Page 72 of Consort's Dragon
She could not let Titus and his witches win.
She would not be his breeder.
She was a queen.A fighter.A woman of intelligence.Time to use that intellect to figure out a solution.
The door slammed open.
“I hear you’re bleeding.”Opal—because Avera couldn’t think of her as Klothi—stood framed in the entrance.
Rather than reply, Avera stood and displayed the stained gown.
Klothi pursed her lips.“No wedding night for you.Get cleaned up.”
“And then what?”Avera couldn’t help a bitter note.
“Read a book.”
“As if I could concentrate,” Avera muttered.
“We won’t be here for long,” Opal stated.“Once the volcano settles a bit, we’ll be moving.”
“How?I thought the lava would take weeks to cool enough.”
“There are ways to move past it.”A cryptic reply.
“You’re just full of surprises.Fooling my mother, then me.”
“I am simply doing what has to be done.”
“So you keep claiming, and yet I’m surprised you’d support a man such as Titus.”
“He’s Emperor.”
“He’s a despot.”Avera lifted her gaze to Opal.“And you and the other guardians are feeding his ego.”
“We act for the good of many.You’ll see that eventually.”
“At what cost?Those poor dragons deserved better.As blooded, we are supposed to support them.To care for them, not make them slaves.”
“You heard them.They wouldn’t have aided us against Zhos, and getting rid of that foul entity is our first concern.”
“You didn’t even try to convince them.You chained them.Gave them no choice.And worse, your plan will send one of them into permanent exile.”
“What else can we do?”Opal asked.“Zhos cannot be killed by anything from this world, not by a blade forged from this earth, nor by the claws or teeth of any creature born here.”
“Is its flesh impervious?”
“Not its flesh, but its magic.It shields itself.Wraps itself in a protective barrier that cannot be penetrated.”
“Then how did you paralyze it in the past?”
“Blood.The blood of dragons nullifies its magic, much like your touch and essence does.It also paralyzes Zhos.When the dragons drenched it in blood, everyone who could wield a blade or magic went after it only to discover it couldn’t be killed.Even inert, the magic imbuing its flesh rebuffed us.”
Avera frown.“You speak as if you were there.”
“Because I was,” Opal softly replied.“We all were.Kachezi, Karoki, and me, plus others who are no longer with us.In the end, the best we could do was lock it away.Bury it somewhere no one would ever find.Using magic the likes you could not even imagine to keep it frozen.During that time, we searched for a way to rid our world of it.Alas, the only solution was a terrible one for the dragons.If we could have found another way…” Opal trailed off and shook herself.“There is only one chance, and we must do everything, even the unpalatable, to ensure success.”
“Unpalatable?”Avera snorted.“You’re responsible for the murder of my family, of Verlora’s destruction, the enslavement of dragons, and abetting my rape.”
