Astrid

 

Rhea’s entrance, Tem stood. Astrid hurried to cover herself with the top sheet of the bed while her cheeks burned as Rhea gazed at her scornfully. As embarrassed as she was, Astrid was mortified that Tem was standing there naked, but his eyes contained restrained anger. He stared at the dragon Queen in defiance and Rhea glared back with her hands fisted at her side.

Astrid’s heart beat faster in fear. She knew little about Rhea but she had seen Tem’s destructive abilities in action. As a student, Astrid had suspected that there as a stricter hierarchy in dragon society than was generally known. Having met Rhea was instructive, but Astrid had little to go on to parse the politics of dragons.

Tem held out his hand to her.

She will not hurt us.

How can you be sure?

She stood next to him and Tem put a protective arm around Astrid’s shoulder.

“So, Templeton Rawlins, you defy me yet again,” said the Queen.

“Rhea,” said Tem coldly.

“At least you know my name,” she said sarcastically. “Do you recognize me as your Queen?”

“We’ve always had a difference of opinion.”

“Is that what you call your insubordination?”

“Trust me, Rhea. I’ve never been subordinate to anyone.”

“That much is obvious. But this, you and her, I cannot allow. This union is a threat to all dragon kind.”

“A threat? It doesn’t matter. It is done.”

“And I can undo it.”

“Really, Rhea?”

“As your Queen, yes. It is under my authority and within my powers. I haven’t had to in thousands of years, but I will if the need arises. Mate bonds, especially with humans, are dangerous to dragons and you know why.”

Astrid was lost. Pieces of important dragon knowledge were painfully missing from the human database. Why would mating with humans be harmful to dragons?

“Dangerous? Who is the threat, Rhea? You’ve been many things over the years, but the one thing I did not expect you to be was a liar.”

“Liar!” Rhea stormed.

“It seems you have revised our history.”

“Have I?”

“I have heard a story from Astrid. So tell me, Rhea, why have we not heard about these seneschals?”

“There wasn’t just one dragon that fell to the charms of, of this subspecies.” She spat out that last word as if it were a poison. “They were polluting our gene pool.”

“The only polluting element here is your racism. And you put us in peril because of it.”

“Me? I was trying—I did— save dragon kind!”

“What happened to the seneschals, Rhea?” said Tem coldly.

Rhea studied her nails casually. “What needed to be done…”

“What happened to the seneschals, Rhea?!” Tem shouted.

“We killed them,” said a deeper voice. Tem and Astrid turned their heads to see Calvin standing in the doorway of Astrid’s room.

“Believe me, had I realized that you were coming here, I would have stopped you if I could.”

“What are you doing, Captain?” said Rhea in a warning voice. 

“Telling the story we should have told the younger ones all along. Rhea is right. The seneschals and the dragon Lords grew too close. That was our fault.”

“Captain!”

“No, Rhea. You see what happens when you hide things. The ability to become a seneschal is too deeply buried in their DNA for us to have killed off all of it.”

“You, Calvin?” said Tem. “You participated in the slaughter?”

“I did what my Queen commanded me to do. But Tem is right, Rhea. We became murderers of humans and we lost our conduits to the human world. We did do more harm than good.”

“I knew you were cold-blooded Rhea,” spat Tem, “but murdering innocent humans?”

“They were not innocent!” Rhea raged. “They broke our laws and consorted with their dragons.”

“Not all of them,” said Calvin gently.

“Enough of them! Enough to pollute our gene pool! How long will dragons continue to be dragons id we mate freely with that?”

Rhea pointed to Astrid, who drew closer to Tem. Astrid grew afraid despite Tem’s closeness because she did not know what the dragon Queen would do.

“Be careful,” growled Tem. “You know nothing about Astrid.”

“She’s human! That’s all I need to know! Guards!” she screamed, “arrest him.”

Tem pushed Astrid to the bed. “Stay down!” he hissed as a stream of dragons rushed in and surrounded Tem. Astrid looked around for a weapon to use, but there was nothing. It hit Astrid that Rhea had given her a room so bare that it contained nothing, not a lamp, or statue, or even a bowl of fruit, which could be used as a weapon. She might be able to use the bed sheet, but she was using that to cover her body. But it looked like things were happening quickly and she needed to be prepared. She fumbled for her dress, which had fallen under the bed, and dressed quickly while she watched the tight tableau unfolding before her.

The guards stood before Tem as if they didn’t know what to do despite their Queen’s demands. Astrid gathered that they had a healthy respect for Tem’s battle abilities.

“Arrest him,” demanded Rhea. Her face was tight with anger and she was visibly shaken.

“Come on, men. Arrest your general,” taunted Tem.

General? Astrid sucked in a deep breath. Tem was the dragon’s military leader? What else did Astrid not know about Tem?

“Tem!” protested Calvin. “You can’t expect them to choose between you and their Queen.”

“Why not? Do we not expect our leader to act in the best interests of us all? She failed that.”

“Tem,” warned Calvin. “Even I can’t make that choice.”

“I think,” growled Tem, “you’ve made your choice. Astrid.” He held out his hand to hers. “We’re leaving.”

Tem pushed past the soldiers with Astrid in tow.

“No!” screamed Rhea. “You will not leave.”

The dragon Queen grabbed Astrid’s arm and pulled. Tem whirled and pushed Rhea angrily away. Rhea stumbled, fell to the floor and the guards, seeing the assault on their Queen, rushed Tem.

Things happened very quickly and Astrid stood in the center of the storm. Calvin helped Rhea to her feet. Tem fought the guards that had fallen on him. His arms and legs were a rapid blur as he tried to hold his ground against desperate odds. But there was only one of him and twenty dragon soldiers and when he felled one man, two more were on him.

“Astrid, run!” he called. But in the split second in which she tried to decide whether to obey or stay, strong arms gripped hers. Heart hammering in her chest, she tried to pull away.

“Stand still, human,” hissed Rhea Gentrix, “and I will not harm you. But move and I will be happy to.”

Astrid swallowed hard as Rhea’s nails pressed painfully into her skin. Her heart sank as she saw several guards grab hold of Tem as he struggled and some others deliver painful blows to his midsection.

“Let go of me!” he roared in a voice that shook the walls.

“Captain,” said Rhea.

Calvin stepped forward. In his hands were two wide bracers and from their dull gray color, Astrid deduced they were iron.

“No!” cried Astrid.

“Quiet!” snapped Rhea. She grasped the back of Astrid’s uniform in her steely fingers and dragged Astrid toward the door.

Astrid flailed her arms trying to gain purchase against the dragon Queen, but Rhea was far stronger than she looked.

“Tem!” she cried when she saw Calvin snapping one iron bracer around Tem’s forearm and then the other. Astrid caught Tem’s eyes, which were filled with a look of betrayal and defeat.

“No! No! No!” screamed Astrid as Rhea dragged her out of the room and roughly down the hall until they came to a section of portico that looked out over the wide courtyard.

“Shut up!” shouted Rhea. She turned Astrid to face her and roughly backhanded her. Pain shot though Astrid’s jaw. She saw stars and then the world went black.