“Thought...you were gonna hit me.” The words were slurred, but I was proud I’d pushed them out. He froze, then his face went blank. I wasn’t sure if he believed me.
“A bit of an extreme reaction,” he hissed mildly, and set me down roughly on my feet. “Walk, then. And just...know that no one here will strike you. No one.” His hand lingered on my face, brushing my lip with his thumb. I nodded furiously to appease him, but I didn’t believe him. He was one being in a sea of those who could easily hurt me. You shouldn’t make promises you couldn’t keep.
I tried to walk; I really did. The first step went fine, but on the second I veered wildly to the side and almost collided with the wall again. He huffed in irritation and picked me up. Before I could protest, his nose was buried in my hair, sniffing.
“I bathed,” I protested, my eyes crossing as my head continued to pound. Nausea curled its way up my stomach, and I fought against it.
“Can you pull yourself together, or should I carry you? You’re concussed.” He must have smelled something bad because his imperious tone held a sliver of worry. I wriggled and he set me down again. His heavy arm came around my shoulder, and carefully he helped guide me forward.
“You’re the first one I’ve ever hit back, if it makes you feel better.” I was talking mostly to distract myself from the nausea, so I missed the expression of annoyance then shock on his face. His expression relaxed, and he let out an irritated sigh.
“If you were truly afraid, then I am sorry."
I almost fell over in shock as he gave me no time to respond, instead pushing me forward. The hallway ended, opening back up into the great hall. The men roared upon seeing us, and my heart dropped in my chest as I stared out over a sea of creatures. The men from before were gone, instead replaced with creatures like Benedict. Their odd, shimmering skin made sense as their scales glinted at me. The creatures all ranged in shape and color, from reds and yellows to greens and blues. Bright colors gathered at their wrists and neck, reaching down their backs and blending seamlessly with darker colors on their wings and lower body. Their hands ended in sharp, black claws, and hundreds of fangs flashed at me as I looked out from my vantage point on the raised dais. They stood spaced apart to give each other room from the spikes on their spines.
“My people,” Benedict rumbled from his place beside me.
I choked down my reaction as he shifted into his own draken form, his obsidian, purple-tipped wings lightly brushing my shoulder. A moment later D’Arcy was there, and the strange ceremony began.
THREE
There were no words, just a deep humming that started with Benedict. He began with a low note, a deep rumbling vocalization that vibrated the floor and sent goosebumps racing up my arms. The other drakens picked up his note, until it felt like I was being consumed by it, drowning in a sea of sound as hundreds of drakens sang in unison. Benedict grasped my hand in his left, and the other he placed gently on the side of my face. The pitch changed, and half of the drakens changed with him. I focused on the rough feeling of his scales against my skin and closed my eyes. The wide, open harmony had me on edge; clearing the nausea from my mind and allowing me to think clearly. His lips placed a chaste kiss on my forehead, and each of my cheeks, all the while he kept up his drone. Didn’t he need to breathe at some point? As he finished, D’Arcy raised a hand, and Benedict changed his pitch again. This time, no one joined him, instead maintaining their own notes.
Outwardly, I kept my face blank, but inside I was in awe. How I wished I could sing! I had always wanted to learn, but music was forbidden in the breeding house. My heart wished to join him, and a nagging voice in my brain that told me to do it anyway; to join in with these men around me. I wanted to so badly, but fear clamped my tongue. Benedict’s voice soared on its own wordless melody, the notes caressing my soul as I closed my eyes to just listen. Then his lips were on mine, and I parted them on instinct. As his mouth moved against me, a small warble pulled itself from my throat, weak and audible only to him. He smirked and pulled away.
Immediately all sound stopped; it was almost deafening how quickly the hall went silent. D’Arcy raised our joined hands, presenting us to the drakens assembled.
“May the best drakens join the Court!”
The drakens called their assent in a series of cries and calls, the sound reminding me of the falcons who hunted in the meadows near the breeding house. Then, it was over. I blinked, my nausea and pounding headache returning with a vengeance. I realized Benedict had gestured and was waiting for me to walk ahead of him.
“I thought you wanted to walk on your own power?” The threat was thinly veiled, but there. I took a few steps forward but froze at the sea of unfamiliar creatures in front of me. They were happily heading towards the loaded tables lining the edges of the hall, but the sight of them combined with the smell of food was tipping the battle with my nausea against me. Benedict’s lips thinned, and I wondered what I had done this time to make him mad.
“I imagine you’d prefer to dine in your chambers?”
I would have preferred
