Krayson wore the red half-robe of a sworn brother once more. To be himself after being in hiding brought with it a profound relief. An old and familiar wariness was there, also. He kept his hood raised and eyes lowered as he walked, darting furtive glances to those he passed. With the bloodsong unguarded, he waited for the other shoe to drop. Any one of these people or an entire legion of dragons could pounce at him at any moment. His Bastion aside, he had yet to have an encounter with the mighty that didn't turn violent.
Saveen, on the other hand, was having the time of her life. She'd run off to chat with three blue dragons, two of which had come from lands far to the north beyond Melcia. Almo the Rampart hadn't joined them, just as the blues seemed hesitant to approach him. There was some interpersonal drama at play there, and Krayson had no interest whatsoever in getting involved.
He walked through the Dragon Empress' camp with Starra. They were escorted by a squad of six House Yora armsmen in green and silver tabards. A deep-voiced Altieri paladin and his green dragon accompanied them. The dragon wore the form of an older man, gray-skinned with geometric patterns of green over his face. He had a timid and kindly air about him, but his Emerald Knight could crack stones with his severe glare.
Krayson and his companions were separated almost as soon as the battle at the volcano was over. Starra and Krayson had been put on the Constable while Maya and Josy were carried by the Storyteller. Saveen was thoroughly engaged by her fellow blue dragons, and Krayson hadn't spoken with her throughout the flight to Temradel.
After arriving, it was difficult to say who was mistrusted more. He and Starra or the royal assassins. Maya and Josy had been led away by Knight-Marshal Ban and taken to a secluded tent where a full detachment of armsmen and dragons were waiting. Under guard, though they were likely being told otherwise. The people Krayson passed in the camp stared after his red robe. Many tried peering beneath his hood or at Starra's veil as if trying to get a glimpse of red eyes. Mutterings of "blood mages" and "fell magic" followed in their wake. It was to be expected. Krayson rarely found acceptance, even from those he delivered bloodsongs to.
At least Saveen was receiving a warm welcome. Even now, Krayson could hear her voice carrying over the distance between them as she spoke with others of her kind for the first time. It might have been his imagination, but Krayson thought he could feel her excitement through the bond. Her voice grew distant again without Krayson ever catching sight of her.
"From what I can gather," Starra said to him, "the Rampart was against the Tower joining Shan Alee. As for the Parapet and the Bulwark, they were under the impression that their Eldest was still Saveen. Saveen the elder, I should say. It came as a surprise to them that the Rampart was now the Eldest, and he was taking a stance of noninterference to boot. They tried to pretend as if nothing at all had changed, ignored the Rampart entirely, and did as they believed the original Bastion would do. Our Saveen's mother was apparently something of a firebrand."
Krayson tried to cure his headache through force of will. Frustration had begun to boil up from his chest. It didn't appear as if he and Starra were being taken anywhere in particular. They were simply being marched around the camp until someone decided what to do with them.
"I take it that's as rude a snub as a dragon can give to their Eldest. Just ignoring them. Can you believe it, Brother Joshuan?"
If all this made Saveen happy, Krayson could tolerate it, but he was nearing the end of his patience. The Dragon Empress must have been nearby. Had Krayson not made it clear what he carried for her? Where was she? Why hadn't she come to receive the bloodsong, or if she was wary of treachery, at least speak with him? For that matter, he had a dragon bond he wanted taken off of him, and he needed her help to do it.
The end was at last in sight, and Krayson wanted nothing more than for this nightmare of a contract to be over.
"I mean, what kind of monster could just ignore someone like that?"
Krayson felt the last thread of his patience snap. "Stow your thunder, woman."
Starra gave an affronted gasp. "Rude. I should think you'd be in better spirits."
"Is that so?" Krayson growled. He shot a pointed look towards the Emerald Knight. "We went through all that just to be prisoners again."
"Nonsense," Starra scoffed. "Try to look at it from their perspective, Brother Joshuan."
"I have. The only reason we're not in chains is because they don't have any."
Starra sighed and looked to the paladin. "You see what I've been putting up with?"
Their overseer grunted, noncommittal.
"Let me guess," Starra mused while looking the Altieri man over. She tapped a finger to her chin as if pondering the puzzle of his existence. "Ah, you must be dear Rav's husband. Hugin, Lord of Emeralds, and Nooka the Artificer. Is that right?"
The paladin blinked in surprise. "You know Rav?"
"Certainly. Spent the past few hours together. The bonds of fighting side by side and all that. Altieri knights hold that sort of thing sacred, if I'm not mistaken." She walked closer to his side and patted his arm. "It must be hard for both of you to be away from Veronika, but you mustn't worry. I'm certain Lord Trent is keeping her busy with her squire duties."
The Artificer covered his mouth to hold back an amused snort.
Krayson rubbed his forehead tiredly. Were he in Lord Hugin's place, he thought he might take extreme issue with a vampire casually mentioning she knew his daughter's name and what she was doing. It would be hard to see it as anything other than a veiled threat.
Others weren't so prudent. Inside of five minutes, Starra had Hugin and Nooka in the palm of her hand, laughing and carrying on. She even had the armsmen charmed by her wiles. Had Krayson not been standing close enough to feel the absence of spell echoes, he'd have suspected enchantment spells were involved. Thunders, but half the men were blushing when they looked at her.
How's she do that? What does she do that makes people... like her?
It didn't seem right. Starra was as much of a blood mage as Krayson was, and he wagered she had far more blood on her hands than he did. Why hadn't she lost the same things he had? If he were to posit a guess, it would be that her shifter nature somehow protected her imprint. Then again, her shifter nature should have made her a monster to begin with.
Krayson continued to fume over it, keeping his silence. As they went on, he saw more humans and dragons take note of their passing— saw them nod and whisper among themselves. They'd see him, see his red half-robe and red eyes, and try to pretend he wasn't there if they didn't glare with outright hostility. Stranger still were the goblins among them. The fey sniffed the air in Krayson's direction before getting odd looks in their overlarge eyes. Once or twice, Krayson heard them mutter "blood-scented" under their breaths.
It was now more than two hours since his arrival in Temradel, well after dark, and Krayson had grown tired of walking. He was almost ready to make a scene and demand to be taken to the Dragon Empress when one of the goblins ran up to their group.
"Death Fire asks of Red Voice," the fey said to Hugin. "Asks if all is white."
Krayson blinked, uncomprehending.
"Aye, all is well," Hugin replied. "Does the marshal want a talk with our guests?"
The goblin shook his head. "Nay. Death Fire keeps sight on god-sighted slayers. Speaks clouded words." The fey glanced at Starra and Krayson, large eyes curious. "The blood-scented slayers must wait but may walk path to empty green one. Empty green one works to make sea-scented blue whole and cannot have her path clouded. She will speak words to blood-scented when sea-scented blue's path is unblackened."
Even Hugin, apparently used to goblin speech, took a moment to figure out what was said. "Sea-scented? Mistress Reyn is Gaulatian, not Altieri."
"Nay, nay," the goblin laughed. "Red Voice is clouded. Not water-scented. Sea-scented. Is different thing."
Hugin and Krayson were both scratching their heads as the goblin scurried off.
"I adore unseely fey," Starra sighed. "Stark but complex. It's astonishing you all have a peaceful relationship with them."
Hugin hummed thoughtfully. "Would be different if not for Rippling Moon. Without her, I'd wager the kith would be back to sniping at us from the tree line inside a week."
Krayson narrowed his eyes in confusion. "That one seemed friendly enough."
"Something you need to remember about fey," Hugin said. "They're mercurial. Any one of them could go from child-like and friendly one moment to blood-thirsty and violent the next. We got an understanding with this tribe and a couple others, but most wanted nothing more to do with us after Rodrik and Kastus were put down. Any real peace with the goblins is still a long ways off."
"What's an empty green one?" Krayson asked.
"He meant the empress," Nooka said. "Green ones are healers, and empty ones are leaders. I don't think the goblins have ever known anyone who was both before, but they seem to like the idea."
Krayson nodded, though he was a little surprised that the empress was carrying on in her former profession. "Who is she treating?"
"The young woman Kimpo nearly killed," Starra said. "Reyn, was it?"
Krayson furrowed his brow. That name sounded familiar, but he couldn't place why.
"If it's all the same to you, Lord Hugin," Starra said, "we were told we may go to the empress so long as we don't disturb her work. If your Mistress Reyn is a fellow mage slayer, then I feel obliged to offer whatever aid I can."
Hugin looked to Nooka.
"I don't see the harm," the Artificer said. "Our beloved is well protected. The Storyteller and the Ascendent are there, not to mention Princess Jin."
"Jin?" Starra said excitedly and clapped her hands together. "It's been positively ages. I insist you take us to her at once, if you'd be so kind. I'd kill to see what Her Highness is wearing nowadays."
Hugin agreed to the request and led them in a direction away from the river, deeper into the camp. As they walked, Krayson tugged at Saveen's ether through the bond, giving and taking in rapid succession. He heard Saveen's startled yelp from a ways off. Krayson assumed she received the message and would take it as a signal to come looking for him.
He and Starra were brought to a line of surgeon tents. Most weren't in use, with only a few tired men in aprons seeing to their stores of supplies. Another had something of a crowd around it. The rose dragon who had her arm torn off was being seen to by a pair of surgeons and a gray dragon. Her arm was back, but Krayson could tell through his witch sight that it was a construct of polymorphy. Her imprint wouldn't fully integrate into that of the limb until a true replacement grew back. Without a knight to draw healing from, full recovery could take weeks.
The rose lay curled in front of the surgeon's tent as she was tended. She looked despondent, eyes sunken and hollow, and had fallen into a depressed silence. Her Beryl Knight had been inexperienced with magic, and both of them new to their bond. Krayson heard from others in the army that the Executioner's knight told her repeatedly to draw more healing from him. He hadn't been able to gauge his limits or how far his stores had fallen. As a result, she took everything.
They're making mistakes with who they're bonding to dragons, Krayson thought. Some of them are amateur arcanists and others aren't arcanists at all. Now they've learned the hard way why that's dangerous.
Once again, he saw dragon bonds as more of a liability than a benefit. His own with Saveen had proven useful on occasion, but he was more pleased than ever that it would soon be removed.
Further down the line of tent's, Krayson saw Almo the Rampart. His wounds were being looked after by a lanky Altieri surgeon and his apprentices. Almo's wounds were extensive, and he might have been in worse shape than even the Executioner.
They came to a stop outside one of the tents. It was a little larger than the others, and the flaps were pulled closed. Significant spell echoes came from inside, and they were strong enough that Krayson could sort through the essences. Restoration, predominantly flesh and humors.
With a start, Krayson realized whose magic he was sensing. It could be none other than Enfri the Yora, the Dragon Empress herself. Anxious, he felt his heart hasten by five beats per minute.
The tent flap was pushed open as someone stepped outside. Krayson leaned to look in. He caught a brief glimpse of a young woman with golden hair standing over someone lying upon a workbench. Empty potion bottles lay on the floor at her feet. Before Krayson could get a better look at the Dragon Empress' back, the tent flap closed.
The person coming out was a tall and muscular Althandi woman. She looked similar to Maya, if a bit harder featured. Her beast-like eyes made her identity obvious.
Princess Jin nodded in greeting to Hugin, then stopped short as she saw Krayson. Her eyes went cold, and she didn't blink as her calculating gaze traced over him. By reflex, Krayson looked away. It felt like he'd just been weighed and measured. Then, Jin disregarded him as if he were considered beneath her notice.
"By your leave, Highness," Hugin said, "I'll leave our guests to you."
"Very good, Lord Hugin," Jin said. "I will take it from here."
Hugin, Nooka, and the armsmen saluted Jin before marching off. Starra gave them a friendly farewell, one which was returned happily by the Artificer. The exchange caught the princess' attention.
"Lady Starra Nolaas?" Jin asked in surprise.
Starra dipped into a curtsy. "Your Highness. So good to see you again."
Jin walked up to her, smiling, and embraced her. They kissed each other's cheeks before Jin leaned back and looked down at Starra's dress. "What in the Five Kingdoms are you wearing?"
"Not one of my best looks, I admit," Starra said, plucking at her threadbare skirt in distaste. "We've been trying to travel without causing a fuss, you see."
"It is a wonder you survived the ordeal," Jin said dryly. "If you are in need of a wardrobe now that you are here..."
"Between holding spells and travel bags, I'm well seen to," Starra said. "Now, as lovely as this is, I'm sure you must be wondering why I've come in this manner among such company."
Jin blinked. Her eyes flickered towards Krayson then back to Starra. "Winds. You are the vampire Ban sent word of?"
"I'm afraid so," Starra said. She removed her veil to expose her red eyes.
Jin stared at Starra, then at her fangs, and went pale. "Since when? How long ago were you turned?"
Starra gave an exaggerated roll of her eyes. "You don't turn into a vampire, my dear. I've always been."
Jin was nonplussed. "Always?"
"Always," Starra repeated with a sly wink. "Even during the Dothraun's gala last year. You danced beautifully, by the by."
"Winds," Jin whispered. She cleared her throat and stood straighter. "And Maya? What brings her here?"
"I bring her here, in point of fact, and let me say it wasn't easy. There are many things I need to tell you, but there's one task that should be seen to before I'm taken away."
"Which would be?"
Starra turned to look as a small group of men and women with blue skin came walking up the line of tents. The three older dragons were giving Saveen their full attention as she told them about her adventures thus far.
"Ah, there she is," Starra said, beckoning for Saveen. "Come, dear one. Saveen the Bastion, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Her Exalted Highness, Princess Jin Algara."
Saveen gaped at the princess. "Kimpo told me about you. You're the royal assassin that loves the Dragon Empress?"
Jin inclined her head. "With all my heart, it is as you say."
"Is..." Saveen looked towards the tent. "Is she... here?"
"She is. Enfri is eager to meet you, Saveen."
"Flames." Saveen wrung her hands.
"The task I spoke of," Starra explained. "You see, Your Highness, Saveen and Brother Joshuan here were given a dragon bond against their will by Elise of Eastrun. With your permission, I'd like to ask Her Majesty to assist me in removing it."
"We have been made aware. Enfri is just washing up."
Jin looked at Krayson again, and he had no doubt she'd also been informed of who he was. The cold hostility in her eyes was identical to what her father had given him. If nothing else, that killer's gaze of hers was all the proof Krayson needed. She was without question the daughter of King Cathis.
Jin turned back to Starra, the hate in her eyes fading to something approaching warmth. It hadn't been an exaggeration for Starra to say that she and Jin were friendly. There appeared to be genuine affection between them. "I can allow you to speak with her."
"Your friend is out of danger?" Starra asked.
Jin's lips drew into a line. "Yes, but Enfri is uncertain why. What Kimpo did should have killed her. Pacifica appears to know something, but she refuses to reveal what she knows. She says it isn't her secret to tell."
"Oh bother," Starra sighed. "I had my suspicions, and that just confirms it. Forgive me, my dear, but it isn't my place to tell it either. Perhaps you might allow me to speak with Reyn? It would be better for everyone involved if she's the one who tells her story."
Jin let out a slow breath, then nodded in acceptance. "Is she a threat to Enfri?"
Starra hesitated. "No more than she was."
"Winds and storms," Jin muttered ruefully. "First Enfri leering at her, now this."
"You needn't worry about that," Starra said with a laugh. "If Reyn is what I think she is, you can't fault either of them. I'll explain, but for now, Brother Joshuan and Saveen have business with Her Majesty."
Krayson turned away from Jin's stare again. He could feel her eyes like an itch between his shoulder blades. Jin then touched Saveen on the arm and smiled for her. "Come. She will want to meet you."
The other blue dragons gave Saveen words of encouragement and said they could be found with the Rampart once she was finished. Saveen promised to speak more with them later, then followed Jin into the tent.
"Well," Starra said. "Are you ready, Brother Joshuan? We're nearly done."
Krayson nodded and was the last to go inside.
He didn't know what to expect of the empress' tent, but an alchemical laboratory hadn't been on the list. Some of the instruments would have been welcome additions to the collections of an anointed father. Dried herbs and flora samples hung from the tent poles, potions in varying degrees of completion boiled and brewed on one of the two work benches. There was a bookshelf also, and it was filled with leather-bound journals. It took a lot of willpower for Krayson not to pick through them.
Two dragons waited inside, a silver woman in a green silk gown and a well-dressed golden man. They would be the Storyteller that Saveen wouldn't shut up about and the Ascendent who was the Eldest of all the mighty. A young woman with scarlet hair stood on the other side of the workbench and held the patient's hand. The patient herself was awake and...
All seven thunders crash on my head, Krayson thought in shock. He recognized the girl at once and knew why her name had sounded familiar. Their last meeting had been in Gaulatia as Garret toyed with her using domination. Reyn was one of the thieves who stole the Imperial Diamond from Lady Tarlen.
A Courtesan.
Reyn was dressed in a shirt, vest, and leggings. She looked up as Krayson entered, and he could see by her strangled expression that she recognized him in the same moment.
"You," she hissed.
She took the words right out of my mouth, Krayson thought. With a growing sense of morbid amusement, he realized that she knew just as much to condemn him as he knew about her. Reyn was there the night he bestowed a bloodsong on Elise, and Krayson doubted the current crowd would appreciate that fact if it came before everything else.
Krayson let out a breath through his nose, resigned. Fate needed to get his arse kicked one day.
"You know him?" The scarlet-haired woman holding Reyn's hand looked between the two of them with a guarded expression.
Reyn eyed Krayson with a dark glower. She no longer appeared to be the timid victim he'd taken her for in Gaulatia. "No, my lady." Reyn got to her feet, unsteady but able to stand. Her eyes never lost that deadly look. "Apologies, my lord. I mistook you for someone else."
Krayson inclined his head to her. "No offense taken."
Thunders, but she's a sly one. That was as good as saying she won't tell my secret if I don't tell hers.
Reyn made herself appear calm, but Krayson could sense how she watched his every move. He had no doubt that she was already plotting up ways to destroy him. As if nothing were wrong, Reyn turned and bowed to the last person in the tent.
"Your pardon, Majesty."
"All those herbs I gave you, it's no wonder you're fuzzy. I'm sorry, Reyn. I'll give you something better in the morning."
She'd been at a washbasin, scrubbing blood from her hands. When she turned, Krayson's eyes met hers, and he was struck with an undeniable sense that something in the world had changed.
Enfri the Yora was as unlike his expectations as her tent had been. She possessed every hallmark of the Aleesh race he'd come to expect, yet she was far different from Elise. Krayson saw the brightness in her eyes, the warmth of her smile, and the goodness evident in everything about her from the way she carried herself to her choice of words. Most welcome of all, she wasn't taller than he was. Near the same height, perhaps, but not taller.
Short of breath, Krayson touched a hand over his heart and felt something long gone he barely recognized. He thought it to be one of his ghosts, but it couldn't have been. It wasn't a memory of lost humanity. This was alive, and he experienced it anew once more.
Krayson was in awe of her.
For this young woman, the Dragon Empress, he gave every consideration due to royalty. Krayson lowered his hood, dropped to one knee, and bowed his head. He kept his hand over his beating heart. "Your Majesty, I am Brother Joshuan Krayson of the Sanguine Fraternal Order. By the Final Rite, your name has been spoken by Hierarch Ambrose the Merovech. I have come to bestow upon you, his chosen heir, the power that was his. The bloodsong I carry is yours."
It may have been his imagination, but Krayson thought he might have heard an appreciative murmur come out of Starra. He kept his eyes lowered in a respectful manner and awaited the empress' response.
"Thank you for coming, Brother Joshuan," she said in a soft tone, "but I can't accept it."
Krayson opened his eyes. He furrowed his brow and was unsure if he'd heard her correctly. No, he had. He must have misunderstood. Or she'd misspoken. Didn't realize what he was delivering to her. Something wasn't getting through, because it would be impossible that she'd actually decline.
"Are you certain, love?"
"I am, Deebee," the empress said. Her voice was growing weaker. Unsteady.
"Enfri, bloodsongs aren't exactly common," Pacifica said. "The Romov bloodsong was lost three generations ago, so I know better than most how precious they are."
"I know. I... just can't accept it."
Krayson raised his head. He looked at the empress, trying to understand why this was happening. He'd come this far for nothing?
Jin went to Enfri's side, hand on her shoulder, and spoke softly in her ear. "My heart, I believe you are making a mistake."
She shook her head. "No, my light," she whispered almost too quietly to be heard. "They want it. They want it so badly."
Jin hesitated, then nodded. "I understand."
"Your Majesty," Starra said, stepping forward, "I realize you have no reason to listen to me, but... my master didn't name you his heir on a mere whim."
"I won't take it," Enfri said, a measure of strength returning to her voice. "I apologize, Lady Starra, Brother Joshuan, but I won't take the bloodsong." She looked down on Krayson and let out a heavy breath. "You say it's mine to do with as I will? I know exactly what should be done with it. I give it to you."
Krayson stared back at her with wide, terrified eyes. He shook his head, silently begging her not to make such offers. The bloodsong seemed to pulse stronger within his veins than it ever had before. Its allure beckoned him, tempting with the power he desired all his life.
"I am a blood runner. I deliver the bloodsongs. I don't take the power for myself. The Order would... The Order..."
"Enfri," Deebee gasped. "At least give it to..."
"The Order is gone," Enfri interrupted. "We've worried for days what it means for the Five Kingdoms to lose them. With Elise on the move, everyone needs the magocracy strong." She knelt in front of Krayson and looked him in the eye. "I know this isn't what you expected. I'm sorry, but I'm not coming to this decision on a whim either. Rebuild your Order, Joshuan Krayson. Your contract is complete. The bloodsong was with its heir all along."
He looked away from her. Sweat beaded on his brow. One small pull on that power, and the bloodsong would merge with his own. All of it, his. It was his. He'd wanted it and only denied himself because of adherence to the tenets of the Order. An Order that no longer existed, and it never would again unless he was powerful enough to rebuild it.
Given to him. Allowed to him. The bloodsong was his.
It felt wrong.
"There was something else, wasn't there?" Enfri asked, forcing a smile. She looked to Saveen and held out a hand. "A bond neither of you want? I'll help however I can."
Saveen reached forward and took the empress' hand. She gave a short and nervous laugh as she was drawn to kneel beside her.
Enfri closed her eyes in concentration. Her brow knitted together, and she gave small shudder.
Krayson felt something new touch upon his stores of ether, a light presence brushing across the soul shared by him and Saveen. It probed at the tempestuous storm clouds that separated them, and Enfri's touch recoiled.
"Winds, what is that?"
Krayson found his voice. "Our bond."
Enfri hissed softly through her teeth. "It's... hideous."
"Hasn't been all bad," Saveen said, "but Krayson doesn't want a dragon bond to make him stronger. He wants his own strength."
"I see." Enfri nodded to Starra, who then came forward to place Dekaam spikes against both Krayson and Saveen's necks.
Krayson looked to Saveen. "That's not why I want the bond taken away. Not anymore."
"Really?" Saveen asked. "Why then?"
"I don't want to be able to hurt you."
Saveen smiled and took his hand. "You never did. Not on purpose."
"I would have. One way or another, I would have. The blood magic would have seen to that. Either I would forget what you mean to me, or just being bonded would crack your imprint further. I was never meant to be your Sapphire Knight."
Starra's touch upon the Dekaam spikes was far gentler than Elise's. It felt like a pinch on the back of his neck that drove deeper, a sensation that continued inward until it was within his soul. Once there, it became an absence of everything else. That emptiness— a void of magic— it pushed into the storm clouds of the bond and found the interwoven threads that connected what was Krayson to what was Saveen.
Krayson felt a moment of panic, a desperate and irrational need to resist. The lightning meant to punish and enslave a dragon lashed out at the Dekaam's void. Ineffective, the void drove on, and wherever it touched, the essences of his soul were shunted away. It stole the lightning and sent the storm clouds back into nothingness.
Throughout, a light caress of elder magic was there to guide Starra's art. It tugged at Krayson's soul, pulling the endangered parts of him back from where they would otherwise be sliced away. Bit by bit, and thread by thread, Krayson's sense of his Bastion dimmed. He held Saveen's hand while his soul let go.
The void pulled away, and the elder magic receded. Krayson had nearly forgotten what it felt like, being a single soul within a single body. He watched Saveen's face, saw her own moment of realization. Her eyes, as Krayson had hoped, turned back from the red of a blood mage to yellow.
She was free of him.
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Krayson said.
"I didn't do much of anything," Enfri said, rising to her feet. "I only made sure all of you stayed where it needed to. Lady Starra did all the heavy lifting." She bit her lip. "You know, if you'd like, I could place a new bond. I might even be able to keep the blood magic from transferring to Saveen again."
"No," Saveen said, shaking her head. "He's right. Krayson isn't much of a protector like a Sapphire should be."
Krayson snorted. "Thundering dragonet. As if I'd want to be responsible for you."
She drove the wind from Krayson's lungs when she threw herself against him and hugged him tight. "Thank you for everything, master. You brought me home."
Others were leaving. Pacifica and Reyn had spirited themselves out of the tent at some point. Princess Jin told Enfri she was going to see to the other Algaras, then she took her leave as well and asked Starra to accompany her. Deebee and Adar left the tent next, beckoning Saveen to their sides.
"Come along, little one," Deebee said. "Perhaps you could tell me more about my Huntress."
Saveen let go of Krayson and pulled away. "Goodbye."
"Farewell, my friend."
Once she was gone, Krayson was alone in the tent with the Dragon Empress. Enfri busied about, putting away her supplies. Rising to stand, Krayson squared his feet and faced her direct.
"Your Majesty."
She paused in her work, glancing at him over her shoulder. "Is there something more?"
The sense of awe he had for her only moments ago was swiftly giving way to disdain. "Something more? We haven't finished. Thunders, woman, take the bloodsong."
Enfri blinked at the way he dropped the civility in addition to the formality. "Your accent changed just now," she observed.
"Don't change the subject. My contract isn't over, no matter what you say. It won't be over until you take what I carry."
"You don't understand..."
"No, you don't understand," Krayson shouted. "For the last month, I've been jailed, beaten, hunted, and betrayed. They used me to unleash your tyrant of an aunt on the Five Kingdoms. I watched as she slaughtered the masters of my Order. I was sentenced to die by the Highest King for having the name I was born with, and the one chance he gave me for clemency led me to carry this bloodsong across the Continent to a sky woman who doesn't even want it!"
Enfri set a bundle of herbs aside and gave him an inscrutable look. "There was a lot there I feel I should comment on," she muttered wryly. "The last part is the most important. I don't want it. That's all that needs to be said."
"Your Majesty..."
"I don't suppose you'd know what it's like, having ghosts screaming at you all the time, but when they tell me to do something, I take it as a strong argument towards doing the opposite."
"Ghosts?" Krayson averted his eyes from her. "I know something of ghosts."
"Mine are literal."
"As are mine."
Enfri crossed her arms and sighed. "Maybe I've gotten too used to it."
"To what?" Krayson growled.
"To being an empress. I take it this isn't one of those things I can just say will be and make it be."
"Not if I have anything to do with it."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Winds and storms, you really don't know how to talk to a lady, do you?"
"I've been told repeatedly over the past week that's a failing of mine."
"Luckily for you," she said, going to a shelf over the workbench to pick through some herbs, "I haven't been a lady so long that I can't forget how to be one. Behind you on top of the bookshelf, fetch the tray?"
Krayson looked up to where she indicated. He felt a flush coming. "I can't reach that."
"Oh. Step stool by the washbasin."
Krayson fought down the reddening in his cheeks as he retrieved the tray she asked for. Once he was down from the step stool, Krayson stared at the tray and its contents in disbelief for a long moment. "A tea set?"
"Mhmm." Enfri was sniffing a bundle of cured leaves. "I hope you like bergamot. It's Jin's favorite, and I've acquired a taste for it as well."
"I don't want tea."
She came over and plucked the kettle from the tray. "Don't be ridiculous. Obviously, this is something we need to talk out, and it's not going to happen while my throat's dry. I've been on my feet for the last three hours, my arm is killing me, and I've had a very long day. So, I'm sitting down and having some tea. You can either join me and have a calm conversation about what's bothering you, or you can leave. Which will it be?"
When she put it like that, it almost sounded reasonable.
Krayson sighed and selected a cup from the tray. "Bergamot tea is fine."