By Celeste Raye

Chapter 1:

Kavryiss

“We have a deal then?”

Sillevia, the D’Sharr and mate to our leader had called me into her private quarters. She was refined in every way possible. Her long, white hair fell to her feet and highlighted her immensely long, shimmering dragon wings. She walked the length of her room with deep sighing.

"Kavryiss?" the D’Sharr asked again. "A deal?"

I blinked. Her lips were thin as she held her hand out to mine. I took it gingerly and gave a nod of acceptance. "Yes, D’Sharr. How do you want it done?"

"The murder?” she dismissed. "Quietly."

I smirked. "Anything further? Perhaps, a little less cryptic?"

"We're talking about a death. I figured cryptic was a suitable tone." She laughed and then turned to me, suddenly serious. Her pale gown trailed behind her, seeming to flow in the air as she paced around her private room. “You are my most trusted warrior.”

“Your trust is not misplaced.” I leaned up against the stone behind me, setting a foot on the rocky wall with a bent knee.

"There are several avenues you could take,” Sillevia continued, her smooth voice overtaking the empty room. “Seduce her. Take her out to the wilds and kill her, feed her to the Sala'kem deep in the waters. I don't care what it takes, but I want it done."

"Yes, of course."

As the D’Karr’s wife, Sillevia was once the envy of every Weredragon on Dobromia.

But that was before the humans came. Moons had come and gone since their arrival, and the D’Karr, Boradrith, had taken a lover.

I couldn't imagine how such a thing might feel for the D’Sharr. She had been well respected and well loved by our leader.

Sure, he'd taken lovers before, but never so completely, especially never with a human. The one that had gained the scorn of the Weredragons was called Diana Montanari, and the D’Karr loved her. To love her more seemed impossible. Decisions were made with her in mind, provings and fights for honor and death were attended with her at his side, and suddenly the endless quest for food on the dying planet was not with a mind to keeping his offspring with th\e D’Sharr alive, but the half-breed son he had created with the dark-haired Diana.

I'd seen her around Graynar, our Octantis Colony or as humans referred to it, fortress underground. Dobromia had been plagued with two suns that circled our atmosphere. A curse, some thought, to punish us for stealing from other planets.

The curse caused us to seek other planets for inhabitance since we were unable to cultivate food except within the deep underground.

Our race was that of Warriors. The galaxy feared us because of what we were known for—extinguishing our enemies. Now we lived underground like creatures of the mud. It was shameful, and I knew the D’Karr must have felt the same. Or, he would have, were he not caught up getting himself wet inside the human girl.

"It will be difficult," Sillevia continued, trailing off to the entrance of the room, no doubt ready to send me on my way. "She's always at his side, of course. His little pet."

“Not a fan of those humans, are we?” I taunted with a smirk.

Sillevia rolled her eyes and shook her head absent-mindedly. “What tipped you off?” she laughed heartily for a moment and then hid her mouth with the back of her hand. Then her face was showered with a sudden desperation. “I rescued you from abandon, don’t forget,” she said coldly.

“You don’t have to hold anything over my head,” I laughed. “My allegiance is to you.”

Her eyes darted around the room as though I shouldn't have said the words out loud. Then she settled into a satisfied nod, a regal movement, and she continued, "It goes without saying, then, that this conversation is to be kept private, under penalty of death."

"Yes, of course."

“I’ll be assigning you as a guard to my rooms,” she explained, tapping her finger against the doorway. “That way you can get close to her. Lure her out.”

“You keep her in your quarters?” I asked in a tone that bordered somewhere between amusement and disgust.

She raised a finger to the air and cocked a brow. With a knowing tone, she sang, “Keep your enemies close.”

“Ah,” I said with a nod. “She was a… what? A scientist, I hear? Brought in with those girls?”

“How can you not know,” she scoffed. “The D’Karr shouts it at every event, at every spaceport, before every mission to gather food and supplies. He finds spaceships and gives them to her, he makes towers in her name, all the while telling everyone that he loves me. What a farce!”

“Women,” I said breathlessly, and she laughed. “When do you want it done?”

“Let me get close to the D’Karr. Regain his love and loyalty. This way he won’t take it so hard when she is dead.”

My brows narrowed harshly. I wanted to tell her that snuggling up to Boradrith probably wouldn’t ease the pain of slaughtering his mistress, but it wasn’t really my place.

“Good plan,” I said with a private mocking. “What about her son with the D’Karr?” I asked.

She blinked in quick succession and looked at me with no small amount of disgust as she asked, “You’re not offering to murder a dragonling, honestly?”

“Well, of course not!” I snapped quickly. “I just want to be clear about the plan.”

The white Weredragon waved me off regally. “Just get it done.”