overlooked the Valley of Silence. But he didn't regret maneuvering it so that he would stay behind with their mate. They were hardly going to leave her alone.
'You speak to your mates?'
'More like they speak to me. They do not care for my leaving them behind and going into battle.'
'What was it like? To finally find your mate?'
Eben was quiet so long General Solan had already turned back to his maps assuming he wouldn't answer. 'Like being entombed in ice for centuries and finally escaping and seeing the sun. It is painful and wondrous at the same time.'
'Painful?” Solan asked still bent over the maps but with his intense eyes on Ebens face.
'When feelings return it is...intense. I find in myself a savagery that was absent before. It is not an easy thing to love such a fragile being. The thought of losing her is...all consuming at times. But I would not choose another.'
'And if she chose another?' Solan had stood to his full height his face glacial in its absence of expression. When Ebens eyes started to glow and his power pulse between them Solan spoke quickly. 'I would want no misunderstandings between us. I am not challenging you, I ask because I...should I be lucky enough to find my mate...I doubt that any such would want what the centuries of battle have made me...I am not an easy dragon.'
Eben calmed, then gave the question the consideration it deserved. 'I more than most understand this worry General. I too have dealt blood and death to the ruleless for so long I feel painted in it. I can only say that you are a Knight of the Light. A bringer of death and an honorable man. Perhaps your mate will have need of all those things.'
Before Solan could say anything to that, there was a call from outside.
'Enter.' General Solan and Eben both called. They grinned wryly at each other. Both were used to commanding. Eben dipped is head in acknowledgment that this was General Solans command.
'General Solan, Lord Kinkaid.' Ryall stated saluting. 'The Knights are deployed to all three of the remaining black castles. They report their readiness, and their...disgust. It is as Lord Kinkaid reported. The land is dead for miles around. Nothing could survive that did not live on death.'
General Solans face was bitter as he met Ebens. 'This should have been dealt with long ago. In our old age we become complacent and apathetic in our duties.'
'I thought the same when I saw the first. It is a hard lesson but one we must learn now.'
'Vigilance.' Solan said with bite.
'And not just with our enemies.' Eben agreed. 'But that is for another night. Tonight we have an enemy we can see.'
'Then let us be done with this.' Solan turned to the soldier still waiting. 'Ryall. The call is made, be sure that the contingent searching for light mages are ready for the rescue before the walls come down. Then total annihilation. I want nothing crawling away from this fight.' He turned to Eben. 'Shall we?'
'Indeed. They call so prettily for blood and death, let’s give them what they ask for.'
By the coming of dawn there was nothing left of the blood mages strongholds but ashes and poisonous black smoke. They had been razed to the ground, no mercy shown the people there. It was a purging. In the melee, only six light mages were found alive. Though thousands of bones were discovered webbed into the walls. Finding that, the Dragons lost whatever restraint they had and not a single black rock escaped their fire. After the destruction, all six rescued mages elected not to go into exile with the dragons.
Unable to convince the light mages they would be safer with fire breathing dragons than their own people the dragons journeyed home, victorious with nothing to show for it but the destruction left in their wake.
Morgan was in the children's playroom when Ladon came to find her. Clare and Rhune were arguing over who was the fastest shifter now that their powers had returned. Meanwhile Melly laughed and refused comment. Instead, she watched them while stirring the air around her so they all stood in a cool breeze. Ladon was unsure if she knew she was doing it or not. Something about the magic that lived here was stirring them all up. Strengthening their magic and loosening their control. Or perhaps it was just that they could let loose here. They were free to be themselves without hiding.
Morgan had changed into a simple blue cotton dress and stood barefoot. Still she took his breath away. She was not comfortable with the pomp and ceremony he brought to the table as a Prince and future council member, and she had such a look of sadness on her face. He wondered if she was regretting becoming his mate, but then he hadn't really given her a choice. Would she have been better off with just Eben as mate? Maybe. Right now, she was looking out the window towards the South, towards Eben. It made him lose his smile.
He almost looked into her head to see what she was thinking but he decided against it. Maybe he was better off not knowing she was in love with Eben and just tolerated him.
Why not? What could he possibly add to her life that Eben Kinkaid couldn't do just as well? Instead, he backed quietly out of the room before he could intrude on their family time.
Morgan felt Ladons withdrawal even as she was turning to look for him. He felt...lost.
She found him on the balcony of their bedroom; one they had yet to share. She'd seen it earlier of course, but walking through it now still had her eyes bugging in her head. Everything was formed from stone like in the rest of the castle, and covered with opulent jewel toned down cushions and throws of the softest furs. She felt once again her insignificance. Would there be an echo if she called out?
When she finally made it across the cavernous room, past the bed that was big enough to hold a family of ten, a large sitting area and a fireplace big enough to roast a steer, she made it to the balcony. The view was enough to astound her even before she breathed in the crystal clear air that simmered magic.
Eben had an amazing vista as far across as the North Gate and the Ice Mountains. But it was hard to see any of that when Ladon was standing there in nothing but a pair of slacks and knee boots. The wind and starlight playing through his hair like licks of fire. His skin, moon kissed over hard muscle.
Even as she ate him with her eyes, it made her wonder about his home.
'We have not discussed where we'll live.' Thankfully, her voice was more composed than she felt. She walked up to stand beside him. 'The rest of us have no real place but you probably have a home you value. Will you be content living here?'
'Will I be living here?' He turned as he asked the question his back against the low wall that separated them from open air.
The question made the bottom drop out of Morgan’s stomach. She had to swallow thickly before she continued. 'You don't want to?' She tried searching his feelings out through the mate bond but he was closed up tight and she lacked the time and practice needed to break through.
She licked her suddenly dry lips. 'I mean, I suppose you are a prince, you have your own castle.' She said. 'I guess I just assumed you would stay here. With us.'
'You assumed that or you wanted that?” Still there was nothing in his voice, but she was feeling something now.
Was the great arrogant dragon insecure? Or was that just her projecting? It made her blink and think about how little time they'd been together. Had it been just these past three days? Somehow, the mate bond made it feel that they had always been together. 'Both'
'Both?'
'I both assumed you would stay here and want you to stay.' When she heard how shaky she sounded, she raised her chin, getting angry. 'But I now assume that since you've shut me out that you don't feel the same. Well tough. You hear me dragon?” By the end, she had worked herself into a good froth. 'You’re the one who wanted this bond; you forced the issue and now you're stuck with it.' She stepped closer and poked him in his perfect chest. Her ire finding new heights as the sky clouded behind them. 'I may not be dragon princess material but you made me fall in love with you, against my better judgment, I might add.' Another poke to the chest. 'So now it’s done. You aren't getting rid of me, or fobbing me off on my other mate. You made your bed and now you’re going to lay in it.'
'My fierce little falcon...' He whispered, before wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her high to
