Fire of a Dragon (Fallen Immortals 3) - Paranormal Fairytale Romance (20 page)

When the cheering slowed, Lucian finally gave her a nod that let her sit again.

He faced them. “And we have a new king,” he said solemnly. “My father was a great man with a good and wise heart. My son will never know him, and our House has a hole in it where his strength used to live.” There was silence a moment as Lucian seemed to struggle for words.

Arabella clenched the arms of her throne. Her heart hurt for him. She didn’t think there would ever be a time when she wouldn’t want to ease any pain he felt, kiss away any sorrow, any darkness that might loom.

Lucian swallowed and continued. “We lost many good dragons in the last twenty-four hours. Friends. Brothers. Some who leave mates and dragonlings behind. They will always have a home with us, as our own blood, under our care.” A murmur of approval went up with heads nodding all around. “There is much I do not understand about how this attack was able to penetrate our defenses. I promise you, we will get to the root of this demon infestation and all that it means. But in the meantime, I’ve ordered additional security measures and armaments put in place. We have known peace for so long, my friends, so long… but there are things afoot in the magical world, and it is a dangerous time. The Summer Queen warned me, but I didn’t take her meaning at the time. I’m still not sure I do. But my son…” He waved a hand back to Larik and the Queen Mother. “My son secures the treaty for another generation—”

Lucian was cut off by Leksander speaking into his phone.
“What?”
Leksander’s gaze locked with Lucian’s, eyes wide. “Zephan’s at the perimeter. He’s seeking an audience.”

“You have got to be fucking kidding—”

“He’s saying he’s the representative of the Winter Court, and he’s here to witness the birth. That we’re
advised
not to deny him.” Leksander scowled, but that had nothing on the panic raging through Arabella’s body.

She jolted up out of her throne chair. “Lucian,
no.”

But he was just shaking his head. “The treaty protects Larik, just as it protects any prince of the House of Smoke.”

“That didn’t stop Tytus from nearly killing all of us!” Tears threatened her eyes. She flicked a look to the Queen Mother holding her baby, just to reassure herself they were okay. Lucian’s mother was still seated, but her eyes were set hard.

“I don’t have any direct evidence tying Tytus’s attack to Zephan…”

“Lucian!” She couldn’t believe he would even consider letting that monster into the keep.

Lucian held up his hands. “I’m sure Zephan was involved in some way. I
will
find out how. But for now, Arabella… there are formalities that keep the peace and fae representatives giving official witness to the birth of the new dragon prince is one of them.”

She just kept shaking her head. Then she left the throne to hustle back to the Queen Mother’s side. Arabella took her baby back in her arms and held him tight. The Queen Mother rose and stood tall, facing Lucian.

“You have to allow it, Lucian,” she said, and there was no question in her voice.

Lucian grimaced and looked back to Leksander.

“I can’t see a way around it, either,” he said with a scowl.

They both looked to Leonidas, but he just shrugged.

Lucian hesitated for a long moment, then he nodded to his brothers. “Protect the prince.” They hustled over to stand on either side of Arabella and Larik and the Queen Mother. Cinaed left Rachel at the side of the throne dais and took a protective stance in front of all of them.

The entire throne room tensed as Lucian lifted his chin to Leksander.

He spoke into the phone. “Let him in.”

Barely a second passed before Zephan appeared at the back of the throne room, obviously using his fae magic to get inside the keep once the wards were down. Heads jerked his way, and a dozen dragons shifted, hyper-vigilant, but they stayed in place. Arabella clutched her baby with both hands as her heart hammered. The Queen Mother moved in front of Arabella and Larik, then shifted and reared up, the full splendor of her golden wings unfurling in front of Arabella and the baby, blocking her view but protecting them.

“Well, there’s no need for panic, House of Smoke,” Zephan said in a casual, droll way that made Arabella’s stomach clench. His voice drew closer as he spoke. Arabella peeked around the Queen Mother’s wings to see him approaching Lucian at his throne. “And I told you before, Lucian Smoke of the House of Smoke… I wished to be notified when the birth of your dragonling was imminent. As you know, it has to be witnessed to be official.”

“Fuck off, Zephan. You sent Tytus to kill my mate and my son.” Lucian’s hands had shifted, and his talons flexed. Several dragons in the crowd edged forward.

Zephan looked offended. “I cannot be held responsible for the actions of some random dragon.”

“He said you were creating demons. Infecting humans—”

“I’m not infecting humans with anything!” Zephan’s voice boomed and vibrated the walls of the throne room. Then he calmed and gave a grim smile. “Take care with your accusations, dragon king. Humans are vile creatures quite capable of their own evil.”

Arabella didn’t believe a word he was saying—supposedly the fae couldn’t lie, but what did that even mean? Zephan was as tricky as they came.

The fae prince let out an elaborate sigh. “Besides, that’s not your biggest problem, King Lucian of the House of Smoke. You have yet to fulfill the treaty.”

Lucian hesitated, and even from the side of the throne dais and behind his mother’s protective golden wings, Arabella could see his teeth grinding. But he turned and gestured to Arabella. “Show him,” he said, tersely.

His mother hesitated, but then shifted back to human, revealing Arabella standing behind her with the baby. Larik made a small sound, a tiny cry, and nuzzled closer against her chest. She held him tight. If Zephan even made a move toward them…

But he didn’t.

Instead, he just shrugged. “Oh yes, I know about the dragonling. I’m sure he’s a fine, strapping little monster. But his birth is far from sufficient to fulfill the treaty.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Lucian demanded.

Zephan held his hands up like he was innocent, but Arabella knew better. She didn’t know how, but she
knew
Zephan was orchestrating something here. Something awful.

Her stomach clenched as an evil smile snuck on Zephan’s face.

He turned to face the Queen Mother. “Do you recall the controversy, Alexis? When you were first mated to the dearly-departed Larik the Elder? As I recall, you were a dragon mating to another dragon, something that was unprecedented. There was much wagering in the Winter Court as to whether that alone would break the treaty.”

“The treaty held,” Lucian’s mother said, stiffly.

Zephan tilted his head, but the smile was growing into a smirk. “Indeed it did. Your love was True, and we all felt it ripple across magical space, didn’t we?” His eyes glittered. “And then the triplets came, and that was the final reassurance, wasn’t it?” He looked at them each by turns—Arabella, Leonidas, Leksander, Lucian, and then finally the Queen Mother. “Did you feel it again, Alexis? Just yesterday, when little Larik was born? Or were you too mired in the tragic loss of your mate?”

The Queen Mother went rigid, not moving or speaking… but Lucian’s eyes were wide and questioning. Arabella didn’t understand it either.

Zephan’s smirk just grew. “You thought it was a blessing when three sons were given to you, but I knew better. I knew your time was coming to an end.”

Arabella’s heart lurched.
“Lucian.”
She begged with her eyes for an explanation, but he just shook his head, looking as confused as she was.

An awkward moment reigned. “Mother, what is he talking about?” Lucian finally asked.

The Queen Mother didn’t answer at first. Then she took a step forward. Then another. Until she was close to the front of the throne dais, looking down at Zephan as he smirked up at her.

“When my sons were born,” she said loud enough for the entire hall to hear. There was a horrible dread in her voice, but her eyes were locked onto Zephan’s face. “The entire world felt it.” She dragged her gaze from Zephan to meet Lucian’s wide-eyed stare. “We
felt
it, Lucian.”

Lucian’s face went slack.

Felt what?
Arabella wanted to scream. But she was clutching her baby and holding onto the hope that all this was one big misunderstanding. That everything she had been through hadn’t been for
nothing
.

“Of course, you did,” Zephan purred. “That magical shock occurs every time the treaty is renewed. An echo through magical space of the power of the first treaty, forged in the powerful magic of death and True Love. That’s how we knew, Alexis. That was the ultimate proof that your dragon-dragon coupling had fulfilled the requirements of the treaty when your three boys were born. But you didn’t feel it this time, did you?”

A heartbeat. Then two.
“No,”
came her whispered reply. Then she slowly turned away from Lucian and looked back with tears in her eyes to her other two sons, standing next to Arabella and the baby—Leonidas and Leksander.

“But… but I’m the
prototokos,”
Lucian protested. “The first-born—”

“Do you really think that
when
you exited the womb has any real significance?” Zephan sneered. “You are all three the product of the True Love pairing. All three of you survived the birthing. But in your arrogance, you presumed to know magic of which you are barely aware.”

Breath was held all around the throne room.

“All three dragon princes of the House of Smoke must produce dragonlings through a True Love pairing or the treaty
will
be broken.” The triumph on Zephan’s face struck horror through Arabella’s chest.

No…
She looked to Leonidas.
“The curse,”
she whispered.

Leonidas briefly closed his eyes, the gray pallor returning to his face.

Leksander was likewise pale.

The horror on Lucian’s face struck her through the chest.

The tiny, innocent baby in her arms
wasn’t enough…
they had made it through, all of them, but the toll it had taken… and now two more princes of the House of Smoke had to bring dragonlings into the world in order to save it. Leonidas, who was cursed to turn wyvern if he ever fell in love and who had already nearly been turned by the poison. Leksander, who was in love with an angeling who would never return it. Both had to win the True Love of a human woman or not only would their lives end… but a twelve-thousand-year-old treaty as well.

Arabella let her tears fall freely and drip down onto her sweet baby’s face.

“Once upon a time, there was a witch who loved me...”

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Of Bards and Witches
London, The Year of Our Lord 1600
 

Leonidas is a dragon shifter, a century into his allotted five, and he’s entranced by Master Shakespeare’s theatre and the comely and lusty women of London’s bankside. But when he finds a witch in the practice of her art in clear view of the stage, he must act… for dragons are the keepers of the peace between the mortal and immortal realms. But never has duty been so sweetly sexy and delicious to the touch as a witch whose very skin sparks pleasure. He becomes lost in his bed, breaking his own cardinal rule—never seduce a woman for more than a night. As one pleasure-drenched night bleeds into the next, he runs afoul of a danger he ought already know…
never cross a witch. 

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Leonidas's story is just beginning in...

CHOSEN BY A DRAGON 

(Fallen Immortals 4)