Page 47 of The Last Slayer
“Come in!” he said, the words once again steady and strong.
The door opened, and a Toshi lookalike zapped inside with a crystal jewelry box in his foreclaws. His eyes wide and uncertain, he looked at me then at Ramiel then back at me.
Ramiel nodded to me. “Until dinner.”
With that, he left the room, never looking back, as though our encounter hadn’t affected him at all. If it hadn’t been for the sweet male warmth lingering on my lips, I would’ve thought the kiss a figment of a fantasy.
Nine
The banquet was much bigger than I had imagined. It could probably house the entire St. Peter’s Basilica and then some.
The main hall had nine gigantic tapestries, each with a past Dragonlord of Besade. Ramiel, still alive, wasn’t up there yet. The center one also had the crest of Besade, a silver hydra surrounded by five dragons coiled in different shapes. I recognized them as forming letters from one of the ancient scripts, but I couldn’t read what it said. There are so many dragon scripts that people don’t bother to study anything other than the standard one, and that isn’t always what dragons use. I wondered if I would somehow magically know all the dialects when I got my first heartstone. That would be totally cool: magic language osmosis. It was sort of ridiculous to think of a dragonlady who couldn’t speak any dragon tongue except Standard. Not that I was going to be a dragonlady, of course.
Between and behind the tapestries, the bas-reliefs took a break from their battles on the stone walls. Many of them looked awful, although a few seemed quite happy with their progress. I couldn’t tell who was winning. Too many injured and dead strewed the vertical landscape.
I stopped on the lowest step of the three tiers of the banquet hall. Each tier had the same enormous marble table piled with exactly the same types of food. In the center was a heaping pile of General Tso’s chicken, courtesy of Toshi. My mouth watered at the aroma of the spicy-sweet poultry. I guess he eventually found a recipe. Either that or some poor guy named Tso in Hunan province was going to wake up to find his chickens stolen—or purchased, depending on how Toshi had decided to proceed with the “procurement.” From the looks of it, Toshi had decimated China’s largest chicken farm.
The lowest tier had wyrms, about twenty or so. Drakes occupied the middle one, and wyverns the highest. It made sense in a way. Wyrms travel underground, drakes on land and wyverns in the sky.
So, where did I belong? I certainly was a land creature, but there was no chair fit for a human at the middle table.
Toshi flew toward me with his tiny arms spread wide. “Milady, welcome!” He beamed. “You look wonderful!”
I blushed at the compliment. I knew I didn’t look so wonderful. There had been no styling gel for my frizzy hair, which I’d rebraided, or any makeup to even out my skin tone—not that I generally wear makeup. Maybe the rubies and diamonds dangling from my ears were blinding him. But it was nice to hear anyway.
“You saved me, Toshi. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have had anything suitable.” I gave him a small wink. “And these shoes are better than any Manolo I own.” It was the truth. If there was one fashion item I splurged on, it was shoes, and I was demanding, a connoisseur. They had to be comfortable, stylish and durable.
Small fans on either side of Toshi’s neck puffed out. “I am honored to have pleased you. I also hope you enjoyed the flowers in your room. They’re called sooths and are grown only by my family. It’s our secret hybrid.”
“They were lovely. Thank you.”
“Now, please allow me to escort you to your seat. If you would, say hello to the wyrms at the table as we pass. They’re the elite of the elite, commanding wyrms who have lived through numerous wars of antiquity. A few words from you would mean so much to them.”
All the wyrms had lowered their heads. I cleared my throat. It felt strange to be honored by those I’d spent years studying and disliking. I hoped they didn’t know that.
What was I supposed to tell ancient wyrms that would make them feel good about themselves?
All of you look brave and wonderful?
All of you look cool?
All of you possess the hearts of—
“Hello. Nice to meet you all,” I said instead, hoping they understood English. Dragons generally speak multiple tongues, but I couldn’t assume. English might be the international language of business or whatever in the mortal world, but to them, it was probably insignificant. “I’m Ashera del Cid.”
Toshi fluttered beside my ear and whispered, “They’re touched beyond expression, milady.”
Hmmm. They were certainly touching the ground with their heads, but I wasn’t so sure about the “beyond expression” part. No harm in letting Toshi think what he liked, though.
The next table was drakes. Again, the elite of the elite, drakes who had fought and commanded in many wars of the past. So I repeated the same thing I had told the wyrms. I hoped it was okay, and nobody compared notes later. I wasn’t the speech-making type.
Finally, the wyverns. They lowered their heads and wings without waiting for me to speak. Oh well. I guess they didn’t want to be “touched beyond expression.”
“Ashera,” Ramiel said from the head of the highest table. He looked perfect up there, presiding over his dragons. My blood rushed to my face and all the other sensitive spots, and the arousal returned, lingering over my skin like the finest raw silk. But I did my best to look cool, like that tempestuous kiss in my chamber had never happened, because, well, he did. I had my pride. Besides, his ability to turn me on without seeming to be affected in turn made me wary. Even Miguel hadn’t been able to do that. He’d been all heat and need.
Ramiel came to my side and extended a hand. I took it and felt it close around mine, warming my cool skin. The physical contact reassured me that everything would be all right…which was odd. I was usually more comfortable when other people didn’t get involved. Things seemed to work out better when I relied on myself.
Then again, he was a dragonlord. It couldn’t hurt to have one of those on my side…assuming, of course, he really was on my side.
