assure me that everything would be okay, and then he pulled the door open. The noise of the room hit me like a physical force and I had to concentrate not to stagger back. Khol wasn’t kidding about the soundproofing spell. But as soon as I stepped into the room with Khol, all talking and noise abruptly stopped, as if the spell had fallen back around everyone again. I swear if someone had dropped a pin I would have heard it. I kept my eyes straightforward and tried not to look at anyone because I had the distinct feeling everyone in the room was staring. I could feel their eyes burning into me.
“Look at her hair!” some unknown voice called out. And then the room erupted into chaos.
“I thought you said I was gonna be announced,” I grated through clenched teeth at Khol.
“And you are.” He led me up to the front of the room where I was then forced to face the crowd. I dug my nails into Khol’s arm, pretty sure I was going to draw blood, but he didn’t make any protests. There were so many dragons in the room, more than I thought still existed by the way Khol had talked in the past. And all the factions were represented . . . Red, Black, Silver, and Gold. “Behold . . . our new queen,” Khol’s voice washed over the crowd and one by one, they began to drop down on their knees to show deference to me. Once it seemed like everyone had taken the plunge, even Khol himself dropped to one knee in front of me, clasping my hand to his forehead. I began to tremble, not knowing what to do. My eyes skimmed over the crowd—most of the dragons’ eyes were facing the floor, but I immediately caught the gaze of one dragon in particular who was not studying the marble, or maybe I should say half dragon . . . Bryn. He was staring at me, a look of anguish swirling in his sea storm eyes. When he realized I was looking back, he flicked his eyes to the floor as well. My chest constricted, and I fought to keep my composure. It shouldn’t be this way, Bryn should be standing beside me, like he always has, not kneeling down before me like everyone else in the crowd. And Jenna? Where was Jenna? I didn’t see her anywhere. I know we’d had a little bit of a falling out, but I wanted her beside me too. It suddenly felt like I was losing everyone I held dear to me.
“Tell them they can rise,” Khol whispered under his breath.
“Oh,” I said. “Right.” I was in so over my head. “You may all rise.” Everyone began slowly lumbering to their feet and Khol repositioned himself beside me and intertwined my fingers with his again. I tightened my grip on his hand as if he were my only lifeline. And maybe he was. “What should I do now?” I whispered to Khol under my breath, while still staring straight ahead.
“If you wish, I will speak for you. It is not unheard of to have a trusted advisor to do so,” he whispered back.
“Yeah, do that.” I sighed with relief.
Khol stepped forward and dropped my hand and I had to fight the urge to reach for it.
A little while later I found myself back in my own room, much to Khol’s dismay, and sprawled out on my bed. I couldn’t help but feel small in it since it still hadn’t been that long since I had shared it with Bryn. Here I was . . . a friggin’ Dragon Queen . . . and I’d never felt so tiny and alone in all of my life. But I didn’t want to begin relying on Khol the way that I had relied on Bryn. I would take a mate, and in him I wanted a partner, not someone that had to constantly take care of me. Why did it always seem like the men in my life wanted to take care of me? Or maybe because they were both at least part dragon, it was in their nature? And if that were the case, then would I constantly have to fight my own nature to not let them?
A knock on my door made me scramble up into a sitting position. “Come in,” I called, hoping it was either Khol or Bryn. Or maybe even Jenna. I really needed to fix things with her. I just didn’t have the energy to make the first move at the moment. I heaved a sigh of disappointment when a small female dragon with short-cropped silver hair stepped into view. I inclined my head inquisitively at her and she bowed down in front of me, which was pretty low because I was sitting.
“My queen,” she greeted.
I studied the top of her head for a moment, and jealously that she got to have silver hair, which was so pretty, while I got stuck with white, spiked through my system. Why the hell did I have to be stuck with white hair? “Yes,” I responded, not outwardly showing any of my inner angst.
She raised her face to look at me with violet eyes.
“Yeah, I kind of figured that,” I said with annoyance as I motioned to her hair.
Her lips turned up in a slight smile. “Yes, well I know you are relatively new to our world. I just wanted to clarify.”
“Look, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but could you please get to the point?” I was doing my best not to sound like a petulant child. I didn’t think it was working out for me too well.
“No need to apologize, my queen, you are still young, patience will come to you in time.”
I barked a harsh laugh at her. “Doubtful, but please continue.”
She produced a white envelope about the size and shape as the one I had received from the old queen, my biological mother, when I had been in the Smokey Mountains. A feeling of foreboding washed over me. “My clan has been holding onto this for a very long time. Our instructions were to give it to you today, after the announcement.”
“How long have you been holding on to this?” I whispered.
“Since before your birth,” Tatiana responded.
“Oh. Well then, I already know who it’s from. Thank you.” I reached out and took the envelope from her and stared down at it wishing it would simply disappear.
“It was our pleasure to serve both the old and new queen,” she said as she rose and headed for the door.
“Thank you again,” I said without looking up at her. My attention was riveted on the small white envelope resting in the palm of my hand. I had no doubt who it was from. Guess my birth mother thought she could still shake up my life even from beyond the grave. I tore the envelope open, kind of wondering in the back of my mind, how the Silver Dragon faction had resisted the temptation to open it themselves. I personally would never have been able to withstand the temptation. Inside was a letter written in the same scrawling handwriting that had adorned my previous message from my birth mother.
My Dear Child,
It is imperative that you understand that what I am about to ask of you, if you deviate from it and think that you can find a better way, it will result in your death. And therefore also the deaths of the ones you love. I have foreseen it. Please trust in my powers, which are now your own, for one day you will need to rely on them. But for now they are still growing and changing within you. You, for the moment, lack the skill to control them the way that’s it’s taken me many decades to learn how to do so myself.
This evening there will be an attempt on your life by someone you thought you could trust. She has let a Rider slip into her, for all humans carry some darkness in them, and it will convince her you have caused all of her problems. She will try to end your life by poisoning you, so do not accept any nourishment from anyone this evening. It will save your life. But do not fear; eventually, if you follow the path I have laid out for you, you will be able to save her. That should offer you some small comfort.
Once the commotion steals everyone’s attention, you are to strike out on your own; I’ve had a trusted subject place a care package hidden in the back of your closet behind a loose panel with everything that you will need, including a way to keep Khol from tracking you. You must do this on your own, and I’m sorry for that my daughter. But I will help you whenever I can. Find the strength that already exists in you.
~M
My hands were shaking as I struggled to process what I had just read in the letter. Jenna was going to try and kill me; there were no other female humans that I trusted—it had to be her. But I could save her if I followed the path my birth mother had laid out for me . . . That was indeed a comfort. And it looked like it was time for me to stand on my own, something that I had been wanting for awhile, so why did it suddenly have the feel of “be
