Chapter 38

CHAPTER 38

" W hat are you doing?"

I stilled. I had been in the process of sliding my wedding band off to place it safely away in the drawer of my nightstand.

"Leave it on," my wife growled from the bed like she was about to go full blown dragon on me.

"I thought only we were to know until the wedding in front of all of Dra Skor?"

"No."

I wasn't certain she was entirely awake yet. Did she even know what she was saying? "No?"

"I told you, it's not a secret," she snapped. "You are not my secret lover. You are my husband. You are my soul mate."

So that made me want to get right back into bed.

"Wear it," she finished.

"And when your advisors take notice?"

"Let them," she said simply. "When they ask, I will tell them we were wed and will go through with the large wedding with all the traditional pomp when it is safe to do so. Won' t it just fuel the rumors about our supposed bonding? You know, the one which has already happened."

"I—" How did this woman keep stealing the words from me?

"Wear it," she finished, sitting up to look me in the eyes. "I mean it."

I smirked, moving the ring back down my finger. "Yes, my queen."

She stretched an arm above her, the sheet drooping dangerously lower. "There will be a very long meeting eventually in which you will have to choose your title. Most commonly you would be Prince Keiran. Since you are of royal blood yourself, I don't mind if you take king."

It was barely morning, we had stayed up gloriously late, and here we were already talking titles? But I supposed that did happen when you married the queen of Dra Skor. I fought off a shiver as I thought of the creepy way Queen Relia had said brother kings . "I never wished to be king."

"Prince consort then," Esta yawned. "No matter. Either is fine with me. But eventually, the people may decide on their own. They began calling me ‘Queen Esta' long before I actually took the throne."

Likely out of respect. I wasn't certain they would hold that much of it for me, given who my father was.

"We have a meeting with Avril this morning," I reminded her. "To talk about the fake trip tomorrow to Arava."

"I do not have time for a bath?" she groaned.

I looked at the time to find that there was a little of it. "A quick one."

A smile spread across her lips. "Alone?"

Fifteen minutes late to our meeting, we walked into the library to find Avril there waiting. Dex came also because he was my guard for the day. He was still stubbornly avoiding her, opting to stand outside the library with Esta's guards. I wanted him to get over his hesitations as I suspected they would become heart bound or even soul bound based on what Avril hinted at. But if I knew anything about Dex, it was that it had to be his own idea.

"Congratulations." Avril smiled as she stood out of respect. She hadn't looked to my hand to see my ring, but she hadn't needed to. She'd seen this playing out. But had she seen it yesterday as Esta was planning it, or before Esta even knew she was going to do it? There was so much about Corsha's visions that, well, disturbed me.

Esta gestured with a hand for her to sit. "Thank you. We have come to ask your opinion about safety for our trip tomorrow. We have let it be whispered we are going to Arava, but truly we are going to another city within Dra Skor."

Avril gave her a slight nod. "I have been receiving lots of visions since arriving. I don't have a clear picture of where Morana is, either because she is moving around frequently or has not decided all her steps yet. Or both." A pause. "The more determined someone is in their plans, the clearer it becomes." She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes a moment as if trying to remember a vision. "I can see her movement tomorrow, but I cannot see anything beyond that."

"So we should be safe heading to Rael?" I asked with hope. If she did come out of hiding, we had an entire army of land shifters waiting to sniff her out.

Avril shrugged. "As safe as any of us ever are, yes." Another pause. "If you should be so willing as to let me come with you tomorrow, that may help. My visions intercede on behalf of my own safety frequently. So if you add me to the trip, it might help."

That had to be the kindest way anyone had ever asked to be put in danger.

"Of course," Esta agreed. "We'd like that. Apologies you were left to your lonesome yesterday."

Avril smiled. "I do not need lots of invitations or social events to keep me content, Your Grace. Corshan Enchanted honor our alone time; it is time to reflect, clear our heads, and allow the visions to find us. In a new place, a day to myself was precisely what I needed."

Esta looked to Avril's tea which looked like it had gone cold. "Do you not like your tea?"

Avril's eyes went to mine before going to Esta's. "It is quite strong."

A loud laugh came from where John was working at a corner table, with what I assumed were the royal bloodline books strewn across it.

"You will get used to it," I told Avril.

Esta moved to glare at me. "You always drank it."

"I did not want to disrespect you by not drinking it."

"Only by touching me without asking instead?" she tossed back at me.

I dipped my chin. "And look where that got us."

John snorted.

I turned his way. "If you must keep making noises over there, do you wish to join us?"

He made a shooing motion with his hand. "I am busy. In my happy place. Leave me be."

After a pause in conversation which was content, not filled with tension of any sort, Avril finally broke it. "If I may be so bold as to bring something up?"

"Of course," I told her.

"We need to talk about Agria."

Esta leaned back in her chair, considering Avril. "What about Agria?"

"The visions I have seen since arriving here are overlapping and changing often. There is a deep unrest brewing in Agria."

"They are the last country to be healed," I commented. "They have the right to be frustrated."

"I have seen a future possibility. Keir and a large dragon flying across the border to Agria. I think he may have to start healing a few Agrians that way. To appease tensions."

Esta and I exchanged a glance. The queen of Corsha hadn't just sent us a delegate, representative, ambassador, call it what you may. She'd sent us a weapon . We needed to always consider her as such.

The little I did understand of Corsha's Enchantment was that though they had seen the path to peace in the realm, it didn't mean we couldn't somehow muck it up along the way. Corsha's motivations were to keep their country safe. There was no logical reason Avril would lie about this. Unless they were in cahoots with Agria, but even then, healing Agria was on our very long to-do list anyway. It was the right thing to do.

"Did I overstep?" Avril said gently placing a hand across the table. "Apologies if I did. I understand my Enchantment can inflict fear if you haven't ever been around it."

Esta reached across the table and patted her hand. "No. We were merely thinking how fortunate we are to have you." She let go and gave her a smile. "Shall we get you some lighter tea? I'd like to hear more."

As Esta stood and headed to the door to grab a guard, Avril added, "I'm afraid I do not have much more than what I have already shared in regard to Agria, but the frequency of my visions from Agria which I have received here have picked up enough that I did feel it was worth mentioning."

Esta quickly opened the door and barked her command before coming back toward us at the table. "I did not mean about your visions, I simply meant I would like to know more about you. Yes, how your visions work, but also who you are. I'm grateful you're here, grateful you have given us your time. "

Within the next hour, Esta did not just get to know this new ambassador, it was clear to all of us that a friendship had been found.

I shouldn't have been surprised given what Avril first said to us back in Corsha, but it still warmed my heart to see her take yet another foreign delegate under her enormous wings. Esta might be sharp around the edges, but she had enough love for all of us. By the time I left to check in with Emric and the team, they were giggling away.

We were meeting with the advisors in the evening, about to unleash two teams. The team which would signal our false arrival to Arava, and one which would protect and clear Rael for the real trip. While we were all gone, Nana and Reyald Mallick, along with a team, would take care of the castle. Jagen was still sleeping but was having bouts of stirring, so by morning he might be recovered entirely.

But before all the plans were set into motion, there was one last meeting to be had.

"Rael is less populated but more spread out," Whit explained. "We will station ourselves swiftly and discreetly. Awaiting your arrival in the morning."

We had already gone over this eight times, I was not sure the ninth was necessary. Then again, I was a newly married man. My priorities were in a different place.

"And we," Zaccai added, "will be on guard at all times for Morana near Arava." Zaccai had taken it almost as hard as Malachi had that Silas, his fellow winged feline, was working with Morana. Though Zaccai was a lion and Silas a panther, The Taaka was sanctuary to both.

"Meanwhile my team and Zaire's team will be the ones who actually travel and protect our queen and prince," Malachi finished. "We?—"

"What is that?" Otis asked.

Dammit, I had just taken a drink of my tea. Tea which was tasting not nearly as black. Tea which I was thoroughly enjoying. But I had flashed my wedding ring, unintentionally.

"What does it look like?" Esta responded from her throne-like chair.

"Well," Otis began. "A ring. A ring of which goes on a finger... in a marriage ceremony."

Zaccai gasped. "Your Graces, did you wed?"

"We did." Esta's words were simple, yet not.

Nana winked at me, while Malachi grinned at me from across the table. " That was the reason for my exile?"

"Indeed," I said with a nod. "It appears so. A turn to the events of an otherwise miserable evening."

Malachi laughed.

Zaire looked less happy. "You got married. Without us? "

"Yes," she snapped. "The decision had to do with me. Not any of you. This is the one thing I get to decide for myself, and I did."

"But you need our protection," Zaire fumed.

Was he mad because Esta was married to me, or was he mad that as one of her generals, he had been left out of it?

"And I will have it for the grand royal wedding." She paused to stare them all down. "Again. This was a decision I made. For me. As your queen, it is still my right to choose who I wish to marry. Add that he is my mate , and it felt more wrong than right to stay unwed. Believe me, fighting against these bonds causes more pain than necessary. So yes, we did so quietly. And we will also do so loudly. Whenever you all think it is safe enough. But I was not going to sacrifice my relationship with Keir for this ongoing war with Morana. She's taken enough."

Even just the way her voice had torn through the words my mate made me want to shiver. Or take her to our room immediately.

"When would you like to do this?" Zaccai asked.

"The royal wedding?"

Zaccai nodded.

"Pick a date," she said.

"You do not have a preference?" Amory asked gently.

Esta let out a sigh. "So long as I got to choose the man, no, I do not care about the day. If Dra Skor needs time to get used to the idea, fine. If we need to wait because of Morana, fine. We will do the traditional ceremony and whatever we have to. We are soul bound. That should be enough. Most people will realize it's coming anyway. Inevitable."

"Forgive me for being dense, but should he wear the ring though?" Otis asked.

"Yes," Esta snapped just as harshly at him as she had at me this morning. "He will wear the ring because I demanded it." A pause as she stared them all down. "Let's get through tonight. Sometime in the next few weeks you can announce a date of the royal wedding. However far out you decide is needed. If anyone in the meantime sees the ring and wonders, won't it just give more credibility to our bonding story that we have also planted to get Morana moving?" She moved to stand. "Now, if we are done determining what I can and cannot do, I have teams to send off."

We all stood with her, and as the meeting drew to a close, Nana approached me, patting my shoulder lightly. "Congratulations, and welcome to the family." Esta was going to have to tell her parents shortly or there would be hell to pay. But of course, Nana would know first.

"Thank you."

"This is good. For us all." She leaned in and dropped her voice, "And our girl is back."

"She's rather spectacular, isn't she?" I whispered back .

Esta's voice rang out behind us. "Are the two of you done conspiring?"

Nana shooed her away. "You have teams to unleash. Go on."

Within a few minutes we stood gathered outside the castle near the training pit. A restlessness tinged the air, lots of pawing on the ground and even a few growls heard.

Malachi was pacing, speaking to the teams. Seeing them all gathered together like this, it wasn't just the determination all over their faces which had my skin crawling, my feet and wings aching to join them. It was also their numbers. Rows and rows of shifters, healed and ready to get to work. Esta may not have her entire army back, but she now had two full teams of angry shifters who promised to wreak havoc.

Malachi continued, "We will be split, heading two different directions, but chasing the same end result. Morana. She has turned on us, caused us to turn on one another. The traitor within. We will not tire until she is dealt with." His voice was gradually getting louder. "Until she bleeds as she has caused Dra Skor to bleed."

Multiple yells of agreement and a few animal roars were heard.

"For Dra Skor!" he yelled, raising his sword in the air.

"For Dra Skor," they yelled and roared back.