The Dragon Kings' Forbidden Witch

”I did strike her,” Kaelen said grimly. ”With a question. I watched her go white.”

”You did not do wrong.” Thorne replied.

”I did not do right, either.”

”You did what needed doing.” Thorne turned his head. ”And you stopped when it needed stopping. That was well done.”

Kaelen scrubbed a hand over his face.

”She has been holding something for eighteen years,” Draeven said.

His voice was low. He had not moved from his chair, but his eyes had gone distant and golden, fixed on the closed door.

”I can feel it,” he said. ”When she is near. A weight, like a hand pressing on a bruise. She carries it every moment, and she does not know how to put it down.”

”She looked terrified,” Thorne said.

”She is,” said Draeven. ”And she is brave. Both. It is an ugly combination.”

”We need her to open up to us.” Kaelen leaned forward, elbows on his knees. ”That is the whole of it. Everything else, Carrick, the council, the ritual, falls apart if she will not trust us. I would give a good deal to know what it is she’s afraid of.”

”A promise,” Thorne said.

They looked at him.

”Her mother.” He shrugged, a small economical movement. ”You saw how she froze. It was not shame. It was not guilt. It was loyalty. Someone, a long time ago, told her never to speak of it, and she is keeping her word.”

”Elara,” Draeven said.

”Yes.” He replied.

Silence settled over the room.

”Then we wait,” Draeven said. ”As I said.”

”I do not like waiting.” Kaelen countered.

”You have never liked it, brother.” Draeven said, lookiing at his brother.

”It’s a poor habit of mine.” Kaelen’s mouth twisted. ”But I’ll do it. For her.”

”And in the meantime,” Thorne said, ”we confirm what we can.”

”Astraea?” Draeven asked.

”She told Morgana something. She did not tell her everything. I would stake my crown on it.” Thorne’s voice had cooled and sharpened, the voice of the king who read battle maps. ”There was a gap in the telling. Did you hear it? ’She said only what I’ve told you.’ Not ’she told me nothing more.’ A careful phrase.”

”I heard it,” Draeven said.

”So did I,” said Kaelen quietly.

”There is something Astraea knows that she did not give to Morgana to carry.” Thorne’s eyes moved from one brother to the other. ”Or something she did give, and Morgana did not give to us.”

”Either way,” Draeven said, ”we ask her.”

”And her heart,” Kaelen said abruptly.

Both brothers turned.

”When I said the word. Dragon.” He had gone very still. ”You heard it. Both of you.”

”It jumped,” Thorne said.

”It leapt.” Kaelen’s jaw clenched. ”She lied to me. She looked in my face and shook her head, and her heart went like a hunted rabbit’s.”

”Yes.” Draeven agreed.

”She knows one.” Kaelen said, looking at Thorned and then back at Draeven.

”Or knows of one,” said Draeven. ”Or has met one.” His fingers drummed once, softly, on the arm of his chair. ”And she was afraid enough of what we might do with the knowledge that she would lie to our faces.”

”Which means,” Thorne said slowly, ”that whoever it is, she loves them.”

The fire crackled.

Nobody spoke for a while as the reality of the possibility of their mate possibly choosing to lie to them in order to protect a dragon or a dragon sifter they no nothing about, settle on them like a hard truth.

It was Kaelen who finally broke the silence, and his voice was quiet.

”I should hate whoever it is,” he said. ”For keeping her from us. For hiding her for eighteen years. For whatever it cost her.”

”But?” said Draeven.

”But I’d be a poor sort of man if I didn’t see it. If whoever it is kept her alive....” His voice roughened. ”If they kept the Mother of Dragons alive for eighteen years, in a world that wanted her dead, hidden from three kings who might have taken her.....” He stopped. He shook his head. ”I do not know what I’d do to them. Thank them or kill them.”

”Perhaps both,” Thorne said dryly.

Kaelen gave a short, unwilling laugh.

For a moment the room felt lighter. Draeven’s mouth moved, not quite a smile. The fire burned high and steady.

”We will find out,” Draeven said. ”In time. She will tell us, or we will learn it another way. But I will not take it from her by force. Is that understood?”

”Understood,” said Thorne.

”Understood.” Kaelen sighed. ”Gods, she was beautiful, sitting there. Frightened as a mouse and holding that chin up like a queen.”

”Yes,” said Draeven softly.

Another silence over them.

Thorne’s eyes had shifted, and they rested now on the first king. They held a particular, careful quality. ”Draeven,” he said.

”Mm.”

”This afternoon. On the ridge.” He paused. ”I felt it. In the bond.”

The room went still.

Kaelen looked up sharply. Draeven did not look away.

”Something woke,” Thorne said. ”When you found her. I have been waiting to ask. I will not press if you’d rather....”

The door opened.

It opened without a knock. All three kings turned their heads at once, and the air in the study snapped taut.

A servant stood on the threshold.

He was young, in the palace livery, out of breath, with a pale face and his cap crushed in both hands. He swept a deep bow and held it, and when he spoke, his voice came in a rush.

”Forgive me, Your Majesties. I would not have disturbed you, but she was most insistent.”

”Who?” Draeven said.

The young man swallowed.

”The Lady Astraea, Your Majesty.” He lifted his head. His eyes went from one king to the next. ”She requests an audience with the three of you. At once. Your Majesty”

Nobody moved.

”She says,” the servant went on, very quietly, ”that it concerns Lady Morgana.”