It took a good, long while before we were alone again. I would have preferred to go right back to the inn to reassure Mak, and to get myself some healing beyond a potion. But Herald, the lord exchequer, and I needed to talk, and taking Soandel with us was not an option. It would raise too many questions on a night already full of them.

  We put Onur under the care of Soandel’s personal physician, who’d been fetched from his home nearby. Then we retired to a disused outside storeroom. It wasn’t the finest place for a meeting, but it was big enough for me to be comfortable. That was the most important thing to Herald, and thus to both myself and Soandel, so the storeroom it was.

  To say that I was still in quite a bit of discomfort would be a gross understatement, but there was nothing more we could do about it. Nothing I was willing to, at least. Herald had wanted Soandel’s physician to heal me; he was a magical healer, just like Mak and Kira. I’d nixed that. I resisted any healing, and hopefully any magic, that didn’t come from one of my own. Healing me would probably exhaust the man, and I wanted him entirely focused on Onur.

  I wasn’t getting any worse, and that was good enough for me. My wound had closed, and I’d drank a decent bit of potion, too. All I had to deal with was pain and stiffness. I’d grit my teeth and be fine.

  Mercies, but I wanted my hoard, though. A good, long sleep on my gold was just what I needed.

  One bright point was that we learned that dragons did not, in fact, get drunk. At least not on a single healing potion. My reaction after Tark stabbed me must have been a combination of some kind of anxiety attack and me coming down from the adrenaline. It still didn’t taste very good, though, and any lingering thoughts about trying the local booze vanished as soon as we made that discovery.

  “You’re sure that this is entirely private?” I asked Soandel as we sat in the lantern-lit space.

  Soandel looked at me sourly, but at a look from Herald he answered, “Entirely. My guards don’t like it, but I’ve ordered them to keep their distance from the building.”

  “Good, but let’s keep our voices down just in case. Lord Exchequer, do you understand your situation?”

  “Answer her!” Herald snapped when Soandel failed to do so fast enough for her liking. “Starting now and from now on, you are to answer Lady Draka’s questions promptly, honestly, and completely! Now, do you understand your position?”

  “I do, and I don’t,” he said, answering Herald without hesitation. “I am compelled to obey you, young Lady Drakonum. I want to obey you. I find you magnificent, and that feels right. But I also know that this is sudden. I can remember a time only hours ago when I was only aware of you as Lady Drakonum’s sister, and an associate of Lady Draka. I don’t know what changed, or why. So, young Lady Drakonum, I know that I am your servant, and that this is how it should be. But I don’t know how, or why.”

  I stared at him, floundering a bit before I said, “That certainly was complete.”

  The lord exchequer did not respond.

  “Right,” I said to his silence. “Well, what I’d like to know is why the hell you’ve been trying to hurt me and my family.”

  “Sowing dissent, denying Karakan an asset during wartime, and ultimately personal gain,” he answered, though it took a lot out of him. “I wished to distance you from the Council, and hopefully cause you to lash out and tarnish your reputation with the people in the process. I’ve been… incentivized to do so.”

  I could hear the strain in his throat as he admitted that. He may have wanted to serve Herald, but getting those words out had been hard — the kind of thing he would have taken to his grave given the choice.

  Herald latched on immediately. “Incentivized by whom?”

  “Tekeretek, my lady,” he answered, much more smoothly now that Herald was the one asking.

  “Mercies, man! Why?” I asked.

  When he looked at me, I could have sworn that he was annoyed that I’d dragged his attention away from Herald. His tone when he answered was almost lecturing. “Karakan, and all of Mallin, must join the empire, Lady Draka. This conflict has been years in the making, and your appearance has complicated things. Even worse when you began taking an active role. I did my best to drive a wedge between Sempralia and yourself by convincing her to use your acquaintances to test you — I thought for sure that having Katil plant that tracking medallion in the message they carried and then sending the Spurs after them would do it. But you turned out to be more forgiving than I expected, so I had to take more direct measures.”

  That little bastard. That absolute rat weasel bastard. Behind him I could see Herald fighting a mix of rage at the way he’d endangered Maglan, Lalia, and Garal, and the same protectiveness that I felt toward my humans. She wanted to hurt him, she really did, but she couldn’t. He was lucky that he belonged to Herald, or I’d’ve done it for her. She was all that stood between him and a long flight out to sea with no return ticket.

  “But why betray Karakan?” I asked, fighting down my murderous impulses. “For money?”

  “No!” he exclaimed earnestly. “I betrayed this city to save it! Every year the trade imbalance favors Tavvanar more! Every time there is a conflict, the League responds more slowly, and the ships and troops are more concentrated around Tavvanarian interests! Even now, where are our allies? It’s been weeks! I’ve done nothing to slow down their response. Their failure to appear is all on the League! No, they’ll let Happar and Tekeretek weaken us beyond the point of recovery before they intervene. Then it is only a matter of time before Tavvanar makes itself hegemon of the League, with Karakan and the other cities as little more than vassals. Far better, then, to be a province of the empire, with clear rights and responsibilities!”

  “With you as governor, yeah?”

  Soandel nodded, neither proud nor ashamed but merely acknowledging that I was right. “Just so. Though the Council would remain, expanded into a provincial senate.”

  “Soandel,” Herald said sharply. “I am a magic user. So are my brother and sister, and one of my good friends, the healer you tried to have kidnapped. We would all be enslaved. Karakan must never fall under Tekereteki rule, and you will do all you can to prevent that from happening. Is that understood?”

  The lord exchequer didn’t even pause before replying, “Of course, you are right, my lady. I apologize for my confusion.”

  I hadn’t blinked an eye at his immediate reversal, but Herald looked a little taken aback and not sure how to respond. I had to remind myself that she didn’t have a cult yet, or a flock as Mother called them. She hadn’t experienced what it was like to have people treat your every word as truth. Soandel was her first. And as long as you looked past what he’d done to us and the city, he wasn’t a bad first follower. I preferred my friends and sisters, but I had been looking forward to adding a fabulously rich and politically powerful man to the mix.

  Ah, well. Herald could have him. What was hers was ultimately mine anyway, as Instinct so helpfully reminded me. And there was always the lord hierophant.

  “Well, ah… good,” Herald finally responded. “Will you not get in trouble with whoever your contacts are when you suddenly start working for the good of Karakan again?”

  Soandel shrugged. “Possibly, but it’s unlikely. I’ve taken great pains to ensure that they have nothing to truly incriminate me. I developed a new hand specifically for our letters and other messages, and never spoke directly with anyone. The one who spoke with their agents and with the Cranes most often was Katil — who is now dead, and unable to defend himself. If anyone brings any charges I should be able to pin them quite convincingly on him, though I’d truly prefer not to. He was a good man, and loyal. A remorseless killer, yes, but generous and kind. But I could. I could even make a good case for not having revealed his ‘treachery’ to spare his family, who are completely innocent.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  That got Conscience stirring. She’d been silent about killing the man so far, and no wonder: he’d been about to murder Onur, and he’d stuck a sword in me. “Just doing his job” was never a good excuse, but, well… he had just been doing what his lord commanded. Hearing that he might have been a decent guy under the blood didn’t sit well with my kinder half.

  Mercies, he’d even offered to let me leave. I don’t know how serious he’d been about the whole “no quarrel” thing, but he hadn’t been afraid when he said it. He might have been serious.

  It was too bad that my shadows hadn’t taken on him, but there was nothing I could do about that now. “Let’s try to keep tonight’s events secret for as long as possible,” I said. “No need to sully the man’s memory if we don’t have to.”

  Soandel looked to Herald, who nodded in confirmation. “I appreciate that, Lady Draka,” he said, inclining his head to me just a fraction.

  “I don’t give a damn. This is for the sake of the man’s family. Herald, are we done here?”

  “I suppose we are,” she said. “Lord Exchequer Soandel. You are not to reveal the truth of what happened here tonight to anyone without my or Lady Draka’s explicit approval, is that clear?”

  “Of course, my lady.”

  “The same goes for any of our secrets you may know or learn. What we may have done, what we may do, and what we are capable of. That means myself, Lady Draka, my House, and anyone associated with us.”

  “As you say.”

  “You’re to do all that you can to preserve Karakan’s independence and prosperity. I want a complete and detailed list of every action and every scheme you have been part of, past or ongoing, designed to harm this city or my House or associates. And it goes without saying that we will be putting a stop to the ones we cannot use against Happar and Tekeretek. Otherwise you are to keep your treason secret. I need you alive, free, and on the Council.”

  “Most generous, my lady. If I may make a suggestion?”

  Herald looked at him curiously. “Go ahead.”

  “News of tonight will get out, though the truth will not. Lady Draka’s presence here and the death of Katil are simply too sensational to keep quiet. However, our cover — my meeting with Lady Draka and Mister Onur, and her saving my life — give us an excellent excuse for me to regularly invite the both of you to my estate, along with the rest of your family. This would allow us to discuss important events privately.”

  “Nah, yeah! That’s not a bad idea!” I said. I may not have liked the man, but right was right.

  “Set it in motion,” Herald said. “The first time could be the day after tomorrow, perhaps?”

  “As you say, Young Lady Drakonum. My wife will be thrilled — she loves to entertain. It would also give me ample cause to become a vocal supporter of you, Lady Draka, in the Council, and should buy you considerable goodwill, especially with the lady Admiral and the three who already support you.”

  “Right. Yeah. If that’s all settled, I’m gonna go now,” I said. Then I pushed myself to my feet, and even though I barely put any weight at all on my injured limb it hurt enough for me to clamp my jaw shut on a groan. “You coming, Herald?”

  “Of course,” she said, rising from the bench she’d been sitting on.

  “Then, with your permission I will return to my wife,” Soandel said. “She’ll be worried sick by now.”

  “You do that,” I said. “And get Onur home safe, yeah?”

  “And secretly,” Herald added.

  “I’ll discuss a story with him to tell Lord Parvion,” Soandel said, walking us out. “And I’ll have him escorted to the Parvion estate in the morning.”

  “And think of some kind of tangible expression of your gratitude,” Herald added. Her voice was flat and distracted, and she looked a little unfocused, just following me as we went. “One which is noticeable but will not raise too many eyebrows.”

  “Of course.”

  It was a sheer drop from the edge of the garden to the sea, giving me a rare opportunity to just launch myself into the air. To my immense irritation, even flying hurt. The contractions of my massive flight muscles jostled my injured shoulder, causing a small stab of pain with every beat of my wings. It was manageable, and not nearly as bad as walking on it, but it was still annoying. I didn’t even have the distraction of talking to Herald; she hung on in a pensive silence, and I got the feeling that questions weren’t particularly welcome.

  I felt a desperate need to go to my hoard. I’d been healed, but I was still seriously hurt in a way that affected my ability to move and fight. The temptation was so strong that I almost turned in the air and just went; Herald probably wouldn’t even have objected. But Mak and the others would worry, and they deserved to know what had happened. I focused on that, and on the thought of the soothing warmth that Mak could push into my wound to silence the pain, and I flew us home.

  Landing sucked.

  Mak was up and waiting to let us in, because of course she was. Telling her to sleep properly could only go so far when I was making emotional fireworks go off in her head. Herald hadn’t even slid off my back before Mak came running out.

  “You’re hurt!” she exclaimed. She was frantic, going straight to my injured shoulder. It would have been easy enough to guess what was wrong with me, given that my leg just buckled under me from the pain when I landed, but Mak, it turned out, didn’t need to guess. She kept talking as the magic built within her. “I felt you get hurt! Not the pain, but I knew, the instant it happened, that’d you been stabbed! Mercies, it was all I could do not to run after you. Hold still, Draka. I said, hold still! Be whole!”

  The warmth of her spell washed into me and through me. It took the pain with it as it vanished, and while the limb was still weak and I knew that I would have to be careful, it was such a bloody relief!

  Her work done, Mak relaxed against me, breathing heavily. “Thank you,” I whispered, wrapping my neck around her. “It’s been a bad few hours.”

  “What happened?” she asked. “What I’ve felt from you tonight has been such a mess. Fear, anger, triumph, betrayal, satisfaction, sometimes several at once. And Herald… Gods, I’m sorry. I didn’t even realize that she was gone until it was too late.”

  “I think you should ask Herald,” I said, looking after the girl in question who’d slipped off my back and into the cellar as Mak took care of me. She was sitting on a bench under the light of the ceiling lantern, her elbows on her knees and her chin on her hand, either in deep thought or thoroughly spaced out.

  “Right, yeah,” Mak said, struggling to her feet. We must have made a funny pair as we made our way inside — her walking like she just ran the City to Surf, me limping along behind her, trying to keep my weight off my injured shoulder.

  “Hey, how’re you doing, girl?” Mak asked, sitting down heavily next to our sister. I laid down in front of them, and Herald absentmindedly offered a hand to scratch around my busted horn. I immediately took advantage.

  “I…” Herald started then trailed off. “Sorry, I was trying to find a better way to express myself. Some more sensitive way of saying it. More considerate to the two of you. But I cannot. Mak, I think I enslaved a man tonight. I do not see what else I can call it.”

  “I usually go with ‘dominate’ or ‘subjugate’ when I’m not feeling so great about it,” I said gently.

  “Sure. Yeah. Those both work.”

  “Who?” Mak asked gently.

  “Soandel.”

  Mak took a shocked breath. “Herald, are you talking about the lord exchequer? Are you saying that you broke him, the way Draka was planning to? The way she’s done to Zabra or Tammy or…”

  “Yeah,” Herald said as Mak trailed off. “I held him down and wrapped him in shadow. I filled him with my magic, every scrap that I had stored from the Nest Hearts, and I felt something inside him break. His will? His independence, maybe? And it was necessary. He was our enemy. He had tried to have us abducted or killed on more than one occasion, and he would doubtless have tried again. Mercies, the man is even a traitor to the city! I could have slit his throat, and I would not feel an ounce of guilt. But this… I know that this is what we had planned, and that having him under our control will open so many doors for us, but I feel awful!” She looked at me, desperate for some kind of direction. “Draka, how do you stand it?”

  I shuffled forward a little, so that I could rest my head on her lap. We couldn’t look at each other this way, but that was for the best. “Sometimes I don’t care,” I said. “And sometimes, if I let it, the guilt could eat me alive. All I can tell you is to think of Soandel as a Zabra. A dangerous enemy who’s hurt a lot of people, not just us, and who’s too dangerous to be left alive without a leash.”

  “A leash?” she asked. Her thumbs ran firm circles around my horns, and I had to suppress a groan of satisfaction. How the damn things could get so sore just by existing, I had no idea.

  “Yeah. That’s what you have now, Herald. A pet monster on the most powerful leash imaginable. Use them both responsibly.”

  “I will try,” she said. “I promise that I will try.”

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