[Vankara Saga 02.0] Dragon Alliance

by SJ West

  I knew there wasn’t anything more I could say to assuage Dracen’s guilt. His character wouldn’t allow forgiveness for himself without justification.

  “Can I ask you a personal question?” I said.

  “What is it?”

  “How old are you?”

  Dracen chuckled. “Isn’t that a question most women don’t ask?”

  “Only to other women,” I replied, finding myself smiling in spite of myself.

  “Old enough to have seen the Fae and Vankarans fight twice in my lifetime.”

  “The last war was five hundred years ago. Are you telling me you’re five hundred years old?”

  “That’s all I’m admitting to,” he replied with a genuine smile.

  “Haven’t you been lonely living by yourself in Ledmarrow all this time?”

  “Not particularly. I usually had a Fae apprentice every so often to fill me in on what was happening in the world.”

  “But didn’t you ever want a family?”

  Dracen’s smile slipped from his face. “I had a family once.”

  “What happened to them?”

  “Like living things have a tendency to do, most of them have died.”

  “Except you.”

  “No, I can’t die, at least not yet. But my time will come eventually like everyone’s does.”

  “What’s keeping you alive?”

  “Love.”

  I began to smile thinking he was joking, but the serious look on his face told me otherwise.

  “What kind of love keeps you alive for so long?”

  Before Dracen could answer, we were interrupted by the one person I had been trying my best to avoid.

  “I was wondering where you had gotten off to,” Aleksander said, coming to stand with us.

  “If you will both excuse me,” Dracen bowed to me and made a hasty retreat back into the college, leaving me alone with the King of Chromis.

  “Hope I didn’t interrupt something important,” Aleksander said, watching Dracen walk away before turning his full attention back to me.

  “No, we were just talking.”

  Ever since Aleksander’s ultimatum, I had deftly been avoiding a private audience with him. I didn’t want to place myself in a position where he would demand an answer from me. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do and didn’t intend to sell myself to him if I didn’t need to. My initial attraction to him was now tainted by his true nature. I had been warned he wasn’t a man to be trifled with, but I had no idea he would use his power to help us as leverage for my hand in marriage. It was pure and simple extortion. There wasn’t any other way to spin it.

  “I was wondering if you’ve had enough time to consider my offer,” he had the audacity to say.

  I felt my temper flare. Had I been a fool all along thinking he actually loved the queen? Had his motives always simply been fueled by his greed for power?

  “No, I haven’t had time to consider it,” I replied rather tartly, seeing no need to hide my true feelings about his offer. “All I can think about at the moment is Dena.”

  Aleksander put his hands on my shoulders, being careful not to touch the dragonling slumbering against my neck. I automatically looked up into his eyes and immediately regretted it. The look on his face was one of understanding and compassion for my loss. Against my better judgment, I felt the ice around my heart begin to melt. Surely, someone who willingly showed his raw emotions so readily wasn’t all bad.

  “You have to believe she is alive and safe. Otherwise, you’ll never be able to think straight, Emma. You are the leader of this nation. Your people expect you to make the hard decisions that will save them.”

  “I know. But… she’s my world. If I lost her…” I couldn’t even allow myself to think of a future without Dena in it. As far as I was concerned, there could be no future for Vankara without her.

  “We’ll find her,” Aleksander said with more confidence than I felt. “She’s your daughter. She has your strength. You will see her again.”

  “I don’t feel very strong at the moment,” I confessed, allowing my own vulnerability to show.

  “You haven’t eaten or slept much in the past few days. I’m sure that isn’t helping matters. Come on,” Aleksander placed a gentle, guiding hand on my elbow and steered me back towards the school’s interior, “let’s get you some breakfast.”

  Aleksander was exceedingly attentive after we reached the great room. He practically forced me to sit down while he loaded a plate with eggs, sausage, and biscuits. He even cut open a biscuit and spread butter and strawberry jam on it for me. I was surprised he didn’t cut up my sausage and try to hand feed me himself.

  I noticed Gabriel and Inara were nowhere to be seen, neither was Dracen, but I didn’t think that to be very unusual. He was the type of person who would seek out solitude no matter where he was. When I asked Aleksander where Gabriel and Inara were, he told me they had already gone to their appointed rooms for some rest.

  Once I ate the last bite of my meal, Aleksander stood and literally swept me off my feet and into his arms.

  “What are you doing?” I demanded, finding myself forced to wrap my arms around his neck for balance.

  “Taking you to bed.”

  A few of the female students could be heard giggling a couple of tables down from us.

  “I’m perfectly able to make it there myself,” I insisted, feeling as though I were setting a bad example for the young girls by letting a man take charge of my welfare.

  “Nonsense.” Aleksander walked out of the room. “Just lay your head against my shoulder and relax. You have a war to win, and you won’t be able to unless you’re rested.”

  I wanted to protest more but couldn’t find the will. I was tired. More tired than I had ever been in my life. I laid my head against Aleksander’s shoulder. The last thing I remembered was feeling him lay me down on something soft and kiss one of my cheeks. After that, I was quickly consumed by sleep.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  My dreams were a chaotic storm of confusing images tumbling through my subconscious. Some images were fuzzy and out of focus. Others simply made no sense at all. Their confusion came from the fact they were more like buried memories than dreams. Since becoming Sarah Harker, I had developed the ability to distinguish between the two by their subtle differences. Dreams that were actually memories evoked real emotional responses that lasted even after I woke up. They weren’t fleeting like those of ordinary dreams, easily forgotten once back in the real world.

  For reasons I couldn’t understand, Dracen played a prominent role in the dreams. I felt a connection to him that was hard for me to define. Just when I thought I might have a handle on what it was I was feeling, the dream would change abruptly, as if the memory wasn’t strong enough to fully blossom and reveal its importance.

  In the last of my dreams, I knew without any doubt that it was a memory from Queen Emma. She was lying naked in her bed in the palace stroking a man’s back tenderly, as a lover would. I couldn’t see who it was because his head was off to the side of the bed, almost hanging over. As a spectator, I watched the queen glide her index finger down the center of the man’s back, trailing along the ridges of his spine, and coming to a stop to circle a large dark brown S-shaped birthmark. Then I woke up.

  I lay in bed for a long time, staring up at the stone ceiling. I had no idea what time it was since my room didn’t have any windows. Only the light from a candle on the bedside table provided enough illumination to keep me out of total darkness.

  Who had the man been?

  As far as my knowledge of Queen Emma’s lovers allowed for, it could have been anyone of at least three men: Fredrick, the queen’s deceased husband, Fallon, or Aleksander. I had no way of knowing if it had been one of those three or one of her lovers from her more promiscuous days. But, I had to believe the memory meant something to the queen. Most shared memories were ones which were important to the person I became. More often than not, they were moments in the
ir lives they would never forget no matter how much time passed. Whoever the man had been, the queen must have thought him important enough to share one of her cherished memories of him with me. If only I understood what she was trying to show me…

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. When I turned my head to look at the pillow beside me, my little dragonling was just stirring from her own rest. She lifted her body from the pillow and stretched it much like a cat does when it first awakens.

  “Did you sleep well?” I asked her, wondering if all dragonlings slept as much as she did.

  “Yes, Sarah…”

  I rose up on an elbow and waited until the dragonling met my eyes with her own.

  “Why do you call me Sarah?”

  “Isn’t that your name?”

  “In a way, but I don’t understand how you know it.”

  “The people you are with have been calling you Queen Emma, but I know that is not who you really are. You think of yourself as Sarah.”

  “Are you saying you can read my thoughts?”

  “Not all of them. I can sense some of your stronger ones.”

  “Do you know what I am?”

  “Yes, something called a shifter. You can change forms.”

  “That’s right. I used to be Sarah Harker. Now, I’m Queen Emma Vankar.”

  “You are a queen, yet I sense you would rather still be known as Sarah.”

  “Yes, I would much rather be Sarah right about now, not the queen of Vankara having to fight a war with the Fae. How is it you speak my language so well?”

  “I learned how to speak from listening to you and your friends.

  “Do you have a name?” I asked the dragonling.

  “Yes.”

  When she didn’t say her name, I assumed more prodding was called for.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “You will give me a name when the time is right.”

  “Then you don’t have a name.”

  “No, I have one. You just haven’t given it to me yet.”

  The dragonling’s logic was baffling, but I didn’t make an issue out of it. It was obvious I had been given the solitary honor of naming her, something I felt sure wasn’t bestowed upon many humans.

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Of course.”

  “I’ve been wondering… why was my mother dead when I hatched?”

  I wasn’t sure how much I should say, but thought it ridiculous to keep the truth from the dragonling. She would know the facts soon enough on her own once she was able to completely share my thoughts.

  “When we first entered Fae territory, your mother attacked us. Fallon was forced to kill her in order to save our lives. If he had seen any other option, he wouldn’t have killed your mother. I can assure you of that.”

  The dragonling was silent for a long while before saying, “Something must have been wrong with her.”

  “From what we have been told about dragons, some of them are feral, like your mother, and some are domesticated and work for the Fae.”

  “No. I’m certain my mother would not have had the temperament to attack you in such a vicious manner.”

  “How can you be so certain of that?”

  “I don’t know…” the dragonling faltered. “I just can’t imagine my mother behaving like a wild animal. It is not the way I would react, and I am a part of her.”

  “Well, whatever the circumstances were, she did attack us. I hope you won’t hold it against Fallon for having to kill her. She didn’t give him much choice.”

  “No, I know you are telling the truth about that. I will not hold a grudge against him for something he could not control. He is a man pure of heart. I can see that.”

  “You can see that? What does that mean?”

  “I can see people for who they really are. Fallon is honorable and strong. He will always do what is right, no matter what the cost.”

  “Is this talent of yours why you wouldn’t let Aleksander hold you when he asked while we were on the airship?”

  “He is not to be trusted,” the dragonling was quick to tell me. “You must not marry him. His heart can give great love, but it also holds a darkness within which can spread like wildfire if not kept under control.”

  Without realizing it, I found myself nodding to the dragonling’s words. It was something I had already guessed at but didn’t want to admit. Aleksander could be so charming when he wanted to be that it could completely distract me away from his true agenda and quest for power.

  “What about Gabriel? What do you see in him?”

  “He is honorable and strong like Fallon, but he is also very sad. His heart is burdened with a great loss that haunts him. He is much like Dracen in that regard. They seem to share the same sadness, but I do not know what it is. Each of them is hiding something deep within themselves. They try to shield it because if they did not, the pain of such heartache would overwhelm them.”

  “I know Gabriel said they’ve been friends for a long time, but that’s all I know about their relationship with one another.”

  The shared sadness between Dracen and Gabriel intrigued me. I couldn’t imagine what it could be.

  The dragonling hopped on my shoulder when I made to get out of bed. It was time to find the others and discover if Fallon had returned yet. I prayed he had news of Dena but knew placing faith in such hope was dangerous.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The dining hall felt eerily empty when I entered it. Most of the students were absent now with only a handful remaining behind, talking quietly amongst themselves at one of the many-benched tables within the great room. When the students saw me enter, they immediately stood to their feet like soldiers coming to attention in front of their commander. Although I desperately wanted to keep on my path to Gabriel and Dracen, who were at the far end of the room, I felt an obligation to speak with them and inquire about their well-being.

  “Please retake your seats,” I told them. “We may all be staying here for quite some time with one another. There’s no need for such propriety in this sort of situation every time we cross paths.”

  The students slowly sat back down in their seats with uncertainty in their movements. I felt sure most of them had never been in the queen’s presence before and were uncertain what the protocol was for the situation we found ourselves. I assumed I wasn’t following proper etiquette by telling them to treat me so casually, but having each student within the college come to attention every time they saw me wasn’t something I relished either.

  One of the two boys in the group of six raised his hand to me as if I was a schoolmistress. He was one of the older students, possibly close to twenty-years-old, with short, raven black hair and blue eyes so vibrant I felt as though he could see straight into my soul.

  “Do you have a question for me?” I asked him.

  The boy stood from his seat to address me.

  “Your Majesty, I just wanted to let you know we all have your daughter in our thoughts and prayers. I feel confident she will be reunited with you soon.”

  “Thank you…” I said waiting to hear his name.

  “Able Celloc, your majesty,” he provided with a bow at the waist.

  “Thank you, Able. I pray that you are right, and I appreciate all of your prayers. Now, if you will excuse me.”

  As I walked away from the students and made my way to where Gabriel and Dracen were seated, the dragonling said, “The boy sees more than he says…”

  I made a mental note to ask for clarification of her words later, but didn’t believe it prudent to let others know the dragonling was able to speak with the Queen of Vankara telepathically.

  Gabriel and Dracen sat in a pair of rocking chairs before the great hearth with a table and chessboard in between them. Dracen seemed deep in thought as he leaned towards the board with his chin resting in the palm of his hand, his fingers lightly tapping against his lips.

  A vision of Dracen in a similar posture instantly overwhelmed m
e, physically preventing me from taking another step. I knew what it was, but had never before experienced a memory from one of my predecessors while still awake.

  The vision of Dracen was as clear to me as he was now. He was in his sitting room in Ledmarrow Mountain contemplating a similar chessboard trying to decide on his next move. He looked up at me sitting across from him and winked mischievously before making his move on the board laid out between us.

  As quickly as the vision came, it faded but the well of happiness my counterpart in the vision felt still lingered.

  “Are you all right?” The dragonling asked.

  I nodded, regaining my composure before continuing to walk towards the two men. I could only assume the memory was from Queen Emma since there was no way Sarah Harker could have ever been to Ledmarrow Mountain. However, when had the queen visited Dracen in his fortress?

  I thought back to Dracen’s initial reaction to my presence when we first met. I knew then something was amiss but had no way of knowing what exactly. Also, the way Gabriel introduced me to Dracen seemed to indicate the queen had never met Dracen in person before. I didn’t know what was going on, but knew I might have to tread lightly in discovering the truth. Dracen was finally beginning to open up to me, and I needed his help to defeat the Fae.

  “Any word from Fallon?” I asked, desiring to know the answer but also wanting to announce my presence and not catch them unawares.

  Both of them stood to their feet as I joined their company.

  “No,” Gabriel answered. “Not yet.”

  “Where is everyone?” I sat on the stone bench slightly in front of hearth before either man had the opportunity to offer their seats to me. As I sat, they did also.

  “Sleeping for the most part,” Gabriel told me. “You didn’t sleep for very long. Is everything all right?”

  I saw Gabriel’s gaze briefly drop to my stomach, silently asking me if the child I supposedly carried was the cause of my unease.

  “Yes, everything is fine,” I reassured him, resting a hand across my midsection, silently conveying I understood what his question truly implied in front of mixed company.