsewhere and let you explain to Geran what happened. I suggest you stop wasting time though, the High-Lord won't wait forever."
Mr. Prissy-pants looked flustered and vaguely panicked. "I see. Could you wait for just a moment? It seems we are not quite ready for you." He rushed off to the high table and whispered urgently with the arrogant lord to Geran's left. Nurian I presumed.
Mero still held his Zen smile as he turned to me. "I wonder if they've realized that Geran can hear every word they say no matter how quiet they are. I'm interested to see whether they seat you to Geran's left or his right. The left would confer more honor to you and is your right given the purpose of the banquet, but, as we spoke of earlier, they can't let power go, even if it isn't theirs anymore."
I smiled up at him. "I don't know why you dreaded this so much, so far this is fun."
Mero and Koris both chuckled. "So far this is far from typical."
"Well, as Uncle Todd used to say 'If you don't like the game with the rules you are given, then change the rules.' Uncle Todd was a wise man and I listened well."
Mero leaned down and brushed a kiss over my lips. "The court doesn't realize that they have mistaken a zithel for a mouse."
If I'd had dimples, they would be showing. "I don't know what a zithel is, but I'll take that as a compliment."
Just then, there was a ruckus at the high table. When I looked over, Geran was standing with a grim expression, Lord Nurian looked offended, and the one I dubbed Mr. Prissy-pants was horrified. I wondered just what Geran had said.
"Looks like they just found the zithel," Koris said with a satisfied expression. Geran forestalled Mero's response by waving us over to the high table.
When we ascended the dais, Geran smiled and held out the center seat. "Kendra, you sit here. I will be to your left with Lord Nurian to my left. Mero will be to your right with Lord Sandish to his right. Do you find that acceptable?"
I smiled and curtseyed. "I am at your command, my lord." Only the twinkle in his eye gave away Geran's high humor. I seated myself and Geran pushed in my chair then seated himself. Koris helped Mero to his seat before being shooed away with orders to go enjoy the celebration in the dragon lord's dining hall.
Lord Nurian looked furious and the court was abuzz with whispering. Geran leaned over and did a little whispering of his own. "Thank you for that, I've wanted to stomp on Faldin since I first met him and I rather like having to cut Nurian down. He's rather conceited."
Sebas' warnings came to mind. "Unless I miss my guess, there's more to it than that. Is he by any chance related to the old king that the Arboren replaced, my lord?"
Geran's sharp look told me he realized the significance of the question. "An excellent guess. He's descended from a collateral line. If we weren't here, there's a good chance he would be king."
Not good. "Which makes him dangerous, my lord. I would think you would want him cut down more than a little."
Geran looked grave. "Your logic?"
I shook my head. I didn't want to talk about it where they might overhear. "Perhaps now isn't the time to get into my views on power and privilege. Later?"
Geran's eyes flitted over the court. "Yes." Everyone had taken a seat and the servants were pouring the wine. I took a small sip and found that it was too sweet for my tastes. I waved the servant back and asked for a glass of water.
Geran stood and addressed the court. "May I have your attention?" He paused a moment to allow the noise to die down. "We are here to acknowledge a singular occasion. It has been over two hundred years since Drakken has seen a female dragonlord. It has been even longer since it has seen a dragonlord such as this."
I wasn't sure I liked the sound of that. Mero must have felt my uneasiness because a wave of reassurance came from him. I reached out and ran my hand along the velvet covering his thigh.
"In the past thirty years, we Drakkeni have regained some of the history we lost during the Mad King's reign. Much of our history is still missing, but we persevere in searching for those missing pieces because we have learned the painful lesson that the past teaches us about the future. Four thousand years ago, the Aria Atlani came to this world accompanied by our dragon companions, r
efugees in a war between gods. As a favor to his sister, your god gave us sanctuary. He gave us a home and we have always been grateful for his favor."
He took a sip of wine to wet his throat before continuing. "In our first fight against the Arboren, our enemy targeted the dragons. They did this because dragons were immune to the abilities of their pet demons."
He gave tight smile. "Among dragons, it was the female that was larger, stronger, and fiercer. She was the protector and defender while the male was the den builder and caretaker. Because of this, the Arboren killed the females first. Rather than lose the dragons forever, the Goddess joined them to their human partners. Thus the Drakkeni were born.
"We are children of this world just as you are, for it was here that we became what we are. Here. In this place. The site where we built the temple. Where Vall built his palace."
A wave of whispers swept through the room. From their expressions, I don't think they knew the dragonlords had a historic claim to this place. One that predated all of their noble bloodlines.
"Lady Kendra has already proven herself a true dragonborn, beating one of our fiercest fighters, Lord Cassettis, in hand-to-hand combat. It was the first time anyone has forced him to yield since he gained his full growth. She has won the heart and soul of a dragon I thought would be forever alone. She also plays a mean game of Hamsat." He flashed a grin at me. "However, it is not her skill as a warrior we are here to celebrate, but the ascension of a new dragonlord, a special dragonlord."
He looked down at me, his expression unreadable, then turned back to address the room. "As you may know, common dragonkin bear a single color, dragonlords bear two, and royal dragons such as myself bear three. Lady Kendra's colors are green, gold, red, and sable brown. Four colors. Lady Kendra has brought back a bloodline lost two thousand years ago. She has brought back the Imperial dragons who were the strongest and most capable of our kind to ever exist."
