She stepped off the ramp and onto a world she could hardly comprehend. It was so different, so foreign, and Adelina had to stop to take it all in. Hai Delta was dark and gloomy with roiling red clouds in the sky. There was no greenery to be seen anywhere and the buildings were cut and carved into the stone of a mountain. A rock bridge connected the landing station to what appeared to be some kind of eyrie castle.

Glancing down Adelina could see nothing but brown, barren and rocky ground…so very far down. Adelina supposed the height didn’t matter if one could fly. There was no obvious tech she could see and they even had fires burning as light. But just because she couldn’t see it didn’t mean it wasn’t there.

It was like nothing she could have ever imagined. All her cycles of study could never have prepared her for this. There had been no descriptions of the planets, only the brief mention of the number of them and their names. A few texts had mentioned royal houses that ruled the various planets as well as the two that were ruled by the Unchanged.

A place of gloom and fire and rock somehow seemed to fit.

Adelina had finally made it – she’d done what she’d set out to do – accomplished a dream she’d never thought she would see become reality. It was a bit overwhelming, but she had to push down the small feeling of pride, the wonder, and the nerves at a place so new and unfamiliar.

It was time to get to work.

Adelina glanced back at Varan, keeping any emotion from her face, and he nodded. She studied him, noting the sweat on his forehead and his determined expression. She was so worried, yet she believed in him completely. No matter what happened, she would keep him safe. Adelina only hoped he knew it.

As she considered the carved stone castle before her, Adelina tried to figure out the best mask to wear for these vicious warriors. No doubt they would only respect strength…what was that expression Raena had used so effectively before she’d lost all control, when her sister had been nothing more than a strong queen and not a power hungry one? Adelina pursed her full lips, painted a dark, burgundy color, and then narrowed her eyes ever so slightly, keeping her chin up.

She was the heir and she would demand that recognition.

Males with wings approached her from the castle and she strode out to meet them. Kaiden’s black wings and blue iridescence blended into the dark stone of the mountain and he was barely more than a shadow with his brown skin. He was death incarnate and Adelina felt that flutter in her stomach as they grew closer.

She had to remind herself they were brutes, vicious and cruel – or so the reports all said. But as she studied them it didn’t ring true.

Kaiden was taller than the Corinthians. Even with her heeled boots she had to crane her head to look up at him when he stopped with only a breath between them, closer than was appropriate. With a small smile Kaiden took her golden hand and stepped back to bow low, pressing a kiss to her knuckles.

Her heart leapt into her throat. Adelina hadn’t known what to expect, but such a warm greeting certainly wasn’t it. It took everything she had not to glance back at Varan. Was this where he’d gotten that strange custom?

“Princess Adelina, Heir to the Draga throne, I acknowledge your strength and power,” Kaiden said, his voice booming over the rock. “Please let me assist you to the Council.”

Those words in that deep voice rattled her. Kaiden had practically handed his soul to her on a silver platter, or at least in Draga he had. She wasn’t sure what those words might mean to him in his culture.

Everything she’d heard about the Drakesthai, the rumors and speculation – none of it fit the male she saw before her. It made Adelina wonder what else they’d been wrong about. “Prince Kaiden,” she said in Drakesthai, pulling her hand back. “I appreciate the escort.”

She could feel Varan slightly behind her, and she was aware of her guards he’d brought with them, the skill he and Roxy possessed, and the beautiful little package Nadyah came in. No one would know what she was capable of except Nash. Adelina felt stronger with them at her back – protected.

It gave her the strength and courage to be who she needed to be for the upcoming events. They had to feel out the situation, pick the best route to take – after days of planning for multiple outcomes they had signals and cues.

All the preparation helped ease some of her nervous hysteria waiting on the edge for her to trip and fall so it could pounce.

She smiled politely at the dragon prince and clasped her hands before her. Kaiden nodded, appearing to recognize her discomfort as he took another step back. He signaled to the other two and they led the way to the castle carved into the mountain.

Adelina couldn’t help but admire Kaiden’s wings as they walked. So many cycles of study and discussions with two other scholars – and here she was, on the capitol planet of the Hai Galaxy, following an actual Drakesthai. He looked healthy enough despite the reports they’d died out at some point, but they’d been wrong about that too when a traveler had been forcefully returned to the Draga Galaxy.

Nothing she’d read seemed to be accurate. At least the language was mostly correct as he’d been able to understand her and she him.

“Adelina!”

Instantly she froze, recognizing that voice.

“Adelina!” Nash called again.

Kaiden glanced back at her and noticed her hesitation. Varan took her hand and squeezed in reassurance and then released, taking a step back so she was front and center. He was there for her if she needed, but knew she had to do this alone.

Adelina threw her shoulders back and clasped her hands before her at waist height again, watching as Nash crossed that narrow bridge from the eyrie castle. Her heart was pounding and her breathing short. Goddess it had been so long, and she was so nervous she felt sick to her stomach. So much had changed…

But the Corinthian prince was just as large as she remembered. Somehow his strange red, yellow, and green eyes of aapoak looked right against the dark, flaming backdrop of Hai Delta. His powerful shoulders were encased in that Kharan armor and he looked every inch the battle-hardened warrior.

When he spotted her Nash closed the distance between them so fast she gasped when his hands went around her waist. He lifted her up in a hearty hug that broke every rule of protocol, but it made Adelina smile.

Being in his arms felt so right and she realized just how much she’d missed him when that pain in her chest finally eased. Adelina had become so used to it over the last few weeks she hadn’t even noticed it until it was gone. The relief was overwhelming and it made her lightheaded as she smiled down at Nash.

The love on his face – and the sheer relief, it matched her own and Adelina was so thankful he still had feelings for her after the time apart.

Nash set her down and held her face, staring at her and the intensity of it made her breath catch. Then he kissed her.

His lips on hers felt so perfect. The passion Nash infused into that kiss filled her with love and desperation. His tongue flirted with hers and left her breathless. Adelina had to hold on as she lost all sense of place and purpose.

Goddess, she’d missed him.

The taste of him was fire and passion and spice. Adelina gripped his shoulders and breathed him in, feeling that incessant ache in her chest finally ease.

Until Nash yanked back with a frown on his face. “Your scent is different.” Then he really saw her.

Nash took a step back and Adelina felt cold when his warmth left her, but she’d expected this to some degree. “You don’t smell like jasmine, you smell like…” Then his eyes flicked to Varan. His nostrils flared as he scented them both. “Why do you and the thief have the same scent?”

Adelina let one hand fall to her side and kept the other at waist height, palm up as she’d seen Raena do. She’d always thought it looked so powerful, yet elegant.

She didn’t really understand Nash’s question as one’s scent never changed outside the courtesans, but she ignored that for the moment and let him notice the other differences in her before she responded. His eyes flicked to the new tattoo framing the underside of her breasts and Nash’s frown deepened, no doubt remembering the placement had been forbidden. Adelina was no longer the shy princess everyone ordered around.

“Prince Nash, I’d like to introduce you to my husband, Prince Varan.”

Kaiden’s laughing smile in the corner of her eye irritated her. Adelina spared him a withering look before turning back to Nash.

Prince Nash looked down at her hand and noted the fat, emerald-cut diamond there, and then the ring on Varan’s finger. The intensity of the anger that flashed through him made her wince, but Adelina hid it expertly by adjusting her signet ring.

“I’m relieved you’re alive and well,” she said with a gentle tone. Goddess, she was so glad to see him and Adelina wished she could take his hand so she could explain everything. She’d hoped for more time, for a moment before they spoke to the Council, but with Prince Kaiden and the other Drakesthai watching she couldn’t let her guard down.

Nash deserved so much more than a paltry introduction.

“A pleasure, I’m sure,” Nash finally said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “The Council has been waiting for your arrival before they deign to answer my request. Perhaps now that you’re finally here we can get on with the business of war.”

The Corinthian prince stalked back to the castle and Adelina sighed. This was not how she’d wanted their reunion to go. But Nash had never been simple. He’d been a chaotic whirlwind ready to tear her apart from the moment she’d laid eyes on him in the council room on Draga Terra.

Adelina had yet to find out if the sundering of her soul benefited her or not. All Nash had done was steal her heart and rip it to pieces so he could put it back in a way that suited him. She’d been his from the very beginning, but how to explain to him her heart was bigger than expected? That she could truly love both him and Varan?

“I apologize, Prince Kaiden. Please, take us to the Council.”

Kaiden stayed by her side this time, and Varan came up on her other side. Adelina felt coveted and protected somehow by the both of them. It eased the cold Nash had left in his wake. She tucked her hands in her pockets to hide the shaking, but still both males noticed. Varan walked so his shoulder was pressed to hers and Kaiden’s wings spread, protecting both her and Varan from the wind.

“It’s odd the prince seems so disappointed,” Kaiden said gently, softly in that lilting accent of his. “All Drakesthai females have three mates minimum, but usually more. Is he disappointed he was not the first?”

Adelina eyed the dragon prince and noted his protective stance. He was definitely submissive, but it was difficult to tell how much so when he smelled like nothing to her nose. All Adelina could scent was the fire and smoke and rock. He was definitely not vicious and cruel as all the reports had said. It made her question everything.

“I assume so,” Adelina admitted. “Prince Nash believes he is the most dominant, and that I must not love him because I love Varan. They only have one…mate, in the Khara Galaxy for the most part.” It was strange to say mate and not have it mean something so secretive and clandestine.

“Strange,” Kaiden said with a small frown. “Females start to bond with each of their mates once they scent each other. It is not her fault when that happens. Though with the Unchanged it is different. They only bond with one male if the genetics line up.”

Adelina glanced up at the dragon prince. Somehow it was easy to talk to Kaiden, and he was so open with her. It was a bit odd, but she was also glad to finally get some answers from the source.

“Multiple mate bonds? That is a fascinating concept. We do not have mate bonds in Draga.”

That wasn’t necessarily true, but Adelina wasn’t ready to have that conversation yet. Technically she wasn’t even supposed to know about the courtesan mate bond. If their two people could ally, Adelina would set Ian to finding some answers as to why the Drakesthai and the Kalans in Draga were so similar – despite their differences in appendages.

Prince Kaiden shrugged and gave her a smile before he took the lead once more.

When Varan offered her his arm she took it gladly. The familiarity of protocol was a crutch she needed at the moment as the eyrie castle loomed above them. Kaiden walked them through the massive gates where Nash had already disappeared. The dragon prince was silent when they entered.

Varan’s eyes flicked everywhere and she felt Nadyah behind her, guarding her back. The guards were on alert, but they took in everything as the rock and mountain weighed heavily above them.

Adelina was grateful for her thick coat as the chill grew deeper even without the wind. Kaiden tucked his wings back into his body and she missed their protection instantly. Adelina scoffed. A beautiful winged male and suddenly she was beside herself. It was difficult not to roll her eyes at her own ridiculousness.

Varan chuckled beside her and she eyed him, eyebrow raised. Her husband couldn’t hide the laughter in his eyes. “I should have known something so shiny would be irresistible to my jewel thief.”

Adelina tried to hide her smile and poked Varan in the ribs before she leaned into him in thanks. His love and acceptance had no bounds. The goddess had truly blessed her when she’d crossed their paths.

Then the stone corridor opened up into a main foyer larger even than the one in the Draga Palace.

Adelina stopped when she saw Nash with someone she didn’t recognize, but would bet her life was the Princess Kaita. The female had a wildness about her that set Adelina’s teeth on edge. She was so much like Nash – yet not.

Her blonde hair was nearly white and worn in long braids. The pink eyes were rosy and gorgeous like morganite, but it was the tattoos on her face, on her arms in a sleeveless vest that made Adelina wary. She even carried double plasma blades on her back – a warrior through and through.

Somehow she made Adelina feel like a little girl playing dress up. If it came down to it Princess Kaita could end her with barely a thought and the way she glared at Adelina, Nash had told her about Varan.

“Darling, you possess more dominance than she does, keep that in mind,” Varan whispered in her ear.

“As do you, Prince,” she murmured back.

“I don’t like the way she looks at you,” Nadyah hissed.

“Calm down,” Roxy snapped, her words an angry whisper. “It seems we’re about to receive an audience.”

Adelina squared her shoulders once more when Kaiden approached. “The Council is ready,” he told them. His wings were one among many and Adelina refused to let her eyes wander even if the Drakesthai stared at her.

Her heels clicked as she strode after Kaiden with Varan at her side, his hands in his pockets and that lazy, bored smile on his face. Varan was ready to take whatever eyes necessary and Nadyah looked graceful…so deceptively gentle that Adelina knew her knives were close by. Roxy had a tool on her belt – the goddess only knew what it did, but Adelina didn’t doubt it could remove some essential body part or another.

Over the last few days they’d discussed in great detail the parts they would play, the cards they would keep to their chest and the ones they would reveal. From all her research Adelina had bet that medicine would bring the Drakesthai to her cause. No one knew why, but they weren’t reproducing and if she could solve that problem…

Then Adelina would have another army to fight the Neprijat monsters with.

If the Drakesthai didn’t want that then she had a thousand other offers thanks to Giselle. Varan had gone through the inventory and compared it to the very little intel he’d accumulated over the cycles and ranked it all from what the Drakesthai would be the most interested in, to the least.

The doors to the Council room opened and Adelina paused on the threshold, taking it in. Yes, it was partially for dramatic effect as she released her claws and canines, and partially to allow her husband and inner circle to scout the space.

It was more of a cavern than a room, hewn into the stone and rock in a circular shape. Pillars framed them with magnificent carvings and embedded jewels. Adelina refused to admire the work even though she was intrigued.

The Council sat on chairs that were set in a circle as well, smaller but mirroring the room. There was a small crystal pool of water in the very center that gathered from the occasional drip from the ceiling. It was a cave almost with the way the stone spired down from the ceiling like Adelina had seen icicles do.

There were only three females of the Council and the rest were males, their wings draping behind the backless chairs. Adelina did a double take when she realized the females didn’t possess wings. She filed that away to ask about later.

Satisfied with what she’d gleaned Adelina strode forward, aware of the way Nash watched her, slightly behind her party with Kaita.

When she reached the bottom of the circle so to speak, she was alone. Varan, Nadyah, and Roxy stayed behind her with Nash and Kaita, and her guards were outside the Council room. Then she bowed as a princess to a prince – equal rank to everyone present.

From all her studies there was no one ruler. The Drakesthai didn’t possess a king or queen like her people the Kalans, or Nash’s the Corinthians. But there was a House for each Drakesthai planet with a ruling family. They were all princes and princesses as Nash’s people were, but they ruled together through a type of democracy while they waited for their queen.

There was a lot of lore and speculation about the fated Drakesthai queen that Adelina didn’t really understand, but the dragons had been waiting for her for over six hundred cycles.

When Adelina straightened she met each of the Council’s eyes. “Thank you for allowing me to cross the border for the first time in generations,” she said clearly in the Drakesthai tongue, trying not to think about her obvious accent. “I have brought a gift.”

She pulled the heavy piece from her coat pocket and inspected the gem that was larger than her hand. The gem itself grew out of the rock in shooting sprays, so beautiful and raw. “The aquamarine grows out of granite in Draga when combined with magma deep beneath the surface. It shoots out in these wondrous columns. In the Draga Galaxy the aquamarine stands for peace, communication, and empowerment. A gift from me personally to the Drakesthai.”

Kaiden bowed and took the rock with the gems from her. “We accept your gift, Princess.”

It had taken some digging to find such a beautiful, raw specimen, but Adelina had known the gesture would matter. “I am here to request your assistance. A trade,” she stated. Adelina didn’t raise her voice, but she used the acoustics to her advantage. She was not there to beg.

Five pairs of wings rustled. Then the oldest male stood and stopped at the opposite side of the pool than she.

“I am Prince Rykian of House Obsidian, the ruling family of Hai Delta. While we respect your reason for seeking us out I do not believe you understand our position,” the male said in Dragan. He was about the same height as Kaiden, and just as built. But there were a few wrinkles on his face, and a salt and pepper beard to match his hair. Adelina had no idea how old he was just by looking at him, but she would guess he was older than her father had been, goddess protect his soul.

“Then why did you allow me to cross the border? Why did you send Prince Kaiden to escort me to your capitol?” Adelina asked. She stood with her back straight and clasped her hands before her at waist height. “Clearly there is something you wanted from me.”

Her direct question made the older prince pause and really look at her. Then he turned with a hand pointed at Nash. “When the Kharan prince first approached us he demanded we allow him within our borders so he may gather what remained of his people. If we did not he would start another war.”

Adelina closed her eyes for a brief moment. Sweet fate, Nash had the finesse of an avalanche. Of course he would start the conversation with threats and demands. She allowed herself a small glance at him and he caught her look. Nash shrugged, but he didn’t smile. He was still furious about Varan.

“We allowed him to search for his people with an escort despite the risk it would be with our Neprijat overlords. We rule our space for the most part and they only check in every few months. If another wanted to risk their lives and their people to destroy the creatures, we were fine with that and would not stand in their way.”

The prince walked around the amethyst pool slowly as he studied her. “My people are dying,” Prince Rykian stated. “It is why we ceded to Neprijat rule lest we be wiped from the universe completely. They allow us our Council, but we answer to them. For us to join this war we need to know there will be victory, that there will be a solution to our problem.”

Still Adelina said nothing as she waited for the real reason they let her in.

Rykian nodded when he saw the resolution and patience on her face, a bit of respect showing through his stern look. “At first we required that the Prince Nash leave after his search, but he told us about the youngest princess of Draga – how she was different than the other royals…how she’d studied our people her entire life in a futile hope to one day create peace between our two peoples. We decided it was worth the risk to meet you – to put aside our past to see if you could truly deliver what Nash promised.”

He stopped a margin away from her, almost a challenge with how close he stood. Adelina eyed him and wondered if the lack of personal space was a part of the Drakesthai culture, or if they were using it as an intimidation tactic.

“Prince Nash asked for an alliance and when we denied him he told us of what you planned to offer,” Rykian told her as he waved his hand dismissively at Prince Nash and Princess Kaita. “A cure to our infertility. The same infertility created by Draga.”

Rykian and the entire Council waited for her response to this revelation.

Adelina didn’t dare look away from the prince and cede dominance to him. She had to gather her wits and figure out what in all the hells these people were saying.

Somehow the Drakesthai blamed her people for their fate. Goddess, help her.