The Dragons of Paragon

by Genevieve Jack

  The one who appeared to be their leader furrowed his brow and gave them both a disapproving look. “By the mouth?”

  “Asshole,” she mumbled, louder than she meant to.

  “Please proceed, dragon. We can travel faster if you carry her, and Lord Niall will appreciate our haste.”

  “Name’s Colin. I assume you’re an archer of Asfolk?”

  “Captain Haldir.” The elf gave a shallow bow, his pale blue eyes never leaving Colin’s face.

  “I’m Leena,” she blurted. “Nice to meet you, Haldir.”

  The elf frowned at her exuberance. Or maybe she was slurring her words again. “You as well, Leena.” He gestured toward his partner to the right, an elf with bright red hair and eyes the color of maple syrup. “This is Garret, my second.” And then to the blond on his left. “And Bartelon.”

  With a nod of acknowledgment to the three, Colin dropped his arm to the back of her knees, and she found herself draped in front of his chest. This wasn’t nearly as fun as the dancing, but she didn’t argue. She still couldn’t walk herself.

  “How did you find us?” She tipped her head back and stared at Haldir upside down. She had to close her eyes to keep from vomiting.

  “I think it’s best if we leave that explanation to Lord Niall.”

  Leena rested her head against Colin’s shoulder and wondered at that. The scribes would be able to call up her location in the sacred pools, but only if they were specifically looking for her. And why would they be looking for her? It was very strange indeed for them to be escorted back to the palace to visit with the high lord. She’d never met the elf. He didn’t often associate with the scribes except through his counselors when he needed to request a scroll for some political business. She had no idea what this might be about.

  By the time they reached Asfolk Palace, her head was throbbing and every step Colin took set off a jab of pain between her temples. “Put me down,” she protested. “Please… I’m feeling better.”

  Colin did as she asked, and she adjusted her robes, wincing at the light that bounced off the gleaming palace. Asfolk was a study in arched walls and circular patterns. Built from pink and white marble, the building’s multiple turrets were capped in royal-blue slate, its doors and windows round. The outside reminded her of a snail’s shell—shiny, smooth, and gracefully curved. Adorned in flowering ivy, Asfolk was considered the most beautiful palace in their world by many, although she had nothing to compare it to but Circe’s temple on Aeaea. Certainly it was more formal than that.

  She winced and shaded her eyes as another spike of pain stabbed through her head.

  “You okay, dancing queen?” Colin whispered. “Do I need to sign you up for a ten-step de-snailing program?”

  She giggled, then grabbed her head when the pain grew worse. “Don’t make me laugh. It hurts my head.”

  “Apologies.” He followed the word with a slanted grin.

  She rubbed her temples as two attendants opened the doors to the palace for them. “I don’t suppose you have any willow bark or a tonic in that bag of yours?”

  He frowned. “Sorry. Dragons don’t use them, but surely if you asked…”

  “This is where I leave you.” Captain Haldir gestured toward another set of doors. “You’ll find Lord Niall inside.”

  Colin bowed to the elf before reaching for the door’s golden handle. Head still throbbing, Leena followed him into a place she’d never thought she’d see—the throne room. She balked. She stood at the head of an aisle carpeted with a long purple runner. At the end of the aisle, sprawled across a wooden throne atop a raised dais, was an elf with jet-black hair and an aristocratic nose. Lord Niall. Were they supposed to walk the length of the room to speak to him or address him from back here?

  Colin didn’t seem to share her reservations. He passed her and strode forward with his arms spread wide. “Lord Niall! Such a pleasure to be in your presence again.”

  Before Leena could pick up her chin off the floor, the ruler of Rogos leaped off his seat and embraced Colin like they were old chums.

  “Colin of Paragon! I had a feeling you’d return to Rogos sooner than anticipated. You’ve fallen in love with our kingdom.” He wagged a finger at the dragon. “It will always be home to you now.”

  Colin grinned and glanced back at Leena. She didn’t like the way Niall followed that glance, as if he could read something into it. Like his piercing green eyes could trace an invisible string between Colin and her.

  “I’m actually returning Leena to the temple.”

  “Then you’ve translated the scroll?”

  Colin scratched the back of his neck. “Not yet, but—”

  “I needed to discuss something with my Quanling.” Leena strode forward until she was in the company of the two men. She’d had no idea that Niall had known about their quest or her part in it. “Colin was kind enough to escort me.”

  Niall clapped his hands together. “What luck. Quanling Marjory will be attending my banquet tonight. You can talk with her then.”

  Leena’s hand pressed into the base of her throat. It was very unusual for the Quanling to leave the temple and unheard of for any scribe to be invited to the high lord’s banquet. “But surely I… I mean, I assume…” What could she say that wouldn’t be insulting? While her mind reached for some hint of what to do, Lord Niall put her presumptions to rest.

  “You, of course, are invited as well. Someone must be there to record the event for posterity. After all, what I will announce tonight involves all of Rogos, even the scribes.”

  Lifting his eyebrows, Colin scratched his chin. “Sounds serious. Is that why you summoned us here?”

  Colin’s question was quite forward, and Leena wondered if it would anger the high lord, but Niall only smiled wider. “You are here because my fiancée predicted your arrival and because you and the Defenders of the Goddess are an integral component in ensuring the future of Rogos.”

  Leena couldn’t stifle a gasp. “Fiancée?”

  Colin patted the high lord’s shoulder. “Congratulations. I hadn’t heard.”

  Niall turned toward the dais.

  “Darling?” A woman appeared beside his throne. One second, it was just the three of them, and then there she was, leaning against the side of the chair as if she’d been standing there the entire time. Had she been invisible or somehow manifested?

  However she’d arrived, Leena was baffled by her appearance. She wasn’t an elf. Her blue eyes barely gleamed. They were almost human-looking, as were her ears, which were rounded at their tops. Her skin, the color of freshly poured cream, was enhanced with a blush at her cheeks and full red lips. Platinum hair twisted along the back of her head and was managed into intricate curls at her crown. And her gown—Leena had never seen anything like it—was shiny, silver blue, and draped to the floor. Together with a tiara, four diamond-covered spikes that peeked out from her curls, the outfit made her look like an ice queen.

  Beside her, Colin lowered himself to one knee and bowed at the waist. “Queen Penelope, it’s an honor.”

  Queen Penelope? Leena curtsied low and bowed her head. Penelope was the witch queen of Darnuith! Now that she knew who she was, she recognized her from drawings in the scrolls. No wonder she’d seemed to appear out of nowhere. The woman had the magic to do so and then some. Her outfit now seemed fitting. Darnuith was a kingdom of ice. But could it be true? Could the high lord be uniting with the queen in marriage? If so, what did that mean for Rogos?

  “My heartfelt congratulations on your betrothal,” Colin said, rising from his knee. “Is this the news you’ll be sharing at the banquet tonight?”

  Queen Penelope moved to Niall’s side as gracefully as a dancer.

  “Yes, and more,” Niall said. “But there will be plenty of time to talk politics. For now, I’m sure you’ll want to rest and freshen up before the banquet. Grindel and Sylvia will show you to your rooms.” A pair of elves appeared at his summons.

  As Sylvia led her from th
e throne room and in the opposite direction of Colin, Leena wondered briefly if Queen Penelope had somehow enchanted the high lord into proposing marriage. But the more she analyzed that theory, the more she found the very notion to be absurd. Elves were resistant to elemental magic, and Queen Penelope would have had to, at least initially, be magically restrained to get within ten feet of him. Plus, he looked at the witch as if he honestly loved her.

  She would have liked to talk to Colin about the turn of events but wasn’t surprised they weren’t given rooms in the same part of the palace. He was an exiled heir of the kingdom of Paragon, and she was a scribe. He’d be treated like a royal, and she… Well, she wasn’t sure how she’d be treated. She’d never been here before.

  “Please make yourself comfortable.” Sylvia gestured inside the door to a small bedroom. “There’s a dress in the closet appropriate for the banquet tonight. Please be ready by sunfall.”

  “I won’t need the dress.” Leena held her hand out to the woman. “It is against the rules of my order to wear anything but my sacred robes.”

  The older woman folded her hands and lowered her gaze. “It is against palace law to attend a royal banquet in anything but fine attire. I believe, in this case, royal law supersedes temple law.” Sylvia gave a shallow bow, then left her alone.

  Leena flopped onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Her headache had faded and left a lingering malaise in its place. All she’d wanted to do was return to the temple and go back to the way things were. But that end seemed to be barreling toward her both too quickly and not quickly enough. It was all so confusing.

  This morning, she’d experienced the pleasures of the flesh. Some pleasures, at least. She understood there were others. Deeper temptations.

  Unbidden, her thoughts turned to Colin, to the tent. Now that she thought back, she realized there must be more. Something was supposed to happen next. She sensed she was supposed to do something… something Colin avoided when he’d ducked out of the tent so quickly. She never thought she’d miss having a traditional mother until now. A true mother would have taught her about men, about sex.

  What was she saying? This was exactly why she had to return to the temple as soon as possible. Oh, how he’d branded her soul. Was the inner heat he commanded in her a product of his being a dragon, or were all intimacies with the opposite sex kindling for that fire? She’d never know. He was and always would be her only one.

  At least she’d learned one positive thing—her Quanling was coming to Asfolk. With any luck, the leader of her order would agree to escort her back to the temple herself, assign Colin a replacement scribe to help him with his research, and she could leave him, and all the temptation he brought with him, behind for good.

  Chapter Eleven

  New Orleans

  December 24th, 2018

  “What do you buy a woman who’s about to learn her granddaughter is a witch/dragon hybrid?” Raven asked Gabriel. They’d stopped by Blakemore’s Antiques to pick out a Christmas gift to bring with them to her mother’s the following morning. She was relieved that Avery and Xavier had offered to babysit Charlie while they shopped. The thought of keeping the child contained in a store full of priceless valuables made her itch, especially now that they’d learned she could fly.

  Gabriel slanted a grin in her direction. “There is that bronze dragon figurine from the Qing dynasty.”

  “Oh for the love of the goddess, can you imagine? Not only would we stop her heart with the news, but she could also relive the experience repeatedly every time she saw it.”

  Agnes came out of the office and rushed to embrace both of them in a firm hug. “I thought I heard your voices!” Her sleek silver bob was as sophisticated as ever, and the wide-legged pants she wore looked sharp with a cropped, textured sweater. She kissed Raven on both cheeks. “It’s been an age!”

  “Too long,” Gabriel agreed.

  “Where’s Richard?” Raven asked.

  “Off for the holiday. It’s Christmas Eve, after all, and unlike me, he has family. Now tell me what brings you here today. I’m sensing it isn’t to check up on the store.”

  “Never. I trust you implicitly. There’s something we need to find, and something we need to do to find it.”

  “Do tell.”

  Raven glanced around the store and lowered her voice. “No customers in today? Not even on the second floor?”

  She shook her head. “Midmorning lull.”

  Raven moved to the door and locked it, flipping the sign to Closed. “Do you want to tell her or should I?”

  As it turned out, Gabriel volunteered to fill Agnes in on everything that had happened since they’d left Blakemore’s. They joined her in what used to be Gabriel’s office, where Raven conjured them a pot of tea and added details her mate forgot. It took the better part of an hour to explain where they’d been these past months and everything that had unfolded. When Agnes heard about Charlie, she almost came out of her skin, insisting she must meet the baby before they left to return to Aeaea.

  “So, you’re here to find the remains of the tanglewood tree. My god, Gabriel, I thought the mess you were in with Crimson Vanderholt was the worst that could happen. How do the two of you get yourselves into these situations?”

  Gabriel growled and reflexively glanced at his ring, no doubt remembering the curse that had brought them together. “Don’t talk about Crimson. I still have nightmares.”

  “One good thing came of Crimson Vanderholt,” Raven said through a smile. “It was because of her spell that I was able to get pregnant with Charlie.”

  The room grew eerily quiet. Gabriel sipped his tea. Agnes rubbed under her eye.

  “Well, it’s true. Thank goodness she’s dead, but her spell, as dark and evil as her intentions were, brought Charlie into this world.” Raven poured herself another cup.

  Gabriel cleared his throat. “I’d rather not think of it.”

  Agnes stood. “Then let’s do something productive, like finding you a gift to bring to Raven’s mother, shall we? I think I have just the thing. How do you think she would feel about a stained-glass panel for one of her windows?” Agnes pointed at the small window in the brick above her head. “It was reclaimed and refurbished from an old church that was torn down years ago.”

  Raven squinted at the colorful leaded glass. There was a large bird outside the window, and its silhouette blocked the sun, obstructing her view of the pattern. She stood and crossed the room to view the simple geometric art at a better angle. Easter lilies. Her mother did have a front window in her apartment above the Three Sisters that let in the morning sun, and the bright colors matched her decor.

  “I think she’d love that.”

  There were two ways into the apartment above the Three Sisters. One was to enter through the bar itself and use a narrow staircase that ascended between the back office and the kitchen. The other way was to employ a staircase that rose along the outside of the building and doubled as a fire escape. Since it was Christmas morning, the bar was closed, the front door locked. They’d have to use the outside stairs.

  “Gabriel, you are going to have to carry Charlie,” Raven said. “I’m not strong enough to keep her wings tucked into the blanket. She keeps squirming out of my grasp.” She rewrapped her daughter in the red plaid they’d bought for the occasion and tried her best to make her look human even though there was no way her size was anything close to natural. Once she was a veritable burrito, Raven handed her off to Gabriel.

  “Even if you hide the wings, it’s going to take Mom all of five seconds to realize something is wrong. Let’s just hope Charlie doesn’t try to eat her like she did the cat,” Avery said.

  Raven glared at her sister. “Since we’re all being so honest with Mom, I’m not sure why you and Clarissa left your mates at the Prytania house? Shouldn’t we rip off the Band-Aid and introduce them to her at the same time?”

  “Hey, technically, she’s already met Nathaniel,” Clarissa said, an easy laugh warm
ing the air around her.

  “I just thought it would be easier on Mom if there were fewer… distractions.” Avery adjusted the stack of gifts she was carrying. “Besides, Xavier is… hard to explain on many levels.”

  Raven understood what her sister meant. Xavier had spent centuries in a pocket of magic, living cut off from the modern world. It wasn’t just that he was a Scot and a dragon—he was practically from another time. But she also knew that Avery’s deepest fear wasn’t about any of that. “You’re afraid to tell Mom you got married without her there.”

  “Maybe,” Avery admitted.

  Raven crossed her arms. “Don’t give me a hard time about Charlie. Whatever happens in there, I’m doing my best. I need you to have my back on this.”

  They all stared at the door to the apartment above the Three Sisters. No one moved.

  “Avery, give me the gifts. They’ll hide my flat stomach until I can break the news gently.”

  “Oh hell.” Clarissa released a heavy sigh. “Let’s do this.”

  None of them even had to knock. As if by some sixth sense, Mom opened the door the moment they reached it and squealed with unbridled joy. “Merry Christmas! Oh, I’m so happy you’re finally here! Come in! Come in!”

  Gabriel glanced at Raven and tucked Charlie into his chest like a football.

  “Merry Christmas!” Raven accepted a one-armed hug from her mom around the gifts. She’d missed her mother, and as Avery and Clarissa took their turns hugging her, she couldn’t help but feel a wave of nostalgia for the cramped, brightly colored kitchen that used to be the heart of their home. Less than a year ago, she’d lived here, swaddled in the unconditional love of her mother and Avery. It hadn’t all been roses, but it was what she’d needed to get her life back after her illness. The apartment seemed smaller now, but also cozy and safe. Maybe this would be okay.

  “Mom, there’s something I have to tell you,” Raven said.

  Her mom raised a finger. “Actually, there’s something I have to tell you—all of you—and I’m afraid it can’t wait.” Her honey-brown curls bounced over one shoulder as her perfectly shaped red lips spread into a wide smile. Come to think of it, her mother’s makeup was exceptionally on point, and she was dressed in an emerald-green jumpsuit Raven had never seen before.