by Dianna Love
“I understand,” Daegan replied in a nonchalant voice.
Queen Maeve looked ready to chew rocks. “The body. Where is it?”
“You can’t have Kizira’s body.”
Pointing at Daegan, Queen Maeve ordered Loki, “He defies the court and he is not even a member of the coalition. Strike him down now.”
Loki scratched his nose, thinking. Then he informed Daegan, “We do not allow anyone to refuse the Tribunal decisions. There are only two options for those with supernatural powers. You either join the coalition or you and all who follow you become our enemy.”
Daegan’s mouth twitched with a smile. “You just said you would not allow multiple issues to be brought up. I haven’t decided whether the coalition deserves Belador support.”
That drew a gasp from Laima and Hermes.
Unbothered by the reaction, Daegan said, “If I decide in favor, then my warriors will join the coalition. I will let you know.”
At this rate, the Tribunal would make an example of Quinn and Daegan before ordering their deaths. Yeah, this was going south fast, but Quinn had no way to guide them out of trouble.
Cathbad accused Daegan, “You’re not powerful enough to rule a force the size of the Beladors. One of our Tribunal deities should lead them.”
Loki’s face took on a happy expression, as if that idea intrigued him.
Daegan chuckled, clearly not recognizing the threat hanging in the air. “You think to take what is mine, Maeve? Have you and Cathbad not learned anything yet?”
The queen sneered, “You are nothing more than the son of King Gruffyn. When he died, he left you nothing.”
Loki lost his enthusiasm over leading the Beladors upon hearing that. “King Gruffyn of Treoir? The dragon king? You have dragon blood?”
“Yes.”
That one word echoed around the realm.
Quinn finally identified the look in Queen Maeve’s eyes. Fear. Whatever she knew about Daegan frightened her and from a being as powerful as she was, fear was saying something.
Flapping her arms and hands wildly, Queen Maeve warned the Tribunal, “You do know what happens when two dragons mate or have you forgotten history?”
“I remember,” Loki acknowledged. “I recall King Gruffyn and the destruction that followed his death. There were rumors about his children’s deaths after that, but those faded with time. I do recall that two mated dragons could possibly kill a god, possibly,” he stressed. “But one alone in an unfamiliar realm would be at the mercy of those same gods and goddesses.”
Maeve broke out the smile of a conquering queen.
Quinn would die here the minute he used his powers, but he would not stand by and allow them to kill Daegan, who had wronged no one. He whispered, “Say when. I’m ready.”
Speaking out of the side of his mouth, Daegan said, “Do nothing unless I ask it of you.”
Shit. This bloody sucked.
Cathbad grinned with more confidence than before.
Queen Maeve purred, “Give me Kizira’s body now or ... you’ll find out just how powerful a Tribunal can be.”
Undeterred by the level of menace permeating the air, Daegan said in a bold voice, “I call the Blood Law first. I demand you return the body of my sister, whom you killed long before Kizira died. Do you deny it? Go ahead. I would like to see how a person who lies to a Tribunal glows red.”
Everyone froze.
The three deities turned to Queen Maeve, who lowered her arms and stared back during the stretched silence. Cathbad shook her from her state when he whispered to her.
She said, “You ... you can’t ... I demand Kizira. I’m not talking about anything else. You’ve refused the Tribunal and you’re a threat to our kind.” She swung her attention to Loki. “This is the best chance you’ll ever have to rid the world of a deadly threat to gods and goddesses.”
Now the Tribunal turned to Daegan.
Hermes stopped playing the music.
Laima perked up as if scenting prey.
Loki studied Daegan with deep consideration.
Quinn said under his breath, “We may have to ... give up the body.”
“No.” Daegan spoke with the measured sounds of someone instructing a jury. “Yes, I am of dragon blood. And there is always a threat from our kind, just as there is a threat from deities who misuse their powers.” He glared at the queen then continued. “You may try to harm or kill me, and you might just succeed.”
Every god and goddess bristled at that subtle slap.
Daegan said, “Then again, you might not survive the battle. If, however, you did survive, keep in mind that you all know who my father was, but what do you know of my mother?”
Questions popped up in every face Quinn searched, including Sen’s.
Daegan told Maeve, “You don’t even know how I was created, do you?”
She hissed at him.
“I’ll explain. Until I was born, dragons were the product of mating two descendants of dragon blood, but my father’s wife died birthing my sisters. He asked the gods for a son and he got me. To breed a dragon shifter with no female of dragon blood required intervention from higher powers.”
Quinn had to lock his jaws to keep his lips closed. Holy gods. Daegan was a demigod? No wonder he’d blown off Sen.
Daegan wasn’t through holding court. “If any of you feels confident you can survive my mother, then by all means come for me. But I doubt you have lived this long by attacking the children of an unknown deity. As we all know, mothers can be deadly when crossed, and I ... am my mother’s favorite.” He smiled. “We can finish our business here by exchanging bodies or we can battle. Which will it be?”
Loki’s eyebrows bounced up and it didn’t take long to figure out why. Daegan had given him an out. The trickster said, “If Queen Maeve delivers the body of your sister, then will you agree to produce Kizira’s?”
“If we can do this immediately, then yes,” Daegan agreed.
Disappointment registered in Quinn’s chest for just a moment before he scolded himself. He and Daegan had to get out of here to live to fight another day, but his skin had turned cold at the thought of Queen Maeve using Kizira’s body. He cursed himself a thousand times over for not cremating the remains.
The queen yelled, “You miserable dragon!” She looked up at Loki. “Don’t you realize that if you fail to kill him now while you can, you may never get another chance?”
“I realize what you are saying,” Loki told her. “But I find this situation too amusing to take sides. Is his claim that you killed his sister true? If so, you must hand over her body. Now.”
Queen Maeve began growing in size, something Quinn was fairly certain would get a deity banned from the coalition.
Loki warned her, “This is unacceptable behavior, Maeve.”
Her hair exploded from the perfectly styled look of moments ago and flew all around her head.
The dress burst into flames.
Cathbad shouted, “No, Maeve. Come down here. Don’t do this.”
“Shut up, all of you,” she roared in a deep, evil voice. “You had a chance to kill that miserable dragon, but none of you has the nerve. I want no part of this spineless group if you aren’t capable of carrying out a judgment.”
Loki snarled, “We have always dealt out our judgments and at this moment, you are in contempt of our court.” He lifted his hand, but a flash of red flared into a giant fireworks explosion that sucked into itself and disappeared.
Cathbad vanished a second later.
Well, hell. Quinn would never have bet on that happening.
Loki conferred with the other two deities then turned to Daegan. “We have no argument with you, dragon king, but where do you stand regarding the coalition?”
No longer adversarial, Daegan said, “I believe there is a need for a form of government among the preternaturals. I have no desire to govern any except those who follow me. I’ll support VIPER as long as all of my people, including Beladors, Alterants, g
ryphons or any other beings who have sworn, or in future swear, allegiance to me, are treated fairly.” He paused to address Sen when he added, “No one is to touch any of my people without coming to me first.”
Returning to face the dais, Daegan continued. “Am I correct in assuming that after the queen’s exit that the Medb are no longer members of the coalition?”
Loki studied on that a moment and said, “Yes. Her action is unacceptable. Henceforth, the Medb are no longer members of the coalition.”
“I want to make one more thing clear,” Daegan added. “Quinn who stands with me now, Evalle Kincaid, her mate Storm, Tzader Burke, Brina Treoir, Adrianna Lafontaine and Tristan the gryphon are my high council. In fact, Tristan is my second-in-command.”
Quinn caught a noise of surprise from Sen, but didn’t want to move and distract anyone from Daegan while he held the floor.
“My Beladors will continue to protect humanity and not engage in conflict with any other preternaturals unless given reason. If we don’t do this, chaos will rule the human world, deities will form alliances, then we’ll be spending our time battling each other. I possess the largest army, but they have families who are human. Their families are under my protection as well. Are we agreed?”
The deities exchanged a silent communication then Loki nodded. “Agreed.” Then the smart mouth added, “I look forward to discovering who your mother is ... or was.”
Daegan said, “You do that.”
Then Quinn’s body spun out of shape as Daegan teleported them away.
Chapter 43
Treoir Island
The fire caught quickly and flames engulfed the body.
An hour after the Tribunal meeting, Quinn stood straight, hands at his sides, thinking of the last time he’d held Kizira. What he would give to touch her one more time and part on better terms than they had, but that was never going to happen.
Tears pooled in his eyes, but he held them back. He’d shed enough over losing her.
He’d never really possessed her.
She’d come into his life for two weeks when he was a very young man, just long enough to discover that the warm young woman with too much heart was a Medb priestess.
But some things in life couldn’t be avoided, like an unwanted Medb birthright.
Kizira had hated being a Medb, but when they went their separate ways more than thirteen years ago, she’d accepted her duty as he had his. He forgave her for not telling him sooner about their child. But he’d missed a child’s lifetime with Phoedra.
He and Kizira had met a few times over the years since parting ways. They’d been sometimes lovers, and always enemies, but the last time he’d looked into her eyes was the one he’d carry with him for the rest of his life.
“How are you doing?” Evalle asked, stepping up beside him.
That broke his focus from the funeral pyre. “I’m fine.”
Storm stepped up and said, “Lie.”
When Quinn looked at him, he saw that Storm had been poking at him in a friendly way and Quinn answered with a shrug. “Let’s say that I’m looking forward and the future will be fine.”
“Truth.”
Daegan had teleported Quinn to Treoir from the Tribunal, which probably really pissed off Sen, who now knew he wasn’t so special after all. Then Daegan teleported the tomb from Evalle and Storm’s garage, plus both of them and Tristan to Treoir, where Quinn explained what he wanted to do.
Brina stood in front of Tzader with his arms wrapped around her baby bump. They whispered between them in a sad tone.
Tristan had taken on the duty of creating the pyre once Quinn explained that he was going to cremate Kizira. Daegan actually suggested doing it here, which had surprised Quinn.
He would never have asked to have the funeral of a Medb priestess on Treoir Island.
Things were going to be different with Daegan, for sure. It sounded as if the Beladors were heading into a war, but thanks to Daegan’s intervention, Quinn would be there for everyone, including Daegan.
Daegan walked over, arms crossed over his bulky chest. He was still dressed like a warrior from centuries ago, which must feel normal to him.
Once everyone had joined Quinn, he said, “First, I wish I hadn’t put anyone in jeopardy because of my relationship with Kizira.”
Evalle gently argued, “If not for that, Kizira would never have teamed up with me before the big battle here to help save our people. It wasn’t all bad.”
“No, it wasn’t,” he agreed. “But I want to thank all of you. This was more than I would have expected to have for her. I feel like this will be the closure I needed.”
Daegan observed him with sharp eyes. “You must have had a reason for waiting to do this.”
It was time to give Daegan the entire truth. “I did. When Kizira told me about our child at the last second before she died, I was ... wracked with guilt. I convinced myself that the one thing I could do was give Phoedra a body to grieve. If we were human, that wouldn’t have been unusual, but we’re not. I foolishly thought I could protect that body. I should have been thinking about protecting my child first and foremost.”
Tristan said, “Now I understand more.”
Tzader squeezed Quinn’s shoulder, a sign of support, and Brina said, “We’ll find her, Quinn.”
“Yes we will,” Evalle confirmed with a determination that surfaced anytime someone in her close circle of friends was in need.
Daegan said, “She must be found.”
Quinn nodded, in total agreement. He had no idea where to start, but he would find his child.
“We have time, but there’s no telling how much,” Daegan said, confusing Quinn.
“Queen Maeve can’t touch Kizira’s body now,” Evalle pointed out.
“That solves only one problem.” Daegan took in every face, then said, “Cathbad and Queen Maeve had not discovered anything about this child before I left, but that doesn’t mean they can’t find out. The queen kept watching Kizira die on her scrying wall. She knew then that something was up and will suspect even more now that she’s been denied the body.”
Tzader said, “I’m pretty sure we wrecked that wall when we pulled you out of there, Daegan.”
The dragon king nodded. “I hope so, but that will not prevent her from finding out through other ways. No secret remains hidden forever in our world. After today, she’ll be even more determined to find out what Kizira was hiding.”
“Can she?” Evalle asked. “I mean don’t we plan to salt the ashes and spread them afterwards?”
“Yes,” Quinn answered.
Daegan continued on his line of thought as he stared at the fire. “Queen Maeve did not manage to keep her coven growing over thousands of years and reincarnate by luck alone. She’s a dangerous adversary who will not be stopped by a destroyed scrying wall.” The dragon king finally dropped it by saying, “We still have to figure out who was behind Lorwerth. I’m not fully convinced that it was Maeve, or at least not Maeve alone. Not after seeing her at the Tribunal. That will wait for tomorrow. We’ll meet to develop a strategy for hunting the girl then.”
Quinn’s heart had beaten faster with each declaration Daegan made. Where would Kizira have hidden their child to keep her from all this bloody insanity?
His gut twisted with worry for his daughter out there exposed to the predators of his world. Dark witches. Evil mages like the one who’d harmed Lanna. Demons, like the ones that hunted Reese.
Where had Reese gone? Was she safe?
He’d never find out.
If he’d gotten to know her better, he might have asked her to use her remote vision gift to help him find Phoedra, but she’d vanished into the ether. Whoever had sent her to Atlanta had very likely covered her tracks when she returned home.
What would that person say when Reese arrived empty-handed?
As the fire burned, he said his goodbye to Kizira and swore he’d find their daughter. Now he just had to figure out how to make good on that vow.
Yes, the Beladors had resources, but the world was a huge place and she was one small girl.
Chapter 44
Mosquito Mountain, Haida Gwaii Islands, British Columbia
When the crazy fog of colors caused by teleporting ended, Reese was standing on Yáahl’s mountaintop.
His pedestal boulder in the middle of the pond was empty.
He had to know she was here.
I’m not in the mood for his crap. She called out, “Can we get this moving? I’m tired.”
Way above, the giant raven flapped slowly, circling the strange dome that enclosed his realm here. Yáahl continued spiraling down slowly until his raven feet touched the stone and he turned into his human form, all decked out in black.
The guy needed some fashion tips.
Holding his arms out, he asked, “What, no greeting?”
She had little enthusiasm for playing his games, but in an effort to move this along she replied, “Hey, Yáahl.”
This time she sounded like Paula Deen after a wedding cake had fallen.
“I don’t see a body, Reese. Do you have Kizira tucked in a pocket?”
Jimmy Fallon, you’re not.
This was the moment she had to face never getting her powers back. Her stomach ached and her heart was in full depression.
Ten years without her powers had been hard, but in the back of her mind she’d always had hope. Yáahl was a pain in her backside, but he was good for his word and ten years ago he’d said that when he thought she’d earned them back, he’d untether her powers.
That was all in the past now.
“No, I don’t have the body, Yáahl.”
“Why not? What could possibly be more important than your powers?”
She’d be asking herself that for the rest of her life and her answer would always be the same. “It wasn’t mine to give to you and it wasn’t yours to have. A lot of bad people were after Kizira’s body, but one man risked everything to protect her.” Reese’s eyes burned with tears she would not shed.
