Page 105 of Of Blood and Fire
Andthatwas the reason I liked him.
Damon cut him a sharp look, then said, “Fine, what is it you wish to change?”
Garran handed the documents to the nearby guard and motioned him to take them down. “I’ve had the agreements revised, and all my amendments have been noted, but basically it comes down to four main points.”
Damon accepted the papers without bothering to unroll them to look. “And what might they be?”
“One, the ridiculous requirement that trade agreements last for one hundred years and require the joining of our two great houses via marriage to seal the deal will end. Agreements will instead hold for ten years, after which there will be renewed negotiations. It will counter past problems of pestilence, weather, or mining mishaps disadvantaging one side.”
“Ten is a rather arbitrary number, is it not?”
Garran shrugged. “I’m open to suggestions on that matter.”
“How kind of you,” Damon drawled. “I am, however, agreeable to the overall intent. The second condition?”
“That control of Angola and her floating islands be ceded over to the Angolans, and they become self-governing.”
“Those islands will not survive without our support.”
“Zephrine would not have survived without their help,” I said. “Do remember it was the shield they raised that kept this fortress whole.”
He glanced at me dismissively. I smiled. It wasn’t a pleasant smile, and his gaze narrowed. “What is the third condition?”
“You restore Zephrine’s aeries and stop all hunting of drakkons.”
He half laughed. “Given I want Zephrine to have her own winged army, that goes without saying. Your final condition?”
“That you publicly cede your claim to the throne and place Tayte on it instead.”
Damon stared at him for several long seconds and then laughed loudly. “You jest.”
“I do not.” Garran’s tone was even, but there was no mistaking the steel in it. “You, along with your father, plotted to kill me and my family. You were also a willing partner in the subterfuge that replaced your good self with your half brother in a marriage demanded by the treaty, aiming to rule by proxy through Damon until a son was born. And you held his sisters and mother hostage to force him into obedience. Then there is the aforementioned rape attempt. Step down, Damon, or tear the trade agreement up right now and face the consequences of your actions.”
“Is that a threat ofwar?”
Garran raised an eyebrow and glanced at me. I rose, put fists that burned with inner heat on the table, and said, “Oh, it’s no threat. Zephrine will never have drakkons to call her own while you remain on the throne, nor will we come to her aid if the riders regroup and return.”
He jumped to his feet and thumped the table hard. “This isunconscionable!”
“No, this is revenge, and damn if it doesn’t taste so sweet.”
“You can’t?—”
“Oh, I can and will. Garran may rule Esan, butIam the drakkon queen. He has no sway over them. No man ever will.”
“You would rather watch Zephrine burn than come to her aid?” he said incredulously.
“After what your father did, after what you tried to do? You’re lucky we came to Zephrine’s aid in the first place. Oh, and given your murderous tendencies, if your brother—Tayte, I mean, not the myriad of half-blood ones you have running about—or any of his sons mysteriously die or otherwise disappear, be it next week, next year, or fifty years down the track, we will consider that a severing of all agreements and withdraw all drakkons that might be here.” I smiled savagely. “And in case you think I can’t, I ride the queen. None will gainsay her. Not now, not ever.No matter what allegiance their riders might have to Zephrine herself.”
Truth, Kaia said.
He stared at me, his expression apoplectic. “This is?—”
“We know exactly what this is,” Garran said, and rose. “You have twenty-four hours to consider your options. Oh, and on the off chance you decide to send your tame earth mage after us, our rooms have been shielded by your half brother, and anyone trying to enter with ill intent in mind dies.”
“For fuck’s sake—” Damon ran a hand over his scalp. “Sit. We’ll go through the entire document and work out a succession plan.”
Garran hesitated, then nodded. “Fine. But be warned—I am similarly shielded against a personal attack.”
