A Ballad of the Sun and the Moon

Chapter 21

Sköll and a small number of females emerged from the woods visibly bedraggled a half hour after sun up. They were naked, in their human forms, and had dried mud caked up past their knees.

It had been four weeks since Sköll had made the Change - the first male to survive in over sixteen years. The atmosphere of the little Northern village had gone from wild to sexually frenetic.

In the evenings, a handful of women would leave an hour before dusk, sprinting off into the woods as human. They were always different and always ran in separate directions. As darkness fell and the moon rose to the sky, Sköll would emerge from the Matriarch's house, transform into beast, and chase after the scattered females.

It was a hunt, but not one that ended in a bloodied corpse to be consumed. When Sköll found his prey, a mock fight would ensue and end in howling pleasure.

The dragon pair witnessed this every night, sailing through clouds unseen by even such keen beasts below. Out of politeness, they tried to keep well out of range of the "hunting grounds", but Sköll was fast and often caught and covered one woman before Niva and Kimber were far enough away.

Helke explained that the entire practice was based on the cycles of the women. The scent of a female in estrus could send a male into a frenzy, causing him to attack anything he perceived as standing in his way. Kimber held a certain sympathy for that, understanding that consuming desire for his mate.

So, for the safety of the clan, the fertile women drew Sköll away.

And the previous night had been no different.

The sun was just peaking over the mountains streaking the tree tops in violent topaz. Kimber pulled Niva closer, pressing her naked body - still covered in his own sexual scent – firmly against himself as an exhausted Sköll drew near. He felt his mate smile into his chest, likely amused at his territorialism. He couldn't help it. The beasts seemed drawn to both of them and - despite the difference in species - instinct compelled Kimber to be possessive as if they were surrounded by hundreds of hungry male dragons.

Sköll perked up as he passed, lifting his nose to the breeze. He caught Kimber's warning eyes and continued warily on to the Matriarch's longhouse where she was waiting just outside for him.

We truly are the Kings and Queens of Beasts, thought Kimber proudly, his glare still fixed.

"There is food on the table," Helke told Sköll as he passed her.

He gave her a brushing kiss and stumbled inside.

They were considered married now, though Kimber didn't understand that significance seeing as Sköll was pairing with no less than five different women a night. Helke explained that it was her duty to him as Alpha female to keep him fed and healthy so he could in turn perform his duty.

Kimber and Niva walked by her, also tired from their night and welcoming a bed.

"Your presence here has been uncomfortable and strangely welcome," said Helke, causing the both to pause for conversation. She attributed the dragons' presence as the cause of their good fortune. "Like something has changed in the natural order of things for the better."

"How does Sköll seem to feel about all this?" asked Niva.

"It will slow down, once more women become with child," said Helke stroking her belly.

Kimber noted that she either didn't know what Sköll felt or didn't care. She, and perhaps even all the women, saw the young man as a means to an end. Kimber looked down at his own mate – so lovely and happy and free as she was now – whom he'd once tried to bind to the laws of their own people. A certain guilt from his past surged through his heart causing it to twinge.

"And then?" asked Kimber.

"Then he may lay with whoever pleases him."

At least there is that. Kimber's pulled his brows towards each other into a drawn bow. The culture and customs of these creatures - people - were so complex as to leave him cross-eyed. Everything about them seemed strange, though considering his own kind as well as the thrilling new abilities he and Niva were discovering, it left him with little interest to ponder it further.

Instead, their nightly flights and experiments drew his thoughts to the shire and everything he had left behind.

Might his father have guessed at what his intention was? His certainly would have known, but would she have told anyone? Had the council realized by now that he wasn't hunting Niva and had instead been accomplice in her escape? Was the tribe hunting both of them at this very moment?

And what might be the fate of the rest of his family? Had Rhys and Zoe finally married? And Joan paired with her love? Were his niece and nephew walking yet?

He buried the thoughts deep and tried to convince himself that it wasn't pain they caused, just residual memories not yet resolved. Certainly they would pass with time.

They bade Helke a lovely morning and continued on to the privacy of the little shack they'd been given for the time being. Kimber woke after only a few hours of unpleasant sleep. Whatever the mattress had been filled with – straw? – had somehow of its own volition formed a lump under his right shoulder. He shifted a bit trying to find a flatter patch. His focus was drawn away from that discomfort to a new one. The linens reeked of raw mildew and scratched at his skin. He didn't consider himself too dainty to sleep on a rustic bed or even a hard ground, but thoughts of his old feathered mattress with clean silk sheets certainly came to mind.

He closed his eyes again searching for sleep. Maybe if he could but relax he could find a soothing song of precious stones in the Earth. The silence floundered past all his senses reaching a drained core. What he wouldn't give for a single vein of silver or the smallest diamond buried beneath him. Niva didn't care for jewels, so they'd taken nothing with them. But Kimber missed being surrounded by that constant music.

He reached out to Niva finding her exposed thigh, skin smooth and supple under his fingers. Touching her comforted him: his very own rare diamond with her very own lovely song. She shifted her legs giving him better access to her sex, encouraging him to go further. He trailed to the inside moving up to that sacred vee where his and her ecstasy would be found. The scent of his past machinations still lingered there. His mate. His territory. Kim grinned as his thumb found her hardened nub. He forgot about the bed and the sheets and the dilapidated cottage, bunches of old thatching hanging down from the rafters. All he needed was her.

While her toes curled the rest of her remained loose and slack. Perhaps she wasn't interested after all, thought Kimber. His hand left her mound and traveled up to find her face where he found droopy lids and glossy eyes.

"My love?"

She opened her mouth to speak then closed it again, licking her lips. Her gaze shifted to the only window in the hut.

Kimber followed her line of sight to the afternoon sun spilling sudden streams of bright, pumpkin-orange into the room.

"It's nothing. I'm tired is all." She gave him a slow tender kiss and pulled his hand back down between her thighs. "Please do continue."

He stroked her slow and with a measured cadence, determined to remain a tender lover rather than become the ravenous beast he was on their nightly trysts.

He turned on his side and propped his head upon his shoulder to watch as she received his pleasure. She was so lovely draped on the bed with her silver hair - now grown long - bunched near the headboard and caught under his supporting arm. Her head fought to whip from side to side in bliss. Kimber's instinct was to hold her there, keep her pinned, make her accept what the black dragon was offering.

Instead he sat up, reveling in a much more glorious view than before and took the opportunity to add his now free hand to the fray. Her nipples where as hard and puckered as the backs of conches. Her waist, curved and muscled, tapered out to full, enticing hips. She spread her legs further into a glorious arch begging Kimber further.

Niva's eyes rained shining violet as they shot open accompanied by an intractable mew.

He thought to let her rest, let this experience be for her and her alone. He laid down on his side next to her and caressed her bare belly with loving fingers hoping to tempt her into sleep.

But when she'd finished recovering from her orgasm she slid a leg over Kimber's hips and beckoned him to her with a relentless calf.

God she was insatiable. And Kimber couldn't get enough of her. He buried his member deep inside her then buried his face into the softness of her nape.

"Oh Niva, you're so lovely," he gasped, sliding in and out of her. He rolled her on her back with him atop cradling her head. "My greatest treasure," he whispered into her hair. She didn't speak, but gave him breathy approval of his words.

He made love to her slow, taking his time and when she arched her back towards him, crushing her breasts against his chest, holding her breath deep where it had once dashed against Kimber's cheek, he surged into her, releasing himself deep inside. He'd never let go of this feeling of completion, of being utterly consumed.

The last thing he remembered was the sunshine from the window shifting over both of them covering them in a blanket of magic warmth.

Kimber awoke in the late afternoon to Niva sitting at the edge of the bed, knees tucked to her chest and eyes at the same window unfocused, looking past rays of the day's light.

He sat up and crawled to her, then smoothed her hair away from her neck leaving a tender kiss in its wake.

She took his hand giving it an affectionate squeeze but did not look at him. Kimber swallowed, afraid of what she was thinking, of what scent on the wind might be calling her away. He'd not mention it though. She'd tell him when she was ready.

That night an impromptu celebration was held announcing that Helke - along with a number of other women - were pregnant. They were met with cheers and toasts of honied mead, genuinely happy faces for the mothers and daughters to be.

Kimber wondered of his own mate, whether she had considered the reality of their passionate nights. And he wanted it to happen. Even though he had always been expected to propagate his species as well as continue his family's legacy, he wanted children for more than that. He wanted to give an extension of himself to something precious; a being he would unconditionally love more than anything.

He envied those women tonight. He envied that they were surrounded by their kind and celebrated, planted in a community where they were happy and could care for their young - as rustic as this place was.

Kimber recalled the dragon children he had known. They were just as small and helpless as humans, needing immense care and a secure environment, bound to their mothers' breast for a time and, a time even longer, clinging to her skirts.

The darkness finally swelled over the little village and he was jolted by surprise when Niva asked him to walk with her instead of flying. She didn't speak for a long while, clutching his hand, sometimes bringing it to her face and rubbing her cheek across it.

"Where will we go now?" Kimber finally asked, unable to wait for her to begin.

Niva blinked at him. She parted her lips to speak then stopped.

"Niva, you know I'll follow you to the ends of the Earth and back."

"The Earth is round, you know that." An attempt at humor, smothered by whatever deep thought she was afraid to tell him.

"Niva, what is it?"

She let out a deep breath. "I can't stop thinking about the shire." She licked her lips carefully before she continued. "Gods it's horrible of me!" she blurted, covering her eyes with protective hands.

When she lowered them, Kimber drew his brows together, inquiring.

"It doesn't feel right out here," continued Niva, shaking her head. "Not like it used to. This freedom no longer tastes as splendid as it once did. It just doesn't seem as paramount anymore." Her face twisted up as if in disgust. "I thought that when I left that place I would become whole again. But there is still this feeling of being incomplete. I know I've no right to ask this. I took you from your home. Made you a fugitive-"

Niva's shoulders slumped forward. Kimber took one each in his hand giving them a rub. He dropped a kiss to her forehead. "It was my choice to leave. You don't really think you could have escaped without my help?"

Niva gave him something resembling a smile. "As much as I'd love to think I could do it all on my own...I suppose not."

Her head slumped down, her glances moving around anyplace but Kimber's. He tucked a finger under her chin and lifted, meeting her eyes to moist eyes.

"Niva, I've been thinking of Darkfrith as well," Kimber admitted.

She wiped away a tear, eyes rounding becoming hopeful. Kimber continued after a sigh.

"I vowed to follow you wherever you went. But being here, witnessing all that we did, I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought of," he paused before slipping 'our home' and finished instead with "that place. Quite a bit even." He took a deep breath and now he found himself unable to meet her gaze.

The crickets were out in throngs that night, fiddling their legs into a musical frenzy. Kimber tore a leaf off a nearby sapling and shredded it into multiple pieces, not sure how to vocalize his muddled thoughts on the matter.

"My sisters are there," he began.

"Joan and Audrey," Niva supplemented, picking up on his train of thought.

"My parents as well."

"And Zoe too," she added, perking up.

"My brother Rhys."

Niva's eyes lit up even more, then darkened, drawn away by some unpleasant thought. "And men like Theodore Henry."

"Yes. Men like Theodore Henry," he replied. It came as no surprise that returning would hardly be simple, something Niva had likely considered. Kimber was no fool. Even if he victoriously returned with a seemingly obedient wife, the council would insist she remain under constant supervision. Perhaps even bound and held in the depths under Chasen. Kimber had certainly heard stories. 'Wed, bred and bound' seemed like an unspoken motto regarding dragon women of power.

"Theodore Henry died," added Kimber as the seed of a plot began to sprout in his mind.

Niva nodded her head, a hint of satisfaction in her eyes.

Kimber sighed. "There is something that's been bugging me since I found you lying in the snow. I brushed it aside when we left, but if we think to even entertain returning then I have to ask: what happened that day when Theodore Henry attempted to claim you?"

She told him detail what had happened, the memory still vivid.

A smile pulled over Kimber's gritting teeth as she relayed the part of maiming him with her tail. Once he pieced together what he had feared, his pursed his lips into a sour arch.

"Henry was no lone agent," he revealed. "There were...are still co-conspirators. Traitors to my father, to me."

"I fathomed as much. How many, then? And who are they?" she demanded.

"I couldn't be certain."

Niva released an exasperated hiss.

"But you can be certain that whoever they are will wish to contain you should we return."

"You know I won't survive a life in prison."

He pulled her close pressing his lips to her hair. She smelled of the sun. The terrible, glorious uncontainable sun.

The thought of having her, his wife in his home, in his bed, among their people filled him with an urgent joy. It's what he had dreamed of ever since he knew she was for him. He was so close to having everything, but he would not betray her again. Kimber forced himself to part from her warmth making a space between them and looked down into her eyes.

"Niva, even if we rid the tribe of the traitors, our kind is hardened in tradition. I cannot guarantee that this fight will be over with heads of a few dragons. My mother tried and my father did the best he could to support her. But they stood alone and all they accomplished was a smidgen something nicer for my sisters."

Cautiously he asked, "Knowing that, do you still wish to return?"

"I'm not sure I can even stay away, even if I wanted to," she said with a frown, as if she had no choice on the matter. Then something in her face illuminated. "Kimber, I admire your mother so much, but you must know that she fought those men alone. She had nothing and yet, even still, she created something very beautiful."

"And what was that?"

"Little sparks everywhere. And I'll make sure they evolve into flames. When we return we will not be alone." Niva's eyes brightened in the dark, determined and dangerous as fiery meteors.

Kimber marveled in her glow, his lady, his Alpha. It was an undeniable truth now that he would follow her to the heavens and back if it was what she wished.

"Then we destroy the gates," he said, looking down at her, his eyes resolute. "We break down the walls. We cast every chain into a forge until they are nothing but molten metal."

Niva looked up at him wide-eyed. "Back we go then?"

"Back we go."

****

Well outside the borders of Darkfrith they made love.

It began tender and sensual and ended with Niva's legs fiercely clasped around Kimber's waist, unrelenting. Even when her shudders had long since subsided, even with Kimber's seed well spent, she didn't let go, afraid of losing such a moment forever.

"What if they imprison you? What if one challenges you for me and you don't survive?" she asked, with an apparent quiver in her voice.

"Don't be preposterous," he replied as haughty as he had always been when she'd known him in the shire. It must have been the promise of returning to everything he knew, coming from her domain which he had found so utterly foreign. "It can only be a small number of men. I doubt the entire council had conspired against me. And those that did are unlikely to challenge me together. It's not our way when it comes to mates. How would a group split a single woman? One by one they'll be nothing. And even if they were to form together against me, they are still nothing with my father and Rhys at my side."

Niva was dissatisfied with his confident assessment of the situation. She wanted to trust that he knew their tribe and people better than she did and his logic did seem sound, but something about it all felt peculiar, as if the call of Darkfrith had changed to something sinister.

"Why couldn't I simply fly to Claude Grady's home and burn it down with him inside?" she asked with a humorous sniffle.

They knew he had been the orchestrator of Niva's attempted rape, but weren't sure which council members stood behind him.

"We've talked about this. As tempting as his murder sounds, we must pull the weed out by the roots. We must know who else supports him. We can only do that with a trap."

Niva grasped him tightly by the hair and pulled his forehead to hers. "I don't want to part from you."

"Niva, it's only a day or two. Stay here. Rest. I'll fetch you when it's over. When I can ensure the loyalty of our subjects we can change that place. Together. We can make it a better home for our kind."

His words did little to change the unsettled feeling in her stomach, but she resigned herself to his judgment.

"I love you, Kimber. If you don't come back to me, well you know how fierce I can hold a grudge."

"And it's one of the many reasons I love you too."

He gave her a final kiss then Turned to smoke drifting up as a plume into the night.

Niva wiped a few tears from her face as she watched him leave. Her arms were empty and her legs bare. It wasn't until he was out of sight that she felt the chill of the crisp autumn air. Niva sat up and pulled Kimber's coat out of the valise to cover herself.

She barely noticed the hardness of the lichen covered rock on which she sat or the way the moon rippled silver over her skin. The only feeling that seemed real was a new immense loneliness. She held herself tightly trying to keep the fear from overwhelming her as she waited for sun up in two days time.

****

Kim looped an adequate berth around the borders coming up from the south in case anyone thought to go searching for Niva. She knew to remain human using the moon's light to dull her tempestuous pull, but that didn't always shield her from the keen senses of a dragon. He wasn't about to take any chances.

As he approached the shire he shed his cloak of darkness so the patrolling guard could sense his presence. It didn't take long for two drakes to come up on his flank, keeping a respectable distance. He recognized them both; Oliver Closset with a brass colored back laced with azure, and Nathaniel Dickens, a dragon of amber and olive streaks. That they continued to following him though was a bit strange, but not all together disconcerting.

The two dropped off as they glided over the village, descending as diaphanous streamers of smoke to the ground.

Kimber now understood their behavior. It wouldn't be long before the council would show up at Chasen. Good. He could get it over with this very night and retrieve Sunniva before dawn.

He became man on the lawn giving the council a few extra minutes to button their double breasted coats and get their wigs on straight. Council meetings after all were formal affairs.

He was met by a servant whose name he didn't recall. "Lord Chasen wishes to see you in his study," informed the man.

"Very well."

He was brought one of his robes as he entered the manor. Kimber felt a stronger presence in his home, a medley of dragons fluttering about the manor's vast expanse. Guards were always present around the Alpha's home, but this many at this hour seemed a bit peculiar. Perhaps something had occurred in his absence and his father had increased the guard. Though what might threaten a throng of dragons Kimber didn't consider.

Claude Grady stood behind Kim's father's desk stiff as a board as he entered.

"Welcome home, Sir," he said, swallowing afterwards.

"Grady," acknowledged Kim. "I'm due to meet with my father."

"Yes. He has been informed of your return. I think it best if we meet in the council chamber."

Grady quicklu wiped a stream of sweat from his forehead with a sleeve. The summer heat had long since left the shire and there was no fire in the study creating warmth. The man must have been nervous to see Kimber.

"Very well. After you," said Kimber gesturing towards the thick oak door.

He deliberately put Grady in front, not one to leave his flank exposed. Two guards fell in behind them as they walked to the council chambers and Kim could hear Grady's heart slow to a calm and composed thrum.

The council chamber was just as he'd last seen it: closed off and stuffy without a single window nor shutter open. The chairs were neatly tucked under the tables and the Alpha's seat stood sequestered off to the side, all of them empty.

In the time Kimber had gone from the front lawn to the study, four men of the council had made it to the chamber. They were waiting bunched in a corner near the table of brandy and fine scotch, though none had a drink in hand.

Another batch was approaching from the east wing, in human form. Something wasn't right. Their collective aura was off. Unfamiliar. Devon Rickman and Marcus Danks were there, but also a few others who were neither guard nor councilmen.

Where is Rhys? And Joan's husband Eric? Where is my father?

Three more guards had joined the entourage escorting Kimber in. It wouldn't have been completely out of ordinary as the Alpha and his family often kept guards close by. But council meetings where strictly secret affairs, so when they didn't leave the chambers Kimber knew none of this was mere coincidence.

There was no escape in here. The room betrayed not a single crack in the doors once closed nor a chink in the windows large enough to pass through.

More men filtered into the room and the chamber doors were shut.

"Where is the Alpha?" Kimber asked.

The men all looked at Grady who'd since physically distanced himself from Kimber.

"I think the more pressing question is: where is the William's women?" asked Grady, filled with a new confidence surrounded by his thugs.

Kimber pressed his lips together, then lifted his chin defiantly and said, "I released her."

"You mean you caught her and let her go?"

"Yes."

"And did you mate her?"

"No," he lied. Perhaps he could still salvage some of their plan.

A fountain of murmurs sprang from the council members old and new. They desisted with the raised hand of Grady.

So, the tribe has a new Alpha.

"I suspected as much. Do you still lay claim to her?"

"I do."

Grady nodded his head as if expecting the answer.

"You won't find her," added Kimber. "I've kept her well hidden. If any of you plan to challenge me for her, then we will do it as tradition dictates."

Grady scoured him from head to toe. "That won't do at all. If you die then how will we find her?"

First astonished by his arrogance, Kimber felt the bile rise as he realized Grady and the others had no intention of challenging him the way their kind had done for generations.

"No need to answer," said Grady. "It was a rhetorical question. We have no desire for your death. You still serve a purpose. Sunniva Williams eluded the best hunters in the world the first time because you aided her. We shall make sure that does not happen again."

Kimber cast out his senses like a net searching for his family. A welt of fear began to swell in his heart when he could feel none of them.

"Where is my father?" he asked as steady as could be.

"Safe."

"You can't expect me to take your word it."

"I most certainly will expect it. If you cooperate, he and your mother will remain safe. Kimber Langford, the order of things has taken a change for the better."

"I fail to see how."

"Of course you wouldn't. Allow me to enlighten you. Your father has achieved greatness for our kind in his youth. Sadly, in his old age he has begun to slip. You seem to be continuing on the worse part of his legacy. Your purpose, Kimber Langford, the most important part of your role is to protect the tribe and send strength into our kind as a sire. You've failed on both accounts. You've failed as a prospective Alpha. It was by overwhelming decision that new leadership, a new Alpha line, should be put in place.

"However, with your exceedingly unusual talents, you're too valuable to be wasted. A new mate will be chosen for you. And you will fulfill at least one duty to your people. As it is, I'm tired so we will commence with an interrogation tomorrow when all the councilmen can be here and in a state of better rest."

Grady waved his hand and the guards approached him with a rope and a hood. They hesitated, Kimber was pleased to see, still retaining a fear of what Kimber might or could do. He could Turn and kill a few. Even as human he might break the approaching man's neck like a cane over his knee. It would be no win though. Either they'd kill him or harm his family, neither of which he could allow. As the darkness of the hood took his sight away, he hoped by some miracle Niva would escape the clutches of these men.

****

Niva hadn't slept by the time morning came and not for lack of trying. Perhaps it was the absence of her mate that made her so jittery. A time ago she wouldn't have believed such a bond could be so powerful. What had her father's words been? 'You'll crave your mate something dreadful and each day it will eat away until it has devoured you whole.' She was feeling the truth of it and it hadn't even been a day.

She tried to bury her face in the scent of Kimber's coat and when that didn't work she fingered the dwindling scars where he had once sunk his teeth into her throat from the night she had allowed him to claim her and they became one.

She was supposed to stay there and wait for her mate's return. Kim would announce to the council that he'd released her, yet would still maintain a claim to her as a mate. Some of the drakes were likely to challenge him giving Kimber the perfect political facade of killing a select few in defense of his own long standing claim to the Alpha female. It also served to reinstate his own position as leader of the tribe. In reality he was eliminating a threat to his kind, the traitors that held themselves in a higher standing as their Alpha.

But something felt wrong. Akin to the Earth whispering secrets to her heart with promises of delight and mirth, it now spoke of something that left a dooming roil in her blood.

Niva did not consider herself a fool. She wouldn't go straight to Chasen. It would be thickly guarded and she'd likely learn very little at such a distance. That left the outskirts of the village or, if safe enough, the village itself.

It took her a quarter of an hour to reach the edges of the shire. There were still the obligatory few patrols flying at clouds' height over Darkfrith in the predictable patterns she knew far too well. The particular dragons had been chosen for the day due to their dull colors; burnt orange and baby blue and granite gray. She didn't need to see them though to know they were there. She could feel the day with fiercely honed clarity, displaced by their distinct drákon energies. Each one was like the heat of a campfire on a cold night, the smoke stinging her senses and the heat tickling her skin. Niva skirted by them silently with ease blending in seamlessly with the infinity of heaven, unsurprised they had no notion of her presence.

The little cottage where she had spent so many months still remained in the small clearing, just as destroyed as when she'd last been there. Niva landed next to the half-structure still standing and began a generall sniffing of the rubble. Her father hadn't been here in ages. She Turned to human and picked through the debris for any bit of information that she could find. The heavy wooden chest remained as ever, positioned near the hearth, buried by one of the main beams. Niva carefully lifted it and placed it quietly to the side. The chest had but a scratch on it - good Northern English oak. She opened the lid and found her father's violin. Carefully, she took it out and plucked a few strings, producing a few sour notes, terribly off key. Beneath the violin was Niva's mother's exquisite pearl. Her father hadn't even been back to claim his most prized possessions. Where had he gone?

Then the more terrifying question arose: what did they do with him?

Niva placed the instrument back in the chest and stood, wiping a few bits of dirt and crumbled rock from her knees. She gave the sky a quick glance, then Turned, and launched herself high into the day.

When she flew over the village, she had to circle a few times not entirely certain of where the right house was from this vantage point.

A few drakes wove their paths below her, rhythmic and predictable, jumping from cloud to cloud. She ignored them, certain they couldn't sense her. Her "current prey" was much more important, but it would be meaningless if she couldn't find the right house.

The tops of the buildings were all so similar, slate roofs of muddled grey looking like shards of steal in a mill. They differed only in height and size it seemed, apart from the tea house with its large terraced garden out front. She picked that out, imagining herself on the ground walking to shops. She lowered her altitude enough to see the sidings and walls: some stacked stone, some exposed wood with stone wedged in between.

Ah, there it was, dark red lumber, cream colored stucco and...an exceedingly pitched roof.

Niva Turned so that she landed with two feet on the ridgepole, then dropped to a crouch for better balance. The front side of the house had a small sort of balcony jutting out from the third floor, but it also looked out onto a rather busy street. The drákon below might not be able to sense her in the broad light of the sun, but should they chance a look upward - as dragons were want to do - they would see a completely naked woman sneaking into the home of the local seemstress. A shame, she thought, that she couldn't be invisible as human as well like a certain friend. But if she could, she wouldn't be seeking help from that friend in the first place.

She carefully inched towards the face of the house backed up to the alley. Peaking over the edge of the roof she took a survey of the windows and whether any were open.

Not a one.

Niva cast out her senses. Zoe was there all right. And so was someone else, another woman, both of them on the ground floor.

What she would have given to be able to Turn to smoke right now and seep through some crack or chink in the window. Fire was anything but stealthy. The best she could manage was the loud explosion of overheated glass; at worst the Lane seemstressy winding up aflame. Very subtle indeed.

She crawled over the ledge and dangled from the ridge. With a craned head she judged as best she could the distance to the attic window sill a convenient straight drop down. It was certainly doable. A pair of stone blocks jutted out a few centimeters, just enough to catch and Niva hoped the mason who built this place had done solid work. She dropped and latched herself to the smooth stone with strong fingers and then tried the window. Whether it was latched on the inside or had never been opened wasn't clear, but it did not budge.

Niva swung and dropped to the next window which was about a meter to the left and down. It too wouldn't open, the shut latch visible through the clean glass panes.

The location of the next row of windows was irrelevant as they were on the ground floor. Niva landed spryly on the cobblestones and looked into the room to the dressing chamber of the shop.

Zoe stood with grimly crossed arms and a severe face. Whoever was there stood shielded by the coramandel folding screen. Niva would have liked to listen for a moment before announcing her presence, but the back of the house was not so untraversed that she could afford to linger.

With light knuckles she rapped on the window pane.

Zoe's eyes went wide at the sight of her. She rushed over, threw open the latch and heaved the window up.

Niva spilled in as fast as she could and Zoe closed the window behind her, rushing immediately forward to embrace Niva.

"I knew you'd come back," Zoe said.

"What do you-"

Before Niva could finish Lydia stepped out from behind the screen with fabric of white silk draped over her torso partially forming an unfinished bodice. Her face was wet with tears and her eyes as red as her naturally crimson lips and hair.

"What is going on?" Niva asked Zoe, with eyes dangerously focused on Lydia.

"After you left, a bunch of council members along with some supporters staged a pogrom. They ambushed the Alpha and executed his most open supporters. They locked Christoph Langford away. Claimed he was a danger to us all. That he would get us exposed and had to be stopped. Then they locked up his family as well. Oh Niva it's all so horrible!"

Niva knew which member of that family hit Zoe the hardest. She took a step back trying to process the information, trying to think of what questions to begin with.

Lydia, uninvited and breaking Niva's internal emotional choke, piped in. "My brother said he couldn't kill them. That all the Langford's have their value."

"Is my father with them?" asked Niva.

"Yes. The council persuaded him not to kill him for leverage over you. He didn't want to. 'Traitors to the tribe must be eradicated.'"

Niva felt hotter than flame. She took a long stride to reach Lydia, ready to snap her neck, ready to take revenge on somebody, anybody.

"Niva!" snapped Zoe. "Listen to her!"

Niva clenched her fists willing herself not to move. "What do you know?" she snarled.

Lydia pulled herself away apprehensively from the wall, the only bit of retreat she had from the Terrible Sun.

She fears me. Good. She has reason to fear me.

"Claude doesn't tell me everything," began Lydia, timidly. "But I hear enough. He's keeping Lord and Lady Langford hostage to ensure their childrens' cooperation. Joan is held captive on contingency. If Kimber were to return with you as his mate he was willing to accept that and take Joan instead. But if Kimber returned without you he would have staked his claim and given Joan to one of his lieutenants."

So the roots of betrayal are deeper than Kimber had imagined.

"And you get to marry Kimber," Niva growled, eyeing what clearly was the making of a wedding frock.

"No," said Zoe. "She is promised to John Chapman."

Niva made a confused face. John Chapman was old and widowed, hardly an appropriate match for the likes of young, beautiful Lydia Grady.

"Kimber will be paired with Gheillis," explained Lydia. "And Rhys with Evelyn Henry. Claude said it was unwise to too tightly tangle our line with the Langford's. Said we needed to diversify. Sir Chapman would likely live long enough to get me with a child or two so I could inherit his estate and then I could marry again." The disgust on her face was clear, but Niva still felt the need to give her a bit of overdue clarity.

"Dear Lydia, you liked the idea of Kimber. You like the idea of a powerful position without having done anything for it apart from terrorizing those you saw as weak." She gave Zoe a quick glance, then continued. "You liked the possibility of your children belonging to a great and long legacy. You enjoyed the system in place when it benefited you and now it doesn't. Do you understand?"

Lydia gave her a shy nod and Niva kept her unrelenting eyes fixed.

"I'm going to change that system today. So now, do I have to leave you here unconscious or can I trust you to help us?"

Lydia didn't reply at first, giving it a moment of thought. "I want to help."

"You do understand this will likely result in your brother's death."

Lydia lifted her chin as if having found a spot of courage. "It is our kind's way when the position of Alpha is so aggressively challenged. The strongest will lead. If his death comes to pass, then so be it."

She gave a low bow to Niva, exposing her neck as much as the ridiculous wedding frock would allow.

Niva gave her a slow nod of acceptance.

Lydia swallowed deeply before continuing. "An interrogation of Kimber Langford is set to take place at noon in the council chambers at Chasen, Alpha."

"Thank you," replied Niva, sincerely. "And as your Alpha I demand you take that stupid dress off!"

Lydia gave her an approving grin and ripped the frock at the seams, leaving it in a bunch at her feet.

Zoe grimaced for a moment, all her hard work lying in a heap on the floor. "What do you plan to do?" she asked turning to Niva.

"I mean to go to war. Zoe, have you ever ridden on the back of a dragon?"

"No," Zoe said, looking at her with a tightly drawn in brow.

"Well, you're soon to find out. First lesson, hang on tight!"