Immortal Coil (19 page)

But the most important indicator of power was whether a coterie was in or out of favor with Prince Regis.

As if he could read Hunter’s thoughts, Nero, doyen of the Major Black and
Regis’s
favorite, met
Anaea’s
gaze and raised a glass in salute. Light shimmered from the streaks of silver at his temples in his immaculately short-cropped dark hair. He raised a black eyebrow, drawing emphasis to his dark, hard eyes.

Anaea
maintained eye contact without prompting until Nero dropped the eyebrow, sneered, and downed his drink.

Do the same,
Hunter said.

I was planning on it.
She took a sip, letting the wine spread across her tongue.

Nero and his coterie were a prime example of power through royal favor. Before dragons discovered
Newgate’s
dimensional instability,
Bath
in
England
had been the primary gate into Court’s
interdimensional
space. There were other unstable pockets,
Cadiz
in
Spain
,
Xi’an
in
China
, but none as unstable as
Newgate
. As a result, dragons who couldn’t open anchored gates before now could, giving almost half of the population freedom to move between Court and the human realm without assistance.
Bath
lost significance and the black coterie that had controlled it was politically weakened, opening the way for Nero to sweet-talk Regis into turning his coterie into the Major Black.

You don’t want to have a conversation with that drake.

Nero leaned over to a young woman in a black strapless gown, her hair artfully piled atop her head. Hunter couldn’t tell if she was his new Third, but more than likely she was just eye-candy.

I don’t think I want a conversation with anyone.

Probably not.
But Nero is the worst person here for us. He’s a
T
raditionalist.

Anaea
took another sip of wine.
And that means?

He’ll kill you if he discovers what you are.

Could you get any
more medieval?

That’s probably an accurate
analogy. Think of the doyen
s
as lords or dukes. They’ve sworn their allegiance to the
Crown,
the coterie members have sworn their allegiance to their doyen. A doyen will do anything to protect their members, or a good one will. Some drakes, like Nero, believe the only way to keep us safe is to keep us hidden. Any human who knows about us is a liability and must be eliminated.

On top of that,
Anaea
had earth magic, which would make the Traditionalists fear her even more. But he wasn’t going to point that out. Her earth magic connection was still uncertain, and maybe when he left her it would go dormant again. Regardless, even though she could only call fire and couldn’t cast spells, which technically made her a mage and not a sorcerer, Nero and Regis, and many others for that matter, would demand her death.
Which meant once Hunter transferred out of
Anaea’s
body he wouldn’t be able to see her again.
He couldn’t risk someone like Nero finding out about her.

It stung just thinking about it. Irrationally, he wanted to spend more time with her, real time to get to know her better.
Which was ridiculous.
How much better could he know her? He was already in her body, sharing her thoughts. But there was something about
Anaea’s
spirit that compelled him and teased his primal dragon nature to hoard and protect.

Gig stood from a table at the back and sauntered up to the dais with exaggerated confidence, drawing Hunter’s attention. What the heck was the kid up to? He looked... ridiculous. There wasn’t any other way to put it. His clothes and hair seemed more unkempt than when he was in Tobias’s office and he’d pushed out his chest, likely in an attempt to make
himself
look bigger, but it only drew more attention to his lanky build.

“Hi, Hunter.”
Gig leaned against the table, placing his hands on the top. “That was a great fight.” When he leaned back, a tiny
ensi
coin remained, half-hidden by the flower arrangement.

Of all the stupid times to show a coin—

The damned things were dangerous.

Anaea
reached for it.
What is this?

An
ensi
coin.
It represents support for political
maneuvering.
Usually for overthrowing a doyen and taking control of a coterie.
And before you ask, no I’m no
t
interested in
gaining more power
. The coins had once been used in early
pahars
where each doyen and their seconds presented the coins to King Constantine. Funny how the
ensi
tradition had stopped after Regis had proclaimed his father crazy and took the throne in 1521.

Slide it back, but be subtle about it.
If anyone
sees
it both
of us
...
all of us will
be arrested
.
They’d likely be tortured then reborn for treason, but he wasn’t going to mention that to
Anaea
.

Anaea
placed her finger on the coin and inched it back to Gig.

Disappointment flashed across his face. But before she could say anything, Tobias stepped up to the head table and Gig’s expression jumped to panic. Tobias would certainly turn them over in a heartbeat.

Take the coin. Hide it. Hide it now!

Anaea
scrambled to palm the coin, knocked over the flower arrangement, and spilled water across the tablecloth. Gig’s eyes widened even more.

Tobias righted the vase and flowers. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a drake have so much trouble adjusting to a new body.” He patted Gig’s shoulder. The young dragon squeaked and fled back to the safety of his seat.

Ask him what he’s doing here.
Tobias hadn’t been to a
pahar
dinner in centuries. These days he hardly left his office.

“Decided to join us for supper?”
Anaea
asked.

Tobias
shrugged,
the movement languid and completely dangerous. “Strangely enough, I do get hungry. Besides, I have a feeling tonight’s dinner will be interesting.”

Anaea
snorted. Interesting was
overrated,
she’d had more than enough of it lately, and didn’t want any more. All the work Hunter had done with the lesson in dragon politics was evaporating.

“Enjoy your meat.” Tobias flashed a hint of teeth and took his seat at the far end of the head table.

God, he t
errifies me and I don’
t even know why.

Yes, she did, but Hunter wasn’t going to point it out to her. Tobias frightened her because he was a big bad dragon hiding in a human suit. When she was safe, Hunter was going to tear the limbs from whoever was responsible for this mess. The thought was starting to become a mantra. If he thought about the situation, it
reeked
more and more of
Zenobia’s
handiwork. Stabbing a dragon in the back was just her style.
But first things first.
Please tell me you have the coin.

Yes.

Pocket it.

I barely have a dress
,
let alone pockets.

Okay, this was going to be a problem. He couldn’t be caught with the coin.

Can you slip it into your shoe?
he
asked.

Anaea
eased the coin into her shoe, her gaze darting over the room.

No one appeared to notice, although Hunter wouldn’t be sure if anyone had until someone tried to manipulate or arrest him.

The room went quiet and all eyes turned to the entrance. Regis posed under the arch, resplendent in golden robes. He flicked a finger and a woman, naked save for the flowers in her hair, danced down the aisle, scattering white rose petals. He followed, strutting more like a peacock than the drake he was.

A drake without a coterie was a dead drake.
Really.

Regis settled on his throne and leaned toward Hunter. “I think you’re overdressed.”

Anaea
raised an eyebrow and let her gaze travel over the voluminous robes. The man was covered from neck to ankle.

“It was what I was provided,” she said before Hunter could feed her an answer.

Hunter held his mental breath. There was no right way to answer Regis.
Anaea’s
response was as good as any.

Regis sighed. “I’ll have to look into that.” He raised a hand and the meat was brought in. The cow was a good size. It would feed the Royal Coterie and the doyens of the coteries: Counseling, Major, and Minor. The animal rolled its large brown eyes. They always did, as if the creatures could sense it wasn’t surrounded by humans but by predators.

One of
Regis’s
guards presented the ceremonial sword to him. He nodded his blessing and selected Nero, as always, to swing the killing blow. Nero raised the blade and
Anaea
tensed.

Shit.

Her stomach roiled.

He should have warned her, he’d just gotten distracted and—
Drink your wine. Fast.

So I have something to throw up?

So no one sees I’m upset.

She pressed the glass to her lips and stared into the liquid.

The room erupted into cheers and roars.

It’s dead, isn’t it?

Please tell me you’re not a vegetarian.
That would make the evening complicated on so many levels.

No. But I don’t butcher cows in the middle of dinner parties.

A servant placed a plate of raw cow in front of her. Hunter could feel the bile burning the back of her throat.

And I cook it first.
She finished her wine and called for a refill.
Please tell me we can leave before I have to eat this.

It would be rude not to partake. But given the situation, he doubted
Anaea
would be able to stomach it.
Tell Regis you need to prepare for the ceremony and leave.

She shoved back her chair.

“You’re not leaving?” Regis asked.

“I need to get ready for the ceremony.”

Regis narrowed his eyes.

Maintain eye contact.

She leveled her gaze on him.

He might be Prince, but you’re the better man
...
woman
...
whatever.

Regis looked away first. “You’ve just done the ceremony so many times before.”

“Doesn’t mean I still shouldn’t prepare.”

Good. Now go before he can think of anything else.

Anaea
stood and smoothed the sides of her dress. She caught Grey’s gaze, who gave an ever-so-slight nod.

Good girl.

Someone at the back of the room among the Minor Coteries yelled and a young drake leapt up. “I challenge you.”

The room erupted into chaotic babble.

You’ve got to be kidding me.
Zenobia
must have goaded the fool into action because he’d neglected all the fancy phrasing to call a
wasu
tahazu
.

Anaea’s
heart skipped a beat,
then
pounded.
What do we do?

Well, he wasn’t going to put her through another
wasu
tahazu
. Damn it. He didn’t want to put her through anything else, but something had to be done.

Grab the steak knife and confront him.
These challenges were going to end now and he didn’t care if he broke tradition or the rules or whatever.

Anaea
clenched the knife, hidden along her forearm. Anger flooded her. Good. He was angry, too. She needed to get angry. It would make everything more believable.

She strode around the table and leapt off the dais.

Get him to come to you. You’ll need to do this fast.

She gave a slight nod. “You want to challenge me?”

The man smirked and sauntered up to her. He towered, head and shoulders, over her, but she didn’t shrink back. Something had snapped. Whatever had made her tremble earlier now shook her with rage.

He stepped so close that if
Anaea
took a deep breath, they’d brush chests. “Yeah, little girl, I challenge you.”