Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

R obb of Moray, high chieftain of the Scottish lands and lord of Sgàin Castle, eyed his daughter-in-law's Brightkin from a throne in the North Hall. When she'd come into his presence the day before, he'd looked on Carys with silence and more than a little annoyance.

Now his dark gaze pierced her with curiosity and clear suspicion.

Carys cleared her throat and started to say something, but Robb glared, held up a finger, and she fell silent.

Say nothing.

Carys heard the dragon's voice in her mind. Gut instinct told her to listen to him despite having only just met the strange creature who seemed to be tied directly to the center of her being.

It was unsettling and comforting at the same time.

"Father," Lachlan started, then also stopped speaking when Robb's dark gaze swung toward him. Lachlan shut his mouth and looked at the ground.

Okay then. Lachlan was not going to help.

Robb cast his eyes across the curious crowd bunched into the room who were whispering in a mix of languages and accents. They were humans mostly, but a contingent of tall, richly dressed fae was also in the audience hall, staring at Carys with clear interest. A group of pale humans in foreign clothing murmured among themselves while a tall man with a dark gaze and a heavy beard stood in front of them, also staring openly.

It was by far the most attention she'd ever received in her life, and she immediately hated all of it. She looked for Duncan, but she couldn't see him because of the crowd.

Robb scanned the curious onlookers, then turned silently to his queen.

Lady Elanor rose to her feet and addressed the gathered crowd. She spread her arms and spoke in a gentle voice. "Friends and fae." She nodded at the fae party, and they nodded back. "Visiting lords and ladies." She looked at the pale people guarded by the dark behemoth. "This is a family matter, and the high chief requests privacy for our kin. If you would excuse us at this time, we would be most grateful. We will return to the high chief's regular audiences as swiftly as possible."

It was a very diplomatic "Get the fuck out of here," but the crowd listened. Dozens of people shuffled out of the hall—the castle guard serving as their ushers—leaving Carys in the middle of the room with Lachlan and his family on the thrones sitting above her, Aisling and Duncan waiting in the wings, and a massive, nearly seven-foot-tall man towering behind her.

Some of the stares might have been for him.

The dragon's name was Cadell, and the heat from his human form felt like the only thing keeping Carys warm under the frosty glare of Robb's blue eyes.

"So," Robb finally muttered, "the dragon is back."

In his human body, Cadell sported a shock of short, sandy-brown hair. His skin was pale and ruddy from the wind, and the angles of his face were sharp, severe cheekbones and a prominent, straight nose giving him the unmistakably wild air of a bird of prey. His dark eyebrows cut a broad line over his brilliant gold eyes, which were the same as in his beast form .

She couldn't say Cadell was handsome. He looked exactly like a dragon—somehow—just with a human face. When he'd transformed, he'd been clad in sleek leather armor the same color as the dark emerald dragon skin that molded to his body. His muscled arms were bare, but he didn't look cold. In fact, every now and then Carys thought she saw a flicker of a glow shimmering at his throat.

It was as if dragon fire lived inside him no matter what body he wore.

The dragon hadn't said a word out loud, though Carys could hear his voice in her mind.

The Alban chief is deciding what to do with you. Say nothing.

Carys didn't think she could speak to Cadell in her mind. She'd tried projecting questions at him, but if he heard her, he didn't respond. She was desperate to get away from the hall and ask Cadell a million questions, but instead, she was trapped in a stone chamber with Lachlan's family staring at her like she was a strange bug.

Lachlan was sitting next to his father, watching the dragon. "Cadell, how did you come to fly to our court?"

The dragon finally spoke, and his voice sounded just as it did in her mind, like a low rumble of distant thunder. "I felt my lady's presence."

"Carys is not your lady." Lachlan's voice was rough. "Seren was your lady."

"I know who my lady is, Lachlan of Moray."

A muscle jumped in Lachlan's jaw. "She is of the Brightlands. She cannot be nêrys ddraig."

"But she is," Cadell said. "How that came to be is for human minds to worry over. She is my lady now."

Carys turned to Cadell and whispered, "What does that mean?"

He spoke into her mind. I am your dragon, Lady Carys. I will protect you with my life, and no being, human or magical, shall harm you unless they kill me first.

Well, that was… intense.

"How are you my dragon when we've never even met before?"

I will explain later .

Duncan was sitting off to the side, lounging on a bench with his legs kicked out. "The kelpie and the unicorns."

Aisling turned to him. "What about them?"

Duncan lifted his head, his voice gruff as he looked at Carys. "She was touched by magic yesterday. A kelpie attacked her, and the unicorns healed her." He looked directly at Cadell. "That's when you started to feel her presence, isn't it? Yesterday afternoon."

Cadell nodded to Duncan before he turned back to Carys.

Forgive me, Nêrys, for not coming to you sooner. Do you want me to kill the kelpie? I will hunt it and destroy it, leaving its bones as an offering to Ll?r, the sea god who created it.

She quickly whispered, "That's really okay." She reached up and patted Cadell's shoulder. "I'm… good. No bones needed."

"Whatever Carys is," Duncan said, "she can't be entirely of my world. Not if she can hear dragons."

Carys glared at him like the betrayer that he was.

Duncan shrugged and raised an eyebrow but said nothing more.

"My lady's arrival in the Shadowlands has already been reported to the Cymric court," Cadell said. "High King Dafydd is readying a party to fly north. I will wait with my lady until he arrives."

Lachlan sat up. "Just a moment. Carys was born in the Brightlands no matter what anyone says. She doesn't belong here and she's not safe. People are already asking questions about her connection to Seren. She's now going to attract attention from the fae and the wolves. She needs to go back with Duncan."

Carys glared at Lachlan, but he pretended to ignore her.

"It's freezing!" Lachlan wrapped his arms around her. "We've got to get you inside. You're soaking wet, Carys."

"It's fine." She held on to him, elated by his declaration in the forest. "Tell me again."

"I love you."

He loved her. Through grief. Through loss. Through depression. They were better together. They were happy. "I love you too. "

"Do you?" Lachlan asked softly. "Am I that lucky, Carys? Did the gods smile on me twice?"

"What luck?" She threw a blanket over his wet hair. "You told me yourself, we're meant for each other."

"Because we are." Lachlan's embrace was nearly painful. "You made me want to live again."

Carys pressed her cheek to his chest. This was her happy ending. She knew it.

And now Lachlan was looking at her like he barely knew her.

"I want to see my father." Carys swiftly corrected herself, but not before she saw Lachlan's eyebrows go up. "My uncle, I mean. My father's brother. His… twin. Shadowkin. I want to see my father's Shadowkin."

Robb narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"In the Brightlands, her father is dead," Lachlan said. "He died in a car crash."

"The metal carriages that burn oil," Duncan said.

Robb muttered, "I know what a car is."

"I just want to see his face." Carys glanced at Lachlan. "And perhaps he would like to see mine."

Elanor spoke. "We understand your sentiment." She reached for Robb's hand. "It's perfectly understandable, my king."

Robb looked long at his queen, then back to Carys. "Our grief over Seren's death is shared, Carys Morgan. My son has told me of his meeting with you and about your… relationship." Robb shifted on the carved wooden throne. "But I am of a mind to agree with him. Whatever your sentiments may be, this place is not safe for you."

"Why would that be, Robb?" Duncan's voice was scathing. "Are you afraid of the fae? Court gossip? Or are you uneasy because you let her sister be poisoned in your own castle?"

Aisling gasped.

Carys froze. "What? "

"Silence, you interloper!" Robb rose and motioned to the guards. "Get this one out of my sight."

"I'm not leaving." Duncan leaned forward, his elbows leaning casually on his knees. "You know you can't get rid of me no matter how much you hate me." He gave the king a self-satisfied smirk. "Unless you want to anger him."

"Seren was poisoned?" Carys turned to Cadell. "Poisoned?"

The dragon's face was frozen in a mask.

Carys turned to Duncan, but he was looking at the ground, a grimace lingering behind his beard. She glanced at Aisling, whose hand was over her mouth. She was staring at Carys with round, shocked eyes.

Her sister had been murdered ? And not a single one of them had shared that very important fact?

No one here had mentioned a single thing about how Seren had died, and Carys had assumed it was some kind of sickness. Lachlan had said she'd been ill. But murder ?

"No one was going to mention this to me?" she shouted.

"And how, exactly, would this rumor affect you?" Robb asked. "Because despite what my son's Brightkin may say, it is only a rumor. A cruel, vile rumor with no basis in reality."

It is not only a rumor, Carys heard in her head. The cross human is correct.

Robb looked to the wings of the throne room. "You can ask Aisling—she is our castle healer and would know if anyone had wanted to harm our daughter-in-law."

Aisling stammered, "I-I?—"

"Robb, please do not put Aisling on the spot," Elanor said softly. "We were all devastated by Seren's death, and sometimes when a young person dies, we look to blame. That does not mean blame is warranted."

Elanor's quiet words seemed to calm the tempers in the room.

"No matter what you believe happened to Seren, I am here now." Cadell stepped forward. He spoke silently to Carys. I left Seren to tend to my young, believing she could come to no harm in her home. If she was under threat, she didn't tell me. I will never make that mistake again.

Cadell reached his hand out toward Carys. "No harm will come to my lady, and Carys will leave this place when she wishes to and no sooner."

Robb's eyes burned. "You dare question my authority, beast?"

Cadell narrowed his eyes. "I am not one of your tame unicorns, Robb of Moray." The dragon stepped forward, and his figure grew taller before Carys's eyes. His chest expanded, and she could see the red fire glowing at his throat. "My lady does not answer to your authority any more than the cross human does."

Carys felt the situation escalating again. "Cadell, wait." She put a hand on his arm.

"Nêrys, step back."

"My love." Lady Elanor spoke again. "My Lord Dragon. It would please the queen if you both gave me the courtesy of your attention."

Cadell stepped back, still shielding Carys from Robb but calmed by Elanor's voice. He stood at attention, hands clasped in front as he blocked Carys from Robb's view. "Lady Elanor, you are wise. Speak."

Robb sat down too. "My queen, the hall is yours."

"Carys is Seren's sister." Elanor's eyes turned to Carys, who stepped from behind Cadell's back so she could see what was going on. "Seren's Brightkin . To even see her face is a happiness I could not imagine in this life. Carys Morgan, you will always be welcome in my home. The circumstances of Seren's death hang over us all, and we may never know the whole truth. That is a tragedy, but it is no one's fault."

Robb grunted, and Lachlan looked like he wanted to speak, but he kept silent as his mother continued.

"Cadell has said that King Dafydd is readying a party to come north." Elanor looked at Robb, then Lachlan. "Carys is Dafydd's niece. We should wait until he arrives before anything is decided."

Robb took a deep breath, and while his eyes still bored into Carys, the expression in the cold blue had softened. "I do hear your words, my queen."

Elanor said, "Of course, the final decision should remain with Carys alone. My dear, what do you want?"

It was the first time anyone had asked Carys that in days, and her heart immediately softened toward the regal woman. "I'm grateful, Queen Elanor. I would like to stay until my uncle arrives."

"Very well." Elanor smiled and turned to Robb. "My love?"

"She stays." Robb glanced at Lachlan, then back to Carys. "Until we have some answers, she will stay."