God of the Abyss (31 page)

“That is why I asked Ishte-mor to help me find a
cure. He was studying dragons and couldn’t be poisoned by it.”

“Then why did you imprison him?” I asked.

She shrugged. “He failed.”

I would have felt angry if anyone else had said that,
but I already expected that level of egocentric immaturity in her. Dragons were
arrogant by nature and not designed to live in large clusters. A dragoness as a
queen was a disaster, because the level of conceit would be astounding.

“So would you like a tour of my island or are you
getting right to work?” she asked.

“Who said I’ll help you?”

She looked appalled. “I am the queen. You will do as
you are told.”

I snorted just as Rojan was making a rude comment
about Emiko being the queen of something
other
than dragons. “You may be
the queen of this little island of dragons, but I know the culture. We do not
belong in huge communities. We are territorial. We are protective of our things
and our clutches.”

That reminds me,
Rojan said.
We need a pile
of gems and gold. Dylan said Earth dragons all got gold and jewels.

That’s fine by me,
I answered.

And a cave to put them–

We are
not
living in a cave.

What about just a winter vacation home cave? Like,
we just go there when it’s really cold at the cabin…

“What kind of dragon are you?” I asked Emiko,
focusing on the colors in her hair.

She ran her fingers through hair. “Is it not obvious?
My father was a water dragon, and my mother was a desert dragon.”

“That’s an unusual combination.”

“I guess I was the result of a night of forbidden
passion. I was kept a secret until my father died. My mother would never tell
me who my father was until his death.”

“Then how did you become such a pain if you were not
raised as a princess?”

She smiled. “I had planned since I was five to become
queen by any means necessary. I grew up having to fight for what I deserved.” She
dropped her fake smile. “Now, I need help and you are the only one left to help
me. All dragons will suffer if this poison isn’t stopped, you included.”

Oh, she had a serious side… This I could work with.
“I will find out who is poisoning your people and with what. I will keep you
alive, but you will do as I say.”

“I am the queen.”

“You are
a
queen. You’re not
my
queen,”
I said.

Her grin should have been a warning. She lifted her
right leg over my lap with a fancy little move and went from sitting beside me
on the bed to in my lap, facing me. As I was sitting on the edge of the bed,
she could have fallen, so I instinctively put my hands on her waist to hold her
close… and damn, she felt good in my hands.

Rojan purred.

“I could be your queen. Every queen needs a king,”
she said. She tried to make it sound tempting, but she was too young to be
asking a near stranger to be her mate.

I growled, causing her to frown. “Is it the king part
that you hate?”

It should have been, but surprisingly, it was not my
first thought. “I am too old for you,” I said. She gaped. While I was only
twenty-seven years old, Rojan was well over three thousand. Besides that, I
couldn’t possibly let her think she had a chance with me because I could never
let her get close. I was not a dragon or a sago. My inability to shift was a
huge handicap if someone found out I had blood of the most powerful dragon that
ever lived running through my veins. Anyone who ever thought of hunting dragons
would want that blood.

Divina has even asked for a sample to use in her
magic. I would have let her because she is a god and wouldn’t have hurt me, but
Dylan told her no.

I stood, guiding her down so she didn’t fall. I
couldn’t bring myself to let her go, though. She smelled good. It was so
confusing because I could smell that she was conceited, selfish, malicious,
devious, and looking for trouble, but at the same time, there was an underlying
scent that made me
and
Rojan want to hold her closer.

She was small. Without her heels on she would only
come up to my chin. Since the only women I really spent any time with were
Vivian, Divina, and recently Meri, I was used to tall women. Emiko’s size was
more pleasing, but she looked so delicate. She had an aura that she needed to
be protected and coddled… then she would do something irritating or bad and I
had the urge to correct her.

“Let’s go take a look at this island,” I said. She took
my hand from her waist and turned to pull me out of the room. I removed my hand
from hers because she needed to be trained not to take things I didn’t offer.
It didn’t faze her.

The tour was swift, for her island was small. The
modest cabins looked cozy and peaceful until I realized most of them were
empty. The dirt pathways were meant to be bustling with people, or dragons in
person form, doing their duties. No talking, laughing, arguing, not even
animals… it was too quiet. This wasn’t the quiet of the late night, when people
were happy and safe in their beds. This was the quiet that all kings and
kingdoms feared; this was the quiet that came from fear. It was the fear of
moving, speaking, and even breathing. There was death here.

We saw a couple of dragons peeking out their windows.
Most were too afraid to even look outside. These were dragons; we are supposed
to be afraid of nothing. The only sago were two adult men, two women, and three
younger boys milling about the island, all doing random chores. Even though
this poison had supposedly no effect on sago, their lack of any fear made me
suspicious.

I found nothing else suspicious. There were no dead
animals around or weird looking plants growing. I didn’t even smell anything
suspicious. Rojan agreed that he saw nothing worth a second look. Nobody gave
their queen so much as a mutinous glare.

Just as the clouds were becoming thick enough to
block the moonlight, an ominous sense fell over the little island, and the air
became charged. While the feeling could have been a warning of danger coming,
it felt too familiar. It felt like the void was about to open.

Nothing happened.

After another scan of the island, Emiko begged to
break for dinner. There was still plenty of food left over from when the cooks
bailed… or died. I scented the food thoroughly before using magic to analyze
it. There was no foreign plant matter that I could detect, and though it may
have been undetectable to the dragon’s nose, I trusted my power as a wizard.

I made a mental note not to let Dylan eat anything
here, just in case.

We ate in peace. At least for the moment, Emiko was
content to put food in her mouth and ceased her chatter. It really wasn’t the
whining that irritated me, or the bragging, it was the smooth sound of her light
voice. She was soft-spoken, even if she spoke never ending. She had the
tendency to use crass and elegant words in the same sentence. Even though she
tried to hide it, she had been taught proper language and etiquette.

Sure, the fish was a little dry and the bread was a
little… hard, but I was hungry and my stomach could take it. I should have been
happy with the quiet, but I wanted to understand Emiko better.

“You said you were always determined to be queen
here. Why? Was your mother poor? Did she push you to be better?” I asked. She
paused with food nearly in her mouth as if she couldn’t believe I would ask
such a question.

“My mother was not particularly well off or poor, but
she was of a good blood line. Everyone aspires to rule; I was born with the talent.
It was never about attaining what was owed to me, I just always knew what I
wanted and that was to be better, richer, and more powerful.”

“Not everyone wants to rule a kingdom. There’s
betrayal, war, taxing issues, the hatred of all the people, pressure to have an
heir, to never show weakness… Captivity. You can’t go anywhere without guards
because everyone is out to kill you and take your kingdom. The king is blamed
for everything bad that happens to anyone.”
I don’t know how Nila can manage
an entire world.

Some people crave power and don’t care what they
have to deal with to get that power. For some, having a horde of guards makes
them feel safe.

That is not–

I know,
Rojan interrupted.
I agree that
that kind of life is for neither of us. We both need freedom. For the most
part, it is a dragon thing. However, you cannot deny that some crave such
supremacy. Some people even feel that keeping a kingdom of people alive and
happy is their duty. They feel pride over leading people successfully.

He was right, but I only ever saw the pressure to be
just like my father. “Dragons were not meant to be ruled,” I said aloud. “Did
anything odd start happening before the poison began? Did anyone threaten you?”

“Threaten me? Why would anyone want to threaten me?”

“You tell me. It took less than a minute for you to
infuriate me; surely you have irritated someone enough to poison you. Has
anyone openly threatened you?”

“Other than your father’s adviser and yourself, no.
Everyone else knows their place.” She ate for a minute before smiling. “I am
afraid the maids have fled the kingdom, so I hope you are willing to share my
chambers.”

I was fifteen hours ahead of my time, so while it was
only a few hours since I woke, it was late into the night. “You can go to
sleep. I need to contact my father to see if he’s discovered anything.” I
couldn’t go myself because Emiko needed to be protected. “Send one of your
remaining servants to him.”

She frowned. “Why not shift and fly over there
yourself?”

“That is not your concern. Is there a person or
dragon here you trust well enough to send them after some information?”

“I trust my people. It is your people I distrust.”

“You refer to my father’s people. I have nothing to
do with the Ishte kingdom.”

“Your family name is not Ishte? You are not heir to
that throne?”

“My family name is Yatunus. I was born and raised to
be king, but I left, abandoning the throne and the future in which I would
reign. I never earned the Ishte name, but I have a new family that finds me
worthy of them.”

“A sago family.” She sighed and sat back in her seat.
“You speak with the words of a nobleman, but the fire of a dragon. I can feel
that you are a dragon, but you also smell sago. It is confusing. My senses are
better in person form than any dragon I have ever met, until you. You appear to
have every sense as strong as in your true form, and that you can shift just
your eyes and teeth is amazing. It reminds me of the old stories my mother used
to tell me of dragons and sago having offspring together.”

There are dragon fairytales?
I asked Rojan

He laughed.
Of course there are. We are not
animals. We have stories, legends, and fears just as sago do. Our culture is
different than sago culture, but we do have one. It is reasonable you would
have trouble grasping it because you still believe that you are sago and I am
dragon. You are not sago.
We
are both sago and dragon. You have two
cultures, but you were only taught one. Now you see the young queen as a person
even though you smell her as a dragon. She is not like us; she is a full
dragon. Nothing about her except for her appearance is sago.

What would she do if she knew I wasn’t a full
dragon and couldn’t shift?

It is dragon culture to protect our bloodline. If
she knew you were related to me and unable to shift, she would try to kill us.
You must be careful. We are magical and powerful beings, but most of us have
no magical abilities in person form. We cannot use our fire, yield magic, or
partially shift. We also have much weaker senses. Emiko is dangerous to us if
she does indeed have better senses than most. In that case, we should not face
her as a dragon.

You should tell Ron and Sammy the dragon
fairytales.
“Never mind stories. Send one of your servants to my father to
ask him if he has any new information about the poison or an antidote,” I said.

She stood with an odd expression, as if she couldn’t
believe she was obeying me. Beside the door was a rope, which she pulled, and a
bell sounded throughout the castle. Within a few minutes, a middle aged sago
man arrived, dressed in ragged servant’s clothes.

“Go to the Ishte kingdom, now, and ask Ishte-mor if
he has any information on the poison. And send Kita-do to draw me a bath,” she
said.

He bowed to her and left. I followed Emiko back her
bedroom, where I sat on her bed to wait. Just as she was unstrapping her shoes,
an older, kind woman arrived with a gentle knock and bucket full of water. She
was sago and I smelled no malicious intention or hatred in her. It took many
trips for the woman to bring enough water to fill Emiko’s tub. Electricity and
indoor water systems were far too great a convenience to be neglected as they
were.

“Are you going to give me privacy?”

A quick scan of the water with my magic showed no
detectable plant matter or other kind of poison. “And let someone assassinate
you while you bathe?” I asked. “If someone intentionally poisoned you and saw
that they failed, they might act more rashly.”

She laughed. “And you think I cannot defend myself if
I am undressed.”

“I wouldn’t want to risk it,” I insisted.

“Suit yourself.” She pulled the straps of her dress
down and let it fall to the floor. She wore no undergarments.

Her skin was flawless and her body could not have
been more perfect. For a moment, I thought of Divina, not because Divina was
more beautiful, but because it required a god to make beauty like that. When I
remembered to exhale, it was with smoke.