Page 108 of Ash

The words echoed through the garden, the certainty in his voice surprising even himself. It rocked Razir back on his hind legs.

“Ssoulbond?” He spat the word. “Mother ssaid the Oracle might be your ssoulbond.” He shook his head. “I think you have losst it, brother. Aranta thinks sso too. Sshe ssaid your attachment tos the Dire was unnatural.”

Tyrez hissed, a low, long sound of rage. “Aranta knowss nothing. She iss in the grips of her hormones, and only knowss that I wass more attracted to Dani thans to her.”

Razir seemed to deflate. “What sshe thinks, you thinks, or I thinks, no longer matters. I ams here to bring you back to the palace. The Emperor hass decided your fate.”

Tyrez’s heart pounded. He hadn’t expected it to happen so fast.

A new voice entered the conversation. “Just like that? No chance of a discussion?”

Cara stood along the path with her arms crossed, glaring at Razir. “I know your people are stubborn as hell, but this is ridiculous. If it hadn’t been for Tyrez’s efforts, Dani would certainly have died.”

His brother looked away. “The ruless are clear. The Emperor cannot makes exceptions, even for his own sson.”

Cara narrowed her eyes. “Will not, you mean. Perhaps it is time the rules were changed.”

Tyrez rose and flicked his wings. “It doessn’t matter. I knews the rules, and I brokes them. My father cannots forgive me, and expects to remain as ruler to our people. And the rule existss for a reasson.”

“I get it. Without it, we’d be up to our eyeballs in well-hung, righteous, irritating, shapeshifters.” Cara put her hands on her hips. “But it doesn’t take a Watcher to detect the energy connecting you and Dani. There are extenuating circumstances here.”

“Mothers argued as much,” Razir admitted. “It did impacts the discussion and affected the verdict.” He bowed his head. “I cannot force yous to leave this sanctuary, but for the ssake of the woman, I advise yous to do so. Mother hass negotiated a way for hers to live. But only if yous accept your sentencing.”

Cara stared at Tyrez and shook her head. “You could have just brought her here, and swept this under the rug.”

But for Tyrez, there was no hiding what he’d done. “I am Legion,” he pointed out. “Ifs I don’ts believe in followings the ruless, how can I ever upholds them?”

The Watcher shook her head. “Nothing good can come from you facing your father over this.”

Tyrez shook his wings into place as he tilted his head at Cara. “My onlys concerns iss for Dani’s future.”

Cara’s lips straightened and her blue eyes flashed, but she knew as well as him that the Dragons might respect the boundaries of the Watcher’s sanctuary, but unless Tyrez could negotiate a deal for her life, they would put a contract out on her. If she stepped one foot outside Cara’s boundaries, she would die.

He hadn’t saved her to have her die anyway. Tyrez walked to his brother. “I wills come.”

Cara flung her arms in the air, the crystal beads in her braids tinkling. “You tell that father of yours that I think Tyrez made the only call he could, and I am willing to back it up.” She focused on Tyrez. “If this sentencing is severe, Thadus is going to hear from me, and my Watcher sisters. You can tell him that.”

Razir looked suitably cowed, and Tyrez shot the Watcher a grateful look as he followed his brother into the sky for the short hop to the gateway. Both Dragons landed and slipped through in phase one.

More Dragons awaited them just inside the gate on the Arandagian side. When Razir gestured them on, they formed up on each side of the brothers. It wasn’t lost on Tyrez that they’d been prepared to bring him by force if he’d been less than willing.

They radiated anger and frustration. Tyrez was one of their own, and they had respected him. They didn’t understand what he’d done. All they knew was that he’d broken one of their most ancient rules.

He was not ashamed of saving Dani, and he was ready to accept his punishment. But it was difficult to bear that scrutiny. As they winged toward the palace, Tyrez pushed himself to phase two. The sleep had helped, and Cara had plied him with food, but he was still dangerously depleted. It hurt more than it should and took much longer. He’d barely achieved his full size by the time they landed.

He wouldn’t have bothered, as he’d need to be human again right away, but his instinct was to show a strong hand from the moment he entered the realm. His Dragon was powerful, one of the largest in the Legion. As he regained his full size, their escort drifted a little away from him and Razir.

The other Legion Dragons guarding the Emperor’s administrative complex straightened as he landed with grace, every scale rigidly controlled as he pushed himself back to human as fast as possible, for the same reasons. When he calmly handed his tail spike to the guards, their expressions altered to confusion.

The fact he’d come freely at the request of his brother, and was not hauled in by his peers, garnered a touch of respect among them. He sensed it as they fell in behind him and Razir.

The Emperor awaited him. With him was the full assembly of Elders. His brother, Taran, stood to his right. His vivid-blue eyes blazed with rage. On the throne twenty feet to the Emperor’s left sat the Matriarch. His mother’s face was set in stone, but the pain in her eyes twisted Tyrez’s heart.

His sisters stood behind her. Sirki’s pinched and pale face had tears streaming down it.

Whatever they’d decided, it couldn’t be good. Tyrez steeled himself. The important thing in all this was Dani. She needed to be free, to live her life without looking over her shoulder.

He bowed low to his Father. “Emperor.”

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