Page 5 of Fire and Fate
So, we won’t fail.
That is the only option.
Alessia
Idrape myself across the lush bedding of our throne, letting the silk of my gown flow over the cushions in rivers of red and gold and white. The fabric is sheer enough that it’s merely a window to my flesh, clinging to my curves in ways that make me feel both powerful and sensual. This is how I prefer to hold court when we are not entertaining foreign dignitaries who might clutch their pearls at our customs. Comfortable. Unbound.Free.
My wife paces at the entrance to the hall, and I cannot help but smile as I watch her. Zara is fully shifted, her massive dragon form filling the space with barely controlled fury. Each thump of her foot against the stone floor reverberates through my bones. Smoke billows from her nostrils in great clouding plumes, and I watch with fascination as the iridescent green in her black scalesshifts with each movement, catching the light streaming through the tall windows.
She is magnificent when she is angry. Terrifying to most, but to me, she is simply beautiful.
I chuckle softly, the sound barely carrying across the expanse of the royal hall. We updated the vents in this space years ago, specifically to ensure that Zara could have her temper tantrums without burning down the walls. It has happened twice before, once when a trade negotiation went poorly and once when news reached us of poachers attempting to steal dragon eggs from one of our outlying settlements. Both times, the reconstruction took months. Now, the ventilation system channels the heat and smoke up and out through specially designed ducts, and our beautiful hall remains intact even when my wife's temper flares hot.
I sit up slightly, the movement causing the see-through red silk covering my body to slip down one shoulder. "Love, what has got you upset this time?"
The royal hall sits open for any of our subjects to come through, as it has for generations. The promiscuity of our race is evident in the royal beds placed in public gathering spaces throughout Embrath. Feasts take place here and in the gala, the people of Embrath embracing our ability to reproduce when the magic is right. Sharing one another is a gift and a precious thing, a way to strengthen bonds between our people and ensure the continuation of our line.
Zara and I share ourselves with the subjects of Embrath at times as well, until they find their mate, as is custom throughout our ranks. It is not shameful here to seek pleasure and connection. It is celebrated, encouraged even, as part of our nature. Dragons are passionate creatures in all things, and denying that passion would be like asking a river not to flow or the sun not to shine.
Still, sometimes, I wish for offspring of our own, though I know it will be our time soon.
My wife turns her beastly form toward me, her massive head swinging around with surprising grace for something so large. I sit up fully to greet her properly, straightening my spine and meeting her gaze with the respect due to my co-ruler.
Zara drops down to the ground and curls her enormous body around the massive bed, her head coming to rest on the edge of the mattress mere inches from my arm. Her scales are warm, almost hot to the touch, the heat radiating from her even without making contact.
I smile and reach out, letting my fingertips hover just above her snout. "What has my grumpy queen in a stir?"
The mindlink opens between us, that mental bridge that forms between bonded mates. Her voice fills my head, rough with irritation and touched with weariness.
“Another Alpha male attempted to breach Embrath. It did not go well. One of the younger guards sent him back with a message.”
I run my hand along the smooth scales of her snout, feeling the ridges and textures that I have memorized over our years together. "That is nothing new, love."
Zara huffs, and a fresh cloud of smoke puffs from her nostrils.
“They just keep coming. No expectation of actually taking anything home, but they will not stop. Our people are growing weary of being on constant guard. They do not believe the prophecy is real.”
I stiffen at that, my hand pausing in its gentle stroking. That damn prophecy. The golden Omega who will complete us, who will bind us and usher in a new era of prosperity for Embrath. The prophecy has been told for generations, passed down from seer to seer, woven into the very fabric of our culture and beliefs.
But we have never found them. We have searched for years, opened our borders to visitors, sent emissaries to every kingdom and territory we could reach.Nothing. No golden Omega has appeared, no sign that the prophecy is anything more than wishful thinking or the fevered dreams of long-dead seers.
And instead, it has only brought warriors who believe our heads on a pike will bring them untold riches. Trying to end us will only ever bring their death.
It’s even halted all preparations we’ve put in place for a child. Zara and I have been unable to complete the mating ritual for the last several years. The magic requires three.At leastthree. Two Alphas and an Omega, bound together in passion and power, their essences intertwining to create something greater than the sum of its parts. Without our third, we are incomplete.
I sigh, feeling the weight of generations pressing down on my shoulders. I always held out hope that the prophecy would prove true. I believed with a faith that borders on stubbornness that somewhere out there, our Omega exists. That we will find them, or they will find us, and everything will finally fall into place.
But our people are losing that faith. The dragons of Embrath are not reproducing as much anymore, their hope dimming with each passing year that the prophecy remains unfulfilled. I have shared a bed with many of our subjects over the years, seeking that spark of connection that might indicate compatibility, that might lead to the creation of new life. Those I have not bedded simply have not interested me, their scents or energies failing to resonate with something deep in my core.
Zara has been less prolific in her sharing, more selective about who she allows into her bed and her body. She is particular in all things, taking only particular prospects that suit her.
The younger dragons especially are beginning to question whether the prophecy was ever real or simply a story told to give hope to a struggling people. Birth rates have declined steadilyover the past decade. Fewer eggs are laid, fewer hatchlings survive to adulthood. Some whisper that it is because we lack our third, that the magic of Embrath itself is weakening without the completed royal triad to anchor it.
I do not know if I believe that. Magic is mysterious and unpredictable, following rules that even the most learned among us do not fully understand. But I cannot deny the correlation between our incomplete bond and the slow decline of our people's fertility.
"They grow restless," I say aloud, though Zara can hear my thoughts through the mindlink if she chooses to listen. Sometimes it helps to speak the words, to give them weight and substance beyond the space of our mental connection. "The guards, the nobles, even the common folk. They see these Alphas from Valoria coming again and again, seeking glory and riches by taking our heads as trophies. They wonder why we do not simply destroy the kingdom that sends them."
“We could,”Zara's voice echoes in my mind. “We have the power. A wing of our warriors could raze their walls in a single night. We could end this threat permanently.”
