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Chapter Nine

Callum

“M y Sovereign!” I yelped, standing up to salute so fast that my chair rocketed back across the room.

The Ruler of All Dragonkind lowered her head in regal recognition before her emerald-green eyes flicked ever so briefly to the third person in the room. The only person still sitting.

“ Get up ,” I stage-whispered out of the corner of my mouth at Madison, who was still holding her sandwich in both hands, munching away.

“Why?” she asked somewhat petulantly. “Who is this?”

“This is the Sovereign of the Dragon Isles,” I hissed at her. “She is the one who leads our people.”

“What people?”

“ All of them,” I snapped, kicking at her chair angrily. “So, show her some respect.”

Madison did no such thing. “Or what ? You people keep forgetting I have quite literally no reason to listen to you or what you want me to do. I’m already here as your concubine. I have no way home. If I tried, you’d probably kill me. Why should I show respect to the woman who all but ordered my kidnapping? Tell me how she’s deserved it.”

“My sovereign,” I said awkwardly. “I am sorry that you had to hear this, I—”

Lifting a hand, the sovereign stopped my half-formed apology. Her eyes were focused on Madison. “Do you know why you’re here?” she asked without a hint of anger.

“To be his bedroom plaything?” Madison suggested. “He’s attractive enough for it, I’ll give him that, but it takes more than looks to get me to want to bed someone. I especially am not into it when it’s done by force.”

“Wrong.”

The word was spoken with such confidence that Madison paused to listen for more.

“You’re here because we need you.”

I wasn’t sure whose eyebrows went higher, Madison’s or mine.

“ What ?” we said in unison.

“The dragon race is dying,” the sovereign explained to a shell-shocked audience. “Not quickly, not tomorrow, but very slowly, we are going extinct.”

“How?” I demanded to know. This was the first I’d heard of any such thing.

“Simple population numbers,” the woman explained, tucking her perfectly straight, platinum-blonde hair behind her ear. “Not enough dragon women are born, and those that are aren’t carrying the number of offspring necessary to keep our race flourishing.”

“You need more babies.”

“More babies,” the sovereign agreed with Madison, “ and more females. Which is where you come in. It’s an experiment to see if dragons and humans can mate regularly and help bolster our numbers.”

“Doesn’t that give me more incentive not to help you?” Madison asked, crossing her arms. “After all, you have killed a lot of my people. Helping make more of you seems counterintuitive to stopping that.”

I glared at her, growing very tired of her attitude.

“Perhaps,” the sovereign agreed. “I understand your anger. But I will remind you, it wasn’t us who chose you.”

Silence reigned until I grew uncomfortable with the friction in the room.

“My sovereign,” I said, breaking it at last to ask the question still burning at the forefront of my mind. “Do you know why I survived Noa’s death?”

I tried to keep any emotion from my voice, but judging by the sharpness of the sovereign’s look, I hadn’t succeeded. Not fully. It was hard. For two years, I’d lived with this guilt, and the entire time, she’d known why? I’d endured so much from the other dragons, and to find out I might not have had to burned more than a little.

“There is a reason,” she said. “It is rare among our people, but it does happen.”

“Which is?” I pushed.

“Someone killed her.”

I blinked. “Dragons kill other dragons all the time.”

“That’s not what she’s saying, I think,” Madison interjected.

All eyes turned to the human woman.

“I just meant, it’s like a car accident versus an assassination. Both times, someone dies.”

“But only one time are they killed ,” the sovereign finished. “Someone murdered your mate. Premeditated, on purpose. Most of the time, dragon death is the result of a fight, a challenge, something like that. Where both parties are aware of what could happen. But premeditated murder is rare. It’s not fully understood, but the assumption is that the other party is left alive to ensure justice is found.”

The blood in my veins began burning, clouding the words.

Someone had murdered Noa?

My chest rose and fell, heavy breaths racing in through my nose.

“You’re saying it wasn’t accidental. That someone planned her death, targeted her specifically, and because of that, I’m still alive?”

“That is my assumption, yes,” the sovereign said.

“Why didn’t you tell me this was a possibility?” I snapped, losing my manners in my building rage.

“I apologize,” the woman said, without any sign of recognition I was ready to explode. “I honestly thought you knew, Callum.”

“No, I did not.” I clenched a hand so tightly my knuckles popped. “For two years, I have lived with this guilt. Dealt with the looks of my peers, been treated like an oddity, a freak who doesn’t belong. And now you tell me it’s because someone murdered my mate. I could have been looking for them all this time.”

The room was silent after my outburst.

“You have to take her back,” I said, pointing at Madison.

“No.”

Gritting my teeth, I nodded. “Yes. I’m going to find out who killed Noa, and I am going to make them pay.”

There was no question about what I meant by that.

“She will help you.”

“I will?” Madison yelped. “I don’t think so. I am done being volunteered for things.”

“Her help is neither needed nor wanted,” I said. “Send her back. Let someone else pick her. I’ll do this on my own.”

“A second viewpoint could prove useful.” The sovereign wasn’t backing down. “Do you have any ideas where to start?”

“Not yet,” I admitted. “But I’m sure I will once I think about it.”

Internally, I wasn’t as sure. To the best of my knowledge, everyone had liked Noa. She had been extremely popular and well-respected in the community around the palace. Her passing had shocked most.

No, not her passing. Her murder.

I had to adjust my mindset.

“Find out what happened to her. Punish whoever is behind it. Only then will you be truly free,” the sovereign said. “If anything comes up that I can help with, please let me know.”

With that, she was gone, leaving me alone with Madison and a whole new perspective on the worst thing to ever happen to me.

“So,” Madison said after a long moment passed. “Where do we start?”

I stared at her. “We?”

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