Page 12 of Dragon Fires Everywhere
Not something we often see on our fearless leader.
“He... A dragon just called a meeting of the Riverwood.” She blinks a few times, then shakes her head. “Icall the meetings.Iam the Confluence Warrior. Even when I didn’t know who I was, I called the meetings.”
Jacob rubs her back sympathetically, but his expression is amused. It’s not often someone comes along and tries to upend thenatural order of Emerson.
“Shake a leg, witches. We don’t haveforever,” Azrael calls from the large living room where we often hold our meetings.
Emerson’s stricken look quickly changes into her usual focus mixed with irritation, and woe betide the dragon who gets inher way. She marches into the living room and the rest of us exchange a look, then follow.
Azrael is standing in front of the stone hearth that now has a robust fire crackling in it when I know it didn’t before. More than that, he’s standing in Emerson’s usual spot.
I get the strangest feeling he knows that.
But she marches right up to him. “Azrael,” she says, and her voice is calm. Reasonable. Even friendly, which is one of thereasons she’s so good at local, human-facing politics too. “I am the leader of this coven. A coven that certainly wants tohelp you, as we all want an end to the Joywood’s reign of terror. But you’ve been stuck in a newel post for quite some time.You don’t know—”
“You’re right. I’ve been stuck in that newel post for a century or more.” He waves at the shattered remains of it at the footof the stairs, just visible from where he stands. “But I have seen and heard everything that’s gone on around me. If it wasanywhere near the stairs, I saw it. And I’ve heard pretty much everything that’s been spoken on this ground floor. You’renot exactly quiet, Emerson.” Then he looks at me, and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with the ways hisglancesshiver through me. “Dragons have excellent hearing.”
“How excellent?” Ellowyn demands suspiciously.
Azrael offers her a look, that dragony grin taking over his mouth. “Irrelevant, though should you ever see your ghosts again,you might want to let them know that although most of the people in the house can’t see them,Icertainly could.”
Ellowyn’s jaw kind of drops, and Zander gets a look like horror on his face. They both met their ghostly ancestors last monthafter a summoning gone awry, and were fond of them, so I’m not sure why they’re having this kind of reaction—
But Azrael is already moving on. “The first order of business has to be—”
Emerson makes a sound. Kind of like a shriek, but with more temper. “You can’t decide the order of—”
“—obtaining a new Praeceptor. Because Nicholas Frost, traitor to magic, won’t do.”
We all straighten at that, less amused than before.
Frost says nothing. He looks dark and stormy, as usual.
But Rebekah crosses her arms over her chest, her eyes narrowed and fury radiating off her. “Or we could get rid of the assholedragon who literallyjustappeared after having beenkindlingfor the past century.”
“Azrael. Clearly you don’t understand what happened on Litha,” I offer, trying to find some rational ground here. “None ofus would be here without Frost. He—”
“Sacrificed himself?” Azrael shrugs as if it was nothing. “After a literal millennium of living as an immortal. Somethinghe was able to do because he was an integral part of a dark, sick coven who used evil for their own gain.”
Everyone looks at Frost, who still denies nothing. Whether that’s because he doesn’t remember, or doesn’t want to, I’m notsure—but I can’t remember him ever defending himself, even when he could remember all the things he’s done.
Emerson butts in again, sounding less patient than before. “We appreciate your support, and we’ll protect you in whateverways we can, but you don’t have a say in the makeup of our coven.”
He nods. “Ourcoven.”
She frowns at him. “That’s what I said.”
Azrael shakes his head. “You can’t become the ruling coven without a magical creature. And you can’t live forever withoutsacrificing the magical creature in your coven after ruling for a hundred years, even if it’s a lowlyramidrejuweasel.”
We all frown at that, as if a weasel should mean something to us. As if it does. I have come to suspect that this sort ofthing is another little bit of evidence that the Joywood have messed with something.
But Azrael is still speaking. “This is the reason why the Joywood killed or cursed us all. They wanted to make sure they werethe last coven that could achieve immortality, ever. They wanted to be the last ones standing.”
He says this like it’s a law. Like it’s common knowledge.
When we all look at him blankly, he’s clearly baffled. “You don’tknowthis? I thought you were just making do because you couldn’t find any of us.”
“I don’t buy it,” Rebekah says then. She’s clearly angry. And it’s no surprise why. She doesn’t just love Frost. She knowshe risked everything to save her.
