Original Stories Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction / Realism Fan Fiction ❯ Darkness Eternal ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter Nine

Oath

 

 

The town was more than a little shabby in the way the houses seemed to lean to the side and the smell of human feces permeated the air. Curious looks were repressed as the three horses trotted through their midst. If nobles had chosen to come to their town then they had no business questioning who they were or what they wanted.

Soren leaned against Coran's chest as another person cast her a skeptical look before quickly glancing away again. “Why do they keep looking at us?” she muttered, glancing over at Homuna who rode with the man Coran had called Torun.

“They don't have horses here and when someone with such a beast does come through it usually means that they're nobles come for some sort of trouble,” Coran said smoothly. “You needn't worry, they won't attack or anything.” For a moment an uncomfortable silence pressed in on them before, “Who is the boy's father? Is he from this world or the world you previously lived in?”

The question startled her and she tilted her head back so she could better see his face. Coran was staring straight ahead, his face completely straight. “What does that have to do with anything?” she asked, trying to puzzle out his reasons for asking her such a question. “I mean, its not like its relevant to anything that's going on is it?”

“Perhaps not, but the people may not react kindly to you having a child,” Coran said stiffly. “Especially seeing as Queens are normally made infertile when chosen.”

Soren stared blankly at him for a moment then cracked a grin, thinking that he was kidding. “If I didn't know any better I'd say you were serious, but there's no way someone becomes infertile just because they become a king or queen.”

His eyes shifted to hers for the briefest of seconds before he resumed staring straight ahead. “Kings do not become infertile, only the queens. And, no, I am not joking in any way. How old is the boy?” As much as he disliked it, he knew that if the boy was indeed hers then the people would see her as an unfit queen and as such they would rebel and try to overthrow her reign before it even began.

“A few months,” Soren responded impassively, “and I'm not infertile, so that just goes to prove that your Riagenkai was wrong when he said I was his queen.”

He eyed the boy for a long moment before saying, “He looks to be three or four years old. How can he be only a few months old?” He hadn't missed the bitterness with which she had informed him that she was not infertile and though he wanted to ask something told him that to do so would only drive her behind her mask of ice and indifference faster than he could finish speaking to words.

“I told you yesterday that he was mine and he is, but not in the sense that you took my words for,” Soren said, turning her head so she could stare forward as well. “He hatched about three months ago.”

A smile flitted over her lips as she felt him gasp. “Hatched?!” he repeated.

“Yes, Homuna is a dragon. He was hatched among the slave traders that first found me six months or so back,” Soren said with a shrug. “You might know the lead guy. Jestiry.”

She felt his arm around her waist tighten for a fraction of a second, making her glance back at him to see that his features had hardened into a scowl. “Coran?” she asked, almost worried by the way he was reacting to just the name. “What is it? Do you know him?”

“Yes. He is brother to the queen of Riana and a renowned back stabber. I'm not truly surprised to hear that he has taken to slave dealings or stealing a dragon egg. Incidentally, what did he plan to do with…Homuna, once he was hatched?”

Soren shrugged, her eyes still resting on his stony expression as she answered, “Dunno. He found me in Jesira and shortly thereafter Jersira's Riagenkai fell. He may have been planning on selling him to the ministers of either Jesira or Kokutoma; one of the two. Why?”

“Do you know if he knew that you were a chosen royal?”

“I'm not your queen,” Soren said flatly, shifting her gaze away from him.

“We've got a month before we reach the capital, I'll have you convinced by then,” Coran said, amusement almost lacing his voice.

“No, you won't.” I could never be a queen as I am.

* * *

He knelt beside the pool, staring into its depths as the Dragon King paced at his back. Silence pressed in on them from all around, the weight of the others fury pressing in on him. His dark eyes shifted to Askerin for a moment, long enough to deduce that the king wasn't watching him even as he strode back and forth in agitation. If he was ever going to do this…if he was going to defy him…now was the chance.

Shifting his gaze back to the pool he let his mind flow outwards until he brushed against the barriers of the one whom he was supposed to be trying to control. They stirred as though waking from a deep slumber.

Child?

The word hung between them, thicker than fog. The other did not react, merely waited for him to make his move. They were cautious and did not lower their barriers.

* * *

She felt the presence before she heard them. With them came a sense of urgency that tugged at her mind, willing her to wake and open completely to him. Even in the haze of sleep she could feel something fluttering in her stomach. Was this it? Had he finally reached out to her again after three weeks of absolute silence?

Child?

She came awake slowly, feeling the something die in her. This voice was clear and he had not called her by her name or silver-eyes as the other had. Whoever this was, he was different and she did not know him. He tugged at her, trying to pry her mind open to him.

Speak.

The tugging paused, surprise emanating from its source.

Speak or quite wasting my time and go back to wherever it is that you came from.

I haven't much time so I'll make this quick. Your Riagenkai's will is fading beneath a false blood-seal. The longer you wait to establish your bond the less likely you will be to free him. You need to hurry, lest the prince disappear completely.

Soren felt cold grip her for the briefest of moments as she stared into the ever darkening forest surrounding them. Her Riagenkai, fading. Then she was hidden behind her mask once more.

He was trying to slip away. Well, she couldn't have that; she wasn't through with him. Without knowing how she did it she reached out and grabbed him, holding him to her barriers. He struggled then stilled as her grip redoubled on him, threatening to overpower him and snuff his mind out like a candle in a hurricane.

Who are you and how do I know that what you say is true? Why do you even care?

She could feel his hesitation, could feel his fear flowing through her.

Tell me.

I'm a dragon and I serve in the dragon court under the king as an enchanter, an ensnarer of the mind. You've felt my touch before, all those dreams you've brought to the surface were rebuffs of my claims. You're one of the strongest I have ever encountered.

She knew that he had been hoping to distract her with the news that he had touched her mind before, but she brushed it off. What did it matter to her at this moment when something of a more vital importance was at stake?

Tell me what I want to know or I'll-

All right, all right!! Quite squeezing and I'll tell you.

Soren loosened the grip she had unconsciously been tightening and waited expectantly. The moment he spoke she felt knowledge flood her, images to explain what he could not put into words.

My name doesn't matter and why I warned you is all due to the simple fact that your Riagenkai is son to the Dragon King and only heir. He's the only one that can release us from the blood-seal and free us of his blood lust driven father. If he were any other Riagenkai then I wouldn't have bothered to reach out to you, the risk wouldn't have been worth the reward if Askerin finds out what I have done. You're the only one that can free him and us, in turn.

She weighed his words and found no fault to them as she continued to hold him captive.

Askerin is his father?

Yes.

And you did this for yourself?

His confusion washed over her at the question.

Yes.

She released him and he disappeared, leaving her behind her barriers to digest the information he had given her.

Her silver eyes darted to Coran's sleeping form and then to Homuna's and Coran's men. The three horses were dozing several feet away, the forms of the wolf and leopard not far away from them. The rough blanket Coran had given to her to use that night sat draped across her thighs, the night still and undisturbed even as something swirled inside of her, an old ice and numbness she hadn't realized she had lost. Her Riagenkai, fading.

With a casual gesture that almost shocked her she reached out and kicked Coran. The Heshen grunted and rolled over in his sleep. “Coran,” she said quietly and his eyes popped open immediately at the ice he heard in her voice. “Get up, we're moving out, now.”

Some part of her rebelled at the thought of giving the older man orders, but only a very small part that she could very easily ignore and suppress. Standing, she stretched her sore muscles and glanced over to see Maixim and Torun staring at her as their general moved slowly about them as though afraid that any quick movement would startle her into attacking them.

Turning her attention away from them she called, “Grent, Chimadori.” The names slid easily over her tongue, as though she had always known them and had just momentarily forgotten them. The Kingen were at her side in an instant awaiting her command, the white leopard staring at her with unabashed puzzlement. Ignoring the look she said, “We have very little time before we head out so I want a straight answer for my question.”

The humans haven't eaten and the horses are barely rested. Do you really want to push them to the breaking and risk walking the rest of the way?

Yes. “Tell me what you know of Askerin,” she said, her tone quiet and almost commanding.

As Grent spoke to her ears Chimadori spoke to her mind and through it all she learned of the dragon that had sired her Riagenkai. Askerin was a ruler that had taken his throne through treachery and ruled with an iron fist, never tolerating for an instant an ounce of defiance. He was the type of ruler that ensured his people's obedience through the most brutal of ways and thirsted for the sight and smell of blood; the sort of dragon that went through the shadows and manipulated others to achieve the source of his obsession and all because it meant that more suffered for the bloodshed.

As Coran saddled their horse he stole a glance at the teen that had changed so suddenly. The day before she had been easy going with him, almost open and trusting in a way he hadn't thought her capable of after finding her. Sure, she had shied away from Torun and Maixim, but that hadn't stopped her from interacting with them when certain situations had demanded it of her. She had cared for Homuna along the way as though he had been born of her womb and not hatched from an egg. What could have changed her in a few hours that her presence felt almost…dark and…heavy?

Soren shifted her gaze to him and he suddenly felt trapped by what he saw within those eyes. He shivered involuntarily at the dark rage and hate swirling in the silver orbs. “What condition was he in when he ordered you to come after me?” she asked, breaking the hold her eyes held on him.

Without asking what she meant he knew she was asking about Farin. There was no one else that could have ordered him to pursue a missing queen other than the Riagenkai. “Farin was injured in a fight with another dragon,” he supplied almost automatically. “He was insistent that there was no time for him to see the palace imagi before Dragon Officials arrived.”

Her eyes flashed oddly at their mention. “Sent by the Dragon King I would assume,” she stated rather than asked.

Coran gave her a puzzled look and shrugged. He had no idea who controlled the Dragon Officials, but if he had ever stopped to think about it then a dragon king would have made sense. Who else would be able to manage the dragons spread throughout the continent?

“Do you know what the Dragon Officials did to him?”

“I assumed that they were there to speak with him on the matter of his constant shifting and killing of his royals. He's had trouble choosing a stable ruler for Regenku since the execution of his first ten years back.”

She sized him up for a moment, an indefinable emotion flickering across her features as their gazes held. Then she turned away from him to stare into the depths of the forest. “Can you tell me what a blood-seal is? What it does and who has the power to cast such a thing?”

His eyes flashed oddly at the mention of the seal. “His first ruler tried to bind him with such a seal. I've heard that it warps the dragon to the will of the caster and that they have no choice but to obey, that it's a fate worse than death,” Coran said flatly. “I've no idea who has the power to cast such a spell or seal, but if there's anyone it would probably be someone like the Dragon King. Why do you ask?”

She shifted her gaze to him and saw him as the warrior he had been raised to be, as the Heshen General that had defied his king to protect his Riagenkai. A smile ghosted across her lips as she said, “Do you suppose a Dragon Official could do such a thing if ordered by their king? If said king had enough motivation? Do you think it could create a false blood-seal that renders the victim little more than a puppet?” Broken images from the dragon's wordless explanation floated fresh in her mind, Farin's blank stare predominant.

Her Riagenkai, fading. She didn't question now that he was her dragon, didn't deny that she was his chosen even half of her rebelled at the thought of being a queen. It was as though something had been given back to her with the return of her old self, an old knowledge that had momentarily slipped away from her.

“I suppose,” Coran admitted as he tried to fathom what had brought this side of her out into the open. “Shall we get going?”

Movement out if the corner of her eye and a brush against the barriers, which had been made all the more real with the dragon's intrusion, of her mind made her falter for a moment. The presence was familiar, almost menacingly so, and as she spun to see who it was Homuna got to his feet and trotted to the older dragon to greet her as any child would greet a familiar adult.

Her silver hair clouded her features for a moment as she looked down at the small boy, a smile tugging at her lips as she ruffled his hair. Then blazing sea green eyes met uncertain silver and the smile was lost. “He's been bound by a false seal?” she asked, his soft voice hitting Soren with the force of a falling tree.

Soren could only nod.

“You've accepted being his chosen?”

Another nod.

“And you're certain that this is the path you wish to live by?”

“No, but I'm sure as hell going to try.”

“Why? I thought you didn't want to be a queen. That's why I interfered when he tried to complete the bond.”

She was slowly regaining her cold front as she answered, “Well, I seem to be popular among you dragons because I found out from one of Askerin's…enchanters that Farin was placed under a false blood-seal and that his will was slowly fading. Would you happen to know anything about that?” Sora's eyes flashed and she grinned a wryly smile. “Though, seeing as the bastard was the reason you disappeared in the first place I doubt you would be up-to-date on his plans and motives. Now, are you going to join us or is this happy little reunion only going to extend this far?” Soren momentarily frowned as she felt uncertainty not her own flash through her.

The two familiars exchanged glanced between the teen and the dragon and then exchanged a long look that conveyed understanding. As Grent stood and slowly moved towards Sora, his hackles rising, Chimadori turned to Soren and said, I felt that. Now that you've accepted one as your Riagenkai the other will be yours to command as well.

Burying any reaction she might have had to those words she turned to the horses as she said, “Grent, stop that. We have more important things to attend to, like getting back to Regenku as fast as we can.”

Sora watched as Soren mounted up and then as Coran swung into the saddle after her, uncertainty swirling in her. For once her Kingen was silent, content to let her master work things out for herself this once. Her gaze shifted for a moment as Homuna walked calmly over to one of the human guards and allowed them to swing into the saddle with him as though they had done it a thousand times before. She didn't miss the way Grent cast her a scathing look or the way the leopard followed after Soren, but none of that mattered as she wrestled with her decision.

If she followed Soren then she would be embracing the post she had fled from all those years before. She would have to confront the old demons she had left behind and come to terms with her daughter's death before she could properly serve a new queen. Would it even be worth it? Young as she was, could Soren be strong enough to resist the fate that so many before her had succumb to?

Watching as the horses trotted easily away she knew the answer without recognizing it. Her queen? Yes, she could very easily accept that now and come to terms with the rest later. Would she follow? There was no doubt now. Could Soren be strong enough and make it all worth it somehow? Yes.

Some part of her had accepted this teen as her queen from the first moment she had laid eyes on her. The notion had only been reinforced through the months they had spent together and she had watched Soren struggle with herself and try to conquer whatever it was that plagued her.

Soren didn't dare glance back to be certain that Sora would follow. Instead she focused on her familiar and asked, Is she coming?

She accepted you.

Relief flooded through her and washed away the fears she had held close since she had parted ways with the dragon three weeks previously. It was as if Sora had forgotten the entire exchange that had taken place between them, something for which she was fervently grateful for.

Why did it take her so long to follow after us?

There was a moment of silence in which Chimadori didn't answer before, I don't know. She may just have been following the false trails I left to throw her off, but I don't think she was fooled in the least as she is a dragon.

“Which country's Riagenkai is she?” Coran asked, breaking through the silent conversation.

“Sora is a former Riagenkai. She killed her royal and fled her post about fifty-five years ago, probably about the time your Riagenkai came into the picture.” She felt his arm tighten around her and she knew that he had put two and two together and realized that Sora was the former Riagenkai of his country. “Jestiry is to thank for our meeting,” she added almost casually.

Deciding against pursuing the subject any further he asked, “Why are you suddenly so eager to get to Regenku? You can't be as concerned about the Riagenkai as you're trying to be made out to be.”

She twisted a little in his grasp to look at him, her eyes blazing with an odd intensity that unsettled him. “It's not that he's Riagenkai, it's just that I want to meet him and not some shell that wears his face. I don't want to be queen, but I don't want him to fade from existence when there was something I could have done to save him. I don't even know why I'm so concerned with him, but I am and I'm not about to turn away from him when he was the one to reach out to me.”

“It's an irresistible pull that exists between certain Riagenkai and ruler. I'm sure you didn't notice while we were traveling together, but our course wasn't random. Whether you wanted to be queen or not you always headed in this general direction,” came Sora's voice as she followed briskly along the horse and gave the odd smile that never failed to confuse her.

“Have you ever experienced such a pull?” Soren asked.

There was a short pause in which silence seemed to stretch forever. “No,” Sora finally admitted, “and I've had a lot of royals in my time. Like I said, it exists between certain pairs. I've just never been one of them.”

For a while they trotted in silence, Sora occasionally darting ahead to scope out a noise that had caught her attention. Maixim and Torun switched positions and swapped Homuna so the other could take a turn eating. Soren and Coran were lost to their own brooding silences until Torun tossed them food and then they ate in silence.

Night fell and the horses' footsteps were becoming sluggish when Coran finally called a halt and ordered Maixim and Torun to spread the bed rolls and blankets and fetch fire wood. As soon as the horses were resting and the three were out of ear shot Sora rounded on Soren and stalked silently over to where the teen sat with Homuna on her lap, the wolf and leopard familiars laying on their sides around her as they devoured the carcass one of them had hunted.

“I've been trying to figure out for three weeks what you meant when you told me that you've been used, lied to, and betrayed,” she said, bracing herself for the explosion. “I just can't seem to forget that you said you've lived long enough to see your father murdered by yo-”

“Shut up.”

Her voice echoed oddly, as though Soren had shouted right in her ear even as she sat twenty feet away. It brought her up short and killed any response she might have had prepared.

Ice flooded her veins, her muscles tensing as though to run. Soren didn't look at Sora, just kept her eyes hidden behind her hair as she continued to stare at Homuna. Grent and Chimadori turned their gazes from their meal to look between the two. So, the dragon had just been waiting to confront her on what she had said at their parting.

Homuna looked up at her and instantly recoiled from what he saw and felt ebbing from her. “Sor?” he asked, his child's voice cracking in fright.

Her arms dropped from around him as she said, “Go find Coran and stay with him for a while.” She waited until Homuna had disappeared beyond the trees before she cast Sora a searching look from behind her hair.

After a long moment of silence she asked, “What are you trying to do? Are you actually trying to provoke me into attacking you? Or are you trying to open wounds that aren't yours to open? If so, then I want you to leave and never cross paths with me again. Understood?”

Sora felt the blood slowly draining from her face. Deciding that the best path for her was to push forward she ignored the command as she said, “I know you're hiding something from me and yourself, something that's been weighing on you for years and you haven't ever had the courage to face yourself. What is it? You can tell me.”

“Do I probe your daughter's death? Do I pester you to tell me about it?” Soren snapped, her temper flaring and momentarily shattering her icy exterior.

“No,” Sora said quietly.

“Then return me the same courtesy and do not ask about my past. What happened then has no relevance to what I'm doing now, so back off or leave,” she said, her eyes narrowing to slits. “If you wanted to get a sick kick out of watching me squirm as you try to dissect me then you have another thing coming.”

“I only-”

“Why did you even follow after us if all you wanted was to make me worse off than you just to make you feel better about yourself?”

“That's not-”

“Then why don't you just leave?”

“I…that's not why I came after you. You're…I…”

“Oh do shut up and just leave. You obviously only came with us because you wanted to get your old post back. You thought that you could kill us and then make it look like a freak accident and that you would somehow-”

“That's not it at all!” Sora screeched, cutting through Soren's words. “I followed because you're…you're…” She struggled with herself to put into words exactly what Soren meant to her and failed miserably. How did one explain the odd compulsion to always remain near such a dark and indifferent creature? Or the fierce desire to rip apart those that had hurt her in the past? Or the insane longing for…for something that defied common sense?

Soren glared at her, momentarily silent as she waited for Sora to explain her reasons for following after them. Though she had said all those things she knew them to be untrue. She hadn't meant to rile Sora up, had merely wished to distract her from her original choice of topic, and now, now it felt as though they were standing on the edge of a cliff and one wrong move could push them over.

Sea green eyes softened for an instant before, “Why don't you stand and I'll show you exactly why I followed?”

Almost puzzled, she rose to her feet and took a step closer to the dragon. “I fail to see how me standing lets you show why you followed.”

Sora felt her stomach clench with dread. How long had it been since the last time she had done this? At least a hundred years. If she got it wrong now then there would be no second chances. Maybe…maybe if she waited then she would have more confidence that she could do it right… No, it was now or never.

She grasped at the sudden certainty and slowly knelt down until her knees touched the hard packed earth, never breaking Soren gaze. Then, she lowered her head in a show of submission and while the teen was still stunned she began to speak.

“I swear never to desert my post before your throne. I will protect you now and always. My life is yours to command, yours to take if necessary. My power is freely given and freely sworn. Any command given will never be disobeyed. You are my master and I the servant to serve eternally.” The words flowed more naturally from her lips than ever before, as though this girl had always been meant to be her royal, her queen, and the others before her had merely been practice for now. “Do you accept?”

Soren felt the blood rising to her face as she listened to the Sora. What was she doing? What was happening? Why she suddenly feel as though if she refused her that she would lose something more precious than life. Her lips parted to utter a denial, but it died in her throat and instead she said, “I do.”

Lightning lanced through her, wrapping around her every sense and heightening them for an instant. Every color stood out brilliantly; every sound resounded crisply in her ears; every smell assaulted her nose. And then, as her senses were fading back to normal, she felt a thread of a foreign consciousness penetrate her barriers and attach itself to her mind, burying deep where she couldn't reach it.

Sora jerked as she felt the bond establish itself and connect them. For the space of a single moment she felt Soren's emotions as strongly as her own. Confusion at what had just happened, amazement at the way her senses had exploded, and a sense of…familiarity? Then it faded and they were alone in their own minds once more.

Soren blinked, almost disturbed by the abruptness and ease with which the bond between them had been formed. Would this be what it would be like with Farin? Or had it already happened and their link just needed to be reestablished?

“What…just happened?” Soren asked as Sora rose slowly to her feet.

“That is exactly why I followed after you,” she answered, “because you're my queen. You just made me your secondary Riagenkai. I'm not sure what that means, though, seeing as there have never been two Riagenkai to one ruler before…” Her voice trailed off at the look of utter horror that had just crossed Soren's features and then the ice that just as quickly followed.

As she opened her mouth to speak the world rushed up to meet her, but strong arms closed around her waist and hauled her into a protective embrace. As the world around her dimmed and began to lose its vibrancy the last thing she heard was, “What in dragon's hell have you done to her, you twisted-”

* * *

Black. Eternal black. Suffocating black. Weightless black. Everything as far as he could see was black. Always alone, never changing. His strength was ebbing.

How long had he been there? Weeks, months, years? He had lost track some time ago when he had failed to reach her, her he knew not any more. Her face had faded as had her name. She had been the last thing to leave him among…others and now he couldn't even remember his own name, but that was nothing new. His name had been the first to leave him in this eternal void of nothingness.

How much longer could he bear this isolation? How much longer would he be able to last against the fading?

A soft breeze rifled through his hair, startling him. That never happened. The darkness never changed, it was the eternal night that would never break. Casting his eyes around for the source of the soft breeze he was met with the sight of eternal darkness. There was nothing as far as the eye could see.

Turning on the spot he froze. Empty green met blazing silver. Her form wavered and flickered through the insubstantial space between them as though his mind had conjured her to prove that he was going insane, to draw up the latent memories that he had let slip away from him.

She was as slender as he remembered; her hair as fiery as the last time he had seen her; her eyes were just as cold and indifferent. The teen-her name still escaped him-looked at him, studied his face.

“You're not the dragon I remember,” she said slowly.

He blinked slowly, not fully comprehending her words. “What?” he asked, his voice rasping from months of nonuse.

The silver of her eyes shifted subtly. “I remember you at the execution of the former king. I remember you flying over the city. I remember you kneeling and taking my face in your hands. I remember you saving me from another that wished to kill me for another's orders. And in all those memories I remember your strength, your fierceness. There was always something about you that made you seem untouchable, invincible.” Her voice was soft, so soft, and it washed over him like water to a dying man. “Is this what you've become? Will this be your end?”

“Why are you here?”

She sized him up, considering and dismissing. “You chose me. I want your strength at my side when I claim my throne. I want you as my Riagenkai.”

Those words, so simple in their structure, pierced him and sent shivers of pain through his body and broke the hold that had held him for months. His memory restored, he looked upon her-Soren, silver-eyes, his queen-and watched as her form fully solidified.

Under his gaze he saw that she was still the same youth that he had rescued from his mentor and, yet, she was different. He could see now why his touch to her had failed so many weeks previously; she had been warring within herself, grappling with an unseen poison that had been tainting her soul and preventing her from fully accepting him. Though she had not come completely to terms with her war she had come to an uneasy truce that would allow her to complete what it was she deemed important.

“Again, I ask, why are you here?”

Confusion flashed through her eyes for an instant. “I want you as my Riagenkai.”

“Why are you here?”

“I want you as my Riagenkai,” she half snarled, her voice echoing harshly through the empty space of the eternal night.

“Want is not enough to bind me to you and make me your dragon. Why should I obey one such as yourself?” he shot back, his voice gaining an old strength he had thought long since gone. “Why are you here?”

She didn't falter. Her gaze was fierce. There was no doubt in her. “Because you're mine,” she said. “You've already claimed me as your queen and now I'm here to claim you as my Riagenkai. Kneel.”

The command whipped over him like a slap and he felt his knees bending before he had ordered them to. He didn't strain against it as he had with his previous rulers, instead allowing it as if this had been how it was always supposed to be. Lowering his head he waited for the next command that would bind him to her for as long as she lived, feeling both the trepidation and excitement pulsing through his blood.

“Speak the oath,” she said without hesitation. “Swear it.”

This time he felt nothing but exhilaration to the despair he had felt before her. The words formed on his lips and almost flowed with a naturalness that might have shocked him any other time.

“I swear never to desert my post before your throne. I will protect you now and always. My life is yours to command, yours to take if necessary. My power is freely given and freely sworn. Any command given will never be disobeyed. You are my master and I the servant to serve eternally.” Their minds were joining, long unused connections blazing back to life, their very souls touching. He lifted his eyes to hers as he continued, “I pledge my undying loyalty to you alone. No matter the distance, no matter the circumstances that drive us apart you will always be my queen, my royal. Do you accept?” He could see her scars clear as day, a mirror to his own. She would not fail him where the others had when she came to terms with her past.

“I do.”

The words hung between them, forging the final strands that would bind them together for as long as she lived. Their gaze held for a moment before she spoke again, “Whatever you do, don't try to take the entire city without me there. The Heshen is at my side and I very highly doubt that even a dragon of your strength could take on the entire Royal Guard and the regular armies. Wait for me to come to you.”

As he rose he studied her, delving a little deeper into the bond they now shared. “How long?”

“According to Coran a week or so, though I plan to shave as many days as I can off that,” she answered, tugging back from the connection. As much as she had sought him and wanted this, she wasn't quite ready for him to know everything about her.

He let her slide away from him and close the connection as he nodded. “I'll not do anything until you reach the city, but don't be surprised if you hear…ah…rumors of several ministers reaching untimely ends.”

A smile tugged at her features before it disappeared. “Nothing too wide spread. Don't attract too much attention, got it?”

“Understood.”

She looked over her shoulder and he saw hesitation in her gaze. “Why don't you get back to them? I can handle things from here, majesty.”

Her eyes flashed to his at the word and he saw annoyance flash across her features, but she said nothing of the emotion. “Yes, I really should get back. One more thing, though.” For the first time since she had sought him out he saw amusement in her gaze. “I'm traveling with two dragons, one of whom you're vaguely familiar with. I'm sure she'll be really pleased to meet you, her successor.”

Then, before he could question her, she faded and he felt himself being tugged somewhere close, somewhere familiar. He didn't resist and let the tug pull him back to his own body.