Page 37 of A Bond of Fire and Roses

Even if he is the king. Even if I can still feel where he was inside me, making me feel more alive than I ever have before.

We pass several guards on the way to the keep. I’m only certain we’re headed there when we reach the familiar gold door, and the distinct burning smell invades my nostrils. My pulse instantly increases. Okay, now I’m really getting nervous. The last time I was brought down here, Erax killed people in my name. Granted they were terrible, awful people, but I can still hear their screams lurking in the shadows around me. It’s like they’re echoing with my every step.

Erax squeezes my hand, almost like he’s trying to offer me comfort. I squeeze him back, even though I can still hear my parents’ screams too. They’re fresh in my memory again thanks to the dream. Not that they ever leave. I didn’t see them die or even hear them die but my imagination makes something up. It always does.

When we emerge into the beginning of the Den, the place appears to be empty. Only the sound of our boots echoing on the steps leading down fills the silence. And then a robed figure steps out of the shadows and stands on the centre of the platform—the same platform where those dead bodies had lain. They weren’t good people, and they got the ending they deserved. I try to remind myself of that and not think about them as I climb onto the platform with Erax. He’s still holding my hand.

“This is Zepheira,” he says, nodding to the other person. “Grand dragonmeyer to the realm, protector of our dragons. Royal pain in the ass some days.”

“And other days, grandmother to my delightful grandson.”

The woman drops her hood, revealing a head of thick braided silver hair with gold clasps woven in them. They fall over her dark face when she bows, and they briefly shadow her features. “Your Majesties, it is truly an honour to see you both together.” Then to Erax, she adds, “It is about time you brought your beautiful wife to meet me. I have been waiting.”

Oh, Zepheira is definitely related to Erax.

She’s mastered that sharp, slightly disappointed, admonishing tone perfectly.

Once she straightens, the light catches her face and I’m finally able to get a clear look at her. Zepheira is a lot older than Erax, perhaps in her late sixties, but I don’t see any resemblance between them. At least not at first glance. Her skin is darker and her bone structure sharper. I’d kill to have her high cheekbones. Her hooded eyes are a deep, ocean blue that seem to glitter in the firelight, and they have a kindness about them that reminds me of my uncle. The only similarity I see them sharing is their gold eyes. They each have one on them, both on the same side.

“You both have a gold eye,” I point out, glancing up at Erax. While the woman’s scar begins at the side of her nose and runs all the way over her temple, threading with her wrinkles, Erax’s starts at the inner corner of his eye and falls down his cheek to the edge of his face, stopping just below his ear. “Is it an inherited defect?”

Before Erax can answer me, his grandmother lets out a choking sound.

“You mean to say the queen does not know?”

Erax lets go of my hand and crosses his arms, his jaw ticking. “The queen wasn’t ready.”

“Well, the queen is standing right here, and I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Zepheira gives her grandson what I can only assume to be a scolding look.

“Come,” the old woman says to me. She loops her arm through mine and pulls me from Erax. “Let us take a walk together. You have much to see and learn, my young queen, but tonight I have something special for you. Spectacular, really. Did you know the king comes from a long line of dragonmeyers?”

“No,” I say, glancing back at Erax. “I didn’t.”

Erax follows us closely, although he stays several steps behind. He doesn’t look happy to have brought me here. I think he’s definitely reconsidering. But I want to know the truth. I want to know why Erax invaded our kingdom and killed my parents when we hadn’t been at war with them. In fact, I hadn’t even heard of Erax until that night.

I also didn’t know that his bloodline consists of dragonmeyers. I only knew that he was the one who brought them back into existence. Prior to that, dragons simply… disappeared. One moment they were there, and the next, they were gone.

Sister Gabriella said the dragons abandoned us because of our sins and that we were resisting the will of the gods. I could never find anything to confirm that in my research though but pointing it out got a slapped cheek in front of everyone.

“A very long line of them,” Zepheira continues. “It was our ancestors who witnessed the first ever documented hatching. Nightix, Cyrsí’s great-great-great-great-grandfather, was said to be the child of Nytar himself. It is why all of Cyrsí’s line breathe black fire that looks like it has stars within it, and they all have gold eyes.”

I know her fire well, I want to say, but I just managed to hold the words back.

“How old would that make Cyrsí?”

“Oh, that stubborn beast is still very young because she belongs to Erax. Dragons are hatched for their riders, and they begin their life with a rider or Dragonmeyer of their choosing. Not all Dragonmeyers are riders, but more caregivers, for riderless dragons. Dragons and riders are immortal together while the dragon is alive, and dragons tend to live for hundreds of years. It is painful for a rider to lose their dragon, but they can live after…just a shell of a life.” Sadness lingers in her voice. “Now her grandmother, she was old. A truly magnificent beast until she died with her rider.”

“What was her name?” I ask, my curiosity ripening.

“Venra. I was her rider for almost a hundred and two years. I was there when she hatched, and I was there when she took her last breath.”

There’s a shift in Zepheira’s tone, an almost bitter note that tinges her words.

“Venra died protecting her kin. She gave her life so that her young could live on.” Then, changing the subject, she says to me, “Would you like to meet Cyrsí’s sister? Her brother I wouldn’t introduce you to yet, but her sister can be agreeable. They’re the only triplets of their kind.”

I had no idea you could get twin dragons.

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