Page 49 of Court of Embers (Dragonesse #2)

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

“ I ’ve taken the liberty of calling our allies,” Kirana said softly, pressing a glass of blood into my hand. “We need to pool our knowledge and hear the next step of the plan. They’ll be here tonight.”

I took the glass and drank gratefully. It was fresh from a lamb, still warm. She waved in a maid, carrying a plate of still-dripping raw meat.

Once I’d been sure the parasites were entirely dead, I’d had the Bloodless drag Rhylan’s linens and mattress out of his room.

They would be taken to the rocky valley below and burned until nothing remained.

A new mattress had been brought in, and we’d carefully lifted my sleeping mate onto its clean sheets.

And from there, I stood watch. His fever had broken, and he was in a healing sleep now, a true sleep.

But I couldn’t bring myself to leave his bedside, the fear still gnawing at me inside.

Several times I’d once again felt that strange compression around my ribs, squeezing out all my air, like invisible hands gripping my heart, but I’d focused on Rhylan, counting out my breaths until it released me.

He was well. That was what mattered.

I wasn’t very hungry, but after the first bite, my appetite flared to ravening life. The blood was cooling on my itchy throat, and as I chewed, I thought I could almost feel the blood being absorbed into my cells, strengthening my form.

I stopped myself just short of licking the plate. “The next step is clear enough. We take the fight to Yura.” I put the plate aside and looked up at Kirana, who was watching her brother with soft eyes. “The longer she goes free, the more Houses fall. We can’t risk our own.”

Kirana exhaled quietly. “It’d have to be just the two of us. Those things only fear Naga. Everyone else is vulnerable, and that leaves us drastically outnumbered.”

I frowned, staring down at Rhylan.

“Unless you had more Naga,” a soft voice said.

I had expected this. It’d just come sooner than I thought.

“Are you truly willing?” I asked Mykah. The draga stood in the doorway, hesitant in a way she’d never been before, and my heart ached. “To live on blood all your days? We have no idea how the wider world will receive us. Just because our allies accept what we are doesn’t mean everyone will.”

Mykah met my eyes evenly, and what I read in them settled me.

“I don’t want to be helpless again,” she said. “And…I think it’s okay to let Solace fly to her own life, and make a nest of her own. I could have my own wings. My own weapons. And if people don’t accept me…I’ll stay here, where I am wanted and useful. They didn’t accept me before, anyway.”

I smiled at her faintly. “Then you have my blessing. Though you’ll have a hell of a time convincing Myst to give you her blood.”

I heard a disembodied snort from somewhere above my head.

“Erebos, then,” Mykah said blithely. “But that still only makes three Naga. We should ask the others if they’re willing.”

Her shoulders had straightened, and she looked more confident as she strode off.

Kirana gave me a crooked smile. “They grow up so fast. But she’s got a point. We’ll see how many are willing to join us.” She touched my shoulder, moving to the door. “Maybe it’ll be enough.”

I waited until she was gone to close my eyes. Never had I imagined it would come to this, but I didn’t regret it. Not after feeling the wind beneath my wings. Not if it ended Yura.

How could you regret it? You’re so beautiful.

Oh thank the gods, you’re awake . I opened my eyes, reaching out to cup his cheek. Rhylan smiled, but it was a pale imitation of his usual grin. How do you feel?

But as soon as I asked, I felt the bond between us stretch wide once more, sense to sense.

Gods, he felt like he’d been pummeled through all the Nine Hells. Pain in every joint, screaming through every muscle, and his back…it burned like fire.

But it burns clean , he added, his voice exhausted. Not…what it was.

I pried a little, but he kept that part of his mind closed to me.

No, Sera. You don’t want to know what it felt like. I was here one moment…and then I wasn’t. My body wasn’t mine anymore. And it hurt more than I can describe.

Out of politeness, I backed away from those closed-off memories. Then I felt something in myself break.

Oh gods, I can’t believe you’re still alive . I leaned forward, my face in my hands. My tears burned my fingers like liquid flames. All of Undying Light is dead, Rhylan. All of them. Yura destroyed an entire House. She’s destroyed Ascendants. I didn’t have a prayer that my blood would work.

But it did, he said, tangling his fingers with mine and pulling my hands away from my face.

You’re not immune . I dashed the free-flowing tears away angrily. You can’t be immune. If you drink a dragon’s blood, you’ll cease to be yourself. You will always be vulnerable to those things born of Ustrael.

But you put your blood in me. And maybe that gave me a measure of protection. Don’t cry now, princess. We’re still together. And we’ll stay together.

That’s a big maybe.

But it’s what we’ve got , he said gently. And I, for one, am going to thank you on bended knees for this second chance. You went Naga for me.

I sniffled away the last of the tears, the sudden flood replaced with a small measure of peace. I’d had so much fear and stress tangled up inside me, and the tears had washed some of it away.

Don’t thank me, thank Larivor and the Daughters .

I’d already lit cones of incense in their names in the fireplace, unwilling to leave Rhylan’s room even long enough to venture down to the shrine below.

Having met the Daughters, if only in my own mind, I didn’t think they’d concern themselves with such minutiae as where their offerings were placed. Do you think you can get up?

You have no idea how ready I am to get out of bed . His true smile was back, even if he remained pale.

I helped him up, carefully looping his arm over my shoulders. With my new strength, it was nothing to stand upright with Rhylan’s weight leaning onto me.

The first time, he managed one turn around the room. We spent the rest of the day alternately resting and walking in circles, until he had his legs back under him. The parasites had stolen a hideous amount of his strength, but I bullied him into eating, resting, and trying again.

By evening, he appeared normal. Only I knew the weakness that remained in his limbs, and that was only because of the bond that fed his senses into mine.

But to my eye, he seemed as strong as ever, and that was good. Our allies had been arriving throughout the day, visible outside his wide windows. The emerald dragons of the Jade Leaves, Gaelin’s pale form in the sky, even Hunter, his bronze scales catching the sun like autumn leaves.

It was the Ascendants that concerned me.

Illiae, Caru, and Rannas had come with their children.

Ascendants rarely gathered. Even our Judgment, with Illiae’s presence, had been unusual. They didn’t interfere. They didn’t involve themselves in our politics.

Which could only mean they were here to hunt Primoris.

And I found myself completely wrong about my assumption. Myst had curled around me, and whispered to me that it was time. That her plans had come to fruition, and she heard the voices of her siblings call out in agreement with her own.

We gathered in the library, the Ascendants shrinking to more manageable sizes to accommodate all of us. Tyria stood with Caru, his leafy horns bristling as he watched Rannas sidelong.

Rannas, Ascendant of the Mourning Fangs, was as pale as Myst, but he lacked her iridescence. He was simply blindingly white, so bright it hurt to look at him directly, sleek as a deer. He stayed close to Gaelin, who was sandwiched with Maristela between Rannas and Illiae.

Kirana and Cai were near the Jade Leaves, and Mykah and Treza took the end of the table, close to Ivoire and Roark. Even Doric had made an appearance, though his Ascendant had refused to leave the waters in answer to Myst’s call.

The Ascendants weren’t here solely for the threat of a Primoris.

They were here for their eldest sister, to offer what she’d asked of them—to once again create the Naga they’d chosen to proscribe.

Once the Daughters had been so powerful they had become gods.

But they had drunk the blood of Larivor himself.

Even so, the Naga had threatened to rival the Ascendants for power. And they were cast down, their kind forbidden, their histories erased, Myst had whispered. The first scion of her House had been a Naga. And she had been proud of her.

The true dragons had refused to create such things again until now.

Myst had spread the word that my blood had healed Rhylan of Ustrael’s taint.

Ironically, Ustrael and her priestess had forged the weapon that would strike against her.

In her greed to walk the earth again, she had united the Ascendants in breaking their own Laws.

Myst nudged me. “These are your people. You must ask.”

I met Mykah’s eyes, and she silently pleaded with me.

“Ascendants,” I started, and my mouth went dry. I went on only at Myst’s second, more insistent nudge. “If any draga here are willing, would you give your blood to create Naga of them?”

Illiae shot me a look of pure hate, but it was Caru who grumbled in agreement. Rannas made a small noise of uncertainty, but at Myst’s narrow-eyed look, he lowered his head in assent. Illiae was the last to agree, but she raised her head proudly as she did so.

“Draga of this table, we Naga are immune to the disease Yura and her patroness spread. We stand a fighting chance against her, if you take the blood of a dragon who is not your own Ascendant. Are any of you willing to join us in this form?” I asked bluntly, and before I could go on to warn them of the perils, so on and so forth, Mykah jumped to her feet, waving a hand wildly.

“Me! I’ll do it! I’ll go first!”