Page 6 of Winter's Dragons. Frozen Flames
"Incomplete?" Noboru bellowed. "You dare? I do not care that you are a female. You will take those words back, Brigid, or I will make you pay for the slight you've brought upon my family."
A migraine started to pound heavily at my skull. At this rate, my new visitors would end up reenacting the brief battle my dragons had had in the foyer of my palace. I could offer no guarantees that I'd be as kind with the parents as I'd been with their sons.
"Enough!" I shouted. My voice would've probably gone unheard over the raucous roaring of the still arguing dragons had I not infused it with my magic. That silenced the group in a way simple words could not. "Nobody here is incomplete. Nobody is inferior. All of your sons are perfectly capable males." Why were they even having this conversation now of all times? I'd had an entirely different idea when I'd welcomed my soulmates' families, one that did not include them getting into a fight over something unnecessary.
The dragons all turned to stare at me at my outburst of temper. "We appreciate the compliment, Your Majesty," Jerika answered, "and up to a point, we cannot deny that you are correct. But the fact remains that there is only one reason why our sons would've stayed here without notifying us of their survival."
Kasumi nodded, and it felt strange to see them agree on something when they'd been at each other's throats less than a minute ago. "If dragon males are engaged in courtship with a female, it is natural for them to forget about other, less important matters. We were merely pointing out the qualities of our children."
"I realize you are unfamiliar with our ways and there's nothing wrong with that. We want to make sure you pick the best possible male out of those competing for your hand."
Brigid's words finally cleared the haze of confusion from my mind. The older dragons were trying to help their children because they thought Emmerich, Raijin, and Kerryn were competing over me.
I remembered one of the few conversations I'd had with my soulmates about the dynamics of our relationship. Back then, they'd said that it had been unusual for them to agree to share me so readily when dragons were so very possessive of their mates. They'd admitted that prior to being brought here by Jack's enchantment, they'd participated in a competition organized for the specific purpose of earning the attention of a female.
Obviously, their families were assuming that my dragons had just continued where they'd left off despite the change in setting. This was not completely inaccurate, but I had a feeling my new guests wouldn't be all that thrilled with the result of their fight and the option my soulmates and I had ultimately picked.
What a mess. Couldn't I just go back to dealing with yeti love triangles? It would've been preferable to this.
For the longest time, nobody said a word. I wasn't sure how to approach the matter since my dragons hadn't told me anything about their families at all. What little I could extrapolate from the conversation made me fear that a misstep at this point would alienate the group forever, and I didn't want that fate for my soulmates. We did need to provide an explanation. I just wasn't sure where to start.
In the end, it was Kerryn, not me who shattered the heavy silence. "There is no competition. Cheimon is our female, and we've all agreed to share."
The words echoed between us like a sentence, simple, yet holding so much strength and meaning that they temporarily left me floored. The older dragons encountered no such issue.
"Share?"
"Share?"
"Share?"
The three patriarchs all repeated the word like it was something vile, a curse and an anomaly, instead of an entirely valid course of action. They then stared at one another, apparently surprised they'd said the same thing.
After a small moment of pause, Devin spoke out again. "You don't need to make this kind of compromise, Kerryn, least of all with the firedrake and the ryu. You're perfectly capable of winning a mate on your own."
"Please tell me the wyvern is lying, Emmerich," Isebrand said. "I taught you better than that."
Noboru shook his massive head in clear disappointment. "You can't just allow another dragon to touch your female. It's a disgrace. Why would you agree to something like this, Raijin?"
The disapproving words seemed to snap something inside my dragons. "I didn't agree to anything," Raijin answered. "It was my idea. And I would urge you to hold your tongue in matters you know nothing about. I have listened to your advice in the past in most everything, but I will not allow you to disrespect what we share with Cheimon."
His voice might have sounded calm, but I'd never felt his magic hold so much fury. Both he and Emmerich flew a little further ahead and together with Kerryn, formed a barrier as if they were trying to shield me from their families.
The air around them seemed to blur and change colors, reminding me of the way light danced around Tarasia on the rare occasions my summery sister came to visit. While the vivid combination of reds, greens, and blues was just as beautiful as Tarasia's aura, if not more so, there was no doubt in my mind that it meant something very different.
"You don't know anything about Cheimon and us," Emmerich snarled, and fire blazed around him as if to confirm my earlier thoughts. "You don't belong here. Go back to where you came from, or we will make you."
"We are proud of what the four of us have. We would never taint it with a lie. But you are tainting it with your insults, and we will not allow it."
By the time he finished his speech, Kerryn's words had turned into a nigh-incomprehensible hiss. Considering his fury, and that of my other dragons, it was a minor miracle that they had remembered to not call me by my private name and had stuck to using Cheimon. Then again, that was really beside the point right now.
Maybe my main concern shouldn't have been the six older dragons attacking one another, but my own soulmates attacking their families. What was it with people close to me being tempted to maul/maim their parents/siblings as of late?
In a way, my dragons' behavior was kind of sweet, and if they hadn't said something in response to their parents' offensive words, I would've likely done it. Still, this had gone too far, and I didn't have the time or the patience to argue over something that I had never intended to negotiate.
Flying past my dragons, I faced my unwanted guests, tightening the magic of winter around me like a protective shroud. "Let me introduce myself again," I said with a smile that was likely just as unpleasant as their words had been. "I am Queen Cheimon, Lady of Winter, ruler of Tou Cheimóna, The Realm of Eternal Ice. I also happen to be your sons' soulmate. Yes, the soulmate of all of them.
"Now, here are your options. You can either appreciate the welcome I have extended to you properly and come to my palace, where we can speak like civilized individuals, or you can take the approach Emmerich suggested and go back to Terra Dracones. It doesn't matter to me, but be advised that I will not allow such disrespect any longer."
