Dragon 4 Chapter 10 (Patreon)

The ink-covered, vellum pages of the dragon tome before me faded away into a yawning void.

“Welcome my kin.” The ancient voice spoke into the void.

I didn’t recognize the voice, but I imagined it might be the voice of Bahamut, given he had written the tome.

My mind was filled with questions to ask the ancient dragon, but my attempts to speak came up short. In whatever was happening, I had no voice. I was only listening.

“You are yet again the king of our people. I bear upon you the rights and the knowledge to hold the conclave. Upon my shelf, there is an instrument.” At those words, an image came into view, and I recognized it as one tool laying on the organized shelves.

“Present your aura to the key of the enchantments of this island. With it, you will be able to open and close the protections that have been set around it. And with this, I bear upon you the leadership and protection of our people.” Bahamut’s voice spoke.

That apparently was the end of the page, because the surrounding void faded back into normal. I expected to find myself back in the room, looking at the page, but then another void swirled around me.

“But not only are you king of our people; you are my heir. With that comes additional responsibility and additional power. You will soon find that those are often interwoven together. If you look within my notes, you will find more on what it means to be the heir to Bahamut. I know you have many questions, and I hope you will find some answers. But I also must warn you that while my power echoes through the eons, the world continues to evolve. Some answers you seek, you may have to answer for yourself.”

I became eager to flip through and devour whatever information was held within the tome. I felt like I was leading blind; I desperately wanted the wisdom of the dragons before me.

The otherworldly nature in which I was reading this tome faded away, but once again, another message appeared.

Bahamut chuckled this time as he started. “It would seem that the king this time is also the heir of my eternal rival and love. You are king, but are also the heir of Tiamat. Though you hold enough power to hold the title of king, we both know your nature of chaos will cause challenges along that path.” The ancient dragon seemed to find it humorous that the chaos would follow me.

“Please bear this in mind. Restore this study, and the books for this era’s Bahamut who will appear. You have your own inheritance left by my love.”

This time, I was ejected from the memory and found myself back in the room, squiggly ink-fill pages that made absolutely zero sense to me sitting in front of me..

Leaning back, I looked at Brom incredulously. “That was very new. Do all dragon texts work this way?”

Brom laughed. “No. Most dragon text will come with an understanding of the text but not the images. Only those I’ve used that were meant for the king of dragons are quite so vivid.”

“There was a second message within it.” I commented, watching Brom’s face grow with interest. “It provided little information.”

Brom’s eyes lit up. “There was a second message for you?” He said excitedly.

I nodded, trusting Brom with what I’ve heard. “It would seem that it recognized my aura and agreed with you. I am the heir to Bahamut. As such, there are other secrets within this room for me.”

While I was okay with telling him of the message I received as the heir of Bahamut. I did not want to tell Brom of the messages for Tiamat.

I was still keeping that particular information close to my chest. The two being together caused trouble, and I didn’t want to alarm everybody yet.

The tome helped answer one of my questions.

I noticed Morgana was observing me. When Brom looked away, she raised an eyebrow in question. I was uneasy and she could tell. She knew there was more I wasn’t saying.

“Brom, I would like to have some time alone here with my mates.” I stated.

Brom bowed at the waist. “Of course. This is no longer my study.” He looked around wistfully before continuing.

“I think I have earned a nice long retirement.” The smile on Brom’s face was both sympathetic to the burdens that I would bear, and jovial at the idea he no longer had to deal with them. I’d taken the weight from his shoulders.

I now understood just exactly why Brom had so eagerly given me the title of King.

Not only did it come with a large amount of power, but it also came with a large amount of responsibility.

I was about to get a crash course in ancient dragon tomes. I hoped I might find some messages left behind for me.

Brom left the way we’d entered, giving me a moment of privacy. Now that it was keyed to my aura, only I would be able to enter whenever I wanted.

“You know what you need to do?” Morgana asked.

I moved over to the device on the shelf. “I have the start, but after that, I might have to read more to figure it out.”

Lifting the key, I poured my aura into the small gem at the center.

It reacted violently, shaking in my hands and growing warm for a moment before some sort of energy from the key flooded back into me. It was a cooling sensation that then brought a fiery warmth behind it.

But as soon as it had started, it all vanished and left me standing there blinking stupidly.

I put it back down, amazed at the enchantment. It had poured through me, making me feel naked before such a simple item.

Morgana waited a moment before asking, “Is that it?”

I waited as well, surprised it was that simple. “Yeah, I think it is. Let’s go get our other two mates. I could use some company as I poke around in here. And I’d like to see them before the conclave begins once more. We don’t have a lot of time.” I put it back down on the shelf, matching its position back to where it had been left.

***

“So we came up with a whole lot of nothing?” Scarlett sounded less than enthused.

“Now I wouldn’t say that. We found plenty of records left by the previous dragon kings. And we learned some enchantments we can use to adjust the tower and the shield around us.” I hadn’t learned all I’d hoped for, but I thought it had been a productive hour.

Surprisingly, Bahamut left little magical knowledge. I would have thought there would be some training or secret tips for using his powers.

“Either way, it is time to go join the conclave.” Jadelyn was checking her watch.

My mates hadn’t enjoyed the time in the study as much as I had. They’d been excited when they entered, but then as they opened the tomes and could not read a word, that excitement quickly dropped off.

“I do need to head to the conclave. And I need the three of you to stay together and protect each other. Given that we’ve had a dragon injured on her way here, and a dragon killed, there could be an enemy sabotaging us. I need to know you’re safe.” I looked each of them in the eyes, ensuring that they understood my words.

If anything happened to my mates, I would go on a rampage.

“Should we include Yev and Tyrande in our little group?” Scarlett asked, partially teasing and partially serious.

I stared down at my kitsune mate. “Have they passed your inspection?” I teased back.

Scarlett rolled her eyes. “You know they have. And this has dragged on long enough.”

I nodded. She wasn’t wrong. I had been resistant to having them join, partly because of the distance, and partly because I’d been distracted with the needs of my other mates. But now the timing felt more right. I was ready to try a relationship with them, if they still wanted one in return.

“We still have the rest of the dragons to consider.” I reminded Scarlett.

“Or we could just lump them together. Give them a yearly rut so we can get little dragonlings out of them.” Scarlett shrugged at her suggestion. “I mean, you do have a duty to dragon kind to have kids. Maybe we can make them not part of the harem.”

The beast rose up within me as I started growling. The idea of claiming a woman and her having my child without having my mark or having my protection bothered me in ways I couldn’t quite explain.

A dragon's possessiveness was something I’d never experienced a year ago. It was a kind of emotional urge that couldn’t be explained away with logic. And it drove me crazy.

“I’m sorry Scarlett. That just isn’t going to work. I physically can’t. I think I’d go mad having a woman bear my child without bearing my mark.”

Jadelyn was rubbing her hand up and down my arm, trying to calm me. “It’s okay. It was just a suggestion. We are with you regardless of what you decide.”

“Besides, none of the other dragons smell nearly as good as you.” Morgana added, spinning a knife she’d found, checking the balance. It seemed to pass inspection as she slid it into her corset.

“I noticed you haven’t been drinking as much blood lately.” I commented, turning to my vampire mate.

She shrugged her blue shoulders, making her leather course creak. “I’m not nearly as hungry when I drink your blood. It is so rich with mana that I just don’t have the same urges.”

“Then why the hell did you bite me last night?” Scarlett demanded, her hands going to her hips.

I tried to swallow my laugh. We were still figuring out the dynamics of sleeping in the same bed. I loved nothing more than being surrounded by their warm bodies, but they were still learning how to share and stay occupied when I was busy.

Scarlett and Jadelyn felt awkward being with each other physically; they were like sisters. But it didn’t seem to be enough to want to give up time with me as we all piled in bed. I left it up to them to sort out.

But Morgana was sexually fluid, and she’d been pushing the boundaries of my other two mates. She especially liked to nibble on anybody who had just climaxed.

“I would hardly call what I did drinking.” Morgana retorted. “It was more like tasting.”

Scarlett didn’t seem to be buying the explanation.

Something told me Scarlett was probably closer than the truth, knowing the pulls Morgana would do after I climaxed, but I didn’t want to them to argument.

“Scarlett, if you need to set boundaries, set them and I will help ensure they are respected.” I gave Morgana a serious look until she nodded. “Great. I need to get going. Let’s leave the study.”

I led my three mates out of Bahamut’s study and back into the tower on dragon island.

Once we exited, I confirmed nobody was around to see the hidden entrance.

I turned, looking back towards the window. There was absolutely no sign of the passage, physical or magical. I was baffled by just how well it was hidden.

I couldn’t help but wonder what else in the tower had secrets, and where Tiamat’s office resided.

I threw my dragon aura down the hall, wondering if Tiamat had put her space next to Bahamut’s.

But nothing happened. I wasn’t surprised, but I was still disappointed. “While I’m in the conclave, I could use your help. Think about where Tiamat would have stored her secret room. Bahamut had indicated that she had one as well.”

Morgana pursed her lips and tapped her chin. “I will think on it. But we also have a mystery to solve with the dead dragon. While you are busy in the conclave, I will help investigate.”

I didn’t like that her investigation would probably put her in danger, but I understood the need for her to work on it while I was busy. And Morgana wouldn’t do well if I tried to coddle her. She’d probably do the opposite.

“Be careful. You don’t understand what would happen if I lost one of you.”

Jadelyn crossed her arms. “Actually, we have a pretty darn good idea. When Morgana pulled her stunt over the winter, I saw what it did to you.” She then shifted her glare at Morgana. “Morgana, you do not know what hell you will experience if you ever do something like that to our husband again.” Jadelyn was sometimes terrifying despite her otherwise soft and nurturing demeanor.

Together, they were quite the trio. The war hero vampire, the trained assassin, and the politically savvy homemaker. And back home, I had a true alpha werewolf.

They were all quite formidable and beautiful. I loved them dearly.

We descended the tower, heading back down the levels that were occupied by other guests at the conclave.

It wasn’t hard to pick up the general theme of the conversation. Everyone was concerned about the dragon’s death. It seemed like every conversation I passed was whispering about her and trying to determine a list of suspects.

Approaching the chamber we had used for the previous day’s conclave, I took my seat. Most of the other seats were already filled.

As expected, the red and silver seats were still empty, but so was Tim in the brass seat.

“Is Tim going to be absent from the conclave today?” I asked.

Brom gave a sad shake of his head. “I’m afraid Tim has declined and will be staying with the rest of his ladies for the day.”

“That is completely fair. I don’t know if I’d be able to separate from my mates after one of them had died.” I looked around the table and saw faces that either agreed with me or didn’t care; no one seemed overly upset that he was missing today.

I met the eyes of every dragon at the table before I continued. “Today, unfortunately, I get to be the bearer of bad news on multiple fronts.”

I paused, making sure I had their full attention before continuing. “I visited the black dragon, who was injured on Brom’s estate. Based on her descriptions, she was shot down by fighter jets.” I paused, waiting for the reactions.

Many of the faces around the table weren’t happy, and most of the dragons present began growling.

Thuun, possibly the most even-tempered of the group, slammed his fist on the table. “Impossible. If she had been traveling, she would’ve done so with an illusion over her.”

“Yes. According to her account, they broke her illusion and began firing.” I continued before anyone else could interrupt; I could see the disbelief on many of their faces. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that the military had a way to destroy her illusion. For all we know, someone could have dispelled her illusion at an opportune time to sabotage her. The fighter jets may have just been a weapon of opportunity.”

The last thing any of them wanted was for humans to suddenly have technology or use of magic to combat our abilities.

My words seem to lessen some of the dragons’ anger, but we were all on edge. Whatever had come for her was a threat to dragonkind.

The white dragon leader cleared his throat. “That would still put some government in the position to have evidence that dragons exist. We need to understand who attacked her so we can correctly remove any reports or intelligence they may have produced.”

The other dragons perked up, many nodding. I noted that if I ever needed to rally them, keeping dragons and paranormal under wraps was a great method.

I splayed my hands in a gesture of surrender as they all began talking over each other, eager to fix what they could control. “I agree with you; that sounds like an important step to take. However, I have no knowledge or resources on how to get that started. Do any of you have a suggestion on how to sift through the various government agencies to find out who shot her down?”

“We have various contacts among the different governments.” Brom said. “I suggest we each reach out to our individual contacts and make them aware of a potential breach. Given where she was coming from, this likely happened over Greece or the Mediterranean Sea.”

There was a grumble of agreement from the rest of the dragons.

I waited for them to settle down before taking a breath and moving on to the next topic.

“My next piece of news, I believe you already know. Tim’s mate, Stephanie, a bronze dragon, was killed last night. Given the barriers currently erected around the island preventing anyone from getting in or out, we can be certain that whoever did it is still on the island.” I released my aura and applied pressure to all the dragons present. “Do any of you have any knowledge of who is responsible?”

The power of my aura washed over the dragons, and I could feel them all resist me at first. But as my aura continued to wash over them, they finally gave in to the pressure.

They all shook their heads.

I let out a partial sigh of relief. I wanted to catch the paranormal involved, but I needed a united team for what was ahead of us. “Then I ask all of you to please report any findings brought to your attention. We cannot allow rampant murder amid our conclave. If this had been a challenge or anything else, I would’ve happily accepted her death, but all accounts show she was ambushed while impaired.”

“You will find no opposition from us.” The blue dragon leader declared for the rest of the conclave. Nobody else spoke up.

“The crucial question is, how we go about investigating this?” Thuun said.

I grinned from ear to ear. “You are in luck. Your new king of dragons just happens to be an investigator.”

They looked back and forth, apparently not feeling as confident of my abilities as an investigator as that of a king dragon. I found it kind of comical that they would be more skeptical about that role.

And I intended to find the killer before the end of the conclave.

“Then how is it we will go about finding the murderer?” Brom leaned forward, asking the same question that was on all of their minds.

“We’ll start by canvassing everyone here for alibis. That should be enough work to have us busy until after lunch. Talk to your people, and start with the dragons. Then get your fingers into any of the governments that might have taken a shot at our black dragon in the healing ward. I want answers.”