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That wasn’t necessarily true, but Adelina wasn’t ready to have that conversation yet. Technically she wasn’t even supposed to know about the courtesan mate bond. If their two people could ally, Adelina would set Ian to finding some answers as to why the Drakesthai and the Kalans in Draga were so similar – despite their differences in appendages.
Prince Kaiden shrugged and gave her a smile before he took the lead once more.
When Varan offered her his arm she took it gladly. The familiarity of protocol was a crutch she needed at the moment as the eyrie castle loomed above them. Kaiden walked them through the massive gates where Nash had already disappeared. The dragon prince was silent when they entered.
Varan’s eyes flicked everywhere and she felt Nadyah behind her, guarding her back. The guards were on alert, but they took in everything as the rock and mountain weighed heavily above them.
Adelina was grateful for her thick coat as the chill grew deeper even without the wind. Kaiden tucked his wings back into his body and she missed their protection instantly. Adelina scoffed. A beautiful winged male and suddenly she was beside herself. It was difficult not to roll her eyes at her own ridiculousness.
Varan chuckled beside her and she eyed him, eyebrow raised. Her husband couldn’t hide the laughter in his eyes. “I should have known something so shiny would be irresistible to my jewel thief.”
Adelina tried to hide her smile and poked Varan in the ribs before she leaned into him in thanks. His love and acceptance had no bounds. The goddess had truly blessed her when she’d crossed their paths.
Then the stone corridor opened up into a main foyer larger even than the one in the Draga Palace.
Adelina stopped when she saw Nash with someone she didn’t recognize, but would bet her life was the Princess Kaita. The female had a wildness about her that set Adelina’s teeth on edge. She was so much like Nash – yet not.
Her blonde hair was nearly white and worn in long braids. The pink eyes were rosy and gorgeous like morganite, but it was the tattoos on her face, on her arms in a sleeveless vest that made Adelina wary. She even carried double plasma blades on her back – a warrior through and through.
Somehow she made Adelina feel like a little girl playing dress up. If it came down to it Princess Kaita could end her with barely a thought and the way she glared at Adelina, Nash had told her about Varan.
“Darling, you possess more dominance than she does, keep that in mind,” Varan whispered in her ear.
“As do you, Prince,” she murmured back.
“I don’t like the way she looks at you,” Nadyah hissed.
“Calm down,” Roxy snapped, her words an angry whisper. “It seems we’re about to receive an audience.”
Adelina squared her shoulders once more when Kaiden approached. “The Council is ready,” he told them. His wings were one among many and Adelina refused to let her eyes wander even if the Drakesthai stared at her.
Her heels clicked as she strode after Kaiden with Varan at her side, his hands in his pockets and that lazy, bored smile on his face. Varan was ready to take whatever eyes necessary and Nadyah looked graceful…so deceptively gentle that Adelina knew her knives were close by. Roxy had a tool on her belt – the goddess only knew what it did, but Adelina didn’t doubt it could remove some essential body part or another.
Over the last few days they’d discussed in great detail the parts they would play, the cards they would keep to their chest and the ones they would reveal. From all her research Adelina had bet that medicine would bring the Drakesthai to her cause. No one knew why, but they weren’t reproducing and if she could solve that problem…
Then Adelina would have another army to fight the Neprijat monsters with.
If the Drakesthai didn’t want that then she had a thousand other offers thanks to Giselle. Varan had gone through the inventory and compared it to the very little intel he’d accumulated over the cycles and ranked it all from what the Drakesthai would be the most interested in, to the least.
The doors to the Council room opened and Adelina paused on the threshold, taking it in. Yes, it was partially for dramatic effect as she released her claws and canines, and partially to allow her husband and inner circle to scout the space.
It was more of a cavern than a room, hewn into the stone and rock in a circular shape. Pillars framed them with magnificent carvings and embedded jewels. Adelina refused to admire the work even though she was intrigued.
The Council sat on chairs that were set in a circle as well, smaller but mirroring the room. There was a small crystal pool of water in the very center that gathered from the occasional drip from the ceiling. It was a cave almost with the way the stone spired down from the ceiling like Adelina had seen icicles do.
There were only three females of the Council and the rest were males, their wings draping behind the backless chairs. Adelina did a double take when she realized the females didn’t possess wings. She filed that away to ask about later.
Satisfied with what she’d gleaned Adelina strode forward, aware of the way Nash watched her, slightly behind her party with Kaita.
When she reached the bottom of the circle so to speak, she was alone. Varan, Nadyah, and Roxy stayed behind her with Nash and Kaita, and her guards were outside the Council room. Then she bowed as a princess to a prince – equal rank to everyone present.
From all her studies there was no one ruler. The Drakesthai didn’t possess a king or queen like her people the Kalans, or Nash’s the Corinthians. But there was a House for each Drakesthai planet with a ruling family. They were all princes and princesses as Nash’s people were, but they ruled together through a type of democracy while they waited for their queen.
There was a lot of lore and speculation about the fated Drakesthai queen that Adelina didn’t really understand, but the dragons had been waiting for her for over six hundred cycles.
When Adelina straightened she met each of the Council’s eyes. “Thank you for allowing me to cross the border for the first time in generations,” she said clearly in the Drakesthai tongue, trying not to think about her obvious accent. “I have brought a gift.”
She pulled the heavy piece from her coat pocket and inspected the gem that was larger than her hand. The gem itself grew out of the rock in shooting sprays, so beautiful and raw. “The aquamarine grows out of granite in Draga when combined with magma deep beneath the surface. It shoots out in these wondrous columns. In the Draga Galaxy the aquamarine stands for peace, communication, and empowerment. A gift from me personally to the Drakesthai.”
