Adelina carefully kept her expression blank and a bit contemplative to hide the shock at Prince Rykian’s statement. Her people were the cause of the Drakesthai’s infertility?

Before jumping to Draga’s defense she had to know everything. Her people knew so very little about the Drakesthai and most of what she’d read about their countenance had been wrong. Prince Kaiden had been nothing but kind to her and he didn’t even know her – and apparently he believed her people were responsible for this terrible thing.

It told Adelina much about Kaiden and his people that despite everything they were willing to meet with her – for hope.

Everyone stared at her and she tried to ignore the nerves she felt creeping up. Slowly she breathed in and then out while the older male let his words sink in. She waited him out, waited for him to reveal what she needed to know so she could plan her next move. Adelina had practiced for days. She could do this.

Adelina slowly clasped her hands at waist height, flourishing her black lacquer claws as she did so. All eyes went to the sharp tips and she felt them stir with apprehension. “I do not deny the truth of your statement, Prince Rykian, but I would like to inform you this is not in any records Draga possesses. If it were I would have pressed for a peaceful solution long ago…but I doubt you would have accepted a Dragan ambassador or envoy.”

Those odd grey eyes of his pierced her to her very soul. “We are not as simple as you think despite our physical strength. We count knowledge as one of the greatest treasures in our trove. While you may speak the truth, it does not change the facts.”

Adelina studied the Council, noting the three females. One was older, about the age of Prince Rykian. The second was perhaps as old as her mothers, and the third was young – close to Adelina’s own age most likely.

“Please explain it to me so I may fully understand,” Adelina said, speaking in Dragan for Varan and the others.

Prince Rykian walked around the pool, the drops of water loud in the silence of the cavern. “This is Kalene,” he said, holding out his hand for the youngest female. The beauty took the male’s hand and rose, her eyes still on the floor. “She is the last Dragon Princess of Hai. Only one female is born in each generation who can produce Drakesthai offspring. She is the only daughter of Serilda, and the last of her offspring,” he said, inclining his head to the oldest female. “And Tatsuo has only borne males thus far. The occasional Unchanged Human can bear a Drakesthai, but it is extremely rare. Yes, we are nearly as long lived as you are, but at this rate we will die out within the next generation or two.”

The way he assisted Kalene back into her chair, Adelina could see how precious these females were to the males. All male eyes were tender and protective when they fell on one of the three wingless females.

Her heart ached for these people. Adelina needed more answers. “And we’ve offered the chance to assist you many times over the cycles,” she stated. “Why have you closed your borders to us?”

Rykian didn’t answer her question, but another male shot to his feet. “You could not possibly understand.”

Adelina turned to him, keeping her expression calm when she felt her claws ache for flesh at the rudeness and accusation. So she smiled, revealing her long, sharp canines. The entire cavern recoiled except for her people. It only made her smile wider. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.”

“Prince Vasili of House Fyre, ruling family of Tainos.”

“You may call me Princess,” Adelina said, her smile widening as she enforced protocol.

Rykian shot Vasili a glare for his lack of manners but the young prince set his feet wide and flared his wings at her in anger. “Princess,” he spat. “Your people abandoned us after setting a disease rampant, sterilizing most of our males permanently. ‘Multiplied like vermin’ my father told me was the phrase used to describe us.”

Adelina bared her teeth at the accusation in his tone if not in his words – as though she were just as bad as the perpetrators.

Prince Kaiden stepped forward with a hand on Vasili’s shoulder before she could say anything in retaliation. “As you know I am Prince Kaiden of House Skye, ruling family of Anarr. We have documentation proving these incidents and are willing to share them with you. It has caused us cycles of problems,” he said, shooting Vasili a glare. “What Prince Vasili was trying to say was that we had no reason to trust those that came before. Why would these Kalans be any different than the ones who poisoned us? But Prince Nash told us about you, and we were willing to meet with you after hacking into your livestream. What we saw on the vid records about Princess Adelina was enough to convince the entire Council to at least give you a hearing.”

The others stayed quiet at his confession and Adelina felt her hands shake under their gazes – waiting to see what she had to say in response to all they’d revealed.

Adelina looked to the females. There was a pain written on their faces that she understood completely. Their worth was currently in the offspring they could produce – specifically female offspring who would help further the Drakesthai race…and they were unable to do so.

Kalene glanced up at Adelina and then quickly looked back down; horrified Adelina had caught her stealing a look. Goddess, this female was only a cycle or so younger than her. No doubt she wished for more out of her life than breeding.

But it wasn’t just the pain of freedom lost she saw on these females. It was the pain of wishing for children that would never come. There was also fear – miscarriages and birth were still deadly for them with so many complications. The wings in the womb had to make things a thousand times more difficult.

Adelina could help them. Perhaps not instantly, but the physicians in Draga were the best in four galaxies. Their research and breakthroughs were nearly unheard of anywhere else. They’d just created a vaccine to one of the last diseases that had no cure thanks to Ian. She had no doubt in her mind that she could fix what her people had done – and if not through reverse engineering then through discovering the original disease wrought upon these people through her investigation.

There was no doubt in her mind that what they said was true, even if she didn’t understand it. Why lie to her after decades of silence? But she needed more information to know how to help them.

“Princess Tatsuo, tell me what your opinion is on the matter?”

Nash shot her an annoyed look, but Adelina ignored him. She wanted answers. And she needed the female perspective on the matter so as to compare and understand the Drakesthai a bit better.

“If you could truly help us I’d be willing to overlook the transgression your people have committed against mine,” she sniffed. “You are not the one who poisoned us.”

Adelina unclasped her hands and flexed her fingers, looking up at the stone ceiling and its stalactites to regain control over the temper she felt rising at the female’s dismissive tone. “Please excuse my ignorance, but when did this transgression occur?”

Prince Rykian frowned as he studied her. There was a flash of something she couldn’t read in his eyes, but he wasn’t angry. The wariness she felt in him eased. “Two hundred cycles ago, after we helped King Beo fight back the Neprijat.”

Adelina went completely still as she took in his words…and the meaning. Everything she’d read during King Beo’s reign needed to be realigned. How was so much history missing from the textbooks? She glanced at Nash who seemed just as confused. Did the Corinthians not have any information in their digital records either?

She turned her gaze down into the crystal pool as she tried to gather her thoughts, studying the amethyst that so ironically matched her eyes. Her instincts warned her to be honest with them – only with the truth would she be able to acquire their help.

“I have spent my life studying what little we know about the Drakesthai and the Hai Galaxy,” she confessed. “It is written that we were alone in the fight against the Neprijat, but the details are rather vague and open to question…it is said we haven’t had contact with anyone in the Hai Galaxy for nearly six hundred cycles. Everyone thought the Drakesthai were dead and gone until twenty cycles ago when our scout was sent back with orders to never return. If what you said is true…our records must have been purged. There aren’t many left from that time – but…” It was difficult to consider a lifetime of lies and betrayal. What other secrets were hiding in the royal library?

Adelina looked up at Prince Rykian and stood firm. It didn’t matter what was written. The Drakesthai needed her help regardless, and she needed theirs. “What occurred was over two hundred cycles ago, but there are a few who remain from that time. If I can find the perpetrator I will deliver them to you so you may seek justice.”

The sacred words echoed in the cavern and her people responded. “Justice must be served!” Nadyah, Varan, and Roxy shouted, intoning the sacred words.

Kalene started at the sudden sound, but Adelina held Rykian’s gaze. “I have the power to grant this and more.”

“And what if it is one of your own?” Tatsuo demanded.

Adelina slid her eyes to the older princess. “They are all my own.”

“What if they are royalty?”

The question infuriated her. As though she would not serve justice based on rank. How absurd and insulting.

Adelina laughed then, letting them see behind her calm mask a bit. She was done tiptoeing around the subject. “You seem to misunderstand, Princess Tatsuo. The only royal left alive who could have poisoned you all is my grandmother and I would gladly give her to you. My father and sister are dead.”

Nash winced at that and some small, petty part of Adelina was glad he hurt, because he had hurt her.

She paced, eyeing each of the winged males, but especially the females, baring her teeth as she spoke, and daring them to say they were the only ones to suffer. “My last living sister now rules as queen and she gave me carte blanche to make this alliance happen.” Adelina slashed her hand through the air, feeling her wolf rise to the surface.

Varan grinned at her; the smile was possessive, indulgent, and proud. It gave her the confidence and strength she so desperately needed as she released more of her wolf.

“Queen Giselle is currently waging war, thick in the battles against the Neprijat along with my brothers. They might all be dead by the time I return to the front lines, so it doesn’t really matter to me either way who committed the crime. Rank does not protect one from their crimes in Draga. I will find the perpetrator once the war is over, and find the cure to your sickness. There will be justice for this transgression.”

“Justice will be done!” her people shouted once more in the Ancient language.

Adelina stopped before Vasili, staring up at him, daring him to question her again. Despite the difference in their height he was the one to look away first. Then she turned to Tatsuo, keeping Rykian in her sights – allowing Roxy and Nadyah to worry about the others.

“In return you will sign an alliance with Draga and lend me your armies to rid us all of the Neprijat scourge and their poison.” Adelina felt the wolf, so delicious and feral. Her claws ached and her senses were heightened. What she wouldn’t give to run and howl and tear and rip into her enemies. “I personally cannot wait to remove each limb from their bodies.”

Her feral smile full of teeth was their signal.

“I will take their eyes last so they may watch what is done to them,” Varan whispered with that maniacal laugh he used to terrify the riffraff of Draga.

“They will burn, screaming until their throats are nothing more than ash,” Roxy murmured, her red hair suddenly taking on new meaning.

“Any left won’t know they’re dead until it’s too late, throats slit in the shadows,” Nadyah said so sweetly it took a moment for her words to truly register.

The oldest female, Serilda, didn’t seem impressed by their theatrics, but the others looked almost fearful, wary of the wolves they’d allowed into their den.

“You don’t require us to ally with Khara?” Rykian asked, nodding his head at Nash.

Adelina didn’t even bother looking at the prince despite how hard her heart pounded. They were nearly done. She could leave the Council to consider their exchanged words while she settled her wolf and heart.

But she prayed Nash would let her explain.

“I would prefer that you did, but it is not a requirement. We will retake Khara with the Corinthians either way to honor our original alliance with them.” Adelina inspected her claws and then clasped her hands behind her back. She strode back to Varan’s side and then turned to face the Council. She held Kaiden’s gaze as she spoke. “Think about my words. Send me the information on the disease you speak of and the events leading up to it so I may start an investigation regardless of your ultimate decision. Injustice does not go unpunished in Draga, not if I have anything to say about it.”

Adelina didn’t wait for a dismissal. This would be the last bit of dramatic flair Varan had instructed her on. She turned on her heel and walked out of the Council room – as if the Drakesthai’s decision didn’t matter to her, as though she could manage well enough without them.

She would not beg.