A Ballad of the Sun and the Moon

Chapter 10

Two days later the marquess and marchioness returned. An emergency session was called by a majority of the council members.

Christoph Langford sat at the Alpha's chair sequestered from the rest and looked with eyes of jade out upon each regally dressed dragon. His gaze last landed on his son Kimber whose eyes had turned to piercing daggers as a particular gentleman spoke.

"How could you just allow her to live out there?" berated Claude Grady. "May I remind you that her sire has run thrice in his lifetime. The last of which resulted in a nine year career of thieving in London until he was returned. He nearly exposed us!"

Claude Grady was just like his father, arrogant and brash. One of the seven on the council that had – as was custom – Inherited the position from his father. He'd apparently also inherited his father's knack for being exceedingly obnoxious.

"I've positioned men to watch her," offered Kimber, thoroughly unamused. A part of him did wish she was returned to Chasen, but he had left her there and reneging would make him appear weak. Besides, he felt a rousing rush at defying the council for the first time in his life.

"She must be returned here to the manor where she can be properly supervised."

"Correct me if I am wrong, but are you suggesting you now believe that she can Turn?" Kimber asked behind a veil of civilized composure. "If that's the case then the motion from the last session regarding the postponement of my marriage should be withdrawn." His words were polite, yet there were coiled hints in his voice of danger.

"No one doubts your conviction and sincerity that she can Turn", he said dismissively, then turned to Christoph. "But it is the Alpha's responsibility to take a female that the tribe perceives as Alpha as well."

Christoph Langford leaned forward, his face grave, the light glinting his eyes viper green. "Do not lecture me about the responsibilities of an Alpha," he warned, his voice insidiously low.

The Parishes had been trying to weasel their way into the Alpha family as long as Lord Langford could remember. Parish Grady, Claude's father, had once coveted Christoph's wife. Claude had attempted to court both his older daughters and now hoped his sister, Lydia, might catch Kimber's eye. She was certainly comely and was effectively the most dominant single female of the tribe that wasn't related to his son. Despite her appeal, Christoph knew, like himself years ago, that his son was waiting for a dragon.

Claude straightened a stack of papers, an excuse to avoid the Alpha's glower.

"Unless there is a legitimate flight risk, the girl will be permitted to stay with her own blood," insisted Lord Langford.

Kimber's father was always careful with his words. Should the men on the council confess that Sunniva might have a chance at escape, it would be an admission to the belief that she could Turn and they would be forced to support the marriage. If they let the girl remain, they had to accept that the Alpha and his son had allowed a subject to go against the will of the council.

"But my Lord, you cannot allow this to stand. Kimber Langford made this decision as acting Alpha and we, the council, demand that-"

Christoph's words whipped through the room.

"If you wish to challenge my son, then challenge him. As the issue pertains to his mate there is no doubt in my mind he will regard your demand with less patience than I have."

Kimber's glare was locked on Grady with a primed power a mere spark away from exploding. Grady sank into his seat. "She is not his mate," he mumbled, quietly enough to show submission, but loud enough so all could hear. "Not without proof." He looked down at his thighs terrified of meeting Kimber's eyes, as were the other eleven men.

"I motion that we proceed with the hearing of Sunniva Williams and subsequent interrogation of Tamlane Williams," prompted Rhys.

"Seconded," came a arbitrary voice from the back.

"Then let us proceed," said Christoph.

Sunniva was brought in and placed before the council in a single, small chair set against the thirteen. She sat down, not like a lady, but like a bored king, legs cocked out and a single elbow supporting her chin. She wore a man's attire and her hair was a snarled mess.

It was the first time Christoph was seeing the girl. When word had come that his eldest son would take the rogue dragon as his mate, he was eager to meet her. Kimber had assured him of her power and might and ability to Turn, yet the woman who came before him was less than ordinary. He wondered what madness had possessed his son.

"Young lady, hearings are formal affairs," instructed John Chapman. "Perhaps no one informed you of the proper etiquette and attire."

"Oh I was informed," she retorted. "In fact a dress was delivered, but this suit is just too lovely to part with. It has such a wonderful smell." She lifted the collar and rubbed it affectionately against her cheek giving Rhys a wink. "I simply couldn't bare to change."

Christoph saw his eldest son shift uncomfortably in his seat, clearly displeased and effected by the purposeful slight. His younger son looked uncomfortable as well.

Sunniva's attire, though, didn't interest him in the slightest. He was looking for something else, hints of the beast Kimber was so convinced she contained.

"For our records your name is Sunniva Williams. Daughter of Tamlane Williams?" he began.

"If you'd like," she replied.

"Is that not your name?"

"Have you not been informed? The surname Williams is new to me," she replied haughtily. "May as well start jotting it down somewhere."

The scribe continued once he'd received a nod from Lord Langford, scribbling out the name in blue ink.

"Are you aware of who I am?"

"I have been told. Lord Christoph Marquess of Langford and Alpha of the Drákon."

Christoph inclined his head in affirmation.

"And do you understand why you've been brought here before us?"

"I couldn't say. I've done nothing wrong."

"Miss Williams, our well-being is based off the fact that we keep our existence hidden as we have for centuries. We must be sure that is still the case. You've lived twenty-five years-"

"Twenty-six years," she interrupted.

The men seemed shocked she would interrupt the Alpha. Christoph only cocked his head curiously.

"Twenty-six years you have lived on the outside and we must ascertain the chances that Others know about us."

"I can assure you Lord Alpha, no one knows what I am."

Only Kimber caught her hidden meaning.

"Can you Turn?"

She rounded her eyes to perfect innocence.

"Turn, my Lord?"

"To dragon."

"Ah. Forgive me, I am not familiar with your terminology. No. I cannot Turn. When your son kidnapped me in the woods I wasn't even sure what he was talking about. Drákon? I was positively terrified and kept to my room the first night I was here. But because my father had revealed himself, I came to accept what I am. Even so, the first time I saw a dragon...well, I'll never forget it. "

Kimber scoffed at the lie, drawing her eyes towards him for a moment as she delivered her contrived monologue. His father as well as the men of the council, however, exhibited not even an ounce of skepticism.

"Did you know there was something different about yourself?"

"Yes."

"Such as?"

"I can smell fairly well, hear a bit more decently than most. Am fairly strong, fast, et cetera, et cetera."

"Could you give us a concrete example?"

"I once crushed a large man's larynx with a single hand for touching me without permission. A large bloke, with wide shoulders, black eyes, dark hair. A downright scoundrel."

She looked at Kimber now, a subtle warning in her eyes.

"Thank you Miss Williams we get the point."

They didn't.

"Is this how you robbed so many?"

"I suppose it helped."

"How precisely did you take so many jewels then?"

"I am...well, I was," she corrected, "an opportunistic thief. I never planned anything. I stole when it was convenient."

"Why?"

"To eat."

"Did the songs of the stones not call to you?"

"I can hear them if that's what you mean. But I don't have a need to litter myself with gems."

There were a few murmurs from the council who all wore jeweled rings and encrusted cuffs.

"Can you tell us about your mother?"

"No," Sunniva said firmly.

"Why not?" asked Christoph ever calm.

"Because my human mother is none of your business," she said looking at the council.

"Miss Williams, it is important."

Sunniva gave Christoph a polite smile, but still said nothing.

"You do not seem to understand the position you are in," snarled Grady.

She leaned forward, elbows to her knees and raised her eyebrows extending him an invitation to clarify.

The council didn't seem to know what position they were in either.

Christoph mirthed at the challenge, a lone female, brazen, sitting right and rebellious afore a thunder of dragons. Perhaps his son hadn't been entirely mistaken.

"You will grant us the courtesy of an answer!" demanded Grady.

Sunniva squeezed her lips tightly in refusal.

Abashed, the men looked from face to face until Grady snapped.

"Force her," he said in a gaunt, stiff voice. "Force her to speak Lord Langford, or we will."

Christoph leaned back in his chair offering an invitation of his own, turning his hands passively upward encouraging the man to take action. It was a calculated move with two outcomes, both desirable to the Alpha.

Grady shot to his feet and Kimber was there in two strides. He grabbed him by the neck with a single hand hurling him to the floor, a resounding thud permeating the splendid council chamber.

"You will not touch my mate," he demanded in a cutting voice, gripping the man's throat dangerously tight.

Some men sprung up in the excitement, knocking their chairs backwards, holding themselves steady with coiled fists against the wood of their tables. A few eyes gleamed preternatural, intent on the display of dominance.

Sunniva snickered and when Kimber turned to look she was tracing the grain of wood on her armchair, disinterested, as if nothing had occurred. She resumed looking at the men only once they had all retaken their seats and silence reigned.

"It must be frustrating dealing with someone who doesn't respect you," Sunniva said after a bout of silence. "But for the sake of not having to suffer your presence longer than necessary-"

Kimber had the sickening feeling she was actually addressing him.

"-you'll be happy to hear my human mother died many years ago. And never did I once hear her suggest that she knew what my father was nor where he came from."

"Thank you, Miss Williams," said Christoph cordially, "I have just a few more questions."

****

Tamlane Williams sat outside the council chamber, his fingers locked and stomach churning waiting to be summoned. He tried to hear what was being said, but couldn't. He never really was all that Gifted.

He feared the council would take her away from him. He'd just gotten her and he was sure they would. She'd defied them and the Alpha's heir - a deed that never went unpunished in Darkfrith.

It was why all those years ago he had never come for her and her mother. He wanted to spare his child everything he had endured; being considered an oddity and never fitting in a society that you can't leave. He wanted his child to be free of the prison of the shire. And so twenty-seven years ago, when he became aware that the Alpha and his mate were hunting him in London he let them take him lest they discover his precious secret.

The soft ruffle of skirts and clicking of a woman's heels caught his ear accompanied by the faint scent of lilies.

Speak of the devil, he thought, and she shall appear.

Clarissa Rue Langford was the impeccable embodiment of a female Alpha. She'd been the first woman to make the Turn in four generations: a dragon of pearl-white with golden tips. The tribe marveled every night when she took to the heavens. She'd given their kind five children, including a powerful heir for Christoph and two daughters that could Turn.

She strode towards him stopping an arm's length away.

Every time Tamlane saw Rue she looked positively regal. She'd foregone a wig today, allowing her deep chestnut hair to trickle down her shoulder in a thick plait. He thought maybe it was a point of pride, sporting a unique color in a tribe that mostly ran blonde and red. She was shorter than most of the women, a deceptive quality making her all the more dangerous. Only once did another woman foolishly challenge her who, despite Rue's size, was put in her place the way dragon's ritually did.

"May I sit?" Rue asked, hands folded prim and proper over her windowpane-check skirt.

Tamlane looked away demonstrative, but she sat down anyways.

"Kit is doing everything he can to make sure she stays with you, despite the councils' displeasure," she informed him. Her voice was kind and laced with sympathy.

Tamlane shot her a look of incredulity wondering if she expected gratitude. He wouldn't give it to her. He hated her more than she could understand, though perhaps it was now clear as to why.

He used to feel a peculiar kinship to her. They'd never known each other growing up – he a poor farmer's son and she the halfling daughter of a widow – but after her successful escape from the shire she had inspired him. Faking your own death, it was quite clever. For authenticity and to ensure they'd never look for him – as males can Turn – he cut off his own hand as evidence of his demise. It wasn't his intention to follow her, but they both coincidentally wound up in London. They had – or so he thought – an unspoken truce. They stayed out of each other's territory, robbing the gentry of London without stepping on each other's toes. He'd never even seen her, but always suspected that it was that little halfling girl from the shire that prowled the city, having escaped her fate and become free.

It was the night of the Marlbroke's Masquerade that he saw her for the first time. He'd been hired to play in the string quartet, a pastime he dearly loved. The night was perfect and all of London's finest were present, their jewels humming and singing to his own music. He'd worn a simple black mask and a gray coat, never one to stand out. At first he had thought it was circumstance that she came, hoping to steal some heirloom necklace. She always did go for the finest. She had approached him after a set. He asked her why she was following him and it was that moment when he noticed the Alpha, hunting eyes locked on him, crazed and bloodthirsty. He had grabbed her in panic and when Christoph Langford approached, he Turned to smoke escaping.

"Well, isn't that kind of him," replied Tamlane. "I'm sure he is going through the trouble because of a sudden bout of altruism."

His words were like bile. Rue swallowed deeply searching for a reply.

"Why didn't you tell me? All those years ago, you could have trusted me. I would have made sure-"

"Trust you?" He let out a cruel chuckle. "You accused me of stealing Herte, hunted me with the Alpha, and brought me back here all in exchange for your freedom. And in the end you took him as a mate and returned to the tribe anyways."

His expression was cold and cutting now.

"You got a title, a position, while I remained an outcast. Everyone marvels when you Turn and take to the sky, while my wings are battered and broken. You got to watch your children grow, while I always wondered what my child even looked like. Yours enjoyed the privilege of being the offspring of two Alphas, while mine was forced to scrape a life out of the gutter. But at least she had a life of true freedom, something you and I always wanted and never rightly had. And yet your family has managed to take that away from her and myself as well."

His potent words pierced her like a viper, striking again and again until the venom permeated her blood.

"Do you know what it's like to feel truly powerless?"

"Yes, I do know what it's like," she replied, with genuine pain in her words.

It was an answer that he wasn't expecting, but he scoffed anyways.

"I was once hunted, captured and brought back here to Darkfrith. I was given less than a night to accept that I would be married to Kit. It was coincidental that the Heart of the Tribe had also been stolen."

Rue didn't need to explain what that implied. It had been luck those many years ago that the council believed she had stolen Herte. And with that luck she was able to return to London, giving her time to hunt Tamlane and the diamond and fall in love with her mate. Ultimately, she had returned with Christoph of her own free will.

"If that's true, then you know what my daughter is facing."

She looked at him confused.

"You don't even know," confirmed Tamlane. He let out a singular, mocking laugh. "Your son has decided that my daughter can Turn and therefore, whether she agrees or not, his mate."

Her disgust was clear, her face changing from anger to sorrow.

"I tried, we tried so hard to change the tribe," she whispered.

Tamlane wasn't feeling feeling very compassionate, sitting there waiting to find out if Rue's husband and son would take his daughter away. He wanted to hurt her, say something that caused her even a fraction of the pain that he had felt since that fateful night at the masquerade.

"Well it wasn't enough. You don't even have your own house in order," he said smoothing the legs of his trousers. He sat up straight in his chair and turned his head to her.

"Do you remember that last night at Colin's Amphitheatre? You and the Alpha came to hunt me. I knew you were after me and you knew I knew. A smart man would have fled the city when I encountered you at Marlbroke's masquerade. But I stayed. I laid a trap, in a sense, because I knew if the Alpha didn't find me, he and the council would have scourged London and stumbled upon my little secret. I accepted my death that night and your husband didn't grant it, returning me to this prison. Another attempt at escape would have roused questions, the answers I meant to keep buried. I've had to live with that my entire life yet I have no regrets. I wonder, Clarissa Rue Hawthorne, what will you regret?

Rue heard the footsteps first. Tamlane cocked his head and rose quickly full of fear as the door to the council chamber opened. His daughter emerged, waltzing out proudly in the second son's clothes which he had warned her not to wear. They were permitted a short embrace before Tamlane was lead in before the ruling men of the drákon.

****

That night two families convened.

The first began with a song, a gentle melody of love and laughter. The strife of the musician was noticeable as unpracticed fingers struggled across the neck of a viola.

The second began with a hard slap across the face.

"I cannot believe you," snapped Rue.

Kimber remained still despite the stinging in his jaw.

"What would you have had me do mother?"

Rue pursed her lips and shook her head unsure of what to say. She looked at her husband who sat hushed in his chair, waistcoat unbuttoned and cravat loose over his shoulders.

"I only did what was required of me," said Kimber with an air of certainty.

She growled at this. "What was required of you," she repeated like an insult. "It's the same excuse those bastards have used for ages."

"By the laws of our people I was well within my rights," defended Kimber.

Her eyes grew big in astonishment.

"Rue-flower," spoke Christoph, "you know as well as I do that if the girl can Turn she belongs with our son."

Her mouth dropped at this. "I cannot believe you, Kit! That you of all people would support this!"

She threw her hands up in the air before storming out of the room.

Kimber went to his father's desk and inched the cloissone inkwell a bit to the right centering it above the goosefeather quills laid out parallel to each other. He was gathering the courage to speak, to demand certain answers from his father.

"Why did you side with the council? Why didn't you insist she be married to me?" he asked accusingly.

Christoph leaned forward in his chair and laced his fingers together.

"Wouldn't that be convenient?" he asked as the lines of his mouth pulled straight. "The girl clearly doesn't want you, so you would put blame on the Alpha having forced her into your hand."

His fingers unlocked as they touched tips forming a taught upside-down V.

"Some day you'll be this old bastard; the Alpha that makes hard decisions for our well-being. So you may as well get comfortable taking responsibility for yourself. If she is your mate then take her!" he taunted. "It's your right. You wouldn't be the first drake to have done it. Who would even dare stop you?"

Kimber couldn't tell if it was a test or a challenge.

"The council," he replied, resigning himself to a safe answer.

"The council," Christoph scoffed, "as if they could."

"Keeping the peace is vital-"

"Oh bullocks!" he barked. "You're smart Kim and you have a strong sense of obligation, but if anyone rose against us they would garner no support and could be dealt with swiftly and you know that."

The candlelight of the room cast Kit's eyes into feral jade.

"What's holding you back? She's yours. Go to her. Take her. Rouse her from her bed and make her join you in yours. Or if you prefer demand she allow you into hers. Either way you must show her that she is to bend over whenever you-"

"I don't want her like that," snapped Kim. "I want her to want me."

Christoph nodded in approval.

"If I forced myself upon her she would never forgive me. She would never submit." Kimber let out a defeated sigh. "I don't know if she'll ever forgive me for what I've already done."

Pleased with his son's admission, Christoph's brief smile transformed into a frown at what he too needed to admit.

"I understand you are...infatuated with the Williams girl. She is certainly unlike any of the women of the shire. She's brazen and bold and sat in front of us today as if we were school children to be lectured."

Christoph tightened his lips considering his next words.

"The tactical part of me claims my ruling was a compromise; standing behind your decision to let the girl stay with her father and simultaneously supporting the council's demand for evidence of her Turn."

He looked his son in the eyes thinking he owe him at least that much.

"The truth is, I don't believe she can. I think you stand with your nose to a lone tree and because you can smell bark you believe it to be the forest."

Kit watched his son process his words and the disappointment that overtook his face.

"You're wrong," stated Kim as a fact, wondering how to explain what he knew to his father. "She can disappear without a trace, as if able to contain a terrible power, keeping it hidden. But sometimes it peaks out the likes of which I've never experienced. When we've been close, intimate, I could feel that veil drop but then she would pull away and it was gone. She had you all fooled showing up in my brother's clothes, bedraggled, sitting there telling you lies. But she is drákon with Gifts the likes we have never seen."

"And what Gifts might those be?"

"I don't know."

"Then it's your responsibility to coax the truth from her," replied Christoph. He stood from his chair, the oiled oak and grain leather creaking like a departing fanfare.

"Where are you going?" asked Kimber, wishing for council on repairing things with Sunniva.

Christoph gave him a look of sympathy. "To smooth things over with your mother."

****

Tamlane lifted the bow from the strings and hung it at his side. He'd fumbled the spiccato during the refrain and the B sharp in the third measure had fallen a bit flat.

"What do you think?" he asked, believing in that moment that her answer was the only one that mattered.

"It was lovely," Sunniva said, her hands clasped at her left cheek, eyes bright and wide, cheeks flushed in awe.

"It's been some time since I've played. I wrote that piece for your mother."

Niva drew her lips together at her mother's mention. She motioned with her head to his wooden hand. "Does it trouble you?"

"No," he answered holding it up. "I had it made so I could still hold a bow. It reminds me every day that I gave up something trivial to gain something else truly special."

Tamlane looked at her feeling whole for the first time in twenty-seven years. She reminded him so much of her mother. The looks were trivial, but her heart was the same.

"We'll figure out a way to free you," he said.

"I know Papa," she replied, the word still feeling strange to say. "I know," she repeated looking once more at his wooden hand.