Chapter 9:
Athena
Two more weeks passed before Vaikrand was able to set up this big reveal he’d been teasing since we met. The thing that would surely change my mind and give me a sympathetic heart toward the Weredragons. I nearly laughed every time he said it. Clearly, he didn’t know what kind of girl he was dealing with.
But then he would kiss my neck and push himself inside me and there was no laughter to be had. Only screams of pleasure.
It turned out that once we got used to one another’s bodies, my little mistake became incredibly easy to duplicate.
This morning he finished inside me while I writhed on top of him. It was the only time we had ever had sex that was sweet and calm. He used his hands to explore my breasts as I grinded against him and reached in for kisses, touching the back of my head and pulling me in so that our breath collided in a sweet humidity.
Then he told me it was time to get to work.
I grabbed onto his body as he flew us across the continent. It didn’t take long before we ended up in a familiar territory. Graynar.
We edged by the side of the pit, the crevice where the hole began that led to the D’Karr’s kingdom below. I looked over at Vaikrand with a scowl and lowered my voice as I condemned, “Why did you bring us here? Are you trying to get us killed?”
“Just trust me,” he smirked and took me further away from the entrance. We flew farther east until we reached another opening.
“The underground is connected by tunnels,” he explained. “I intend on getting us around privately.”
“Joy of joys,” I breathed and we descended down into the depths of the pit.
We sunk deeper into the pit, traversing the intricate series of caverns until we made our way to the very bottom of the inverted spire. I couldn’t believe how cool it was down below.
I marveled at the sparkling gemstones that peeked through the crust of the earth and reached out to touch one. It was sharp and jagged, like crystal.
After hours of walking through the mines, we reached a fork in the stone road.
He took me right and I watched as a female shifter stood watch at an expansive, oval-shaped door. I backed away in surprise and moved behind the ridge of the wall, dragging him back toward me.
“Are you crazy?” I whispered in anger.
“Just daring,” he said with a wink in his tone and shook my hand off his arm, walking further toward the white shifter.
Her eyes were a deathly black, larger set than the males I had seen. In fact, I had never met a female shifter, though I had heard of their scarce presence on Dobromia.
Her wings were long and feathered, as opposed to scaled like the males. She held a long spear in her right hand and wore next to nothing; a simple, golden armor covering her breasts and plate armor covering her thick, muscular legs. She looked feminine and yet strong, long lashes flicking up to Vaikrand when she caught sight of him.
“You’re a brave one,” she said in a sexy, smooth tone. She flicked her wings back as though tickled by his presence. She tilted her head back and I watched her beautiful square jaw take shape with envy.
“Stupid, I’m told,” he said with no small ounce of charm. With a quick gesture he called me to him.
I swallowed hard and stepped out from behind the great stone pillar. The female’s eyes widened, though I couldn’t tell her pupil from the oversized blackness that invaded her eyes.
It was clear that she recognized me as the missing prisoner and she looked back to Vaikrand with her jaw dropped.
“Stupid,” she repeated with a laugh. “Hello,” she nodded to me.
I raised a hand in a greeting and stood halfway behind Vaikrand, shyly avoiding the females gaze.
“Nephra, I need a favor,” he said in a playful, pleading tone.
“You always do,” she sing-songed back to him.
“I need to get in there,” he said, laughing into his hands at the ridiculousness of his request. I looked up at the immense wooden doorway and frowned at the female shifter. Whatever was behind the doors wasn’t making itself clear to me.
Nephra flicked her wings as if to straighten them out and shook her head. “Not a chance,” she oozed.
“I have leverage,” he warned with a grin, raising his finger to the air.
She cocked her head to the side and leaned back, crossing her legs as she stood. With a chuckle she said, “As in?”
“I could tell the D’Sharr what you stole from her when you were serving at the palace,” he cocked a mischievous brow, speaking of their king’s wife.
“You,” she corrected, “are banished.”
“Sorry,” I said slowly, now stepping out slightly from Vaikrand’s shadow. “Who are you?”
The woman looked me over with hesitation, as though I were an enemy to be squashed. As though she wondered why in the world I was traveling around with Vaikrand. Then something seemed to register in her eyes, a look of surprise subtly coming over her features. She frowned and looked back to Vaikrand.
The knowledge was shared between them was kept private, but whatever it was seemed powerful.
“I see,” she said to Vaikrand and then reached up to hug him, pushing her black curls behind her wings. She wrapped two beautiful arms around his neck and he drew her into an embrace. The white scales along her creamy skin gave her an ethereal quality that made me feel intimidated.
“She’s my sister,” Vaikrand finally said, turning back to me.
“Ah,” I said and looked the two of them over. “No family resemblance.”
“That’s because I got all the looks,” she laughed, then went serious again at the sight of me. “Literally a second,” she said as a warning to Vaikrand. “Then you have to leave.”
He swallowed, and the two exchanged another private look.
“Thank you,” he said and pushed past her to the door. “I trust you’ll warn us if a soldier should come by.”
She grinned at us. “If you say so!”
Vaikrand seemed amused by this and took my hand, pushing us into the mysterious room ahead. I thought of the strange exchange I had just witnessed and couldn’t help but think back on how Vaikrand said he had been banished for trying to steal food for his family. Why didn’t they banish her, as well?
We stepped into the small room and my eyes shot wide. “No,” I said, unbelieving, halting at the door and giving a pleading look. “You can’t use babies against me. That’s against the rules!”
He laughed and leaned against the back wall, crossing his arms in the process. “I don’t believe we ever established rules.”
I looked around at the oil painted walls: a rainbow of vibrant pastels. Blues and pinks and yellows. The floor was a soft, squishy substance that was covered by dyed fur. All white. Little babies were everywhere, as cute as little half dragon buttons. I couldn’t even deny that their little scales and tails made them seem that much cuter. Like a sweet little pet you just couldn’t put down.
“This is a dirty tactic,” I said with a laugh, looking down at the dragonlings with adoring, cupped eyebrows.
“I showed you the eggs,” he argued with a breath.
“Yeah,” I said in a sing-song tone. “Eggs are different. At least I could be creeped out by those!”
He blinked in surprise. I figured that to him the eggs probably were cute. They were precious; their life’s blood; their descendants. To me they just spelled trouble.
The little ones frolicked around the room with an indescribable joy. They shifted in and out of their dragon forms without any regard, probably unable to control it just yet.
One little boy with icy-blonde hair and aqua scales turned to regard a gingered, freckled red female with a smile. Upon seeing she was about to play a game with another little boy shifter, the aqua one ran toward her, shifting in and out of dragon form. His tail shrunk and grew as fast as a snap so that he tumbled down toward the girl, scaring her in the process.
The little boy stood up with chubby cheeks and a red face as the little girl stared at him in shock. When the silence broke, the little ginger pointed at him and laughed before trouncing off with another Weredragon.
“They’re called dragonlings,” Vaikrand whispered.
“Aww!” I squeaked out without even knowing it. I raced over to the icy-blonde boy as he cried and scooped him into my arms instinctively.
“Hello,” I said with a smile, bouncing him in my arms and tracing a finger over his sweet little tears. “My name is Athena,” I said. “What’s yours?”
“M-M-Marrek,” the boy sniffed out through his tears, perhaps even more embarrassed now that I had called attention to his cries.
“That looked like it hurt,” I said in my best ‘talking to a baby’ voice. “You must be pretty tough to take a fall like that!”
Marrek’s eyes beamed, a wide purple iris expanding with delight. A smile crept up his lips and spread to the apples of his cheeks. “Yeah!” he said, sounding more confident now. “I shift unduoua rinokra,” he said in broken English.
I giggled at the boy as though I understood and looked over to Vaikrand for a translation.
“He learned to shift at an earlier age than his father did,” he said with a grin.
“That’s amazing,” I said with a giant breath, covering my mouth in a proud mock-shock. “You want to show me?”
The little boy looked at me with a small amount of confusion and looked to Vaikrand, who translated to Dobromian for me. The little ones must have been learning English from some of our crew, I thought.
Marrek squirmed away from me and hopped into the air. I gasped for a moment and then watched as his wings fluttered out from his back in the blink of an eye and he soared easily to the ground. He flapped them with pride as he landed. I stared in wonder. The little one couldn’t have been any older than two years, yet he could do more with his body than I ever could.
I clapped in excitement and looked to Vaikrand with a smile. He followed my lead, clapping for the young boy before whispering something in Dobromian to him.
The little boy was plastered with a joyful expression and he tumbled off to the corner of the room.
“I told him to go get her,” Vaikrand said with a raise of his brow.
“You’re bad,” I laughed. “So… this is supposed to change my mind, huh?”
“No,” he paused and suddenly the smile vanished from his face. He pulled me over to the only other door in the room and we stepped through. There were dozens of sickbeds filled with children. They were pale and gave shallow breaths like a discomforting echo that sounded only a few times throughout the room.
“This is,” he said.
I set my jaw and my eyes traced the perimeter of the room. I was a soldier, sure. But I had always, always been a baby person. Ever since I was little I had always liked being around children. And the sight of this was the most disheartening thing I had ever seen.
My heart sank over and over, like I was on a ride. I swallowed and stared down at my stomach; a creeping sensation flowing through my body that racked me with guilt and anticipation.
“I’ve seen enough,” I said. “Let’s go.”
“This is what’s happening to our young,” he argued. “They used to have nurseries all over the pit, and now the king has seen fit to stop feeding them. To supply food to his soldiers over our young.”
“You’ve made your point,” I snapped, looking away from the sight.
Just then, a young brunette walked in the room. Carol… No. Cora. She was one of the soldiers on my ship.
We locked eyes with a frightened intensity and she bit her lip. I went to reach for my gun, but she raised her hands in quick defense and shook her head.
“I’m just checking on the kids,” she said sweetly. “Just standing here, checking for fevers, and, you know,” she shrugged, looking away from us and teetering out nervously, “Talking to myself.” She laughed. “Again.”
“Let’s go,” I said and grabbed Vaikrand’s arm. As we made our quick exit, I turned to face Cora before we left, mouthing a silent ‘thank you’ to her and fleeing from the pit.