The shreve Kaiden had left her was a bit different than the ones she was used to, but Adelina was able to navigate her way through the information relatively quickly. There wasn’t good news on it either. Not that she had suspected the Drakesthai of lying to her about such a sensitive issue, but she had hoped her people hadn’t been so cruel.

Adelina read the reports from over two hundred cycles ago and shook her head. Every so often she had to set the shreve down and stare out at the wasteland before her. It was beautiful almost with the red clouds that swirled above, the occasional lightning bringing sudden light before plunging them back into the perpetual gloom.

Two hundred cycles ago the Drakesthai had answered her great-grandfather’s call and helped Draga push the Neprijat back in their brief alliance. There were pics and vids and battle reports to prove it. So much detail and proof – why did they not possess any of it in the Draga Galaxy?

After the war was won and the shield had been erected around Draga, their contact with the Drakesthai dwindled to nothing. The shield kept them separate from everyone else and the one Drakesthai envoy that came requesting help was denied as King Beo didn’t believe any of his people could have poisoned the Drakesthai. He blamed the Neprijat who certainly had the tech for it.

That request for help wasn’t in her own textbooks either, or anything she’d ever read in her studies over the cycles. Not even Varan’s minimal intel had said anything about the cause or source of the dragon’s infertility or medical issues. None of his spies had ever gotten close enough to a royal dragon to find out the truth.

After the initial war with the Neprijat it took almost ten cycles for the Drakesthai physicians to even consider a targeted disease, a biological weapon.

Females started dying in droves during childbirth, and the infants didn’t survive either. Female babes were increasingly rare until there wasn’t more than one female child per Drakesthai mother – those that survived the process.

And that was if they could even conceive.

It was how the multiple mates had come about. She’d read about how they tweaked their genetics again to mate one female to more than one male so as to increase the odds for offspring. Only one out of every three males were fertile and that was being generous per the shreve Kaiden had given her.

Oddly enough the genetic tweaks didn’t always hold true which was why they occasionally mated to an Unchanged Human female and were able to bear offspring, but the babes were almost always born without wings, and almost always male. There was one report of a female being born a hundred cycles ago to an Unchanged, but the female didn’t bear any winged Drakesthai. All her children were Unchanged and un-winged, male and female alike. Apparently she’d successfully borne two sets of twins which was a miracle in itself and then survived both pregnancies and deliveries.

Now there were only three Drakesthai females and all attempts at reversing the infertility and lack of females were failures. If they tried to ensure a female was borne the miscarriage killed the mother.

It was a vicious, effective disease that had planned for the long-term, for a species unable to match their own medical prowess.

And that was why Adelina believed it was her people and not the Neprijat, though she supposed with how little she knew about the Neprijat it was possible they could be the ones. They knew next to nothing about their culture and way of life. They didn’t even know where their home system was. But why come and conquer them two hundred cycles later? Was it another way for them to soften the battlefield? The Drakesthai hadn’t even put up a fight, simply conceded their way of life to the monsters.

Adelina couldn’t know anything for sure until details of the situation came to light.

She studied the wasteland again, noting the red glow in the distance and she wondered if that was lava. Draga Terra didn’t have aboveground volcanoes but Deytis did. They were quite a wonder and the sulphur did amazing things to soil. Though the wind whipped through her hair and brought a strange barrage of smells…Adelina still felt better with so much space around her instead of all that heavy rock above her after the incident with the Council, and then with Nash.

The shreve had so much data on it; it would take her hours if not days to sift through it all. The medical studies on the infertility were detailed and difficult to read. They were something she’d have to have Ian look at.

Adelina sighed and pulled out her own shreve. She added to her ever-growing to-do list and then went to check on her files. The recordings she’d had done were edited and ready to be sent off to the livestream.

When she came down off the platform and onto Hai Delta…it was frightening and dramatic with the way Kaiden stood before her, wings spread wide, but the kiss on her knuckles softened him into something relatable. Adelina approved the footage. The outer rim would see it first for once, and then it would reach the core within a few hours.

With that done she sent a request to Ian, and then encrypted the files from Kaiden’s shreve before sending those off as well.

Adelina tapped her bottom lip as she thought about what else she had to do.

“I apologize for interrupting, Princess. But would you mind some company?”

She looked up at the massively tall male before her and smiled. “No, I don’t mind Prince Kaiden.”

He bowed slightly and then leaned against the balcony with her. “I hope everything is all right, Princess.”

Adelina waved her hand in dismissal. “Please, just call me Adelina.” Goodness, the Drakesthai were attractive. Well…this one certainly was.

Kaiden smiled and she noticed he had slightly pointed canines similar to her own. “Adelina,” he murmured in that strange and beautiful accent of his – as if he tasted her name.

Her cheeks flushed. It was unlikely he was trying to flirt with her, but the way he spoke was strangely seductive. Adelina cleared her throat and turned back to inspect her starships in the distance. “I appreciate you getting me the information about the disease as quickly as you did. I’ve already sent it off to one of the most trusted physicians in Draga.”

Kaiden raised a black brow at her. “You work quickly.”

She sighed, feeling oddly comfortable with the winged male. He kept those beautiful appendages tucked close to his body to avoid the wind and they never brushed the ground though they were long enough to. It fascinated her to see they weren’t feathered, but rather scaled. It took everything she had not to touch them.

“I’ve waited my whole life to be here,” she admitted, switching to Drakesthai despite her embarrassing accent. She may as well practice after studying for so many cycles. “It’s why I chose to learn the language from the last two living scholars who knew it. I studied everything I could get my hands on, even read the reports from the spies the Prince of Thieves had here. I find it extremely perturbing there is literally nothing about the source of this disease in our records, or anything regarding your assistance in the war two hundred cycles ago.”

Adelina turned to face him and studied the talons at the apex of each wing, appreciating how sharp and deadly they were. “Based on everything I’ve studied we attempted to reach out with our medicine when we discovered the sterility only twenty cycles ago, but were denied time and again. What we knew about your people other than that was little more than shadow and rumor.” She paused as she considered the situation. “Why not take our help if you were so desperate?”

Kaiden sighed and his wings shifted ever so slightly, as if he were uncomfortable with her question. “If you’ve waited your whole life to be here, then I should give you a tour,” he said, deflecting.

Adelina raised a brow in question, allowing him the time he needed to find an answer to her question. “Would you mind if I recorded our tour and conversation? The vid will be edited later, but my people are desperate for hope.”

Kaiden nodded. “That’s fine.”

She took a tiny recorder from her pocket and tapped the side before tossing it into the air. It caught and zoomed around, darting around the outside of the eyrie a bit while the technician on her ship was alerted. Kaiden’s eyes widened as he watched the device go up the face of the mountain, over the bridge, and over all the starships currently on the landing pad.

“These recordings you do are strange,” he said as the device made its way back. “Watching the vids from your galaxy was surreal. Do your people not value privacy?”

“Recorders only run constantly in the public areas of the palace and the palace grounds,” Adelina explained as Kaiden led her off the balcony and back into the castle. “It keeps the royals accountable and allows our people to be constantly up to date with current events. It also makes the royals more relatable when we don’t have the time to tour the system more than once every cycle or two. Our ships aren’t very fast. But we have them on other planets as well just not to the same extent. It’s the quickest way to receive information. We don’t possess Khara’s tech.”

Kaiden nodded and only glanced at the recorder once before he launched into a description of their surroundings. “I’m sure you realized, but the Royal Eyrie is carved into a mountain that resides next to an active volcano,” Kaiden explained. “Hai Delta is not everything you see. It is actually mostly water. There are a few islands among the oceans, but most are active volcanos, and some are more active than others so we reside here for the most part.”

Adelina looked out at the landscape with renewed interest. She hadn’t seen much of the planet while they’d descended. She’d been more concerned with ensuring they had all they needed, that she would be able to make the right impression.

As she looked up at Kaiden again she noticed he was about arm’s length from her which was strange. Adelina was used to being closer to a companion, even if they were no more than acquaintances. But as she watched the way he moved his wings she wondered if he didn’t even realize there was space between them…though the females didn’t have wings.

She supposed he probably didn’t spend much time with females.

“In Draga we usually don’t stand so far apart,” she murmured. “Do you feel as Prince Vasili does?” Adelina’s chest tightened painfully as she waited for his response. Ever since she’d laid eyes on him, she’d cared what he thought.

It was a warning and a foretelling. That same string that had tied her and Nash, and then her and Varan together tugged on her heart and led her to Kaiden.

Adelina felt terrified for a brief moment when Kaiden didn’t respond right away. What was going on in that head of his?

He looked down at her with something like concern. Kaiden noticed her discomfort, but didn’t move closer. Instead he stopped before a set of stairs that spiraled downward and studied her. “I used to feel as Vasili does,” he confessed. “Before I met Prince Nash and the Kalan spies you spoke of. After interrogating the spies I requested they be banished rather than executed. It made me rather unpopular, but I stand by that decision.”

The recorder zoomed around them and Adelina smiled for her people, keeping her shoulders back and her chin up despite the way Kaiden loomed over her. “What made you change your mind? Why spare them?” Adelina had so many questions, but at the moment this was the most important one.

Drakesthai males passed, lower ranked by the sigils on their armor. She ignored them and focused on Kaiden.

“We all grow up knowing the Kalans of Draga poisoned us, praying for our eventual genocide. But the spies I interrogated knew nothing about this disease or its origin. We thought they were here to see how well it’s done over the last two hundred cycles. When I found they were completely ignorant I couldn’t execute them in good conscience.”

Adelina bit the inside of her cheek. Kaiden was honorable as well as gorgeous. It didn’t help she’d fantasized about the Drakesthai since she was barely ten cycles old. She’d hoped a dragon prince would carry her off to his tower like in all the old stories of princesses and dragons.

“Then Prince Nash arrived,” Kaiden continued, interrupting her train of thought. “And he was even more clueless despite speculation in the Council that the Corinthians of Khara had been in on the genocide due to your continued alliance with each other.” Kaiden crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at her with a carefully neutral expression.

Adelina didn’t dare take a step back and cede more space to him despite how much it hurt her neck to stare up at him so. “And when you met me?” she asked.

“I didn’t expect someone so small,” Kaiden chuckled, easing up on his stern expression a bit. “We knew a bit about Princess Raena, but nothing about you. Prince Nash spoke so highly of you though and he was convinced you would make it here despite the precarious situation he painted for us.”

Instantly she wanted to know exactly what Nash had said, but she shrugged and waved a hand for him to lead the way as if it didn’t matter.

Kaiden took the cue and went down the steps first. Flames on torches lit on their own as they descended. It was some strange combination of tech and old world light Adelina didn’t quite understand the appeal of, but it certainly added to the atmosphere of Hai Delta.

The stairs took them down into a lower level where it was a bit less public and seemed to get into the inner workings of the eyrie. He led her through the tunnels and corridors, explaining how they were going deeper into the mountain where they did a multitude of work, but most of it was farming and food preparation. Some was medicine and such as the closer they got to the volcano the more fertile the soil was, and the growth was outrageous.

Adelina had never seen gardens inside and without sunlight before, but the greenery was stunning. So many different kinds of food were grown as far as she could see. The caverns were deeper and the ceilings higher. There was no rhyme or reason to their direction or build. It was as though each addition had been an afterthought as they tunneled their way to the volcano.

Then he stopped before doors nearly the width of the entire mountain. Kaiden grinned at her and then keyed in his access code.

The rock doors sliding open sounded like an avalanche, but once they opened she gasped and covered her mouth in shock.

A waterfall of lava poured down from above. It was halved by a natural rock formation. Directly below that was a bridge that arced over a pool of molten rock which oozed slowly out of the mountain like a river. It was one of the most beautiful natural phenomena she’d ever seen. And gloriously warm.

For the first time since she’d met him Kaiden offered her his hand, but palm up unlike her people. She took it, nervous as he led her out and onto the bridge. All it would take was a single misstep or a push and she’d fall over the narrow bridge into a fiery death.

“Don’t worry,” Kaiden murmured as he pulled her in closer to his side. “I won’t let you fall.”

His words made her heart flutter, but Adelina took advantage of the moment to slip in as close as she could until she was right up against his side, heart pounding as she stared down into the river of lava. It would be so easy to slip and fall – why were all the cula’ting bridges on Hai Delta so narrow and without rails?

Kaiden must have sensed her fear because his wings expanded and then tucked around her, shielding her from the magma for a moment. “You’re safe with me,” he promised.

The rumble of his voice echoed through her bones and Adelina allowed herself to relax as she pressed into him, taking a deep breath to ease her anxiety and fear. “Why did meeting me change your mind?” she asked again, closing her eyes for a moment to smooth her breathing and regain some sense of strength and control. It took monumental effort to ignore how exhausted she felt.

“Despite your small stature you were fierce, but more than anything you had the strangest mixture of people with you, and each and every one of them is loyal to their death. You were telling the truth when you said there is no record in Draga of the disease and I realized it made no sense to hold onto a grudge when this new generation was not the ones at fault…though if you were to find the perpetrator I would gladly gut them before dropping them from the highest peak into a river of fire.”

Adelina shuddered at the image, wondering if that’s what Vasili wanted to do to all the people in Draga. If he wasn’t the only one, how would she possibly convince them to aid her in a war they wanted nothing to do with?

She looked up into Kaiden’s blue eyes, dark like Nadyah’s, but nearly black as his wings. It was a wonder the Drakesthai accepted her presence at all. “What can I do to repair the relations between our people? Even if the Council decides not to assist us, I want to reopen our borders. There is much we can learn from each other.”

Kaiden cocked his head and then peered down at her, bending slightly so their faces were only a margin apart. “Why? We cannot assist you. We are mostly barren and therefore useless in marriage. Our tech is not much better Khara’s whom you’re already aligned with, and our medicine is generations behind what you’ve accomplished. Our focus on fertility has stagnated our progress. We have gems and jewels, but is that really all you want? I’ve heard of your obsession with them…” Kaiden trailed off and Adelina called the recorder to her and then deactivated it.

The conversation was turning too personal and she didn’t even want the vid tech to hear it.

Adelina was sweaty in her coat and covered by Kaiden’s wings though he was careful not to touch her with them. But she ignored all of that and slowly stepped towards him, giving him every opportunity to move away from her. He tensed, but didn’t move a muscle.

When her hands met his waist she marveled at the strange feel of his armor, unlike anything she’d ever seen before. It was similar material to the way his wings looked. The armor was conformed to his body so left nothing to the imagination. Then she reached up for his face and barely touched his chin, enjoying the soft, black hair of his trim beard. It framed his jaw well, but it was odd he had no hair on his head. It appeared as though he’d shaved it.

Adelina took a step back to get a better look at his face and bumped into his wing. Instantly she pressed forward so as not to make some cardinal mistake. Touching his wings…it seemed so personal. “I apologize,” she said. Then realized she was pressed up against his chest. She released him as though he’d burned her. “I am so sorry.”

His brief smile relieved her, but Kaiden stayed quiet as she regained her composure. He tucked his wings back into his body and Adelina removed her coat before heading to the other side of the bridge as quickly and safely as she could manage.

When she was securely on the other side she stopped and watched the way Kaiden walked towards her, wings extended for balance. He didn’t stop until the toes of his boots brushed against hers, and even though he didn’t touch her she felt ensconced by his presence.

“Do you feel this connection as well?” he asked. His voice had such a deep timbre she felt it echo and rumble against her skin.

His question made her belly flutter with nerves and it left her breathless. Kaiden cut straight to the point and Adelina could barely comprehend what was happening let alone how she felt about it.

“What if I said no?”

“I would know you’re lying.”

Adelina couldn’t stop staring into his eyes. “How?” she breathed, not once questioning that what he said was true.

Kaiden took another step closer. “It’s one of our gifts. We have our strength and the ability to know a lie by the taste it leaves on the air.” His hands stayed at his side but a wing brushed gently against her arm.

“I feel it as well,” she admitted, wondering what it all meant. “Like I’m somehow tied to you.”

Kaiden frowned. “I wasn’t sure when I first met you as you didn’t react, but perhaps your sense of smell is somehow different than ours. Now it couldn’t be more obvious.”

She frowned, confused by his words. “What do you mean?”

He leaned down and closed his eyes as he breathed her in. “This sensation is the mate bond. We can recognize it by scent alone.”

Adelina’s heart leapt into her throat. She took a step back and stumbled. Kaiden caught her before she could fall. “Mate bond? That’s impossible.”

He frowned and cocked his head. “Not so, as the Unchanged Humans can end up mated with a Drakesthai. We all have common ancestry through the Ancient Humans.”

Adelina yanked her hand out of his and strode outside, careful of the river of fire. She clutched her coat to her chest and contemplated the ramifications of such a revelation.

“Are you upset we are mates?” Kaiden asked, coming up beside her but keeping his distance.

The situation was so absurd she burst out laughing. “How can I be upset when there is no possible way we are mates?” Adelina considered her courtesan genes and instantly sobered. “There is something you must understand.”

Lightning crackled amongst the clouds, casting them in white light for a brief moment. Kaiden crossed his arms over his chest, stance wide, and wings flared, but he didn’t look angry. Somehow he appeared…ready. As though he knew whatever she had to say wouldn’t matter, but he’d listen anyway.

Adelina cleared her throat and had to look away as that tug on her heart pulled once more. “Courtesans are not quite the same as the rest of the Kalans. Much like the royals, they are a race apart. Something about their makeup has programed them to mate with one person after copulation has triggered the genetic response. It’s not a widely known fact and the courtesans prefer to keep it a secret for now.” Adelina tugged on one of her curls, feeling a film of volcanic ash settle over her skin that she didn’t particularly like.

Kaiden looked intrigued, but didn’t say anything.

“I’m part courtesan, but that isn’t widely known either. And my genetic marker for a mate has been deactivated. So this,” she waved between the two of them. “Is impossible.”

Kaiden smiled like he knew better, but didn’t make a move towards her.

Which was all well and good because internally Adelina was losing her mind. Her anxiety felt like it was going to choke her and the heat of the volcano was so stifling she thought she may faint.

“We don’t need to have sex to know who our mate is,” Kaiden told her. “It is similar in the sense that our genetics are the trigger, but I can smell it on you. When a male or female scents their mate they may begin the courting process. The bond isn’t set into place permanently until after the first time they make love, which is similar to your courtesans it seems.”

Adelina put a hand to her chest as she tried to take it all in and to understand…did this mean Varan wasn’t her mate? Did it mean if she had sex with Kaiden she would no longer want Varan? After everything she’d been through…this was exactly why she’d never wanted to know who was or wasn’t her mate.

“I have to go,” she managed, trying to go around Kaiden to find her way back to Varan…to her ship. Adelina needed Ian. She needed…space.

After what had just happened with Nash she couldn’t deal with this as well.

“Why are you upset?” Kaiden asked, genuinely confused. “Is there something I can do to help?”

Adelina whirled around and poked a finger into his chest, furious about the situation if not necessarily at him. “I’m upset because courtesans mate to only one partner. One, Kaiden. I am already married to a male I love.”

Then he understood. She watched as he made the connection. Kaiden raised his hands in surrender, but he wasn’t done. “You are not fully this…courtesan, no? Then why would you react to a mate in the same manner? It is quite obvious you and your husband are mated.”

That stopped her dead. “What did you just say?”

Kaiden frowned. “Did you not know? Your scents have merged. I can smell the bond on you two. He is still your mate, and another bond would not negate that.”

Adelina felt a ringing in her ears and suddenly the heat was too much. Everything he’d unknowingly revealed to her in a manner that was so matter of fact overwhelmed her. She put a hand to her head as the dizziness swept her up. Her knees gave out and her vision went black.

The last thing she remembered was Kaiden’s arms around her, lifting her up, and cradling her like she was something precious. His murmurs in the Drakesthai tongue were nothing more than music as Adelina lost consciousness.