Page 80 of Heir of Draga

“If you could truly help us I’d be willing to overlook the transgression your people have committed against mine,” she sniffed. “You are not the one who poisoned us.”

Adelina unclasped her hands and flexed her fingers, looking up at the stone ceiling and its stalactites to regain control over the temper she felt rising at the female’s dismissive tone. “Please excuse my ignorance, but when did this transgression occur?”

Prince Rykian frowned as he studied her. There was a flash of something she couldn’t read in his eyes, but he wasn’t angry. The wariness she felt in him eased. “Two hundred cycles ago, after we helped King Beo fight back the Neprijat.”

Adelina went completely still as she took in his words…and the meaning. Everything she’d read during King Beo’s reign needed to be realigned. How was so much history missing from the textbooks? She glanced at Nash who seemed just as confused. Did the Corinthians not have any information in their digital records either?

She turned her gaze down into the crystal pool as she tried to gather her thoughts, studying the amethyst that so ironically matched her eyes. Her instincts warned her to be honest with them – only with the truth would she be able to acquire their help.

“I have spent my life studying what little we know about the Drakesthai and the Hai Galaxy,” she confessed. “It is written that we were alone in the fight against the Neprijat, but the details are rather vague and open to question…it is said we haven’t had contact with anyone in the Hai Galaxy for nearly six hundred cycles. Everyone thought the Drakesthai were dead and gone until twenty cycles ago when our scout was sent back with orders to never return. If what you said is true…our records must have been purged. There aren’t many left from that time – but…” It was difficult to consider a lifetime of lies and betrayal. What other secrets were hiding in the royal library?

Adelina looked up at Prince Rykian and stood firm. It didn’t matter what was written. The Drakesthai needed her help regardless, and she needed theirs. “What occurred was over two hundred cycles ago, but there are a few who remain from that time. If I can find the perpetrator I will deliver them to you so you may seek justice.”

The sacred words echoed in the cavern and her people responded. “Justice must be served!” Nadyah, Varan, and Roxy shouted, intoning the sacred words.

Kalene started at the sudden sound, but Adelina held Rykian’s gaze. “I have the power to grant this and more.”

“And what if it is one of your own?” Tatsuo demanded.

Adelina slid her eyes to the older princess. “They are all my own.”

“What if they are royalty?”

The question infuriated her. As though she would not serve justice based on rank. How absurd and insulting.

Adelina laughed then, letting them see behind her calm mask a bit. She was done tiptoeing around the subject. “You seem to misunderstand, Princess Tatsuo. The only royal left alive who could have poisoned you all is my grandmother and I would gladly give her to you. My father and sister are dead.”

Nash winced at that and some small, petty part of Adelina was glad he hurt, because he had hurt her.

She paced, eyeing each of the winged males, but especially the females, baring her teeth as she spoke, and daring them to say they were the only ones to suffer. “My last living sister now rules as queen and she gave me carte blanche to make this alliance happen.” Adelina slashed her hand through the air, feeling her wolf rise to the surface.

Varan grinned at her; the smile was possessive, indulgent, and proud. It gave her the confidence and strength she so desperately needed as she released more of her wolf.

“Queen Giselle is currently waging war, thick in the battles against the Neprijat along with my brothers. They might all be dead by the time I return to the front lines, so it doesn’t really matter to me either way who committed the crime. Rank does not protect one from their crimes in Draga. I will find the perpetrator once the war is over, and find the cure to your sickness. There will be justice for this transgression.”

“Justice will be done!” her people shouted once more in the Ancient language.

Adelina stopped before Vasili, staring up at him, daring him to question her again. Despite the difference in their height he was the one to look away first. Then she turned to Tatsuo, keeping Rykian in her sights – allowing Roxy and Nadyah to worry about the others.

“In return you will sign an alliance with Draga and lend me your armies to rid us all of the Neprijat scourge and their poison.” Adelina felt the wolf, so delicious and feral. Her claws ached and her senses were heightened. What she wouldn’t give to run and howl and tear and rip into her enemies. “I personally cannot wait to remove each limb from their bodies.”

Her feral smile full of teeth was their signal.

“I will take their eyes last so they may watch what is done to them,” Varan whispered with that maniacal laugh he used to terrify the riffraff of Draga.

“They will burn, screaming until their throats are nothing more than ash,” Roxy murmured, her red hair suddenly taking on new meaning.

“Any left won’t know they’re dead until it’s too late, throats slit in the shadows,” Nadyah said so sweetly it took a moment for her words to truly register.

The oldest female, Serilda, didn’t seem impressed by their theatrics, but the others looked almost fearful, wary of the wolves they’d allowed into their den.

“You don’t require us to ally with Khara?” Rykian asked, nodding his head at Nash.

Adelina didn’t even bother looking at the prince despite how hard her heart pounded. They were nearly done. She could leave the Council to consider their exchanged words while she settled her wolf and heart.

But she prayed Nash would let her explain.

“I would prefer that you did, but it is not a requirement. We will retake Khara with the Corinthians either way to honor our original alliance with them.” Adelina inspected her claws and then clasped her hands behind her back. She strode back to Varan’s side and then turned to face the Council. She held Kaiden’s gaze as she spoke. “Think about my words. Send me the information on the disease you speak of and the events leading up to it so I may start an investigation regardless of your ultimate decision. Injustice does not go unpunished in Draga, not if I have anything to say about it.”

Adelina didn’t wait for a dismissal. This would be the last bit of dramatic flair Varan had instructed her on. She turned on her heel and walked out of the Council room – as if the Drakesthai’s decision didn’t matter to her, as though she could manage well enough without them.

She would not beg.

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