Dragon 6 Chapter 2 (Patreon)

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I awoke the next day smiling, with my women surrounding me in the hoard. I’d slept like a rock after enjoying some private time together.

My mates had finally won, and there was now a bed in the hoard. I had put my foot down to make sure it had a gold frame and gold trim on the sheets. But it hadn’t taken too much persuading; they knew what gold did to me.

But we’d proven pretty quickly why gold wasn’t a common choice for a bed, besides just the stupid cost factor.

The frame was bent to hell and back, but I just considered it a badge of honor at this point.

I got out of bed and got dressed, mentally preparing myself for another council meeting. I was glad it would be my last for a while. Then it would be a vacation in the Fae Realm and our wedding in a month.

***

“One last visitor.” Rupert leaned away from Detective Fox who had been whispering in his ear.

I frowned. I’d thought we’d wrapped up, but I could handle one more topic.

I leaned back. My mates were sitting around me, with the fanning out behind my seat as a show of force for the dragons.

“Lady Wallachia.” A siren announced as a cloaked figure stepped out into the center of the area and dramatically threw back the hood of her cloak.

I recognized the name immediately, taking in the woman below. We’d been set to meet after the council meeting, but I wasn’t surprised she was looking for a grander entrance.

With her hood off, we got a clear view of her features. She was pretty with thin arched eyebrows and eyes that held sharp intelligence. The red of her eyes matched her bright red lips.

All of that red magnified by her pale skin and dark hair.

“Hello, Council of Philly.” She graced the group with a small bow, parting her cloak and showing a hint of a long, pale leg. “I understand you’ve had issues with vampires in your city lately, and even an imposter. I believe Morgana can verify my identity.”

Morgana grunted beside me.

“I didn’t quite hear that?” The vampire in the pit cupped a hand to her ear and squinted up into the surrounding circle.

We were all back lit. Whether it was for intimidation or anonymity, I wasn’t sure. Nor was I sure that she really had a hard time seeing up into the area with her vampiric qualities.

“Elena Wallachia.” Morgana said more clearly. “My understanding is you are the youngest bloodlord among the family.”

“I am, thank you.” She did a small curtsy. “It’s a pleasure to see you again after all these years, Morgana.”

Morgana gave a smile full of pleasantries, but I knew that Morgana would rather be off cleaning her guns instead of dealing with vampire politics and reliving old memories. “You too.”

Elena clapped her hands after that introduction. “Now. Onto the fun part. Gregorians have gutted the entire east coast vampire leadership in the last year, culminating with killing our investigator a few months ago and resulting in your city's disaster.”

“We are aware of the issue.” I said, my patience wearing thin. I wanted to wrap up the current session, and it felt like she was about to take us down a rabbit hole. And vampires had earned little grace from me. “He has been dealt with. The bloodlord is dead, and we are still dealing with the ramifications. Human agencies and conspiracy theorists are flooding Philly. We’ve managed to eradicate any last holdouts of young, feral vampires. Now we must remain quiet as a community until this storm passes.”

Elena perked up like a young woman, peering around the area where she’d heard my voice originate. “Is that the dragon king?”

“Yes, it is.” Rupert jumped in, seeming to echo my desire to wrap up the conversation. “Tell us, what is it that you hope to accomplish?”

She took a moment, not seeming rushed whatsoever, before she replied. “There are still vampires here in Philly without leadership, and the east coast will recover. As much as many of you might dislike vampires, we are a constant in the paranormal community. If there isn’t someone here to lead them, they will only cause you further trouble. Part of the problem as I understand it is that they’ve never had leadership that interacts with the Philly Council. I am here particularly to solve both problems.” Elena spun slightly as she spoke, trying to show her face to the entire circle.

Polydora snorted. “She can’t really expect a warm welcome. Not from the dragons.”

I took her reminder and echoed her sentiment. “The vampires have yet to answer for the hunting of a dragon.”

“We are looking into it.” Elena replied quickly, her eyes once again darting around where I sat. “I promise, Dragon King. I am taking this very seriously.” She shielded her eyes. “Could we dim the lights? I’d like to see the dragon king in person.”

“No.” Whispered Morgana low enough that I was pretty sure Elena couldn’t have heard it.

No one moved to dim the lights. I’d actually never seen them dim, and I was curious if that was even possible.

I turned, waiting for the Fae to give their opinion. They were one of the strongest factions in the city, and they often liked to weigh in.

Normally, Winter would be sitting in for the Fae, but Lady Spring had come early to the council. It was a little odd; her mother was pushing the peak of her power given the current season.

The Fall Lady Maeve was a friend of mine. But she hadn’t even finished the semester, dropping out to manage the Winter Fae after her mother’s disappearance.

Maeve’s mother had gone into the fae wilds in search of something to restore her power; the queen hadn’t been herself ever since the vampires drained her. I’d managed to help her live, but she was a shell of the matriarch she used to be.

And so one day, she’d wandered off into the wilds. Nobody was sure if she’d ever come back, and Maeve was beside herself. Buried under a whole new set of responsibilities, she was doing her best to keep up, but the few times I’d recently seen her, she was overwhelmed.

A few search parties had gone into the wilds, but the fae realm was a twisting, confusing place full of all sorts of ancient and mystical things. Only a section of the fae realm had been carved out and tamed by the queens, using their constant wars to cycle the seasons. The rest of it was chaos.

“The Fae do not agree with your presence in the city.” Lady Spring stated clearly for the council.

Elena must have expected their response, because her smile didn’t falter. “My apologies. I’m still learning voices. Which Lady spoke?”

“Spring.” the fae leader stated, her normally sunny demeanor gone. “Your kind has a history of violence with the Fae. And our tolerance of vampires in the city came back to bite us, literally. Our Winter Queen was severely injured and Summer will continue to grow in strength. As it is, you should brace for a brutal summer. Even if Winter returns to full strength, the balance has been broken.”

“Am I correct in assuming any offer of assistance I come with will be denied?” Elena asked.

Spring snorted. “And what do you propose? You want to come and fight amid the fae war?”

Elena drew something from her cloak and set it down, her hand shown beneath her sleeve for a second, it was covered in frost from briefly touching the object.

It was a frosty lump, but I couldn’t make out much more than that. “We draw from our treasures in hopes of good will.”

Spring stared down at the object with a frown, but she appeared at least interested in the bundle. “Unfortunately, the Winter Queen isn’t here to accept such a gift.”

I leaned back and looked at Morgana sitting next to me. “What is it?”

“A piece of a crown.” Morgana said, squinting. “Beyond that, I don’t know more than you do.”

“It’s a piece of the first winter queen’s crown. Particularly the center jewel. It carries much of her magic.” Elena replied. “It has rested in our vaults for a long while, and we bring it with us today to help the winter queen recover.”

She reached forward to pick it up gingerly with a cloth. “Unfortunately, we did not know of her absence. But please pass along our well wishes.” She went to retract the item.

“Wait.” Spring hesitated. “Though she is absent, we do not know if she will be successful on her journey. Something like this artifact could help if she was found or returned unsuccessful.”

Elena beamed up at the Fae as she placed it back down on the ground. “Wonderful. I must say, this thing is quite cold. I’ve lost a few fingers, a few times, carrying it here. You should probably have someone who can handle such a cold come get it.”

True to her words, there was a growing patch of frost under the piece of the crown.

“Maybe someone like the dragon king?” Elena suggested with a big smile up in my direction.

“Would you mind doing the honors, Larisa?” I asked my dragonette, who was a white dragon.

The petite woman jumped off the balcony and landed with ease. Larisa wore a simple white summer dress and a straw hat; she was certainly ready for her vacation.

Elena pouted. “You aren’t the dragon king.”

“No, he’s much taller.” Larisa dead panned and picked up the fragment of Winter’s Crown. She touched it without issue, tucking it into the pocket of her dress.

A little frost dusted her hand, but it didn’t bother her as she walked back over and crouched low before launching herself back up over the pit’s wall.

We were on our way to the fae lands, anyway. While Maeve was busy, I was fairly certain she’d be making an appearance for my wedding. “I’ll take it to Maeve for safekeeping.”

Elena focused back up on my voice with excitement.

Kelly was snickering across the council chamber as she watched Elena’s face.

But her latest chuckle caught some attention. She cleared her throat, trying to recover. “Thank you for coming and bringing aid for the Winter Fae. It is a goodwill gesture that is noted by all of us.” She glanced at the Spring Lady, who had sat back in her chair, but didn’t appear ready to make another comment.

Elena had at least bought enough consideration to not be thrown out of the council room. But the vampires had destroyed the city, killed a multitude of fae, and taken down one of my dragons. At the moment, my goodwill was not killing her where she stood.

And part of that was that there was some truth to what she’d stated. Vampires were like cockroaches. We’d never fully stamp them out, and they needed a hierarchy. A leader that was willing to work with us was better than none.

I still didn’t love the concept of a bloodlord in Philly, but I was willing to see if she could keep them in check.

“Elena.” I broke the silence, and her eyes honed in a little more on me. “A lot of trust between the vampires and the rest of the paranormal community has been eroded. Solve that, and I’m sure we will welcome you with open arms in time. For now, please protect the secret of the paranormal.”

“Of course. Anything for you, dragon king!” Her smile turned seductive, and I felt Morgana bristle next to me.

Sighing, I looked around at Rupert and the others, hoping we could be done. When none seemed to object, I readily spoke up. “Then it seems today's meeting is adjourned.”

There was a shuffling as people got up from their seats and moved about.

My mates and the dragonettes moved about beside me, preparing to head out. We were headed to meet Helena and Agent Till at the portal in the park.

But before we went, I headed over to Lady Spring as she spun off her seat in a huff. Two fae in armor fell in line behind her.

“You.” She glared at me. “We should not be giving the vampires a chance. When you’ve lived a few centuries longer, you’ll understand that they always cause problems.” Her eyes flickered to Morgana, a scowl flashing across her features.

“Wonderful.” I said, completely non-pulsed by her reaction. It had been expected. “Ready to head over to the fae realm? I was told you could point us in the right direction.”

She nodded firmly. “My mother is going a bit far with this. But what do I know? I’m just her silly daughter.”

I had spent little time with Lady Spring, but I had to say, I almost preferred the Winter Queen’s presence.

“You’re a leader, and others look to you.” I reminded her, eyeing the guards taking in her little tantrum. “So, if you show us to the portal, I will also ferry this piece of Winter’s Crown for you.”

She turned, walking towards the Atrium. I kept pace, moving along beside her.

The dragonettes and her guard jostling for the position behind us.

“Why have you sided with the Winter Fae?” Lady Spring stopped suddenly, a slight frown on her face.

“Well… Winter is kind of a bitch. But Maeve put an honest effort into trying to make up for the wrongs her mother caused. So, maybe it was just her honesty that I liked. Besides, it sort of seems like they are the underdogs at the moment.” I shrugged. It wasn’t as if I needed a reason to like Maeve.

Lady Spring narrowed her eyes on me, as if she were trying to figure me out. The woman seemed far too stressed.

“Well, I hope you appreciate my mother’s efforts. She had a small troop go decorate the chateau, and they will be there most of the time to support you. We are loosening our lines and relaxing our guard, heading into midsummer in preparation that Winter will be late in her return.” The Lady pulled her hair behind her ears. “In fact, I’ll be manning the army alone.”

I paused, now understanding why she was so frustrated. I nodded to myself, catching her attention.

“What?” She frowned.

“You blame me for this. You think I’m the cause of the turbulence in the city, and for the troubles in the fae realm.” I didn’t beat around the bush.

She wrinkled her nose. “Sure seems like trouble follows you.”

“The vampires had this planned for over a year, which means it began before I even knew I was a dragon.” I pointed out.

“You also released the spider queen.”

“By being born?” I argued back pointedly. “That’s a hard case to make. It would be more accurate to say that my parents released her.”

Yet the logic didn’t seem to make much of a difference to the Spring Lady. “We’re here.” She opened a door and stepped through it.

On the other side, we entered a park station that was close to the gully that led to the fae realm. As we made our way over, Helena, Agent Till, Frank and Maddie were quietly talking.

“Zach!” Frank waved. “Oh, who is this lovely creature? Another?” He let his eyes rake over Lady Spring.

The Fae bit her lip and batted her eyes at Frank. “A human?”

“Eyes off.” Maddie staked her claim on Frank.

“Oh. Vampire food.” Spring’s flirty smile melted off her face. “You may enter, but no vampires may roam our land freely. I can guarantee if you are found outside the chateau, you will be set on spikes just for the joy of killing vampires. If I were you, I wouldn’t enter at all.”

“Move it.” Polydora shoved the Spring Lady, who was blocking the rest of the group from exiting. “She’s under our protection.”

A fae guard immediately drew his sword, seeming to feel the need to defend his lady.

Polydora rolled her eyes, disarming him in an instant and then backhanding his helmet, causing his head to ring like a bell. “Rude.”

Her knee shot into the second guard’s gut preemptively, bending him over as he clutched his chest, trying to breathe.

Spring recovered after a stumbling step and glared at her guards. “Seems I need new guards.”

“These are decent enough for most, just not me.” Polydora cracked her knuckles with a grin on her face. “If you’d like I could try to whip a few of the guards at the chateau into shape. If I don’t get some sex soon, I’m going to need something to take my frustration out on.” She shot me a look with the last statement.

The bronze dragon was wearing a new red jacket that made her look like a veritable bad ass. As the oldest of the dragonettes, and daughter of Brom, the previous dragon king, she lived for the fight.

Trina had a nervous grin on her face as she sidestepped around the Amazonian woman. “Just promise you’ll give the rest of us a break. Healing Sarisha is getting old.”

The dark-skinned dragon shivered behind Trina.

“Or we could just let the tension explode, my king?” Polydora bounced her eyebrows suggestively.

The leader of the dragonettes was getting a little pushy.

“Okay, let’s go. Now you’re blocking the way, Poly.” I continued down the slope to the bottom of the gully.

There was some grumbling behind me, but I just smiled and kept walking. I was a king, and I’d deal with things when I chose to, not when they forced me to.

But it was hard to keep my smile for long. Images of the previous battle flickered through my head. It was eerie walking through the space where vampire and paranormal corpses had recently been.

The grass was still struggling to recover from being blasted by dragon fire, but the paranormal community had worked to explain it.

They had called it a near forest fire and closed the park for a week just as three letter agencies started bleeding into the city.

We headed to the end of the gully, where two trees that had grown together in an arch.

That was the portal to the fae realm.

“Zach, the actions of those traveling with you are under your jurisdiction. I expect you to keep everyone in line. Just because my mother is playing hostess doesn’t mean the rest of the summer fae will be so welcoming.” The Spring Lady warned me as she turned and waltzed through the portal ahead of our group.