“If you wish, I will speak for you. It is not unheard of to have a trusted advisor to do so,” he whispered back.
“Yeah, do that.” I sighed with relief.
Khol stepped forward and dropped my hand and I had to fight the urge to reach for it. Ugh. Pathetic. “Our queen wishes me to speak on her behalf.” Khol delivered the crowd a charming smile. “She is a little overwhelmed by all of this. As I’m sure you all can understand.” A few chuckles were heard in response and a low buzz of conversation resumed in the room. I took that as a good sign. “I’m sure all of you are wondering how this all came about, and I will tell you . . .”
A little while later I found myself back in my own room, much to Khol’s dismay, and sprawled out on my bed. I couldn’t help but feel small in it since it still hadn’t been that long since I had shared it with Bryn. Here I was . . . a friggin’ Dragon Queen . . . and I’d never felt so tiny and alone in all of my life. But I didn’t want to begin relying on Khol the way that I had relied on Bryn. I would take a mate, and in him I wanted a partner, not someone that had to constantly take care of me. Why did it always seem like the men in my life wanted to take care of me? Or maybe because they were both at least part dragon, it was in their nature? And if that were the case, then would I constantly have to fight my own nature to not let them?
A knock on my door made me scramble up into a sitting position. “Come in,” I called, hoping it was either Khol or Bryn. Or maybe even Jenna. I really needed to fix things with her. I just didn’t have the energy to make the first move at the moment. I heaved a sigh of disappointment when a small female dragon with short-cropped silver hair stepped into view. I inclined my head inquisitively at her and she bowed down in front of me, which was pretty low because I was sitting.
“My queen,” she greeted.
I studied the top of her head for a moment, and jealously that she got to have silver hair, which was so pretty, while I got stuck with white, spiked through my system. Why the hell did I have to be stuck with white hair? “Yes,” I responded, not outwardly showing any of my inner angst. Go me!
She raised her face to look at me with violet eyes. And she gets violet eyes? I inwardly groaned. So not fair! “My name is Tatiana, my queen, and I belong to the Silver Dragon faction.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured that,” I said with annoyance as I motioned to her hair.
Her lips turned up in a slight smile. “Yes, well I know you are relatively new to our world. I just wanted to clarify.”
“Look, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but could you please get to the point?” I was doing my best not to sound like a petulant child. I didn’t think it was working out for me too well.
“No need to apologize, my queen, you are still young, patience will come to you in time.”
I barked a harsh laugh at her. “Doubtful, but please continue.”
She produced a white envelope about the size and shape as the one I had received from the old queen, my biological mother, when I had been in the Smokey Mountains. A feeling of foreboding washed over me. “My clan has been holding onto this for a very long time. Our instructions were to give it to you today, after the announcement.”
“How long have you been holding on to this?” I whispered.
“Since before your birth,” Tatiana responded.
“Oh. Well then, I already know who it’s from. Thank you.” I reached out and took the envelope from her and stared down at it wishing it would simply disappear.
“It was our pleasure to serve both the old and new queen,” she said as she rose and headed for the door.
“Thank you again,” I said without looking up at her. My attention was riveted on the small white envelope resting in the palm of my hand. I had no doubt who it was from. Guess my birth mother thought she could still shake up my life even from beyond the grave. I tore the envelope open, kind of wondering in the back of my mind, how the Silver Dragon faction had resisted the temptation to open it themselves. I personally would never have been able to withstand the temptation. Inside was a letter written in the same scrawling handwriting that had adorned my previous message from my birth mother.
My Dear Child,
It is imperative that you understand that what I am about to ask of you, if you deviate from it and think that you can find a better way, it will result in your death. And therefore also the deaths of the ones you love. I have foreseen it. Please trust in my powers, which are now your own, for one day you will need to rely on them. But for now they are still growing and changing within you. You, for the moment, lack the skill to control them the way that’s it’s taken me many decades to learn how to do so myself.
This evening there will be an attempt on your life by someone you thought you could trust. She has let a Rider slip into her, for all humans carry some darkness in them, and it will convince her you have caused all of her problems. She will try to end your life by poisoning you, so do not accept any nourishment from anyone this evening. It will save your life. But do not fear; eventually, if you follow the path I have laid out for you, you will be able to save her. That should offer you some small comfort.
Once the commotion steals everyone’s attention, you are to strike out on your own; I’ve had a trusted subject place a care package hidden in the back of your closet behind a loose panel with everything that you will need, including a way to keep Khol from tracking you. You must do this on your own, and I’m sorry for that my daughter. But I will help you whenever I can. Find the strength that already exists in you.
~M
My hands were shaking as I struggled to process what I had just read in the letter. Jenna was going to try and kill me; there were no other female humans that I trusted—it had to be her. But I could save her if I followed the path my birth mother had laid out for me . . . That was indeed a comfort. And it looked like it was time for me to stand on my own, something that I had been wanting for awhile, so why did it suddenly have the feel of “be careful what you wish for”?
“I hope you have good news for me this time,” his master snapped as Terrance entered the room.
“Yes. One of our most trusted is in place. The girl will be dead by week’s end, as promised.”
A smile slowly spread across his master’s face. “Excellent. Most excellent indeed. Let me know when it is done.” He flicked his hand in a dismissive motion. “You may go now.”
Terrance breathed a sigh of relief as he exited his master’s office. By the end of the week the girl would be dead and all would be well once more.
I found the care package hidden in the back of my closet, although I wish my birth mother would have had the forethought to warn me about the huge icky spider that had been laying in wait for me. I almost knocked myself unconscious when it crawled over my hand, and I slammed the side of my head into the closet door in an attempt to escape my creepy tormentor. But besides that, everything else had gone smoothly. My birth mother had thought of everything . . . wigs, colored contacts, fake ID, credit cards . . . and even some sort of magic bracelet to dampen Khol’s connection to me. She left more instructions, which informed me I was not to put it on until after, when Khol was distracted, or he would notice something was wrong before I could make a break for it. The plan was for me to enroll myself under the false name she had given me at a specific high school to which I had been given directions. She said from there I would figure out what to do. She had even left a letter for Khol, which I was not to open, that had directions inside for him to follow. I won’t lie; the not opening the letter to Khol was proving to be the most difficult part of the plan. I sighed and pushed my duffle bag full of everything I was taking with me into the back of my closet. I didn’t want to risk anyone seeing it and therefore cause them to ask questions. At this point, questions were bad. The fact was, it seemed like I was running away, and in some ways that felt easier than anything I’d done in a long time. I just hoped I wasn’t in high school too long because my baby bump would eventually show up. The thought made me bring my hand up to my stomach protectively. My birth mother wouldn’t put my baby in danger, would she? I doubted it, but I couldn’t seem to push the worry aside completely.