Page 8 of Winter's Dragons. Frozen Flames
I could already see the questions forming in my parents' minds. How could someone who did not understand our way of life be our soulmate? The soulmate of all three of us, no less? At a different time, if I'd been in their shoes, I might have felt the same. But it would've been a foolish thought because Cassia did understand and accept us in every way. We might not have had the chance to discuss our previous experiences in detail, but I had no doubt that we would adjust to one another, regardless.
Fortunately, before any of our parents could verbalize their doubts—which would have undoubted gone about as well as our earlier exchange—Cassia tugged on my crest, signaling the fact that it was time to descend. The Frozen Peaks finally loomed ahead, and the glittering spirals of The Palace of Serenity distracted our families from the slight to our culture.
"Is that your lair?" Isebrand asked, his eyes shining and his voice a little dazed and shaky.
I could understand why. Cassia's palace might not have been crafted out of precious metals, but in the cold rays of the sun, its walls still glinted like bright gemstones. The beauty of the structure itself still had nothing on that of its owner, so Kerryn, Emmerich and I had pretty much gained immunity to it. Our parents weren't in the same situation.
"You could say that, yes," Cassia answered. "It is my home, The Palace of Serenity."
Despite myself, I couldn't help but think that the name wasn't really suitable, at least not now. Even from the distance, I could catch glimpses of people running around in a complete panic, like chickens with their heads cut off. As such, serene wasn't an adjective I would've really used to describe the lair we shared with our female. But perhaps now was not the best time to point out that little tidbit, since the current lack of serenity was indirectly our fault.
Our sudden appearance did very little to calm down the agitated inhabitants of The Frozen Peaks. Most of the members of Cassia's permanent staff were used to me, Emmerich and Kerryn by now, but there were six other dragons with us, all of whom were a dangerous, unknown factor. Cassia might have said that she and her sisters were not prejudiced, but the fact remained that the only draconic being in Chronikos other than us was Lerna, and most of our soulmate's people had first become aware of her during Jack Frost's trial, in less than ideal circumstances.
When we landed in the courtyard of the palace, I was unsurprised to find a large contingent of guards surrounding us, weapons drawn. Cassia's third lieutenant—the same person who'd arrived earlier that day, shortly before our departure—was leading the group. Sort of. He was more or less hiding behind the yeti, amaroks and barbegazi present on the scene and eyeing us warily, his complexion so white it rivaled the color of the untainted snow of The Hoarfrost Tundra.
Cassia dismounted me and let out an exasperated sigh. "Oh, for gods' sake. Put all that nonsense away, February. Where are January, December, and the others?"
"I've notified them of what has occurred, Your Majesty, and they have been making preparations to provide you with reinforcements."
"It doesn't seem like that will be necessary. It was a false alarm. We have a couple of new, unexpected guests. They will be staying with us for a little while.
"I want you to prepare adequate quarters and supplies for them. Coordinate with Fiske if you have questions and have Mariko and the rest of the nisse notify everyone to return to their previous posts."
Everyone in the courtyard responded in a somewhat predictable chorus of "Yes, Your Majesty" and scattered, going back to their previous tasks. If they were still worried about the massive dragons that had shown up out of nowhere in their midst, they did not show it. Perhaps they thought their queen could handle the threat should it be necessary—which, come to think of it, was very true.
In any case, I hoped and prayed that all of Cassia's preparations would prove to be unnecessary and that our parents would leave as soon as possible. They could never break what we shared with our soulmate, but that didn't mean we were happy about the interference.
We all ended up relocating in the same foyer where Kerryn, Emmerich and I had first woken up in Tou Cheimóna. "I'm afraid I must temporarily leave you in your sons' care now," Cassia said once we were inside. "I have an important matter to attend to. My staff will provide you with everything you need, and in the meantime, my dragons will keep you company."
"Do you want one of us to come with you, treasure?" I couldn't help but ask, hating to be separated from her when she was obviously still upset.
Cassia shook her head, and the ice crystals that adorned her beautiful pale neck clinked slightly as she moved. "It's fine. I won't be long. Right now, I need you here."
I couldn't really refuse. Cassia never gave us orders, since to her, we weren't servants, but partners. This time, though, we had made a significant mistake, and even if we'd had good reasons for it, it was our responsibility to fix it.
Without further ado, Cassia turned on her heel and walked away, her graceful form vanishing in the depths of the palace corridors."I feel like perhaps, we might be intruding," my father said as we all watched her go.
That was the understatement of the century, and his blasé treatment of Cassia's emotional state didn't improve my mood."Really? What gave you that idea?"
"I know you're upset about this whole incident, darling, but you can't blame us for worrying," my mother offered, curling on the floor in a more comfortable position. "One moment you were at home, in Terra Dracones, fighting for your future family, and the next, you just vanished. What were we supposed to think?"
I understood her logic and reasoning. I'd understood them from the very moment I'd seen her and the others approach. It didn't take a genius to realize why they'd come here, and I couldn't blame them for it. I'd have probably done the same if I'd had a hatchling and he'd vanished like that.
But arguing about it wouldn't get us anywhere, and it wasn't the reason why Cassia had left us here, to begin with. "Let's just set that aside. I think we've already established that nobody blames you for coming. We have other priorities right now."
As expected, Emmerich and Kerryn guessed what I had in mind. Undoubtedly, they had been thinking the same thing the whole time.
"If you're going to stay, even for a little while, we're going to need to establish some ground rules," Emmerich said. "We don't want you upsetting our female more than you already have."
"She has enough on her plate without you being a burden," Kerryn added. "So you're going to listen to us very carefully and do exactly as we say."
Our families didn't protest, acknowledging the fact that they did need to respect the laws and customs of this new land they were in. Even so, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that their compliance would only get us so far. The true battle was just beginning.
