by L J Andrews
“You’re one to speak of enjoying time, Bron,” I whispered. “You’re always busy.”
Bron sighed and nodded. “Such is the way when the king suspects lindworms are knocking at our gates again.”
My throat dried and I gripped his arm tightly. “Have there been sightings?”
Bron chuckled, removing the beautiful blades from his back for a moment. He sighed and leaned against the wall, placing the weapons in the sun so the light caught the emerald hilts and cast a beautiful glow along the edges. “Gaia, I haven’t sensed lindworms in years. I continually tell Lux this, but I suppose since the last attack, he can’t accept that they are truly gone.”
“They aren’t gone,” I insisted. “I agree with the king. Nag will return, and we should always be prepared.”
Bron’s beautiful smile faded when he took my hand. His touch still sent a tremble through my heart despite our distance at times. In moments such as this I was pleased to be a mage. We could love freely; our unions were romantic. Though I knew Reya and Malik were incredibly fond of each other, their union was for the benefit of the elemental wyverns. Malik was a fierce warrior, and King Lux had designed the union as one of power. I smiled, placing Bron’s hand on my face once again. Malik and Reya weren’t romantic, but they would have difficulty keeping their daughter’s large heart from falling in love, I dared to guess.
“Gaia, I vowed to defend the jade bloodline, but sometimes I fear King Lux—well, I’m concerned he is making unwise choices based on fear of King Nag.”
My voice lowered and I leaned closer toward Bron. “What do you mean? What has happened?”
The muscles in Bron’s strong jaw flinched and he stared out the window again. Eisha had melted into her slender human form and was ushering the young princess back into the castle. Reya and Malik must be close. “He has added more warriors to the southern borders. There is nothing there, but it is leaving the people here utterly defenseless. How long do I stand by when I must defend the king from himself?”
“Bron, you shouldn’t say such things. We protect the wyvern race, we are not counselors to their decisions. We govern our own people.”
Bron scoffed, bitterness marked his tone that I hadn’t heard before. “Do we? You are the High Priestess, me the High Priest. Yet, we serve the wyverns. We guide our people to think of nothing else but defending the elementals, how is that governing our own people? It sounds more like we are the servants of dragons.”
“What is troubling you, my love?” I asked, brushing a hand across his smooth face.
At the gate of the palace a horn trumpeted announcing the arrival of the wyvern caravan. Bron tensed his jaw, but smiled, brushing a stray curl from off my face.
“Nothing troubles me,” he said softly. Bron was an intimidating figure, dressed in his ebony and green mage robes. But when he touched me now, he was soft and gentle like I knew was his heart. “I should go. With the princess arriving, I’m certain the king will have need of me. See you at the banquet, Gaia.”
Bron kissed the top of my hand, sending a wave of power trembling through my veins. “Of course, High Priest,” I said slowly with a slight bow of my head.
He laughed, but didn’t linger and sauntered down the corridor. The blades once more strapped along his back seemed to glow an even deeper green in the fading light. I smiled at his back, but my brow was furrowed and my hands wrung against my middle. Bron was my heart, my companion, yet as I watched my equal in all the powers of the mage leave my side I couldn’t deny the tormented energy that lingered was real. Real, and thick enough it misted against my face.
Chapter 2
Thane
The towering bluffs were the safest place for my people. I knew that, but I kept my thoughts buried deep inside. Staying outside the protection of our people, walking exposed, had every one of my heightened senses on edge. Malik shook the hand of a portly sort of human pushing a cart filled with pungent paper. I’d learned it was the way humans spread news with each other. Delivered usually by shouting children—without even having the choice one small child had practically tossed one of the inky sheets in my face. Then proceeded to stand in front of me, as though I were meant to pay him for his annoyance to my day.
If I’d been permitted to change into my true form—the only form I was truly comfortable—I would have frightened the child back into whatever hovel he’s scurried from. In the end, Reya had laughed when I’d been forced to give the urchin one of the small emeralds I’d lost from the hilt of my sword.
The sword I couldn’t openly carry in front of humans. It only added to the tension mounting across my shoulders. That and the ridiculous clothes I’d been forced to wear. I looked like the court fool, not a royal warrior. Should something attack Prince Malik, or Princess Reya, what exactly was I supposed to do if I couldn’t shift, and my weapon was hidden back at the small, dusty cottage we’d been living in for the last eight days?
“Must you always seem so stern, Thane? Have you had absolutely no enjoyment?” Reya chuckled at my side, as she joined me in watching her mate interact with the unsuspecting humans.
Reya looked lovely in her clothes, the dress a light blue, her hair pulled back around her head in wavy curls. Again, I felt ridiculous in a three-piece suit and thick, ghastly noose around my throat. Reya called it a necktie, but to me it was strangling me with each breath.
“I will smile when you both are safely back behind the bluffs,” I muttered, bowing my head slightly.
“Oh, come now, Thane,” she teased. “You and Malik were warriors together. You can’t tell me you were this uptight around him the entire time.”
Reya had this way of breaking through tension. I suppose it also helped that I could sense her own concerns. She was worried about changing our way of life too, but still had managed to find a way to make the best of the situation. I managed a scoff. The sound was the most I could muster through the tension spreading across my chest.
“Back then he was not the prince. I would have felt better if your mage would have come. I thought the bonds went so deep she couldn’t leave you.”
Reya smiled, nudging my elbow. I’d always liked the princess. She’d been a childhood friend I suppose you could say—as friendly as wyvern warriors were allowed to be—especially with a royal. I wasn’t surprised when the king had the mating between Malik and Reya arranged. It was just comforting to know my closest friend was with someone who wasn’t absolutely detestable.
“Gaia’s bond is with all of us,” she insisted, brushing a lock of her glittering hair over her shoulder. “Besides, I feel much better knowing she is back home with Jade.”
Nodding, I had to agree. When Malik entered into the mating agreement, I knew that also meant entering into the world of the mage protection bonds. It eased a bit more of the burden knowing his family was under the watch of the High Priest and High Priestess mage. Though King Lux kept Bron busier than even his lead warrior, Gregor.
Since I spent most my days with Malik and Reya I’d been able to know the High Priestess—as in, I stood and listened to her speak with Reya, though I said very few things. Of course, even I had to admit to myself it wasn’t because I didn’t want to. I found the High Priestess of all mages—intriguing. Most the other mages gave little notice to the wyvern warriors, but the High Priestess had a calming way about her—a friendly way. Since I had my own empathetic abilities, I knew she worried about Reya and the young princess just as much as me.
“We leave today,” I finally muttered. “Was this everything you hoped?”
“Will you smile if I tell you the truth?”
Scoff again, but I did feel the corners of my mouth tug a little bit. “You wouldn’t be able to hide the truth anyway, Reya.”
She chuckled, her smile easing a bit of the tension railing every protective instinct in my body. “You know Gaia is an empath too—it is quite aggravating that everyone around me leaves no room for private emotions.”
Now, I smiled and Reya proba
bly made too-big a moment out of the event. “I promise I will do my best not to read a single emotion—I’ll remain an unfeeling stone as you tell me if this experiment was a success.”
Malik grinned over his shoulder when he heard his mate laugh. He genuinely cared about Reya—dare I say he loved her? Not a word commonly used in the wyvern race. They did both have seals imprinting their skin for the other, but that didn’t necessarily mean love. I suppose I wouldn’t really know. Whenever I was asked to take a mate it would be for prestige on both sides, and the idea rolled my stomach as though it was wrong before it had even happened.
“Oh, Thane. You feel a great deal, you just like to hide it inside.” Reya paused, her smile fading slightly as Malik finished speaking with the last of the humans and stalked toward us. “I have concerns, Thane, but I also believe this is where Jade will become the queen she’s meant to be. It’s a strange feeling, but something that is clear in my heart. Jade cannot stay behind the bluffs should she rise to whatever plan destiny has in store for her.”
I didn’t understand, but I wasn’t one to hold stock in destiny. I liked to make my own fate. The idea that some glimmering road was mapped out for us was a common belief among my people, and even the mages. Destined bonds and such. Well, I liked having more control over what my life would bring rather than leaving such things up to some mystic called fate.
“I am not convinced they will accept us in true form,” Malik admitted after coming to stand with us, and the humans once more bustled around, tending to their day.
“I agree,” Reya said.
“It would take earning deep trust,” I offered. “Their lives are so much shorter do you think such trust is even possible so quickly?”
Malik sighed, crossing his powerful arms over his chest. He might have a seal for Reya, but Malik was one of the warriors who had decorated his body with warrior symbols. It was pleasing to know the future king of our people hadn’t forgotten what he was at heart. A warrior.
“I don’t know,” Malik admitted. “They sense differences with us—our very skin is hot to the touch for a human. No one has seemed to mind our unique qualities, but in true form, I can’t say. Even with my concerns, I am planning on recommending we leave the bluffs. What about you Reya?”
My jaw tightened when my eyes drifted to the princess. She curled her fingers around Malik’s arm and smiled softly. “I feel the same. This is what is best for our future—for Jade.”
“Thane?” Malik asked.
I shook my head, folding my arms. “It’s not my place to have an opinion on this.”
Malik smirked, tucking his dark shoulder length hair behind his ears. “Always so formal. What if I asked you as my friend and fellow warrior would you stop pretending you don’t have an opinion?”
“But my prince I couldn’t do that,” I added with a little snark, just enough to drive Malik to shove my shoulder with added force. Naturally things had changed, though Malik was my friend, he was also a royal now.
“Lux isn’t here, Thane,” he chuckled, as if he could read my mind.
“Fine,” I gasped. “Ever since you became a royal, you’ve gotten rather pushy.”
“I can’t believe what I’m seeing,” Reya muttered. “Is Thane actually smiling so easily?”
Rolling my eyes, I stepped a little closer to the two royals whose lives were in my charge. “I would be content to live out my days behind the bluffs. I feel safer there, I feel all of us are safer there. But, and even if I hate to admit such things, there is a pull to this place. Almost as though humans are simply meant to be part of our lives—more than they are, I mean. Though I doubt I’d ever get close enough to any myself. Perhaps others will.”
“I do appreciate your opinions, Thane,” Malik admitted. “There is a reason I asked you to be our warrior.”
We stood in silence for a few moments, just watching the town come to life. Humans were strange. They worked hard, they had close families in most cases, yet all the while believing they were the most superior energy in the earth. That was what frightened me the most. From my limited experience, humans did not like anything to desperately challenge their sensibilities. Though they were weaker, humans had a history of being great enemies to our people. It wasn’t just the lindworms that kept us protected by our walls. No, long ago humans had slaughtered many of our people.
It was my greatest fear that it was all going to happen again. But of course, that opinion I’d keep to myself.
Chapter 3
Thane
I never felt more powerful than when I was in true form, the cool air brushing beneath my wings. Over a week of staying in human form had left me in a sort of moody disposition that quickly lifted the moment we took to the clouds. More warriors who had remained concealed around the human town flew with us. Bellowing a string of flames, I signaled to Leoch, one of my more trusted warriors in the unit under my command, to tighten the ranks around the prince and princess.
Inside, I enjoyed irritating Malik by overdoing the protections. He would always have a warrior’s heart, but it was custom that warriors would defend the royals at the cost of our own lives. He wasn’t to fight before us.
Really, Thane? Malik’s voice muttered through my thoughts. Speaking in wyvern form was simpler than the noise that came with so many voices all at once in human form. I always enjoyed the peaceful conversations I shared with the prince of the elementals with no one else to interrupt or frown on my less-than proper way I spoke to Malik. You don’t have to press them in so close. I can handle myself should anything happen.
Oh, but I wouldn’t want that pretty face getting scratched.
Malik breathed a stream of blue flames, shirking away two younger recruits that had only just advanced to a full-warrior. No longer in training, Raffi and Dash were still incredibly young and seemed uncertain who to follow in command. Malik was the prince, but I was the commanding warrior on the journey back to the bluffs.
Give us some space, warriors, Malik growled. I’m not entirely helpless.
Raffi’s golden eyes looked to me, and if I could laugh in wyvern form I might have finally released a deep bellow.
Warriors, defend the prince, leave no room for any attack from any angle. No matter if he protests. Or, you will deal with me and Gregor when we return.
Raffi, Dash, and even Leoch swooped closer to Malik and Reya—the princess seeming to enjoy every moment. Malik narrowed his piercing dark eyes and snapped his jaws. I’d probably pay for irritating him, but maybe it was a good thing to force Malik to spar a bit.
Royalty has made you soft, my friend.
Oh, we’ll see who’s soft when we return, Thane.
The bluffs were only a few miles off. Taking my position quite serious now, we pulled in tightly. Crossing through the protections could be the most dangerous part of traveling. It radiated the most powerful energy, and in turn attracted more unseemly characters like disgusting serpents. King Nag, the lindworm king, had attacked ten years earlier at the exact place we would cross through.
The birth of an heir to the throne released a power surge through all our people, and he’d come for the young princess. It had been one of the more terrible nights of my memories. Watching some of my brother and sister warriors fall, all while fighting so fiercely for Malik’s daughter’s safety that I earned my rank as second in command of every warrior. It had also been where my fascination with the mage race had really begun.
Each royal family had a mage line that protected them. Seeing the royal mage bloodlines create some of the more spectacular feats of energy had stunned me to my soul. In fact, though she may not have known, the High Priestess had prevented a lindworm warrior from breaking through one of my wings with her protection shield. I’d crept too close to the edge of the bluff, the lindworm came, but the High Priestess was faster. At the time all I’d seen her do was press her hands along the earth, but it had trembled fiercely as though it would only respond to her.
After that, I’d ta
ken more time to make acquaintances with the mages in the castle and the bluff boundaries. They had been the ones to help me understand how to better sense different energies. Probably not a useful talent, and it fell into one of the categories my family would have viewed as a lesser quality. I’d always found interests in the wrong things according to my warrior bloodline.
True, I loved the feel of a blade in my hand, or taking to battle. It thrilled my very core, but so did emotions. I enjoyed watching the mage people—they interacted so strangely with each other. They touched all the time. I enjoyed learning about the depth of the bonds they believed in—though I was sure I would never feel such a bond in my life, it was still interesting to learn about.
Releasing a breath of fire, the warriors surrounding the royals joined in, signaling we’d arrived, and crossed through the protections safely. No lindworms in sight. The balcony of the castle was expansive, enough for each of us to land in our true forms. I took my human shape first, clasping forearms with Gregor, the only warrior who outranked me. Gregor had sharp, dark eyes, that painted him as a stern man. He was fierce, and powerful, but also just and fair. And Gregor was even known to smile more than me.
“Welcome back,” he bellowed releasing my forearm and watching the prince and princess shift forms.
Eisha, Gregor’s mate was Reya’s advisor and held tight to their daughter in her arms. I called the young princess Jade, because Malik and Reya called her by the bloodline nickname, but I knew her name was Ariana. She was still such a tiny thing, and rarely shifted from her human form.
