Page 34 of Queen of Serpents and Shadows

My brows furrowed. “You want to marry the Dragon King now? Is it the mating bond? Are you feeling things for him?”

She shook her head. “Not really. He’s attractive, sure. But no, it’s not that.”

“What then?”

“I want to ensure the dragon’s loyalty to us. What will encourage them to help us while their own city is under siege? They could easily walk away from us. Let us all die. Athos can’t do this without them, I know that,” she said.

“Youdidhear about Drakous,” I said with amusement. “I thought you were staying out of all of it.”

“I’ve been keeping up,” she admitted. “Sophia gives me updates.”

“So you know Ara returned and that she’s leaving in the morning,” I said.

“I know. I’d rather she be here for this, but Iunderstand if he can’t arrive in time. I’m sure she’ll understand,” Cora said.

“Are you sure you want to do this now? What if he dies in the fight? You might never have to marry him,” I said.

Her jaw tensed. “I’m certain. Can you send a message?”

“Alright,” I agreed. “I can’t guarantee he’ll leave Drakous to do this now.”

“He’ll come,” she said with more certainty than I’d ever heard from her. “We should plan for a wedding.”

“Cora.” Sophia’s tone was pure delight. “Come to join our research?”

“I was wondering when you’d leave your room,” Aunt Katerina said.

“I wasn’t feeling well, but I’m better now.” She reached for a stack of papers that was bound with twine. “What are we looking for?”

“Anything about half-vampires or about magic in Athos,” Aunt Katerina said.

“I found an old letter that was talking about how a farmer had too many crops back when we first settled here,” Sophia said as she grabbed a book and made herself comfortable the floor. “I think the magic might have once benefited us.”

“We do use it to warm our water,” Cora said.

“Think of what else we could get it to do,” Sophia added.

It was nice to see Sophia so invested in helping us. I think it was a distraction to prevent her from thinking about the change she went through.She was getting animal blood dropped at her door daily, refusing to let anyone see her drink it. One of these days, she’d need to work through it, but it wouldn’t matter if none of us lived through this.

Cora leaned over, then lowered her voice. “Don’t forget what I asked.”

“You’re certain?”

She nodded.

“You can take my chair,” I said to Aunt Katerina. “I have something I need to tend to.”

My aunt took my seat and I left to find a hawk. I wasn’t sure if I wanted Bahar to come and marry her now, or if I wanted him to delay things. Cora was right, a marriage vow would more publicly bind him to our city. It would be impossible for his people or ours to deny our alliance. But I knew how much she didn’t want to wed him. I had hoped they’d get a longer engagement.

I turned the corner toward the scribe’s rooms and found Laera and Vanth standing in the hallway, speaking in hushed tones. They stopped talking when they noticed me.

“I thought you were all resting until tomorrow,” I said.

“I don’t do well with rest,” Laera replied. “I think you’re the same, aren’t you?”

I ignored the question. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“You can inform your scribes that we’re not here to harm them. We just need a couple of maps to confirm the sorceress’s location,” Laera said.

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