Smolder (Dragon Souls) Read online

  “So to Mikhail, since he left my mother on Earth it’s been…” her eyes crossed trying to work it out.

  “It was recorded in the history scrolls over thirty thousand years ago, Marina.”

  “No!”

  “Yes,” Daniil replied gravely.

  “For fu–Pete’s sake that man is an idiot.”

  “Who is Pete?” asked Nikolai, perplexed.

  Marina rolled her eyes at him. “How long do dragons live?”

  “As long as we want.” Nikolai shrugged. “Most choose to pass a few hundred years after finding their mates. They slowly fade away, watching any descendants growing up. The phoenixes last much longer because they feel a duty to protect, and it keeps them tethered to life. It takes them longer to pass once they decide they have done all they can and the world no longer needs them.”

  “Just … as long as you want. Right.”

  There were no words Marina could think of to convey the depth of her astonishment. Unable to comprehend the mere idea of choosing how long you lived, she didn’t try to. Giving up, she nodded impatiently. One half of her enjoyed the history lesson, but the other was getting increasingly anxious. She wanted to know that she was in the tournament. Then she could go find Koen and rip a layer of scales off his stupid hide then demand he turn human so she could beat him with it.

  “So the Regent can sign me up to Aver?” she checked.

  “Yes,” they both said.

  “Good.” She crossed her arms, mutinously pushing away thoughts of a black dragon with eyes darker than her own who sat on a stone plinth of her mother’s likeness. “Then we wait.”

  Chapter 13

  Marina stood before the sternest looking man she had ever seen. His expression made her want to confess to crimes and sins she’d never dream of committing, but she needed to confess something just to feel a sense of relief from his stare.

  White hair rippled down to the middle of his back and was cut in the same Mohawk style Marina guessed was a mark of a dragon lord. His unlined face was motionless as he listened to council mon Isaak speak. His grey eyes wholeheartedly focused, and Marina had to blink repeatedly.

  “Interesting,” he said. “You think she should be a contestant in Aver.”

  ‘We do,’ Isaak boomed. ‘This is the first time we have seen evidence of even the slightest preference from Koen Raad.’

  “There may be some backlash from the other Houses,” said Myron judiciously.

  ‘They wouldn’t dare,’ Mikhail snorted.

  “Of course they would. She stands in their way. The gentry no longer fight fairly. A rules of honor are changing in ways we never anticipated.” Regent Myron sighed. “I am weary of watching Chosen hack at each other year after year as Koen kills queen after queen. I see no reason why she cannot take her vows.”

  ‘It is settled then,’ Issak said. He addressed Marina. ‘You are aware that you cannot simply take Koen?’

  “I have to win a crown,” Marina said.

  “A Kingdom,” Myron corrected. “To be a queen is to do more than just wear a crown. You will rule, Marina, and even if you do not claim Koen as a mate you will rule until you die.”

  She opened her mouth to agree, but paused to think about it. Really think about it. Queen. To rule. It was a big deal, bigger than the level of attention her mind had been bestowing on it.

  Could she rule over a kingdom of not just people, but dragons? Command fierce dragon lords who saw the mutilation and death of the queen as commonplace as the changing seasons? Could she lead armies of dragons into battle and not blink an eye?

  Marina realized the depth of her foolishness, and heat scalded her cheeks.

  “I know what I have to do,” she muttered then raised her voice. “I’ll do what I need to.”

  Satisfied with her answer, no longer interested, one by one, the dragon Council members jumped off their plinths and retreated into the darker bowls of the volcano.

  Mikhail marched towards her. He angled his head to glare at her. ‘Almeria?’ he inquired imperiously.

  Marina suddenly remembered the emptiness she had felt when Koen had crossed dimensions. The moment she had woken on Tzion she had felt drawn to the lagoon islands and knew that was where he was hiding, now Daniil and Nikolai had explained what is was she felt. It was a faint tug in her chest, the arrow of a compass that told her roughly, where he was.

  Marina assumed this bond was stronger in a mated pair and looking at the plinth, she wondered if the reason Mikhail still looked so young and full of vitality was because in his mind he believe her mother still alive.

  “She died,” Marina said flatly and turned to leave.

  A spiked tail crashed down in her path, embedding itself into the rock, and Mikhail’s serpentine neck snaked around her. He blew black smoke in her face, growling menacingly.

  Marina turned furious eyes on him. They stared each other down and there was a wild desperation in his eyes that almost made her apologize for the curt way she had informed him of her mother’s death. Her eyes wandered to the plinth and some part of her felt his pain.

  He was a stranger to Marina, but he had loved her mother too.

  Regardless, she had her own pain to deal with. She didn’t know this dragon, and she had no real wish to either. Her mother had left Marina wanting for nothing, and had been a good woman. If she left this dragon, it was for a damn good reason.

  “Move,” she demanded quietly. When he did, snarling, she glowered at him. “Oh, and if that tail of yours gets in my way again, the next time, I’ll cut if off. Do you hear me? I doubt my mother put up with that kind of crap from you, and I sure as hell won’t.”

  His top lip quivered showing his fangs, and flames tickled the roof of his mouth.

  Marina narrowed her eyes. “And just what are you going to do with that fire exactly? I bet you can’t even get it hot enough to cause any real damage anymore.”

  “Time to go,” Nikolai said cheerily with a hint of panic. He grabbed her arm and yanked her, squealing, behind him, propelling her away from her father. “Lots to do, people to see.”

  Daniil bowed to Mikhail and crowded behind Marina, shooing her out of the chamber.

  Outside Marina stomped and raged, they only way to exercise the demons inside her. She had a father, a stupid, arrogant, block-headed father who had a dragon that was probably dragged from the bowls of hell.

  Marina abruptly stopped being difficult, and turned to the dragon lords. “I’m done with that. Look how well I’m repressing my feelings. Can we go see Koen?”

  “I highly doubt you’ve finished being angry,” Daniil said dryly. “Well go to the bazaar and make sure your standard is seen on the lists. That should help quell any rumors about who you are until you take your oath at the ceremony tomorrow evening. Aver begins in one week, Marina, we have much work to do.”

  She frowned, “But I thought it took months to prepare.”

  Nikolai kicked off his boots and tugged off his tunic. “It usually does, but we’ve been gone a while so it’s right around the corner.”

  Nikolai grinned then threw back his head and outright laughed when Marina stared at his naked body through her fingers, mouth open, gawping. “I’m going to have to get used to all the nakedness,” she muttered.

  Light seeped from Nikolai’s skin, then flashed brilliantly leaving behind a very amused brown dragon.

  “Brat! You forgot to magick your amour,” Daniil called and shook the offending items at him. “But don’t worry, I’ll carry them for you like some lowly squire, and not the centuries senior dragon lord that I am.”

  “Dude,” Marina called as she rubbed Nikolai’s side. “You realize he’s not listening don’t you.”

  Daniil sniffed and the jumble he held in his hands disappeared. “Arrogant whelp,” he muttered then pushed some of his hair off his face and gave her a calm smile. “There are three stages of being a dragon mate in training and we have to push you through them all over the next week, you only hav
e once chance to pass each exam, so we have to move with caution.”

  Marina pursed her lips with a shudder. “Exams. Ugh. Well this is a nightmare I won’t be waking up from anytime soon.”

  He chuckled. “Don’t worry. I have seen the way you move, the way you think, and attack. It’s brutal, fast and uncomplicated, just like Almeria. You’re rough, but usable material. I’m just going to smooth over the edges.’

  Marina raised an eyebrow and smoothed a hand over Nikolai’s tail when it wrapped around her middle. “You knew my mother?”

  Daniil’s gaze went faraway. “I met her at court when I was a youngling, barely a few winters old.”

  “What did she look like?”

  His gaze focused again. “Like an Empress.”

  Nikolai lifted Marina up and deposited her on his back. Daniil vaulted up behind her and tucked himself to her back. “This time, Marina, there will not be unexpected plummets to the ground,” he breathed in her ear. “I wish to live a long and happy life, not one running from a powerful and pissed off dragon king.”

  She grimaced. “It shouldn’t be a problem. It wasn’t so much the flying but more the crossing over.” She rubbed Nikolai’s scales as he started to trundle off Ash Mount. “So, these stages … what are they?”

  “Right now you are at the second stage, a tyro, and will be so until you have mastered the skills required to harness the godai.”

  “A tyro,’ she murmured. “What would I have been before? How did I pass the stage?”

  “A fledgling, and you passed it by bloodletting in protection of a dragon.”

  “It was the rock, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Even though I actually hit the dragon I was, ah, protecting?”

  His shoulders shook with laughter and he bit back a smile. “Yes.”

  She sighed. “Well, I suppose I should be happy about that. What’s the next stage for me then?”

  “Chosen. That comes from simply mastering the skills to harness the godai.”

  “Oh. So easy then?”

  “Hmmm,” he said noncommittally.

  Nikolai took off, and Marina used the flight time to think about everything she would have to achieve over the next week. It would be humiliating to have fought her way into Aver only to fail at the first challenge.

  “Daniil, how long does Aver last for?”

  “As long as it takes. There are four quests you must complete and a final gladiator match with the Chosen still standing and fighting for the Crown or Wreath. In every tournament there are a small group of women who are favorite to win the thrones and they are called First Chosen.”

  “This Anastasia, the Drackai queen, she’s a First Chosen again?”

  “Yes. Each time Aver begins, she must re-enter to meet any challenges to her rule. You will be declared First Chosen too tomorrow at the ceremony. The blue bloods will be betting against you, but don’t take it to heart. There is nothing more interesting to the courts than a new House to bully.”

  “Blue blood?”

  “I’m a blue blood, so is Nikolai, Koen, Isaak … all dragon men. Wild dragons are not gentry of course. Look.” Daniil took out a dagger from his boot and cut his palm. A thin sliver of blood dribbled out. It was dark blue before it slowly turned a plum color. “Dragon blood,” he said and licked his palm. He showed it to Marina again and it was already a healed red line.

  “You can heal yourself. Why didn’t Koen when he was hurt?”

  “He was near exhaustion. Anastasia pushed him to the brink, gave him no time to sleep or rest. Then he tapped out his magickal reserves when he crossed over to hide on Earth.”

  Marina liked the sound of this Anastasia less and less. She was more than happy to imagine her and a first class bitch that needed a beat down. Humming happily to herself, she leaned forward with Nikolai when he started to descend at the base of the lowest fortress. He aimed for a cluster of large stone pillars set away from the marketplace.

  A few humans and dragons walking passed glanced up then went on about what they were doing.

  A red dragon swooped passed, dangerously close, and landed beside them.

  Nikolai’s claws dug into the pillar, and his wings folded.

  He rumbled at the red dragon who shifted human, and tipped his chin cockily at Nikolai. His eyes lifted and locked on Marina, sparked with curiosity, and when his gaze twitched to Daniil’s large body seated behind her, he sneered.

  He looked at her one more time then jumped off the plinth agilely, and darted into the throng of bustling people.

  “That was Aleksandr of House Vor.” Marina gave a blank look. “Anastasia’s brother,” Daniil clarified, and helped her dismount.

  The moment they were clear Nikolai shifted human and snatched his clothes from Daniil’s hands after he magicked them back into existence.

  The young dragon lord glowered, his sweet face livid. “Did you see that limp tailed sister murdering son-of-a–”

  “Let it go, Nikolai,” advised Daniil. “He barely brushed you. We have to get Marina to the lists as promised. Or now we are here and your Earth adventure is over are you going to forget you are honor bound to care for her, and see her into your family?”

  Nikolai growled low in his throat. “I resent that. I am a dragon of honor, a warrior respected throughout the land for my fine swordplay. Have a care how you speak to me.”

  “Which sword would that be?” Daniil quipped snidely.

  “At least I know how to use my swords.” He looked at Marina with a serene smile. “My sweet, listen not to this slanderous venom. I am as pure as the newborn snow that dusts the peaks of mountains in the Ice Realm.”

  “Nikolai!” a woman screeched and rushed headlong into his chest, wrapping her limbs around him and planting kisses over his face. “I missed you, missed you, missed you! You’ve been gone for so long! Years. We worried those nasty snake tails had finally gotten you.” She rained more kisses down on him, rubbing herself against him.

  “We are supposed to be keeping a low profile,” Daniil pointed out.

  “Um,” Nikolai’s eyes rolled as he thought of a name, “Anya isn’t it? Hello,” Nikolai greeted, his eyes darting to Marina as he tried to pry off the woman stuck to his front.

  More screeches of Nikolai’s name were heard throughout the streets, and he gave up.

  “Marina, my dove, I humbly act as the distraction that will lead these women away from you. Until tomorrow.” He gave her a courtly bow and sauntered off with Anya clinging to him.

  A gaggle of young women with the longest hair she’d ever beheld rushed passed after him, nearly knocking her over.

  “Wow,” Marina cooed.

  Daniil laughed and guided her along the cobbles. “The youngest lord Raad is popular with court and common lady alike. They all love him. And his swordplay.”

  Marina snorted a laugh, her attention already off Nikolai and fixed on the marketplace she was about to enter. Rows and rows of neatly built stands had hundreds of men and women bellowing, hawking their trinkets to the colorful gentry and less well dressed commoners surging down the cobbled pathways.

  Another dragon landed behind her in a furious beating of wings.

  Daniil placed her hand on his elbow and directed her away from the landing pillars.

  Marina tried to look at everything, but Daniil kept a brisk pace, simply shaking his head politely when an eager trader pushed something under his nose as they passed. They sensed Marina was the weaker of the two and kept calling out to her and jiggling shiny things in the air like she was a cat that could be distracted by shiny baubles.

  There was one stall, a man selling carvings of dragons in colored stone that she couldn’t pass when he held up a jet-black dragon that just had to be Koen.

  She pulled hard on Daniil’s arm and succeeded in yanking him off course.

  Smiling, she pointed to the figurine she wanted.

  The merchant studied her shrewdly, stared at Daniil then his eyes dropp
ed to the symbol embossed in Daniil’s tunic. “Three gold coins,” the man said finally.

  “Bah, robbery,” Daniil protested. “Two bronze.”

  The merchant’s face turned mulish. He scratched the side of his neck with a thick finger. “Two silver,” he countered, holding up his hands and splaying his fingers apologetically. “I have four children to feed, and my wife … she complains.”

  Daniil reached into the pouch tied at his side and pulled out a rough disk of silver. “One silver mark from House Kol,” he said with finality in his tone.

  As he plucked the money from the air and closed his fist around it, the calculating look on the merchant’s face melted and he beamed gleefully. “Sold, my lord dragon. You will have made my wife very, very happy.”

  Daniil snorted and crossed his arms over his chest.

  Marina dug a couple of fingers into his pouch and snagged a few coins and even a few lumps of crystal. “All this can be used as currency?”

  “Yes. My marks are from House Kol, a fine quality.”

  He sounded proud and Marina agreed the metals and stones she held were superior. What made her sigh was that she had seen the rose colored gold used for the heavy coins before. “When my mother died and I had access to the accounts I found bars of this stuff. It’s how she hade her money, trading gold and precious stones, but to be honest I wasn’t that concerned about where it had come from. At least know where she got it from.” She traced the symbol with her baby finger. “These markings are on all the coins?”

  “No, just on House of Kol coin. The high gentry can afforded to smelt portions of gold down and use them in trade like this. Of course, some do mix in other metals that lighten the weight, making the coin less valuable, but that is a quick way to get a bad reputation for bad coin. House Kol has always traded good coin.”

  “And my House? House Zar?”

  “Zar sovereigns like any imperial coin are high in demand and respected. You are a wealthy woman, Marina.”

  She shrugged, “Meh, always have been.” She scooped her figurine up and slid the coins back into his pouch. “I’ll pay you back when I sort myself out.”