Chapter 1

Gold, jewels, and more gold.

I couldn’t think about anything else, but I was disappointed with my finds so far in our journey. The forested lands we traveled through after we left Tikal were not full of hidden mounds of treasure, like the desert around Hatra or the Crimson Canyons. I’d found some coins and other trinkets here and there, but the trees stood tall and loomed over our wagons, and they created shadows that danced and moved along the trail with us. I didn’t like the lowered visibility, and combined with the lack of treasures, I was a grumpy dragon.

“How much further?” I sighed to my future wife, Alyona.

“Not far, my lord,” the princess consoled. Her violet eyes looked up at me with amusement, and the glimpse of a smile was quickly covered with her porcelain hand. “We should be there by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.”

“Good,” I muttered, but I gave her a half-smile. I couldn’t be mad at her, and her endless patience was one of the many things I loved about the princess.

We were only on our second stop for this campaign after spending weeks in Tikal, and I glanced back at the second wagon that seated Aaliyah, Ravi, and the dryads. The weeks had been worth it, though. The lioness was a perfect addition to our little group, not only for her skills as a warrior, but also for her skills in the bedroom. My blood rushed south as I imagined finally arriving in Lumin and ravishing at least one, if not more, of my women.

I’d been building quite the harem since my odd arrival in Inati, from my soon-to-be wife to a phoenix to my newest mate, a lion Demi-Human. They each brought something to the table I enjoyed, and I licked my lips as I imagined devouring each of my women.

But then something else tickled my senses.

I sat up and looked around before I realized it was my dragon instinct for treasure.

Finally.

“Stop here,” I told Laika.

The beautiful wolf Demi-Human pulled back on the reins of the horse that was pulling our wagon, and her gray ears twitched.

“What is it, Lord Evan?” she asked with suspicion.

“Gold, I hope,” I murmured as I slid off the side of the wagon.

The other wagons halted behind us, because thanks to Alyona’s magic, we only needed one set of horses to pull the dozen wagons that carried us along the forest trail.

“Where are you going?” Aaliyah called out from the second wagon.

“Just need to stretch a bit,” I called back.

“I’ll go with you,” the lion Demi-Human volunteered as she swung her long, bronze legs over the side of the second wagon and jumped down. “I’m feeling a little cooped up myself.”

Aaliyah’s tan skin practically glowed, even with the little bit of sunlight that escaped through the canopy overhead. The lioness tossed her long, golden hair over her shoulder and tied it back with a piece of leather. Then she looked at me with her round, coppery eyes as she waited for my next direction, and I knew she was getting frustrated with sitting in a wagon all day when she was a hunter.

“Everyone else stay here and take a break,” I ordered the rest of the group. “We’ll head north just a bit. It doesn’t feel very far away.”

“I’ll check on the horses and the cargo.” Nike hopped off the third wagon and walked toward the horses at the front of our caravan.

Lord Nikolaus, or Nike as I called him, was a fellow noble, keeper of the Sword of Light, and like a brother to me. He may have been a human, but he was one hell of a warrior, and he was often the one I chose to have my back on the battlefield. Nike had little interest in the treasures I liked to dig up, though, so he would be better off keeping an eye on the wagons.

I nodded to him, and then I gestured for Aaliyah to follow me into the woods. I sensed the treasure wasn’t far away, but it wasn’t on any trails like the one we’d been following. I thought that was odd for a moment, but then I realized this wasn’t likely to be the same kind of wrecked wagon treasure I’d found all along the desert trade routes. It was more likely something that someone had buried to hide.

I rubbed my hands together in anticipation. This could be a very good treasure.

“What are you so antsy about?” Aaliyah asked as she walked next to me through the brush and slashed branches with her claws.

“Gold,” I replied as I turned and squinted at her. “You know dragons like treasure, right?”

“Oh, I have heard that, but you’re the first dragon I’ve ever met.” Aaliyah shrugged her shoulders. “I never know what’s true about the outside world. This is my first time leaving Tikal.”

“Really?” I was taken aback. “You and your father didn’t say anything about that when I asked you to consider coming.”

“I know,” she said with a shy smile. “I didn’t know if you’d change your mind when you found out I was limited in my experience.”

“Nah.” I shrugged. “Ravi had never left her tribe until she decided to come with us.”

“That makes sense,” Aaliyah laughed. “She believes the most innocent things, I don’t even have the heart to tease her.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled. “She is a bit gullible, but she’s mostly just naïve and inexperienced. She’s starting to learn, though. I’m teaching her a thing or two.”

“I bet you are!” Aaliyah purred. “I’m sure you’re quite the teacher.”

“Damn straight,” I said with a wink. “Ah, here we are.”

We stopped at a tree that seemed to be slightly larger than the others around it, and its roots grew in a strange pattern. Parts of each root poked above ground and then dipped back down under the surface before rising again. It resembled the old drawings I’d seen on Earth of the Loch Ness monster in the water. In front of the tree was a lighter patch of soil and some small sprigs of grass that had failed to thrive. The result was a bunch of green and yellow tufts covering a square of soil a couple feet long and about six feet wide.

If the treasure chest was that big, it had a lot of promise.

I looked around the area. There wasn’t enough room for me to transform into my huge dragon body, so I’d have to come up with another plan.

“Stand back,” I told Aaliyah.

The lioness walked backward a few feet, and I summoned my earthquake power. A moment later, the ground beneath us shook, and a hole cracked through the surface to reveal a large wooden box. Then I reached down and brushed the remaining soil off the box to find its opening.

Aaliyah stepped forward, and I growled instinctively.

“I just wanted to help you pull out the box.” The lion Demi-Human put her hands up in surrender. “The treasure is all yours.”

“Sorry,” I replied with a sheepish grin. “Dragon instincts. Let’s get this thing out.”

We both hopped into the hole and grabbed the handles on the sides of the box. Then we lifted it up, set it on the ground next to the hole, and climbed back out to investigate. The box was as large as I’d imagined from aboveground, and the dark wood was rough and covered with knots, like someone had built it from the trees that surrounded us. There was an inscription scratched into the surface of the lid, but the wood was so worn I couldn’t read it. The box also bore faint designs scratched into the sides, some diamond and triangle shapes, and I marveled at the craftsmanship.

Finally, I searched the box for an opening and found a latch, and then I lifted it and the lid to expose a collection of velvet bags. My curiosity competed with my desire for gold, and I lifted a bag from the box. Then I loosened the strings and dumped the contents into my hand.

Jewels.

Several dozens of them poured from the bag into my clawed hand. There were rubies, diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds, and that was just the first bag. At least a hundred bags sat in the box and waited for me to open them. I was practically drooling as I opened my spatial storage and began moving the bags into the space.

About halfway through the box, I realized the treasure wasn’t limited to the velvet jewel bags. The bottom half of the box contained thousands of gold pieces. Some were coins, some were chunks of solid gold, and still more were solid gold bars.

The rest of the forest trip had been a little lackluster so far, but this find was totally worth the wait.

I continued loading the treasures into my storage while Aaliyah stood over me and watched. She crossed her arms and looked around the small clearing with the eyes of a hunter. We had yet to encounter anything dangerous in the massive forest, and we were both a little antsy about the lack of action.

Once I’d emptied the box, we set out to return to the wagons. Aaliyah led the way back this time, which gave me a great view of her toned ass and killer legs as she strode through the forest. My pants tightened against my crotch as I thought about those legs wrapped around me while Aaliyah moaned with pleasure atop a pile of jewels …

“Find anything good?” Alyona asked with a smile.

I snapped back to the present and realized we were already beside the wagons. So, I adjusted my trousers and focused on my future bride.

“Oh, yeah.” I grinned back. “It was quite the treasure trove.”

“Oooh, we should have gone with you!” Polina cried out in dismay.

The other two dryads nodded enthusiastically, and their green eyes shone with excitement. They had used their nature magic to help me with some treasure in the desert, and it seemed they wanted to help again.

“I’ll take you three on the next one,” I promised. “I bet there’s more than one treasure in this entire forest.”

“Yay!” Trina yelled as the three girls jumped up and down.

“Let’s get back on track before it gets dark,” Nike suggested. “We still need to find a decent place to camp out before the sun goes down.”

Our party loaded back up onto the wagons, and Laika snapped the reins to get the horses moving again. I sat in the front wagon with Laika and Alyona, my wolf Demi-Human and the Divine Maiden who I would soon marry. In the second wagon sat Ravi, Aaliyah, and the dryad sisters. The five women had become quite close on this trip, and I was happy to see our weird little family grow closer so easily.

Nike sat in the third wagon by himself, always ready for trouble, and the wagons behind him contained gifts for our future allies and all the extra stuff we apparently needed when traveling with seven women.

I wasn’t great with the diplomatic stuff yet, but thankfully, I had Nike and Alyona to help me navigate this campaign trip. Alyona’s father, King Rodion, had high hopes for us to take his place ruling over Rahma, but we needed to make sure the country didn’t fall to a civil war or the demons of the Breach before we could do much of anything else.

Several of the cities around Rahma had begun doubting that Rodion cared for them, or even that the Breach existed. So, the king had tasked us with visiting these cities and getting them back on our side. Even if they didn’t want him or us to rule, the last thing we needed was a weakened country if the shield over the Breach were to give out and a bunch of who knows what came out. We’d already seen some of the devastating results of the miasma that the Breach contained. The demonic smoke drove people insane and caused them to attack, even if they’d never been violent before.

The part that bothered me most was how many times the miasma had caused people to attack Alyona. The first time was in Hatra, our home city. Most recently, a group of jaguar Demi-Humans in Tikal had been poisoned with miasma, and one of them told us a voice in his head had ordered him to kill the princess. Thanks to one of the Green Glass Sect assassins, we knew they wanted her dead because she could stop whatever they were planning to do with the Breach. Unfortunately, we didn’t know exactly what they were planning, which made it pretty hard to stop.

All these thoughts filled my head as we traveled through the darkening forest. Nike was right. We needed to find somewhere to set up camp for the night, and soon.

“Ravi, can you scout ahead for somewhere to rest?” I yelled back to the phoenix.

“Yeah, definitely!” Ravi hopped off the moving wagon and shifted into her fiery bird form, and her orange feathers fluttered as she flapped up into the trees and darted ahead of us.

“Are you sure that’s safe?” Laika squinted suspiciously as we watched the phoenix fly away from the convoy. “I don’t mean to doubt you, my lord. It’s just after our approach to Tikal--”

“I understand your concern.” I smiled. “We’re too far from the city for us to worry, though. Besides, our little bird has barely been able to fly since we left Tikal.”

Laika nodded, though her gray ears were still flattened against her head with caution. The wolf warrior was protective over all of us, but especially over those in her Blue Tree Guild. She was their leader, and she held herself responsible for anything that happened to her soldiers. Ravi wasn’t an official member of the guild yet, but she’d been training with them since she came back to Hatra with us from her desert home.

Before anyone else could worry, Ravi swooped back over the wagons and landed on the canvas above me.

“Just a half-mile ahead, there’s a good size clearing with a lot of tree coverage and water access,” she reported.

“Perfect,” I answered. “We’ll make camp there.”

Ravi dipped her head and flew back to the wagon with the other women. Then she perched on Trina’s shoulder as we continued toward the clearing she’d found.

As soon as we came around the corner, I knew we’d arrived. The clearing was just big enough for all our wagons, and a small opening in the trees revealed a quiet brook to give us water for the night.

“This looks like the perfect place,” I announced as Laika slowed the wagons to a stop.

I slid off the wagon seat and turned back to lift Alyona to the ground. Then I looked around the space and found an area with enough trees to give us cover and a good view of the rest of the woods. So, I searched for some kindling while the rest of the group unloaded.

Aaliyah walked over to the spot I’d chosen with a stack of bamboo sticks and animal furs.

“Do you want me to set up here?” the lioness asked.

“Yeah, I’m just getting some firewood,” I answered.

The first night we camped out, I’d been completely lost when she brought her pile of furs and sticks out of the wagon. She’d explained they were a gift from her father, and we could use them to set up temporary housing. Basically, the sticks and furs were tents made out of the same materials they used for buildings at House Oel, and the structures had come in handy over the last few days of camping.

I stacked the wood I’d found like a teepee and blew some flames onto them to start the campfire. Then I walked over to where Aaliyah had rolled out the furs for the tents and helped her jab the sticks into the ground for support. We draped the furs over the bamboo sticks and stepped back to look over our work. It had taken a couple tries, but I’d gotten the hang of putting these together. There were four tents for all nine of us, which put us much more spread out than I liked. I would rather have one giant tent for me and my harem, but sadly, the tents didn’t really work like that.

“Is it our turn?” Marina asked from behind me.

“Yes, it is,” I chuckled.

The dryads squatted next to the campground we’d made and put their hands to the ground. Within moments, small beds made of moss and flowering grass had sprouted from the ground inside each tent. The beds were soft and much more comfortable than sleeping on the hard ground, and I had a whole new appreciation for the dryads’ nature magic after they started making the beds for us.

“Oh, I just love these,” Alyona sighed as she flopped onto the ground in our tent.

The moss was springy like a mattress, so the princess bounced one time before her body sunk into the grassy bed, and it formed around her like it was a cocoon.

I couldn’t wait to wrap my body around hers once the sun went down.

“Well, let’s find something to eat before we can’t see to hunt anything,” Laika proposed and rubbed her hands together.

“Sounds like a good idea,” I agreed. “You and Aaliyah try to find us something meaty, and I’ll cook it over the fire. Trina, Marina, and Polina, do you think you could find us some fruit or berries?”

“Oh, yes!” Marina exclaimed.

“We’re on it!” Polina gave a mock salute.

The three sisters traipsed into the bushes next to our clearing to find part of our dinner, and the wolf and lioness went in the opposite direction to hunt down the other part, while Nike and I unloaded a few other supplies.

“Care to join me?” I held up some water jugs to Ravi and gestured toward the brook.

“Sure!” the phoenix squeaked and picked up two more buckets.

The flame-haired beauty followed me to the opening in the trees that led to the banks. The brook flowed slowly, and the water was clear enough to see the thousands of tiny pebbles at the bottom. A few blue and orange fish followed the current, but they were unlike any fish I’d ever seen on Earth. They were round, almost like marbles with fins.

“Do you know what kind of fish those are?” I asked Ravi.

“You’ve never seen lopta fish before?” The phoenix blinked in surprise. “Oh, they don’t have them where you’re from?”

“Nope,” I answered and shrugged.

“Well, don’t eat them,” she advised. “They feel like rocks in your belly.”

“Good to know,” I laughed. “Did you see a lot of fish in the desert?”

“More than you’d think,” Ravi said with a grin. “Father knows where to find all the water places out there.”

“Well, he’s had a lot of time to get to know the desert,” I laughed.

We finished filling up the water buckets and strolled back to the campground where Nike and Alyona had set out small bowls and cups from one of the wagons.

“Will you give me a hand, brother?” Nike gestured to a fallen tree near the edge of the clearing.

“Sure.”  I set the buckets down by the tents and rushed over to help him carry the large log to the fireside. It was the perfect size for all the women to sit on while they ate, and we dropped the log on the ground and brushed our hands clean.

Not a bad little setup. We’d gotten pretty good at this.

The dryads rushed back into the clearing, and they each held a large basket that looked like the sisters had just weaved them from the leaves and twigs in the forest.

“We found a whole grove of fruit trees over there!” Polina squealed.

“There were, like, a hundred fruits to choose from--” Trina started.

“So, we just grabbed a few of everything!” Marina cut in.

“I’m sure everyone will love them,” I chuckled. “Thank you, and good job.”

“Oh, thank you, Lord Evan!” Marina curtsied.

“Anything we can do,” Polina added with a wink.

“And we do mean anything!” Trina giggled and licked her lips.

My cock pulled at my trousers at the thought of being with the dryad sisters again. They’d kept me busy for two days straight the first time we were in bed, and it had been fucking amazing.

“Let’s worry about dinner first, my love,” Alyona murmured as she snaked a hand around my waist and smiled at the trio. “We only have one more night to rest before we arrive in Lumin, and who knows what we’ll have to handle there.”

“True,” I grunted. “Tikal was quite the hassle, so I guess we better just expect work wherever we go.”

The sisters sighed together.

“Milady is right,” Trina mumbled.

“Yes, we must eat and then get our rest,” Polina agreed with a frown.

“But a bath couldn’t hurt, right?” Marina clasped her hands together and looked over at the flowing water with a smile.

“Oh, yes, let’s go get cleaned up!” Polina gasped.

The dryads ran over to the water and ducked behind some tall grasses on the riverbank, and I squinted to see their beautiful green skin through the reeds. Then the three women immediately hopped into the water and laughed together. They splashed each other, and I absently imagined running my tongue over their cool, slick skin.

“We have meat!” Aaliyah called out as she and Laika entered the clearing.

I shook my head to clear it of my little daydream and focused on the Demi-Humans. They each carried a couple large birds over one shoulder, and they both had a hold on either end of some kind of large pig. It looked a lot like a boar, but its fur was a dark mahogany, and its tusks extended about a foot away from its face.

I didn’t care about looks, but I hoped it tasted like bacon.

“I’ll put them on the fire.” Nike took the carcasses and began preparing them to cook. For having been raised a warrior, Nike was a damn good chef, and I looked forward to whatever flavoring he found to season the meats with.

“Anyone care to join us before dinner?” Trina called out from the water.

“Oh, me!” Ravi answered quickly and ran over to join them, but she took her time and laid her clothes on a tree branch before dipping into the water behind the reeds.

“We probably should, too,” Aaliyah said to Laika with a laugh. “Those birds were not easy prey.”

“Ah, yeah.” Laika’s gray eyes shone with mischief. “They seemed to like teasing you.”

“But I got the bastards!” The lioness smirked.

“Yes, you did,” Laika laughed, and the two walked over to join the other women at the brook.

“No bath for you, my princess?” I asked Alyona. I’d been looking forward to watching all my women get naked, so I was a little disappointed when she shook her head.

“I’m too anxious about tomorrow,” Alyona admitted as she twisted a lock of raven-colored hair around her finger. “I’ve never actually been to Lumin, but I’ve read they’re very intelligent and wise creatures.”

“If they’re smart, you have nothing to worry about,” I replied with a smirk. “They’d have to be really stupid to upset you with me around.”

“Well, I suppose that’s true,” Alyona murmured and gave me a half-smile.

“It is,” I confirmed as I put my arm around her shoulders and gave her a kiss on the top of her head. “So, don’t worry about a thing.”

“I’ll try,” she answered. “I think I’m going to do some more reading about the Dandelion Gates until dinner is ready.”

“Okay, I’ll come get you when it’s done,” I agreed.

I watched Alyona glide over to our tent, sit on the moss bed, and pull a book out of her spatial storage. She’d already read countless books on our trip to try and prepare for the next step in our hunt for the Green Glass Sect leader. I knew it bothered her that she didn’t know why they were worried about her. She had no clue how to stop the Breach from opening yet, but I knew she would figure it out. I just hoped she had as much faith in herself as we all had in her.

“Is the princess still worried about what the traitor said?” Nike asked under his breath.

“Yeah,” I replied. “She’s back to studying to see what else she can figure out.”

“It’s good to be prepared,” he murmured, “but I hope she doesn’t put the whole weight of the problem on herself. We’re in this together.”

“I keep trying to remind her of that,” I sighed. “She’s been raised to be a superhero, though.”

“A superhero?” Nike raised a brow.

“Oh, yeah.” I rubbed my chin. “It’s a person with special powers who goes around saving people in trouble.”

“So, basically, what you do?” Nike looked at me and cocked his head to the side.

“Huh,” I muttered, and a grin spread across my face. “I guess so. Never thought of it that way.”

I liked that idea. Not only was I a badass dragon, but now I was a fucking superhero.

I’d landed in the best realm possible.

A loud cackle interrupted my thoughts, and I turned to see the rest of my women as they pulled their clothes back on to return to camp. I was about to suggest another swimming party, but then Nike announced dinner.

I walked over to our tent and bent down to where Alyona could see me, but she was nose deep in a thick book with pages that looked older than dirt.

“Ready to eat, princess?” I asked her.

“Oh, of course,” she mumbled as she closed the book and stood up.

Everyone crowded around the campfire as Nike handed out bowls of charred meat and fruit from the baskets. The pig smelled of the purple flowers that draped from the bushes near the creek, and it was a sweet, almost cinnamon smell that made my mouth water. The meat also tasted like crispy, smoky bacon, just as I’d hoped. When I’d finished off my slices of pork, I picked up a small brown fruit from one of the baskets and bit off a chunk. A pungent, sour juice filled my mouth, and then the juice sweetened and ran down the back of my throat. It was like a candy as I chewed the flesh and swallowed, and I had no idea what the fruit was called, but it just became my new favorite.

We filled the cups with water from the jugs and sat around to eat. The sun had finally set, and the fire lit up the campsite while shadows danced around in the trees surrounding us. We filled the air with idle conversation about food before yawns echoed around the group.

“Okay, let’s get some sleep before we all pass out right here,” I suggested with a sleepy smile.

“Yeah,” Polina agreed and yawned. “We have a big day tomorrow.”

“Very big,” Trina added and stretched.

The dryads retired to their tent, while Ravi and Aaliyah made their way to the next teepee. Nike headed to his moss bed alone, and Laika joined Alyona and I in our bed. I felt both of their warm bodies press up against mine and grinned until I realized they were already snoring.

I sighed and closed my eyes. I guess I was in for a night of rest.

The next thing I knew, sunlight streamed in between the trees surrounding the tent. I opened my eyes and stretched gently so I didn’t wake my lovers, but Laika was already up. Her gray tail twitched as she bent over to lace up her boots, and I stared at her long slender legs for a moment before she turned around and smirked.

“Come on now, Lord Evan,” she teased. “We have a big day ahead of us.”

Then the wolf warrior sashayed out of the tent to load up the wagons.

“Yeah, yeah,” I grunted and rolled over to get up. Then I pulled my boots on and climbed out of the tent.

Everyone else was already awake and loading up, and Nike walked over and handed me a plate of leftover meats and fruits from our dinner.

“The rest of us already ate.” He smiled. “I saved some for you two.”

“Thanks, brother,” I replied as I clapped him on the shoulder, and then I turned back and gently woke up my fiancée.

Alyona rolled over and gazed up at me with glassy, purple eyes before she blinked a couple times and smiled.

“Come on,” I whispered. “We’re the last ones to wake up.”

She nodded and worked her way out of bed, and then we rolled up the tent and tossed it into the wagon with the others. The rest of our group had climbed up on the wagons, so I lifted Alyona up next to Laika and clambered on behind her.

Laika snapped the reins, and we were off.

“Did you learn anything new in your book?” I asked Alyona as we rolled down the forest trail toward Lumin.

“Not really,” she answered with a shrug. “There isn’t much else in any of the texts besides the fact that it has a magical presence, and some people find it peaceful for meditation.”

“That doesn’t really tell us anything,” I remarked.

“Exactly,” Alyona sighed and tugged on her braid. “I feel like we’re going into this completely blind.”

“Well, we have you on our side,” I countered. “So I’m not worried.”

The princess smiled at me and looked back down at her hands in her lap. I wasn’t sure how to convince her that she could do this, but I’d figure it out.

We traveled in silence until I could see a break in the trees. It looked like we were finally at the edge of the forest and about to arrive in Lumin.

A few minutes later, we stopped at the tree line and looked down the rest of the path to see a huge stone wall that surrounded an expansive city. Spires and turrets peeked over the edge of the wall, but the palace was clearly the largest building in the center of the city. Its bell tower sat high above the rest of the buildings, and the entire balcony around it was decorated with gold and jewels so it sparkled in the late morning sun.

“I’d say that’s probably it,” I announced.

Alyona laughed and rolled her eyes.

“Brilliant, my lord,” Laika added with a chuckle. Then she cracked the reins, and we continued forward on the path to the city.

But my dragon senses suddenly put me on high alert.

“Wait,” I ordered Laika.

The wolf yanked the reins back to halt the horses, and Nike abruptly appeared at my side, with the Sword of Light in his hands. He’d apparently felt the disturbance ahead as well.

I opened my spatial storage and pulled out the Sword of Healing as I looked around.

We were now completely out of the forest and totally exposed. I didn’t like it.

Then I heard a soft whistling noise that was somehow familiar. I tried to pinpoint its location, but then realized I couldn’t because it was moving.

I looked up in time to swing my sword and slice the arrow in half before it could penetrate our wagon.

Nike looked down at the wooden pieces on the ground next to me.

“Fucking arrows again?” he asked with a grimace.

“Fucking arrows,” I confirmed.

Chapter 2

Nike and I searched for the source of the arrows as Laika unsheathed her broadsword and jumped down next to us.

“Over there.” The wolf Demi-Human pointed to a turret on the city’s east wall.

I looked closer and saw she was right. A shadow filled the window of the turret, and another arrow peeked out, ready to fire.

As we assessed the situation, I heard another, much louder whistle coming from the north side of the wall, and I glanced over in time to see a barrage of arrows hitting the top of their arch before they began their descent toward us.

There was about a zero percent chance I could deflect all of them before they hit our convoy, so I called on the fire magic I’d learned from the phoenix chief, Fiyero, and reached my fist into the sky. A moment later, a giant fiery shield appeared at the end of my arm and covered our entire group.

Dozens of arrows hit the shield and caught fire, and the projectiles burned from one end to the other before the arrowheads dropped to the ground all around us.

“Why do people keep shooting at us?” I heard Polina sigh from somewhere behind me.

“Let’s find out,” I growled as I lowered my arm, and the fiery shield evaporated with a puff of smoke.

Then I looked in the direction the arrows had come from, and my jaw fell open in shock for a solid five seconds.

Our attackers were fucking centaurs. The half-man, half-horse creatures held bows, and quivers of arrows were strapped to the back of their human torsos. They also currently wore extremely surprised expressions at my ability to use fire magic.

I smirked. They had no idea who they were messing with, and they were about to be even more surprised.

“You guys stay here!” I called out. “I’ll handle these assholes.”

With that, I shifted into my enormous, black-scaled dragon form, flapped my wings, and took flight down the rest of the path.

The centaurs wavered for a moment and glanced at each other, but then they reloaded their arrows and took aim at my large body.

I bobbed and weaved with ease to avoid the projectiles, though, and I almost wanted to laugh.

A few centaurs continued shooting at the convoy, and I glanced back as Nike and Laika followed my lead and fended the arrows off with their swords. Nike’s sword burned through batches of arrows with its light powers, and the wolf Demi-Human was a blur as she deflected the projectiles like Neo in the Matrix. Then Ravi set her face with determination and created a shield similar to mine, though hers was not as big. It was enough to provide cover, though, and the rest of our group joined her underneath it.

I turned back to my destination, and with several more flaps of my massive wings, I reached the centaurs and shot piles of webbing over them. I hoped it would stop them from attacking long enough for me to find the leader, but the huge man-horse creatures ripped and shredded through the webs like paper.

Okay, so these guys were pretty strong.

Another round of arrows flew toward me, but instead of dodging them this time, I released a hot breath of fire to burn through them. A few arrowheads still made their way to my underbelly, but they felt like pinpricks without the force of the arrow behind them.

“Stop firing!” I roared at the creatures below me. “I’m not trying to hurt you!”

A few of the centaurs laughed, and they all reloaded their bows with more arrows to shoot at me.

I continued circling the group as I tried to find the centaur in charge of the attack. Considering how close we were to the city, I figured these guys were residents of Lumin, and the last thing that would help with diplomacy would be to kill their warriors.

Finally, I saw him.

The centaur leader was in the second row of attackers. He wore a gold chain that dangled halfway down his torso, and another gold chain was woven through the braid that laid over his shoulder. His tan skin was covered in tattoos, and his bare chest and face glistened with sweat as he watched me soar above them.

“You!” I pointed a claw at the leader. “You have to see I’m not attacking!”

The centaur smirked and signaled for another round of arrows.

I growled and burned through the barrage.

Then I had an idea.

I looped wide around the centaurs then veered straight for the ground in front of them. Just before I slammed into the dirt, I covered myself with my healing magic and summoned my earthquake ability.

The ground rumbled and shook as jagged cracks etched across the grassy field and sliced through the group of centaurs. The creatures yelled and jumped around to avoid falling into one of the cracks, and I flew back up above them to make sure no one got hurt.

But my mouth nearly fell open when I saw a few of the warriors shift into human bodies to dodge the giant holes.

So, the centaurs could shapeshift like me. I wondered if I could use that to my advantage.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone!” I shouted down to the leader. “Let me come down and talk to you in my human form!”

The centaur commander stood tall and stared at me as I continued to fly around them. Then he lifted a single fist without looking away from me, and the rest of the warriors lowered their bows and watched him.

I glided down to the ground in front of the earthquake damage, landed, and shifted into my human body.

The leader’s eyes widened as I brushed myself off and strode directly to him, and I bypassed the handful of centaurs who glared at me as I made my way to the commander.

“Are your men willing to stand down so the rest of my party can join us?” I asked him.

The centaur commander towered over me on his tall, equine legs. The hair that covered the lower part of his body was a shiny, raven color, and his brown eyes stared at me with suspicion.

“That depends on what you have to say,” the centaur responded in a gravelly voice. “I’m sure you understand if we don’t trust your … kind.”

“My kind?” I raised a brow. “Dragons?”

“Yes,” he hissed, and his horse tail snapped in annoyance. “Don’t be coy. I have no patience for such games.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I waved a hand. “Someone offended you, now you hate everyone, got it. I don’t do all that shit.”

The centaurs around me chuckled until the leader glared at them.

“I see,” he murmured as he rubbed his chin. “And you are?”

“I’m Lord Evan of Hatra el Shamash,” I announced. “Your turn.”

“They call me River.” The commander smirked. “Why are you here, Lord Evan?”

“I’d like to invite my fiancée down here to help me explain that.” I gestured back up the hill to the rest of my group.

“Fine,” River said with a dip of his head. Then he waved the rest of the centaurs forward, and they eased around the cracks to stand on solid ground.

With that, I turned around and waved my convoy down to join us.

“They centaurs are playing nice for now,” I murmured to my friends when they reached me.

“Now they want to be nice?” Laika retorted as she put her sword back in its sheath.

“They must have been scared of the sexy, badass dragon,” Trina giggled.

“I like watching Lord Evan be a sexy dragon,” Marina added with a wink.

“Ladies, as much as I’d like to continue this conversation, we have to talk to the horses,” I reminded the dryads. “I’m guessing everyone is okay, then?”

“All good,” Nike confirmed with a nod.

As soon as Alyona was next to me, I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and guided the princess to meet the horse-man commander.

“Alyona, this is River,” I introduced her to the centaur. “River, this is my bride-to-be, Lady Alyona.”

“Your fiancée is the Divine Maiden?” River asked with wide eyes. “I thought she was in the Cave of One Thousand Sages.”

“Old news,” I remarked, but then a sharp elbow dug into my ribs. “I mean, Alyona left the cave a while ago to pursue the source of the miasma poisonings.”

“I see.” The centaur pursed his lips.

“Alyona, successor to the White Jade Sect Seat of Rahma,” the princess finished her introduction with a curtsy. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, River.”

“But what are you here for?” River cut to the chase.

I guess Aaliyah was right about their manners.

“We have been sent by His Eminence, King Rodion, to visit with many cities in Rahma,” Alyona explained. “We’d like to see your city’s leader, if we may.”

“Why should we take you to her?” River scoffed. “The king hasn’t been here in decades. What makes you think our queen wants to hear from his daughter?”

“I don’t really care what your queen wants at the moment,” I growled. “We came here to see the leader of Lumin, and you’re going to take us to her.”

“Oh?” River quirked an eyebrow and looked around at the other centaurs, who stared at me in disbelief. “And if I don’t?”

“Then we go through you,” Aaliyah hissed from behind me.

“That works for me.” I shrugged.

“Ooh, Lord Evan is about to scare the horsies like he did the cats!” Polina whispered loudly.

“We didn’t come here to hurt anyone,” Alyona soothed. “We only want to help.”

“We don’t need your help.” River’s face was smug. “So, whatever the king asked you to do here, you can do it somewhere else.”

“Listen, River, we’ve been on the road for a week,” I said as I decided to try another tactic. “We have to stop in all these cities and check in. If your queen says she doesn’t need us, then we’ll move on tomorrow morning. Just take us to her, and she can decide for herself.”

The centaur rubbed his chin and stared at me, and up close, I could see his tattoos were depictions of battle scenes. His entire human torso was covered in ink that showed his warriors as they fought humans, giants, and even dragons.

Ah, that explained his comment about my kind. I’d have to ask about that later.

“Fine,” River grumbled at last. “But if the queen doesn’t want you here, then you have to leave tonight.”

“Fair enough,” I agreed. “Lead the way.”

The centaur turned toward the gate at the end of the huge wall surrounding Lumin, and the rest of the warriors surrounded us as we followed him to the entrance.

“I told you I could be nice,” I snickered as I looped my fingers through Alyona’s.

The princess looked up at me and pursed her lips. She obviously wasn’t thrilled with my tactics to get into the city, but it had worked.

Laika followed closely behind the princess and me, while Ravi and the dryads walked with Aaliyah. Nike brought up the rear, and I could feel his tension as the centaur warriors trotted behind him.

Then River signaled someone through a hole in the wall, and the metal gate clanged as it slid open a moment later.

As we trailed after the commander, I got a better look at Lumin. It wasn’t as big as Tikal, but the city was larger than it had looked from outside the walls. The buildings were tall and loomed over us as we followed the dirt road, and I noticed this city was the most modern place I’d seen in Inati. The houses were built out of rocks joined together with some kind of hardened paste, which made the stones look almost like bricks. Each house had a number on it, and the structures sat in rows along the flattened pathways. The doorways were taller than normal, probably to give the centaurs room to walk through in their horse form, though some people walked around in human bodies.

Then I noticed a trend. I didn’t see any women.

The men stared at us with a variety of expressions from anger to fear to disgust as we walked down the path, and I wondered if the women were inside the houses to keep them safe from us.

After nearly half an hour of walking, we arrived at the doors of the castle, and I could see the intricate carvings in the stone walls showed more battle scenes. The art was enhanced with gemstones embedded into the rock, and gold and silver paint highlighted the centaur warriors. Then I looked up at the giant wooden doors, and they featured a metal decorative horse hanging above the large rings that served as handles.

River grabbed one of the rings and pushed the door open to reveal a large entryway, with huge tapestries hanging from the walls on either side. He stood next to the door and motioned for us to go in, but the other warriors waited outside the doors.

We walked past River into another large room with a fireplace burning to our right, and a circle of cushy armchairs sat to our left.

“You can sit here.” River pointed to the chairs. “I’ll go see if the queen is available.”

The centaur’s tail whipped around behind him as he strode out of the room before I could respond, and we looked around as we sat.

“I told you they were rude,” Aaliyah whispered, and the lioness fought back a smirk.

“I like it better this way,” I laughed. “I don’t have to bullshit. By the way, how do they have a queen if Rodion is the king of Rahma?”

“They are one of the cities that existed first.” Alyona shrugged. “Some of the cities in our country existed long before Rahma was founded, and the first rulers of Rahma didn’t see the point in making anyone change their titles. I’d say you could ask the centaurs to make sure, but you’d probably start another fight given the way River looked at you.”

“Lord Evan would win the second one, too!” Trina giggled.

“Yeah, the horsies were scared after he gave them a little earthquake,” Marina squealed.

“I wouldn’t mind another one of his earthquakes,” Polina sighed.

“Oh, me either!” Trina agreed and batted her green eyelashes at me.

I smirked at the insatiable dryads, but before my thoughts could derail, River marched back into the room.

“Lord Evan?” The centaur commander nodded to me. “You and the princess can come this way.”

“We should bring Aaliyah,” Alyona murmured before she rose from her chair. “She can vouch for our time in Tikal.”

“Good point,” I agreed as I stood up to face the centaur. “I need to bring Lady Aaliyah as well.”

“Fine,” River grunted. “This way.”

Aaliyah stood up, and the three of us walked behind River’s large horse form down a hallway and up a flight of stairs. The battle-themed décor continued throughout the castle, and I saw more tapestries, as well as decommissioned battle axes and swords, hanging from the walls.

We stopped abruptly as River knocked on a wooden door guarded by two stoic centaurs. Neither of them looked at us as they stared straight ahead, and they reminded me of the Buckingham Palace guards, except without the funny hats.

“Enter,” a female voice drawled from inside the room.

River pushed the door open and stood back, and we walked past him into a room that made my mouth water.

Everything was gold.

From the decorative vases on the window to the candlesticks on the table, the entire room was adorned with gold. A golden jewelry box sat atop a wooden dresser with gold paintings decorating each drawer, and even the queen’s bed frame was supported by gold columns intricately carved from the floor to the ceiling.

A low, quiet growl resounded deep in my chest, and it took everything in me to resist stuffing the gold pieces into my spatial storage to add to my horde at home.

Then I noticed the queen.

She was in human form as she laid on a giant red pillow in the corner of the room. Her chestnut colored hair flowed from a ponytail on top of her head down the side of the pillow, and she wore almost nothing other than gold jewelry. A large, ornate gold necklace covered the inside curves of her breasts but left the outer halves and her entire tan stomach exposed, and I could see a hint of red panties under a skirt made of gold scales barely long enough to cover her ass. Her long, lean body was stretched out on the pillow, and she watched us walk in with absolutely no interest on her beautiful face.

“Lord Evan, I presume.” The queen had a slight lilt to her voice that reminded me of an Irish accent back on Earth.

“That’s me,” I confirmed. “River didn’t exactly tell us your name, so--”

“You may call me Mona, or Your Highness.” She smirked.

“Okay, Mona, I’m Lord Evan,” I replied before I gestured toward my women. “This is my fiancée, Lady Alyona, and Lady Aaliyah of Tikal.”

Both the women dropped into a slight curtsy toward the queen.

“I know who the Divine Maiden is, Lord Evan.” Mona rolled her jade eyes. “Why did you bring the lion?”

“King Rodion sent us out of concern for the cities in Rahma,” Alyona explained carefully. “Our hope is to heal our people before they start a civil war, so we can fight against the Breach together.”

“The Breach?” Mona echoed and sat up with a confused expression. “It’s still open?”

“Yes,” I confirmed. “You didn’t know?”

“We are a bit, ah, out of touch with the outside world,” Mona said as she toyed with the scales of her skirt. “Continue.”

I wondered what the centaur queen meant by that, but I pushed away the question for now.

“Basically, we’re rebuilding or fixing everything so we’re stronger as a country,” I explained. “We’ve already been successful in Tikal, which is why Aaliyah is here. She can attest to how we keep our word and take care of our people.”

“Your people?” Mona raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were from Hatra.”

“We are,” I agreed. “But my bride-to-be is the sole successor to the throne, which means we will eventually rule Rahma together. So, we consider all of its people to be our people.”

“Well, that’s all nice, but why should we care?” Mona laughed as she leaned back on her pillow.

“Because it’s better to live in peace,” Aaliyah answered as she stepped forward. “Lord Evan and Lady Alyona saved Tikal from self-destruction.”

“If your city needed some dragon and his priestess to come save it, it probably wasn’t stable to begin with,” Mona told the lioness matter-of-factly.

Aaliyah’s growl rumbled in her chest, and her orange eyes narrowed into slits.

“So, you have absolutely nothing going wrong here?” I asked as I stepped in front of the lioness to give her a moment. “We’ve set up water systems, killed poisoned animals, and cured a cursed river. There’s nothing we can’t handle.”

“Nothing?” Mona repeated, and she finally looked interested.

“Not a thing,” I assured her.

“If that’s true, you can go find whatever has been taking my people,” Mona sighed and pointed out the window to the city. “Every couple of nights, someone goes missing without a trace. The gates are locked every night, and my people have started locking their doors, but whatever is taking them has no trouble getting in and stealing them from their beds.”

I glanced at Alyona, and she nodded.

It looked like we had ourselves a new mission.

“Okay,” I agreed. “We’ll start our investigation at first light, but we need to eat and rest for the evening.”

Mona looked surprised, but she rose from her pillow and glided to her desk by the window. Then she pulled open a drawer, removed a rolled-up piece of paper, and spread it out over the desk.

I walked over to see what she was doing and realized the paper was a map. The forest near the city had been divided into sections, and several of the sections had large X’s drawn through them. Apparently, the centaurs had been working in grids to search for whatever was kidnapping people, which was exactly what I would have done.

“We didn’t find anything in these areas, but we’ve only searched about a third of the forest so far,” Mona explained as she pointed to each area on the map. “How long do you think it will take you?”

“It depends on what we find,” I countered. “If it’s magical and requires a large spell, it could be a couple days. If it’s a creature we can hunt and kill, it would be a few hours.”

“I have no idea what it is,” Mona admitted, and her beautiful face creased with a frown.

Suddenly, the door clanged open again, and two young boys in human form ran into the room toward the queen. The kids looked to be about eight and three years old. The older boy’s brown hair matched the same shade of the queen’s, and the brown strands were plaited at the nape of his neck. He also had deep mahogany eyes that flashed with mischief as he rushed into the room.

The younger boy looked vastly different. He giggled as he waddled along behind the older child, and his green eyes looked almost neon next to his white-blonde hair. He still had the chubby face of a toddler, but he’d clearly begun growing into a more lean and athletic shape.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness!” An adult centaur, also in his human form, rushed in after them. “I told them you had visitors.”

“Mama!” the smaller boy cried and wrapped his arms around her leg.

“It’s okay, Cesar,” Mona addressed the worried, older centaur. “The boys were probably just curious.”

“Yeah, Mama.” The older son nodded and peeked over the desk at me. “We heard there was a dragon.”

“Yes, Archer, Lord Evan is a dragon,” Mona answered as she plucked the smaller child from her leg and held him on her hip. “Maybe he can show you later on, but right now, we’re discussing important business.”

“Oh.” Archer straightened his back and took on a serious face. “Leo and I can wait.”

“Please wait for me in the dining hall, and I’ll join you for dinner soon.” Mona ushered the boys back to Cesar.

The boys nodded seriously and followed the older male centaur out of the room.

“I apologize,” Mona sighed. “They are very curious children.”

“No need to apologize,” I chuckled. “Kids are great.”

The boys had reminded me of Ilya and Ilyushina, the Asuran children I’d taken under my wing back in Hatra after their village had been destroyed. Now that  I thought about it, I needed to send them another messenger dragon when I had some free time.

“You have children?” Mona asked as she blinked curiously.

“Not yet.” I grinned. “I have an egg, and I have a couple kids in Hatra who we rescued, but none of our own yet.”

“Well, you may not be too bad, Lord Evan.” Mona returned my smile.

“Can I ask you something, Your Highness?” Alyona questioned, and she looked confused.

“Yes,” Mona said as she cocked her head to the side.

“Where are all the women in your city?” Alyona asked.

I’d wondered the same thing, since we still had yet to see any females other than the queen, even once we entered the castle. I thought we’d at least see one or two working for the queen, but there were none.

“Right here,” Mona answered with a furrowed brow.

“In the castle?” I questioned.

“No.” The queen looked more confused than we did. “Are you not familiar with a centaur tribe?”

“I’m not,” I admitted. “This is my first time seeing centaurs in person.”

“Oh.” Mona twirled her chestnut ponytail around her finger. “Well, basically, there is only one female centaur in a tribe. She rules the tribe as soon as she is of age. During her rule, she mates with whomever she desires from the tribe until she bears a daughter. Then the child is raised to learn the ways of being the queen, so she can take over the tribe.”

My eyes widened as she explained their culture. Only one female with all these males? And she just fucked a bunch of guys until one of them gave her a daughter? I imagined a line of centaurs out the door, ready to ravish her beautiful body on her golden bed, or maybe even on that big red pillow. I knew I’d personally like to rip off her gold clothes and devour the queen in either of those places.

I felt my blood rush south as I pictured the rest of her naked body writhing underneath mine while I pumped my cock deep inside her. Afterward, she would be my woman, and she would take no other man. It was the dragon way. I would make every beautiful woman mine. And mine alone.

“And so far, you’ve only had sons?” Alyona’s question cut my daydream short.

“Yes,” Mona confirmed, “but there’s plenty of time. Centaurs generally live at least two hundred years, and I’m only eighty-two.”

“Fascinating,” Alyona breathed, and her amethyst eyes were wide.

“You really don’t know much about our kind, then?” Mona directed the question at me.

“Nope.” I shook my head. “The king’s campaign is a big learning experience for me.”

“I see.” The centaur queen obviously wasn’t convinced about my inexperience, but she held her tongue. “Join me for dinner?”

“Thank the gods, I’m famished,” Aaliyah groaned behind me.

“We’d be honored,” Alyona said as she gave the lioness an admonishing look.

Mona strutted to the door, pulled it open, and walked out into the hallway without a second glance.

Alyona, Aaliyah, and I shared a look before we hurried out the door after her. Then we went back downstairs and through the sitting area where the rest of our party waited.

“Come on.” I waved the group over to follow us to the dining hall.

The dryads, Ravi, Laika, and Nike rose from their chairs and fell into step with us, but I didn’t want to stop since Mona was walking so fast.

Either the queen was also famished, or she was hoping we’d get lost somewhere in the castle.

Mona led us into a large, open room with a long, ornate table big enough for at least two dozen people, and her children were already sitting in their places. The centaur queen sat at the head of the table and gestured for us all to join her. Then she signaled to a man in the doorway to what appeared to be the kitchen, and he saluted her before he turned and rushed out of the room.

“It’ll be just a few extra minutes,” Mona explained. “They’re not used to preparing for so many.”

“Yeah, it’s usually just us,” Archer chirped, and the boy turned his eager eyes toward me. “So, Lord Evan, can you turn into a dragon while we wait?”

“Hush!” Mona scolded him.

“It’s okay,” I chuckled before I looked at her son. “I can’t shift in here, Archer. The room is way too small. I only transform when I’m outside.”

“Wow,” the boy breathed before he turned to his brother. “You hear that, Leo? His dragon form is super huge!”

The younger boy nodded with vigor.

“We can transform inside,” Archer boasted. “Want to see?”

Before I could respond, the boy jumped out of his chair and nearly ran to the corner of the room. Then he closed his eyes and clenched his fists as he mumbled under his breath. After a few moments, I could see his legs growing longer and hairier, and he was nearly my height when his rear started extending backward. Then two legs dropped from the extending hindquarters, and we had a little centaur in the room.

“See!” Archer cried out as he put his hands on the waist of his human torso.

Our party applauded, and a blush crept up Archer’s cheeks.

“Not fair!” Leo suddenly cried.

The younger boy jumped up and stood next to his brother. He closed his eyes and mumbled, but the only thing that changed was the blush that rushed to his face when he didn’t transform immediately. He finally crossed his arms and pouted as Archer clip-clopped around him.

“Now, boys, I’m sure our guests didn’t come for the live entertainment,” Mona scolded them. “Back to your seats.”

“Yes, Mama,” the boys muttered in unison.

Archer took a few deep breaths and then slimmed back down to his human form. It was weird to see a creature turn into a kid, and I wondered if my transformation was as disconcerting.

The boys slid back into their seats just as the servants brought out plates and served each of us.

I was a bit disappointed to notice my plate looked like I’d just hit the salad bar. There was no meat, only a collection of fruits and vegetables, along with a chunk of bread that had been drizzled with honey. I glanced down the table and saw Alyona was the only one who seemed excited about the meal.

“I’m sorry about the food selection,” Mona murmured. “I’ve limited my people’s access to the hunting grounds with all the kidnappings. And not many of our normal trading tribes want to venture this way for our textiles with all the problems in the woods.”

Ah, it made sense now.

“After you kill the creature, Loman can make the meat pies for you!” Archer gasped as he looked up at me before turning back to his mother. “Right, Mama?”

“If our friends care to stay after they slay the beast.” Mona smiled at her son.

We all finished our plates and discussed a plan of action for the forest as we looked over the map Mona had marked.

“I think we can work in groups with Evan flying overhead, like we did in Tikal,” Nike suggested as he studied the map. “We can start on this end, then work our way back over to where they’ve already searched. If we haven’t found anything by then, it wouldn’t hurt to double check.”

“My warriors wouldn’t miss anything.” Mona took a sip of her wine and crossed her arms. “The Sagittarius Order is the best group of warriors in Rahma.”

“I have no doubt in your warriors, Your Highness,” Nike conceded. “I merely suggested going back over those areas if we don’t find what we’re looking for elsewhere. My apologies.”

“Carry on.” Mona ignored his apology and tipped her glass to the map.

“Okay, so let’s put the dryads going over this section,” I directed. “Ravi and Aaliyah, you two can go over the area next to that, and Laika and Nike can sweep this area. I’ll fly above, and as soon as anyone sees anything, I’ll be able to come help.”

“Sounds good to me,” Nike agreed as he rolled up the map.

“I think we’re about ready to get some rest for the night,” I said and turned to Mona. “Then we’ll leave first thing in the morning to head to the forest.”

“Cesar!” Mona called out instead of responding to me, and I started at her loud and abrupt voice.

A moment later, the centaur we’d seen earlier nearly galloped into the room and halted next to the queen. The horse-man didn’t have the same braid as the other men, but instead his blonde hair was cut short. The honey colored strands also matched the color of his beige horse half and contrasted sharply with his tan skin.

“Yes, Your Highness?” Cesar dipped his head to her.

“Go prepare some rooms for our guests,” the queen ordered.

“At once,” Cesar said, and he gave a bow before he scurried out of the dining hall.

“He’ll be back to show you to your rooms,” Mona said with a dismissive wave. “I’ll be going to bed now. Come along, boys.”

The centaur queen stood up, and I took a long look at the way the scaly, gold skirt draped over her round buttocks. Then she bent over to adjust her sandals, and I inhaled sharply as I saw her silky, red panties tighten across her ass. As she stood back up, I felt my cock throb at the thought of bending her over the golden painted dresser in her room. The gold would contrast beautifully with her tanned skin, and I started envisioning the naked centaur queen spread out over a pile of golden coins.

Then Alyona put her hand on my thigh under the table, and the electricity of her touch nearly sent me over the edge.

“Lord Evan?” Cesar’s voice echoed through the large dining hall. “Your rooms?”

“Yes,” I growled and grabbed Alyona’s hand. “Rooms, now.”

We followed the centaur through another hallway to a set of four rooms with fresh linens on the beds. Then I pulled Alyona into our quarters and poked my head back out into the hallway.

“Goodnight, everyone,” I muttered before I hurried back into our room and shut the door.

“What’s going on?” Alyona giggled.

I strode over to my bride and pressed my lips to hers, and I felt her body melt into mine as she returned the kiss. Then I wrapped my arms around her back and slid my hands down to cup her ass.

“I’ve been waiting forever for this,” I murmured against her mouth.

“Well, don’t wait anymore,” the princess whispered back.

I growled as I picked her up and threw her onto the bed.

No more waiting.

Chapter 3

The next morning, I was startled awake by a tolling bell.

“Good morning, my love,” Alyona whispered into my ear as I tried to get my bearings.

The princess leaned over and pressed a chaste kiss to my lips, but the blanket covering her naked body slid down to reveal her perky, milk-colored breasts.

My morning wood lifted the blankets at my hips, and I growled and pulled her closer to me.

“We have an entire forest to search today, remember?” Alyona giggled.

I trailed kisses from her lips down her throat, but then she pushed her soft hands against the sides of my head and redirected my gaze to her face.

“Okay, okay,” I groaned. “But I demand an encore of last night soon.”

“Of course,” the princess promised with a solemn expression, but the effect was ruined as her suppressed giggles jostled her bare breasts.

I knew if I didn’t get a move on, we wouldn’t leave this bed, so I tore my gaze away from the tantalizing sight, tossed the blankets off, threw my legs over the side of the bed, and picked up my clothes from the floor.

Alyona smiled as she stood up next to me and got dressed as well.

Fifteen minutes later, we left the room and headed to the dining hall where platters of fruits and vegetables waited. We made ourselves plates and sat down to eat, and within minutes, Nike, Laika, and Ravi joined us. The three directed murmured greetings our way before they also sat down to eat, and finally, Aaliyah and the dryads were the last to come into the room.

“Good morning!” Polina sang as the women twirled through the doorway.

“I can see who the morning people are,” Mona mused as she walked in behind the other women.

The centaur queen wore her russet hair in a braid that trailed down her spine. A maroon robe that ended at her mid-thigh draped over her lithe body, and the garment was loosely knotted at her hip where a slit opened to reveal most of her tan, muscular leg. She still wore an abundance of gold jewelry, including long chains that dangled from her ears and bracelets that clinked together with every movement, and her green eyes shone with amusement as she looked over everyone at the table.

“Well, they better wake up if they expect to hunt with us,” River snorted as he clip-clopped into the room in his horse form.

“We’ll be able to keep up, don’t worry.” I smirked and popped an orange berry into my mouth.

“My warriors can go with each of your groups,” Mona added with a wave of her hand. “You have three groups of hunters, correct?”

“Yes,” I confirmed. “How many warriors do you have?”

“Plenty,” River laughed as he towered over our table on his four long legs. “We have fifteen assigned to help today.”

“That would put five of you with each group,” Nike commented, and he narrowed his silver eyes in thought. “That gives us plenty of eyes on the ground.”

“Then it’s settled,” the queen announced. “River, prepare your men, and I’m sure our guests can be ready in fifteen minutes.”

“Yeah, we can do that,” I agreed, and then I turned to Alyona. “You need to stay here. If we find anything that requires a spell, I’ll send for you, but I don’t want you out there with the number of creatures that have attacked you.”

“I understand,” the princess murmured. “I can do some more reading while I wait here.”

“Should I stay back also, Lord Evan?” Laika asked, and the Demi-Human looked concerned with leaving the princess behind.

“She’ll be safe here,” Mona comforted the wolf. “The castle is the safest place in Lumin. You have my word as queen, no harm will befall the Divine Maiden.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Laika’s shoulders relaxed as she nodded to the centaur queen.

“Okay, let’s finish up here so we can get started,” I suggested.

The rest of my group nodded and quickly finished their plates as River trotted out of the dining hall to gather his men.

“Everyone remembers the plan?” Nike asked as he sat back in his chair and looked around the table.

“Yeah, let’s just get out there and hunt something.” Aaliyah was already standing, and she bounced on the balls of her feet, clearly ready to go.

“Alright,” I chuckled as I also stood up. “Let’s go meet up with the Sagittarius Order.”

“I’ll see you soon,” Alyona said as she stood up on her tiptoes and pecked me on the cheek.

“We’ll be back before you know it.” I winked and kissed her head.

The princess flashed me a smile and walked toward the hallway back to our room, and I knew she’d be holed up in there the rest of the day with her books. I felt better with her safe in the castle instead of out in the forest with whatever was kidnapping people, so I put my future bride out of my mind as I looked back to the rest of my team.

“Let’s go,” I said, and then I led the rest of our group out through the castle doors and outside to meet with the centaurs.

River stood before the grand palace with his arms crossed as he waited for us to join the fifteen centaurs who were lined up in three rows. The warriors were poised with indifferent expressions, and bows and quivers were strapped to their human backs.

“Are you ready, Lord Evan?” River asked with a raised brow, and his horse tail flicked impatiently behind him.

“Yeah, let’s go,” I replied and ignored his sarcasm. I’d figure out why he didn’t like dragons eventually, but it wasn’t high up on my priority list right now.

The morning sun creeped into the sky as we followed the centaurs out of the city, and the other centaur citizens of Lumin looked on. It was still weird to see a city full of dudes, but I shook the thought away.

Fifteen minutes later, our hunting party walked out of the gates and down the trail that led to a dense forest. The trees stood tall, like the ones in the woods we’d traveled through to get to the city, and brightly colored flowering plants wove in and out of the tall grass and gnarled tree roots. Thick, green moss covered much of the ground like a carpet, and I could see hoof prints flattened the dirt to create trails through the area.

“We’ll have five of your men with each of our groups,” I reiterated to River as my people divided into their parties. “We’ve already assigned search areas, and I’ll fly overhead to help when we find something.”

River nodded and motioned to the centaurs to join our groups, and the horse-men divided up without a word.

I guessed they were the strong, silent types.

“I’ll stay on the trails within earshot,” River announced, and then he followed the groups into the trees.

Once I was alone, I exhaled sharply and shifted into my full dragon form. Shiny, black scales spread down my arms as they turned into my forelegs, and I felt my wings and tail grow out of my skin. The change was painless, and it was always a relief. I might have been a human back in my old world, but here, this was my normal form. I wondered briefly if the centaurs were born in their horse or human bodies, since they could transform like I could, but I cleared the random thoughts from my head and took flight. We could have a long day ahead, depending on what we found in these woods.

I flew above the giant trees and circled the entire wooded area. The forest blocked most of my view of the ground, but as I got further from the city, I noticed a large expanse of mountains ahead. I hoped we wouldn’t have to search there, but the queen seemed certain the problem was in the forest. So, I looped back around and looked for any extra movement, but I didn’t see anything, not even birds flying or squirrels jumping between trees.

The queen was probably right. Animals had a good instinct for avoiding danger, and these creatures had no intention of being seen by whatever was in these woods.

I circled back around to the hunting groups and drifted over Nike and Laika’s party first. The wolf warrior used her keen sense of smell to check every area they walked through, and I knew she was familiar with the death-like stench of miasma, so she would know if we were up against a creature from the Breach. So far, it seemed they hadn’t found anything, but the centaurs held their bows ready to fire.

Since it was all quiet for the wolf Demi-Human’s party, I changed course and flew over the dryads’ group. The sisters’ approach was a little different since they had a deep relationship with nature. They wore no shoes so they could feel the ground as they walked, and they ran their hands over every tree and plant to get a feel for anything amiss. The centaurs in their group walked slowly behind them, but the male shapeshifters also had their bows out and scanned the trees for any signs of whatever was kidnapping people.

Finally, I moved on to Aaliyah and Ravi’s search area. Ravi was using her phoenix form to search higher in the trees, and as the orange bird flitted from branch to branch, I wondered if she’d noticed that she was the only bird in the forest right now. Meanwhile, Aaliyah was using her Demi-Human senses to look closer at ground level. The lioness walked with the litheness of a hunter, and her claws were fully extended and ready for a fight.

Nothing came jumping out of the trees yet, though.

We continued to move along the gridlines that the queen had drawn, and soon the sun was in the middle of the sky. We’d covered about half the search area, and we hadn’t found anything to give us a clue what we were up against.

Then I heard Aaliyah’s roar split the air and echo out through the forest.

I immediately angled myself toward the sound, dove down from my position above the trees, and shifted mid-air. I knew there wasn’t enough room in the forest for my full dragon form, so I covered my human body with healing protection as I landed on the ground next to the lioness.

“Uh, what’s going on?” I demanded and looked around in confusion.

“Shhh!” Aaliyah hushed me, and her orange eyes were bright as she searched the ground around us.

“There!” Ravi shouted from above us.

Suddenly, a huge green and black serpent crashed through the bushes next to us. Its head was a dark green and covered in scales, yet the creature had a beak like a chicken. The scales continued from its head down its massive body to its six legs that ended in claws. The beast scuttled around on four of the legs, and the other two sat higher on its body like arms as it tried to grab a centaur.

The horse-man cried out in alarm, dodged the short scaly leg, and shot the creature in the gut with an arrow.

“Don’t look directly at it!” Laika called out from behind us as she and Nike ran into the battle. “It’s a basilisk!”

I balked. A basilisk? What the hell?

“Okay, so how do we kill it if we can’t look at it?” I yelled as I thought back to the scarce lore I knew about the monster from my time on Earth.

The basilisk reared up for another attack and stabbed its beak at Aaliyah, but the lioness swiftly avoided the blow and sliced at his face with her claws. The snake monster roared in anger as Aaliyah’s claw caught a scale, and then the lion ripped the scale from the side of the beast’s head.

Specks of black blood dotted the dirt, and I took advantage of the opening as I summoned a fiery bow and arrow. Then I shot the arrow into the gap of the basilisk’s scales, and the creature screeched in agony.

The centaur warriors followed my lead and shot multiple arrows toward the same wound. The basilisk teetered but maintained its balance and continued to screech. The sound was almost deafening, and I sent out a layer of healing magic to cover everyone’s ears.

“Its eyes, go for the eyes!” Laika shouted as she pulled two small daggers out from her leathers. Then she launched one of the knives at the serpent’s face, and the blade pierced the snake’s left eye.

More black fluid poured from the wound, and the basilisk curled its long body inward so it could reach its eye. It clawed at the dagger to no avail, and it let out another high-pitched wail of agony.

I gritted my teeth against the sound and shot a layer of webs over the dagger to hold it in place in the creature’s skull. As the basilisk hissed and stumbled around, I called on my stone power and summoned hundreds of rocks and pebbles from the ground beneath my feet. Then I hurtled the stones at the basilisk’s remaining eye with a wave of my power, and I watched as the rocky projectiles pummeled the eye until nothing remained but an empty, bloody, tattered socket.

The blinded basilisk screeched again as it collapsed to the ground and scrambled to try and get its bearings, and then it tried to retreat back into the bushes.

“Oh, no, you bastard!” River appeared next to me with his bow and aimed at the creature.

I saw his arrow had a hooked tip as he lined up his shot. Then the arrow flew, and I noticed a string was connected to the shaft, like a harpoon.

The arrow pierced the creature’s neck, and River yanked the line backward. The basilisk flopped over onto its side as the centaur pulled it toward us, and then I ran forward with the Sword of Hatra and sliced the basilisk’s head from its neck. More of the black blood gushed from its neck, and I stepped forward to investigate, but Laika grabbed my arm.

“Their blood is poisonous even after they’re dead,” the wolf Demi-Human warned. “You can’t touch it.”

“That’s just great,” I mumbled as I stepped back away from the pooling blood, but then I noticed a faint mark on the beast’s underbelly. I focused on the mark and saw a circle of evenly spaced stars with two lines criss crossing in the center. It almost looked like a faded tattoo, and it seemed to fade more as I watched it.

Before I could figure out what the mark meant, I saw the familiar words flash across my vision.

Predation: Assimilation activated.

Skill: Petrification, poisonous blood.

Status: Assimilation complete.

Did I just become poisonous? That sounded awesome, but how the hell did it work?

“It seems I was wrong to doubt you, Lord Evan,” River declared as he clapped a hand on my shoulder and brought me back to the present. “You and your friends found the beast.”

“I’m a dragon of my word.” I smirked.

“Where are all the people it took, though?” one of the warriors asked. “Should we keep looking for a nest or something?”

“My guess is the beast petrified them already,” River answered with a frown, and his horse tail whipped back and forth in a sign of agitation. “I doubt we’ll find the nest, though. Basilisks don’t stay in one place for long.”

“Yeah, the basilisk can still eat a petrified animal,” Laika confirmed with a frown before she turned to me. “Do you want us to look for a nest, Lord Evan?”

“If you don’t think there are any survivors, it’s a waste of our time,” I replied. “I’ll burn the body so nothing else is poisoned. Then we can head back to the city and let the queen know the beast is dead.”

The centaur warriors grunted in unison, and I guessed it was their version of cheering, so I’d take it.

Everyone in the clearing stepped back to give me some room, and I pulled up stone from under the dead basilisk and created a platform to act as an elevated pyre. Then I opened my mouth, breathed a column of fire on the corpse, and watched the flames lick over the dark scales until nothing remained but ashes.

Once the fire burned out, we made our way back through the forest to Lumin. The sun had just set, and my stomach was growling, so I hoped the hunters had time to get us some real food now that the basilisk was dead.

We walked the half-mile back to the castle, and the warriors veered off in various directions, probably to go home. River stayed with us up to the giant castle doors, though, and after he pushed them open, we followed him into the stone building to the sitting area.

“I’ll go get the queen,” River advised before he trotted out into the hall, and the sounds of his hooves clopping against the stone floor faded as he drew further away.

The rest of us sat down in the chairs and let out sighs of relief. This mission had been much easier than the problems in Tikal.

A minute later, Alyona breezed into the room and leaned down to give me a kiss. She carried a huge book with pages that looked ready to fall out, but her amethyst eyes zeroed in on us.

“I heard you return,” the princess explained. “Do you need a spell? Is everyone alright?”

“No spells needed, and yes, we’re all fine,” I chuckled. “Did you think I couldn’t handle a little basilisk?”

“A basilisk!” Alyona gasped, and her hand shot up to cover her mouth. “You didn’t touch its blood, right?”

“No, Laika made sure we knew what we were up against,” I assured her and nodded to the wolf Demi-Human.

“I have seen a few with the Guild.” Laika smiled. “We handled it.”

“And no one was petrified?” Alyona asked as her brow furrowed.

“No, although I apparently picked up the ability to petrify,” I replied with a shrug. “And poisonous blood. So, that was a new assimilation.”

“Wait, you assimilated its skills?” Aaliyah piped up, and her orange eyes narrowed on me. “Can all dragons do that?”

“I think so,” I chuckled, “but since Valerra is the only other dragon I know, I’m not completely sure. It’s pretty fucking awesome, though.”

I didn’t want to give away how little I actually knew or why. I knew I’d have to come clean about my past with my newest mate at some point, but it wouldn’t be right now.

“So, a basilisk has been terrorizing my people?” Mona asked as she strolled into the room in her gorgeous human form. She wore the same revealing robe she’d worn this morning, but she’d undone her braid, and her chestnut hair fell in curls to her ribs.

“Yeah,” I confirmed. “But we killed it and burned it, so you have nothing to worry about now.”

“I must say, I’m impressed,” the queen said with a bat of her eyelashes. “I never imagined a dragon would come to our rescue.”

“I’m not your typical dragon.” I smirked. It seemed the queen was finally warming up to me.

“I can see that,” she agreed as her green gaze dragged over me slowly. “Anyway, you’re welcome to stay. I’ve sent the hunters out to get us some real food for dinner.”

“Thank the gods,” Aaliyah chimed in, and her purr resounded at the back of her throat. “I’m starving.”

“Me, too,” Mona chuckled. “I’ll see you all back down here in an hour for dinner, then.”

With that, the centaur queen turned on her heels and returned to her chambers.

“Well, good job, guys!” Trina laughed as she stretched out along the couch she and her sisters occupied.

“Yeah, I just wish we could’ve caught the stupid basilisk,” Marina pouted.

“We could’ve smashed that big, dumb snake,” Polina agreed and crossed her arms over her breasts.

“Looks like we need to work on our hunting,” Trina suggested.

“I can show you a few tricks,” Laika volunteered with a smirk. “I know you finished your Guild training a while back, but there’s always something to learn.”

“Oh, that would be great!” Marina cried. “Thank you, Guild Leader!”

The dryads giggled and pulled Laika out of her chair.

“Let’s go now!” Trina squealed.

“Okay, okay,” the wolf laughed. “Come on. I saw a courtyard for warrior training next to the castle. We can go practice there until dinner is ready.”

The four women laughed and pulled each other out the doors.

“I’m going to keep reading,” Alyona said as she held up her book. “I’ll be back down for dinner.”

“Okay, I’ll come check in on you later.” I kissed her hand and watched her hips swing in her tight white robe as she walked out of the room.

Gods, she was sexy.

“Lord Evan?” Ravi asked and waved at me from the corner of my eye. “Did you hear me?”

“What? No, sorry,” I apologized and turned my attention to the orange-haired woman. “What did you say?”

“I said, Aaliyah and I are heading to the bath house if you’d care to join us,” the phoenix repeated, and a blush bloomed across her cheeks as she averted her gaze.

“Wellll, I do need to get cleaned up,” I teased. “And both of you have worked very hard today, so you deserve a nice, long bath. So, yes, I’d love to help you.”

Ravi’s face stretched into a grin, and she grabbed my hand to pull me to the bath house.

The structure was carved from the same stone as the castle, but it was illuminated only by small candles that clung to the walls. There was a single tub that nearly filled the room, and shelves were set up along one wall and filled with soaps, lotions, oils, and towels. I guess it made sense to have a huge bathing area for people who could be either human or horse when they bathed.

Aaliyah was already there, and the lioness had started to fill the giant marble tub with hot water. The tub was big enough for at least five people, and it had a large stone lip about eight inches wide that was perfect for what I had in mind.

“Kind of you to join us, Lord Evan,” the lioness purred.

“Anything for my women,” I murmured.

I watched the steam rise off the water’s surface as Aaliyah slipped out of her clothes, and my cock twitched as her bronze skin was revealed. Her lean muscles rippled as she tilted over to turn off the water. Then she turned to look at me, and I watched as sweat dripped down her perfectly toned body, between her round breasts, and down her torso toward her slit.

I wanted to taste every inch of the sexy, seductive lioness.

Then Ravi dropped her robe and drew my attention, and I looked at the phoenix. Her milky white skin was dimpled with goosebumps, and the chill left her nipples hard. Her smoky orange hair cascaded down her sides and framed her petite body beautifully, and the ends of the strands smoked with her desire.

And I desired to devour her pussy.

Aaliyah ran a clawed finger down my chest to my hips, and then she lifted my shirt over my head as Ravi knelt in front of me and untied my pants. The garment dropped to the floor, and my erection sprang up in front of her. Ravi took a sharp breath and grinned up at me before she wrapped her hand around my cock and pumped it up and down along my shaft.

“Oh, yeah,” I groaned as I grabbed a handful of her orange hair.

The phoenix leaned forward and ran her tongue along the tip of my arousal as she pumped my cock.

Gods, when had she learned that? I didn’t care. It felt fucking amazing.

Ravi continued to suck and lick my dick, while I reached out and pulled Aaliyah in closer. I kissed the lioness hard and shoved my tongue into her mouth, and she moaned against me and opened her lips for more. I felt her rough tongue as she played with mine, and I ran my hand down her back to grip her tight ass. Then I dragged my hand around her hips to the front of her body and thumbed her clit.

“Fuck,” the lioness groaned as she released my lips with a slick pop.

I rubbed her clit in fast circles and then slid one finger inside her tunnel. Her pussy was hot and wet, and I couldn’t wait to fill it.

Then Ravi suddenly shoved my entire erection into her mouth, and I groaned as my first load poured down her throat. I pushed a second finger into Aaliyah and pumped as waves of my orgasm dumped into the phoenix. Just as I was finishing my climax, Aaliyah began to shake, and she roared as she came all over my hand. Her juices dripped down my fingers, and I pulled them out of her to lick them clean.

“I need you now,” the lioness growled as she pushed me to the edge of the tub.

“Your wish is my command.” I smirked and hopped up on the wide ledge, but she stopped me before I could get into the water.

“Like this,” Aaliyah purred as she guided me onto my back and climbed on top of me. Then she grabbed my still-hard cock and shoved it inside her dripping wet pussy.

As the lion Demi-Human bounced up and down on my dick, I grabbed Ravi’s hand and pulled her up onto the ledge.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you,” I growled as I turned the phoenix around so her wet slit was above my face, and then I yanked her hips down to me.

Ravi gasped as I ran my tongue along her folds, and I gently sucked on her clit and felt her shiver with pleasure. Then I grabbed her hips and pushed her further onto my tongue as I rammed it inside her.

“Oh, gods, yes!” Ravi cried out, and she writhed above me as I continued licking and sucking her flower. Her juices began to run down onto my face, and suddenly she came. She cried out even louder as her climax hit her over and over, and I didn’t stop licking until her shudders stopped and she sat back on my chest.

As Ravi’s climax slowed, Aaliyah’s second one began. I felt her walls tighten around my cock as she rode me, and then she moaned with pleasure as she came. I pushed my hips up to meet hers, released a wave of my seed into the lioness, and filled her pussy until she gasped for air.

Once the lion Demi-Human had gotten her fill, I lifted Ravi from my chest while Aaliyah climbed off my hips and slid into the water.

“Your turn,” I chuckled as I turned to the phoenix, who sat on the edge with her feet in the tub. Then I got in the water and pulled her down from the ledge.

The flame-haired beauty giggled as I turned her around so her plump ass faced me, and I bent her over the edge. Then I slid my erection into her now soaked pussy and started thrusting in and out of her.

“Ohh, Lord Evan!” Ravi squealed as I pumped my cock into her tunnel.

“Make her come!” Aaliyah moaned, and I turned to see the lioness groping her breasts as she watched me with Ravi.

Fuck, yes.

The visual was almost enough to send me over the edge. Then Ravi’s pussy squeezed around my cock as she began to orgasm, and I couldn’t hold back. I dumped another load of my seed into the phoenix as we came together, and her moans echoed around the bath house.

When I slid out of her a few minutes later, I was satisfied to see some of my load dripping down Ravi’s thighs. Then she slowly dropped into the water and took a deep breath.

“I’m glad we found that snake,” she sighed as she floated and let her orange hair fan out around her.

“Me, too,” I laughed.

“Would you like some help cleaning up?” Aaliyah asked as she grabbed a piece of soap from the edge of the tub.

“Absolutely.” I grinned.

We spent the next few hours cleaning and fucking, and I was never happier about missing dinner.

When I awoke the next morning, the bell was ringing in a frenzy, but it wasn’t the same wake-up chimes we’d heard the day before.

I threw off my blanket and looked around. Somehow, I’d made it back to my room, and three women were passed out on the bed with me.

Aaliyah and Ravi groaned at the commotion, but Alyona had heard the bells, too. She held my gaze for a moment, and then she got up and looked out the window.

“There are a bunch of centaurs running around outside,” the princess informed me.

“What?” I frowned and joined her at the window.

She was right, though. Lumin’s citizens were running back and forth outside the castle, and it looked like the Sagittarius Order was gathering in front of the steps.

“What do you think is happening?” Alyona murmured and glanced up at me.

“I’m going to check it out,” I decided as I turned and started yanking on my clothes.

“I’ll go with you,” Alyona offered, and she pulled on her robe as well. Then she gestured to Ravi and Aaliyah, who had somehow fallen back asleep among the pillows and blankets. “Should we wake them?”

“No time,” I answered. Then I grabbed her hand, and we rushed out of the room toward the front of the castle.

At least a dozen centaurs were arguing in the sitting area, including the queen and River.

“I thought you killed it!” Mona screeched, and her jade eyes flashed as she glared up at the centaur commander before her.

“We did kill the basilisk!” River argued, and even though he towered over the queen in his horse form, he seemed cowed by her. “I watched it burn with my own eyes!”

“Then how the hell did this happen?” the queen demanded.

Then they noticed Alyona and I standing in the doorway.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“You!” Mona pointed a finger at me. “You said you took care of the problem, yet another one of my people has gone missing!”

“Okayyyyy,” I drawled as I held up my hands. “Well, we killed the basilisk. If that’s not what was kidnapping people, then we need to figure out what other shit you have in the forest. Was this new kidnapping any different than the others?”

“No!” Mona nearly spat at me. “In the middle of the night, he disappeared, just like the rest. We have lived here for a thousand years, no thanks to you dragons. And we’ve only started having this problem in the last month. How could there be more than one beast in our forest all of a sudden?”

There was that attitude toward dragons again. It was starting to piss me off.

“Well, thanks to me, you have one less beast to worry about,” I growled and clenched my fists. “But I have no problem going to find your other monster as well. You’re welcome, by the way.”

“Your Highness, if I may,” Alyona interrupted before things could get more heated. “I’m sure our party will be happy to help find your people. Please give us a chance to continue aiding you. Perhaps the basilisk wasn’t the main problem, but it certainly wasn’t good for your forest.”

“Yeah, it scared off all the animals, and it had that weird mark,” I added.

“What mark?” Mona raised an eyebrow and narrowed her green eyes at me.

“It was like a circle of stars with an X in the middle.” I shrugged. I’d forgotten about the mark until she got me all worked up.

“You must be mistaken,” River said with a stern frown. “I didn’t see the mark of Gamma.”

“I’m not mistaken,” I countered. “I don’t even know what the mark of Gamma is, but I know what I saw on the basilisk’s stomach.”

An uneasy quiet fell over the room, and then the other centaurs started whispering to each other.

“Silence,” Mona ordered before she turned her gaze back to me. “You are certain that’s the mark you saw? The mark of Gamma?”

“Like I said, I don’t know what that mark is,” I answered. “How would I know what it looked like if I didn’t see it?”

River scoffed and crossed his arms over his broad, muscled chest.

“I have a hard time believing that a dragon doesn’t know the mark of Gamma.” Mona pursed her lips and regarded me suspiciously.

“Lord Evan wasn’t raised around dragons or with the typical dragon lore,” Alyona cut in. “He’s telling the truth when he says he doesn’t know. I know more about the mark than he does.”

“Wait, you do?” I asked as I looked down at the princess. “What does it mean?”

“It means the basilisk was under a spell,” she explained. “Most likely, it was under the control of a mage.”

“Then we have to go find the mage and kill him,” I declared. “I’d bet that’s the real problem with the kidnappings.”

“I’ll give you one more chance, Lord Evan,” Mona asserted as she lifted her chin regally. “If you want the support of Lumin during your campaign, you must rid our city of all the beasts residing in our forest. I need my people to be safe again.”

“Trust me,” I answered as I clenched my fists at my sides. “I’ll get rid of whatever is in that forest. Mark my words.”

The mage would not make a fool of me.

Chapter 4

Nike and I spread the map of Lumin and its surrounding forest across the table and looked it over again.

Meanwhile, the queen and centaur commander looked on, but River had dismissed the other warriors while we discussed the plans.

“We found the basilisk here,” Nike said as he pointed to a spot close to the base of the mountains. “I think we should start there and continue the gridlines.”

“Sounds good,” I agreed. “If there was any hint of this new beast or mage in the other areas, we would’ve found it yesterday.”

“Lord Evan, we’d like to stay here and help fortify the city’s defenses,” Polina offered.

“I was thinking maybe some traps outside the wall,” Marina suggested as she tapped her chin with one finger. “We can cover holes with thatches of grass and tree branches. We’ve used this tactic to hunt when we were on long missions with the Guild.”

“Oooh, good idea!” Polina gasped and squeezed her sister’s hand.

“We need to keep the horsies safe,” Trina added with a nod. “And those traps have never failed us.”

“I like it,” I responded. “Figure out where the creature or mage is getting in the city while you’re at it. There must be a gap that we’re missing somewhere. It might help us figure out what we’re up against anyway.”

The dryads nodded and headed for the front doors of the castle.

“Laika, I think you should stay here with the princess,” I advised as I turned to the wolf. “I know the castle is supposed to be safe, but I’m not convinced at the moment.”

“I understand,” the Demi-Human conceded, and I knew it wasn’t easy for her to stay out of a fight, but her loyalty to the princess was unmatched. “I won’t let her out of my sight.”

The wolf stepped closer to Alyona and put a hand on the back of the princess’ chair. She took her guardian duties seriously.

“Good,” I replied. “We have to be extra careful with a mage out there. It could be the Green Glass Sect again.”

“I thought the Green Glass Sect died out years ago,” River interrupted and furrowed his brow.

“Everyone thought they did,” I answered. “Turns out they’ve been building their ranks to support the Breach.”

“The Breach? I thought--” The centaur commander started to ask more, but the queen cut him off.

“Why would they be here?” Mona questioned as her jade green eyes stared me down.

“They have a tendency to follow me around,” I growled. “I’ve killed dozens of them, but they keep coming back like little cockroaches.”

“So, you brought trouble with you?” River demanded as he leaned over me in his taller centaur form.

Was he seriously trying to intimidate me? Not a fucking chance.

“I just said I’ve killed a ton of them,” I scoffed as I craned my neck back and met his gaze head on. “It’d be more accurate to say trouble may have followed me. And I’ll handle that, too.”

“Yes, you will,” Mona said, and her icy response cut short any retort River may have had.

“I think we’re ready to move,” Nike hinted as he gestured to the door.

“Good, let’s go,” I grumbled and leaned down to kiss my fiancée before I marched toward the front doors.

Nike, Aaliyah, Ravi, and River followed me outside where several members of the Sagittarius Order waited. I almost told the centaurs to stay here and let us handle it, but I knew we’d find the new beast or mage quicker with them, and I didn’t want to let my annoyance with River and Mona keep us from stopping whatever threat lurked in the woods.

“We’ll start where we found the basilisk and work our way toward the mountains,” I ordered the group.

Everyone agreed, and then we began the trek back deep into the forest. The giant trees loomed over our party as we hiked deeper into the greenery, and I looked around to see the broad petals of neon-colored flowers open in the little rays of sunlight that peeked through the canopy.

I took advantage of the time with River and walked next to him. He tramped through the brush at a clipped pace, though, and avoided my looks.

“So, are you going to tell me why you all hate dragons?” I asked as I jogged to match his stride. There was no sense in bullshitting around. I needed to know why he and all the other centaurs acted like I was the plague.

“As if you don’t know,” River mumbled and rolled his eyes.

“I don’t,” I replied with a sharp look. “As we told you and Mona, I wasn’t raised with dragons. Everything I’ve learned has been through my adoptive family, who aren’t dragons. They’re cultivators. That’s why I’m better at magic than dragon history.”

“You really have no idea?” The centaur frowned, slowed his pace, and finally looked down at me.

“Not a clue,” I answered with a shake of my head. “Why don’t you enlighten me?”

“It’s been a few hundred years now,” River began slowly, and he faced forward again as we continued on through the forest. “The history keepers are the ones who know all the details, but dragons are the reason we had to put walls and watchtowers around Lumin. Back then, the dragons were jealous we could shapeshift. They hated being in dragon form all the time.”

“Dragons couldn’t always shapeshift?” I asked, and I couldn’t keep the surprise from showing on my face.

“I guess not.” The centaur shrugged. “My understanding is dragons are conceited, boisterous creatures who want everything to themselves, including the ability that our people had. They hoard treasure, women, glory, whatever they can. They’re known for being extremely greedy.”

“I can’t argue with the treasure and women hoarding.” I smirked. “But go on.”

“Anyway,” River continued with an eye roll, “the dragons were jealous of our ability, but they had predation magic. Word spread that we could shapeshift, so over the course of a few generations, every dragon went through the centaur villages and killed them to take the ability.”

“Shit,” I mumbled, and my brow furrowed. “I didn’t know. I was born with my power to shape shift.”

Well, I woke up with it, but whatever.

“Then the ability has probably become genetic by now.” River nodded. “But the attacks are why our people had to rely on guards in the watchtowers and outside the city, and why we created the Sagittarius Order. The centaurs alive during the dragon attacks had no way to defend themselves. Lumin had previously been a city of learning, open to anyone who wanted to come learn philosophy, history, or art, but that all changed after the attacks. Our people became closed off, literally. Our ancestors built gates and made sure guards were always around to warn the city of an oncoming attack. That’s why we knew the moment you arrived.”

It all made sense now. The centaurs had every right to hate dragons. I just needed to show them why I was better than that. Not to mention, I wasn’t even around hundreds of years ago to be part of those attacks.

“I can see why you weren’t too excited to see me,” I acknowledged, “and why the people in the city looked at me like I had two heads. I’m sorry your people had to deal with those dragons.”

“Thank you for saying that,” River replied, and the centaur looked surprised at my apology.

Too bad Alyona wasn’t here to witness my diplomacy.

“So, why would I know what the mark of Gamma is?” I asked as I changed the subject.

“I’m sure you’ve at least heard of the mage who wanted to kill all dragons, right?” River responded with a cocked eyebrow.

“Yeah,” I growled as I remembered my close encounter with the necromancer who had murdered Valerra’s family. “I know of that one.”

“Well, the lore says before he decided to kill dragons, he wanted to control them,” River continued. “When he cast his spell on them, it left a mark. I’m not sure why it was called the mark of Gamma. Maybe that was his name? I don’t know, but he used the dragons to attack and loot villages around Rahma.”

“That bastard,” I grumbled. I wished I’d killed him when I’d had the chance, but then I remembered Valerra deserved her revenge, too.

“Then the dragons became stronger and fought the spell,” the centaur resumed his story, “so instead of stealing the people’s money, he decided to offer his killing services for their money and get rid of the dragons completely.”

“What a piece of shit,” I snarled, and River nodded in agreement.

I’d never hated anyone the way I hated this fucking mage. At least I’d gotten one more clue about him. Somehow, his mark became known as the mark of Gamma. It could be his first name, or even his family name. I wasn’t sure yet, but I was damn sure going to find out.

We lapsed into silence as we continued our march through the forest, and soon, we arrived where the basilisk’s ashes still laid upon the stone table I’d made. The remains smelled terrible now, like burnt rubber and flesh. Only the creature’s beak remained unharmed, and it looked weird as hell laying on the table next to the huge pile of ashes.

Several of the centaur warriors wrinkled their noses in disgust as we approached the table, but I ignored the stench and turned back toward the hunting party.

“Nike, you take some of the warriors with you,” I directed. “Aaliyah and Ravi, you take some also. River, you and the rest of the warriors can work along the gridline the dryads were following yesterday. I’ll fly overhead, so if you find something, just yell for me.”

Everyone nodded and dispersed to their search areas.

I walked back into a larger clearing to give myself room to shift into my dragon body. Then I flapped my wings and took flight, and I shook several of the trees as I burst through the foliage and flew up into the sky.

A flurry of birds that had been hidden yesterday took off as the leaves shivered from my movement. Their brightly colored feathers looked like little rainbows bursting out of the leaves, and I took it as a good sign.

I looked closer at the forest and saw many animals had returned to the woods since the basilisk’s demise. Purple and yellow tree frogs hopped from branch to branch, furry, gray creatures that looked like lemurs hung from higher branches and twittered to each other, and even some little rodents scurried into the underbrush as I flew past.

I wasn’t sure yet what we were looking for on the ground. The basilisk had attacked and made itself known, but this other new threat seemed to prefer to hide out. It wasn’t going to be as easy to find.

As I flew, I considered what River had told me of the history between his kind and mine, and I decided that was the reason for Mona’s odd behavior with me. She could probably tell I didn’t have any of the same intentions, especially since I could already shapeshift, but she didn’t trust me, either. Just like in Tikal, I would have to prove I was a dragon of my word. I never wanted to hurt anyone, in my previous life as an EMT or my life here in Inati, so I’d just have to show them.

“Lord Evan!” one of the centaurs in Nike’s group suddenly called out, and I changed direction and flew closer to the trees.

“Can you see these markings?” Nike yelled up to me.

The noble pointed at what looked like hoof prints in the dirt at the base of the mountain. I followed the prints with my dragon vision and noticed they changed into drag marks about twenty feet up the path.

“Looks like a centaur was dragged this way,” I called down as I pointed a foreleg up the mountainside. “I’ll go get the others.”

I flew back over the other two groups and directed them to the prints. The others joined us, and I shifted back into my human form to get a better look at the path.

“They go up this way,” Nike said, and he pointed further up the mountain, but parallel to the trail we were on.

“Let’s go,” I muttered and started to trudge up the incline.

We made slower progress now, with the uphill walk and having to travel in a line of pairs. Nike walked next to me with the Sword of Light in his hand, and I’d grabbed the Sword of Hatra from my spatial storage as well, since we had no idea what we were up against. The creature or mage we were hunting had to be strong to be able to drag a fully-grown centaur somewhere he didn’t want to go.

As the sun peaked in the sky above us, we found a gap in the side of the mountain. The cave was completely dark as we peered into the opening, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

“Aaliyah, you and the warriors stand guard out here,” I ordered under my breath. “Nike, Ravi, and River, come with me to check it out.”

We creeped into the cave, and I ignited a small fireball in my hand to illuminate our path. Then I turned my hand to expose the walls on either side of us. Water dripped down the stone, but there were no other markings to indicate what creature lived here. The entrance became wider the further we walked into the mountain, and I could faintly hear water trickling somewhere up ahead.

We continued through the darkness until the small space around us finally opened up to reveal an expansive cavern. A small stream of water ran from the stalagmites on our left to a huge opening in the wall on our right, and I put out the fire in my hand since we could clearly see the cavern, thanks to the big gash in the wall that let in pale sunlight.

“Spread out,” I murmured. “We need to figure out what we’re dealing with.”

My party did as I instructed, and I walked along the right side of the cave and ran my hand along the wall. Then I sensed a familiar presence.

Treasure.

I sped up and followed my senses until I found a smaller cave off the main cavern. There was definitely something here.

I knelt down and peered inside, but I couldn’t see a damn thing. So, I lit a small fireball in my hand and held it close to the hole.

There it was, a mound of gold. It wasn’t as big as my hoard, but it was a good-sized stash, so I crawled into the crevice and pulled the coins closer to me. Then I opened my spatial storage and dumped in as much as I could reach. My dragon instincts hummed with satisfaction at the addition, and I wondered for a moment if the creature we’d found was a dragon, too.

“Friends, whatever this is, it’s got to be pretty big,” Ravi whispered from somewhere behind me, and when I turned, I saw her pointing at a large nest in the corner. It was about the size of a baseball field and made of thousands of branches from the giant trees in the forest. Thank the gods it didn’t have any eggs in it, though. We didn’t need any extra problems right now.

“And it likes fish,” River said as he held up a handful of large fish bones he’d pulled from a large pile on the floor.

“Well, at least there aren’t any centaur bones in there,” I joked and gave the centaur commander a half-smile.

Just then, I heard a squeak from the large entrance on the right side of the cave, like an old door opening. I moved closer to investigate, and I noticed huge claw marks in the stone at the foot of the opening. The gouges were about four inches wide and dug deeply into the rock, and I estimated a foot size similar to my dragon claws.

“It looks like whatever it is flies in over here,” I whispered to the group. “So, what flies and kidnaps people?”

“Shit,” Ravi immediately cursed under her breath.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It’s a skyraptor,” Nike answered, and his face was grim in the dim light of the cave.

“I’m sorry, a fucking what now?” I questioned with a furrowed brow.

“We ran across one at an oasis in the desert a few years ago,” Ravi explained. “They like to take stuff: food, plants, people, whatever. Well, actually, they’re good at taking stuff, but they don’t do it unless--”

Suddenly, the squeaking noise from the skyraptor’s personal doorway caught my attention again.

“Hold on,” I stopped Ravi.

I went back to the doorway and poked my head out into the sunlight.

Holy shit, we were high up here. I could see the rest of the mountains and part of the forest, and we were about eye level with a thin layer of clouds.

Then I realized what was causing the noise I’d heard.

The kidnapped centaurs, and a few other creatures, were being held hostage. Cage after cage of kidnapped people hung from the side of the cliff a few feet away from the doorway, and every time someone moved, the whole row squeaked from the shift in weight. The bronze-colored cages were shaped like old birdcages, circular with a round top, and they dangled from ropes that were attached to hooks anchored in the stone face of the cliff.

It sure wasn’t going to be easy to get them down without someone falling down the side of the mountain.

“Over here,” I called out to the others, and they joined me at the opening.

“What is it doing with them?” Ravi gasped as she looked out at the hostages hanging from the cliff.

“I’m not sure, but we need to find a way to get them down,” I answered. “Can you fly out there and see what we can do?”

“Of course.” Ravi nodded, and a column of fire appeared where she had been standing. Then her phoenix form emerged from the flames and fluttered out to examine the hostages.

“Who are you?” I heard the first centaur ask as she approached his cage.

The centaur eyeballed the phoenix from his enclosure with bloodshot eyes and a gaunt face. He looked like he hadn’t eaten in days, and his ribs were visible on both his human torso and his horse body. His long brown hair looked stringy and dirty, and his russet horsehair was matted to his body.

“I’m Ravi,” the phoenix chirped as she hovered before him. “Are you alright?”

“I guess so,” he mumbled. “It seems like I’ve been in here forever.”

“I’m sorry,” Ravi consoled him. “We just got here to help.”

“It’s not your fault,” he sighed. “I was the first one put in here.”

“We’re working on freeing you,” the phoenix assured the centaur. “Do you know how these are attached?”

“The rope is hooked to those anchors, but I’m not sure how it holds so much weight,” the centaur admitted. “It could be magic.”

“Okay, let me see if anyone else needs anything.” Ravi moved on to the next cage. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just hungry,” this horse-man answered. “Some big bird thing dragged me up here when I was out hunting last night.”

The second centaur wasn’t in as bad a shape as the first one, but he looked exhausted, and his reddish-brown braid was unkempt.

“We’re going to get you out,” Ravi promised. “We just have to figure out how.”

“Well, you better make it quick,” the first centaur responded, and his face creased with a sharp frown. “That thing is never gone for long.”

“Yeah, especially not during the day,” another centaur agreed. “It’s gone for a while at night when it’s taking someone, but when the sun is up, it doesn’t go far.”

Ravi looked at me to make sure I’d heard them.

I nodded in response and turned back to the others while Ravi continued to examine the cages.

“Okay, so apparently, we don’t have much time here,” I informed the rest of the group. “We need to act.”

Suddenly, I heard a cawing sound from outside the doorway, and my heart dropped as I spun back around.

“Ravi!” I hissed loudly and waved her back inside.

The rest of us flattened ourselves between the wall and a set of stalagmites as the phoenix flew in and landed on a rock next to me.

A moment later, the skyraptor glided in through the opening on the face of the cliff.

The thing looked more like a dinosaur than a bird with its hard, scaly skin and long snout that currently held some kind of big, flopping fish. The beast was at least as big as my dragon form, though its wingspan wasn’t as large as mine. Its wings were made of dark blue feathers, and it had long, dagger-like claws on its hindlegs and forelegs.

That explained the grooves in the floor of the cavern.

The skyraptor landed on the ledge with a skid, and then it stood on its hindlegs and sniffed the air. It seemed to sense something had entered its home, but it didn’t see us in the shadows. The bird beast let out another caw that echoed around us in the huge cavern, but it seemed satisfied when nothing moved, and it walked into the middle of the cave. Then the creature hunkered down and tore into the large fish it had carried in its snout.

If it ate fish, what did it want with the centaurs? I was annoyed with all the questions we had about this monster.

“I can take him,” I snarled under my breath, and I started to summon a fireball into my hand.

“Wait,” Nike warned and put a hand on my shoulder. “Skyraptors always have a master. They’re incredibly skilled at taking things, including people, but they only do it when they’re told.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s what I wanted to tell you!” Ravi added before she ducked her little bird head. “But then we heard the kidnapped people … ”

“Fuck,” I grumbled. “So, we need to find out who’s controlling this bastard.”

“Exactly.” Nike nodded. “We’re probably going to need Alyona’s help with it. They’re controlled through magic.”

“Does this thing have the same mark as the basilisk?” I wondered.

“It might,” Ravi answered. “It might not. If we can see it, the princess should be able to cast a simple counter-spell to break the control. If it doesn’t have one, she has to find a different spell.”

“Great,” I groaned.

“So, what do we do now?” River growled as his horsetail thrashed back and forth. “Just let it keep taking our people? Or eat the ones it has?”

“I’ll stay here and keep an eye on the hostages,” Ravi volunteered. “I don’t think it’s eating them, though.”

“Ravi, I appreciate your bravery, but I don’t like it,” I argued. “This thing is dangerous, and we don’t know what it wants with the people. It may not be eating them now, but it could be saving up for some big family dinner.”

“All the more reason I should stay and look out for them,” the phoenix fired back. “I’m small enough to fly around unnoticed.”

“And what if he does notice you?” I countered.

“Then I’ll hide or fight or fly away.” Ravi shrugged. “We have to know what’s going on, and I can send you a messenger if the skyraptor moves to kidnap anyone else, or if the master comes back.”

“I’ll stay and protect her,” Nike offered before I could refuse again. “We need to make sure it doesn’t take the hostages anywhere. So, if it makes a move, we can send you a messenger.”

The idea of leaving one of my women here was not a pleasing one. I wanted to keep Ravi safe, but I knew my best friend could handle it. I just didn’t like it.

“Fine,” I grumbled after a long moment of internal debate. “If that bird thing so much as blows on one of the cages, I want to know about it. We’ll go back and talk to Alyona about how to get rid of it.”

“You’ll know the moment anything happens,” Nike promised and crossed an arm over his chest. “And I will guard Ravi with my life, brother.”

“Aww, thanks, Lord Nikolaus,” Ravi giggled.

“Yeah, thanks, Nike,” I echoed before I pressed my lips to Ravi’s little orange head. “You be careful, though, alright?”

The bird nodded back and gave me a wink.

“Now, to figure out how you and I can get out without setting off the bird,” I said to River. “The last thing we need is for him to drop all of them off the side of the cliff.”

“I’ll transform first,” River advised. “I’m sure my human feet will be much quieter than my hooves.”

“Good idea.” I grinned.

It was the first time I’d seen the centaur commander in his human form. It seemed he preferred four legs. As he shrunk down to my current size, I saw that his tattoos covered his whole body from collarbone to feet, and I made a mental note to ask him about all the ink later.

“If we can stay in those, I doubt he’ll be able to see us,” River whispered as he pointed to some grooves in the stone behind the stalagmites. “The stones should provide us with cover.”

“I think I can mask his hearing, too,” I mused. Like I’d done for us with the basilisk’s screeching, I figured I could shield the skyraptor’s ears from our walking.

So, I reached into my spiritual sea and sent my healing magic toward the giant bird, but it took a minute to find its ears. Well, really, to find its ear holes. The skyraptor didn’t have actual ears sticking out, but I found holes on the sides of its head and layered healing magic over them.

“We should be good to go,” I told River after a moment, and the centaur nodded.

I kept an eye on the creature as we started walking back to the tunnel that had brought us into the cave, but the beast didn’t react to our movement at all as it continued to devour the fish.

Just as it lifted its head to drop the last part of the fish down its gullet, I caught a glimpse of its belly.

The mark of Gamma glowed an emerald color.

Of course, when the mark was active it would be green. Just another clue that the Green Glass Sect was behind this attack as well.

But the centaurs had been going missing since before our arrival. How had the assassins beat us here? Or was there something else going on?

At least I knew what to tell Alyona so she could stop the skyraptor from kidnapping anyone else.

Then I was going to find the Green Glass bastards who’d started this whole mess.

And I was going to make them pay.

Chapter 5

River and I walked out of the tunnel to meet back up with Aaliyah and the other warriors who had been keeping guard outside. As soon as we were clear of the tunnel, River returned to his centaur form, since it seemed to be the body he preferred.

“Where are Ravi and Lord Nikolas?” Aaliyah asked as she peered over my shoulder with concern.

“We found the kidnapped centaurs, so Ravi and Nike are keeping an eye on them,” I explained. “They’re being held hostage, and we can’t get to them just yet.”

“Did you find out who kidnapped them?” the lioness asked.

“Yeah, a skyraptor,” I answered.

“What is that?” Aaliyah raised an eyebrow, and I had to chuckle.

At least I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know about the creature.

“It’s a big ass bird thing that likes to steal,” I replied. “But Nike said they steal for a master, so we have to figure out who’s calling the shots.”

“And for that, we need the Divine Maiden,” River finished before he turned to me. “Did you see the mark?”

“Yeah,” I confirmed. “It definitely had the mark of Gamma, so we know a mage is behind this creature as well.”

“I’ll slice this new mage like I did the last one,” Aaliyah growled. Her orange eyes flashed with anger, and I knew she was remembering our last encounter with mages in Tikal. She’d taken her claws to a mage who had tried to kill the leaders of the city in the middle of a peace treaty ceremony.

“Oh, we’ll go hunting again,” I assured her. “You can slice up as many of those assholes as you want.”

“Good.” She grinned maliciously, and her sharp canines gleamed as she bared her teeth.

I loved watching my lioness when she caught her prey.

“For now, we need to head back to Lumin,” I directed. “We need to tell Alyona and the queen what we found and figure out how the hell to get the hostages off the side of a cliff.”

“Then let’s go.” River pointed back down the path we’d made when we followed the drag marks, and the warriors began to descend the mountain, but Aaliyah and I trailed along behind them.

“Are you sure Ravi and Nike are okay in there?” Aaliyah whispered, and the fearless lioness looked uncharacteristically worried.

“I don’t like it, either,” I admitted, “but they’re both strong warriors, and we don’t know what the beast wants with the hostages. So, it made sense to keep eyes on the situation while we go talk to Alyona.”

“I know you’d never put Ravi in danger,” Aaliyah sighed. “It just makes me nervous. I’ve gotten attached to your people.”

“Our people,” I corrected with a smile. “You’re part of us now.”

Aaliyah smiled back, and a blush crept up her tan cheeks. My newest mate would have to get used to my brazen compliments.

We continued the walk back to the city in silence. I glanced up at the sky and saw that the sun had traveled most of its path, so it was probably late afternoon. We had to hurry. I didn’t want Ravi and Nike in that cave all night.

“Let’s pick up the pace a bit, River,” I hinted to the centaur commander.

“You heard him,” he called out to the warriors, and the centaurs transitioned into a slow trot down the mountain.

The sooner we got back to the princess, the better for everyone.

“So, I guess he doesn’t hate you anymore?” Aaliyah murmured.

“We had a little heart to heart on the way up.” I smirked. “They have a good reason to hate dragons, but I’m not your typical dragon.”

“No, Lord Evan, you are not,” the lioness agreed with a laugh.

Half an hour later, we finally broke through the trees and could see the walls of the city ahead. The gate opened for us, and we rushed along the road to the castle.

The warriors stood next to the castle doors as we entered the stone structure, and it didn’t take long to find the queen.

“Well?” Mona demanded as she stood from one of the chairs just inside the entry, and I wondered if she’d been waiting there all day or if someone told her we were back.

“We found the creature and the men it took,” River announced.

“But we need a little magical help to handle both,” I finished. “Where’s Alyona?”

“The princess is in your chambers,” the queen answered, but then she frowned. “What is the creature?”

“It’s a skyraptor, Your Highness,” River replied. “But it bears the mark of Gamma, just like the basilisk.”

“Horrible mages,” Mona grumbled and rubbed her regal brow. “So, what do we do about it?”

“We ask the princess,” I advised. “She has the most magical knowledge of any of us.”

“I see.” The queen nodded, and then she raised her voice to shout. “Cesar!”

The older male centaur hurried into the room, and his horse tail swished as he came to a halt in front of the centauress.

“Yes, my queen?” Cesar bowed to Mona and waited for his orders.

“Go fetch Lady Alyona,” Mona demanded.

“At once,” he replied before rushing back into the hallway.

“Why couldn’t you rescue the hostages right now?” the queen asked, and she eyed me as she awaited my response.

“They’re being held in cages that are attached to the side of a mountain,” I pointed out. “We didn’t want to risk hurting someone, so we need to handle the skyraptor first. That’ll make it easier to rescue them if we don’t have to worry about the bird attacking.”

“Plus, if we wait, we can figure out who the skyraptor answers to,” River added.

“Well, aren’t you two quite the team now,” Mona scoffed.

“It just made sense,” River retorted, but then he regained his composure and bowed to the queen. “Sorry, Your Highness. I just want to be rid of these creatures and get Lumin back to normal.”

“Just remember your place, River,” Mona warned.

The centaur commander seemed almost offended that the queen thought he was taking my side, so I guessed our budding friendship was back on the rocks.

Then Alyona glided into the room with Laika and Cesar close behind her.

“You’re back!” The princess greeted me with a hug and reached up to kiss me, but then her eyes skipped over my shoulder, and she immediately frowned. “Where are Ravi and Lord Nikolas?”

“They stayed back to keep an eye on the skyraptor’s nest,” I told her. “The beast has the mark of Gamma. Ravi said you’d be able to counter the spell.”

“Yes, I can,” Alyona replied with a furrowed brow, “but I’m not sure which spell to use. I need to do some research, but I’m afraid I didn’t bring any books on mage markings.”

“We don’t keep many books, but you’re welcome to speak with our history keepers,” Mona offered, and she took on a softer tone with the princess. “Their records go back thousands of years.”

“Great!” Alyona chirped, and her amethyst eyes sparkled. “Where are they?”

“Cesar, please take Alyona to the history keepers’ temple,” the queen ordered the centaur.

“Of course, Your Highness.” Cesar bowed.

The older centaur seemed to be the queen’s personal assistant, and I wondered if he’d tried to give her a daughter yet. The thought made a growl bubble in my chest. I wanted to plant my own seed deep inside her, preferably while in her room covered in gold, but I cleared my throat to cover the growl and focused on our conversation.

“I’ll walk with you,” I volunteered.

Suddenly, I didn’t want Cesar alone with any of my women, even if he was like a butler.

“I’ll go, too,” Aaliyah offered.

“And me,” Laika chimed in.

“Very well,” Cesar murmured as he trotted to the doors.

We followed the centaur out of the palace and turned right outside the castle. I hadn’t done much exploring of the city yet since we’d been on a mission since we got here, so I was curious about the rest of Lumin.

The area we entered now seemed to be like a downtown section with little shops and a market for trading. Most of the shops were closed, though I wasn’t sure if it was because of the time or fear of being kidnapped. We passed a blacksmith’s shop, a few fruit and vegetable stands, and a clothing repair shop. I’d only seen the queen and her children regularly wear clothes so far, but maybe the other centaurs wore clothes out of the city. Since they could shapeshift into a human form, it made sense for them to at least have a few clothes.

Then we continued past the business section to some farmland, and I was surprised to see livestock, though obviously there were no horses. There were cattle, chickens, and pigs penned up in sections surrounded by rows of freshly planted seeds. They obviously weren’t ready to harvest, but I knew they had some sort of fruit and vegetable supplies ready based on our meals so far. Fruit trees sprouted in random spots among the crops, and I stopped to grab what looked like a kiwi from one of the trees close to the road.

I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until I took a bite, and my stomach growled from the taste of the sweet juice. I groaned and chewed the flesh with fervor. The flavor reminded me of cherries, sweet with just a little sour note right before I swallowed. I paused and grabbed a second fruit from the tree before jogging to catch up with the others.

“Are you a fruit thief now, my lord?” Alyona teased as she wiped some juice from my chin.

“I won’t tell if you won’t.” I winked at my future bride.

Alyona giggled and shook her head.

About halfway through my second fruit, Cesar stopped in front of a tall, white gate. The gate connected to a white fence that spanned an entire block and hid the building behind it from view.

“We’re here,” the centaur announced.

The gate opened in front of us, and he gestured for us to walk in.

“Aren’t you coming?” I asked as I narrowed my eyes suspiciously.

“No, Lord Evan.” Cesar shook his head. “It is not my business what you learn from the history keepers. I’ll see you back at the castle.”

With that, the centaur turned and headed back to the queen.

“What an odd duck,” I mumbled.

“But he’s not a duck,” Laika said as she squinted at me. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Yes,” I laughed. “It’s just a phrase.”

“Ah,” the wolf-woman breathed and shook her head. “You say the weirdest things.”

We walked through the gate and followed the dirt trail up to a simple building with stone steps leading to the front door. The temple was made of a pale stone, though it was not elaborately decorated like the castle, and long pieces of grass covered the windows like curtains. A simple wooden door in the center opened slightly as we climbed the steps, and I felt myself tense.

These guys might be some musty old history keepers, but recent events had put me on edge.

“Do we just go in?” Aaliyah asked as we stood in front of the partially open door.

“I think they know we’re here,” Alyona noted.

“Indeed,” a tiny voice answered from inside the building.

Then a small centaur appeared in the doorway, and he looked each of us over without a word. He was almost as small as the queen’s oldest son Archer, but he was obviously an old man. His gray hair was pulled back into a braid that passed his human hips and dangled near his white horse legs. His torso was decorated with some tattoos, though the images were much calmer than those on River’s body. From what I could see, the ink depicted books, sunny skies, and various words and phrases.

“Hello, I’m Lady Alyona--” the princess began to introduce herself.

“No need for introductions,” the centaur cut in and waved her off. “We know who you are, princess. Though your dragon must wait outside. I can see he is, ah, different from others of his kind, but I’m afraid my brothers do not have the same tolerance that I do.”

“I’m not trying to steal anyone’s power,” I argued with a frown. “Who do you think you are?”

“I believe I’m one of a few with the answers you seek, not to mention the one who opens the door,” the centaur replied in a calm tone. “If you want to receive those answers, you will wait here.”

I growled and narrowed my eyes. I didn’t like this smug old bastard. Not one bit.

“My love, I won’t be but a few minutes,” Alyona soothed me.

“And I’ll go with her,” Aaliyah added.

“As will I,” Laika said and looked pointedly at the gray-haired centaur. “There’s no problem with that, right?”

“Demi-Humans are perfectly fine,” he agreed.

Well, at least we could agree on that. And if any of the history keepers tried to hurt one of my women, I’d burn them alive. That is, if Laika or Aaliyah didn’t kick their asses before I got inside.

“I’ll wait right here,” I grumbled. “If you need anything, I’ll be in there in a flash, just say the word.”

“We’ll be fine,” Alyona murmured as she wrapped her arms around my waist.

I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her hair. Then I leaned over and kissed both Aaliyah’s and Laika’s hands.

“I mean it,” I reminded them.

My women smiled at me before they followed the graying centaur inside the temple. The door shut behind them with a thud, and I was left to my own devices.

I took another bite of my fruit and stared at the door.

I wondered if that Cesar guy knew I wouldn’t be allowed in. He probably hated me, too, so he might have enjoyed my suffering.

I paced back and forth on the stone patio in front of the door. There weren’t any chairs, but I doubted I would’ve sat in one anyway. I had too much pent-up energy. Then I remembered the windows and their flimsy grass coverings, so I walked over to the one to the right of the door and leaned against the wall next to it with my ear facing the opening. Maybe I could hear some of the conversation.

Murmurs echoed around from inside, but all I could tell was that the voices belonged to men. No surprise there, as the queen was the only female in the entire city, but I listened harder and used every ounce of my dragon ability.

“ … the mark of Gamma … ”

“ … tried any Novum spells … ”

“ … could work … ”

I picked up bits and pieces of conversation, but it was no use. The history keepers were determined to keep me out of the loop for now, so I sighed at the setback and resumed my pacing.

Once Alyona determined which spell would get rid of the link between the skyraptor and its master, we’d have to move fast. I wasn’t sure if the mage would realize the link was broken, so we needed to have a full plan in place before that. If the skyraptor didn’t care about the hostages once he didn’t have a master, we should be able to just free them.

I thought about the cages and the way they were attached to the rock when an idea formed.

I’d already decided I could fly up in my dragon body. The skyraptor had likely put the cages up before putting people in them, so we’d just have to work the same way backwards. I’d fly next to the cages, open them to release the hostages, and then deliver the people to solid ground. Ravi could help me open them since she could fly with me. The only problem would be getting the centaurs to trust me long enough to climb onto me for the ride. I hoped River would be willing to help with that part, but he seemed pretty worked up over the idea that Mona thought we were becoming friendly. He was a hard guy to read.

I was about on my hundredth lap of the porch when the door creaked open, and I snapped my head around to see the three women walk out as they chattered about what they’d learned inside. They were in high spirits, so I relaxed a bit, but I still kept my eye on the white centaur as he followed them to the doorway.

“Safe and sound,” the history keeper said to me with a smile, and his blue eyes twinkled with amusement.

“Yeah, thanks,” I muttered before I returned my attention to the women. “So, what did you find out?”

“Oh, Evan!” Alyona gushed. “Their history keeping is amazing!”

“They really do just have it all memorized,” Aaliyah added.

“That whole building, and not a single book,” Laika mused, and even the stoic wolf seemed impressed by the inner workings of the temple.

“Thank you, Senan,” Alyona called to the old centaur, who waved and shut the door.

I led the women down the stairs to start walking back to the castle.

“Alright, besides learning how awesome the history keepers are,” I chuckled, “what else did you discover?”

“Well, do you remember the Novum spell I used in Tikal?” Alyona asked.

“Uh, kind of,” I admitted with a shrug. “That’s really your area of expertise.”

“Well, basically, I can use a smaller Novum spell to purify the skyraptor,” the princess enthused. “Even if it didn’t have the mark, the spell would cleanse it of all magical ties. The only downside is the mage will likely notice he no longer has the connection with the beast.”

“I thought about that,” I replied. “We just have to make sure we already know what we’re going to do next at that point.”

“We need to have a full plan in place,” Laika agreed with a nod. “I hate to leave the centaurs there for too long, but we may need to at least wait until the mage makes some kind of move.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” I conceded. “It won’t be easy to get the centaurs on board, but if we don’t know who the master is before we sever the link, then we’ll just be looking for the next creature he takes under his control.”

“How will we know who the master is?” Alyona asked.

“If the skyraptor is taking people for him, then it’s probably delivering them to him, too,” I replied with a frown. “So, we need to find out how often the skyraptor takes someone back out of the cage.”

I summoned a messenger dragon and thought twice before I decided to whisper my message, so the sound of my voice wouldn’t draw the skyraptor’s attention to my undercover spies back in the creature’s cave.

“Tell Ravi and Nike to ask the prisoners how often someone is taken out of the cages,” I told the little silvery dragon.

The magical messenger nodded and zoomed out of my hand to the mountains.

“Once we get that answer, we should know enough to make a plan,” Laika said as her gray wolf ears twitched atop her head.

“I have most of a plan put together.” I grinned. “I had all that alone time to think.”

“Oh?” Alyona laughed. “I’m glad you took advantage of it. What did you come up with?”

“Well, the skyraptor obviously uses that system because he can fly up to the cages,” I started. “And so can I. I’ll fly to the cages in my dragon form, Ravi can unlock them since she can fly with me, and I’ll give them a ride back to the ground.”

“Brilliant!” Aaliyah commended me before a frown marred her feline face. “But don’t the centaurs hate you?”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “That was the only problem I found, too. If they don’t trust me, they won’t want to hitch a ride on me, especially in my dragon body.”

“Well, you’ll just have to practice your diplomacy,” Alyona teased, and her violet eyes glittered. “Aren’t you trying to improve that skill, anyway?”

“Hey, I was very diplomatic today,” I countered with an exaggerated pout. “River and I were friends for at least an hour.”

“That might be a new record for you,” my future wife giggled.

“Now, if only I can get on the queen’s good side for a little longer, then maybe the rest of them will trust me,” I mused.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” the princess soothed me. “You always do.”

“You won my father over,” Aaliyah pointed out. “And that’s no easy feat, since he’s a stubborn old lion.”

“And you rebuilt an entire city that had no idea who you were,” Laika added. “So, you can definitely get in the good graces of that centaur queen.”

The women’s words gave me a boost of confidence. I could win over Mona. She wasn’t any different from the other leaders I’d worked with. She may be stubborn and have a history with my species, but I was the future king of Rahma. She’d just have to understand I only wanted the best for all my people.

So, I continued our walk back to the castle with a renewed sense of purpose.

We strolled up to the castle doors, and I pushed through. I could hear the queen and River from the dining hall as they argued about the prisoner rescue, but when we entered the room, they cut the conversation short.

“Well?” Mona demanded as she turned to me and stood with her hands on her hips.

I was drawn to the way she had her hips cocked to the side. She’d changed back into the golden outfit, and the shiny scales draped perfectly over her hourglass body. Her chestnut hair fell in waves down her sides, and her green eyes caught mine as she noticed my stare. Her cheeks flushed, and then she looked down at the map on the table.

“Your history keepers are magnificent,” Alyona breathed. “We found the spell to break the tie between the mage and the skyraptor.”

“So, what are we waiting for?” the queen asked.

“We’re waiting to see when the skyraptor delivers the hostages to its master,” I explained. “If we sever the spell now, the mage could just use another creature. We have to work our way up the ladder, so to speak.”

“And leave my people there?” Mona asked with a scowl. “Haven’t they been held captive long enough?”

“I understand that part is difficult.” I held her gaze as I spoke gently. “I have my people there now, too. They’ll let us know if anything happens, I promise.”

Before she could respond, a small, fiery bird flew in the window and landed on the table in front of me. Its beak opened, and we all heard Ravi’s whispered message.

“The prisoners said the skyraptor has been taking one hostage out every night to bring a new one in,” the bird reported. Then a small flame emerged from its feet, and the magical messenger disappeared.

“See, we won’t have to wait long,” I told the queen. “The beast waits until nightfall, probably to avoid being seen. It’s how he’s lived up there for so long undetected.”

Mona looked out the window, and I could practically see the wheels turning in her head as the sun started to set.

“Your Highness, we’re here to help,” Alyona offered. “It doesn’t help anyone if we only do part of the job.”

“Fine,” the queen hissed and crossed her arms over her chest. “We will wait.”

“Then I’ll be in the room working on spells,” the princess announced. “I need to make sure I use the right one, and I want to prepare a few attack spells for whoever we encounter. It takes a fairly powerful mage to complete a control spell.”

“Okay.” I wrapped my arm around her waist and kissed her. “I’ll come get you when it’s time.”

I looked up from my future bride to see the queen watching our kiss intently. Well, that was an interesting turn of events. I just might be able to get her on my side after all.

“I’ll go with her,” Laika advised.

I nodded, and the two women left the dining hall.

“Can we at least eat while we’re waiting?” Aaliyah groaned, and her round ears flattened against her head. “I’m famished.”

“I haven’t sent out any more hunters since last night’s incident,” the queen murmured. “But there’s food in the kitchen.”

“I’ll show you,” River suggested, and the centaur led my lioness from the dining hall to the kitchen and left the queen and me all alone.

“You didn’t want any food?” Mona asked as she shifted her weight to the other hip.

I watched the movement without looking away before I answered. “No, I have a different appetite at the moment.”

“Oh.” The queen blushed again before she studied me carefully. “You are an interesting creature, Lord Evan.”

“I told you, I’m nothing like the dragons you’re familiar with.” I grinned.

“By that you mean you aren’t trying to kill us or steal anything?” Mona asked as she raised an eyebrow.

“Exactly,” I confirmed with a wink. “I’m here to please.”

The centaur queen blushed for the third time and cleared her throat as she looked back down at the map.

I walked brazenly close to her and peered at the map over her shoulder.

“Has something changed here?” I teased and breathed onto her bare skin.

I watched as goosebumps rose on her shoulder and traveled down her arm.

“No,” she replied as she rubbed her arm. “I just don’t know what to think of you, Lord Evan. And you’re engaged to the princess.”

“Don’t think so much,” I whispered into her ear. “I’m an easy-going guy, and she loves when I add to our family, just ask her.”

Mona leaned back against me and sighed, and I trailed a clawed finger from her shoulder down her exposed back. She shuddered at the touch, so I continued south and dragged my hand over her round ass before I grazed the back of her thigh.

Then we both heard the clip-clop of River’s return.

Mona instantly scooted away from me and plopped into a chair at the dining table.

I sighed at the interruption and pretended to look at the map again as River and Aaliyah walked back into the room.

If the queen wanted to play this game, I’d play along.

For a while.

“Once we get word from your phoenix, I’ll send the Sagittarius Order with you,” Mona announced, and it was like we’d been talking about the rescue operation the whole time.

“Your Highness, if I may,” River answered before I could. “The Order doesn’t need any more help from the dragon. The princess should be able to cast the spell from here, and then we can take care of our own people.”

Well, what the fuck now? I’d thought River and I were at least cool.

“How exactly do you plan on getting your people from the cliff?” I smirked.

“We have the best and brightest minds in Inati,” River sneered back and leered over me. “We’ve survived decades without you. I’m sure we can figure it out.”

“Don’t be dumb,” I scoffed. “You need me. I’m the only one who can fly up to that cliff like the skyraptor.”

“And terrify my people as soon as they see a dragon?” River laughed without humor. “No, thank you.”

“River, I have to agree with Lord Evan,” Mona interrupted. “He and his party have helped with every other aspect of this mission. We should take advantage of his help and abilities while we have them.”

“Helped” was a bit of an understatement for what I’d done so far, but I’d let it slide since she was on my side this time.

“You’ll just have to convince the prisoners I’m there to help,” I added. “Besides, I like to think of them as our people. I’m here because I want to help and support Rahma. This is my home, too.”

“Yes, I’m sure it’ll be an easy task to convince a bunch of scared centaurs that the big, black dragon is a friend.” River rolled his eyes.

“You’re a leader,” I argued. “What you tell them shouldn’t be questioned. If you tell them I’m a friend, they’ll believe you.”

“I command the Sagittarius Order,” he countered. “My soldiers listen to me, but the people being held captive are regular men. They don’t know how to follow orders.”

“Lord Evan makes a good point, though,” Mona advised. “Even the civilians know you’re a leader, so your word still means something to them.”

“I guess,” the centaur commander grumbled. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“It’s all moot if we don’t hear anything back from your phoenix,” Mona hinted to me.

“I can’t keep sending her messengers,” I replied. “I won’t put her at risk because you’re impatient.”

“Impatient?” the queen echoed, and her jade eyes narrowed as she looked up at me.

“Yes,” I confirmed. “Impatient. Now, while we’re waiting, we need to decide how we’ll handle the information she gives us. Most likely, the skyraptor is delivering the prisoners to his master somewhere in those same mountains. Once she tells us that the beast has left to make his delivery, I’ll fly ahead to follow it to the meeting location. I’ll take Alyona with me, so she can cast the spell as soon as we see the mage.”

I paused and waited for an argument.

“Continue.” Mona waved a hand.

“Once we know where the mage is, we can capture him,” I explained. “Then we can interrogate him about the skyraptor and anything else you want to know. The more we find out from him, the safer we can keep our people.”

“And what about the rescue?” River interjected and crossed his arms over his muscled chest.

“Our immediate priority should be to capture the mage, so he doesn’t get away,” I answered. “When we have him, I’ll fly up to the cliffs, and Ravi and I will free the prisoners. I can give them a ride back to the ground, as long as you’ve done your part and told them I’m a friend. If you don’t do that, I’m not sure how else we can get them down safely.”

“Your plan seems intelligent,” Mona murmured before she turned to her commander. “River, do you have any questions about it?”

“No,” the centaur replied as he looked down.

I didn’t want to make him look like an ass, but he’d already flipped the script on me twice since I’d thought we were cool.

“Good, you can go now,” she said and dismissed him with another wave of her hand.

The centaur commander furrowed his brow but walked out without any argument.

I looked over to Aaliyah to watch the lioness stab her last piece of fruit with her claw and shovel it into her mouth.

“I’m going to go check on Alyona,” the Demi-Human said around a mouthful of food. “I’ll be right back.”

With that, Aaliyah shoved her chair back from the table and sashayed into the hall.

I watched her walk slowly, and I knew she was letting her tail swing side to side for me to see. I thought about how a rub to her tail could send her into a hard climax, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her body again, tail included.

“Do you enjoy the Demi-Humans?” Mona asked and interrupted the reliving of my time with Aaliyah in Tikal.

“I enjoy all types of women,” I murmured as I walked behind the queen and began to rub her shoulders.

“All types?” Mona nearly whispered before she nearly went limp in my grasp. “Gods, that feels so good. What are you doing?”

“A massage?” I replied in confusion. “You don’t have massages here?”

“I’ve never heard of it.” Mona rolled her shoulders toward me and groaned. “I wish I had before now. I’m enjoying this.”

“Me  too,” I whispered into her ear as I slid my hands further down her chest to massage the exposed sides of her breasts.

“Ohhhh,” the queen moaned at the touch. “Can you do that everywhere?”

“Of course, Your Highness,” I hummed into her ear. “Would you like to see?”

“Yes,” she hissed. “But I can’t. Not here, not now.”

My massaging hands faltered for a split second.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she answered quickly. “But … ”

“But?” I pressed.

“I want my people to trust in you because you’re helping,” the queen sighed as she got out of her chair to face me. “I don’t want them to think you waltzed in here and seduced me into supporting your little campaign.”

“So, you feel seduced?” I chuckled and raised a brow.

“Yes, Lord Evan,” Mona deadpanned as she stared directly into my eyes. “I want you to fuck me. Very much. I want to feel your dragon seed fill me up, and maybe even give me the daughter I desire.”

My cock twitched at the queen’s confession.

“Then that’s what I’ll do.” I smirked and dragged my fingers down her arm to take her hand. “Whenever you want it.”

“I want it now,” she murmured and pulled her hand away, “but we need to wait until things are settled.”

Part of me knew she was right, but the dragon part of me wanted to ignore her reasoning and take her right now. I gazed hungrily at her skimpy outfit and slender body, and I could hear her heart racing and feel her heat from here. Gods, she was really going to make me wait to pour my dragon seed into her and mark her as one of my mates.

Just then, though, another flame-colored bird flew in through the window and fluttered to a stop on the table.

“There are Green Glass Sect assassins here,” Ravi’s voice whispered frantically from the bird’s beak. “They’re coming for the hostages!”

The bird went up in flames, and the queen looked at me with wide eyes.

It was show time.

Chapter 6

“I have to go get the princess,” I told Mona as our eyes met.

“I’ll let River and the Sagittarius Order know to be prepared to leave,” the queen responded.

“Tell them to start going to the cave,” I directed. “We can catch up.”

Then I sprinted out of the dining hall to our chambers and burst through the door.

“Evan!” Alyona gasped, and her amethyst eyes were wide as she turned to me. “Did you hear from Lord Nikolas and Ravi?”

“Yeah,” I confirmed. “The Green Glass Sect is there, and they’re about to move the prisoners.”

“We must hurry, then,” Alyona agreed, and she turned to the lioness who sat on the edge of the bed. “Laika and Aaliyah, are you ready?”

The wolf warrior nodded her head and gripped the handle of her broadsword.

“I’m always ready.” Aaliyah licked her lips menacingly and stood up. She had changed into her hunting robe, which was a crimson and gold outfit that hugged every curve of her slender body and was cut in a V down to her navel.

I recalled how the outfit looked on her when blood dripped from her sharp claws and canines after our last big hunt. I hoped she would rip someone apart again today, especially with the traitors making another appearance.

“Let’s go,” I muttered.

“Wait,” Alyona said as she held up a hand. “I asked the history keepers how to defeat a skyraptor while we were there.”

“And?” I wasn’t sure where she was going with this.

“They said we’ll need water magic,” she continued. “We need the dryads so they can show you how to use water to attack the beast.”

“The sisters just got back from setting their traps a few minutes ago,” Aaliyah pointed out. “I’ll go get them.”

With that, the lioness rushed out of the room.

“You have your spells ready?” I murmured to Alyona as I wrapped my arms around her. I hated bringing her into battle, but she was a skilled priestess.

“Yes,” the princess confirmed with a determined look. “I’m ready, my love. Don’t worry.”

Then Aaliyah came back into the room with the dryad sisters in tow.

“Let’s kick some Green Glass Sect asses!” Polina growled.

“Yeah!” Trina agreed as she punched her fist into her other hand.

I started to tell the women we would fly up to the skyraptor’s lair, but suddenly, I had an idea.

“Alyona, can you make a portal that teleports us to the cave?” I asked.

“Of course, my love.” The princess smiled.

“Awesome, let’s portal up there,” I suggested. “The centaurs will catch up with us.”

Alyona nodded and drew a large circle in the air with her hand. Then she closed her eyes and began mumbling the spell. Purple sparks shot out from her fingertips as she continued the circle, and within seconds, a fuzzy image appeared in the air. As the portal cleared, we could all see the trees and the dirt path that led up to the tunnel, and the scene was illuminated by moonlight.

“Go ahead,” Alyona ordered.

I nodded and carefully walked through the portal. Flying had taken some getting used to, but this shit was crazy. It was like waking up from a dream and realizing you’d sleepwalked into another room.

I glanced back to see Laika and the dryads step through the portal without a second thought, as though they’d used a portal a thousand times, probably because they had. Aaliyah, on the other hand, looked as uncomfortable as I’d felt, with her ears flat on her head and her tail straight down behind her legs.

Alyona was the last through the doorway she’d created, and it dissipated behind her.

With everyone accounted for, I turned to face the problem ahead of us.

Only one Green Glass Sect guard paced back and forth in front of the dark cave opening. The moonlight was the only source of light in the clearing, and I could just make out a collection of boulders next to the mouth of the cave and some small shrubs that lined the bottom of the mountain. I didn’t see anyone else yet, and the guard hadn’t responded to our arrival, so I led the women to a patch of shrubs off the path and out of his view.

“Can you teach me water magic?” I whispered to the dryad sisters.

The three women glanced at each other, looked back at me, and nodded.

“Come this way,” Polina whispered as they guided me further into the brush.

We crept along for about five minutes and arrived at a small gap in the trees with a pond in the middle. The moon provided a shaft of light that reflected off the water’s surface and gave us just enough light to start our lesson.

“Sit here.” Trina pointed at the bank next to her, and all three women plopped down onto the ground.

I sat down between Trina and Polina as Alyona watched, while Laika and Aaliyah took up sentry positions at the bushes we’d come through.

“Water magic is like a combination of cultivation and your other skills,” Trina explained.

“Yeah, but you have to sense the water first,” Marina continued.

“True,” Polina agreed. “Once you sense the water, you have to feel it like you do your spiritual sea.”

“Then, once you’ve brought the water to yourself, you can pull from it like you do your other magic,” Trina said as she gestured to the water in front of us. “Start here and try to access the water from the pond.”

Marina stretched her hand over the pool and spread her fingers out, and a moment later, a stream of water rose from the surface to meet her hand. She moved her fingers, and the stream shifted and mutated into the form of a flower. She turned her hand over, and the watery flower sat on her palm until she released it. Then the liquid flowed back down into the pond.

I was mesmerized by the magic as Polina pulled up water as well and formed a bird. Its feathers appeared to wave as the water ebbed in her hand, and this gave the bird the appearance of breathing.

This magic seemed super cool, but also fairly easy, so I closed my eyes and focused on the pond. Then I reached out with my dragon senses and felt the calm water in front of me. In my mind, the pond flowed into my spiritual sea, and I let the pool create waves along its shore. Then I reached out, pulled from the sea, and spread my fingers wide.

When I opened my eyes, a small sphere of water hovered above the pond’s surface. Then I focused on the shape, and the bubble began to shift and flow until I turned my palm up, and the water sphere transformed into a small dragon that landed on my hand.

“Oooh!” Marina whisper-squealed. “A tiny badass dragon!”

“You’re a fast learner, Lord Evan,” Polina murmured. “As long as you can access water, you’ll be able to make whatever you want.”

“And once you get more experienced, you’ll be able to pull water from below the surface and use that,” Trina added.

“Very impressive, my love,” Alyona whispered as she smiled with pride.

I grinned at my creation, and then I reformed it into a spear I could grasp with my outstretched palm.

“That’s it!” Polina cheered.

“Shh!” Aaliyah hushed from her post.

We stopped chattering, and the water from my hand flowed back into the pond.

“I got this,” I muttered as I stood and helped the dryads up. “Let’s go.”

“They’re moving something,” Laika whispered, so we trudged back to the trail and watched as the guard moved from his position outside the mouth of the cave. Then four more Sect members exited the cave, and they each held a torch and an end of a rope that was wrapped around a centaur. He fought their hold, but the ropes kept him in their control.

The Green Glass Sect members walked into the open, and then I noticed they were followed by another person who wore dark green robes. A hood covered his head and most of his face, and he carried a knife that appeared to have a bright green glow.

That one had to be the mage.

I noticed Ravi in her bird form as she flitted out of the cave and landed on a boulder just outside the opening. Nike had to be close behind, which meant now was the time to move.

So, I signaled to the women with me, and we attacked.

Aaliyah sprinted out of the cover first and launched at one of the guards who led the entourage. She jumped so her knees hit him in the chest, and they both fell to the ground. Then the lioness took long swipes with her extended claws to the man’s throat, and he gurgled and choked as his blood poured onto the ground around him.

Nike had apparently seen the attack and sprinted from the cave. He swung the Sword of Light as he ran and sliced through two of the ropes holding the horse-man in place.

I watched as Laika followed Nike’s lead and slashed the other two ropes, and then the centaur reared up on his hindlegs and kicked one of his captors in the back of the head.

The Sect member fell to the ground as blood gushed from his head wound, and he didn’t get back up.

I summoned a fire bow and arrow and shot one of the captors before he could react to the release of the centaur. The fiery arrow lit up the dark clearing as it pierced his chest and lit his shirt on fire, and the traitor bellowed for a moment then fell down to the ground.

I could hear the mage as he mumbled under his breath, but Ravi had transformed into her human body, and she quickly created a fire whip and lassoed the hooded figure. Then she yanked on the rope and smashed the mage against a tree. While he was still disoriented, the phoenix threw the rope around the tree, so he was tied to the trunk with his hands trapped at his sides and the hood still covering his face.

The dryads took notice of the mage’s situation, and I watched as the sisters used their nature magic to bring tree branches down to wrap around his body.

The mage struggled against the bonds before he growled in frustration.

I smirked and turned to see Alyona cast some kind of spell against one of the captors who had come to his senses and pulled out a dagger. A moment later, the Green Glass Sect member dropped his weapon and fell to the ground. His eyes rolled back in his head so only the whites were visible, and he convulsed for a few seconds before he passed out.

That was one hell of an attack spell.

The last captor looked at me with terror, and I decided to try one of my new powers, courtesy of the basilisk. So, as the man met my eyes, I focused on summoning my petrification ability.

Predation: Activated

Skill: Petrification

Suddenly, the assassin’s body tensed up from head to toe. Then his eyes glazed over, and he stiffly fell to the ground.

Holy shit, it worked.

I looked over my shoulder at Alyona to see if she’d watched my new power, but she was focused on the mage tied to the tree. He’d begun mumbling a spell again, but this time, a puddle of a black, oily liquid began to pool at his feet. He started laughing as the oil crept up his robes, and I didn’t like this at all.

So, I reached out with my senses to do a status check.

Classification: Human mage

Condition: Miasma poisoning

Priority: Healing required immediately

Danger: At risk of imminent death

Status: Critical

The little bastard was trying to kill himself. Not on my fucking watch. I had questions that needed answers.

So, I sent out a wave of healing magic that laid over him like a glittery blanket and protected him from the oil. I wasn’t sure how to stop the oil, but I could keep him alive long enough for an interrogation.

“He’s using another nexus spell,” Alyona hissed, and her face was furrowed with concentration. “It’s called lacus, and that pool will poison any living thing it touches.”

“Any living thing?” I clarified as an idea formed in my head.

The princess nodded and kept her eyes on the mage, who had grown angrier when he realized he wasn’t dying quite the way he’d planned.

While the pair of them squared off, I reached out with my dragon senses and pulled stones from under the surface of the forest. The rocks rose from the soil into a bowl-like shape under the mage’s feet, and I couldn’t save the soil or the grass directly under him, but the stone scooped up the remaining oil and kept it from spreading any further. For good measure, I also shot some webbing over the mage’s mouth. Apparently, he could cast spells without using his hands, but I was pretty sure he couldn’t do anything without talking.

The Sagittarius Order arrived just as I finished off with the mage. The centaurs looked around wildly as they noticed their companion was already freed, and we’d killed, trapped, or injured the Green Glass Sect members involved.

“What’s the meaning of this?” River demanded as he surveyed the area.

“We used a portal to get here,” I explained. “I didn’t know how quickly the Sect members would move.”

“I see,” the centaur commander grumbled as he pursed his lips.

“But we still need to go rescue the hostages,” I continued. “And I need your help for that once Alyona and I finish dealing with the skyraptor.”

“Fine,” River conceded and waved his hand dismissively.

I rolled my eyes. “Nike and Laika, keep an eye on the mage and make sure he doesn’t run off.”

Nike and the wolf Demi-Human nodded to me and turned toward the captive mage, and I took the princess’ hand. Then the princess and I jogged to the cave entrance and stepped inside. I lit a fireball in my hand to illuminate the path to the cavern, and then we hurried through the tunnel to the skyraptor’s lair.

I stopped Alyona just before we walked into the nest.

“How close do you need to be for the spell to work?” I asked her.

“I just have to see him,” Alyona answered.

“Good,” I muttered.

We crept forward, and I peered into the cavern ahead of her. The cave looked the same as before, which was a relief. With the Sect members coming in and out of it, they could have destroyed everything, or worse, thrown the other captives off the face of the cliff. The only downside was the moonlight creeping in through the giant hole in the wall instead of the sunlight. I could use my dragon senses to see better, but I hoped Alyona didn’t need much light to do her spell. The skyraptor roamed the wide space while another fish dangled from its snout, but it hadn’t noticed us yet.

“Okay, the beast is just inside and to the right,” I advised Alyona. “Cast the spell, and I’ll cover you.”

“It won’t take long,” the princess agreed, and we both stepped into the cavern.

I considered pulling out the Sword of Healing, but I realized it wouldn’t do us any good since the creature could only be killed by water magic.

Then I remembered the stream that ran through the cave to the drop-off, so I felt out with my power and encouraged the stream water to join my spiritual sea. I sensed the water as it followed my command, and as I heard Alyona start the Novum spell under her breath, the skyraptor dropped the fish and turned to face us.

Shit.

The giant bird let out a screech and lowered its body into an attack position.

I wanted to wait until the last possible second to react, so the princess could finish her spell, but I didn’t want to risk the raptor attacking her, either. I looked over at Alyona and saw she had her eyes closed but was still talking. Then she shoved her hands out toward the beast, and a white light beamed onto its chest.

The mark of Gamma glowed a neon green, and the bird shrieked and squawked. It continued to stare in our direction, though it couldn’t see past the white light. Then the light went out, and the mark on the creature’s belly faded.

The skyraptor was no longer under the mage’s control, but it was still pissed.

The bird shook its head and charged at us, but I took a page from Ravi’s fire trick, pulled the water from the stream, and turned it into a whip to lasso the beast. The rope whipped around the raptor’s talons, and the bird fell to its belly.

But then the water poured back into the stream, and the beast was free again.

How the fuck did that happen?

The creature seemed to realize it was in a losing battle, though, because it suddenly looked toward the opening to the cliffs.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” I growled. I immediately shot a web toward the exit and covered as much as I could before the skyraptor could fly out and retreat.

The raptor’s dark eyes flashed as it realized I’d cut off its escape, and as it returned its focus to me, I called on my connection with the water again. This time, I created a sword, and the watery weapon felt like liquid in my hand, but it remained solid.

The skyraptor rose to its feet, lowered its head, and ran for me with its beak open to reveal hundreds of sharp teeth.

I sprinted to meet the bastard headlong, and then I executed a baseball slide, lunged for its throat, and thrust my sword into its flesh.

The creature roared with pain as a deep blue blood poured out of the wound, but I just twisted the blade, pulled it out, and stepped back as the skyraptor crashed to the ground.

Then silence fell over the cavern, and the blue carcass laid motionless in the middle of the space. The raptor’s eyes had rolled back into its head, and its black tongue dangled out of its open beak. I had a better look at all those teeth, and I was glad I was a good fighter since those fuckers looked dangerous.

I waited a moment to see what predation skills I assimilated, but nothing happened.

“Is it dead?” Alyona asked from where she still stood in the tunnel.

“Yeah,” I confirmed and walked back to join her. “The water magic worked. I guess it didn’t have any powers for me to assimilate, though, so good thing we killed that basilisk yesterday. At least I got something out of all this work.”

“Let’s go get the centaurs,” she suggested. “I’m sure the prisoners are ready to get out.”

I nodded and walked with her back to the clearing, and we walked into what was obviously a disagreement.

“Your orders don’t trump the queen’s!” River snarled as he loomed over Nike.

“And you don’t trump Lord Evan,” Nike argued, and the noble’s silver eyes flashed in the moonlight as he glared at the horse-man. “You should’ve waited.”

“What the hell is going on here?” I demanded.

“They killed the remaining Sect members, including the mage,” Laika reported, and the wolf’s tail lashed back and forth with aggravation.

“Why the fuck would you do that?” I stormed up to River. “How are we going to find out--”

“I don’t answer to you,” the centaur cut me off. “The queen said these men deserved punishment, and my men carried it out.”

“You and your men should have considered we could have found out what their plan was,” I said through gritted teeth, but I tried to remind myself to stay calm.

Diplomacy, diplomacy.

“Why does it matter?” River threw his hands out wide. “We killed them.”

“Because they’re part of a larger group,” Alyona explained in an even tone, but her face was also marred with a frown. “They were just a few members of the Green Glass Sect, not the entire Sect.”

“What the hell does that matter to us?” the centaur commander challenged.

“Well, I might be wrong here, but I’d think it matters why they wanted to kidnap your people,” Aaliyah drawled in a sarcastic voice.

I saw the other centaur warriors glancing at each other in confusion. For being so damn smart with their spoken lore, these people were idiots.

“What’s done is done,” Alyona sighed and put her hands up. “Now, we need to move forward and help the captives.”

“About time,” River muttered as he stalked past me into the cave.

I growled and kept myself from throttling the centaur, and then I followed him through the tunnel and back into the cavern.

“What the--” River stared at the webs that covered the opening to the cages.

I ignored him as I walked over and blew fire onto the webs. Then I watched them burn up, fall down the cliffside, and leave the doorway open again.

“You go talk to them, and I’ll shift into my dragon form,” I ordered.

I transformed into my dragon body as the centaur trotted over to the doorway and leaned out so all the prisoners could see him.

“Is everyone alright?” he bellowed out to the cages.

There were a few grunts and mumbles in response.

“I’m here with Lord Evan,” River explained. “He’s going to come out there and bring you back to land.”

The grunts turned into interested gasps and cheers.

“Lord Evan is a dragon,” the centaur commander continued. “And the queen has already--”

“No way!” one of the centaurs shouted. “We don’t need a dragon!”

“Yeah!” another one agreed.

I took the opportunity to fly out of the opening and hover next to the cages. The valley underneath the enclosures looked much more menacing in the dark, and it seemed like a fall would last forever. The hostages’ bronze cages had no source of light, and the night wind blew them back and forth while they waited for us. The centaurs had risen from the floors of their tiny prisons, and they held the bars as they argued with River.

“I’m not here to argue with anyone,” I told the captives as I pumped my wings and hovered in the air. “If you want to be rescued, then I’m here to help you. If not, I’ll leave you.”

“I’d rather fall off this cliff,” the first centaur grumbled.

“Fine. Suit yourself.” I narrowed my eyes and flew back into the cave. Next, I grabbed the skyraptor’s corpse by one of its feathery wings, dragged it out the doorway, and held up the body for all to see.

The captives cried out at the sight of the carcass. It dripped with blue blood, and its mouth hung open as I swung it around so the sharp smell of its already decaying body filled their noses. Feathers drifted down into the valley while the centaurs gaped at my kill, and I smirked a little at the centaurs’ surprise. It seemed the philosophical horse-men weren’t ready for the reality of the dead raptor.

“Why would I take the time to find out how to kill this thing if I wanted to harm you?” I demanded, and I shook the skyraptor’s body until flecks of gore landed on the captives in the cages closest to me. “Wouldn’t I just let it keep stealing your people? You can stay there and die if you want, but the queen asked me to help rescue you, so here I am. Take it or leave it.”

With that, I tossed the skyraptor’s body down into the valley below us.

“The queen approved of this?” The first centaur directed his question at River.

“Yes,” the leader confirmed. “And Lord Evan was kind enough to give you a choice, but I’m not. One of his comrades will open your cages, and you will shift into your human form to get on his back and be transported to this cave.”

More grumbles ensued, but the arguments ceased.

“Ravi!” I called out for the phoenix, and she flew through the cavern already in her bird form.

“Are you ready for me to open them, Lord Evan?” Ravi asked as she alighted on my snout.

“Oh, you’re friends with the phoenix girl?” the first argumentative centaur asked, and he seemed to change his tone.

“Yeah, she’s the one who told me when they came to take your friend away,” I replied. “I left her here to keep an eye on you in case anything happened.”

“You really did that for us?” a third centaur piped up.

“Well, yeah.” I shrugged my massive shoulders as I hovered on my wings before the line of cages. “As I told the queen, I intend to reunite Rahma, which means her people are my people. I’m nothing like the dragons your ancestors dealt with.”

“Oh,” the first centaur said as he looked down at his hooves before he shifted into his human form. “I’m ready.”

The rest of the centaurs looked surprised, but then they followed his lead and transformed as well.

Ravi fluttered over to the first cage, and I flew to hover just below its gate. The phoenix used her beak to snap the tiny lock and opened the door, and the centaur carefully slid to the edge and down onto my back. Then he gripped a spike along my spine and held on like his life depended on it.

I chuckled at his grip and moved on to the next cage, and one by one, Ravi and I freed the hostages. I flew every three centaurs back to the cavern where they slid off my back and returned to their horse forms. Then it was back out to the cliffs to recover the rest of the men.

Once all twelve centaurs were back on solid ground, Ravi and I returned to the cages to free the handful of forest animals that had also been held captive. After watching us rescue the centaurs, the animals seemed to know what to do. We returned them to the cave, and they scampered off to their various homes.

Then I had a quick idea and flew back out to the cliffs one more time to breathe a wave of fire from one end of the rope to the other. A moment later, the cages crashed into each other as the entire prison fell into the valley below me.

With our mission accomplished, Ravi and I returned to the cave and shifted back to our human forms. River had greeted each of the centaurs and was guiding them to the tunnel exit, and he looked over his shoulder and saw we were following him out.

I lit a fireball in my palm to provide some light as we left the lair, and the captives were met with high-fives and greetings from the centaur warriors.

Once everyone had been accounted for, we began the descent back to the city of Lumin. Casual conversation filled the air, but I tuned the men out while I walked next to the princess and listened to the bugs and birds chirp in the trees around us. The rescue had been successful, and while I was annoyed with the Sagittarius Order and their decision to kill the Sect members, I was still satisfied that we’d saved all the centaurs.

“I know I was an ass earlier,” one of the centaurs interrupted my thoughts.

I turned to see the one who’d said he would rather fall off the cliff than accept my help. He still looked rough with his greasy dark hair and gaunt body, but the relief was evident on his face. He’d been held captive for weeks, and it showed in every part of his centaur body. His horse legs were weak and less muscular than the others’, and his human torso and face were sunken in from malnourishment. Even his tail was thinner and shorter than the other centaurs’ tails, and I could tell he’d been through a lot in the last month.

“I’ve come to appreciate that about your kind.” I smirked.

“Well, I just wanted to say thank you,” he mumbled as he looked away from me.

“I’m happy to help,” I replied without hesitation and gestured to the rest of my party. “We all are.”

Alyona nodded and smiled at the centaur, and he perked up and returned her smile before he trotted ahead of us.

A few more of the centaurs thanked us, but they mostly told the wild stories of their kidnappings to the Sagittarius Order. One had been taken while walking home from a late night at his store, and another had been plucked from his own yard when he went outside for an evening run.

As we walked out of the woods and into the open air between the trees and the walls of Lumin, I heard a commotion. The centaurs galloped the remaining distance to the gate, and I sprinted to keep up.

We came to the gate just in time to realize the noise was celebration. Centaurs danced in the road and in their houses to jazz-style music, and more high-fives and chest bumps took place as the captives were welcomed home. We followed the road back to the castle, and the music got louder as we approached. I also noticed a few of the centaurs had taken on their human forms to wear fancy clothes. Most of the men wore brightly colored tunics over soft fabric trousers and boots, and they danced through the streets to the jazzy music and drank something from big, heavy jugs that smelled intoxicating.

A heavenly scent of freshly cooked food filled my nose the closer we got to the palace, and my mouth watered.

“River!” Mona cried as she threw the palace doors open. “Oh, Lord Evan, you did it!”

I grinned as I took in the full view of the queen in her party attire. She’d changed into a long, red dress with a slit from the floor to her upper thigh. The dress covered her elegant throat, but it had no sleeves, and the openings revealed most of her ribs and the sides of her breasts. The sleek outfit was fitted tightly to her hips, and I appreciated the way it hugged her curves.

I felt my blood run south as I thought about taking her back to her room and marking her as one of my mates.

“Of course, my queen,” River said with a bow. “And we punished the culprits, as requested.”

My grin disappeared as I clenched my jaw and kept my response to myself.

“Come on,” the queen insisted. “We have quite the feast ready.”

“How did you know when we’d be back?” I wondered.

“Oh, I had one of the centaurs come back and tell me once you’d defeated the assassins,” Mona explained and waved her hand dismissively. “Then I sent some hunters out to get meat while you finished the job.”

“That was very kind of you,” Alyona responded before I could ask more questions. She knew I was still annoyed with the centaurs for killing the Sect members, but it was probably best if I didn’t give the queen the third degree about it right now.

We followed Mona into the castle to the dining hall and sat around the table. This time, it looked like a real meal. Huge chunks of dark brown meat that smelled like steak with a hint of onion, and a lighter pinkish meat laid in slices on another plate with a scent of cinnamon that filled my nose. Finally, we could eat some fucking meat. The table also held the fruits and vegetables we’d eaten at the previous meals, but they somehow looked better with meat next to them.

I made a plate, carried it to a chair in the corner, and started to devour it, but my mind drifted to the earlier scene at the cave. The mage had carried a specific knife, and he knew a nexus spell that could have destroyed the entire forest. Hell, it could have destroyed the city. If he wanted to destroy things, why not just cast that on everything? What did he need the living creatures for?

“You look like you have a lot on your mind,” Aaliyah murmured as she sauntered up next to me. She hadn’t changed clothes since the hunt, and I could smell the Sect members’ blood on her.

The memory of the lioness ripping into the traitor made my own blood run south.

“I have a few things in there,” I mumbled as I stabbed the last piece of meat on my plate with my claw. “I just feel like we missed something.”

“Besides the interrogation?” Aaliyah responded with an eye roll. “Yeah, that would’ve been nice.”

“Yeah, that’s definitely part of it,” I agreed, “but there’s something else. I’m just not sure what yet.”

“Would you like me to help take your mind off these things?” the lioness inquired with a half-smile.

“I think a distraction would be nice,” I chuckled.

With that, Aaliyah grabbed my hand, pulled me from the chair, and led me out of the dining hall. She was headed for my room, but I had another idea.

I tugged on her hand and guided her to one of the offices I’d seen earlier. The room contained a large, wooden desk, inlaid with the same gold paintings I’d seen in the queen’s chambers. I picked up the chair from behind the desk and shoved it under the doorknob.

Then I turned to the lioness and gazed up and down her gorgeous body. She untied the ribbon around her waist and stared into my eyes as she let her robe fall, and my jaw was nearly on the floor.

I’d seen her naked many times before, but fuck was she gorgeous. Her bronze skin seemed to shimmer in the dim lighting, and I could see the ripples of muscle in her toned arms and legs as she stood tall before me. I wanted to taste every inch of her muscular body before I filled her with my seed.

“Come here,” I growled as I wrapped an arm around her naked waist and pulled her to me. Her breasts pushed against my chest, and she shuddered as her tight nipples rubbed over the fabric of my shirt. I pressed my lips to hers for a hard kiss before I shoved my tongue inside her mouth and ran it over hers.

Aaliyah groaned against my lips and put her arms around my neck, and I guided her left hand down my chest and abs to my erection, which was standing at full attention now.

“Oh, gods, I can’t wait to have that inside me,” she moaned as she slid her hand into my pants and began to rub my shaft.

“Fuck,” I groaned, and I slid my hand from her waist to her round ass. Then I gripped her full butt cheeks and lifted Aaliyah’s body up onto the desk.

The lioness spread her legs, and I took in a sharp breath as she revealed her pussy to me. She was already glistening when I leaned down to lick her mound, and she shuddered as I ran my tongue up and down her slit and then sucked on her throbbing clit. I felt her body tighten, and she grabbed my head to push my face further between her legs. I grinned, and then I slid one finger inside her and pumped it in and out. Her back arched away from the desk as her first orgasm shook her entire body, and her juices poured down my hand and face as her climax racked her toned frame.

“Yes!” Aaliyah cried out through her orgasm.

I pumped my fingers and suckled her clit until her shudders subsided, and she took a deep breath.

“Now, it’s my turn,” the lioness gasped and lifted my head from between her legs.

She pressed her lips to mine and pushed herself off the desk in front of me. Then she pulled away from my lips, dropped to her knees, and pulled my trousers down as she went.

“Oh, fuck,” I murmured as Aaliyah grasped my erection and ran her rough tongue up and down its length.

In response, she shoved my whole cock into her mouth, and I groaned and grabbed onto her braid. She nearly gagged as she thrust my dick as far into her mouth as she could, and my balls tightened in response.

The lioness sucked and licked me until I couldn’t take it any longer. I pushed her head into my hips as my orgasm released, and I filled her mouth with my load. She moaned as my seed dripped down her throat, and she licked the last remaining drops from her lips before she swallowed.

“I love when you do that,” I growled, and I grabbed her hips and turned her around so her ass was facing me and her tail swayed in my face. I pushed her chest down to the desk to give me access to her dripping pussy. Then I slid my still wet cock inside her tunnel and watched her claws grip the desk as my shaft filled her.

“Yes, Evan!” Aaliyah moaned as I thrust in and out of her hot, wet canal, and her walls tightened around my cock as she instantly climaxed again.

I pumped my erection in and out of her pussy until her orgasm finished, and I slid my cock out to turn her around. I lifted her back onto the desk and climbed on top of her with my knees on either side of her hips. Then I slid back into her dripping tunnel and thrust into her again.

Aaliyah sighed with pleasure as I crashed into her over and over again. She wrapped her legs around my hips and pushed me deeper inside her. Within minutes, her claws dug into my back, and she climaxed again.

“Gods, fuck!” she squealed as I kept pushing my cock inside her tightening pussy.

“Yessssss,” I growled as I felt my own orgasm crash to the surface.

I dumped my hot seed inside the lioness’ body, and I held her hips as I shoved my erection deep inside her so that I could empty my load directly into her womb.

After I had filled her to the brim, we kissed passionately for a few moments. Eventually, though, I slid my cock out of her and watched my juices drip down her thigh before she lifted her head up to face me.

“Ready for round number two of your distraction?” she asked with a coy smirk.

“Fuck, yes,” I growled, and I reached for the lioness once more.

Chapter 7

For the second day in a row, the tolling bell stunned me out of my sleep. The sun streamed in through the window, and I stretched my body out as I tried to wake up.

“What now?” I groaned as I covered my eyes with my arm.

“What is it?” Aaliyah asked as she rolled over and rubbed her face with her hands.

“Surely not another kidnapping,” Alyona murmured as she blinked her violet eyes a few times.

Somehow, Aaliyah and I had made it back to my quarters after our time in the writing room last night, and we’d curled up in my bed next to the princess. I was getting used to this whole harem thing, and it was fucking awesome.

But our cuddle session was officially over when the bell tolled again.

I threw the blankets off and groaned once more when I saw the women’s naked bodies underneath. Aaliyah’s bronze skin contrasted perfectly to Alyona’s porcelain body, and all I could think of was how I’d like to taste every inch of each of them before I thrusted my morning wood deep inside their waiting pussies …

This had better be a real fucking emergency.

I shook my head to regain my focus and pulled on my clothes and boots, while Alyona and Aaliyah put on their robes. Then we strode down the hallway to the sitting room, where the queen paced back and forth and shrieked at the other centaurs in the room.

Mona’s chestnut hair was wild and unkempt, and her long black robe was wrinkled and tied haphazardly around her waist. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days with her wide, red eyes. Her hands waved wildly as she spoke, and I knew something was seriously wrong, but I waited until she’d finished yelling at one of the centaurs who worked in the castle before I spoke to her.

“What is it, Mona?” I asked. “What’s going on?”

“Archer,” the queen gasped as she whirled on me, and then she put her face in her hands. “He’s gone.”

“What?” I growled. Her oldest son wasn’t too old to be wandering off, but with the events of the last few days, I was immediately on guard. “Are you sure he didn’t go somewhere on his own?”

“He knows better,” Mona insisted, and she was on the verge of tears. “I kissed both of them goodnight. And they were there when Cesar checked on them after I went to bed, but this morning when I went in to wake them, only Leo was there.”

“So, only Cesar saw them after you?” I asked, and I narrowed my eyes at the thought of the butler. I knew I didn’t like that guy.

“Yes,” she confirmed, and she looked up at me with watery, jade-colored eyes. “I don’t know how this could’ve happened. You freed the other hostages and killed the skyraptor. So, who took my son?”

I didn’t know how to answer that question just yet, but I was damn sure going to find out.

Then I turned as Laika, Nike, Ravi, and the dryad sisters walked through the doorway. They all looked confused as they gazed around the frenzied room, and I walked closer to speak to them.

“What’s going on?” Nike asked me, and he brushed his unruly black hair out of his silver eyes.

“Archer, the queen’s son, is missing,” I replied in a quiet tone. “The Green Glass Sect is behind this. I know it.”

“I agree.” Laika nodded her head. “How will we find the child? We don’t know where the rest of them are hiding out.”

“I have a feeling someone here in the castle can answer that,” I murmured. “We killed the skyraptor. There has to be someone inside who’s helping the Sect.”

“Oh, no,” Polina gasped as she covered her mouth.

“Who would do that to the little horse child?” Trina asked, and anger flashed in her emerald eyes.

“I’m not sure yet.” I watched as a dozen centaurs trotted in and out of the room. “But I’ll find out. And he’ll be sorry.”

I turned back to the queen, who gnawed on her nails as she stared blankly across the room. She was a wreck, and I didn’t blame her. Just the idea of someone stealing my egg was enough to make me want to burn down a city, and her son was actually gone. It was a miracle she hadn’t lost her mind yet.

“Your Highness?” Alyona murmured and put a hand on Mona’s arm. “We’d like to help, if you’ll allow it.”

“You’d do that?” the queen asked with misty eyes. “You’ve done so much already. I couldn’t ask you to do this for me.”

“No one hurts a child on my watch,” I growled. “Where’s Cesar? I’ll start with him since he was the last to see Archer.”

“He’s out with the search parties,” Mona responded. “The Sagittarius Order is searching all the homes in the city first in case Archer went to a friend’s house or someone from Lumin took him.”

“Let’s go,” I muttered to my comrades.

Then we stalked out of the castle but I paused my party right outside. I didn’t want to accuse the queen’s right-hand man without something more concrete to support my gut feeling, but I was mighty suspicious.

“You suspect Cesar?” Aaliyah asked as she cut right to the point.

“Well, it seems pretty weird that he was the last one to see them because he supposedly checked on them in the middle of the night,” I mused. “I think he’s just trying to keep the other centaurs from knowing when Archer went missing.”

“Then they wouldn’t know if they should blame a kidnapper or if the boy wandered off,” Nike completed my thought. “That’s why she started the search within the city, and now whoever took him has more time to get further away.”

“Plus, the boy probably trusts Cesar, so he would’ve gone with him willingly,” Laika chimed in, and her gray wolf ears twitched atop her head. “That makes more sense than a stranger getting into the castle and taking Archer without anyone hearing a thing.”

“Good point,” I agreed and pursed my lips. “We need to find Cesar, but we’ll have to split up, so Polina, Trina, and Marina, you take the eastern part of the city. Laika and Nike, you take the western part. Aaliyah and Ravi, you take the south. Alyona and I will check the north. We’ll meet back here as soon as you’ve checked with every search party in your section. Be careful, and watch each other’s backs.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, and we headed our separate ways. Alyona and I walked north and saw what we expected. The centaur search parties were banging on doors and looking through every home and shop for the boy. The other centaurs in the city looked confused as the warriors stomped through the streets to each building. The citizens began to gather in groups and whisper among themselves, probably to ask what was going on, but we didn’t have time to worry about the people talking right now. We just made sure to watch each search party as they entered and exited the buildings, since we needed to be certain if Cesar had disappeared, too.

I watched a few citizens get angry with the Sagittarius Order and their searching, but none of the arguments lasted long.

“You can’t just barge in here!” a shopkeeper yelled as the warriors pushed past him to enter the building.

“It’s the queen’s order,” one of the centaur fighters grunted as he stood with the citizen in front of the door.

“Why?” the shopkeeper demanded while he watched the warriors check every nook and cranny of the shop.

“The oldest prince is missing from the castle,” the warrior answered and crossed his arms over his chest to wait for another response.

“Ah,” the shopkeeper muttered, and he deflated a little before he gestured to his building. “Please, search anywhere you like. The boy isn’t here.”

I knew we wouldn’t find the boy in town, but I wanted to find Cesar. I figured he would stay and look for the prince to keep up appearances, but we weren’t having any luck so far.

So far, we only saw members of the Order searching the homes, but we scanned each search party anyway. We had to be certain.

“Do you think we’ll find him?” Alyona echoed my thoughts.

“I don’t know,” I admitted under my breath. “If we don’t, I think that speaks for itself.”

After about an hour, we’d run into every search group in the northern section and still hadn’t found Cesar. We hadn’t heard from any of the other members of our group either, so we headed back to the palace to wait for them.

One of us had to find out something.

As we arrived in front of the castle, we found River giving instructions to more of the Sagittarius Order. The handful of warriors stood in rows with their horse tails swishing in agitation, and they all wore the bows and quivers on their backs that I’d become accustomed to seeing on the members of the Sagittarius Order.

“Any luck finding the boy?” I asked the centaur commander once the soldiers had moved to carry out his orders.

“No,” he growled. “Archer is still missing.”

“Have you found Cesar?” I questioned.

“I haven’t seen him since this morning,” River replied, and he looked surprised at the question. “Why?”

“Supposedly, he’s helping look for Archer,” I said with a quirked brow. “He isn’t with one of your search parties?”

“No.” River shook his head and stomped his hooves. “He came out of the castle earlier when we were dividing up, but now that you mention it, it seems like he disappeared right after that.”

Just then, the rest of my party showed up, but it seemed like they were empty-handed.

“No luck?” I addressed the group, just to be sure.

“He’s not here,” Laika responded with a solemn look in her gray eyes, and her ears were pinned flat against her head. “I believe you were right, Lord Evan.”

“You think Cesar’s involved in the disappearance?” River questioned, and his dark eyes widened.

“It’s looking more and more like it,” I growled. “How else would someone go missing from inside the castle without an inside man? Not to mention, we already rescued the other hostages. We know the skyraptor took them, and we know we killed it. So, it obviously didn’t come back from the dead to take Archer.”

“Shit,” River muttered and looked up at the castle. “How are we going to tell the queen?”

“I’ll tell her,” I told him. “But I don’t know how we’re going to find Archer if Cesar has already left the city.”

River cursed again and turned to the door.

We followed him inside the castle to the sitting area, where Mona was definitely not sitting. She still paced the room, and now she ran her fingers through her hair repeatedly. Her younger son, Leo, sat in a chair near his mother and clutched a stuffed animal. His eyes were red from crying, but now he sat in silence and stared blankly across the room. He didn’t even react when we walked in, and for a moment, I wondered if he had any idea what was going on.

I strode into the room and stood in front of Mona, but she barely noticed our entrance and didn’t stop moving.

“Mona,” I said and waited for her to turn and look at me. “I think Cesar’s involved in Archer’s disappearance.”

“What?” Mona stared at me and awaited an answer. “Why do you think that?”

“He’s gone,” I answered simply, since there was no sense in going through all of my logic right now when she was so out of it.

“Well, he’s looking for Archer,” the queen said and cocked her head to the side.

“No, he’s not,” I told her. “We checked with all the search parties.”

“It’s true, Your Highness.” River stepped forward to stand next to me, and the horse-man lifted his chin as his tail snapped in agitation behind him. “Cesar left the castle, but he never joined us.”

The queen finally stopped pacing, and I watched as anger flashed in her eyes. Then she took two deep breaths before she spoke again.

“You can’t be serious,” Mona argued and shook her head. “He’s been my trusted assistant for years. He loves my boys.”

“Maybe he’s under a spell, then,” I conceded, though I had my doubts. “But the only way someone could’ve kidnapped Archer is if they had access to the palace and the boys. Cesar has both.”

I could almost see the gears turning in the queen’s head as she put all the pieces together. I knew I was right, but she had to realize it on her own.

“If this is true, I’ll tear him limb from limb,” Mona growled after a long moment, and then she turned to the leader of the Sagittarius Order. “River, bring your men back at once.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” The centaur bowed to the queen and trotted out of the room.

“Mama?” Leo piped up from his chair. “Is Archer coming back soon? I’m tired of waiting.”

“Yes, honey,” Mona said in a motherly tone. “Your brother will be home before you know it.”

“Mona, I suspect the Green Glass Sect is behind this,” I told her once she had returned her attention back to us.

“Why would the assassins who follow you want my son?” Mona demanded as she crossed her toned arms over her chest.

“You said the kidnappings started about a month ago, right?” Alyona asked.

“Yes,” the queen confirmed, and her green eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“That means they were here before we were,” Alyona mused as her amethyst eyes flickered over to me.

“How did they know we were coming this direction?” I asked.

“We must be getting closer to their base,” Nike suggested with a shrug.

“But we can’t search everywhere around the city,” Aaliyah pointed out, and her brow furrowed over her orange eyes. “They could be anywhere at this point.”

Just then, River cantered back into the room, and the sound of his hooves against the marble floor echoed around us.

“Have any of your men seen tracks leaving the city?” I asked him.

“They’ve only been ordered to search buildings inside the walls,” the centaur responded and then turned to the queen. “Should we change the orders, ma’am?”

“We’ll change them to hunt down that traitorous bastard,” Mona declared as she bared her teeth. “I want Cesar here, and I want him alive.”

“On it,” River answered and turned to go back outside.

“We’ll help with the hunt,” I volunteered my group before the centaur could leave the room. “We have several good hunters here.”

“I’ll take any help right now,” the centaur commander muttered and marched back outside the palace.

We followed him out the doors, and I let him take the lead in dividing groups. I’d already accused one of their citizens of kidnapping the young prince, so I didn’t want to ruffle any feathers by giving orders, too.

“Warriors of the Sagittarius Order, we are fairly certain that our city has been betrayed by Cesar,” River declared as he stood before his men, and several of the centaurs snorted with disgust or widened their eyes. “It is now our duty to find him and return him to the queen to answer for these allegations. He must be alive to give her answers, so mind your arrows.”

The warriors all gave a sharp nod in response before they stomped their hooves in unison.

River began to divide the men into groups and direct them to various parts of the city to look for clues to Cesar’s untimely exit. For the last three groups, he remembered to include us and divided us into the warrior parties. The dryads and Ravi left with their group of centaurs. Laika and Nike went with another group, and Aaliyah, Alyona, and I were added to the final group of warriors.

“Once your search area is complete, you report back here,” River commanded. “If you find something, send someone to report to me immediately.”

So, the groups headed out, and we trailed along behind the centaurs until we got to the area River had assigned to us. Then we branched off from the horse-men and looked for clues on our own. This section of the city seemed to be dedicated to the centaurs’ inventions and productions. Large steam-powered machines towered next to the buildings, and they pumped and grinded as their conveyor belts moved into the structures next to them. It looked like this was the source of the textiles the centaurs traded with other cities and tribes. The buildings were industrial, which meant we had to make sure Cesar and Archer weren’t tucked away in one of the many rooms inside. The buildings weren’t tall, but many of them were long, so we trudged along their lengths and checked every entry point for a trail. The dirt was nearly flat from hooves pounding on it, but I noticed we were leaving footprints, so I hoped we would find some sign of the boy or his abductor.

Aaliyah scanned the ground as she searched for any sign of the centaur traitor, and she took deep breaths in through her nose as she used her Demi-Human level sense of smell to try and track Cesar.

Meanwhile, Alyona ran her hands along the walls of the factories with her eyes closed, and she murmured spells to help her search. As the spell took shape, tendrils of purple magic left her fingers and combed the ground around her.

Not to be outdone, I utilized my dragon senses to search, and I homed in on every minute detail of the road and buildings all the way to the walls that surrounded the city. We looked for any indicator of the direction he’d taken the boy, but there was nothing.

We hunted for nearly an hour in our sector before we met back up with the warriors.

“Anything?” I asked.

“No,” one of the centaurs responded, and his tail twitched in frustration. “It’s like Cesar just vanished.”

“Vanished … ” I mumbled as I considered the possibilities before I turned to Alyona. “Could he have used a portal?”

“If he’s a mage, definitely,” the princess verified. “Or if a mage created one from the landing place. They work either way.”

“There’s no trail,” I thought out loud, “and we already know the Sect has several mages working for them. We’re not going to find him like this.”

“I agree,” Aaliyah chimed in, and the hunter nodded her head. “He had help getting out of the city without anyone noticing. Magical help makes the most sense, but it’s the hardest trail to follow.”

“Let’s get back to the castle,” I suggested. “We’re going to have to figure out another way to track him.”

We led the warriors back through the streets to the palace doors. River and the other search parties had already gathered at the doors and looked up as we approached.

“You didn’t find him,” River observed with a severe frown. “How did he escape without leaving a trail?”

“Let’s go talk to the queen,” I replied. “We may know how he did it.”

River nodded and pushed open the palace doors, and I gestured to Ravi, Aaliyah, Alyona, and the dryads to follow him while I hung back enough to talk with Nike.

“The Sect is getting bolder,” I told him under my breath. “We think one of their mages created a portal for Cesar to escape through.”

“That would make sense,” Nike agreed as he narrowed his silver eyes in thought. “The question is, how do we find him if we have no way to track him?”

“That’s the million-dollar question,” I muttered.

Nike looked at me quizzically as we entered the sitting room, but he didn’t question me aloud. Then we turned our attention forward, and an exhausted Mona was draped over the chair next to Leo.

I stood next to River as we delivered the news.

“It would appear that Cesar has left without a trace,” the centaur commander advised the queen. “There are no trails to hunt him on.”

“We believe he may have used a mage’s portal to escape the city,” I added. “So, he’s most likely working with the Sect.”

“I can’t believe it.” Mona shook her head, and her fists clenched over the armrests of her chair. “He’s been by my side for years.”

“I’m sorry,” I offered. “We’re not sure how to track him if he didn’t leave on foot.”

“Then we have no other choice,” Mona said with a grim look.

“You don’t mean … ?” River trailed off, but his eyes widened as Mona nodded.

“Yes,” she replied. “We’re going to have to seek the advice of the Oracle.”

I blinked in confusion. The what?

“She won’t be happy,” River warned. “You know she doesn’t like personal favors.”

“I know that,” Mona snapped, “but I’m not just going to leave my son with those beasts. And we have no idea what they want with him.”

River threw up his hands in frustration and stamped his hoof.

“I’m sorry,” I cut in. “What the hell is the Oracle?”

“She’s a seer,” Mona grumbled and pursed her lips. “Nothing happens in Rahma that she doesn’t know about.”

“Really?” I wondered. That was interesting.

“Your Highness,” River pleaded. “You aren’t in the right mindset to go.”

“You know I have to,” Mona countered, and her jade eyes were determined. “I won’t let my son be a hostage.”

“Very well,” the centaur commander accepted with a sigh. “When do you want to leave?”

“In ten minutes,” the queen responded as she rose from her chair. “I’ll change clothes, but we only need a few warriors. The rest should stay here on guard to make sure no one else is kidnapped.”

“Absolutely, Your Highness.” River deeply bowed to the queen and returned to his warriors outside.

“Okay, so, where is it we’re going?” I asked.

“The Oracle’s cave is hidden in the smaller section of woods north of Lumin,” Mona explained. “We don’t hunt there. She doesn’t like anyone near her home. She doesn’t like pretty much anything or anyone.”

“That sounds promising,” I grumbled. “So, we just stroll into her cave and ask what we want?”

“The Oracle will already know what we want,” Alyona chimed in, and her amethyst eyes were fascinated. “There are only a few remaining Oracles in Inati. I’m surprised she lives so close to a city. Most of them are recluses who stay as far away from people as possible.”

“Yes, the Oracle has lived in this cave for ages,” Mona clarified. “My understanding is she was there before the city was built, so our ancestors made the rule that we couldn’t hunt in her woods. So far, it seems to have appeased her.”

“Have you been there before?” I wondered.

“My mother went to see her before I was born,” the queen answered with a frown. “I’m not sure why. My mother always said the Oracle told her what she needed to know for the future, so that should be enough for me.”

“And no one else goes to see her?” I asked as I raised an eyebrow. It seemed like people would be lined up to see the Oracle and have their futures told.

“It’s forbidden.” Mona shrugged. “It’s the easiest way to make sure she doesn’t get angry with us. It’s better to have an Oracle on your side than against you.”

Just then, River clopped back into the sitting room and stood by the door.

“Are your warriors ready?” Mona asked him.

“Yes, Your Highness,” the centaur commander confirmed. “I have three men ready to escort us to the cave, and the rest will be posted in various parts of the castle and the city. No one will be able to get past us this time.”

“Good,” the queen said, and she seemed satisfied. “I’ll need the warrior you trust most to stay with Leo. He is not to leave my son’s side.”

“Rowan!” River bellowed, and a moment later, a young centaur trotted into the sitting area.

His horse body was white with dark brown patches that matched his mottled torso. It reminded me of a skin disorder I’d seen back on Earth. His brown hair featured one long streak of blonde that started on his temple and stretched to the tip of his hair at his shoulders, and he didn’t keep the strands in a braid like the other warriors.

“Yes, sir?” The centaur warrior spoke in a hushed tone with a slight rasp.

“You have a new assignment,” River informed him. “You are to stay with Prince Leo. He is not to leave your sight at any time. Do you have any questions?”

“No, sir,” Rowan replied and dipped his head. “I’m honored to be chosen.”

“Take Leo to his room for now,” Mona directed before she turned to her son. “Leo, you don’t wander off anywhere, and stay with Rowan until I get back.”

“Yes, Mama,” Leo said softly, and the boy reached up to the centaur and grabbed his hand.

I watched a small smile play across the warrior’s face before he grasped the child’s hand and walked him out of the room.

“Now, we must leave.” Mona turned to speak to all of us. “The longer we wait, the more danger Archer is in.”

“Let’s go,” I agreed.

“Go ahead,” the queen instructed with a wave of her hand. “I’ll be there in a moment.”

I raised an eyebrow, but we walked out of the palace to the road and waited, and within moments, the queen cantered out the doors in her centaur form.

I’d thought she was beautiful as a human, but her horsewoman form was breathtaking. Her horse hair was the same shiny russet color as the hair on her head, and she had a small patch of white hair just below her human torso that was shaped like a diamond. Her long tail was white like the patch, and it swayed back and forth as she walked up to us. Her breasts were minimally covered with a stretch of black fabric that tied behind her back, but the rest of the bronze skin on her torso was left bare.

Okay. I definitely wanted to add the gorgeous centaur to my collection of mates.

Mona stamped her hooves and crossed her arms as she looked at us staring at her.

“Well?” she demanded. “What are we waiting for?”

“You look beautiful, Your Highness,” Alyona gushed.

“Thank you,” Mona said, but she looked surprised at the compliment. “I prefer to travel in this form. Four legs are faster after all.”

“Yes, they are,” I chuckled. “You just shocked us.”

“Typically, I stay in human form unless I’m pregnant,” Mona explained with a shrug. “I have to carry a child as a centaur, but the warriors prefer their centaur bodies all the time.”

River dipped his head in agreement.

“Enough about me,” the queen said with a wave of her hand. “Let’s go find the Oracle.”

And with that, we walked to the gates to talk to the seer.

Chapter 8

The sun was up high in the sky when we walked out of the gates and turned north to a smaller patch of forest. I felt like we’d wasted too much time looking for the traitor, but Mona had to see for herself.

As we walked into the Oracle’s domain, I noticed how different it was from the hunting forest. We went from broad daylight to what looked like nightfall. The trees in these woods were denser, and they created more shadows on the forest floor. No flowers grew from the trunks or the leaves surrounding the trees, either. The sunlight couldn’t get through the broad leaves that crowded together on the canopies, so the forest floor was dark and had only patches of moss. The soil was moist from a lack of light, and our footsteps squished into the ground as we walked through the near darkness.

Mona and River led the group on a winding dirt path and murmured to each other, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I walked next to the princess, who had been quiet during the trip so far. She seemed to be lost in thought, and I wondered if she was thinking about the Oracle like I was. Laika and Nike walked behind us, while Aaliyah and the dryads chatted quietly behind them. The three centaur warriors brought up the rear and kept their bows at the ready, and I questioned what they were worried about in these woods. I figured the Oracle’s presence kept most creatures out, but I wasn’t sure about anything.

“What do you think the Oracle is like?” I asked Alyona quietly. I’d already pictured a big mirror, a grimy old man, and a few different animals. My knowledge was based on Earth movies, though, so I was probably way off base.

“I’ve read she’s small but easily angered,” the princess whispered back. “It’s said she has no patience for rudeness or poor manners. I imagine since she’s such an ancient creature, she believes everyone should respect her.”

“Respect is earned,” I murmured. “Though I guess maybe someone who’s, like, a million years old should have earned some respect.”

Alyona giggled and grabbed my hand, so I smiled down at her and tried to prepare myself for whatever the Oracle had in store for us. It was hard to prepare for something so unknown, though. I hadn’t even read books about the Oracle, like Alyona had, but now that the princess had given me a little to go on, I pictured a tiny old woman with anger management issues.

After about twenty minutes in the woods, we came upon an opening on the side of a hill. The cave didn’t stand out, and no light emitted from its mouth. In fact, the opening looked like it was made of shadows so no one could see inside, and all the conversations stopped as we all stared at the entrance to the Oracle’s home.

Mona glanced at River before she shifted into her human form. Her lower half was naked for a moment, but then River handed her a piece of fabric she tied around her hips. The queen stood still for a second as if to compose herself, and then she nodded to the centaur commander.

“Wait here,” River ordered the warriors.

The three centaurs looked at each other and shrugged before they turned and faced back toward the forest to guard the entrance.

I wondered why River didn’t want the other centaurs to go into the cave. I glanced at Alyona, who seemed to know my unspoken question, but she just shrugged her shoulders as we watched the queen and River slowly walk inside.

Be careful, Lord Evan, Miraya’s familiar voice resounded in my head.

I hadn’t heard from her in days, and the warning caught me by surprise.

“What do you mean?” I pushed her for more information.

Old magic is unpredictable, Miraya replied. The Oracle is one of the oldest sources of magic in Inati.

“Great,” I mumbled with a mirthless laugh. “Is there anything I don’t have to worry about in Inati?”

The Sword of Hatra hesitated before she responded. You’re becoming a leader for this world. You have plenty to worry about.

I could feel her disapproval at my sarcasm, so I didn’t push her any further.

Then we followed Mona and River into the cave, and the scenery completely changed.

The walls of the cave were made of stones that looked like mercury, and they reflected the bluish light at the end of the tunnel in every direction. The shimmery surfaces looked almost like a liquid dripping down onto the ground, and the result was a feeling of walking underwater. The dirt path transitioned to multi-colored stones that reminded me of the bottom of a fishbowl, and I could tell the underwater theme was strong in this cave.

We followed the descending path for what seemed like ten minutes before the tunnel widened into a large, open space with a well in the center. At this point, we were obviously pretty far underground. The well glowed a bright turquoise color, and I realized it was the source of the light that had reflected off the mercurial walls. It felt eerily similar to the Moonstone River House back in Hatra, where I had done most of my cultivating. It was peaceful but ominous, probably because I knew the owner of this place didn’t want us to be here.

As the last of our party stepped into the cavern, we looked around in awe. Even if it was a weird situation, the Oracle’s cave was beautiful. The water reflections were mesmerizing, and the air smelled fresh like the ocean instead of damp like most caves. No paintings adorned the cave walls except for one drawing on the wall to my right. The picture depicted a young lady sitting with her legs crossed, and blue flames licked the walls around her.

Then I saw the Oracle. I’d expected something different from my weird movie references, but I never could have guessed we would see the drop-dead gorgeous woman who stood on the other side of a well.

The Oracle was tall and lithe, and her slender body was covered by an almost transparent silvery white robe. Her gray hair was straight as an arrow and draped over her shoulders to her slim waist, but even though her hair was gray, her face didn’t look a day over twenty-five years. Her skin was smooth and supple, the color of moonlight, and she almost appeared to reflect the glow of the well just like the stones of the cave. Her silver eyes were bright as she looked directly at the queen, and her expression was unreadable.

“Mona, queen of the centaurs of Lumin,” the Oracle nearly whispered. Her voice was soft and sounded like wind chimes, light and musical, yet it still echoed throughout the cavernous space.

The Oracle was definitely a commanding presence.

“Oracle,” the queen responded with a curtsy. “I don’t mean to intrude--”

“Yet, here you are.” The Oracle seemed unconcerned.

“I wouldn’t come if I wasn’t desperate,” Mona murmured. “I need your help.”

“I know why you’re here,” the Oracle answered with a wave of her hand.

“Then you’ll help?” the queen asked, and hope filled her voice.

“Perhaps,” the Oracle replied as she sauntered around the well to assess us. “You keep interesting company, centauress.”

The Oracle glided over in front of the group and looked at each person from head to toe. Her silver eyes assessed everyone individually, and her blank facial expression gave us no hints to her thoughts.

I shifted uncomfortably as she checked us all out. I felt like I was under a microscope, and I didn’t like the feeling at all, so I had to say something.

“I’m Evan, Lord of Hatra el Shamash,” I broke the silence and stuck out my hand as she neared me.

Alyona elbowed me sharply in the ribs and looked at me with wide eyes.

Was a handshake offensive? Whatever, the silence was annoying.

“I know who you are, dragon.” The Oracle lifted a brow as she stopped directly in front of me. “Just because your appearance in Rahma has been, shall we say unusual, does not mean that I don’t know you.”

So, the Oracle knew about my magical entrance to Inati. I guess she really did know everything.

“Yes, I know about how you got here,” she confirmed my thoughts, and I wondered if I’d spoken them aloud. “I noticed the shift in the universe the moment you put on the mask. Your story has been intertwined with the rest of Rahma since you arrived. You are an interesting creature I’ve been keeping an eye on.”

She gestured to the well, which shimmered in response. It must have been some sort of viewing portal to the rest of the world. That would explain her ability to know so much without leaving her cave. I’d love a sneak peek into that thing.

“Then you know how I can be impatient,” I countered. “So, are you going to help us find the centaur boy or not?”

I heard Alyona gasp quietly next to me. I knew I wasn’t following the diplomatic approach at this point, but the boy was missing and probably in danger, so I didn’t like the Oracle playing games. We had to find Mona’s son fast, or I feared we wouldn’t find him at all.

“You get right to the point, Lord Evan,” the Oracle chuckled. The sound was like someone playing all the high notes on a piano, and it tinkled through the open space as she laughed.

“It’s kind of my specialty.” I smirked.

“I will help you,” she answered after a moment. “But not yet. You, Lord Evan, are not a traditional nobleman here in Inati, but you’re meant to be a great leader. In your future, I see many followers for your leadership, as well as plenty of money, power, and women.”

“These are a few of my favorite things,” I said in a Julie Andrews’ voice. I knew no one here had ever seen The Sound of Music and wouldn’t get the joke, but I didn’t care. I’d never had my palm read before, but I couldn’t imagine any better news than that.

“You have a good heart for the people,” the Oracle continued as her silver eyes dragged over me. “And you will make Rahma better with your genuine desire to help, but not everyone is on your side, so you must beware of those who do not have the same goodness inside themselves.”

“I will.” I dipped my head to her. Maybe she wasn’t too bad after all.

The Oracle turned to Alyona, who curtsied in response.

“Divine Maiden,” the Oracle began, “you will make the perfect partner for Lord Evan. Your knowledge and understanding of this world balance his brash nature and power. You will also bear him many children who will be adored by the citizens of Rahma. In fact, the children will be a sign of hope for other Demi-Humans throughout the country, so you can rid us of the segregation and slavery that still plagues some parts of our great nation.”

The idea of making many children with Alyona brought me to full attention.

“You honor me with your words,” the princess murmured and curtsied again.

“Before that, however, you have an incredible destiny,” the Oracle went on. “You are meant to stop a great catastrophe in our world. I believe you’ve already begun to figure out how to do it, but you have to gain confidence in your ability, or you will not succeed. While I can’t give you confidence, I can tell you that you are capable of doing a great service for your people.”

Was she talking about the Breach? We’d already figured out Alyona was supposed to be the one who could close it, but it seemed like the Oracle was confirming Alyona could and would do it. We’d have to discuss this little tidbit later on.

“I hope I can,” Alyona replied with her head down.

“You can,” the Oracle confirmed before she turned to Ravi. “Phoenix, you have experienced an interesting life in the dark. Now, you are coming into the light. Your people are masters at being reborn, and when the time is right, you will be the one to lead them to the light if you do what must be done. If you don’t, they will forever remain a legend, a myth that people only wonder about. With you as their leader, your people cannot be hidden forever, and your leadership will be how they become known and revered once again.”

“My people would be so happy.” A proud smile stretched across Ravi’s face, and I grinned at her pride. I knew it was important to Ravi to take care of the other phoenixes, especially since they’d been cooped up for a century to defend themselves and our world from the Breach.

“Lady Aaliyah,” the Oracle addressed the lioness, and Aaliyah stepped to the front of the group. “Your travels will bring you great wisdom. While the dragon has helped to reunite the factions in your city, you will rise to lead Tikal in a way that benefits your people even more. They will love you, even the other Demi-Humans, for your knowledge and understanding, but you cannot repeat the mistakes of your father, or the city will fall again.”

Aaliyah looked taken aback at the prediction, and I wondered if she was surprised she would become the leader of Tikal. I knew she was strong and smart, but right now, the city had three leaders, and they hadn’t done well when there was only one, as the Oracle reminded her. Maybe she didn’t know what Kinba had done as the ruler.

The lion Demi-Human dipped her head to the Oracle and stayed silent as she stepped back into the group.

“Polina, Trina, and Marina,” the Oracle called out to the dryad sisters, who tiptoed closer to her.

“Yes, Oracle?” Trina spoke barely above a whisper.

I’d never heard the sisters be so quiet.

“Your nature magic is unmatched, though I don’t think you’ve fully realized your potential yet,” the Oracle declared. “You have good hearts and will continue to help people while on this journey. Then you will take a journey of your own to find the answers you seek about your kind. The journey will not be easy, but don’t give up on that question.”

“How did you know … ?” Marina trailed off as she stared at the Oracle.

“I know everything,” the Oracle answered the question Marina didn’t finish.

I made a mental note to ask the girls what the Oracle meant about the answers they were looking for. They seemed to know everything about their species when we spoke about it before, and I was curious what else they wanted from our journey.

“So, do you know the answer to the question?” Polina wondered.

“Yes,” the Oracle confirmed with a smile, “but I will not simply tell you. The answer is not only in the words but also in the choices made to find it.”

Wow, that was super mysterious.

The dryads nodded in understanding before they backed away from the Oracle and began whispering excitedly to each other.

“Laika,” the Oracle called out to the wolf warrior. “Your loyalty to the princess knows no bounds. In fact, it will only grow as you become closer to her.”

The Demi-Human’s gray eyes watched the Oracle closely as she spoke, but Laika didn’t respond.

“You will be able to use your leadership skills to bring the Blue Tree Guild to a position of the highest honor,” the Oracle continued. “It is your desire to become the official Royal Guard, no?”

“Yes,” Laika confirmed with a nod.

I was a little surprised with that one. We’d joked about the Royal Guard thing before, but Laika never even hinted she really wanted to do it.

“Your future king is surprised,” the Oracle chuckled. “Remember, he is not the same as you. You’ll likely have to be a little more forward to get the things you want, but if you stay silent, you will not be the leader your Guild deserves.”

“I’ll work on it, milady.” Laika bowed deeply to the Oracle, and both women smiled.

“Lord Nikolas.” The Oracle turned to Nike, and he crossed an arm over his chest and bowed to her. “While you are not destined to be a great ruler, you are a great advisor and expert strategist. You are a skilled warrior, and you will be known as one of the best in history if you choose the right battles. Then you will produce a family of sons who will become skilled warriors under your tutelage.”

“I would be honored to build such a family,” Nike responded with reverence.

“You will,” the Oracle reiterated and turned back to the centaur leader. “River, I know you didn’t want to come here.”

“I know you don’t like visitors,” River mumbled and kicked at a stone at his feet, and his hooves were loud as he shifted his weight back and forth on the rubble.

“While that is true, you have to stop being so stubborn,” the Oracle admonished him. “You have the capability to change centaur history if you will only relax some.”

“Why don’t they have to do anything different?” River grunted and gestured to the rest of us.

I had to admit, his prediction was definitely less glamorous than the rest of ours. And we didn’t have to change anything.

“They are already on their paths to greatness,” the Oracle said with raised eyebrows. “You have avoided yours for the last few decades under the guise of leading the Sagittarius Order. Accept my advice or continue on this path of anonymity. The choice is yours.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” River stamped his hooves and shook his head.

The Oracle furrowed her brow at his response, and Alyona covered her face with her hand. Apparently, that was not the appropriate reaction to one of the Oracle’s predictions.

Mona looked at River with frustration on her face, and I figured she was worried his attitude would affect the chances of the Oracle helping us find Archer.

“I apologize for my commander,” the queen told the Oracle. “He has never been in your great presence.”

“And I won’t punish you for his insolence,” the Oracle replied as she turned her attention back to the queen. “I stand behind my word that I would help you.”

Mona sighed a breath of relief, and her shoulders slumped.

“So, where is the boy?” I cut in.

“He is at a tear to the other world,” the Oracle answered me, though her gaze never left the queen’s face. “You have seen one before. The tear allows demons to escape their world and wreak havoc on ours, much like the Breach.”

“Why is he there?” Mona asked with concern etched across her face.

“He was taken to become a sacrifice,” the Oracle responded without emotion. “A powerful being thrown into the rift will give the demons more power to help them escape their world and devour ours. His captors planned to sacrifice older centaurs, but you altered their plans when you rescued the citizens.”

“Shit,” I mumbled. “So, they had to find someone else to sacrifice. Why take a child?”

“They don’t care about him being a child,” the Oracle said and looked back at me. “They want to give the demons power, and a centaur’s ability to shapeshift and hold great knowledge is powerful.”

“Who are they?” Mona whispered as her eyes filled with tears. “Why are they doing this?”

“His captors bear a tattoo of a green leaf,” the Oracle replied as she returned her gaze to the queen. “You know this symbol?”

“A green leaf?” Mona gasped, and she covered her mouth with her hand. “Cesar has the same marking. I didn’t know--”

“It’s the Green Glass Sect,” I cut her off. “I told you he was the traitor.”

“I-I had no idea,” the queen stammered. “Most of my men have tattoos, but that one stood out because of its color. When I asked him about it, he said it was a reminder of his time in the forest before we took him in.”

“You mean, Cesar wasn’t from Lumin?” I questioned with a sharp frown.

“No.” Mona shook her head. “We found him wandering the forest years ago. He looked nearly starved, and he’d said his village was destroyed by a dragon. He’d supposedly been looking for our city for months.”

“He was a traitor even then,” I growled. “There aren’t many dragons left to have destroyed his village.”

“We’ve had, ah, limited contact with the outside world for a while,” the queen answered evasively.

There was another reference to their isolation that I wondered about, but now wasn’t the time to interrogate her about it.

“Whatever.” I dismissed the talk of Cesar and addressed the Oracle again. “We know he’s a piece of shit, so why does the Sect want to throw Archer in the tear? Why do they want to open the Breach?”

“The Sect wants destruction, though the reasons are of no importance to your mission,” the Oracle answered. “You cannot allow the sacrifice to take place.”

“So, where do we go to stop it?” I demanded.

“I cannot give you an exact location,” she said with a frown. “You have to find it on your own. Just remember what you know about these tears.”

“That’s it?” Mona cried out. “How can we just find it?”

“Do not continue to be blinded by your emotion, centauress,” the Oracle rebuked her. “Your desire to have a daughter blinded you to your friend Cesar’s true nature, and if you let it continue, it will keep you from finding your son.”

“How dare you,” Mona hissed, and her jade eyes flashed with rage. “I have to have a daughter for our tribe to continue on.”

“Yes,” the Oracle agreed as her voice grew louder, “and she will come when the time is right. Do you doubt me?”

Her tone changed from understanding to threatening, and I could see Alyona’s research had been right. The Oracle was getting pissed.

“I doubt you know what’s best for my people,” Mona countered.

Suddenly, the walls around us shook, and a thunderous rumble echoed throughout the cave.

“You dare come to my home and question me?” the Oracle roared, and her face contorted with rage.

Her voice ricocheted off every surface of the cavern, and it sounded like she was everywhere at once. The glowing well shook with her anger, and its blue water spilled over the edges onto the floor. Rivers of the glowing water streamed through the colored rocks and lit up the floor beneath our feet, and we all hastily backed away.

Mona, though, glared at the Oracle with her arms crossed and didn’t back down. Alyona looked back and forth between the two women, and I could tell she was trying to decide if she should intervene or avoid offending the Oracle further.

“You questioned me,” Mona finally answered. “You questioned my knowledge of my people.”

“You allowed a traitor in your house!” the Oracle shrieked and laughed maniacally as the walls continued to shake around her.

Great, so she was also a little crazy. Maybe all the time alone wasn’t so good for even an ancient being.

Small mercury-colored stones dropped from the ceiling, crashed to the ground, and left shards of reflective rock all around us. I turned to my comrades and saw everyone trying to grab onto something stable, but there was nothing to hold on to in the quaking cavern.

“I didn’t know he was a traitor!” Mona argued and stamped her foot. “How was I supposed to know?”

Then the shaking stopped.

“How were you supposed to know?” the Oracle repeated with wide silvery eyes. “You trust your instinct. I know you ignored it, which was a disappointment.”

“Sorry to have disappointed you.” The queen rolled her eyes with her response.

Suddenly, the Oracle shrieked, and a powerful gust of blue and silver wind left her tiny frame and headed straight for us.

“Get out!” the Oracle screeched as the wind pushed us back toward the tunnel.

This lady was fucking nuts, so I turned to the rest of the group and pointed to the tunnel.

“Let’s get out of here!” I yelled over the wind that whistled and echoed through the cave.

Our party turned around and sprinted back through the tunnel, but I looked back to the cave to see Mona standing with her arms straight down her sides and her hair whipping in the wind. River stood next to her with an eye on the exit, and he was clearly torn between standing by his queen and escaping the Oracle’s wrath.

“I want my son!” the queen demanded over the roar of the gusts.

“I said get out!” the Oracle screamed at her.

The glowing well now overflowed with the blue water, which poured onto the floor at Mona’s feet, but the queen didn’t pay any attention to anything except the Oracle.

“Go, I’ll catch up,” I told Alyona and guided her to the tunnel.

Then I ran back to Mona and grabbed her arm. She ignored me for a moment before she faced me, and I saw the look of desperation in her green eyes.

“We’ll find him,” I soothed her. “We got all the information she was going to give.”

“She knows more,” Mona cried out, but I could see her resolve falter.

“Yeah, she does,” I agreed. “But she’s not helping us anymore. Let’s go.”

I kept my hand on the queen’s arm and motioned to River to take her other one, so he grabbed her upper arm and waited.

“I need to find him,” Mona whimpered, and her body went limp against me.

I lifted the queen up to the centaur commander, and River picked her up and threw her over his horse back. Then he nodded to me and galloped into the tunnel, and I followed close behind.

“And never come back!” the Oracle screamed over my shoulder.

She didn’t have to tell me twice.

Chapter 9

As I exited the tunnel, the wind gusts stopped, and the rest of my group stood outside the cave and looked at each other in shock.

What the fuck had just happened?

We were evicted by an ancient wizard lady apparently.

Mona laid crumpled up on the ground at River’s feet, and he murmured to the warriors as they stared in confusion.

“She’s alright,” River told the other centaurs. “She’s just shaken up. We need to get her back to the palace.”

“No,” I cut in. “We don’t have time to go back to the city, and she wouldn’t want that anyway.”

“How do you know what the queen would want?” River sneered.

“Because I know all she wants is to find Archer,” I shot back. “If we go back now, it could mean losing him. We need to keep going and take her with us.”

“We don’t even know where to go!” The centaur commander threw his hands up in exasperation. “How are we supposed to just keep moving?”

“We don’t know the exact place,” Alyona chimed in, “but we do know how to find it.”

“And how’s that?” River asked as he raised a brow at her.

“The Oracle said it’s just like the tear we had by Hatra, right?” Alyona faced the centaur commander. “So, we’re going to have to work together. We know what the tears feel and look like, and you know the land.”

“Then what are we looking for?” River demanded.

“It feels like imminent death,” I growled as I remembered the last experience we had with a tear. “There are probably no animals near it, since it practically oozes with evil, and their instinct is to steer clear of it.”

“For Demi-Humans, you probably sensed something that wasn’t right, too,” Laika added, and her gray wolf ears twitched atop her head. “You probably avoided it without even realizing it.”

“And if you did get close to the tear, it smelled awful.” Alyona wrinkled up her nose as if she could smell the miasma as she spoke. “Like rotting fruit and decaying flesh.”

“Excuse me,” one of the centaur warriors nearly whispered and raised his hand. “I think I might know the place you’re describing.”

“Well?” River prodded him. “What did you see, Jager?”

The warrior named Jager stepped closer to the rest of the group, and his long, golden braid laid over his shoulder and grazed his belly button. His human torso was extremely muscular, and his tattoos rippled as he moved. He didn’t have as much ink as River, but he had quite a bit covering his skin. His horse half was the same golden color as his hair, with one patch of brown on his back that looked like a saddle. His eyes were the same color as sapphires, a deep blue that sparkled when he spoke.

“On a hunt a couple weeks ago, we ventured further out because of the kidnappings,” Jager explained. “A few miles out from the city, near the Dandelion Gates, there’s a place none of us wanted to go.”

“The Dandelion Gates?” Alyona gasped with excitement.

With all the other events that had taken place upon our arrival, we hadn’t had a chance to search or ask about the Gates we’d heard about from the Green Glass Sect member in Tikal.

“Yeah, we don’t go there much since we can usually get the food we need in the forest close to the city,” Jager continued. “But anyway, no one said they were scared or anything, it was just like this unspoken agreement that we didn’t want to go any further.”

“And you’re certain what you experienced is what they’ve described?” River questioned the young warrior with his arms crossed over his chest. The commander obviously doubted everyone now, probably because it wasn’t his idea to keep moving.

“I can’t promise it’s the right place, but I knew what they were describing, sir,” Jager replied with a nod.

“How far away are the Gates from here?” I asked Jager.

“About ten miles that way,” the warrior answered as he pointed in the opposite direction of the city.

The location made sense. It was close enough to the city for the Sect to keep an eye on the centaurs, but it was far enough away that the citizens of Lumin typically wouldn’t bump into them. The irony was it was the Sect’s own plan to kidnap centaurs that led to the warriors coming across their location.

“I don’t like this,” River muttered, and his brow furrowed.

“You don’t have to like it,” I told him. “But we’ve heard other things about the Dandelion Gates in relation to the Green Glass Sect, so we’re going. I think it’s best if most of the group stays back and a few of us scout ahead, though.”

“I’ll go ahead,” Nike volunteered.

“You and Aaliyah should go with me,” I directed. “The rest of you should stay here and wait for the all clear. I can send a messenger back once it’s good to go.”

“Wait just a damn minute.” Mona sat up from where she’d finally composed herself on the ground and glared at me. “I won’t be left here while you take your own people to find my son. I want to be in the loop.”

“What do you propose?” I asked as I raised my brows.

“One of my men goes with you,” the queen replied. She crossed her arms as if to dare me to argue with her, but I’d already decided to invite one of her men.

“Fine,” I agreed. “We’ll take Jager since he knows the place anyway.”

“Oh, uh, fine,” Mona stuttered, and she seemed surprised I didn’t argue.

“It will probably also be better for the boy to see a fellow centaur who isn’t trying to kidnap him,” Alyona added.

“Yeah, that’s a good point,” I conceded with a nod.

“So, the rest of us just sit around here and wait?” River gestured to the clearing around us as his voice dripped with sarcasm.

“Sitting is up to you.” I smirked. “I’d suggest walking with us to the edge of the forest and waiting there. Then you’ll be in a safe place with the queen, but you won’t have as far to catch up with us.”

“We will wait,” Mona answered before River got the chance. “There’s no sense in all of us traveling if it isn’t the right place.”

I was more worried about having the centauress with us if it was actually the right place. She’d already proven to be a liability when she was upset, but I’d let her believe what she wanted to.

We would handle what we needed to.

“Yes, we can rest while they check it out,” Polina said with a kind smile.

“We can even make you somewhere to sit or lie down,” Trina suggested.

“Oh, they can make an amazing bed from moss.” Alyona smiled and reached for the queen’s hand to help her stand. “I’m sure they’ll show you once we get there.”

“Of course!” Marina squeaked.

“You’ll love it,” Ravi chimed in.

My women were doing their best to calm down the queen, and I smiled at each of them for their effort. Mona was a wild card that we had to keep under control, but my lovers were doing an amazing job so far.

“Let’s make our way to the end of the forest,” I suggested.

We lined back up to head out, but this time Alyona and I took charge to lead the way. Mona was still distracted from our time with the Oracle, and River walked with the warriors at the back of the group and murmured to them.

“If you see the dragon do anything out of the ordinary, shoot a flaming arrow straight up,” he told Jager as he clapped a hand on his bare shoulder. “I’ll be there fast as lightning.”

I smirked as I realized he’d probably forgotten about my dragon hearing.

“I do out of the ordinary things all the time,” I said over my shoulder. “You should be more specific next time.”

I could practically see the smoke coming out of River’s ears. One day, he’d learn what kind of dragon I was, but until then, I enjoyed pushing his buttons.

We continued along the path to leave the Oracle’s forest, and the stillness was kind of eerie, especially with the darkness of the dense trees. No birds chirped, and no animals scurried across the forest floor. I knew it was still daytime, but it was hard to tell with the trees blocking out the sunlight. I briefly wondered what the Oracle did to survive. Did she eat? There was nothing here to hunt. Did she sleep? I hadn’t seen a bed or anything in the cavern.

I told you, old magic, Miraya piped up in my head.

“So, old magic doesn’t use any basic human needs?” I furrowed my brow at the idea.

Not really, Miraya answered. They just exist.

Sometimes this magic shit was really weird.

I refocused on the path ahead when I realized Alyona was looking at me with her bright, violet eyes.

“Sorry, I was talking to the Sword of Hatra,” I chuckled.

“Oh,” Alyona giggled. “I forget she’s in there sometimes.”

I saw Miraya in my mind’s eye as she put her hands on her hips.

“She doesn’t mean it in a bad way, Miraya,” I snickered. “Don’t take it so personally.”

The spirit of the Sword of Hatra huffed and sashayed away from the forefront of my thoughts.

I watched her voluptuous hips bounce from side to side and grinned at the idea of Miraya joining my harem of beautiful women. It was definitely something I’d be interested in figuring out. My cock pressed against my trousers at the idea of Miraya riding me while I buried my face between Alyona’s legs …

“Is this where you think we should wait, my love?” Alyona’s sweet voice pierced through my daydream and brought me back to the present.

“Yeah,” I agreed as I looked around the last part of the path that was still under the forest’s canopy. “This looks good.”

“As we promised, Your Highness,” Polina announced as the sisters made their way closer to the queen.

The dryads strolled over to a patch of moss and closed their eyes, and within seconds, a fancier version of the moss beds we’d used on our journey to Lumin rose up from the ground. The green bed sat up about three feet from the forest floor, and it appeared to be fuller than the original versions the dryads had made. The mossy mattress looked fluffier and inviting, and I almost wanted to rest up, too.

“This one is even nicer than the ones we made before,” Trina declared with a proud smile.

“Yeah, we made it special for you,” Marina added as she bounced on her toes.

Mona strutted over to the moss bed and patted the top. Then she sat down on the edge of it, and her body sunk into the creation. A smile flitted across her face as she laid back, and she threw her legs onto the bed.

“This is extraordinary,” Mona mumbled. “I like your magic.”

“We do, too!” Trina giggled.

With that, the queen relaxed and closed her eyes.

“Send for us the moment you find the location,” she ordered without looking up.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Jager responded with a hand crossed over his broad chest.

“And remember what I said,” River piped up.

“Yeah, keep an eye on me.” I winked at the centaur commander before I turned back to my princess.

“Be safe,” Alyona murmured as she stood on her tiptoes to give me a kiss.

“I always am,” I replied and kissed her back hard.

“And I’ll keep her safe,” Laika promised.

“I know.” I leaned over, pressed a kiss between the wolf’s gray ears, and watched her tail swish with satisfaction. “You always do.”

“Are you sure you don’t need one more?” Ravi asked with her eyes cast downward.

“I think you’d be better off here as a lookout,” I suggested. “You can shift and keep watch from the trees.”

“Good idea!” The phoenix perked up and pecked me on the cheek. “I’ll see you soon!”

As soon as she’d finished her words, Ravi’s human form flashed into a column of fire, and her bird form emerged. Then she took flight into the shady trees above us.

The dryads looked content as they cared for the centaur queen. They’d used their magic to conjure up a pillow and blanket for her moss bed, and all four of the women seemed to be satisfied with getting ready to rest.

“Are you ready, Lord Evan?” Aaliyah’s orange eyes flashed with excitement, and I knew she was ready for another hunt. The lioness enjoyed going after her prey, especially when she was able to finish the job with her bare claws.

“Yeah,” I replied and turned to face the scouting group. “Let’s head out.”

The four of us stalked out of the forest and back into daylight. While the sun had lowered, it was still at least an hour from going down, which gave us just enough time to get to the Dandelion Gates and assess the situation before the moon took over the sky. We could use the cover of darkness if we needed to, but it was important for us to see what we were up against before that.

We turned away from Lumin and headed for an open, grassy field. The expanse was filled with a tall, yellowish grass that blocked much of my view ahead. The grass stood about six feet tall, and most of it was topped with some kind of fuzzy buds. As we walked, I noticed there were only a few other flowers and trees in the field, and they were nowhere near as big as the ones in the forest. This flora looked more like the plant life back on Earth.

The trees stood a mere twelve or fifteen feet tall, and the flowers were smaller than my hand. The neon yellow and blue flowers popped through the soil at random intervals all along the direction we were headed. There was no trail or pathway to follow, so I kept checking with the centaur to make sure we were headed in the right direction.

Jager seemed to have no doubt about where to go, though, so we continued to follow his lead.

“So, Jager, how long have you been a member of the Sagittarius Order?” I asked.

“Thirty-four years, Lord Evan,” the centaur answered without looking at me.

“Wait, so how old are you?” I was surprised at his answer. He didn’t look a day over twenty.

“I’m sixty-five,” he chuckled. “Don’t dragons age slowly as well?”

“Ah, yeah,” I answered. “I’m pretty young for a dragon, though, so I don’t know much.”

“River said the Oracle implied you’re not from Rahma.” Jager raised a brow and looked down at me. “Is that true?”

“Yeah,” I confirmed, “but I was adopted by my parents in Hatra, so my blood says I belong here now.”

Jaeger seemed alright so far, but I didn’t want to give away too much information. I knew he’d report everything back to River, and I didn’t need to give him any more ammunition to hate me.

“I believe you belong wherever you want to be,” Jager said with a shrug as he returned his attention to the grassy field ahead of us. “An adoption ceremony is just a magical way of making it official.”

The centaur continued to surprise me. I figured the city’s rigid rules wouldn’t create an open-minded person.

“Lord Evan.” Nike got my attention, and I slowed to even my steps with his. “What is the plan when we find the Dandelion Gates?”

“It depends on how long it takes us to get there,” I murmured. “I think we should handle things the best we can before the queen arrives. She’s a bit of a loose cannon right now.”

“I’ll say,” Aaliyah huffed, and her orange eyes narrowed. “She got us kicked out of the Oracle’s cave, so we need to see if we can save the boy before she can catch up.”

“Agreed,” I muttered and dipped my head. “I think we should go ahead and alert the rest of the group once we’ve arrived, but we should make a rescue plan that we can carry out before they get there.”

“I know you don’t know much about centaurs, but I can hear you,” Jager called out from a few feet ahead of us.

Well, shit. There went the element of surprise.

“Listen, Jager--” I started.

“No, go ahead,” he cut me off. “I do think we should rescue the child before the queen can intervene. She isn’t thinking clearly, and it could hurt our chances of being successful.”

Ooookay, that was unexpected.

“Well, then I guess we can wait until we see what’s going on and form a plan before we send for them,” I continued slowly. “Then we can save the boy before she gets there, and she can be a little more reasonable since he’ll be safe.”

Suddenly, Jager waved his hand through the air and covered his mouth with a finger to shush us. He pointed ahead, and I noticed the grass waving as though someone was walking a few feet ahead of our group.

I reached into my spatial storage and pulled out the Sword of Healing, and I noticed out of the corner of my eye as Nike did the same with the Sword of Light. Aaliyah’s claws fully extended as her orange eyes scanned the grass before us, and her lips curled back to reveal her fangs.

Then the grasses parted, we stepped to the edge of a pond, and a large black body came into view.

Jager released a sigh.

“It’s just a sarangay,” he muttered.

Just a sarangay? That thing was huge. The beast stood on four legs and was still nearly as tall as the grass. Its big black head was decorated with two enormous horns that stuck out above its ears and then curved forward as though ready to attack. It looked something like a bull, but at least twice the size of the ones I’d seen back on Earth.

Then I noticed the two diamonds that hung from each of its ears. Each jewel was the size of my fists, and they sparkled in the sunlight as though they wanted my attention.

I was mesmerized as I stared hungrily at the diamonds.

“It will kill you to keep them,” Jager whispered when he followed my gaze. “Don’t even think about it, dragon.”

“It can try,” I grunted as I took a few steps forward to get a better look.

Jager huffed as I peered through the grass at the beast. It didn’t even notice us watching it, and I smiled to myself.

I was about to add to my hoard.

I closed my eyes and reached out with my magic to call the pond water into my spiritual sea. I felt the water obey my command, and I stuck out my hand to direct the water in front of the sarangay.

Then I created a spear from the fluid, and it shot out of the pond like a rocket. The water spear pierced the sarangay in the throat, and the beast let out a loud gurgle while its blood poured from the wound.

“How the hell?” Jager’s blue eyes were wide with surprise as I let the water spear return to the pond.

A moment later, the creature crashed to the ground next to the pool, squirmed a couple times, and then laid still.

I emerged from the grass, walked up to the beast, placed a foot on its motionless carcass, and rolled it to its side. Then I reached down and plucked the enormous diamonds from its ears. I grinned as I turned the jewels over in my hands before I opened my spatial storage and carefully placed them inside.

“Can you eat this?” I asked Jager and gestured to the sarangay’s body.

“Uh, yeah,” the centaur answered as he, Nike, and Aaliyah joined me at the water’s edge.

“Great,” I replied and lifted my sword. Then I sliced the body into a few smaller pieces and added them to my spatial storage as well. I’d give them to the cooks once we got back to Lumin, since I needed some more meat tonight.

Satisfied with my work, I stood up and surveyed the pond. No other creatures made an appearance, so we were clear to keep moving.

“So, it’s true what they say,” Jager said once we were back on the move.

“What’s that?” I replied as I glanced at him.

“Dragons are obsessed with treasure.” The warrior stared straight ahead as he awaited my response.

“Yep,” I answered with a shrug. “We have a sense for it, and once we’re on the trail of treasure, it’s nearly impossible to stop hunting for it until we get it. I love women, too.”

“Oh.” Jager fumbled in his footing for a moment before he recovered. “So, you just take whatever you want?”

“No.” I raised a brow. “We take unclaimed treasure without hesitation, but we don’t steal. Or, at least, I don’t. I don’t know about other dragons, though River told me the stories of the ones your tribe dealt with before. I’m not like that.”

“Good.” Jager’s shoulders sank with relief.

“Lord Evan isn’t anything like what you’ve heard,” Aaliyah piped up. “I wasn’t expecting someone so kind and giving. We’d heard a lot of stories, too.”

“Where are you from?” Jager asked as he looked at the Demi-Human.

“Tikal,” Aaliyah replied and lifted her chin with pride. “We came to Lumin from there. I decided to join them on their campaign.”

“You left your home for the dragon?” the centaur asked in surprise.

“Yes,” she confirmed. “I’ll return to Tikal later, but I wanted to be with Lord Evan and his people on this adventure.”

“Interesting,” Jager murmured.

We walked another couple miles in silence as the centaur absorbed the information about me and my group. It seemed he was trying to reconcile the stories he’d grown up on with the actual experience of getting to know me. He didn’t show any signs of the fierce hatred that River harbored, but he was still cautious of me.

Soon, we came upon a large hill, and Jager put up a hand to stop us. The sun was low in the sky, almost ready to set, and the twilight gave us a little more cover than walking up in broad daylight.

Then I realized we were close to the tear. We could all feel the negative energy that emanated from the gap to the other world, and it felt like we could all get sucked in at any moment and be lost forever. It was almost enough to make us want to turn back, which explained why the Sect had chosen this location. Most creatures would instinctively leave the area, which gave the Sect easy added security.

“The Gates are just over this hill,” Jager muttered. “I think we’ll be able to see down there, but we should make sure they don’t have guards at the top.”

“Got it,” I agreed. “Aaliyah, you should go up first. You’re the quietest. If there’s a sentry at the top of the hill, take care of the problem silently. We’ll follow at a safe distance.”

The lioness nodded and began a lithe ascent to the top of the hill. Then she disappeared into the tall grasses, and they barely showed any sign of her movement. If anyone was watching, they’d mistake it for a breeze moving the tops of the tall grass.

Once she was about ten paces ahead of us, I signaled the other two to follow me. Jager stayed hunched over, so his human torso wouldn’t show above the grass, while Nike and I tiptoed up the hill.

Suddenly, a robed body rolled down through the grass to our feet. The man’s throat had been gouged out with large claws, and his empty eyes were wide open.

I guess Aaliyah had found the guard.

A few moments later, we joined her up at the top of the hill and peered down into the valley.

The Dandelion Gates were a massive metal structure that towered above the hills surrounding it. They were shaped like gates, though it didn’t look like they led to anything in particular. The structures stood on their own, and the field around them consisted of a shorter grass and a variety of flowers. Blues, oranges, and pinks brightened the ground around the golden frames, so technically the Dandelion Gates were beautiful, but the ominous feeling remained.

Evil was close.

Chapter 10

I surveyed the scene below us with my high-power dragon vision.

The Dandelion Gates towered over the camp and extended about half the length of a football field. Each gate had about ten thick spokes that spread out from a circle in the middle, and it gave them the look of a sun in the center of each gate. The spokes connected to wide, gold bars, and large stone columns held the gates in place. The sun had started to set, and the golden structure reflected the waning sunlight and created a pinkish halo around the Green Glass Sect’s camp.

I wondered briefly what the Dandelion Gates had been built for, but I shook my head to clear away the random thoughts and focused on the camp instead.

There were three Sect members who guarded the perimeter around their camp, and another one stood guard on the hill diagonal from us. Two more members were hunched over a piece of parchment on a table, and several tents were lined up in a row off to the side. I imagined there were at least one or two of the kidnappers in each of the tents as well. The tents indicated the Sect members had been here for a while, though there was no telling how long they’d planned to stay.

But we were about to shorten their trip.

A small fire burned in the center of the camp, but it emitted no smoke. So, at least one mage was here to set up their magical fire that kept the location a secret. A thought flitted through my mind about a sage, and I briefly wondered if Olivier was the sage the Green Glass Sect seemed to blindly follow. I’d be sure to ask him when I finally caught him.

We’d heard mention of a base camp before, but there was no way this was all of the Green Glass Sect’s members. With the battles we’d faced already, I imagined the Sect numbers were possibly in the hundreds, but there were only maybe twenty people here.

I scanned the ground to look for Olivier. I knew he had to be involved with something this big, but I didn’t see him so far. Even if he wasn’t here, though, he likely had a hand in the plan to kidnap Archer, which just added to my list of reasons to kill the bastard.

As my eyes skipped over the camp, the rift stood out from the rest of the peaceful scenery. The smoky miasma leaked from the opening and swirled into the air, but it seemed to have no interest in attacking the Sect members, likely because it somehow knew they were helping the demons escape their world. We’d suspected some kind of consciousness to the miasma, and this seemed to confirm it. I still wasn’t sure if it was a true hive mentality, or if the spells that released the miasma somehow came with a level of control. If I could ever catch one of the mages, I’d have to find that part out, too. I’d never seen a mark on the miasma, but I doubted anything would be clear on its hazy form.

Still, the gate to the underworld sent shudders down my spine. This one was considerably larger than the one we’d seen by Hatra. It stretched almost the full length of the Dandelion Gates, and it was probably fifteen feet wide. There was no telling how deep it was, especially since it wasn’t like a big pool. The rift was a tear in the reality of our world, and normal measurements couldn’t define it.

Then I saw Archer, and my focus changed.

The young centaur was tied to the bottom of one of the gates, nearly hidden by the shadows of the tall metal structures, and two Sect members stood guard over him. They were paying little attention to the child, though, and he pouted as he stared at the ground by his feet. He didn’t appear to be injured, but he was dirty, and his hair was wild. He wore no shoes or shirt, but he was wearing what looked like a nightgown.

So, Cesar had moved him in the middle of the night. His attempts to look for the boy this morning were part of a big ruse to allow the other kidnappers to take Archer further from the city, and it had worked since they’d gotten him all the way here without leaving a trace.

I focused on the Sect members who were looking at the parchment and tuned my dragon hearing into their conversation. In case the centaurs decided to kill all the captors again, I needed to learn what I could about their plans.

They seemed to be preparing for the sacrifice.

“We have to get him to shapeshift before we put him in the tear,” one of the men said. “The centaur form makes the spell work better, according to this.”

“He’s not listening to us,” the second guy grumbled. “He only listens to Cesar.”

“Well, then get that idiot back over here,” the first man demanded. “Where did he go, anyway?”

So, the traitor was here somewhere, but no one seemed to know where.

I had a feeling I’d be able to find him.

“He claims he didn’t know the whole plan and won’t help us anymore,” the second man replied with an eye roll. “He said Olivier only told him we needed him to get to the queen, not that any harm would come to the boy.”

“Who knows what Olivier told him?” the first Sect member said with a shrug. “I just know we have to get the transformation done, so we have to figure something out before Olivier comes back. We can’t disappoint him.”

Now that I had some information, I turned back to my three comrades.

“They need Archer to shift into his centaur form to complete the sacrifice,” I informed them. “So far, the boy isn’t listening to them at all, but we have to get him out of here before they try any other methods. Plus, Olivier should be making an appearance at some point, so we need to make sure Archer is out of harm’s way before then.”

Aaliyah and Nike nodded solemnly, and I summoned a messenger dragon to send to the rest of our party.

“Tell Alyona and the others we found the boy and the Sect,” I instructed. “We need Alyona to come seal the rift once we get rid of them.”

The tiny dragon dipped its head and buzzed away from my hand to head back to the Oracle’s forest. We would have just less than an hour until they arrived, which was plenty of time to figure out how we could handle all the guards without putting Archer into danger. As the Oracle mentioned, Nike was an excellent strategist, so I figured he would be able to come up with a plan that suited everyone’s abilities on the battlefield.

I turned back to the group to plan an attack, but then Jager suddenly shoved past me and barreled down the hill to the Sect camp, straight for Archer.

“Wait--” I tried to reach for him, but he was galloping to attack.

I cursed under my breath and took off after him with Nike and Aaliyah close on my heels. I veered to the side and shifted into my dragon form without missing a beat. Then I ran, jumped, and flapped my wings to take flight just as the centaur warrior broke through the edge of the camp.

The Sect members yelled and scrambled for cover as the centaur pulled out his bow and shot the first assassin in the leg. Jager quickly yanked another arrow from his quiver and shot another Sect member in the chest, and he continued to gallop toward Archer until a dagger whizzed by him. Then he changed direction to go after the Sect member who had attacked him.

The centaur had really fucked with our ability to attack together, but we needed to make the most of it now.

So, I circled around the camp and breathed a column of fire onto the tents, and a dozen Sect members screamed as they tore free of the burning canvas and ran toward the middle of the camp. I started to send out a wave of earthquake magic to separate them from the other members, but then I realized I didn’t know how it would affect the rift. The last thing I needed was to open it any further, so I held off and sent cracks of lightning at them instead. The lightning bolts buzzed to the ground and sent up sparks in every direction, and in the twilight, the lightning looked out of place and eerie.

Two Sect members were electrocuted by the lightning shocks and fell to the ground in a heap. The others dodged the strikes and continued to run away from me and my magical assaults, but I’d catch up with them soon.

I looked over to see Nike wielding the Sword of Light as he entered the battle. One of the Sect members sprinted toward him with a long spear in hand, but Nike swung the sword in a wide arc and sliced through the attacker’s torso with one swoop. The assassin crashed to the ground in two pieces at Nike’s feet, and the noble stepped over him as he continued the attack.

I grinned at my best friend’s swordsmanship and looped around again toward the parchment the men were studying before. It looked like some kind of spell, and I wanted to make sure no one else could use it. If they were willing to sacrifice a child for it, the spell or whatever it was had to go.

So, I breathed fire over the parchment and the table it sat on. The table erupted into flames, and the two Sect members who stood near it yelled as they dove away from the fire. They stood up and ran away from me, but they ran straight for the rest of my party.

I saw Aaliyah out of the corner of my eye as she leaped onto one of the assassins and dug her claws into his face. He screamed as blood poured down his face and neck, but the lioness opened her mouth, planted her long canines into his throat, and yanked her head back. The force ripped out his jugular and sent a spray of blood across the grass in front of him, and the Sect member’s blood curdling screams stopped as Aaliyah finished the job. Then she tossed the nearly decapitated body aside and searched for her next prey.

The two guards beside the boy left their posts and ran over to assist their companions, and I realized we needed to take full advantage of the opening.

“Jager!” I roared to the centaur as he stomped a Sect member’s head into mush. “Get Archer!”

The warrior dipped his head and galloped over to the centaur boy to untie the ropes that bound him to the gates.

Then I saw a flash of blonde hair across the camp, and I turned to see Olivier as he threw off his hood and glared at me.

I knew he’d be around here somewhere.

“Fucking dragon,” the man snarled.

Apparently, he wasn’t happy to see me, either.

The feeling was mutual, except I just wanted to kill him.

“Traitor,” I growled, made a beeline for the bastard, and shot a stream of webs at his feet to keep him from taking off.

Olivier looked down at his feet in surprise before he mumbled a spell, and the webs melted away in seconds. Then he laughed and began another spell.

I watched as the magical green sparks left his fingers, and it looked like when Alyona began her portal.

“Shit!” I tightened my wings close to my body to speed up my approach. As I opened my maw to bellow fire on the mage, his portal opened, and he bounded into the opening. I heard him laugh again as he made his escape, and I wanted to tear his limbs from his body.

I’d fucking catch him soon, and that day would be his last.

I looped back around to the others who were still locked in battle with the Sect members. Only six of the traitors remained after the rest attempted to battle my party, and I watched Nike lunge into one of them with his sword. The blade drilled through the Sect member’s gut and exited his back as blood dripped from the weapon. Then Nike yanked his blade back without even breaking a sweat and faced off with another assassin.

I couldn’t let Nike and Aaliyah have all the fun, so I roared to get some of the Sect members’ attention on me. Two of them looked up, and I used the basilisk’s power to petrify them. As soon as their eyes met mine, the Sect members’ bodies stiffened and crumpled to the ground, and I topped them off with a torrent of fire for good measure.

The burning bodies satisfied my dragon desire to conquer all my enemies.

Aaliyah suddenly burst onto the scene below me and swiped a claw at one of the last three Sect members. He ducked and swung at her with his dagger, but the lioness leaped over his extended arm and bit down on it. The assassin yelled and grabbed the oozing wound, and the Demi-Human took the moment to wrap her hands around the man’s head and squeezed. Then she used her momentum to slam his head into the ground face first, and she dug her claws into his back. She shredded his robe and tunic to expose his bare skin, which was already covered in blood from her slashing blows. The Sect member finally laid still, and Aaliyah climbed off his back with blood dripping from her claws.

Fuck, the lioness was sexy. Her hunting attire was covered in sprays of blood, and her face gleamed with sweat. I watched her lick one of her claws and face the last two members of the Sect. Then I realized we still had to interrogate one of them, and I refocused my attention on the battle.

“Leave one alive!” I called down to Nike and Aaliyah as they both turned to face the remaining traitors.

I angled my body for a landing and shifted into my human form a few feet before I hit the ground. Once my feet landed on the dirt, I pulled the Sword of Healing from my spatial storage and sprinted toward the action. Then I let out a battle cry as I swung the sword around and slashed through the middle of one of the Sect members. As I watched the two halves of his body fall, I looked up to see Nike standing over the last one with his sword pressed to the bastard’s neck.

“Great job, Nike,” I congratulated him. I turned to check on Jager, and I saw him put Archer on his horseback before he trotted over to us.

“How is he?” Aaliyah asked the warrior with concern etched across her face.

We all looked at the small child, who had his arms wrapped around the centaur’s waist and his face pressed to his back.

“He’s shaken up,” Jager replied. “He won’t say anything.”

“Mona should be here soon,” I said. “Maybe he’ll perk up with her here.”

“I hope so.” The centaur’s face was set into a grim frown.

Then my dragon hearing picked up on movement near the edge of the camp, and I turned to see a hooded figure as he tried to sneak up the hill and escape.

“Oh, fuck, no,” I grumbled and raced toward the retreating Sect member. As I came up behind him, I grabbed his hood and yanked him back so I could press the blade of my sword to his throat.

The hood fell off and revealed Cesar in his human form.

“So, the coward was trying to run away, huh?” I chuckled as I dragged him back to where the rest of the group stood and tossed him at their feet. “Looks like Mona is still going to get her wish. Cesar is alive.”

“Traitorous bastard!” Jager bellowed and kicked the other centaur’s limp body with his hooved foot.

Cesar whimpered and curled himself into the fetal position.

“Well, don’t kill him now,” I scolded. “She should be here any minute. Let her figure out what to do with him.”

I considered petrifying Cesar, but since I wasn’t sure how to undo that just yet, I decided to hold him down with a layer of webs instead. I also removed his Sect tattoo before I left him in his curled-up form and covered him from his shoulders to his feet in the sticky webbing. Then I remembered how the warriors had torn through my webs with ease during our first battle, so I shot another layer over him.

He wasn’t going anywhere.

I returned my attention to the Sect member who trembled under Nike’s sword. His robes were torn, and I could see the green leaf tattoo marked on his chest. He laid with his arms at his sides, so I shot a set of webs to hold each hand down. Then I shot a couple more webs at his legs to ensure he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Did you really think you’d get away with kidnapping the prince?” I asked the traitor.

“I don’t have to talk to you,” he answered and turned his head away. “You’ll never find all of us anyway.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I demanded and pushed my sword against his throat.

“I, ah, I just mean there are a lot of our people in the forest still,” the traitor mumbled.

“Oh?” I raised a brow. “Anything else?”

“You won’t get past the traps to get to the people anyway,” he laughed without humor. “And I won’t tell you where they are.”

“Oh, there are traps now.” I snickered, shrugged, and pressed my own sword to the tattoo.

“What--what are you doing?” the Sect member stammered.

“Getting my answers,” I replied as I reached out to Miraya in my spiritual sea to help me heal the mark. The sword warmed in my hand, and my healing ability combined with the sword’s power to draw the Green Glass Sect’s curse out of the tattoo. The ink glowed a bright green as we pulled out the magic, and the man moaned with discomfort. Finally, the glow faded, and the tattoo was nothing more than normal ink again.

“What did you do?” the man shrieked as he stared down at his chest.

“I got rid of the curse,” I explained as I placed the sword back into my spatial storage. “Now, they think you’re dead.”

“Oh, gods,” the Sect member moaned and dropped his head back. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”

“I’ve done it a few times, my friend,” I laughed. “It’s the only way any of you will talk to me. Unless you prefer the torture?”

“What?” The man’s eyes widened as he stared at me. “No, I don’t even know anything. I’m nobody.”

“What’s your name?” I demanded.

“Gavin,” the Sect member answered after a moment.

“Okay, Gavin, here’s how this is going to work,” I explained. “I’m going to ask you a question. You can either answer it truthfully, or I can let the beautiful Lady Aaliyah sharpen her claws with your bones. Do you understand the rules?”

Gavin looked over to Aaliyah, who used one of her claws to dig a piece of flesh from her teeth and then grinned at him. He inhaled sharply, returned his gaze to me, and nodded with vigor.

“Great.” I smiled. “Now, why did the Sect want to make a sacrifice to the Breach?”

“It gives the demons power,” he mumbled.

“And why would we want them to have more power?” I asked with a quirked brow.

“The more power they gain in the underworld, the easier it is for them to escape into our realm,” Gavin replied.

“If they escape, what does that do for the Green Glass Sect?” I frowned as I tried to understand the Sect’s logic.

“The sage believes if we help the demons, they will be loyal to us when they get here,” he answered with a shrug. “Then we can use them to take over kingdoms and stuff.”

“Who is the sage?” I demanded.

“Well, that’s a trick question … ” Gavin trailed off.

“Lady Aaliyah has a couple tricks, too,” I growled, and the lioness stepped closer to our captive, who shuddered in response. “Tell me who the sage is.”

“It really is a trick question,” Gavin insisted. “The sage is whoever he wants to be. He has more magic than anyone has ever seen. He can look young, old, male, female, human, Demi-Human, whatever he wants!”

I glanced up at Nike, who shrugged his shoulders.

“So, he can look however he wants, but who is he really?” I narrowed my eyes at Gavin.

“No one knows,” he murmured. “He’s the one who recruited everyone. I heard one of the mages say he uses dark magic to be immortal.”

So, Olivier could be the sage, and that face was just one of many faces he could use. Could he have been the necromancer, too? If so, the sage was not only our biggest threat in the Green Glass Sect, but he was also the leader of the attempted dragon genocide.

Just then, I heard the distinct sound of hooves pounding into the ground, and we all turned as River and the other centaur warriors crested the hill above us. I waved them down to where we waited with our two prisoners, and River led the warriors, Mona, Alyona, Laika, Ravi, and the dryad sisters down to what was left of the camp.

“I thought you were sending for us immediately,” River grumbled. “It looks like all the work here is already done.”

“We, ah, had to move more quickly than anticipated,” I answered and rubbed at the back of my neck. I didn’t want to blame Jager outright, even though he was the reason for our quick attack.

“It was my fault, sir,” Jager confessed as he stepped forward. “Once I saw the prince, I knew I had to save him. I started the battle without waiting for you. Or waiting for anyone, really.”

“Archer?” Mona called out as she shoved through the warriors and barreled toward her son.

“Mama!” Archer finally sat up and reached for his mother.

The queen pulled her son from Jager’s back and wrapped him in a bear hug. Tears of joy streamed down both of their faces as they clung to each other with relief, and the rest of us shared a look and smiled. Even though nothing went according to plan, bringing these two back together was worth it.

Suddenly, the queen looked up from her son and realized Cesar was curled up at our feet next to the Sect prisoner.

“You,” she whispered, and if looks could kill, Mona would have ripped Cesar to shreds with that look.

“Your Highness, I--” Cesar began.

“Silence,” Mona snarled in a quiet tone. “You betrayed me and our people, but the worst part is you betrayed my son. And for that, you will suffer.”

Cesar shuddered and closed his eyes. He looked like a man on death row, and he probably was reconsidering his crime.

“Take him away,” River ordered the warriors.

The centaurs pulled the layers of webbing from Cesar’s body and yanked him to his feet. They tied a rope around his waist and hands, and they looped it around each of his ankles. Then one of the centaurs held the end of the rope like a leash. Not only was Cesar not going to escape his fate, but he was going to be dragged through the city like a dog to show the citizens what he’d done.

As the warriors began their return to Lumin with their prisoner, I faced Alyona.

“We have to seal the rift,” I said and pointed to the demon gate that now released more tendrils of black smoke. The miasma wasn’t content to stay near the rift now that the Sect members were gone.

“Gods, that tear is considerably larger than the last one,” Alyona gasped at the expanse. “I have no choice but to use the Sutra of Forty-Four Seals. I only hope I have enough power without my father.”

“You do,” I assured her. “The Oracle said you have more than you think, remember?”

“Yeah, you’re the best priestess in Rahma!” Trina chimed in.

“Those demon assholes won’t know what hit them!” Marina cheered.

“See, everyone believes in you,” I said and smiled at the princess. “Now, I’ll come with you and give you a layer of healing while you start the spell. Okay?”

“Okay.” Alyona returned my smile and linked her fingers through mine.

We walked toward the tear, and I could feel the evil as it seeped out of the ground. The stench that accompanied the miasma also became stronger as we got closer to the demon gate. Ebony smoke spiraled out of the gash in the ground, and tendrils of black oozed onto the grass and dirt around it. The rift wouldn’t stay contained for long without the Sect here, so we had to seal it fast.

I sent out a glittery layer of my healing to cover the princess as we walked closer to the tear. Even though she was a pure being, I’d already seen what the miasma could do if it infected her, and I would do whatever I needed to keep her safe.

Alyona ventured closer to the gash and gasped, and I covered myself with the healing power so I could join her. Then we both looked down into the rift, and I inhaled sharply.

The miasma was like the steam on top of a volcano, but the demons under the surface were the magma. They roiled together as they reached for the opening to our world in desperation. Their faces melded together, and their grayish bodies writhed with their efforts to escape. It was hard to tell if they were smoky like the miasma or solid like us. Their wails and gasps filled the air around us, and I started to feel uneasy.

I suddenly had the feeling we had to close the tear now, or it would be nearly impossible.

“Let’s just seal this shit up,” I mumbled as I took a step back.

“Yeah,” Alyona murmured. “We can’t let them out.”

The princess stepped back with me and closed her eyes. She held her hands out, and purple and white symbols rose into the air around her as she whispered the words of the sutra. The symbols glowed as her magic flowed from her hands, and the symbols ebbed and flowed like waves around her body. The waves of magic swirled up above Alyona’s head and then dove toward the rift in rings of pure white light. I’d seen the sutra before when Alyona performed the spell with her father, but it was even more captivating when she did it alone.

“Evil will inevitably destroy itself,” I heard Alyona murmur as the white rings crashed into the ground around the tear.

Slowly, the black spirals that had been burned into the grass retreated to the rift, and the dying plants started to turn green again.

“ … from these sorrows and desires, fear comes,” Alyona continued under her breath, and another set of magical rings rose from the waves, though these were silver in color, and crashed into the rift.

The smoky miasma appeared to be pulled back into the gash, as if her magic had shoved it back into the underworld.

“ … inevitably, they will be consumed by the flames … ” Alyona built up the third layer of the spell, and black, smoky sutra rings flew above her head before they slammed into the tear.

“ … courage and virtue, brought about by a resolute mind … ” Alyona’s voice rose in volume as she neared the end of the sutra, and the rings that rose now were a bloody-red with flames that curled over their edges.

A subtle thudding sound echoed in the air surrounding us, and the magical rings began to spin around the entire demon gate. They didn’t blur together this time, since the expanse was so much larger, but they spun with a fury.

“Cease!” Alyona cried out, and the rings froze in place. “And thus, will the darkness leave.”

Then the world felt like it stood still for a moment as the rings and the rift disappeared. One second, they were there, and the next, nothing. It was as though the tear simply ceased to exist.

I grinned and looked at the princess, just in time to catch her as she fainted.

“Alyona!” I gasped as I wrapped my arms around her, but she didn’t respond.

I frowned and sent out my glittery healing power, but she didn’t awaken, so I checked on her status instead.

Classification: Divinity

Condition: Fatigued

Priority: Sufficient rest will aid recovery from over use of power

Danger: None

Status: Fatigued

I sighed in relief. I’d worried about her proximity to the miasma, but it hadn’t sent her into another coma. She’d just used all her energy to complete the sutra on her own.

Ravi and Laika rushed over as I held the princess’ limp body in my arms.

“Is she okay?” Ravi asked with a concerned frown.

“Yeah,” I mumbled. “She used all her energy to seal that tear.”

“She needs rest,” Laika agreed, and her gray wolf ears flattened against her head. “We need to get her back to the palace.”

I nodded and cradled Alyona in my arms.

“Oh, gods, she isn’t dead, is she?” Mona asked as we approached the group. The queen had shifted to her centaur form and placed her son on her horse back, and he gripped her torso tightly and ignored the rest of us.

“No,” I replied. “She just needs to sleep. Let’s get back to Lumin.”

“Would you like to put her on my back, Lord Evan?” River offered, and his face was kind as he gestured to his horse back.

“Thank you,” I murmured as I gently laid the princess across his back.

“You and your people have done even more for us than I could have imagined,” Mona said with glistening green eyes. “You’ve rid us of two beasts, saved my son, and now closed this hole to the world of demons. I will forever be in your debt.”

“No, Your Highness.” I shook my head. “I said I would help you with what you needed as a service to my people. I don’t want you to be indebted to me. I only want your loyalty to the crown and to Rahma.”

“You have it,” the queen swore. “And you have the help of my people in defeating this Green Glass Sect. We won’t stand for their betrayal of our nation.”

Mona glanced at Cesar as she spoke and grimaced.

“Do you have a prison?” I asked and changed the subject after a moment.

“Yes,” River responded. “Why?”

“Well, we have two prisoners who might be able to help us with the defeating the Sect thing.” I gave him a half-smile as I motioned to Gavin.

“Oh, we have the perfect place for them,” River said with a malicious grin.

“I do have one other favor to ask of you, Lord Evan,” Mona said as she looked down.

“Name it,” I replied. I was curious what else the centaurs needed.

“I’ll explain on the way back,” she answered and waved to the rest of the group to begin walking back up the hill.

Well, this should be interesting.

Chapter 11

We trudged down the hill and away from the Green Glass Sect’s demolished camp as the moon rose higher up into the sky. River carried Alyona on his back, and Mona carried her son on hers. The two warriors who were in charge of Cesar were ahead of us on the path back to Lumin. Ravi, Aaliyah, and the dryads walked together behind River, while Nike and Laika brought up the rear behind the queen and me.

Mona hadn’t talked about what was on her mind yet, and I started to wonder if we were going to have to kill some other random creature for her.

“So, what else is going on?” I prodded the silent queen.

Mona hesitated as she walked next to me, so I gave her a moment to answer.

“It seems silly compared to everything else you’ve done for us,” she finally mumbled.

“Don’t worry about it,” I replied with a shrug. “Like I said, we want the city to be where it needs to be, so if something is keeping Lumin from that, let’s fix it.”

“Well, we used to rely on the Solas to surround Lumin, but they’ve disappeared,” the queen explained. “It isn’t fair to call them guards or something. We have the Sagittarius Order for that, but the Solas are more like a link between us and the outside world.”

“Uh, what are Solas?” I questioned. I’d never heard of them before.

“Solas are pure creatures of the light,” Polina chimed in from in front of us.

“They reject anything and anyone that isn’t pure,” Trina added over her shoulder.

“Yeah, they’re kind of like phoenixes in their purity, but they’re much tinier,” Marina giggled.

“The dryads are correct,” Mona agreed. “The Solas used to stay along our walls and tell us when someone without pure intentions approached. They also kept us in touch with the outside world.”

“So, that’s why everyone is so behind here?” I finally had my answer to the Lumin citizens’ isolation.

“Yes,” the queen confirmed as she pursed her lips. “We haven’t had the Solas to keep us updated with the rest of the world, and with the limits I’d placed on travel, no one could venture out either.”

“Okay, but where are they?” I questioned.

“I was hoping you could find that out,” Mona admitted. “I thought maybe they’d been kidnapped as well, but when you found the other captives, River said the Solas weren’t there.”

“So, they disappeared at the same time the kidnappings started?” I clarified.

“Well, they actually vanished a few weeks before that,” Mona sighed. “I just thought they were the first ones to get taken.”

“But they weren’t … ” I trailed off as I considered the possibilities. What were the chances of another kidnapping monster living in the forest? Probably pretty slim. “Why do the Solas guard Lumin?”

“Um,” Mona hummed and tugged on her braid. “My mother said they’re duty bound to do it. I’m not sure why.”

“Interesting,” I mused. “Well, do they have their own homes? Where are they when they’re not guarding the city?”

“I’m not sure,” the queen murmured, and a blush rose to her tan cheeks. “I never asked.”

“Solas usually have a village,” Marina piped up.

“Yeah,” Polina agreed. “They like trees.”

“But they have to have access to sunlight,” Marina added.

“That makes sense,” Mona said as her tail flicked with agitation. “The only problem is I have no idea where to start.”

“We could help,” Trina suggested. “Solas have similar magic to dryads. We should be able to sense them.”

“Good idea!” Marina cheered and clapped her hands. “We can search first thing tomorrow.”

“As long as Alyona is up for it,” I decided with a nod. “When it comes to magical beings, I’d like to have her around.”

“I can have the physician look her over when we get back,” Mona offered. “We may have something that can help her recover quickly.”

“We should at least get her to the medical area,” I agreed. “I don’t know that any of your remedies will help since I already tried to use my healing magic, but it can’t hurt to try.”

“Very well,” Mona replied as she dipped her chin.

That seemed to be the end of our conversation, so I stepped back to walk even with Nike and Laika.

“What do you think about what Gavin said?” I murmured to the pair.

“About there being more of the Sect hiding out?” Laika asked as her gray, bushy tail flicked behind her. “I was hoping we’d get back to that.”

“We’re going to have to search the forest again before we leave,” Nike answered as he brushed his black hair off his forehead. “We can’t leave the centaurs to fend for themselves against both the assassins and whatever traps they’ve laid.”

“Agreed.” I nodded. “We handle this missing fairy thing first, and then we can go clear the forest for them.”

The two warriors dipped their heads in agreement.

Now, we had two more missions to complete in the centaurs’ city.

We definitely had our work cut out for us.

After about an hour, we arrived back at the gates to Lumin. Several centaurs cheered as we walked down the road to the castle with the prince and the traitor, and some of the men threw food or spat at Cesar as we passed them by.

It seemed word had gotten around about Cesar’s betrayal.

Moments later, we arrived at the castle doors, and River pushed them open. Dozens of centaurs waited in the sitting area, and they rushed into action as soon as we entered the building.

“Your Highness!”

“We have dinner prepared!”

“How was the journey?”

“Quiet!” Mona ordered in an authoritative tone. “I’m taking my son to the infirmary. Then, we will eat. I’m sure my party is famished.”

“I feel like I could eat a cow,” Aaliyah groaned as she licked her blood-stained lips.

My own stomach grumbled in agreement.

“I’ll take Alyona and go to the infirmary with you,” I told the queen as I ignored my noisy stomach.

I slid the princess off River’s back and into my arms, and I cradled her sleeping form carefully as I followed Mona to another wing of the palace.

We entered a room that stunk of cleaning solution and puke. I wasn’t sure if I could smell everything because of my dragon senses, but so far, it was my least favorite part of the castle. About a dozen beds lined two walls of the room, and their stark white sheets stood out against the dark gray stone walls. A few tables were scattered here and there, and many of them held medical instruments on top. Some tools I recognized, like stethoscopes and tongue depressors, but a few pieces were new to me. Then I thought maybe the items I didn’t recognize were like tools a veterinarian would use, since the centaurs were half horse.

Just then, a centaur in human form briskly entered from a side door, noticed us standing in the middle of the room, and nearly dropped his clipboard.

“Your Highness!” he gasped. “And the prince! I-I didn’t realize you’d returned. Please, lay him down here.”

The centaur wore a long, sapphire-colored robe that matched his blue eyes, which were focused on Archer. His dirty blonde hair was cut short and stuck out in all directions from his head, and his skin was surprisingly pale, probably because he spent more time indoors than the other centaurs we’d seen so far. He gestured to the bed nearest the door he’d entered and helped Mona slide Archer onto it. Then he pulled a variety of instruments out of a desk drawer to check on the boy’s vitals.

While the doctor worked on the boy, I walked over to the bed next to Archer’s and gently laid Alyona down. She moaned and rolled to her side, so I pushed the hair out of her face and pulled the blanket from the foot of the bed to spread over her body.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” The centaur fumbled with his clipboard again before he finally set it down on a table. “You must be Lord Evan! Is this Princess Alyona?”

“Yes,” I confirmed.

“I apologize for my manners,” he said with a deep bow. “My name is Finn, and I’m the physician for Lumin.”

“Nice to meet you, Finn,” I answered and dipped my head to the doctor.

“Likewise,” he replied. “Now, what can I do for the princess?”

“She used her energy for magic, so she needs to rest,” I explained. “The queen thought you might be able to help speed up her recovery.”

“Hmm,” Finn hummed and rubbed his chin. “I bet one of my teas would be beneficial. No medicine will help, but some amla tea with ginseng should aid her in regaining her energy.”

Finn hustled out the side door into what looked like a storage room, and within minutes, he returned with a steaming cup that smelled a little fruity.

I gently lifted Alyona to a sitting position, and her amethyst eyes opened briefly as she gave me a weak smile.

“Here, princess,” I said as I took the cup from Finn. “Drink this.”

I lifted the steaming drink to her lips and tilted it slowly into her mouth. The warm liquid poured down her throat, and she closed her eyes with relief.

“It’s working, doc,” I murmured to Finn.

“Doc?” The centaur quirked a brow.

“Ah, never mind,” I chuckled and refocused on Alyona.

The princess finished the tea, and I set the cup on the table as she slid back down into the bed. Then I looked over at Mona and Archer. The queen spoke quietly to her son, who looked up at her with a smile.

I was glad the boy would be okay.

Then I remembered who had caused his pain, and a growl bubbled in my chest. I wanted to fucking murder Cesar. That bastard had kidnapped an innocent kid, and I would find out why.

“Go relax, my love,” Alyona whispered and brought my attention back to the room.

“I hate to leave you,” I murmured as I ran my fingers through her hair.

“You need to eat and rest as well,” my bride-to-be assured me as she kissed my wrist. “Go enjoy the meal. You can come tell me goodnight later.”

“Well … ” My stomach growled again as if to agree with her, and I frowned. “I guess I can go eat a little, but I’ll be right back in here if you need me.”

“I know.” Alyona smiled. “Go.”

I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, and I noticed her skin was already regaining some color. Then I left the infirmary and returned to the sitting room where the rest of my friends waited.

“How is she?” Laika asked as soon as I entered the room.

“Much better,” I replied, and the wolf Demi-Human sagged with relief. “It turns out the centaurs have some fancy herbal tea that works wonders.”

“Ah, Finn and his teas,” River chuckled. “How is Archer?”

“Finn seemed to be satisfied with all his vitals,” I answered. “It looks like he’s just fine.”

Now, everyone sighed with relief.

“Well then, let’s eat!” River pumped a fist into the air and led the group to the dining hall where a feast was already laid out on the long table.

I surveyed the food as my women filled their plates first. A copious number of yellow and green fruits were sliced and laid in bowls next to cubed melons. The cinnamon-flavored meat slices were piled high on one plate beside small baked birds on skewers. The aroma of the cooked meat made my stomach growl again, and I reached for a plate to pile high with food. Once my plate was stacked with fruits and meats, I plopped down into a chair and began to shovel the food into my mouth. The juicy fruit felt like an explosion on my tongue, and I tried to savor every bite.

“So,” I spoke to River after I swallowed a mouthful of food, “what do you know about the Solas?”

“What?” River nearly spat his food back onto his plate before he turned to me. “The queen told you about them?”

“Yeah,” I confirmed with a raised eyebrow. “She asked if we could help find them. She said they disappeared right before the kidnappings started.”

“They did,” the centaur commander said. “I have no idea where to find them, though. I figured they decided they didn’t want to look out for us anymore.”

“I doubt it,” Polina answered as she nibbled on a cubed melon. “Solas are very faithful.”

“Yeah,” Marina agreed, and her green brow furrowed. “They wouldn’t bail on their duties like that.”

“Ah,” River said with a frown. “Then, yes, we should find them.”

“That is the plan for tomorrow, then,” I replied before I turned to the dryads. “Girls, where should we start the search?”

“I’d say probably in the centaurs’ hunting forest,” Trina offered.

“What about the basilisk and skyraptor?” I frowned. “You don’t think they scared the Solas off?”

“Oh, no,” Marina giggled. “Solas use their magic to disguise their villages. I’d bet we already passed it a couple times.”

“But we weren’t looking for it, so we wouldn’t have noticed.” Polina shrugged.

“Okay, so we start there first thing tomorrow,” I decided. “Anything in particular we can look for to help you?”

“Not really,” Trina answered. “Of course, you could try out some of your terra magic.”

“I still don’t know what that is,” I laughed. “Ravi told me I have it, but I have no idea how to access it.”

“The same way you get to the rest of your magic, silly,” Ravi chimed in and cast me a smile. “You link it to your spiritual sea. You have some sort of land when you meditate there, right?”

“I guess?” I said as I pictured my spiritual sea and the sandy beach that touched it. Then I realized that further in my mind’s eye, there was still more land beyond the beach. “Yeah, I guess there’s some grass and mountains next to the beach.”

“See!” the phoenix said with excitement. “You do have terra magic!”

“That’s great news!” Marina clasped her hands together.

“You should explore it tonight,” Polina encouraged me as she bounced in her seat. “The better you know the land there, the better you can use your magic here.”

“If you say so,” I chuckled as I forked another bite of meat into my mouth.

“You are a surprising dragon, Lord Evan,” River said as he tilted his head to the side. “Nothing like the stories.”

“Told ya.” I grinned.

We finished our meal, and there was barely any food left on the table when we were done. As we pushed back our chairs, several centaurs hustled into the room and began to clear away the plates.

“I think I’m going to bathe and go to bed, Lord Evan,” Aaliyah said with a very cat-like yawn. “It seems like it might be another long day tomorrow.”

“Sounds good,” I murmured and kissed her on the cheek, and I chuckled as her long, golden tail twitched in delight at my touch.

Then I remembered her response to my playing with her tail, and my trousers tightened across my hips.

Aaliyah noticed my situation and giggled.

“I’d invite you to join me, but I think you have some meditation to do,” she teased and sashayed away.

I growled and watched her tight ass sway from side to side as she left the room.

“Don’t worry, Lord Evan,” Trina chirped. “We can go keep the beautiful lioness company.”

“We definitely can!” Marina giggled. “We’ll spend the evening talking about how much we wish you were with us.”

“Especially with the Lady Aaliyah.” Polina winked.

“Yeah, yeah,” I snickered as the dryads linked arms and skipped after Aaliyah.

While I desperately wanted to join my lovers in the bath house, Aaliyah was right. If I wanted to be able to use my terra magic tomorrow, I had to meditate tonight.

I trudged out of the dining hall and headed for the palace doors. I figured the best place to access my magic would be somewhere outdoors, so I walked outside and turned toward the fields by the history keepers’ temple. It wasn’t the forest, but there weren’t many people who lived out there, and I could find some peace and quiet.

Within minutes, I arrived at the edge of the fields and looked around. The moonlight illuminated the rows of sprouting crops and flowers, and there was no one else in sight.

Perfect.

I sat cross-legged a few feet off the road and closed my eyes. Every time I cultivated, it took less and less time to get to my spiritual sea, and this time it was almost instantaneous. Only moments after I closed my eyes, I was sitting on the beach in my mind and could see the waves that lapped at the shore.

“It’s good to see you again, Lord Evan,” Miraya purred as she walked through the sand next to me.

The spirit of the Sword of Hatra wore a long, white dress that hugged her curvaceous body and was low enough to reveal the swells of her breasts. Her white-blonde hair was so long it grazed the sand as she glided toward me, and she didn’t leave behind footprints on the sand.

“You, too, Miraya.” I grinned and stood up.

I turned and surveyed the area behind me. The sand was interrupted by sprouts of dark green grass, and then the grass took over the landscape as it grew up the side of a large mountain. The mountain stood tall, and a circle of clouds surrounded its peak.

“What can I do for you, my lord?” Miraya questioned after a moment.

“What do you know about terra magic?” I asked the spirit.

“Not much,” she admitted. “None of my previous masters had it.”

“Well, looks like we’re just going to have to see how this goes,” I said with a shrug and began my hike to the mountain.

Miraya walked with me as we stepped onto the dewy grass, and it seemed heavier under my feet, more like moss than grass. I wasn’t sure how far to go, but I figured it would feel like the right place when we got there.

We traipsed up the mountain for about twenty minutes until I saw a patch of flat ground that jutted out from the side of the mountain and faced my spiritual sea.

“This is it,” I murmured as I walked out onto the crest and sat down.

Miraya followed and sat at my side while I focused on the water below me and the grass underneath me. I put my hands down and ran my fingers through the blades, and it seemed like I could feel every single one. Then I pushed my fingers into the soil and felt the individual grains as they ran down my hands and back to the ground.

The water in my spiritual sea rose up onto the beach, and I watched as the tide grew closer to the edge of the grass. I dug my fingers deeper into the soil and called to the water, and the sea climbed further up the sand until the waves lapped at the mossy green grass.

I sensed them touch briefly, and I pulled at the water as though I held it with reins. The water suddenly pushed with a fury across the sand and soaked the bottom of the mountain, and I sighed as I felt the connection. My spiritual sea had grasped onto the terra magic. I couldn’t explain how, but I knew I’d brought the magic to my spiritual sea, and I was ready to use it.

“I did it,” I breathed.

“Yes, I can feel the magic growing,” Miraya agreed as a small breeze lifted her white hair from her shoulders.

“I’ll put it to the test tomorrow.” I grinned, stood, and reached out a hand to pull the spirit up with me.

We returned down the mountain to the beach, and I took one long look at my spiritual sea. It was comforting to see the moonlight reflecting off the water’s calm surface.

“I’ll see you again soon,” I promised Miraya.

“I know.” The spirit winked.

I smiled back at her and returned to my physical form.

The moon was full and bright when I opened my eyes back at the farms, and I stood up and brushed off my trousers. I exhaled deeply and felt a sense of relief that I’d been able to figure out the terra magic on my own.

I was starting to get the hang of all this magic in Inati.

I began the walk back to the castle, and when I arrived, I pushed open the doors and made my way to the infirmary to check on Alyona before I went to bed. I peeked in the room, heard a light snore, and smiled. At least she wasn’t in another coma. She was getting stronger.

I turned and headed to my chambers, and as soon as I saw the bed, my body reacted with a yawn. Then I slipped off my boots and crawled into bed.

It seemed like only minutes had passed when I heard the morning bell. No warning bells this time, though, so I couldn’t complain too much.

I pulled my boots on and walked to the infirmary again, and when I entered the sunlit room, Finn was laughing heartily at something Alyona had said.

“Oh, good morning, my love!” she called out when she saw me.

“Feeling better?” I asked as I raised my eyebrows at her chipper attitude.

“So much!” The princess grinned and slid off the side of the bed.

“Lady Alyona seems to have made a full recovery,” Finn informed me.

“Thank you for your help,” I said to the physician. “It seems we need to start keeping some of your teas on hand. She’s never recovered so well before.”

“Oh!” Finn blushed. “Anything I can do for the future king and queen of Rahma.”

I chuckled and reached my hand out to Alyona. She slipped her fingers in between mine, and we left the medical wing to meet up with the rest of our group.

When we entered the dining hall, Alyona was greeted with cheers and hugs. Ravi, Aaliyah, and the dryads had already begun eating breakfast, but they stopped to check on the princess, and I smiled at the way my women doted on each other.

“Where are Nike and Laika?” I asked as I realized the two were missing.

“Oh, they went with River early this morning,” Trina replied.

“Something about a map and finding the bastards,” Marina supplied.

“I don’t envy those poor fools,” Polina giggled. “Lady Laika is not kind when she is angry.”

Ah, they went to prepare for our other mission. That was probably for the best. We didn’t need a ton of people to find the fairies, and too many people might scare them anyway.

I gestured to Alyona to get some food, and I filled a plate as well. I hoped it wouldn’t take long to find the Solas, but things didn’t always seem to go as planned.

When everyone had gotten their fill, we set out for the forest. We walked out the gates of Lumin and headed for the trees ahead, and it wasn’t long before we were under the canopy of the forest.

“Did you figure out your terra magic, Lord Evan?” Polina asked as she peered up at me with emerald eyes.

“Yeah,” I confirmed. “I haven’t used it yet, but I can figure it out.”

“The most important thing for magic related to nature is being connected,” Trina advised.

“Yes, connection to the Green Mother is essential,” Marina agreed with a serious nod.

“Very essential,” Polina agreed.

“Okay, well, let’s find those fairies,” I chuckled.

I watched as the sisters held their hands out with their fingers spread, just like they’d taught me with the water magic. I copied the movement, and it was like my hands received all the information from the land around me. Somehow, I knew there was a pack of moles about a half mile ahead of us, and the tree to my right needed water.

“Whoa,” I mumbled as I took in all the information with wide eyes.

I mentally sorted through the waves of knowledge, so I would know what was relevant to our search right now.

Suddenly, I felt it.

“There!” Marina cried out.

“It’s not far,” Polina gasped.

I guessed the dryads had felt it, too. The feeling was like a halo of light that emitted a glow unlike anything I’d ever known. It came from a spot about a quarter of a mile from where we stood, and I pointed in the direction of the glow.

“This way,” I directed.

The group followed my lead as we combed through the shrubs and flowers to get to the spot, but when we reached it, I looked around in confusion.

“I know it’s here somewhere,” I said with a furrowed brow.

“They’re disguising their village with magic, remember?” Trina giggled before she spun in a circle and seemed to address the air. “We mean you no harm, fairies. We only want to talk.”

All of the sudden, it looked like someone had lifted a curtain, and the glow became visible and blinding. A moment later, I was stunned as the light faded and revealed a small city built into the trees and plants. It stretched as far as I could see into the woods, and three fairies stepped into our view.

One stood with her hands on her hips and glared at us.

“How did you find us?” she demanded in a high-pitched voice.

The Solas were larger than I expected, and each one stood about three feet tall. Though the most surprising trait about them was their wings. The Solas’ wings draped the ground and reached nearly five feet high. They looked delicate, like they were made of lace, and the intricate designs appeared to be unique to each fairy. The fairies wore long white dresses that pooled at their feet, and tiny crowns of flowers wrapped around their heads.

“Magic.” I shrugged. “Can we come in?”

“Not you, dragon,” the Sola replied with a shudder. “We’ll talk to the Divine Maiden and the phoenix in our village. We can accept their purity.”

I frowned as I turned to Alyona and Ravi.

“We’ll be fine,” Alyona soothed me as she and Ravi stepped forward to enter the city. “Solas are harmless creatures.”

The dryads nodded in agreement, and I relented.

“We’ll be right here,” I said firmly.

“And we’ll be back before you know it.” Alyona planted a kiss on my cheek and followed the Solas into a door cut into one of the enormous trees.

Then the magic curtain dropped again, and I couldn’t see anything.

It seemed like ages when the glow returned and the two finally stepped back out of the tree’s door with two of the Solas in tow, but I didn’t see the one who refused to let me into the village.

“Lord Evan, I’d like you to meet Blue and Penelope,” Alyona introduced the two fairies who followed her. “Blue is in charge of the guardians, and Penelope is the leader of the Solas.”

“It is an honor, Lord Evan,” Blue spoke in a low voice as she grasped my forearm. The fairy’s cobalt hair was wrapped around her head in a tight coil, and her grip on my arm was firm. She smiled to reveal perfect, white teeth before she took a step back behind her leader.

“I apologize for the awkward reception,” Penelope said, and her voice radiated through the trees. “We don’t get many guests, and we’re very particular about who is allowed to enter the village.”

“I see that,” I chuckled. “So, did Alyona and Ravi explain why we’re here?”

The Solas’ leader ran her hands through her white hair and stared at me with bright, blue eyes. She stood straight and had a commanding presence, despite her tiny stature.

“Yes,” Penelope answered. “Though I am confused as to why the queen sent you. It was her last messenger who told us our services were no longer needed.”

“What do you mean?” I asked with a frown.

“The centaur who came to see us a few months ago said the queen wanted to relieve us of our duties as guards of Lumin,” the Sola explained. “He said we were no longer necessary.”

“Cesar,” I growled.

“Yes! That was his name.” Blue nodded her head. “I couldn’t remember his name, but I knew I’d seen him with the queen before. That’s why we believed she’d sent him.”

“It seems we were fooled,” Penelope muttered, and a tiny scowl crossed her face. “I don’t like being made to look like a fool.”

“No one thinks you’re a fool,” I consoled her. “Cesar betrayed everyone by giving Mona’s oldest son Archer to the Green Glass Sect so they could try to sacrifice him to the Breach.”

“He did?” Blue gasped. “How could he betray his queen like that?”

“We think he was already a member of the Sect when he was allowed into Lumin,” I told them. “We’ll find out more when we talk to him later.”

“Good,” Penelope said with a nod. “Now, the queen would like us to return to our posts?”

“Yes,” I confirmed. “She said you were not only guards for the city, but you were also her connection to the outside world, and she’s been feeling pretty vulnerable.”

“I can certainly understand that,” Penelope sighed and looked down. “I didn’t like leaving our duty, and we will be happy to return to it. Blue, I need you to go ahead and reassign the posts.”

“Of course, ma’am,” Blue responded with a salute and turned back to go into the city.

Well, that was the easiest mission we’d had so far.

“That’s fantastic!” Trina squealed.

“The queen will be so thrilled!” Marina added.

“Everyone will be happy!” Polina cheered.

“I’d like to be part of the questioning of your prisoner as well,” Penelope said as a flash of anger passed through her blue eyes. “I may be of some, ah, assistance.”

I opened my mouth to ask for more details, but then I decided against it. The leader of the Solas was pissed about Cesar, so whatever she wanted to do with him, I’d be fine with it.

“So, when can we tell the queen to expect to see your people?” I changed the subject.

“We will return to our posts by the morning,” Penelope replied. “Some will be covered tonight, but we don’t have all of the fairies available right this second.”

“Understandable,” I conceded with a chuckle. “I’m sure you all have things to do.”

“The princess was right, Lord Evan.” Penelope stared at me with a surprised expression. “You are not the same kind of angry dragon we’ve dealt with before. When the centaurs first needed our help, they were under attack on a regular basis. My grandfather is the one who created the spell to disguise our city, so we wouldn’t get attacked, too.”

“I’m sorry you had to hide,” I muttered. “Apparently, my predecessors were assholes.”

“Oh!” Penelope seemed shocked again, and then she burst into laughter. “They most certainly were assholes, but you are not.”

“Nope,” I laughed. “At least, I’m not to the good guys.”

“Fair enough,” the Sola giggled. “I’m glad to have met you, Lord Evan.”

“Likewise,” I said to the fairy.

“I’m sure we’ll meet again very soon,” she said as she hinted at Cesar’s interrogation.

“It should be quite the event,” I agreed with a dark grin. “We’ll go let the queen know your people will be returning soon. Please, let me know if we can do anything for you.”

“I will do that,” Penelope replied and bowed to me.

We waved to the Sola and turned back toward Lumin. I contemplated if I should tell Mona what Penelope said about Cesar, but I decided against it. She didn’t need more on her plate right now, and it wasn’t like his punishment would change.

“You seemed to get along well with their leader,” Aaliyah said as she jogged up next to me and matched my step.

“I think so,” I said with a shrug. “You’ve been quiet.”

“Oh, I’m just missing you,” the lioness replied with a coy smile. “I wish you could have put me to bed.”

I remembered the lion-girl and three dryads had gone to the bath house together before bed, and I wished I could have joined them. Alas, a dragon lord’s work is never done.

Then Alyona walked faster to catch up with us and linked her fingers through mine, and she got added to my mental movie.

“I think we should take the rest of the day off,” I suggested to two of my lovers and wrapped an arm around Aaliyah’s shoulders.

“That’s a great idea, my love,” Alyona murmured against my shirt.

“We can surely entertain ourselves for a while, right?” Aaliyah purred as she toyed with the strings on my trousers.

“We fucking better,” I growled as I pictured both of the women on top of me, and I sped up the pace back to Lumin.

The three of us would be entertained all damn day.

Chapter 12

The next morning, I awoke before the bells rang through the city, and I blinked a few times to see the princess and the lioness curled into each of my sides.

Alyona’s porcelain skin glistened in the pinkish glow of the rising sun, and the beams of light reflected off her stark white hair. The blanket was pulled tightly up to her chin, but I could feel all of her naked body pressed against my skin underneath the covers. Her leg was thrown over mine, and I ran my hand up her bare thigh as I turned to my other side where Aaliyah purred softly in her sleep.

The lion Demi-Human’s bronze body was barely covered with the blanket, and I took advantage to drag my gaze over her muscular form. Her full breasts were covered in goosebumps, and her pert nipples stuck out as she rubbed her torso against my ribs in her sleep. Even unconscious, my lovers’ bodies reacted to mine, and my body reacted to theirs as my arousal began to make its morning appearance.

I ran my hand over the lioness’ dimpled skin to start another round with my women, but then a knock sounded at the door, and I groaned at the interruption.

Aaliyah’s orange eyes sprang open at the noise, and Alyona blinked and stretched her arms out.

“What’s going on?” the princess mumbled.

“Someone’s at the door?” Aaliyah sounded confused as she searched the room in her half-asleep state.

“Who is it?” I called out with a sigh.

“It’s Nike,” the noble’s voice rang through the door. “The queen wants to see us.”

“Of course,” I whispered to myself before I answered Nike. “Give us five.”

“Five what?” the other man questioned, and I could almost see Nike’s puzzled face through the door.

“Ah, minutes,” I chuckled.

“Right,” Nike replied as he stepped away from the door.

“Looks like it’s time for another eventful day,” Alyona giggled as she looked up at me with her violet eyes.

“I wanted a different kind of event,” I growled, and I pressed my lips to hers as I curled my arm around her body to pull her in closer.

“You are insatiable,” Aaliyah laughed as she dragged a clawed finger down my bare chest. “I only wish there were more hours in the day, so we could keep feeding your appetite.”

“Oh, me, too,” I agreed with a vigorous nod. My arousal stood at attention and lifted the blanket as I imagined ignoring my duties, staying in bed with my beautiful lovers all day, and repeating the activities of last night …

“Come on,” Alyona encouraged as she slid her feet off the bed. Her naked form stood before me until she slipped her violet robes on, tied the white belt around her waist, and slid her feet into her white shoes.

“Fine, fine,” Aaliyah grumbled as she rolled over to get up as well.

I watched the lioness unfold and stretch her long body to wake up. Then she grabbed her crimson robe from the floor and slipped it on. She preferred to go barefoot, but she braided her long, blonde hair back away from her face.

I growled at the sight of clothes on my previously naked women, but I dressed quickly and yanked open the bedroom door.

Nike stood a few feet away and leaned against the opposite stone wall with his arms crossed casually over his chest. He looked like one of those old cowboy drawings, and I chuckled to myself as I pictured him with a cowboy hat and a piece of wheat grass hanging from his mouth.

If I couldn’t make love to my women, I’d at least make jokes to myself.

“Sorry for the intrusion.” Nike winced and brushed some wayward strands of black hair away from his eyes. “The queen sent River to bang on my door about fifteen minutes ago, but I told him I’d rather wake you myself.”

“Good call,” I agreed. I probably wouldn’t have been as lenient with the centaur as I’d been with my best friend, especially when it came to interrupting one of my favorite activities.

Nike, Alyona, Aaliyah, and I headed down the hallway to the sitting area where the queen sat with River. The two centaurs hunched over the map of the forest we’d used to find the basilisk, and it seemed like so much time had passed since we slayed the giant snake.

“Good morning!” Mona greeted us, and she sounded chipper. “Isn’t it a beautiful day?”

The queen looked regal in a long, scarlet dress with her signature gold jewelry adorning her ears and neck. Her russet hair was tied into some sort of knot on top of her head, and small ringlets dangled next to her smiling face.

“I don’t know, it’s barely here,” Aaliyah grumbled and squinted in the bright sunlight.

“Well, we don’t want to waste the day!” The queen’s smile widened. “The earlier we rise, the sooner we can begin.”

“What are we beginning so early, Your Highness?” I asked as I stifled a yawn. Not only was it really early, but we hadn’t exactly slept much last night either.

“The hunt, of course,” River answered with a devilish grin, and his long black tail twitched in anticipation.

“Ooh, why didn’t you say so?” Aaliyah perked up at the mention of a hunt.

“I’ve decided to offer the services of the Sagittarius Order to help you find your enemies in the forest,” Mona explained. “Obviously, it still benefits us to rid our hunting grounds of the Sect, but I’m sure you’d like to get rid of more of them as well.”

“Yes,” I hissed. “The more we kill, the better for everyone.”

My inner dragon chomped at the bit at the mention of slaying more members of the Sect. I pictured lining up their stuffed heads on a mantle back at our Lunar Palace or carrying around their scalps as trophies. They would make an interesting addition to my mounting treasure stash.

“Then we shall do it,” the queen finished with a regal sweep of her arm. “I’ve also spoken to Penelope, and she assures me that the Solas will help you find the traitors as well.”

“Yeah, she seemed pretty upset about Cesar,” I mused. “I’m not surprised they want to help set things right.”

“I’m just glad they’re back,” Mona replied with a smile. “I’ve missed my morning updates.”

“Morning updates?” Alyona questioned and raised a brow.

“Oh, yes!” The queen’s smile stretched further across her face. “One of the Solas always greets me in the morning with an update on the events around Rahma. It seems the Green Glass Sect is making quite a name for themselves in other places, too.”

“You mean besides Hatra?” I asked. I hadn’t thought about the Sect causing trouble everywhere else.

“Yes,” she confirmed. “They are causing quite a stir.”

“Shit,” I murmured. “So, we really need to cut the head off the snake.”

“What snake?” Mona furrowed her brow. “You killed the basilisk already.”

“I, ah, it’s just a phrase,” I replied as I shook my head. “It means we need to kill the leader, so the rest of the Sect quits popping up and causing trouble. If we leave the head, it could just grow another body, if that makes sense.”

“I can agree with that.” Mona nodded and turned back to the map. “Now, River and I were thinking, we might as well search in the same way as before. What do you think?”

“If I may, Your Highness,” Nike said as he stepped closer to the map and pointed. “If half of our group starts here, and the other half starts here, we can avoid sending any of the Sect members back out into the open and sort of funnel them where we want them to go.”

“Ahh,” River exhaled and crossed his arms over his tattooed, muscular chest. “That’s brilliant.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” the queen decided. “River, get the warriors ready.”

The centaur commander dipped his head and trotted out the front doors as his tail swished behind him.

“I’ll go get the others,” Aaliyah offered, and she turned on her heels to go back down the hallway. The dryads, Laika, and Ravi were probably still asleep since they hadn’t gotten one of the queen’s wakeup calls.

“Your Highness?” a quiet voice suddenly asked, and a Sola fairy seemed to appear out of thin air. “How many of our hunters do you need?”

The fairy stood with her hands clasped in front of her. She wore the leather outfit of a hunter, and her attire was decorated with green leaves and plants stitched into the seams. Her short brown hair was cut into a pixie style, and a crown of baby’s breath was perched atop her head.

“I’d say a dozen will do,” Mona replied with a wave of her hand. “We’ll split everyone into groups, right, Lord Nikolaus?”

“Yes,” Nike confirmed with a nod. “We can do groups of four or five. Do the Solas have a way of communicating over long distances?”

“Oh, yes, my lord,” the Sola answered and smiled. “We just use our magic to send messages.”

“Then we can make sure the other groups respond when one group finds a Sect member,” I cut in. “I can fly over to keep an eye on everyone, too.”

I looked forward to flying again. It seemed like ages since I’d been able to fly without being in the middle of a battle, and I was excited about stretching my wings again.

“We’ve never worked hand in hand with a dragon before.” The Sola’s blue eyes were wide with astonishment, and I wondered for a moment if all the fairies had blue eyes before I responded.

“You’ve never seen a dragon with terra magic before either.” I smirked. “I’m a new experience for everyone.”

“I’d say so,” the queen murmured just loud enough for me to hear, and a small smile skipped across her tanned features.

I grinned back and prepared a smartass remark, but the Sola spoke first.

“I’ll go let the hunters know to be ready,” the fairy said, and she flew out the open window before anyone could respond.

“Then we hunt,” I declared.

I was ready to take out more of the bastards who had wreaked havoc across Rahma.

“The Sagittarius Order should be ready in a few minutes,” Mona said as she glanced toward the palace doors. “How long until the rest of your people are ready?”

“Not long!” Polina answered as she skipped through the door from the hallway, and Trina and Marina followed close behind.

“We’re all here,” Ravi added, and she, Aaliyah, and Laika strolled into the room behind the dryads.

I relished the sight of my lovers in their battle gear.

Laika wore a short brown and blue leather skirt and tunic that tightened across her lean body and boots that ended just above her knees to reveal her muscular, olive-tan thighs.

Ravi had taken to wearing a similar outfit, though hers was brown and red like the fire she loved. Her smoky hair was pulled back into a braid, and the smell of a campfire followed wherever she went.

Aaliyah was in her crimson and gold hunting attire, and it fit her muscular frame perfectly. The neckline dipped into a deep V that revealed the inner curves of her cleavage and the top part of her six-pack.

The dryads wore their signature purple robes that exposed various parts of their curvy bodies, and their green hair was braided with flowers woven through the intricate knots here and there.

Alyona was dressed in her white robes, but I wasn’t planning on letting her join the battle. She had to stay far away, though I knew she wasn’t going to like it.

I wondered what the queen would wear into battle, though. I imagined her in a crimson bodysuit that hugged her curvy hips and ample bosom with her long hair in a braid over her shoulder. I’d like to use her braid to pull her closer to me so I could run my hands over that tight body …

“So, are we ready then, Lord Evan?” Mona interrupted my thoughts of her and cocked her head to the side.

“Yeah.” I coughed as I ran a hand through my hair. “Let’s go.”

I led the women out to the courtyard in front of the castle where River waited with his men in rows. The centaurs stood tall with stoic expressions, while the commander paced back and forth in front of them.

“Any assassin found in the woods is to be captured if possible,” River instructed the warriors. “If not possible, make sure they do not escape.”

The men responded with nods and stomping hooves.

Then I had a sudden idea and turned to the queen.

“Mona, has anyone questioned Cesar yet?” I asked her.

“No,” she replied, and a severe frown marred her beautiful face. “I wanted to let him rot for a while. Why do you ask?”

“I was just thinking he might know where the other Sect members are hiding,” I suggested. “Maybe we should go talk to him before we head out.”

“I agree,” River chimed in as he clopped over to us. “It might save us some time to question him now.”

“Okay,” the queen agreed. “Let’s go to the prison first.”

“Ah, we should tell Penelope we’re interrogating him,” I advised. “She wanted to help with that part.”

“The Solas should be back any moment,” Mona replied. “We can have one of them let her know to meet us there.”

As if on cue, several Solas flew into the courtyard and landed near the rows of warriors. The centaurs watched the fairies land near them, but none of them reacted. The horse-men just stood still as they awaited their next orders from River.

“Excuse me,” Mona called out. “Could one of you please send a message to Penelope to meet us at the prison?”

“I will, Your Highness!” one of the fairies responded before she summoned a tiny ball of light in her hands and whispered to it. Then she tossed the ball up into the air, and it took off in the direction of the forest.

Their messenger magic seemed to be very similar to my own. Then I realized I hadn’t sent a messenger to Hatra in several days to check in with my family.

So, I summoned one of my silvery dragons into my palm.

“Go to Ruslan and Valerra. Tell them we’re doing great in Lumin and we’ve found another group of the Green Glass Sect. And tell Valerra to give Junior a hug for me.”

I chuckled to myself at the nickname I’d given to mine and Valerra’s egg. She might light my messenger on fire, but it was a risk I was willing to take.

The messenger split into two dragons, and they each buzzed their way to Hatra.

“So, where is the prison?” I asked as I turned back to the centaur queen. I realized I’d been so focused on getting Alyona to the infirmary that I hadn’t noticed where the warriors had taken the prisoners.

“Oh, it’s this way.” Mona gestured to a building next to the castle. “Follow me.”

The centauress led the way as we walked around the side of the palace to a small stone building. It looked about the size of a horse barn, though the heavy, thick bars on the windows made its purpose clear. As we got closer, I noticed a guard who stood just inside the entrance and stared out a gap in the door, and he swung it open as we approached the building.

“Your Highness,” the guard greeted Mona with a deep bow.

“Have either of the prisoners said anything?” the queen asked.

“Nothing, ma’am,” he responded with a shake of his head. “They don’t even talk to each other.”

“Thank you.” The queen breezed past the guard, and we followed her down a short hallway to a set of cells.

On our right, Gavin sat on the floor of his cell and leaned against the wall. He tossed a rock up and down, and he pursed his lips when we came into his view.

“I’ve said all I’m going to say,” the Sect member muttered as he tossed the rock to the ground.

“We aren’t here for you, Gavin,” I replied with a raised brow. “But anytime you want to talk, I’ll be around.”

Gavin snorted and looked up at the ceiling.

I ignored his response and turned my attention to the cell on our left, where Cesar had returned to his centaur form. The traitor grasped the bars of the cell door and cried out to the queen.

“I didn’t know!” he told her with desperation in his voice. “I didn’t know they wanted to sacrifice Archer!”

“Save the sob story,” the queen snarled, and her face was a cold mask. “I want to know who is hiding in the forest and where.”

“I don’t know any of that stuff,” Cesar moaned. “I’d tell you if I knew!”

“Coward!” Gavin stood and called out from his own cell.

“Silence!” Mona hissed at Gavin.

The Sect member slowly sunk down to his sitting position and pouted.

“I swear, I didn’t know their plan,” Cesar cried. “If I had, I wouldn’t have helped them. And if I don’t know that plan, there’s no way they’re going to tell me where the forest hideout is.”

“Who did you keep in contact with?” I demanded. There had to be some form of communication for them to know when to take the boy.

“Olivier,” Cesar answered without hesitation. “He would portal in and out of my room when he wanted to talk.”

“You allowed him into my home more than once?” the queen roared, and her eyes were like twin emerald flames of rage.

“I didn’t expect to care about any of you when they sent me here.” Cesar dropped his head and looked at his feet. “I figured I’d be in and out with no worries, but then I began to care for you and the boys.”

“Don’t you dare pretend like what you did is something you’d do to someone you truly care about,” I thundered as I moved closer to his cell.

He could pretend to care about the queen all he wanted, but he’d really fucked up when he got Archer involved.

“I know,” Cesar wailed, and he looked at me beseechingly. “I wanted to tell Olivier no when he told me to take the boy, but he would’ve killed me.”

“Then you would have at least died an honorable death,” River responded in a menacing voice.

Suddenly, a breeze flowed past us, and Penelope appeared. Her tiny, bare feet landed on the floor without a sound, and her white dress pooled at her feet. Her ivory hair was draped over her shoulders, but she’d pulled it into a bun at the base of her neck as she faced the cell door, and I could feel her anger as it left her small form in waves.

“You lied to me,” the leader of the Solas seethed, and her tiny fists were clenched as she glared at the centaur.

“I had to get your people out of the way,” Cesar whined. “I saved their lives!”

“Don’t patronize me!” Penelope’s eyes flashed with rage.

Then the centaur went flying across his cell, and his body slammed into the back wall. He groaned with pain from the impact and slumped down to the ground.

“I thought you said the Solas were harmless,” I murmured as I leaned over to Alyona.

“They normally are,” the princess whispered back.

“This one seems pretty pissed, though,” Trina added under her breath.

“Yes, really pissed,” Marina breathed with wide eyes.

“I like it,” Polina giggled.

“You’re wasting your magic,” Cesar moaned as he scrambled to his feet. “I don’t know anything about the Sect members in the woods.”

“Maybe so,” Penelope countered, “but I don’t like being lied to.”

She raised her hands, and Cesar was hurled into the stone ceiling. Then he crashed back down to the ground in a heap.

“I will let you live,” Penelope advised the centaur. “Only because the queen has not asked for your death.”

As Cesar cowered down in his cell, the fairy turned to face the other prisoner, and Gavin put his hands up in surrender as Penelope looked him up and down.

“You know where they hide,” the fairy leader murmured. “And you will tell the queen and her friends.”

“I already told them, I’m not saying anything else,” Gavin answered with his chin jutted out. “You can torture me all you want. I got used to that in the Sect.”

“Oh, I know,” Penelope agreed. “You’ll require a different part of my magic.”

The fairy reached out as if to touch Gavin’s face, but then green tendrils of magic left her fingers and beelined for the prisoner. His eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to say something, but the ropes of magic dove between his teeth. Then one of the green coils came back out of his mouth, and Gavin spit out words.

“There is no hideout,” the Sect member confessed, and he looked shocked at his own admission.

“Go on.” Penelope smiled.

It looked like he didn’t have a choice.

Another magical rope pulled Gavin’s next response out.

“It’s just a bunch of my people in the woods,” Gavin finished and cursed under his breath.

“Well, I’m not sure if that makes our hunt easier or harder,” I muttered. “We don’t have to find one big hideout, but now we have multiple people to find.”

“The sooner we get started, the better,” River chimed in.

“Thank you for your help, Penelope,” Mona said to the fairy.

“It was my pleasure.” The leader of the Solas smiled, and her blue eyes were bright with mischief.

I liked the Solas. I was going to have to get Penelope to teach me that little truth-telling trick.

Mona led our group back out of the prison and past the guard, who gave her another bow as we left. Then we joined back up with the centaur warriors and the Solas hunters. We had about thirty people ready to help us find the Green Glass Sect traitors who were holed up somewhere in the forest.

“We have additional information that the Sect members are not hiding in one location,” River announced to the entire group. “So, we will be searching for individual members.”

“Does anyone have any questions?” I asked, but when no one answered, I signaled River to lead them out to the forest.

“I’ll show everyone where to go,” Nike offered, and he jogged to catch up with River.

“Go ahead,” I encouraged the dryads and Aaliyah. “We’ll catch up.”

Laika, Ravi, Alyona, and I stood in the courtyard as the search party headed out of the city.

“Laika, I want you to stay with Alyona here at the castle,” I instructed. “I don’t like the idea of the princess being in the woods with a bunch of guys who want to kill her so they can open the Breach.”

“Me either,” the wolf warrior agreed, and her tail swished in agitation at the thought.

“Ravi, you and I will fly above the canopy and keep an eye on the search parties,” I directed the phoenix. “If anyone finds a Sect member, I want to know about it.”

“You got it,” the firebird replied with a salute.

“Be careful,” the princess murmured.

I could tell she wasn’t happy with my decision, but she knew I was right. It was way too dangerous for her to be in the forest. For all we knew, one of the traps Gavin had mentioned was for her. We’d already seen what the Green Glass Sect was willing to do to a child, so I didn’t even want to think about what they would do to the princess to keep her from spoiling their plans.

Alyona pressed a brief kiss to my cheek, and then the princess and Laika returned to the palace doors and walked inside.

Ravi and I shared a look before we took off running toward the gates out of the city. As soon as we hit the open air, we both shifted into our flying forms, and I flapped my wings and felt the wind rush under my belly. We soared over the hunting party who stood at the edge of the forest, and I saw Nike dividing them into groups. We looped around the field that separated the forest from the city gates, and then we flew over the canopy of trees as the groups set out.

I loved everything about being a dragon, but flying was my favorite part. I kept an eye on the warriors searching the ground while I dipped and spun through the air. Then I glanced over at Ravi, who flew about a hundred yards away from me, and she looked exhilarated as the wind blew through her orange feathers.

I realized she and I should do more flying during the campaign. She probably missed it just as much as I did.

Then I heard a shout from the ground behind me, and I changed direction and veered back toward the noise. I didn’t see any kind of fight yet, so I hovered over the canopy and waited to see what was going on.

“I found a black robe, Lord Evan,” one of the centaur warriors shouted as he held up the garment for me to see.

“One of them is probably close,” I called down to him. “Keep searching.”

I resumed flying, but I stayed closer to the trees in the area the robe had been found in, and I used my dragon sight to scan the ground. I knew the owner of the robe had to be close, and I wasn’t letting any more of these assholes escape our grasp.

Within moments, I heard one of the Solas squeal in the next group, so I veered in her direction and heard shouting. Then I shifted to my human form just above the tree line and dropped into the clearing.

“He’s already tied up, my lord.” Jager pointed to a man who was slumped against a tree with a glowing rope around his torso.

The Sect member was laughing hysterically as we approached him with caution.

“You found me!” he giggled as blood ran out of his mouth and down his chin.

I frowned and reached out to check his status.

Classification: Human

Condition: Miasma poisoning

Priority: Healing required immediately

Danger: At risk of imminent death

Status: Critical

I furrowed my brow and sent out a wave of glittery healing power. The status briefly changed to lower the danger, but within seconds, it returned to “imminent death.”

I growled as I tried to figure out what was poisoning him, and I knew I had to figure it out and fast.

“What’s wrong, my lord?” Jager whispered. “Should we just kill him?”

“No.” I shook my head. “He’s trying to kill himself.”

“Is that a problem?” the hunter asked with a raised brow.

“We need to get that rope off him,” I said as I realized the glowing rope was likely the cause of his poisoning. “I don’t want anyone else to get poisoned by the miasma, though.”

“Oh, we can help with that!” a Sola offered. “Our purity protects us unless we have prolonged exposure.”

“Okay, let’s unwrap him, then,” I directed. “Once the rope is off, I’ll take care of the rest.”

The three Solas in the group approached the Sect member. One untied the rope, and the other two grabbed either end and began to fly around the tree to unravel the captive. The rope slowly lost its radiance as the fairies removed more of it from the Sect member’s body, and the man looked down at the loosening cord and groaned.

“You’re not getting out of this that easily.” I smirked.

As soon as the man was free of the glowing rope, I blew another wave of healing magic onto him. The glitter settled on his body, and this time, his status improved without going back down.

“It doesn’t even matter,” the man moaned. “They’ll kill me somehow. That’s why I got left behind. I’m not worth anything to the Sect.”

“Well, joke’s on them,” I chuckled, and a dark grin spread across my face. “You’re worth something to us now.”

Chapter 13

Our new captive groaned and sat up against the giant, dark blue tree he’d been tied to as he regained his strength. His shaggy brown hair was stuck to his forehead as sweat gathered on his brow. His robe was gone, likely the one we’d found nearby, and his black and green tunic was stained and tattered. He wore black trousers that were covered in the dirt and grass from the forest floor, and he looked like he’d rolled around on the ground before being tied up.

I shot out my sticky webs to cover the lower half of his body and hold him to the ground. I wasn’t about to let him escape. Too many of the Sect had gotten free of my wrath, and I wasn’t adding to the count any time soon. Once I was sure I had him pinned, I pulled the Sword of Healing from my spatial storage and faced him.

“Where’s your tattoo?” I demanded as I scanned the skin I could see.

“What tattoo?” he laughed hysterically, and the sound was like fingernails on a chalkboard.

“The green leaf,” I answered as I bared my teeth and pressed the sword to his throat. “Tell me where it is.”

A drop of blood trickled down his neck from the point of my sword.

“It doesn’t matter.” The man shrugged his shoulders as though he didn’t have a care in the world. “They have their ways. I’m dead.”

“I can nearly kill you and then heal you as many times as I need to,” I growled and dug the sword into his skin a little further.

“Okay!” the Sect member cried out in fear. “It’s on my arm!”

He nodded to his left arm and closed his eyes. He looked like he expected me to cut off the whole arm, which would have been interesting, but I only planned on getting rid of the curse eating away at him so I could get answers.

So, I pulled the sword away from his neck and then cut through the sleeve of his tunic. As the fabric fell away, the green leaf tattoo glowed and shimmered on his shoulder. The cursed tattoos were a way for the Green Glass Sect to communicate with its members and, as I discovered a couple weeks ago, to kill anyone who dared to give away their information.

I pressed my sword to the ink and focused on removing the curse. As Miraya began to heat up in my hand, I watched the glow of the curse fade from the man’s arm, and his skin slowly returned to its pale color with the contrasting black ink now outlining the tattoo.

“Now that we have that out of the way, who are you?” I asked.

“Jacob,” the Sect member mumbled and refused to meet my eyes.

“Okay, Jacob, tell me why the Sect left you behind,” I ordered.

Jacob looked around the clearing at the angry faces of my group, and the hate for him and his people nearly oozed into the air around us. By now, the other hunting parties had joined us, and he was surrounded by a dozen centaur warriors, the dryads, the Solas hunters, Nike, Ravi, Aaliyah, and me. He seemed to realize there was no escaping all of us, so he groaned again and looked down at his feet.

“They think you’re dead anyway, so you might as well answer,” I prodded.

“They think I’m dead?” Jacob’s eyes widened as he snapped his head up to look at me. “Why? You healed me before I could die.”

“That’s what happens when I get rid of the curse in your tattoo.” I shrugged. “I’ve done it a few times now.”

“Wait, the glow was a curse?” Jacob nearly shrieked.

“You didn’t know?” I quirked a brow. “I find that hard to believe.”

“No!” he yelled. “Why would I let them give me a cursed tattoo?”

“I don’t know, because you’re all crazy for following a lunatic like Olivier?” I suggested. It seemed logical to me.

“The sage is not a lunatic,” Jacob muttered, and his face creased with a frown.

Well, this guy knew more than he was letting on since he just confirmed my theory about Olivier being the sage. I couldn’t decide if he’d been smug or stupid to come into Hatra himself, since I could easily recognize that face when he used it.

“If the sage isn’t a lunatic, then why didn’t he tell you that the tattoo is cursed?” I countered. “And why is he trying to open the Breach?”

Jacob’s brown eyes narrowed before he dropped his gaze to the ground again. Guess he didn’t have an answer for that.

“Let’s get back to the main point here,” I said. “Why did they leave you here?”

“Well, I was supposed to die, so you already ruined part of it,” Jacob spat.

“Don’t get too attached to the idea of not dying.” Aaliyah smirked before she ran her tongue over her sharp fangs.

“Especially if you keep beating around the bush instead of answering me,” I added through clenched teeth.

“Listen, I was just supposed to tell you about how I kidnapped those centaurs to throw into the rift and then die,” Jacob said with a shrug. “I don’t know anything else.”

“Who put the curse on the rope?” I asked as I skipped back to something he had to know.

The rope that had tied him to the tree laid on the ground next to the captive and looked less menacing without the green glow of the curse. It must have been deactivated when we untied it.

“One of the mages,” Jacob mumbled.

The glow of the rope reminded me of the glowing knife I’d seen the night we rescued the centaurs from the skyraptor, so I pushed more on my hunch.

“Is it the same curse that was on the knife?” I kept the question vague to see if he really knew anything.

“The sacrificial knife?” Jacob’s eyes widened. “How did you know about that?”

“I have my ways.” I smirked, but even with my theory confirmed, we had a mage out there who was cursing things left and right to get the Sect what they wanted.

That made him dangerous.

“Who’s the mage that’s performing these curses?” I interrogated. “What’s his name?”

“No. I can’t.” Jacob shook his head with vigor. “Whatever you can do to me, he can do ten times worse. I’m not giving him up.”

I pursed my lips as I considered my captive’s statement. He was scared of this guy, which made him not want to talk. Maybe he wouldn’t give up the mage willingly, but I had another idea.

“I bet I know someone with more magic than your mage,” I said with a smug smile as I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Yeah, right,” Jacob retorted and rolled his eyes.

“Okay, get word to Penelope,” I told the Solas.

One of the Solas widened her blue eyes before she nodded. Then she conjured one of the small glowing balls and whispered to it, and the ball jumped from her hand and flew above the canopy of trees toward the Solas’ village.

The rest of the hunting parties started murmuring to each other in surprise. Only a few of them knew what Penelope could do, but word was spreading quickly.

“Are you sure, Lord Evan?” River asked as he strode to the front of the small crowd, and he raised an eyebrow at my tactics.

“He doesn’t want to tell us everything.” I shrugged. “So, I’ll take away his choice and get what we need.”

I glanced back at Jacob and watched his expression change from smug to worried. He didn’t know who Penelope was, and he was slowly losing the tough guy act. He wouldn’t be tough at all once the fairy got her magical hands on him, though.

“Well, you know I would just kill them all,” River grunted. “So, you do what you think is best.”

I nodded as the centaur commander returned to the ranks, and I stared at Jacob, who was twisting his hands together as he grew more and more nervous. The wait for the fairy to arrive was enough to get a little more out of him.

“Okay, sir, I know one other thing … ” Jacob trailed off.

“Well?” I nudged.

“I know where the Sect is going,” he claimed.

I raised a brow and waited for him to continue.

“They’re going to Colaruma!” Jacob wailed and covered his face.

“Where the hell is Colaruma?” I asked with a furrowed brow.

“I don’t know, I swear!” he cried as he sat up and threw his arms out to the sides. “I don’t know what they’re doing there. I just heard the mages talking about it right before one of them cursed the rope. That’s it.”

The captive slumped back against the tree, closed his eyes, and crossed his arms over his chest. His temper tantrum was limited with his lower body webbed to the ground, but he tried to be petulant.

Then I saw a flurry of wings as Penelope fluttered to a stop next to me.

“Hello again, Lord Evan,” the matriarch fairy said with a twinkle in her sapphire eyes. “You’re in need of my magical skills?”

“Yeah,” I confirmed. “I was hoping you could teach me how to do it, too.”

“Are you sure?” Penelope asked as she blinked in surprise. “Can dragons even do my kind of magic?”

“You never know when a dragon might need to get the truth out of someone,” I chuckled. “And I’m a quick learner. So, let’s test it out.”

“I told you everything!” Jacob sat up again. “I swear!”

“Yeah, you’ve said that a couple times now,” Ravi chimed in as she casually preened her feathers. “None of us believe you.”

“Nope,” Trina agreed and shook her head.

“We don’t believe anything from you bastards,” Marina added with a fierce look on her face.

“Not at all,” Polina growled and furrowed her brow.

“You should’ve just killed me.” Jacob laid back down and pouted.

“That would be too easy,” I laughed.

“Be forewarned, it doesn’t hurt as much if you don’t fight it,” Penelope advised the traitor.

I snickered at Jacob’s bewildered reaction before I turned back to Penelope. “So, how do we do this?”

“Well, I’m not sure if dragon magic is the same.” Penelope pursed her lips and rubbed her chin as she looked up at me.

“I have a little more power than most dragons,” I said with a wink. “Just show me how you do it.”

“Okay.” The Sola shrugged and reached her hands out to the captive Sect member. “First, I have to tell my magic where to go. I like to use my hands to direct it.”

I watched as the smoky coils of green magic began to form at her fingertips, and then they snaked out of her fingers and toward Jacob. I wondered if my terra magic would work since that’s how I’d found the Solas’ secret village. I decided to give it a try, and I reached out to my spiritual sea and the mountain it now touched to access my terra magic. Then I copied Penelope’s movements as I held my hand out toward the prisoner. Within seconds, a greenish blue tendril peeked out of my finger, and then more appeared until I had the same five coils reaching out from my hand. I guessed the color was a little different because of my magic, but I concentrated on the task at hand.

“Good,” Penelope said with a surprised smile. “Then, I speak to my spirit and tell it to find the truth. And it will pull it out from there.”

“You first.” I gestured to the captive with my other hand.

“Of course,” the Sola leader replied as she refocused on her magic.

The green smoke meandered its way through the air between them, and Jacob’s eyes grew wider. Then the magic vines shot into his startled mouth and dove down, and as they returned, Jacob gasped.

“Something big is going to happen at Colaruma,” he breathed. “I don’t know what, though.”

“Ah, he is telling the truth about that.” Penelope frowned. “Something has been taken from him. A memory, maybe?”

“Let me try,” I suggested as I pushed my own teal colored magic toward the traitor.

My coils didn’t move as effortlessly as Penelope’s. They were more disjointed and spastic, but they finally reached Jacob’s mouth, which he now tried to hold shut. I was pleased to see the magic seeped through his lips anyway, and the tendrils came back up with Jacob’s groan and an answer right behind them.

“I don’t know what’s happening at Colaruma,” he said again.

Hmm, I can feel the block, too, Miraya murmured in my head.

In my mind’s eye, I could see the spirit as she stood in the grass at the base of the mountain and ran her fingers through her long, white hair. Her face was set into a puzzled expression as she pondered the lack of memory.

“Can we heal it?” I asked her.

No, it’s not a wound, the sword spirit replied. It’s more like a hole. Maybe a spell that erased his memory.

“I’m sorry, what are we healing?” Penelope looked at me with a quizzical expression.

“Oh, I’m talking to the spirit of my sword,” I explained before I realized I had no idea if that was normal, so I quickly continued. “Anyway, she said it looks like a memory-erasing spell.”

“Ah, yes,” Penelope said with a nod. “That would make sense. The magic can’t pull out something he doesn’t have.”

“Can we undo it with another spell?” I asked.

“No, a memory-erasing spell quite literally erases the memory itself,” Penelope clarified. “Since the memory only belonged to him, it no longer exists if he doesn’t have it.”

Well, shit. These Green Glass mages were annoying as hell.

“How does the spell work?” I wondered. “Will he remember anything we want to know?”

“Man’s memory is like a timeline, so the mage had to essentially cut out a section like with scissors.” Penelope sliced her open hand through the air as she spoke. “It’s more likely they could only erase a few things, so they didn’t take too much and erase his whole timeline.”

I furrowed my brow, pointed my hand at Jacob, and sent my terra magic at him again. He’d better have more information because I didn’t like wasting my time.

“What do you know about Olivier?” I asked as I tried a different topic.

The blue-green coils pulled an answer from Jacob’s open mouth, and he didn’t fight it this time.

“Not much,” he responded. “He’s the sage. He travels between all the camps with his portals, so he’s never in one place for very long.”

“Is he the mage who put the curse on the rope?” I pushed.

“No,” Jacob said through a clenched jaw.

“Then, who was it?” I demanded as I put more force behind the tendrils of magic.

“Ahhh,” Jacob groaned as beads of sweat dripped down his face. He’d tried to fight again, but the magic overcame him. “It was Xavier.”

Now, we had the name of a new player. He wasn’t the sage, but he was clearly a powerful mage, and we needed to get to him, too. The trick would be finding him.

“How many camps are there?” I questioned since I realized if Olivier or any other mage regularly portaled between them, there had to be more Sect members than we’d originally thought.

“Well, no more than forty members are allowed to be in one camp, so no one can just come wipe us out,” Jacob replied and did a few mental calculations. “So, I guess that puts us at about ten camps.”

“Regularly?” I tried to hide how shocked I was, but I snuck a glance at Nike and saw his silver eyes were wide, too.

We’d figured maybe one or two regular camps and a handful of small, mobile camps. The Green Glass Sect had grown quite a bit, and that was a problem.

“Olivier likes to recruit.” Jacob lifted a shoulder with indifference. “Especially since you keep killing our people.”

“Speaking of your people, why are you the only one here?” I looked around the woods as though another Sect member would jump out at any moment. “They really just didn’t want you?”

“Oh, I’m a distraction,” Jacob laughed. “They should be long gone by now. We heard you coming, and they knew you’d find them eventually if you didn’t find something else early. So, here I am.”

Fucking hell. We’d already been here for long enough they’d probably all gotten away, but I signaled to River to send some of the warriors to double check, and a handful of centaurs trotted off into the forest.

“Why you?” I asked as I turned back to Jacob.

“I volunteered.” The captive grinned, and I wondered if he was crazy.

Before he drove me crazy, too, I changed the topic.

“Why does Olivier want to open the Breach?” I demanded.

Jacob tried harder to fight off the magical coils that were trying to pry the truth out of him, and then he shrieked. I felt my power grow defensive when he fought it, and the tendrils grew thorns that dragged down his throat when he refused to answer.

So, that’s what Penelope meant when she said it was easier if he didn’t fight it. I liked that trick.

“I don’t remember, okay?” Jacob finally answered, and his voice sounded hoarse from his damaged throat. “I don’t remember why. I just know that’s his main goal.”

Jacob coughed and spat blood onto the forest floor next to him.

“Then why fight to answer me?” I questioned. It seemed stupid when we’d already told him that fighting the magic made it worse.

“I’m not sure,” he muttered, and his eyes darted away from my face. “I felt like I had to keep something a secret, but I don’t know the secret anymore.”

“Okay, let’s try something more recent.” I sent another set of magical coils at him as I spoke. “Where are all the traps your buddy mentioned in the forest?”

“I don’t remember,” Jacob groaned and looked deflated. “I’m not a mage, so I don’t know anything about the magical traps, but I don’t remember where I put some of the regular ones either.”

“You’ve just about used up your usefulness then, Jacob,” I declared with a sigh. “Unless you have something that helps us, I think we’re done here.”

I turned to Penelope and the Solas, who were watching the interrogation with mild interest. The fairies stood a few feet away and murmured to each other as they kept an eye on the prisoner.

“Penelope, I believe I’ll give you the honors of disposing of this coward if you’d like,” I offered.

The Solas leader perked up, and her blue eyes went wide.

“We can have him?” she asked as a grin stretched across her face. “He is a traitor, and the forest needs to be appeased.”

“Sure … ” I wasn’t sure what she had in mind, but her excitement made me a little concerned.

“Yes, my lady, let’s turn the tables on the traitor!” one of the Solas hunters grunted as he lifted his tiny spear in anticipation.

He was the first male Sola I’d seen so far, but he had the same astounding blue eyes as the other fairies. His red hair was long and reached past his shoulders, but it was held back with a piece of leather like a headband. His face was set in determination as he studied Jacob, and a hungry glint shone in his blue eyes.

“What does that mean?” the captive asked, and he withered under the fairy’s indignant stare.

“It means you will finally serve a meaningful purpose,” Penelope replied, and her small frame seemed to tower over the trembling Sect member.

I watched as the thirteen Solas gathered in front of Jacob in a semi-circle and joined hands, and the rest of us stood back as we watched their ritual.

“Green Mother!” Penelope shouted. “Your children reach out to you!”

The fairies’ green magic looked like electricity between their hands, and the ground beneath our feet began to shake. Leaves fell from the trees above us, and the shafts of sunlight that shone through the canopy brightened until most of us were squinting to see.

“We offer to you this traitor to our world!” Penelope continued as the magical shocks between them grew stronger.

The jade electric coils began to snap and pop as the power increased, and the ground shook with more force until it felt like an earthquake. The rays of sunlight now grew hotter, and I could feel the entire clearing rise in temperature.

Suddenly, a green mist rose from the forest floor and surged toward the Sect member’s squirming body. It looked like an emerald steam as it flowed from invisible cracks in the ground and ascended over his trapped form, and the man screamed in terror.

“Oh, gods, no!” Jacob shouted as the mist flowed over him. “Stop this!”

“It’s too late!” Penelope boomed. “The Green Mother is pleased with our offering. It’s time for you to return to her what your people have taken.”

The mist continued to circle around Jacob’s body and then settled like a thick blanket over him.

“Take this sacrifice and make us whole again!” Penelope called out.

The emerald mist started to sink into the ground and took Jacob with it, and his screams were muffled by the magical smoke as it pulled him deeper.

Then he was gone.

The ground slowly returned to its normal stillness, and the air around us cooled as the shafts of sunlight eased. A bed of peacock-colored flowers bloomed in Jacob’s place, and the Solas dropped to their knees as the electric flow of power stopped.

The rest of us waited in silence, but I suspected some may have been in shock.

I thought the display had been fucking awesome, though.

“Thank you, Lord Evan.” Penelope stood from her place on the ground and dipped her head to me. “While the traitor’s sacrifice will not heal every wrong the Green Glass Sect has done, it will certainly help the forest to regrow.”

“It’s the least we could do,” I answered. “Hopefully, it will help.”

The fairies fluttered their wings and took off to return to their village, and the hunting parties glanced around at each other with various looks of disbelief and satisfaction. No one was upset about the Solas’ choice to sacrifice the Sect member, but it was definitely a sight to see.

I gazed over the people in the clearing and met eyes with Nike. We needed to discuss the information we’d gotten from Jacob, but not around everyone else. No need to freak them out or get anyone riled up.

Before I could send everyone back to Lumin, though, the four centaurs who had gone to search for stragglers trotted back into the clearing. They walked directly to River as their tails swished back and forth in agitation, and I could tell they didn’t come bearing good news.

“We didn’t find anyone, sir,” one of the warriors reported.

“It looks like their distraction worked,” River muttered with a scowl. “I guess we can go home now.”

“Stay on the path we’ve already taken,” I directed. “There doesn’t seem to be any traps there. We’ll figure out a way to handle the rest.”

River nodded in agreement and led the centaurs back down the path to Lumin. They walked single file to avoid stepping off the trail and into danger, and then they disappeared from sight.

Aaliyah, Ravi, the dryads, Nike, and I stayed behind to discuss our next moves.

“So, anyone know where the hell Colaruma is?” I started.

“Yes,” Nike confirmed with a nod. “It’s on the way to the city of Kana if we go through the Golden Plains instead of following the path we’d planned.”

“Is that going to be a problem for us?” I asked. “And what the hell are the Golden Plains?”

“It shouldn’t be.” Nike shrugged. “And the Golden Plains are just a different way to Kana, nothing exciting. I think it might add a day to our travels, but as far as I know, it’s not any more dangerous that way.”

“Good,” I said. “What else do you know about Colaruma?”

“Ah, not much,” the noble answered as he cast his silver eyes downward. “It’s always been a bit of a mystery to us in Leyte, and I’ve never been there.”

“Don’t worry,” I consoled him. “It’s all new to me anyway.”

“I’ve never even heard of it,” Aaliyah said with a shrug.

“Me, either,” Ravi agreed. The phoenix had returned to her human form and lifted a shoulder.

“We’ve heard of it, but that’s it,” Polina chimed in.

“Yeah, we’ve been to a lot of places with the Guild, but not there,” Trina added.

“Laika has traveled more than us,” Marina said with a furrowed brow, “but I’m not sure if she’s been there.”

“I don’t like not knowing what we’re walking into,” I grumbled. “We need to get back to Lumin and talk to Alyona. Maybe she can talk to the history keepers about Colaruma, too.”

“Oh, can I go this time?” Ravi chirped as she bounced on her toes. “I’d love to see them!”

“Of course.” I smiled at her. “They don’t like me much, but you and Alyona can certainly go.”

“How can they not like the badass dragon?” Marina gasped with wide emerald eyes.

“Yeah, plus you’ve saved their town, like, five times since we’ve been here,” Polina giggled.

“The horsies should be grateful,” Trina pouted.

“Well, they didn’t like dragons before we got here,” I answered. “To be fair, the ones they knew before were pretty shitty, so we’ll just have to change their minds about me.”

“Saving their prince should’ve done the trick,” Aaliyah grumbled.

“I think so, too, but whatever.” I shrugged. “I’m learning to be a diplomat and shit. Apparently, that means being more understanding.”

“Alyona would be so proud,” Ravi teased.

“Once Ravi and the princess find out more about Colaruma, we’re going to have to move fast,” I continued our original conversation. “We need to take out as many of their camps as we can. I didn’t realize the Sect had grown so much already.”

“Me, either,” Nike said with a worried frown. “The more of their camps we destroy, the harder it will be for the mages to continue escaping so easily. They can still create portals, but they won’t have an easy place to run away to. And what are we going to do about this Xavier guy?”

“Tear him into shreds?” Polina suggested.

“Rip off his appendages?” Trina chimed in.

“Throw him off a cliff?” Marina added.

“All of the above,” Aaliyah chuckled.

“I like all of those ideas,” I laughed. “But we have to find him first. The sooner, the better. I don’t like this guy going around cursing everything with miasma poisoning.”

“Remember what that other Sect guy said in Tikal?” Ravi piped up. “He said all the Green Glass mages are learning the nexus spells. Do you think they’re all miasma poisoning of some sort?”

“Probably,” I growled. “The spells are meant to destroy cities, so it makes sense they’d use miasma to be destructive. I just can’t figure out why they like the miasma or want to open the Breach.”

“So, what should we focus on first?” Nike asked. “Olivier, Xavier, or the camps?”

“First, we need to handle the traps in the centaurs’ forest,” I decided. “They won’t be able to return to their normal hunting habits if there are traps all over the place.”

“Good point,” Nike conceded as he pursed his lips. “Since Jacob didn’t know where we needed to look, should we search for the traps like we did the basilisk?”

“Yeah, in grids,” I agreed. “That way we don’t miss anything, and we can make sure the centaurs are safe before we head to Colaruma. I don’t want to have to turn right back around once we get on the road.”

I looked up at the sky and saw the sun was barely at high noon. We still had plenty of time to search today. The sooner we got the forest back to normal, the sooner we could start catching up with those bastards. I was a little pissed at the head start they already had on us, thanks to Jacob.

“We could probably use the Sagittarius Order’s help to search the woods,” Nike suggested. “They know them better than we do.”

“Agreed.” I dipped my head. “Let’s go back to Lumin and regroup with them. They can help us cover more ground as well.”

We turned to follow the path back to the city. For a while, no one spoke, and we walked in silence. Then I had a thought.

“Why do you think the Green Glass Sect set up these traps anyway?” I asked. The question wasn’t directed at anyone in particular, but Nike answered quickly.

“I was wondering that as well,” he said. “I thought maybe to try for another centaur to sacrifice to the Breach.”

“Or they’re pissed they didn’t get their sacrifice,” Marina suggested.

“Since we rescued them,” Polina continued.

“Yeah, so the traps are their punishment,” Trina agreed.

“Or maybe they’re just hateful,” Ravi pointed out.

“I wonder if it isn’t another distraction,” Aaliyah said as she tugged her long blonde braid and chewed on her bottom lip. “They obviously don’t want us to beat them to Colaruma, and they know we’re the good guys, so we can’t just leave the centaurs to find the traps alone. Especially since they don’t have magic to help them, and we have several people with magic.”

I nearly stopped in surprise before I recovered and continued walking. The lioness had really put some thought into the Green Glass Sect’s actions.

“I think you might be right,” I told her. “They wanted us to find Jacob and be distracted long enough for them to leave the forest, but they had to know he’d give up something about where they were headed.”

“Yes,” Nike said with a nod. “He was clearly a coward. He may have volunteered, but I imagine it was because he was scared of their next move, even if he didn’t remember what it was anymore.”

“That makes sense,” I mused as I worked the scenario out in my head. “They tell him some big, crazy plan, he doesn’t like it, they ask for volunteers to sacrifice themselves for the getaway, so he signs up, and they erase some of his memories so he can’t spill too much. Then they realize they couldn’t possibly have gotten all the info from him, so they set the traps for a little more cushion on escape time.”

“Pretty smart, really,” Ravi said with a furrowed brow. “I don’t like that they’re getting smarter at this.”

“Me, either,” I agreed, and a growl rumbled deep in my chest. “It’s definitely time to clean house.”

Chapter 14

When we walked through the gates of Lumin, it looked like most of the centaurs had returned to their normal activities. The textile factories were pumping out steam while workers rushed around the buildings, and centaurs walked around in both human and horse form as they carried baskets of food, hunting gear, and various other supplies up and down the roads.

As we approached the palace, I noticed several of the Sagittarius Order stood out in the courtyard and talked in low voices. They stopped as soon as we were visible, and a few nodded as we walked through the castle doors.

Before I could think too hard about their conversation, Alyona skipped across the sitting room and buried her face in my chest.

“I’m glad you’re back, my love,” she murmured.

“Everything is fine,” I said as I pressed a kiss to her white and black hair.

“It always is,” the princess giggled before she turned to greet the rest of our party.

“I’ve noticed,” Mona piped up, and I hadn’t realized she was sitting in one of the regal red armchairs until she spoke.

The queen rose from her chair and glided over to where we stood. She wore white robes today, but she still bore her signature red in the form of a scarlet belt around her hourglass waist. The ivory outfit contrasted nicely with her tan skin, and the collar dipped to reveal the swells of her ample cleavage. Her gold chain necklace drooped into the space between her breasts, while her gold bracelets jangled on her arms as she walked.

“You’ve noticed that I can make sure everything is fine?” I smirked.

“Yes,” Mona conceded, and her green eyes dragged up and down my form. “You seem to be rather useful.”

“I have many uses,” I retorted with a grin. “You’ve only seen a few.”

“Oh, your princess and I have briefly discussed a few more of your uses,” the queen countered as she shot me a wink. “We can talk more later.”

Ahhh … Was I finally going to get to fuck the queen and add her to my harem? Hell, yes.

Before I could respond to the enticing situation on hand, River clip-clopped into the sitting room from another doorway. Behind him, several servants in human form walked in carrying plates of food for each of us.

I’d almost forgotten it was lunch time, and the aromas of the food filled my nose and made my mouth water. When the servant lifted the lid off the first tray, the smell of smoked meat permeated the air. The white meat sat in a layer of juice that had also been drizzled over the top of it. It reminded me of turkey with gravy on Thanksgiving, and the smell was delicious. The next tray was opened to reveal green and red slices of some kind of squash, and they were soaked in a vinegar-type liquid with flecks of seasoning all over the top.

The staff also brought each of us mugs filled to the brim with a fruity wine. The scent was strong, and my dragon senses seemed to pick up on all the grapes, strawberries, and a fruit I didn’t recognize in the liquid.

By now, I practically drooled all over my plate as I tried to wait patiently for the servants to finish their presentation. I licked my lips as the staff set down a giant basket of their soft, buttery bread next to a huge bowl, and the bowl held some orange soup with pieces of vegetables floating around in it. The dish smelled like carrots, potatoes, and a few different herbs, and I imagined it would be amazing with the bread. As the servants opened the last tray, I stared at the pile of chunks of dark meat that smelled like wine. I couldn’t figure out what the dish was, but it smelled fantastic.

“What’s that?” I asked as I pointed to the last meaty tray.

“Oh, that’s rabbit,” Alyona answered.

“Never had it,” I said with a raised brow. It felt a little weird since rabbits were pets on Earth, but man, it smelled too good not to try.

So, I piled my plate with some of everything, and we all dug in as River spoke.

“Lord Evan,” he boomed. “Have you found a solution for what is hopefully our last problem in the forest?”

“Another problem?” Mona groaned as she looked up.

“This one should be pretty easy,” I reassured her in between bites. “And we already have a plan to solve it.”

“Plus, we still have time to carry it out today!” Trina piped up.

“And plenty of sunlight.” Polina smiled.

“Then all the horsies will be safe again,” Marina added with a grin.

“Ha-ha,” the queen deadpanned. “Well, come find me when you’ve completed your task.”

With that, she turned on her heels and strode into the hallway toward her chambers, and her jewelry jingled as if to accompany her movements. Her hips swayed with every step, and I watched until she turned the corner out of sight to her room.

“So, your plan?” River’s gravelly voice brought me back to the conversation.

“Uh, yeah,” I said as I turned back toward him. Then I pulled the map of the forest from the drawer and unrolled it onto the table.

“You seem a little distracted,” Alyona said under her breath as she leaned over the table with me.

I looked over to see the princess’ robe was pressed tight to her chest. It revealed her hard nipples pressed against the fabric, and all my blood rushed south as I dragged my gaze down her curvy body. Thanks to all the problems we’d had here in Lumin, it felt like years since I’d had some alone time with my fiancée, and now she was at the forefront of my mind.

“I’m definitely distracted now,” I muttered, and I ran my hand up her thigh to the bottom of her robe.

“You’re supposed to be explaining your plan,” Alyona giggled as her amethyst eyes twinkled with mischief.

“What did you and the queen talk about?” I asked as I ignored our trap plan for the moment. I had to know what the women were planning.

“Oh, she’ll want to talk to you about that herself,” the princess replied and smiled. “I shouldn’t say.”

“Dragons aren’t known for their patience, princess,” I growled playfully.

“But diplomats are.” Alyona stepped up on her toes and kissed me. “Now, let’s get to work.”

I grunted as she took a step back to give the rest of the group room to come closer to the map. Then I motioned to Nike to explain his strategy to River and Laika, since they’d missed our forest talk.

“So, the idea is to move the same way we did with the basilisk and clear out the traps the Green Glass Sect has left behind in the forest,” Nike jumped in and pointed to the map. “We start at this end and shift across. The biggest difference is we need everyone to move in a line across their grid area, so no stone is left unturned. Does that make sense?”

“Of course,” River said with a nod.

“Evan?” Alyona nearly whispered. “I don’t mean to sound negative, but what if the traps are designed specifically to hurt centaurs?”

“That’s a good point,” I agreed. “If the traps are designed for centaurs, we have to bear that in mind. In fact, we should probably make sure at least one of us is with every group of Sagittarius Order hunters. That way, if something happens, there’s a non-centaur right there to help handle things.”

“You really think the Green Glass Sect would do that?” River asked with a look of disbelief.

“I wouldn’t be surprised.” I shrugged. “They were trying to sacrifice you guys and failed. They’re probably a little pissed off about it.”

“Well, if you think it’s a possibility, then we’ll divide the groups up as you say,” the centaur commander accepted.

“So, how many of your men are available?” Nike asked him.

“The dozen men who were with us this morning are awaiting my command,” River answered. “Do we need more?”

“I think that will do,” Nike said before he turned back to me. “Does everything sound good to you, Lord Evan?”

“Yeah,” I replied with a nod. “Let’s go.”

Our group made our way to the palace doors and stepped outside. The rest of the Sagittarius Order had gathered and was waiting in the castle courtyard, and River strode over to his warriors to deliver their orders.

I stood back as the commander passed along the decisions we’d made inside and divided the warriors into four groups. While he did that, I directed Ravi and Aaliyah to join one group, and Polina, Marina, and Trina joined another. Then I told Laika and Nike to join the third group while I joined the last one with River and Alyona. Normally, I’d fly above the trees, but I wanted to be on the ground finding traps with a group, and being close to Alyona wasn’t even a question. Not to mention, I was curious if my terra magic would help me find any disturbances in the land caused by the traps.

As we walked out of the gates of Lumin, I grabbed Alyona’s hand to walk beside her.

“Before his, ah, untimely demise, the Sect guy told us where the rest of them were headed,” I explained. “It’s a place called Colaruma. Do you know anything about it?”

“Not really.” The princess rubbed her chin in thought. “I’ve heard of it, of course, but I don’t know why they’d choose it.”

“Would you be willing to go talk to the history keepers about it when we get back to Lumin?” I asked. “I figure if anyone knows more about it, they’ll be the ones.”

“I’d love to!” Alyona gushed, and her amethyst eyes glittered with excitement.

“Then it’s settled,” I agreed before I switched the topic back to our present mission. “So, what kind of traps do you think they’d set for the centaurs?”

“Well, their species is very intelligent, so it wouldn’t be something obvious,” Alyona mused before she considered the idea for a moment. “The traps are probably very well-hidden. Or they could be related to the things the centaurs do without thinking, like getting water or food.”

“Then we should probably pay close attention to the streams and the areas where they hunt the most,” I concluded. “I’m thinking I’ll use my terra magic to check the land.”

“That’s a great idea, my love,” Alyona said with a smile. “You should be able to sense something that isn’t right. Maybe in the same way you find your treasures.”

“Ah,” I breathed, and my eyes widened. “That’s a good idea. We make a good team, princess.”

Her smile stretched further across her porcelain face, and a blush crept up her cheeks at the compliment.

After a few more minutes of walking, we reached the edge of the forest. River directed his warriors to head toward their designated search areas, and the groups fanned out to begin.

We walked in a nearly straight line side by side through the forest, and the giant trees towered over us as we searched. A flock of brightly colored birds fluttered over our heads and landed on the branches ahead of us, and I watched one bird cock its head to the side as it stared at us. We were obviously out of place to the animals.

I concentrated on reaching out with my terra magic. In the same way that my dragon senses could indicate treasure, I pushed my power through the ground below me, and within minutes, I felt something a few feet ahead and to my right.

“There’s something ahead,” I called out to the centaur next to me. “I’ll go ahead of you.”

I veered to the right and felt the sensation get closer, so I squatted down and laid a hand on the forest floor. Penelope was right. It was easier to direct this magic with my hands. Only a few feet ahead of where I was, there was a hole in the ground, so I walked the last couple steps to stand in front of it.

The hole was about six feet square and felt about ten feet deep, and it was covered in branches and leaves to blend in with the forest floor. It reminded me of traps I’d seen back on Earth for boar hunting, and if it was like those traps, it would have something at the bottom.

I moved the branches out of the way and confirmed my suspicion. Large wooden spikes were driven into the ground with the spikes facing up. Any centaur who fell into this hole would have been impaled instantly.

Now, to figure out how to get rid of it. The centaur who had been walking this path caught up with me and looked down in the hole as well.

“I have to fill it in with the spikes,” I thought out loud. “None of us can get in there to take them out. I’ll just have to cover them up.”

In my dragon form, that was easy. A few swipes with my giant claws, and the dirt would have been back in the hole in no time. I’d have to rely on my magic in my human form, though, since the trees were way too close together here to transform.

“Stand back,” I advised the centaur.

The warrior took a few steps back without a word and watched as I knelt down and placed a hand on the soil. Then I sent a wave of magical energy through the dirt and pushed some into the hole. It covered the spikes, but there was still eight feet left to fill in, so I closed my eyes and shoved the energy wave hard.

Suddenly, a cascade of soil poured into the trap from either side. It nearly filled the hole, so the ground dipped down a few inches, but it was no longer a threat.

One trap down, who fucking knows how many more to go.

“Evan!” Alyona called out from the other side of the tree line.

I jogged over to where she stood over what looked like a Venus flytrap. The sides of the plant were blue, and the spikes along the outer rim of the petals looked like small, black daggers.

“Uh, what are we looking at?” I asked.

“This flower is different,” she replied with a frown. “Can you feel it?”

I reached out with my terra magic, and the plant seemed to shy away from me.

“Yeah, it’s definitely weird,” I agreed as I reached into my spatial storage and grabbed Miraya. “Should we just chop it down?”

“Let’s try it.” Alyona nodded.

I swung the sword at the stem of the plant, but the blade went through it without touching anything. It looked like I’d swung through a mirage, and the image shimmered back into place after the slight disturbance.

“Just what I thought,” my bride-to-be said, and she began murmuring the words of a spell.

Then the mirage that covered the flytrap wavered for a moment before it melted away and revealed a large metal contraption. The device looked like a giant version of the flytrap but with sharp, metal teeth, and it could easily sever a leg if someone had tried to remove the fake plant.

“We usually pluck the Jawpetals,” one of the warriors said as he came up behind us. “They tend to eat the same things we do, so we pull them out when we see them.”

Ah, so the Inati version of weeds.

“That makes sense for the Sect to use it to disguise a trap,” Alyona replied to him before she turned and spoke more quietly to me. “That means they’ve been watching the centaurs for a while.”

“Found one!” I heard Trina yell from her area to our left.

“Me, too!” a centaur warrior bellowed from further down the line.

We continued on for a few hours with each person calling out when they found a trap and destroyed it. Alyona had to help with a few spells on the magical traps, but we made pretty good progress through the woods.

The sun was getting low when I heard a centaur yell. It wasn’t the celebratory shout of finding a trap, though, and I couldn’t tell the direction it had come from.

“Everyone!” I shouted. “Be quiet!”

The search parties stilled, and I focused my dragon senses on listening again.

“Help!” the voice screamed once more, and this time, I realized it was from about ten yards ahead of us and to my left.

I darted in the direction I’d heard the voice from and slowed when I could feel I was close.

“Where are you?” I called out.

“I fell in this shaft,” a centaur moaned. “I can’t feel my legs. Help me, please!”

I took a few steps forward, and then I saw a gash in the ground covered by a green mist. The hole was just big enough for a centaur, and it had apparently been disguised with some sort of mirage mist as well. The smoke was still shimmering from the centaur falling through it, though it was starting to retake its form to match the forest floor.

“Alyona!” I yelled for the princess.

My fiancée rushed over to join me and looked around in confusion.

“There.” I pointed to the mirage without lifting my eyes. “It’s one of those disguise mist things.”

“Oh!” she exclaimed.

Then she said the spell that removed the mist, and we could clearly see the pit. We looked down into the hole and could barely see the warrior at the dark bottom, and he was laying on his side with all four of his horse legs bent at an unnatural angle. He moaned continuously in pain, and his wails echoed around the trees.

“I think my legs are broken,” he groaned. “I can’t move them at all.”

I reached out with my status check to make sure that was the only problem. If it was, I could just heal his legs and then slowly add dirt until he could climb out.

Classification: Centaur

Condition: Four broken legs, broken ribs, internal bleeding

Priority: Healing required immediately

Danger: Death imminent if not healed

Status: Near critical

“Wait, there’s something down here!” the warrior shouted with terror in his voice.

I cleared the status check from my vision, lit a fireball in my hand, and turned my palm over to shine the light down into the hole.

Oh, fucking great.

A den of alabaster snakes slithered around the centaur’s immobile body and hissed at the light from my hand. I quickly put it out so they wouldn’t attack the warrior, and now I had to think of a new plan.

Fast.

Suddenly, Ravi peeked through the trees and hurried over next to me.

“Those are Lotus snakes,” the phoenix informed me as she peered into the pit. “They’re not typically found in forests, so the Green Glass Sect must have put them here.”

“Of course,” I muttered. “Are they deadly?”

“Very,” she replied with a nod. “Their venom can kill in less than a minute.”

“What happened?” Polina was suddenly at my side, along with the other two dryads.

“There’s a shit load of snakes down there with a centaur who has all four legs broken,” I replied as I sent down a spray of healing magic.

The glittery dust settled on the centaur, and I could see his legs rearranging into a normal shape as he sighed.

“Don’t get up,” I warned him. “I’m healing you, but we don’t want to piss those things off. Just give us a few minutes.”

The centaur responded with a silent nod.

“I have an idea,” Trina said, and then she took off toward one of the large, dark trees next to us. She returned within seconds, and she carried a pile of sticks and leaves.

“Ah, great idea!” Marina declared as she and Polina grabbed some of the tree parts from Trina’s arms.

“Um, did I miss something?” I asked with a quizzical look.

“Oh, we can make a rope with these things,” Polina answered.

“Yeah, not anything fancy, but it should do the trick,” Trina added.

“He’ll probably have to transform, though,” Marina said with a frown. “I doubt the rope will hold his full centaur weight.”

“Did you hear that?” I called down the shaft. “You have to change to your human form, but wait until we have the rope ready. Once we throw it down to you, transform and climb up, and we’ll pull you out.”

“Okay,” the centaur answered weakly.

By now, most of the other search parties had finished their areas and came back to see what was taking so long. We suddenly had an audience, but I ignored them as best as I could while I focused on saving the trapped centaur below me.

The dryads twisted the parts of the tree with speed and skill, until a rope of sorts began to take form. They braided the pieces together, and a few minutes later, we had a long vine that could reach the trapped centaur.

I didn’t want the snakes to attack during the rescue, though, so I thought about my newest skill.

“I’m going to send a fireball halfway down the tunnel,” I called down to the centaur. “Just try not to let any of the snakes get close to you.”

“How do I do that?” the warrior said with a frown.

“Stand away from as many as you can,” I advised. “And don’t look up.”

I summoned a fireball and sent it to float part of the way down into the pit. As the snakes looked up again at the incoming light, I sent a wave of petrification onto them. Most of the snakes froze immediately, but a handful remained as they slithered around the centaur’s feet.

Well, better than nothing.

“You ready?” I yelled down to the warrior.

“Yes sir,” he returned.

“Three, two, one!” I counted down and then tossed one end of the rope down to him while I held the other end.

I watched as he quickly shrunk down to human size and then leapt up to grab the line. He coiled his feet around it and pulled his body up with his arms, and I pulled my end of the rope to bring him closer to the surface.

When the centaur was about halfway up the rope, I heard a hiss, but it sounded much closer than the bottom of the pit.

I looked up to see a pair of reptile eyes that stared at me through the shrubs next to the hole. The orbs were neon green and nearly glowed through the leaves, and then two more pairs of eyes opened with a hiss.

Uh-oh.

“Watch out!” I shouted just as the snake uncoiled and flung itself out of the bush to attack.

The beast looked like the Lotus snakes in the pit, but it was much bigger. Three heads extended from the end of its giant body, and all three mouths were open to reveal fangs that dripped with its black venom. Its white scales gleamed in the sunlight, and its fully uncoiled body stretched about nine or ten feet long.

The snake hissed again and raised up into another striking position, and I noticed the mark of Gamma as it glowed on its underbelly. Then I growled and reached into my spatial storage for my sword.

“Hang on to that rope!” I ordered the dryads before I turned to the Sagittarius Order, who were staring in shock at the giant serpent. “Shoot it!”

My voice seemed to startle them into motion, and several of the warriors immediately reached into their quivers, loaded their bows, and shot at the snake.

Its lithe form darted around to avoid the first two arrows, but the third arrow struck one of the heads.

The snake reared the injured head back and hissed in pain, so I took advantage of the distraction and ran toward the beast with my sword raised. As I swung the blade, the beast hissed again and coiled its body away before it tried to strike me with its fangs exposed, but I used my momentum to climb a few feet up the trunk of a tree and come back down on one of the heads.

I brought the Sword of Healing down into the snake’s white, scaly head, and the beast shook violently as it tried to fling me away. Pink blood trickled out of the wound, and I realized the sword had perforated its head and come out its mouth. So, I twisted the blade and wrenched it back to open the wound further. The other two snake heads tried to reach me, but it was no use. The one I stabbed fell limp, and I slid down the scales back to the ground.

“Ravi!” I called out to the phoenix. “Use your whip!”

Ravi nodded and conjured the fiery whip into her hands. Then she ran closer to the action and lashed out at the snake. The line of fire lassoed around the snake’s ivory body, and the phoenix yanked down to pull the beast away from me.

Then I ran parallel to the fire whip, jumped, and sliced my sword through the next neck until the blade hit dirt. The second snake head rolled away from the alabaster body and laid limp a few feet away.

Just then, Aaliyah burst through the tree line and nearly tripped over the snake head.

“What’s going on?” the lioness shouted.

“Just a three-headed snake,” I answered with sarcasm.

Suddenly, another head grew in the severed one’s place and hissed at me.

Great, it appeared to be one of those hydras I’d always read about, and now it was pissed.

I realized the other head might not be dead then either.

“Alyona!” I turned to the princess who waited by the snake pit. “Do you know a spell to get rid of these things?”

“Ahh.” The princess racked her brain for a solution. “I’m not sure if it’ll work--”

“Whatever it is, it’s worth a shot!” I shouted. “Just do it!”

“Okay,” Alyona said with a note of uncertainty. “Cut off another head.”

“You got it,” I grunted and rushed back over to the snake who was poised above the centaurs.

A few of the warriors shot arrows again, but the snake dodged them and hissed as it prepared to strike. I conjured a fire bow and arrow, aimed, and shot the beast in the side of its scaled form. The hydra-snake reared back from the burning blow and turned to slither toward me, but it undulated awkwardly with one of its heads sagging from the rest of the body.

I brandished the Sword of Healing and brought it above my head.

Suddenly, Ravi flew over me in her phoenix form and clasped my shoulders with her claws. I didn’t think she could lift me, but somehow, she carried me above the snake and released me near one of the active heads. So, I angled my blade and sliced through the middle head.

As my feet hit the ground, Alyona created a purple and white sphere in her hands and launched it at the severed neck.

I heard the sizzle of the spell as it connected with the snake’s exposed meat. The stench of burnt flesh filled the air, and the last alert snake head hissed in fury.

Alyona’s spell must have worked since nothing grew back from the severed stump.

I grinned as Aaliyah followed my lead, climbed a tree near the serpent, and jumped onto the unconscious head. The lioness dug her claws into its neck and shredded through the ivory scales until the skull dropped to the ground.

Then Alyona launched another of her magical spheres to the gash and sealed it shut.

I watched as the last head struggled to hold itself up without the other two serpents, and it swayed back and forth with the effort. I conjured my own fire whip and lassoed the snake’s head. I pulled the rope, and the snake tipped until it crashed to the ground. Then I jumped onto its scaled neck and severed the last head with the Sword of Hatra.

As my blade sliced through the beast, the princess released the last spell and singed the wound. Small slivers of smoke rose from the three gaping lacerations, and it looked as though her spells had cauterized the skin so the heads couldn’t grow back.

Several of the centaurs crowded around the snake’s carcass to examine it.

“What the hell?” one of the warriors murmured. “We don’t have anything like this in our forest.”

“I’m guessing the Sect left that little gift for us, too,” I muttered. “And it had the mark.”

“Um, a little help over here?” Polina called out from beside the pit.

“Oh, shit!” I said as I motioned to the warriors. “Come on.”

Several other centaur warriors ran over to grab the rope and began pulling their comrade up from the pit. With their help, it only took seconds to get the centaur back on land.

“Thank you,” he gasped as he collapsed onto the ground with exhaustion.

I looked back down the hole and realized it had to be at least twenty feet deep. The warrior was lucky the fall didn’t kill him. I quickly used my magic and pushed the soil into the hole to fill it in and hopefully suffocate the rest of the snakes, since I didn’t feel like fighting any more of those bastards.

“What happened?” River demanded as he galloped through the crowd and knelt next to the warrior we’d just pulled out of the pit. “Shia, are you alright?”

“Yeah,” the centaur replied with growing excitement. “The dragon saved me, and I can’t even tell my legs were broken just a few minutes ago!”

“Hey, the dryads were a big part of saving you, too,” I pointed out as the sisters took a dramatic bow. “Not to mention, there was this gigantic three-headed snake out here.”

“There was a what?” River eyed me skeptically.

“It looked like those Lotus snakes in the pit,” I said as I gestured to the hole. “But it was huge, and it had three heads.”

“They saved all of us,” Shia interrupted as he stood and shifted back into his centaur form. “They found me in the pit and slayed the beast out here.”

“You really saved them?” one of the other warriors piped up as he gazed at me with suspicion. “Why?”

“Because he was stuck, and there was a big ass snake ready to bite all of us.” I rolled my eyes. “I told you, I’m not like the dragons from your ancestors’ stories.”

“I saw it myself,” another warrior volunteered, and this centaur’s golden blond hair waved in the breeze as he stepped forward. “Even when the beast was ready to attack our warriors, he drew it away and attacked it. He saved Shia and the rest of us.”

The centaur’s chest and shoulders were covered in tattoos, and they almost made him look like he was wearing a T-shirt. Then he grinned at me and showed his perfect, white teeth that deeply contrasted with his tan skin.

“Thank you,” I told him.

“My pleasure,” he responded, and his grin stretched further.

A few of the other centaurs nodded their agreement, and they began murmuring to each other.

“Maybe he’s not so bad.”

“We don’t have to hate all the dragons, I guess.”

“He’ll be a good king.”

“What were you doing on your own, Shia?” River interrupted the low, muttered conversations.

“I thought I could find the traps easy enough.” The warrior cast his gaze down with shame.

“Well, I suppose you were right,” River chastised him. “You did find one on your own. Next time I give you an order, you follow it.”

Shia didn’t look up, but he nodded his head to the commander, who turned his attention back to me.

“The rest of the hunting groups have finished, and everything we came across was destroyed or reversed,” River reported.

“Awesome,” I sighed and wiped the sweat from my brow. “Let’s get back to the castle. I’m starving, and I have a few things to discuss with my bride.”

“You heard Lord Evan,” River spoke to his warriors. “Move out.”

The centaurs turned toward the trail and started the walk back to the city. The last few warriors who hadn’t seen the snake pit, including Laika and Nike, joined us on the path to Lumin.

“I get the feeling we’ve missed something,” the wolf muttered with a frown.

“Oh, just saving people,” I joked. “The usual.”

The dryads giggled as we joined the horse-men on the trail.

After what seemed like an hour, we finally returned to the gates of the city, and as we strode inside the walls, the warriors peeled off to go to their homes. When we reached the palace, only my comrades and River remained.

The centaur commander pushed open the palace doors, and we all walked into the sitting area to collapse.

A moment later, Mona hurried in from the hallway and stood before us as she waited for a report.

The queen wore the same white robe from earlier, though the belt had loosened and revealed even more of her beautiful, bronze skin. She had no shoes on, and for some reason, her bare, slender feet caught my eye. I wanted them on my shoulders as I pounded into her and emptied my seed deep inside her womb while we were surrounded by her golden furniture.

I shook my head to clear the vision when I realized River was telling her what we’d found.

“ … a few magically disguised traps, but we got rid of all of them, Your Highness.” The centaur commander bowed his head to the queen.

“You’ve done well, River,” Mona praised him. “Tonight, we will celebrate.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the centaur replied. “I’ll go tell the cooks.”

River trotted out of the room, and his black tail whipped back and forth behind him as he left.

“I think I’ll go clean up before we eat,” Alyona said as she stood up from her chair. Then she leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.

“Good idea, princess,” Laika agreed.

The wolf warrior wrapped her arm around Alyona’s shoulders, and the two started to leave the room.

“Princess?” Mona called out. “Would you actually mind staying for just a moment?”

Laika looked at Alyona, who nodded and smiled. So, the wolf warrior bowed to the women and headed toward the bath house.

“I’m going to go change at least,” Aaliyah said as she scrunched up her nose. “I smell like dirt.”

“Me, too!” Ravi rose from her seat to follow the lioness.

“Wait for us!” Trina called out as she and the other dryads scurried to catch up with Ravi and Aaliyah.

“I suppose I could clean up as well,” Nike chuckled, and he and I grasped forearms before he headed out of the room.

“Well, if neither of you has anything else to do … ” Mona raised a brow as she dropped into the seat next to me.

“Only hanging out with you,” I teased. “But I heard you had something to talk to me about, so spill it.”

“Spill what?” the queen asked with a frown.

“Never mind,” I chuckled. “What do you need to talk to me about?”

“I, ah … ” Mona trailed off, and a rosy color filled her cheeks.

“Come on, I don’t bite,” I prodded with a grin.

“Really, Your Highness,” Alyona encouraged. “He will understand.”

“Okay, okay.” The queen looked away, but then she straightened her shoulders and gazed at me with her emerald eyes. “I asked Alyona if what you said was true, about how she doesn’t mind if you … ”

“If I what?” I asked and cocked an eyebrow. “Have other mates?”

“Yes,” she confirmed, and her cheeks darkened further. “If you have other mates.”

“And you found out I wasn’t lying to you,” I pushed.

“Yes, I told her about Valerra, your mate back home,” Alyona agreed.

“Yes, and the other women in your party, you mate with them, too,” the queen continued.

“I do.” I smirked.

“Okay, so I wanted to ask both of you a specific question.” Mona furrowed her brow.

“Which was?” I felt like I was pulling teeth here.

“As you know, I have sons,” the beautiful shapeshifter started. “But … I need a daughter. I need a powerful daughter to take over ruling our people. So … ”

“So?” Alyona raised an eyebrow.

“Princess Alyona, I’d like your official permission to mate with Lord Evan, so he can give me a daughter,” the centauress finished, and she looked at Alyona with a mixture of emotions on her face.

“I’m, uh, not sure how to control the gender.” I was surprised at her question. I figured she wanted to be with me, but I had no clue how to give her exactly what she was asking for.

“I can actually help with that part!” Alyona interjected with a smile. “I have a spell for that.”

“So, does that mean it’s okay?” the queen nearly whispered. “I know you are his wife-to-be, and as the future ruler of Rahma, I wanted to be respectful of your wishes, Divine Maiden. Lord Evan is just so powerful. I know that if his dragon-seed fills my womb, I will produce a noble daughter who will be fit to rule our people.”

“We would be honored to help your tribe,” the princess replied. “And Lord Evan and I are always happy to add to our family.”

“Is this true?” Mona asked as she turned to me. “Would you like to give me a daughter, Lord Evan?”

“Hell, yeah, I’m good with that.” I grinned. “Is there anything else you wanted to talk about, or should we go to your room now?”

“I do have two conditions, though,” Alyona said as she held up a finger.

“Are you bargaining with my body?” I laughed.

The princess shot me a look before she continued.

“First: If Lord Evan gives you a daughter, who will then be trained to rule Lumin, you must then swear your loyalty to us and the crown,” Alyona continued. “I’m sure your daughter would obviously be loyal to Lord Evan, but you must feel the same way, and your people must know that.”

The princess was brilliant. Getting rid of all the beasts and traps in the forest had only gotten us less hated. If we wanted the centaurs on our side completely, we had to give the queen the only thing she desired: a daughter to take over the city when she was too old.

We sat in silence as Mona considered the deal, and she chewed on her bottom lip as she studied our faces.

“You really mean it?” the queen asked. “You would give me a daughter if I declare my and my tribe’s loyalty to the crown of Rahma?”

“Yes,” Alyona confirmed as I nodded. “We will always do what we can to help our people. And I’m certain you will enjoy the experience.”

I looked over to see the princess covering a smile with her delicate hand.

“Alright, then what is your second condition?” Mona questioned with a furrowed brow.

“From this day forward,” Alyona began, “Lord Evan will be your only lover, and you will give him many more children.”

Mona’s green eyes opened wide for a few moments, and then she tilted her head to the side slightly.

“But … I know he will be traveling, and--”

“You can send us a message when you are ready to breed again,” Alyona interrupted her. “Or … if you crave his touch.”

“I see.” Mona bit her lip and then glanced at me.

“He can travel quickly back to you,” Alyona continued. “I can help with that.”

“I see your strategy here,” Mona huffed as she crossed her arms, and then her eyes narrowed at the princess.

“Oh?” My fiancée’s eyebrow raised.

“You are pouring Lord Evan’s blood into my line,” the centaur continued. “It will make my city and my people connected to him forever.”

“Of course,” Alyona said with a casual shrug. “As it should be. He will one day be king, and the purpose of our trip to the cities is to ensure we are all united. My fiancé is a wonderful lover, he will please you in bed, and he will provide you with the daughter you so desperately need.”

“You are reducing me to a concubine status,” Mona pointed out as she pursed her lips.

“Of course not,” Alyona scoffed. “You didn’t even ask about marriage. Lord Evan can have multiple wives, if that is what you wish. Is that what you wish?”

Mona hesitated for a moment, and then her eyes fell down to the floor between us.

“The centaur queens do not take husbands,” she finally stated. “We are allowed to take multiple men and have children from the strongest of our people, so that we make the strongest of offspring.”

“But you are part of our kingdom, and Evan is the strongest male in existence,” Alyona stated. “If those are the rules your queens are expected to follow, then it no longer makes sense to have other men as lovers. Lord Evan should be the only one.”

“Your logic is correct,” Mona sighed as she began to nod her head. “I do want powerful children.”

“And you will get that with my fiancé,” Alyona said as a proud smile spread across her beautiful face. “He will give you the daughter you need, and many more. This is the best decision for your people. Do you agree?”

“Yes,” Mona said as she nodded her head. “I will agree to your terms. Lord Evan will be my only lover, and I will bear him many more children.”

“So, we have a deal?” I asked with a grin.

“You have a deal,” Mona said more firmly, and she looked at Alyona as she clasped her hands. “Thank you, milady. I am grateful.”

“Of course, Your Highness.” Alyona replied with a smile.

“Well, then, let’s go.” I started to rise from my chair, but before I could fully stand, the queen raised a hand to stop me.

“We have made a deal, and we will mate, but not tonight,” she said. “We have a celebration with the city tonight, and I want to be able to appreciate the experience. Contrary to what some believe about centaur queens, I do not simply mate with anyone at any time.”

“Fair enough,” I conceded, though my arousal was not as easy to calm down. “When would you like us to do it?”

“Tomorrow,” she answered firmly. “That gives me some time to ensure I’m pregnant before your party will want to leave.”

“Tomorrow it is.” I grinned at her again. “In your chambers, I hope?”

I had to live out this daydreaming fantasy I’d had several times now.

“Of course.” She looked at me quizzically. “Where else?”

“No idea,” I chuckled. “So, what do you need for this celebration?”

“Oh, nothing from you.” Mona seemed relieved at the change of subject, but I mostly had to talk about something else before I stood up again.

“I can help,” I offered. “Are you sure I can’t do anything?”

“I can’t let the hero do any of this work!” she teased, and her jade eyes glinted alluringly.

Then River strode into the sitting area, and our casual conversation ended.

“Your Highness, the food is ready,” he announced.

“Wonderful!” Mona clapped.

“I’ll let the others know,” the centaur commander volunteered, and then he rushed into the hallway to bring the rest of my group to the party.

I stood up and offered a hand to the queen and another to my princess, and they both smiled and took my hands as I pulled them to their feet. Then we walked into the dining hall, and the queen sat at the head of the table. I sat to her right as several centaurs in human form walked into the room and carried plates piled high with food, and Alyona sat next to me.

The dishes were filled with stacks of meat, fruit, and bread. One plate held some kind of meat patties that smelled like sausage with a yellow sauce poured over them, and another dish contained the sliced meat we’d eaten for breakfast a few days ago. There were no veggies this time, but my mouth watered as a servant set down a tray of various fruits that had been diced and skewered. The fruity juices smelled almost as good as the meat.

I’d already decided to wait for the others before I started eating, but a servant set a basket of bread down in front of me, so I snatched one up and bit off a hunk. The bread was sweet and soft with a hint of cinnamon. The flavor was delicious, and I stuffed the rest of the slice in my mouth.

“Already getting started?” Laika teased as she strolled into the room.

“Uhhhhh … ” I tried to deny it, but I had a mouth full of bread.

All three women laughed at my predicament as the rest of the group began to trickle in.

Finally, everyone had arrived, and we all ate until we were stuffed.

I yawned and stretched as I prepared to finally get to bed and relax.

“Oh, no, this is just the beginning,” Mona laughed.

Then I heard the music start from outside the castle, so we got up and followed the queen out the palace doors to the courtyard.

Lanterns of several different colors had been hung along the walls of the palace and the buildings in front of it to light up the courtyard. There was also a table full of jugs that smelled suspiciously like the cactus juice we’d drank in Tikal. A group of musicians stood against the far wall and played their upbeat tunes, while several centaurs made their way into the grassy area and started dancing.

“Come on!” Ravi grinned, grabbed my hand, and pulled me into the center of the courtyard to dance.

The phoenix’s lithe body moved to the beat, and soon my other women joined in on the dancing.

There would be no sleep for me tonight.

But I was more than okay with that.

Chapter 15

As the sun streamed in through my bedroom window the next morning, I rolled over and rubbed my eyes. Alyona looked peaceful in her sleep as she snored softly, and Ravi was curled into the princess’ other side with her fiery orange hair fanned out in all directions. The two women were unfortunately clothed, and I ran my fingers through my hair as I remembered how drunk they were off the cactus juice last night. While I’d hoped to enjoy a long night with both my lovers, the women were giggling so hard after we left the courtyard celebrations that they’d collapsed onto my bed in a snoring heap before I could even take off my boots.

They were pretty adorable, though, and I loved them, so I didn’t mind too much.

Considering last night’s activities, both of them were probably at least a little hungover, and I was starving, so I decided not to disturb them and slid off the bed.

After I pulled on my black boots, I eased the door open and stepped out into the hallway. Then I gently shut the door and strode to the dining hall. I could smell a blend of foods cooking, and I inhaled the scents as I walked into the room and sat down to wait. I smelled the sliced, bacon-esque meat, the sweet bread, and something that reminded me of scrambled eggs. The perfect aromas of breakfast food made my stomach growl with hunger, and my mouth was starting to salivate.

Suddenly, just as I was considering walking into the kitchen myself, an orange magical fox jumped onto the table in front of me. The messenger sat down with his bushy tail swishing from side to side behind him. Then he opened his mouth, and I heard the response from Ruslan in Hatra.

“I am to let you know that ‘Junior’ is a ridiculous name, even as a nickname,” the fox reported in my adoptive father’s voice, and I could practically envision Valerra glowering over my joke. “There, I told him! Now, let me finish. But your mother and I are doing great! We are gaining many more citizens by the day, and Hatra is thriving! And Valerra says hello. Yes, I told him you said hello because it’s nice.”

Then the fox disappeared with a little poof of dust, and I chuckled at the response from my family in Hatra. It seemed my father was trying to teach Valerra the diplomacy I was learning from Alyona. Dragons may not be the best students for those lessons, but at least everyone was trying.

As I smiled to myself, the kitchen staff finally brought in three large trays of food and set them on the table before me. The servants each lifted a lid to reveal my breakfast, and my grin widened as I filled my plate with the meat and eggs. I also pulled a piece of bread from the basket and poured some of the fruity jam I found onto it.

Just as I took a bite out of the chunk of bread, Alyona breezed into the room, and she had changed into a violet robe with white flowers adorning the collar and arms. Her black and white hair fell in waves to the middle of her back, and her amethyst eyes almost glowed with excitement.

“Good morning!” the princess said as she glided around the side of the table and wrapped her arm around my neck. “You could have woken me! It’s going to be a good day today.”

“It is?” I questioned around a mouthful of bread.

“Yes!” Alyona giggled. “I’m going back to the history keepers, silly!”

“Ah,” I exhaled.

My lovely, brilliant fiancée was excited about research, and I could only imagine what she would have been like in an Earth college setting. She would’ve been some combination of hot and nerdy, and I definitely would have wanted to fuck her.

“I wonder what all they’ll know about Colaruma,” Alyona thought out loud. “Maybe I should ask them about the Green Glass Sect, too?”

“It couldn’t hurt.” I shrugged. “They might know something that would help us out.”

“I’ll ask about the Sect, too, then,” the princess agreed before she let out a long sigh. “I wish I could ask them about a million different things. I’d love to know how far back their history goes, how they choose the history keepers, what history is important to them … Oh, I have so many questions!”

“I’m not sure how many of them you should ask,” I snickered. “They might kick you out if you ask too much.”

“You think so?” Alyona’s violet eyes widened, and she covered her mouth. “I wouldn’t want to offend them.”

“I’m kidding!” I laughed. “I have no idea what would offend them. You probably know better than I do.”

“Okay, good.” The princess sounded relieved as she stopped pacing and sat down next to me. Then she grabbed a roll of bread, tore off a small piece, and munched on it while she stared out the window in thought.

“Good morning!” Ravi chirped as she skipped into the room.

The phoenix picked up a piece of fruit from the bowl on the table and sank her teeth into it. The pink juice dribbled down her chin, so she used her sleeve to wipe it away. She was dressed more comfortably today in an orange robe that matched her fiery hair, she’d tied the white belt around her waist so the robe was tight around her thin frame, and her pale skin nearly glowed with excitement for their trip to the history keepers’ temple.

She would also be on my list of hot nerds I’d like to fuck.

“Are you ready to go?” Alyona asked Ravi, and a wide grin cracked across the princess’ beautiful face.

“I am!” Ravi grinned back.

“Hold on, ladies,” I interjected as I held up a hand. “Laika or Nike needs to go, too, and I’m walking with you there. I know we’ve made good friends here, but the history keepers weren’t my biggest fans last time. I don’t trust them.”

“I can understand, my love,” Alyona said with a smile. “We can wait a few more minutes, then. Oh! You said you’re coming back to the castle after that, right?”

“Yeah, I don’t know how long you’ll be there, so I don’t want to be in the way,” I grumbled.

“Well, I imagine you can find something to fill your time,” the princess giggled, and she looked at me with a twinkle in her amethyst eyes. “And I have a spell to cast for it.”

“Oh?” I raised a brow.

“I believe the queen has plans for you,” she hinted.

Oh, fuck, yeah. I’d almost forgotten.

“I’m sure the queen would be appreciative of my company.” I smirked.

“Here,” Alyona said as she reached into her spatial storage and pulled out a tiny vial of a blue-tinted liquid. “Drink this while I say the spell.”

I popped the lid off the vial and took a swig of the bitter potion as the princess murmured a quiet spell. I didn’t feel anything different, and I looked at her in confusion.

“It just affects your seed,” she explained with a giggle. “You shouldn’t even notice a thing.”

“Great,” I laughed. “How long does it last?”

“Just for a day,” Alyona replied. “After that, you’re back to whatever nature gives you.”

I nodded in understanding as I heard a set of boots plod down the hall.

“Thank the gods, I’m starving.” My wolf-warrior appeared in the doorway and sighed at the sight of the breakfast food.

Laika plopped onto the chair next to Alyona and piled eggs and meat onto her plate. Then she stuffed a few bites into her mouth with her eyes closed.

“Feeling alright, Laika?” I chuckled.

The wolf Demi-Human seemed a bit hungover from last night’s festivities.

“Better now,” she answered as she shoved another bite into her mouth.

“Would you mind accompanying us to the history keepers’ temple?” Alyona asked Laika.

“Of course not, milady,” the wolf answered after she swallowed her food. “I feel better being with you, especially after that one centaur turned out to be a traitorous bastard.”

“Great!” Alyona clasped her hands together and grinned again.

Even the wolf’s hungover mood couldn’t bring down the princess’ excitement.

“As soon as we finish breakfast, we’ll walk down there,” I decided. “I’ll be coming back here, though. I have, uh, plans. Plus, Nike and I need to plan our route to Colaruma and then to Kana.”

“Why are we going to Colaruma?” Laika asked, and her gray wolf ears perked forward with surprise.

After a second, I realized we hadn’t updated the wolf woman on the information we’d gathered from Jacob.

“I guess we all forgot to loop you in after we interrogated the Sect guy in the forest yesterday,” I said with a furrowed brow. “He said Colaruma is the next big place for the Sect. What do you know about it?”

“I just know it’s on the other side of the Golden Plains,” Laika replied with a shrug. “I’ve never gone there, though.”

“Well, that’s why we need to go see the history keepers,” Alyona chimed in. “No one seems to know anything about it.”

“Yes, that makes sense.” The wolf rubbed her chin in thought. “I’ve never actually heard of anyone going to Colaruma. It’s just a spot on the map.”

“Maybe that’s what the Sect likes about it,” I mused. “It’s not well-known, and it sounds like it’s small enough to not have much foot traffic.”

“They must be working on something big, then,” Alyona said as she templed her fingers. “Once we get some more information, we should leave as soon as possible.”

“I agree,” I said with a nod. “If you’re ready, we can head to the temple now.”

“Yes!” Ravi squeaked and shoved her chair back from the table.

The rest of us followed suit and rose from the dining table just as Mona appeared in the doorway.

“Did I miss breakfast?” the queen asked.

The centauress glided into the room, and her gold dress wrapped around her slender body and accentuated her hourglass shape. Her russet hair was braided from the top of her head and swayed down to the middle of her back, and she wore less gold jewelry than normal today, with only a gold chain necklace and anklet that jingled when she walked. Her bronze skin glistened from a fresh bath, and I could smell lavender and mint as she sauntered past me to sit at the head of the table.

“No, Your Highness,” Alyona answered. “We just finished ours, and we’re headed to the history keepers’ temple again, if that’s alright.”

“Of course,” Mona responded with a smile. “I assume you’re going to ask them about Colaruma.”

“Yes,” the princess confirmed. “We must know what we’re in for.”

“Very true,” the queen agreed. “Running into battle blind is a sure way to lose.”

“Would you like to go with us?” I offered.

“I’ll just wait for you here,” she replied with a shake of her head. “I need to eat and get my morning report from the Solas.”

“Alright, we’ll be back soon,” I informed her as the rest of us headed to the door.

“I certainly hope so,” the queen chuckled.

I looked back to see her large green eyes were bright with lust. She hadn’t forgotten our plans, either, then, and a growl bubbled in my chest as I imagined finally getting to take the queen as one of my mates.

I wouldn’t have to wait much longer now.

I reluctantly tore my gaze away from the gorgeous queen and followed my other women out to the palace doors and then outside into the sunlight.

We turned toward the temple and began to follow the trail that weaved around the castle, and it seemed the centaurs were back to their normal activities. When we passed the farmlands this time, the men were outside tending to the crops and animals. It didn’t look so much like a ghost town anymore. The market was crawling with vendors and buyers, and Lumin’s citizens carried baskets of fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as cloths and various items they’d forged.

The city was bustling again, and my inner dragon preened at the thought that we’d rebuilt yet another city despite the efforts of the Green Glass Sect and the harm caused by the Breach.

It didn’t take long to reach the white temple that housed the history keepers. We walked up the path to the porch, and Alyona rapped lightly on the wooden door. A moment later, the history keeper Senan opened the door and smiled broadly at the women, but then his gaze settled on me, and his smile faded a little.

“Good morning, ladies and my lord,” the old centaur greeted us with a dip of his head. His gray braid swung around as he turned to each of us, and his horse tail swished back and forth.

“Senan, I hope we haven’t woken you,” Alyona responded with a curtsy. “We’d like to come speak with you and the other history keepers, if we may.”

“Of course, princess.” Senan’s pale blue eyes gazed over the three women before they settled on me. “And you, my lord?”

“I’ll be returning to the castle,” I grumbled.

Part of me hoped he would invite me in this time, considering everything I’d done so far. I was curious about the history keepers and their temple, but apparently, keeping track of their history meant they hated my kind the most.

“It was good to see you again, Lord Evan.” Senan smiled at me.

“Yeah,” I muttered. “You, too.”

“We’ll be back to the castle as soon as we’re done,” Alyona said as she stood on her tiptoes to press a chaste kiss to my lips.

“You better be,” I growled and kissed her back.

I turned to Ravi and kissed her cheek, and then I kissed Laika between her soft, gray ears. When I was finished, I turned toward the stairs to leave and slowly descended from the temple.

I heard the temple door shut behind me and began to make my way back to the castle.

“Lord Evan!” a man’s voice called to me from the area near the market.

I looked at the crowd, but I didn’t see anyone I knew, so I walked closer to the market before a hand grasped my elbow.

“Lord Evan!” a centaur I didn’t recognize exclaimed as he reached into the basket on his other arm. “That’s you, right?”

The centaur looked slightly familiar, but I couldn’t place him. He had long, jet-black hair that flowed freely down his back and deep brown eyes. His horse body was the same brown as his eyes, and his black horse tail swayed back and forth as he talked.

“Yeah,” I confirmed. “And you are?”

“Oh!” The man pulled a fruit from his basket and handed it to me. “I’m Rafe, River’s brother. I heard you liked the fruit from my trees.”

Ah, that explained why he looked a bit familiar. He resembled his brother, though he did not have the muscular physique or loads of tattoos, and he was quite a bit younger.

“I do like them,” I confirmed as I palmed the fruit. It was the same kind I’d picked on our last trip to the temple. I took a bite, and it was even better than the one I’d had before.

“This one is a little riper,” Rafe explained. “I figured you’d like it even more.”

“I can taste the difference,” I agreed and nodded. “I appreciate it.”

“Thank you,” the centaur said with a grin. “Would you mind telling River I gave it to you? And that we spoke?”

“Uh, sure?” I shrugged.

“I know it seems silly,” Rafe sighed as his grin disappeared, “and I don’t mean to bother you with my troubles, my lord, but River won’t talk to me right now. He was disappointed I decided to work as a farmer instead of joining the Sagittarius Order.”

“I see,” I murmured.

“I just didn’t want to be another one of my brother’s soldiers,” Rafe explained. “It was hard enough to live with him as my older brother since he was such a star in training. Everyone always talked about how amazing he was. It was exhausting, but really, I didn’t even want to join.”

“Why not?” I wondered. “Isn’t it a big deal?”

“Sure, but if you don’t enjoy it, does it matter how big of a deal it is?” the centaur asked as he raised an eyebrow. “I hated everything related to the Order already, but when I discovered how much I loved growing plants, there was no way I was signing up to be a soldier.”

“Makes sense to me,” I said with a shrug. “So, why is he not over it?”

“I don’t know,” Rafe admitted with a furrowed brow. “That’s what I’d like to find out.”

“Ohh,” I drawled. “Well, I can definitely mention seeing you when I return to the palace, which is where I’m headed now.”

“Please, just let him know,” Rafe pleaded. “I want him to know I’m thinking about him.”

“I will,” I promised. “Thank you again for the fruit.”

“It’s called a Riverfruit.” Rafe smiled sadly. “I named it after my brother.”

“Then thank you for the Riverfruit,” I said with a nod.

The young centaur nodded in return and then stepped back into the crowd.

I shook my head as I continued to walk back to the palace. I’d never understand why family members just stopped talking to each other over the dumbest shit sometimes. So what if the kid didn’t want to join the family business? Life was too short for that nonsense.

Before I knew it, I was back at the palace, but just as I was about to go in and find the queen, I heard River shouting from the courtyard. So, I turned to see him yelling and whistling with his fingers in his mouth at the Sagittarius Order while they did various exercises in unison.

Since my encounter with Rafe was still fresh in my mind, I strode over to where the commander stood in front of the ranks. He eyed me as I approached, but he didn’t stop shouting commands, and the centaur warriors moved fluidly as they followed River’s routine.

“Morning, River,” I greeted the centaur.

“Good morning, Lord Evan,” he responded with a suspicious look in his eyes.

“Do you have a minute?” I asked.

“What does that mean?” The commander turned to look at me in confusion.

“Sorry, could I talk to you for a minute?” I clarified.

“Five minute break!” River called out to the warriors as he gestured for me to lead the way.

I walked a few yards away from where the Sagittarius Order shuffled around in groups as they relaxed.

“I met your brother Rafe this morning,” I started.

“Oh, don’t waste my time with nonsense,” River scoffed and turned back toward the warriors.

“Hey!” I growled and grabbed his arm. “He told me you won’t talk to him because he didn’t want to join the Order. Is that true?”

“He’s a disgrace,” River muttered. “We are a family of warriors, and he failed. But what business is it of yours?”

“He didn’t fail or disgrace the family by choosing a path he enjoys,” I argued. “And I know you guys live a long time or whatever, but you never know what will happen. Life is too short not to spend it with family.”

“What do you know about centaur families?” River countered. “You’ve been here for a week.”

“I don’t know much about centaur families,” I admitted, “but I know a lot about missing family members. I’d give anything to be able to talk to my birth mother again, but we didn’t have a stupid fight, she’s just gone. Gone forever. So, don’t tell me a stupid thing like his choice of job is a good enough reason not to talk to someone who loves you and obviously cares about having you in his life.”

River studied me and exhaled, and I knew my face was flushed with agitation. I didn’t talk about my mother a lot, but Rafe’s sadness brought up the feelings of frustration at not being able to tell her everything. Julia was a wonderful adoptive mother, but she was not a replacement, and someone who had his own brother right here in the same city and refused to speak to him just pissed me off.

“Okay,” River murmured and averted his gaze. “Maybe you’re right. I’ll go talk to him after training.”

“Thank you.” I gave him a sharp nod and turned on my heels to head into the castle.

I could feel River’s gaze on my back, but I continued walking. I’d kept my word to Rafe, and hopefully, River meant what he’d said.

So, I pushed open the doors to the palace and strolled inside. The castle seemed empty, and I wasn’t sure where all the servants and staff had gone. I wondered where Aaliyah and the dryads were, but then my attention was focused elsewhere.

Mona stood in the hallway to my right, and she wore a gaudy gold necklace that covered her bare breasts, and a sheet of gold fabric was tied in a knot at her hip to reveal most of her tan leg. The sheet was almost transparent, and I could see it was the only garment she wore.

“I made sure we were alone in the palace,” Mona murmured as she leaned against the doorway and put a hand on her hip.

“Just you and me, huh?” I rumbled as desire began to course through my veins.

“That’s right,” she whispered.

My gaze inched down her slender body to her bare feet, and I growled as I stormed over to her and grabbed her hips. Finally, I pressed my lips to hers and felt the queen moan against me. So, I shoved my tongue between her plump lips and dragged it across hers, and then I brought my right hand up under her necklace to her breast and kneaded it while I kissed her.

I loved the feeling of her body against mine, and I pressed her against the doorway and pushed my leg between hers. I knew the fabric of my pants would rub against her bare pussy, and I slid my leg back and forth as she gasped.

“Oh!” Mona cried out, and she pulled her mouth away from mine for a moment. “Come to my room.”

I grinned and picked her up by her hips. She wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck as she brought her mouth back to mine. We kissed hard as I carried her to her chambers and fumbled with the door, and without leaving my lips, she reached back and slid the handle over. I kicked the door the rest of the way open and stepped into her room before I kicked it shut again.

My eyes scanned the room, and I couldn’t decide which place I wanted to mate with the queen.

Fuck it, I’d do it everywhere.

I gently set Mona on her gold-framed bed and reached behind her to remove the necklace. I stared at her hard, pink nipples as I tossed the jewelry on the table near the bed, and then I guided her back onto the mattress and leaned over to flick her nipple with my tongue.

“Oh, gods, yes!” Another moan escaped Mona’s lips as she closed her eyes and dug her nails into the back of my neck to push me closer to her body.

I opened my mouth to taste her entire succulent breast as she arched her back with desire. My tongue flicked and swirled around her pink nipples, and I felt my arousal press against her leg while she moaned. I moved my other hand to the apex between her legs and felt her wet craving under the golden sheet. Then I tore the fabric from her hips and rubbed my thumb along the lips of her dripping pussy.

“Mmmmm,” Mona groaned as I teased her. “Lord Evannnn.”

I kissed her breast and slowly trailed down her body until I was on my knees in front of her wet slit. I gently blew on her mound and watched as goosebumps rose on the skin of her inner thighs. Then I plunged my tongue inside her and thumbed her clit.

“Ohhh!” she groaned. “What is it that you are doing?”

“This?” I asked as I licked the flat part of my tongue over her clit.

“Yessssss … ” she sighed.

“No one has ever done this to you before?” I snickered.

“No,” she gasped. “Please, Lord Evan. Do not stop.”

“I won’t.” I fucked her with my tongue while she gasped for air above me, and the centaur queen wrapped her hands around my head, dug her fingers into my hair, and climbed closer to her peak.

I moved my tongue up to flick her clit, slid my finger inside her, and began to pump in and out. Then, after a few minutes, I sucked hard on her swollen nub and pushed a second finger inside her.

The queen screamed with pleasure as her juicy orgasm bubbled over the surface, and she came all over my hand and face.

“Oh, my gods!” Mona cried out while the waves of her climax shook her body. Once she calmed down enough, she looked down at me as she panted from the aftershocks. “The deal was just to get me pregnant. You didn’t have to do that for me.”

“I wanted to taste you,” I chuckled as I stood up and untied my trousers.

“Amazing,” she sighed, and her eyes were filled with lust as she gazed at me. “Your fiancée was correct. You are very skilled.”

“Well, we’re just getting started.” I smirked.

“Oh!” She seemed shocked as my arousal sprang out in front of her, but she recovered, grabbed my erection, and pumped her hand up and down its length.

“Fuck, Mona,” I groaned and watched her play with my cock.

Then I couldn’t wait any longer, so I pushed her back onto the bed and shoved my dick inside her still-dripping pussy.

“Yes, Evan!” Mona cried as I plunged deep inside her and pulled back until only the tip remained. Then I thrust again and pumped in and out of her slick tunnel. Her body quivered under me, and then her walls tightened, and a gush of her sweet liquid rolled over my cock.

“You cum easily,” I growled in her ear as I fucked her.

“Just the thought … ” she hissed. “The … thought of you filling me with your seed and giving me a daughter. Please … Lord Evan. Give me a daughter. Breed with me. I need your powerful dragon seed in my womb.”

Her words made my head spin, and I felt my own climax building, so I pumped my cock harder. She lifted her hips off the bed, and my erection slid all the way into her before my peak hit.

“I’m going to fill you,” I growled.

“Yes!” she screamed as her tunnel clenched around me. “Give me a baby!”

I groaned as my cock flexed, and then we both gasped as I poured a hot load of my dragon seed deep into the queen. The centaur-shifter was already climaxing, but her body bent back as I filled her, and her spasming body caused my balls to tense and release over and over again as I gave her womb what it wanted.

As my cock finally finished spraying gallons of sperm deep inside of her, Mona sat up with wide green eyes.

“Alyona did the spell, right?” she asked.

“Yes, we did it this morning,” I chuckled.

“Ah,” she sighed in relief as she threw herself back onto the bed.

“Don’t get too comfortable,” I warned her.

The queen sat up on her elbows and looked at me with a raised brow.

“The spell is good for the whole day.” I winked.

I watched the centauress’ eyes light up and then drop down to my cock that already stood back at attention. She looked back up at me and gave me a sexy smile before she moved to her knees in front of me and wrapped her arms around my neck. She pressed a kiss to my lips as she slid one hand down to my arousal, which was still wet from our orgasms.

Mona slid her hand up and down my shaft, and then she flipped to her stomach as I stood at the edge of the bed. She slid my cock into her mouth and ran her tongue along the base.

“Oh, fuck,” I moaned as she slid my arousal in and out of her mouth. I grabbed a handful of her russet hair and moved my hips in time with her head.

The queen moaned, and the sound vibrated down my shaft as she reached up with her other hand and massaged my sack. I nearly climaxed again at the sensation, but I growled instead as I felt her almost gag as she tried to take my full cock into her mouth.

Fucking hell, she was so hot. Her round ass bounced and jiggled as she moved, and the muscles in her back rippled while she moved her head up and down my erection.

I couldn’t take it anymore, so I growled again as I pulled my cock out of her mouth and scooped her up off the bed.

“Evan!” she giggled as I carried her naked body over to the golden dresser and set her down on its edge.

I pushed her legs wide apart and shoved my cock inside her again. She wrapped her legs around my hips to push me even deeper into her dripping canal. Then she leaned back on the desk, and I watched as her full breasts bounced with every one of my thrusts. I slid my hands under her ass to lift her up, and my dick reached even further inside her.

Suddenly, her whole body tightened again, and her orgasm sent another shriek from her mouth. Her pussy clenched around my dick as her climax sent tremors through her, and while she was climaxing, I bent down and licked her nipple. Her back arched with pleasure, and her juices came dripping out of her mound.

As soon as her orgasm was over, I slid out of her and flipped her over, so her belly was on the dresser. Her pussy dripped in front of me, and her plump ass was red from my thrusts. I growled with desire and plunged my cock into her again from behind.

“Yes!” Mona cried out.

I pumped my cock in and out of the queen’s slippery tunnel as she gripped the other side of the desk. Her chestnut hair was wild as it draped over her back and the furniture, and it swished back and forth with my every movement. I pounded into her until I felt her body constrict again, and she came so hard I watched goosebumps dimple the skin on her back.

I couldn’t contain mine any longer, and I dumped another load of my dragon seed into her waiting canal. I felt my own orgasm rack my body with waves of pleasure as I marked the queen as one of my mates, and a possessive grin stretched across my face.

I looked forward to marking her all day long.

And then I’d give her dozens of children.

End of book 8

End Notes

Thank you for reading Dragon Emperor 8! I hope you really liked it. I’ll start working on the next Dragon Emperor as soon as this book has 100 reviews, so leave a review right here!

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2020 by Eric Vall