Tobias sat on a stone bench at the mouth of the royal archives. No matter what he yearned for, he didn’t have time to wander the massive maze of papers and books containing the history and activities of the Dragon Court since the Handmaiden had created it— Okay, maybe it didn’t hold the entire history and activities. The previous chamberlain hadn’t been as fastidious as Tobias about recordkeeping, probably because the paperwork hadn’t been his hoard. But for Tobias, this was his hoard, even if he knew it wasn’t actually his.

Yes, he journaled every day and kept those pages in a vault in his suite, and that was his real hoard, but the records from the Chamberlain’s Office had somehow become an extension of his collection. It didn’t matter that they weren’t really his. His impulse to collect records, keep a history, surround himself with truths, facts, and minute details, made him crave them. He’d been chamberlain for over eight hundred years, had handled millions of records and reports during his tenure, and he had no intention of stepping down. They were his.

The problem, however, lay with his intention of remaining Court Chamberlain. It was becoming increasingly dangerous to stay in the Royal Coterie’s employ, and that included danger — perhaps the biggest danger — from his doyen, Prince Regis.

“Thinking that again?” Ophelia eased from the shadows of the farthest passage, one of five connecting this modest entrance, with its three simple benches, to the maze beyond. With her dark skin, hair, and clothes, she could have been standing in that shadow for as long as he’d been sitting on the bench and he wouldn’t have noticed her. She’d even confessed that she possessed the ability to mute her aura, making her harder to detect and appear younger and weaker — not that he could see auras and prove her claim. But no doubt that kind of ability gave her an advantage in her position as head of Internal Inspection.

She sat on the bench opposite him and met his gaze, a hint of a challenge in her eyes, but not the kind that said she wanted his job… or him. “If you leave, the rest of us will be in danger.”

And while his second-in-command could manage the day-to-day business of running Court — finances, food, maintenance, etc — he had no experience with Tobias’s responsibilities with maintaining dragon security — liaising with all the doyens and their heads of coterie security, handling disputes, arranging replacement vessels and new identities, as well as top-level dragon security. No other dragon was capable of handling the chamberlain’s responsibilities, and the Dragon Court would fall into disarray if he left without preparing a successor.

Except Court was already in disarray, and there wasn’t anything he could do to fix it. Even sitting near his unofficial hoard wasn’t helping to ease his worry or inspire a solution.

“I doubt you’ll be in danger,” he said.

“No one really likes to think about Internal Investigations.” She offered a half shrug. “I’m sure I’ll be the last to be noticed. No, I was thinking about Vessel Appropriations, Security, Maintenance, that new secretary… what is his name?”

“Xiphos.” A young yellow drake who’d recently changed allegiance to the royal coterie from the Minor Yellow in hopes of advancing his position in Court. Too bad he’d made the switch a mere fifty years before things started going south.

“What about your Clean Teams? Capri won’t be able to keep her change of allegiance a secret forever.”

“Capri hasn’t changed coteries.” Although he’d been suspecting she had for a few weeks now. He just didn’t know who her new doyen was or why the change.

Ophelia cocked an eyebrow, reminding him with one simple action that it was foolish to deny anything to a drake who could always, whether she wanted to or not, hear peoples’ thoughts.

“Has she thrown in with Hunter?” If Hunter raised his banner as doyen of a new coterie, that might solve all of Tobias’s problems. He didn’t need Ophelia’s reports to guess that dragons of all colors would leave their coteries to support the only dragon able to take dragon form. Only the Traditionalists would stand against him because of his human sorcerer inamorata.

“Hunter will never proclaim himself a doyen and take the throne.”

“A dragon can hope, can’t he?” He’d liked working with Hunter, even if the red drake had been terse with all his reports and paperwork. As prince’s assassin, he’d gotten the job done with as little fuss as possible and hadn’t gotten involved in politics — which, with the enormous power of the rebirth medallion in his possession, he could have. It had only been recently that Hunter had created problems, and even then, he’d been in reaction to Zenobia’s attempt to oust Regis.

“Hoping Hunter will change his color won’t solve the immediate problem.” Ophelia sat forward. “I’ve searched all of Court. There’s nothing to indicate what happened to King Constantine and no one’s thinking about having disposed of his body.”

“And you’re still getting mixed messages from Regis?” Last time they’d talked, Ophelia hadn’t been able to tell if Regis had murdered his father or had just wanted to.

“I still can’t confirm anything from Regis. His thoughts are getting worse. His soul sickness is progressing faster than his father’s.”

“I’d hoped we’d have more time.” Tobias slid his gaze to the aisle behind Ophelia. “More time to convince Hunter to step up, and get at least one Traditionalist to change his mind about him and add in support.”

“After Zenobia’s coup, getting any Traditionalist to change his or her mind in the next hundred or so years about a human sorcerer, even if she’s somehow inamorated to a dragon, is going to be tough.” Ophelia rubbed her temples. “We don’t have that kind of time.”

“I know.” Mother, he needed to come up with a solution fast or more dragon souls would be forever lost to the universal ether. “Pike’s report about the Major Green Coterie might have indicated everything is under control, but even I can see factions forming in his membership. If he doesn’t step up and regain control, or step down and give leadership to a stronger drake, fighting will begin.”

“It already has.”

“Shit. Why haven’t I been told about this?”

“Pike’s coterie security got to the scene of the assassination and cleaned up before anyone noticed. The Asian Clean Team wasn’t notified. What I can garner from Pike’s Second is that five green drakes who were suspected of starting a faction against Pike were murdered.”

“Just great.” Not only was his prince torturing dragons indiscriminately, doyens were murdering their own coterie members in their determination to maintain control.

“It gets better. I’m hearing whispers that members of the Sect of the Divine Mother are planning something, but so far I don’t know any of the specifics.”

“Wonderful. We need more information on that. If drakes are angry now, they’re going to get furious when Regis starts enforcing his decree that all dragons return to Court. I’ve been instructed to assemble a retrieval squad, using the most powerful dragons from royal security, and have been given authority to use any force necessary, even if that means losing dragon souls.”

Ophelia swore. “We can’t wait for the Handmaiden’s return. We’re going to have to do something, pick someone, and force them to take the throne.”

Mother of All, why had she left? Except what his soul really wanted the answer to was why she’d left him? He’d thought— No, it had merely been a hope that they’d been friends. He had no proof either way.

If he was honest with himself, he wasn’t sure he’d ever seen the real Handmaiden, even when he’d stopped by her chambers to fill her in on the happenings at Court and she’d invited him in for tea. Perhaps all he’d ever seen was a slightly softer version of the mask she wore in public.

Sure, he believed she didn’t invite many dragons into her inner chambers, but that didn’t mean his invitation had meant something different or that his information about her habits were correct. What did he really know about her? Clearly not enough, since he had no idea she’d planned to leave.

“And now you’re thinking that,” Ophelia said, the concern in her gaze belying the boredom of her tone.

“Well, I’m pissed.”

“Doesn’t sound like it to me.”

“You’re not listening right. She had to have known Regis was soul sick. She has a full sorcerer’s power and can cast an auger spell.” Maybe if he focused on being abandoned, that would ignite his missing fury. He wasn’t some child abandoned by a parent. He was an ancient black dragon. He’d seen things, done things. A colleague leaving without notice when the situation was about to become dire shouldn’t make him worried. It should make him furious.

Ophelia pursed her lips.

“Yeah, I know,” he said. “That’s the root of the problem.”

“You’re not furious at her.”

“I’m scared for her.”

“She’s disappeared before. When Regis took the throne from Constantine.”

“There was a clear line of succession. The kind of upheaval happening then is nothing to what we’re facing now. And knowing what we went through with her absence during that, I doubt she’d willingly leave now.” There had to be a good reason for the Handmaiden to just up and leave, and if she was in trouble, then who ruled the dragon throne was insignificant to what was coming. With Grey and Ivy having recovered the rebirth coin and Hunter inamorated to a full sorcerer likely able to cast the rebirth spell, dragonkind might be able to survive without the Handmaiden, but it wouldn’t be easy, and many drakes would rebel.

“She’ll come back.”

“Mother, I hope so.” And it was his job to hold it all together until she did… if he didn’t get caught in the political crossfire.