Chapter Ten
Vale
Vale said goodbye to the gardeners as they retreated back to their wing. They were an odd group of dragons. Vale thought it had something to do with being around so much elixir every day, even diluted, it worked into the brain. They were also a little odder than usual since the fields had begun to die. Vale thought they were worried the finger of blame would swing in their direction. But, Vale had been with the gardeners enough times to know that they didn't just grow and manipulate the plants, they adored them. Harm to the roses was as good as harm to their own bodies.
The gardeners also had the same worry they all did. If they couldn't figure out what was hurting the roses and ran out of elixir, then their home would eventually tear apart and finally wouldn't have the ability to mend itself quickly enough. Never mind the fact that they would all begin to age, get hurt, and contract diseases. For these reasons, Vale understood his people's worries. He could see it from their point of view, despite what Blaze claimed, and that was why he made the decision to take the final plants they had left from his personal store and attempt to regrow them on a ledge off the main balcony. In that spot, they would be in full view of every person who lived there. If someone was poisoning them, they wouldn't get to the roses without being seen.
Vale also thought that by having the roses on full display, he could spend less time convincing his people his mate wasn't the enemy and spend more time planning the wedding ceremony. In a weird way, losing the roses hadn't made Vale panic like he'd always thought. Besides, the ones they had left would grow and by then, Vale hoped to be married. He hadn't yet proposed, to either of his mates, but he'd gotten the rings, another reason why he'd been speaking with the gardeners. He pulled the rings out of his pocket. Three altogether, they would wear a matching set. The bands had been grown to exact specifications and were cured in a way that strengthened the wood-like substance into one stronger than stone. For the gem, he'd taken petrified emerald rose petals, they were no longer useful for making the elixir, and still had a bright green glow like a gem. Each ring had three petrified pieces encrusted into the band that signified each of them.
Vale let them slide back in his pocket, giddy with excitement at the thought of seeing the three of them wearing the rings all at the same time.
Since their first official mating, the three of them had spent their time getting to know who they were when they were together. Vale already knew who Blaze was when it was just the two of them but somehow, with Landon, he changed into a new person. Not completely new, but the rough edges that used to tear at them both seemed to wear down. Vale assumed Blaze thought the same about him.
So, when Vale entered the main entrance and saw an angry crowd with one of the castle's servants squaring off against Blaze while Landon stood tucked safely behind him, he reacted with more fury than he needed to. "What is going on here?" he hollered with a fireball that singed the leaves above them.
The man standing in front tore away from Blaze to face Vale. "I found this vial this morning, Your Highness. It's poison, I know it." He thrust the small glass bottle at Vale who took it from him gingerly.
He lifted the stopper and an acrid stench filled the air. He couldn't say that he knew what had been inside the vial, but it smelled wrong. Vale lifted his eyebrows, stepping to his mates. "Why are you showing this to me?"
"Because I found the vial in his room," the servant said, pointing an unwavering finger at Landon. "We all thought he was killing the roses and now we have proof!"
A crowd formed behind the servant. Glittering green eyes flashed at him, each full of malice and fear. The fear is what struck Vale. These people needed an enemy to blame more than they needed justice. Vale felt partially responsible for their current state, he'd done nothing but encourage the scarcity of the roses while also touting the fact that they all relied on their continuing existence. Now that existence was being threatened.
"Throw him in the graveyard!" one of the voices in the back shouted.
"He needs to pay for his crimes and stop killing our way of life!" another of them said.
Vale stood in front of their trio but turned his head to Landon. "Is that your vial?"
Landon nodded his head. "But it isn't poison. I swear I can explain it."
His outburst only caused a round of disapproving tuts and harried (hurried?) whispers.
"I can prove it too!" the servant exclaimed. From behind him, someone appeared with a regular potted plant. It wasn't a rose or valuable in any way but it had a long vine with tiny green and white leaves as well as orange-yellow blossoms. The servant retrieved the vial, took out the stopper and let the remaining liquid slide down from the walls, gather into a drop and fall gently into the soil that surrounded the plant. At first, nothing happened. While this didn't solve the issue of who or what was killing their roses, Vale was glad that it cleared his mate's reputation. Except, the plant began to droop. The green leaves lost their luster, blanching to a sickly white while all the blossoms simply fell off the vine and onto the floor.
The crowd gasped and behind him, Blaze growled.
"But, he's my mate," Vale said absently while looking at the clearly dying flower.
The servant lifted his chin. "Mate or not, just by being here he is bound by the same laws we all are. If the suspect wasn't your mate, what would you do? You've thrown men into the graveyard on less. The law is absolute, Your Highness, those are your own words."
"I don't need my words repeated to me," Vale snapped. But, the servant wasn't lying.
"He needs to be punished!"
"He is my mate," Vale repeated. To him, that was all that needed to be said.
"A mate that won't even stay in your room with you. He keeps a separate bedroom," the servant had turned to the crowd. "I found this vial in that room when I was cleaning. Why do you think he insisted on a separate room?"
"What my mate does is none of your concern," Vale spat.
The crowd grumbled in response. "Put him in with the Golden Grandmother!" someone shouted.
At that, Landon gasped.
"I'm not letting him listen to this," Blaze whispered furiously. He turned, ushering Landon further into the castle while enraging the people who watched him go.
"Is the King's mate above the law?" the servant asked Vale with a sneer.
Vale looked at Blaze's retreating back with suspicion. Why had he taken Landon as if Vale wasn't concerned with his safety?
The crowd took advantage of his contemplative silence by beginning to murmur. Like a buzz of wasps flying ever closer, the noise grew.
"We need to remain—" Vale began, but the wasps buzzed back, drowning his words. Finally, Vale let out a mighty roar, enhanced with enough flame that they all felt a burst of heat on their faces. "No dragon is above our law," he told the crowd. "The law that your King not only upholds but created. I allow this temper tantrum because I know you are all scared. Ensure you do not make a habit of it." Vale's feet stumbled over each other in his haste to reach his mates. He'd felt the cord that bound them tighten when Blaze had removed Landon and needed to see them both before the panic would settle.
"What will you do?" Someone called after him.
"What needs to be done," he replied over his shoulder.
***
"It isn't poison," Landon told Blaze. "It smells awful, but it isn't poison."
Vale could hear their conversation from the corridor. He'd left his people behind. He knew they were still scared, needed reassurances, but when Blaze left with Landon, Vale felt a part of himself leave as well. Right now, he needed the reassurances that all was well with his mates. Then, he could deal with his people.
"You don't need to worry, Landon. I'll keep you safe," Blaze replied.
Vale froze. He tightened his grip on the rings in his pocket.
"But, what about Vale…"
"He's King first," Blaze replied, breaking Vale's heart.
Vale reached the doorway finally. He pushed the door open and remained there.
Blaze whirled and crouched like Vale was an enemy. Blaze tucked Landon behind his thick body, throwing out a protective arm to keep him back. Landon stared over it to Vale, his eyes wide with…was it fear?
He spotted Landon's pack on his bed, the one he'd first arrived on the island with. It was an ugly burlap with his name stenciled on the outside. Blaze had been shoving clothing inside of it.
Vale raised a single eyebrow. "Going somewhere?"
Blaze lifted his hands in surrender as if Vale was the unstable, unreasonable one. "Vale, I know that you have to abide by your laws, but please, he's your mate. Allow me a few minutes. That's all I ask. Minutes to get him off the island and then you can begin the search. If you still catch us, so be it."
Everything in Vale's stomach soured all at once. He thought he might throw up, but if he started, he didn't think he would stop until everything that was inside of him was on the outside. He already felt like his heart had been torn into shreds, ripped apart by a mate who conspired against him, a mate who didn't trust him.
His words were tight and broken. "You're leaving me?"
Upon hearing his question, Landon popped out from under Blaze's arm. He'd been watching Vale cautiously since he'd arrived and although Blaze told him to stop, Landon stepped forward.
He brushed something off Vale's cheek and he was surprised to see Landon's fingers were wet. Vale was crying.
"It's okay," Landon soothed him.
Vale kept his grip on the doorway instead of reaching for his mate. "How is this okay? You both left me. You are leaving me." Vale let Landon caress him even while fearing they were the last touches he'd ever receive. He glared at Blaze. "Will you take him to your home in the states? Will you get him a job at that security company you work for?"
Blaze's head shot up. "How did you…?"
"You left me," Vale replied bitterly. "I never left you. And never gave up on you. I've hired different people throughout the years to check up on you and make sure you were safe. What do you think I was doing in New York? I was stupid to continue to care for you. But I never expected you to go where I couldn't follow." Vale knew he was crying now. The tears rolled down his cheeks silently and dropped to the ground where the castle soaked them up.
That was fitting. He'd given his heart to this castle. His sweat, tears and flame. The Garden was his paradise, but was it also his tomb?
"Vale," Blaze's voice cracked. He rose, pulling Vale inside the room and shutting the door.
Landon wrapped his slight arms around Vale's middle while Blaze kissed his tears, cleaning them away with his lips.
"We weren't trying to leave you," he said, his lips tickling Vale's cheek. "I didn't know what to think. That vial looked suspicious even to me."
"It's cologne!" Landon hollered, sounding tortured. "I asked my mom to pack me some. Yes, she packed my guard bag for me to go on my first mission. I didn't smell it until I got here and it was horrible, so I poured it out. But I held onto the vial because those are handy things to have."
Through the waning terror, he'd experienced at the idea of both of his mates leaving him again, Vale felt a small smile tug at the corners of his lips. "It smelled awful," he conceded.
Blaze smiled as well. "It killed that plant."
Landon shook his head solemnly. "I didn't know it would do that."
Blaze exhaled loudly. "Now I feel like an ass. Forgive me, Vale?"
Of course, he would forgive Blaze for trying to keep their mate safe. The anxiety and terror flooded from him filling him with a giddy happiness. Vale felt like he was a kid again as he sniffled the last of his tears away. They'd made it to the bed and sat at the end together, arms wrapped over shoulders as they simply held each other.
Sometime later, Blaze squeezed his hold on the King. "I was scared that you would fall back on what you know. On upholding rules and punishment above all else. It was the biggest thing that wedged between us before, not ever allowing us to have a relationship and I feared the same thing would happen between you and Landon."
"I left my people back there," Vale croaked. He couldn't blame Blaze for his suspicions they were based on Vale's previous behavior. "When the question comes between my kingdom and my mates, I choose my mates, every time."
"I love you," Blaze said, kissing him softly on the nose. "At some point we will need to address that issue though. We have no guards, and for a long time, I thought that was a good thing. But now, I can see that guards don't just defend us from outside forces, but inside ones as well. I'm not talking excessive force here," Blaze said, lifting his hands like he was afraid of being called an extremist or something. "The truth is, something or someone is out there trying to annihilate us. They've attacked our weak spot and we're ill-equipped to fight against them. I think, for the first time ever, the emerald dragons need an army."
Vale didn't disagree. He also didn't like the idea of arming already angry people. Blaze was right that they would have to come up with those answers eventually, but right now, he felt wrung out and exhausted.
For a space of time, they remained, simply holding each other, allowing the wounds they'd torn into each other with their words and actions to heal. At some point, they began to kiss, gentle lazy touches of their lips against one another. Vale rose over Landon on one side as Blaze did the same on the other. Vale's hand reached for the hem of Landon's shirt, raising it slowly as he longed to lick and suck the man's sweet nipples.
Blaze made a choking noise and Vale froze, following his mate's gaze to Landon's lower stomach. So faint that most likely couldn't see it, there was a warm glowing dot pressing underneath Landon's flesh.
"What is it?" Landon asked. He was on his back with his face toward the ceiling and didn't see what they saw. "Did you find that weird mole? I think it looks like a shark…" He stopped talking about the time he stretched his neck up to look at them.
Blaze grabbed Vale's hand with his left, and Landon's with his right. Vale did the same, grabbing Landon's other hand so that together they made a circle, no beginning, no end, unbreakable, like their love. "You're pregnant," Vale choked out the words. He smiled so wide his cheeks hurt. "We're pregnant."