Tem

 

woke with his ears ringing and every muscle in his body screaming. He sat dully in the dark space he occupied and worked to piece together what had happened.

Rhea. Oh yeah. He remembered the look on the ancient dragonesses’ face as she watched him beaten by his own soldiers. It was a moment of victory for her, but one Tem intended wouldn’t last long.

Astrid. Oh, god, Astrid. The fear and pain in her face as that witch of a vixen laid hands on her and dragged her away would haunt Tem to the end of his days.

Tem tried to stand, but found to his consternation that the thick bands on his forearms were locked to the chair in which he sat. The iron bands, bracers as they were more properly called, restricted his ability to shift.

“Damn you, Rhea Gentrix.”

He was worried about Astrid and what the dragon Queen would do to her.

Astrid.

He called to her in his mind, but she did not answer. Immediately he was concerned. Had Gentrix done what she promised? Had she dissolved the bond between him and Astrid?

Tem didn’t know that such things were possible, but then apparently Rhea had hidden much information from them.

Rhea considered mating bonds a danger to dragons? Why? Did it have anything to do with her breeding program? That made some sense, but there had to be more to it than that. Rhea had always hidden the bulk of the knowledge about mating bonds from the dragons. Why? There was a deeper secret here. Tem was sure of it.

But all he had were questions and an ache in his heart because he was separated from Astrid. That was far worse than the pain in his body, because those would heal. He suspected the longer he and Astrid were apart, the more the ache could grow.

You are right about that.

Rhea! Damn it! She was in his head.

And outside the door.

The locks clinked and the door creaked open. Rhea entered holding a lantern that she hung on a hook by the door. It cast a faint light, just enough for Tem to see he was in a small bare cell. Even if he didn’t have the bracers on, he’d never have been able to shift in this size room.

His chair, he saw, was pushed against the furthest wall, which explained the chill at his back. To his right there was a sleeping platform of the same gray rock that made the walls of his cell.

Rhea stood at the doorway and regarded Tem with cold, glittering eyes.

“I should have you killed,” she said.

“Why not? That seems to be the theme of the day. Everyone wants me dead.”

“That is not true. Tem. I don’t want you dead. I just want you obedient.”

Tem twisted his palms upward. “How’s that working for you?”

“You are a stubborn dragon,” she said taking a step closer.

“What do you want, Rhea?”

“What I said.”

“Not happening. Where’s Astrid? Because if you’ve harmed her, when I get free, I will kill you.”

Rhea asked. “Obviously, she is alive and well. You’d be dead otherwise.  A mate bond is nothing to fool with, Tem. A human. How could you?  How long could she live? Another sixty years perhaps. And then where would that leave you. Why would you give up your immortality for a human?”

“Life means nothing with her.” In his heart he knew it was true, realized it the moment he put his claiming mark on her.

“Ah,” she said pacing the small cell. “That is where you are wrong. The war with the humans is coming Tem. It was foretold years ago. But to win it I needed my general, and when you were born, I knew it was you. You were always the strongest male, the one the other dragons followed easily.”

“Obviously, not so much now.”

“That is because you laid hands on me and no dragon can stand to see that. But I can forgive that. I need my general, Tem. I need the man that the dragons will follow into battle. I won’t give you up to a silly headed piece of fluff.”

“So you’ll do what you claimed? Destroy our mating bond?” Tem spoke his words scornfully. He had hoped that was an empty claim, but he never did know Rhea to make pronouncements she could not fill.

“I will,” she said with an infuriating lightness in her voice. “I’ve done it before. And the moon is right for it tonight, so we’ll do it then. In the courtyard.”

“What do you mean?”

“All the dragons here will be there. I will perform the ceremony. When it is done, you won’t even remember her.”

Tem rattled his braces linked to his chair.

“You will regret this, Rhea. I don’t care who the fuck you are.”

Rhea scoffed. “You will.” She turned her back on him, lifted the lantern from its hook and left the room. The door clanged shut and Tem was left alone in the dark.

What made him think it was a good idea to come here? Clearly, he had misjudged the whole situation. And what were these prophecies she talked about?

Tem roared with frustration. He needed to get out of here and find Astrid. Rhea wouldn’t stop at erasing their bond, if indeed she could do that. No. Once she was sure that their bond was broken, she’d kill Astrid, just as she had killed the other seneschals.

The sun came up and sent slices of light across the floor from the wind behind him. But the light did not cheer him. Shackled yet again, after being released from a two and half decades long imprisonment, and unable to protect Astrid, his heart was dark with his own failings. He would never forgive himself if something happened to her.

He roared again, but his frustrated vocalizations only rang emptily around the stonewalls of his prison. Tem vowed to find a way to punish Rhea Gentry, mother or no.

The shadows lengthening on the stone floor was all that marked the passage of time. No one came to the cell, offered food, or even clothes. He was still naked and he supposed that Rhea wanted to humiliate him for disobeying her.

It only made him angrier.

Finally, the cell fell into total darkness and grew cold while anger blazed in his heart. He resolved that whoever came through that door would have a very bad time of it when they released the shackles from the chair.

The door opened with a creak and Tem was ready to fight. But he was surprised to see Reanne peak in then enter the cell.

“Are you taking me to the ceremony?”

Reanne hiked the lantern onto the hook by the door, just as her mother had hours before.

“No. I’m supposed to talk some sense into you.”

“She’s so sure she can break my bond with Astrid,” he said bitterly.

“No, she’s not. The spell she wants to use is an ancient one for when a dragon is grieving to death over the loss of a mate. It works best if she has consent. She doesn’t have it, does she?”

“Absolutely not.”

“I’m afraid, Tem. She wants a war with the humans. She doesn’t know how they’ve changed, the weapons they have. My mother will doom us all to death. And I don’t want to die.”

Reanne pulled a key from a pocket from within her robe. With shaky hands she unlocked Tem’s iron braces. He pulled his arms free and shook them.

“You’ve taken a big risk here,” he said.

“No. I haven’t. You go, and get Astrid and get as far away from us as you can. Rhea will think twice about going to war with the humans if you aren’t there to lead the troops. Here.”

She slung a pack off her back and handed it to Tem.

“Clothes, for when you need them. Now make it look good.”

Reanne stood straight with her shoulders back.

“Make what look good?” asked Tem. He suspected what she wanted but he was loathed to do it.

“Make it look like you’ve overpowered me. Strike me on the chin so I pass out.”

“Reanne, I can’t do that.”

“If you want to protect me, you will. If I have bruises she’ll believe my story, at least until you are far enough away to be safe.”

“Where’s Astrid?”

“England. Rhea ordered Calvin to take her there and when he got the word, kill her.”

“Damn her,” muttered Tem.

“Yeah. Mother is a real piece of work. So it’s time for you to go, Tem. Get to it. Strike me. It is the only way to protect me.”