Page 34 of Mountain of Dragons and Sacrifice

“Ah.” So he was an ageless Greater Dragon. A far cry from the simple fae steward I’d thought him to be.

“I’ll leave the two of you to talk.” Phoebe paused long enough to give me a quick hug before she bustled from the kitchen, headed for the corridor and her own room.

Evander carried the tray from the kitchen, strode between the rows of tables, and headed for the cluster of comfortable chairs before the large fireplace that dominated the far side of the room from the kitchen. He set the tray on the table in the center before he sat in one of the chairs farthest from the fire.

I took a seat on a chair across from him and far closer to the fire. I curled my legs beneath me, trying to get comfortable despite what was sure to be an uncomfortable conversation. There was even a blanket tossed over the back of the chair, as if waiting for someone used to a warmer climate to take it out and spread it over her lap. Which, of course, I promptly did.

I reached for a plate and some of the goodies, not ready to start that conversation just yet. “I’m surprised you didn’t just pull a gyro or two out of your pocket for us to snack on.”

Evander chuckled, though he didn’t crowd me to claim any of the sweets for himself. “I don’t have any on me tonight. You were lucky that I had stuffed a generous lunch in my pockets before I stumbled across you wandering the tunnels.”

With him in his fae form, it was almost too easy to pretend he was just Evander. Not the dragon. Not the being I had feared for so long. “Thank you for sharing your lunch with me that day.”

He waved that away, as if sacrificing one gyro wasn’t that big of a deal.

Once I was settled under the blanket, a plate of goodies on my lap and a mug of warm tea with milk in my hands, I met Evander’s gaze. I couldn’t put this off any longer. “So…the sacrifices.”

“Yes.” Evander sighed, picked up one of the pieces of sweet bread as if he were going to take a bite, then set it back down. He pushed to his feet and paced in front of the fireplace. “Over a hundred years ago, by your human time, I was a young dragon who had just moved out of his family’s eyrie and had been awarded this mountain to turn into my own eyrie.”

“Eyrie? Not castle?” I sipped the tea, the warmth settling inside me. This was the comfort I had been expecting from my visit home. Strange that I would find it instead here in the Fae Realm with the dragon.

“We dragons call our fortresses eyries. But castle works too.” Evander shrugged, then leaned an arm against the mantel. “I took to the sky in my full dragon form to survey my new domain. That’s when I made the mistake that has haunted me for decades. There’s a thin spot between the realms that extends into the sky, and I accidentally flew through it. I felt the shiver, but I had never left the Fae Realm before. I didn’t know what it was until I was suddenly flying over a human village in broad daylight.”

I sucked in a breath, just imagining the reaction of my village if a dragon flew overhead.

“Exactly,” Evander said, as if I’d spoken my thoughts out loud. “Worse, I went back several times, curious about the humans in the village below. I was young and foolish. I didn’t know what the reaction of the villagers would be, but that was no excuse for my recklessness. That’s when the villagers ventured onto the mountain and left a goat staked out as an offering to the dragon.”

The first sacrifice. All because a young dragon was out stretching his wings.

“I didn’t mind, right at first. The goats were an appreciated addition to my meals, especially since I didn’t have Phoebe back then.” Evander tapped his fist against the mantel, the orange firelight casting ragged shadows across his face. “I even sent some of the dryads to the village at night to use their magic on the olive trees. I figured it was the least I could do to thank the villagers since they were so kindly feeding me. I didn’t see where things were headed. Not until the sacrifices began to escalate. It had been just a goat occasionally. Then two goats. Then a bull. Then the village elders began taking the animals from people in the village who couldn’t afford to lose their animals. I flew down there and told the village elders that I didn’t need the sacrifices. That they needed to stop.” Evander raised his head and met my gaze. “That’s when they sacrificed the first maiden.”

I raised the mug to my lips, but I couldn’t force myself to take a sip. I’d probably choke, given the hard lump in my throat.

“Apparently they took my insistence that I didn’t want the sacrifices to mean that goats and bulls were no longer enough.” Evander sighed, dropping his gaze back to the fire. “She was so frightened, thinking the dragon was going to eat her. I didn’t want a human sacrifice. So I returned her to the village, telling the elders just that.” Evander halted, both of his fists clenched, his voice going hard and choked. “They killed her.”

I couldn’t help my gasp. I cradled the mug, trying to draw in as much of the soothing warmth of my cooling tea as I could. “That’s awful.”

“They assumed she was the problem. That I found her an unacceptable sacrifice.” Evander pounded his fist harder against the mantel. “I returned to the village and burned some of the olive trees, just to make sure the elders knew it was unacceptable to kill the maidens. I demanded a living sacrifice. It was all I could think to do to make sure they didn’t kill another girl.”

And that began the demands. The threat of the dragon swooping in and burning the village to the ground.

“After that, I tried other ways to beg the village elders to stop the sacrifices. I’d wait for a few years to go by, then I’d go into the town in my fae form, pretend I was the dragon’s steward, and hint that the dragon wanted the sacrifices to end.” Evander’s mouth quirked at that. It was a ruse he was still using. “No matter what I tried, I couldn’t end the sacrifices. Instead, the elders just added another layer to them. I wore purple to the village once, and then the maidens were dressed in purple since that was apparently my color. I went as my steward, and then the rumor that it was forbidden to look upon my face got around. Eventually, I gave up. I didn’t want to make anything worse than it already was.”

I could see that, and I wasn’t sure what else he could have tried. But it also seemed wrong just to give up. Every year, a girl’s life was put on the line. Sure, Evander didn’t eat the girls. He treated us with kindness. But their lives—my life—were uprooted for no reason whatsoever besides long-held superstition.

“I don’t know what else to do or what else to try.” Evander finally looked up, his eyes searching my face as if looking for some kind of understanding or reassurance.

“I don’t know either.” I set down my mug with the dregs of tea. It had gone cold. “I’m sure the others have all pondered solutions and come up empty.”

“They have. None of us want this to continue, but I don’t want to make things worse. Right now, the maidens are sacrificed alive, at least. I don’t want to risk that again.” Evander shook his head, scrubbing a hand over his scruff of a beard. “I’ve continued sending Daphne and some of the other dryads to use fae magic on your village’s olive trees. I know it just encourages the elders to think the sacrifices are working, but I don’t dare stop for fear the elders will grow desperate to bring the dragon’s blessing back.”

“That’s why our olive oil is the best in the land.” I shook my head, trying to wrap my mind around it. That was Daphne’s mysterious task.

“Yes. I wish I didn’t have to reward the sacrifices but…” Evander shrugged with a defeated roll of his shoulders. “I suppose it’s the least I can do for the common people of your village who are most affected by the loss of their daughters.”

Ironic that because of Evander’s kindness, the sacrifices were working, in a twisted sort of way. Knowing Evander, he would gladly continue to help our village without the sacrifices.

“In the meantime, I try to make sure the maidens suffer as little as possible.” Evander straightened from his slumped position against the fireplace. “I have an alert placed on the stone so I know when a girl is left there. The gnomes helped me set it up. I try to get there as soon as I can, given the way time moves between the realms, before she’s injured by wolves or grows too cold.”

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