20
The gathered crowd called out, the harmonies of reverent joy rising from thousands of throats, prickling the hairs on my arms, despite the oppressive volcanic heat.
Inoa stepped forward on a triumphant shout, finger pointed to the sky. “Mo’o!” she proclaimed, along with some other rapid-fire remarks that seemed related to Nakoa, the right to rule, and various negotiations. Chief Tane glowered, a man thwarted, but he did not argue with Inoa. Instead he focused on Nakoa.
“Do you fail?” he asked, insult replete in the tone. “Are you afraid to test the will of the ancestors as you vowed?”
I didn’t wait for Nakoa to answer. Knowing him, he’d agree to the test despite the opportunistic arrival of the dragon. I didn’t believe for a moment that it portended anything, any more than Nakoa’s death via lava would mean that the ancestors had turned aside from him. Though part of it niggled at me. Ami insisted that all three goddesses had worked through the sisters to remove Uorsin from the throne, so that Ursula would kill him as part of Danu’s justice, with Glorianna’s loving benevolence and Moranu’s healing magic, to soak the land with the king’s blood and restore balance. That wasn’t explainable by any logic I understood.
Perhaps the dragon’s return meant something more than I believed, also.
“The will of the ancestors is clear,” I said, hoping I had all the intonations right. “There is time yet for King Nakoa KauPo to prove his right to rule.”
“He had three days and the dragon did not—”
I interrupted Tane, both to undermine his power and to prevent any seeds of doubt he might sow in the listening ears. “Does the dragon”—curse it, I had no idea if they even had a concept of a timetable, much less a word for it—“arrive at your command? Do the ancestors call for three days or is that a man’s idea?”
The people murmured as Inoa threw me an approving glance. I wished I could risk a glance at Nakoa, to assess his reaction, but I couldn’t afford that weakness. Nor, it seemed, could he weigh in on this discussion.
“He is no king if he is no man.” Tane grinned at me, that nasty leer in it. “Do you deny he has not . . .” Again with that vile euphemism that had Inoa sizzling with offense next to me. I put a hand on her arm to restrain her.
“King Nakoa KauPo is a great king.” I let my voice ring with conviction, pitching it with a tone Inoa had used, that of optimism and hope for the future. “He has care for all. My feet were injured.” I made it sound as bad as I could, shading it with all the storm and ill-luck tones I knew. The people near enough to hear studied my stockings, discussing them, bits of concern for the fragile, tiny foreigner drifting on the sulfurous air. “I could not . . .” I floundered, out of words to explain.
Thankfully, Inoa took over, weaving quite the tale from what I could make out, employing languid hand gestures that added to the story, amplifying the cadences she used, making it into almost a dance. She made it sound as if I’d fallen into a fever, too weak to move, sorely afflicted by my injuries, a queen so precious and delicate, her skin had never seen the sun. A sign that I was to be protected, with skin as pale as sand, scattered with flecks of fire like the sunlight burn of my hair. Along with the prettiest description of my freckles I’d ever heard, it sounded good as long as it seemed to be about someone else—and I only caught about a third of it, if that.
Still, I understood more than I might have, the movements of her hands and body lending an almost magical quality. She played to the crowd, convincing them—a brilliant move.
She made us sound like star-crossed lovers, separated first by cruel distance, then by one who thought the dragon and the ancestors served his orders. Never saying Tane’s name, she nevertheless embroidered on my logic, making that sound absurd. Now I bravely risked relapse—see the pain on my face?—to fulfill my promise to my beloved.
Mlai.
She had even me convinced.
And everyone else, too. By the end of her storysong, people were crooning along, adding melodies and harmonies of celebration and good fortune. Several women rushed up, coaxing me to sit on the litter again, to save my feet. I hesitated, putting them off, risking a glance at Nakoa, who glowered indeed.
“A fine tale,” Tane agreed, trying to sound benevolent and not succeeding very well, “and I could be persuaded. But the dragon has gone again. The foreign anâ is beautiful, but I cannot go against what the ancestors have advised me . . .” He pitched the words with sorrowful, sincere regret.
Just like High Priest Kir, all over again. Seemed no culture was immune.
“You will see for yourself.” Taking the risk, I went to Nakoa instead of seating myself on the litter. Absolutely the more painful choice, as standing that long on the hot, sharp-edged stones had my feet aching enough that I was hard-pressed not to limp. But if Inoa had convinced them that only my injuries had prevented this dragon-taming magical consummation, then my believably promising it would happen forthwith depended on making it look like I had healed enough.
Nakoa wasn’t fooled, watching me with a glint of exasperation in his eyes. “King Nakoa KauPo, will you take me home and make me your queen?”
The crowd fell silent, at least those near enough to hear. People farther back called out questions and were hushed, whispers passing back, more ripples in the pond. Nakoa narrowed his eyes at me, just slightly. Just enough to promise retribution for cornering him like that. I didn’t care. We needed to get him off this mountain and back to the palace, where we could regroup and strategize. Nothing we did could persuade the dragon to do . . . whatever it was that everyone seemed excited for it to do, but Chief Tane could be dealt with in other ways.
“Nakoa. Mlai.” I moved closer, laid my hands on his chest, and gave him a stern glare, whispering, “No sorry, yes?”
His lips twitched, though his arms remained folded. With one last thoughtful searching of my face, he looked up and called out to the crowd. “Is this your will?” He kept it neutral, shaded with neither a happy outcome nor an unpleasant one.
The people cheered wildly and, with an ear-splitting trumpet, the dragon flew into sight from beyond the volcano, circled, fixed on us, and headed our way. Gliding on the hot air currents like a jeweled seabird, its wings outstretched an impossible length, the dragon plummeted without a sound, zooming straight for us. “Goddesses!”
Then Nakoa had me in his arms, better than an invocation of any goddess. He stood firm, even turning slightly to meet the dragon head-on. I wound my arms around his neck, missing the feel of the torque but feeling much safer. It made no sense, as the dragon could eat us both in one bite. At least Nakoa could run—that would be a logical reason for feeling reassured.
Nothing to do with the fact that just the scent and feel of his skin worked to calm my instinctive terror.
Nakoa’s lips brushed my temple. “See to understand, mlai.”
I couldn’t have torn my eyes from the sight regardless. Like a fiery golden blade cleaving the sky, the dragon grew in size, lethal, fascinating, extraordinary. Ruby flames lit its eyes, taller than Nakoa—and real flames flickered in its gaping maw.
“See?” Nakoa murmured, his voice as full of awe as I felt. “Beautiful.”
It was.
A roar sounded in my bones as it approached, my heart pounding into synced rhythm with Nakoa’s. No, the roar came from the sound of air rushing over the great membraned wings. Amazingly Nakoa laughed and the dragon passed just over us, as if I could have reached out to touch it, and the turbulence of it tossed Nakoa’s lightning-threaded locks so they lashed against my cheeks. All of it welled up in my chest, a kind of terrified elation that burst out in my own laugh. All around us, the people—even Chief Tane—held their hands up to the sky, as if savoring the sensation of the passage of the majestic beast, singing out their song of awe and celebration.
Nakoa carried me down the mountain in a kind of triumph, leading a procession of thousands, all talking and laughing loudly, about the king, the dragon, and the foreign queen. Chief Tane walked beside us, rendering conversation between Nakoa and me unwise. Besides, with the cacophony, we would have been barely able to hear each other.
Still I caught Nakoa flicking me the occasional searching glance, a line between his brows as if he sought to solve a puzzle that perplexed him. Inoa, on his other side, also caught my eye with significant, long-eyed stares, silently communicating something. That, at least, I could make a good guess at.
Yes, I would do what I needed to do to save Nakoa’s life and get him through this absurd challenge to his throne. Far more important considerations than this eternal preserving of something that meant nothing if not used, enshrined for a day that would never come. Nakoa had been gentle and patient with me and, better, his touch worked for me more than any other person’s had. It would be pleasurable, I’d be done with this spinster-virgin status that made me feel like such a pariah, and . . .
Well, we’d deal with any political or marital repercussions later.
The celebratory chorus ratcheted up another level as we approached the palace. I took advantage of the opportunity to refresh myself on the layout, now that it was more familiar to me, able to identify our rooms from the position of the broken wing, and the grand escarpment overlooking the sea, which I thought of as the formal ballroom, in their version of such things, along with the library in its protected central location and the high tower where I’d watched the Hákyrling sail away without me. The thought didn’t quite pain me as much or leave me with the same sense of panicked breathlessness at being abandoned.
Very likely because I had far more acute crises to worry about.
Taking note of my absorption, Nakoa paused a moment at the viewpoint, allowing me time to take it in. Not my intention, exactly, as I’d been partially distracting myself from other thoughts. Chief Tane stopped also, a few paces ahead of us, fists on hips—a decided acquisitive light in his eyes as he glanced back at Nakoa.
“A grand place, my new home,” he taunted.
“It is not yours,” Inoa hissed, curling her fingers into her palms.
“It belongs to no one but the dragon.” Nakoa inserted the implacable words between them. “We live here by her indulgence.”
“Her?” I asked, pricked by curiosity into speaking before I meant to. It wasn’t exactly the female tonality for human women, but I caught it for the first time that way.
Nakoa’s night-black gaze moved to mine, slumberous under the white lightning in his brows, a hint of teasing in it, though his face didn’t move from its composed lines. “Of course. Females of all species are the most fierce and dangerous.” His lips twitched and he adjusted me in his arms. “No matter her size.”
“She must be a dragon under the skin, to have held off such a mighty king,” Chief Tane said, tone riddled with contempt that twisted the words. He added a euphemism I didn’t quite get but that sounded like an insinuation that my woman’s passage contained sharp teeth to sever a man’s member. Judging by Inoa’s silent, furious expression of insult, I had the gist of it.
“If such is true,” I said to him, “then best hope King Nakoa KauPo succeeds in his efforts tonight, lest your own bqllr be at risk.” I used the Dasnarian word for “cock,” as it had a satisfyingly lewd sound to it.
Tane’s temporary bafflement gave way to icy rage. “Careful, little cala queen. I would take your knives and use them to make new holes to fuck.”
Nakoa had turned his back, carrying me swiftly away before Tane finished his vile suggestion, but I pieced the words together as the chief followed behind us, calling out more of the same.
“Why do you allow him to come with us?” I asked Nakoa in a low enough tone that we could not be overheard.
He kept his stony gaze focused forward. “The palace belongs to all. No one can be forbidden entrance.”
That explained a great deal. Would he have banned the Dasnarians, even Jepp and Zynda, if that weren’t the case? I suspected so.
“Not even someone who so blatantly challenges you?”
“He is a chief, with a people to be responsible for. He annoys but is within his rights.”
“I’m surprised he seeks to insult me.” It seemed the smart course of action would be to cozen and court me, if he sought to make me his queen instead of Nakoa’s. Of course, I had none of the dragon-capturing witchcraft they ascribed to me, but they believed so.
“It is not you he wishes to offend.” Always taciturn in the best of moods, Nakoa seethed under the skin with volcanic fury, so tightly contained I hadn’t sensed the full scope of it until that terse statement.
“Ah. He hopes you will challenge him, as you did General Kral.”
He flicked a glance at me. “Yes. Or to distract me with such fear that I will not bed you.”
“You cannot believe that I have teeth . . . there. I mean—you already know better.” Impossibly, I blushed, recalling how he’d touched me.
Some of the polished implacability of his expression softened and he pressed a kiss to my temple. “Do I? It has puzzled me, what you guard in there so fiercely.”
Not really the place to have this conversation, but with his rapid pace down the path giving us privacy, celebratory songs fading behind, the palace now rising above us, along with the looming prospect of what would happen once we gained our rooms, I’d better speak up. “I never have. Bedded anyone.”
He gave me a quizzical look. “I know.”
“You do?” How? Could he have felt it in my body? Perhaps my lack of experience showed.
“Yes. You waited for me as I waited for you.”
Maybe I hadn’t heard that right. Or the combination of heat, pain, excitement, and the impending crash of exhaustion from fighting through the last few hours had my brain muddled. I couldn’t seem to do more than gape at him like an idiot.
“Understand?” He frowned, searching for words I knew. “I never have bedded anyone. You are for me. I am for you.”
My turn to struggle for words. They’d all escaped my grasp, even the ones I thought I’d known well. “How—how can that . . .” I floundered utterly.
He misinterpreted my concern because he gave me another kiss, this time under my ear, and murmured, “Don’t worry. I know what to do.”
That did it. I covered my face with my hands in utter consternation. It had been easy to agree to—no, to insist on—this step, up on the mountain, his life and throne hanging in the balance. Now there would be no backing out.
The welcome cool shadows of the palace enveloped us, the sweetly scented breezes from the gardens wafting over my heated skin, along with the oiled-wood aroma of the inlaid floors and ceilings. Familiar.
And entwined with the warmth and scent of this so-foreign man who claimed to have waited for me as I’d always felt I’d waited for someone. Impossible, and yet . . .
“Open, mlai,” Nakoa said, and I dropped my hands, startled by his use of that intimate instruction in public. His eyes sparkled with humor at my reaction, however, and he dipped his chin at the doors to his rooms. “The latch,” he added, pitching it with urgency.
At least my face couldn’t get redder at this point. Oh, wait, yes it could.
Chief Tane caught up to us, along with several of his guard and others who seemed to be various nobility and elders. “We will witness!” he proclaimed, a nasty kind of lust in his gaze.
Oh, Danu. Please don’t let it come to that. I directed the prayer to Danu, as Her bright blade seemed the most likely to cut through the twisted lies Tane spun. And Nakoa would belong to her, he being my support both figuratively and literally.
My dragon king, of course, came through for me, aided by Danu or not. “No. The outcome will not be in doubt. Go. Enjoy the fruits of our harvest.” Nakoa’s guard materialized around us, easing out of the crowd in the hallway with silent grace and grim purpose. They’d been with him all along, attending his signal. Not something to forget.
Tane surveyed them, clearly weighing his options, and Inoa appeared at his elbow, amazingly composed, regal and only slightly out of breath from catching up. She’d smoothed over her insulted fury and, very politely and with elaborate descriptions, invited him and everyone to a feast. Nakoa nudged me as she spoke, so I slipped a hand down to free the latch. We were inside, Nakoa’s bulk against the door, so fast that Tane barely got out a protest.
“Lock it, mlai,” Nakoa urged, and I was glad I’d had occasion to learn the mechanism that morning. He sighed with relief as the bolt slid into place, and moved away from the doors. “I shall owe my sister for this.”
“Me too,” I agreed fervently. Some shouts echoed outside the doors and someone pounded; then all went abruptly silent. Hopefully they wouldn’t be listening. My gaze went to the open balcony windows, allowing in the blessed cross-ventilation—and, as Jepp had noted, anyone with the ability to climb.
“No worries,” Nakoa said, following the direction of my thoughts. “We will remain alone. You are safe with me.” He said something else that might have been about his guard.
“All right.” I nodded, attempting a sanguinity I did not feel. “I suppose we’d best get this over with.”
Nakoa studied my face and I realized I’d slipped into Common Tongue, likely using a tone that communicated a task to be completed, an unpleasant chore most easily dispensed with if done immediately, not allowing time for dread to build up. Which probably accurately conveyed how I felt. After all, if I’d lost my cursed virginity ages ago, I wouldn’t have built up so much expectation and emotion around this act. All those years I simply hadn’t been interested, that sense of waiting for the right moment that never arrived—had I been waiting for this?
You waited for me as I waited for you.
I’d learned a great deal more about magic in these last years than I’d ever expected to. I should have known the texts hadn’t lied, no matter how extraordinary some of the tales. If people could change shape and Andi, someone I knew well, could forecast the future and wall off an entire realm with a thought, then I could be connected to a man I’d never met. Someone so impossibly far away that I would never have encountered him if events hadn’t aligned exactly as they had. Some of which I’d influenced myself. Perhaps my plans had operated to bring me to this place, to Nakoa, when all along I’d thought I’d been working toward something else.
Hlyti, indeed.