I looked back to Umari, who stood with a slackened jaw and arms dropped to her sides, then to Inok, who smirked and didn’t seem at all surprised. Though he’d cautioned me against it, he’d never faltered in his loyalty. Asha continued to make noises in my ear as I threaded my fingers between her fur, petting her over and over again. She then moved around me and nudged me into the center of the cetani.
The gathered fae rose to their feet, several warning me against going any farther into the giant nest.
Inok’s hard voice rose above the crowd. “Your Grace,” he shouted. “You mustn’t.”
“Silence,” Umari yelled. “King Tolero, please go on. She wouldn’t allow you in if she didn’t want to show you something. We have not yet had the honor, and if we can figure out what is wrong, perhaps we can save them.”
The choice was made.
I moved closer, keeping my eyes on Asha. She would lash out the minute I went too far. I concentrated, stepping one careful foot in front of the other, until I stood at the outside ring of the nest. She rubbed her nose into my back and moaned once more, and I knew she was giving me permission to continue. The other cetani were not, however. Several growled and hissed, and I nearly turned away, until Asha moved in front of me, spread her wings as far as she could in the cavern, and roared so loud, my sensitive fae ears rang in protest.
The rest of the beasts cowered at her dominance, and I was allowed into the circle. Some of them moaned and shifted back, some of them only watched me as I lifted a hand to touch one of the more sickly-looking animals. His smaller size indicated he was male, and as he moved to hiss at me, I could see his heart was not in it.
“Guide me, Umari. What would you have me look for?”
“Can you see what they guard? In the middle?”
“They are tightly woven, I’m not sure that I can.”
“We may never have another chance. You must try, my king.”
My king. She had not addressed me as such in many, many years. An indication of the severity of the situation. Her cetani was buried somewhere within the others, and she was clearly worried. As I moved and they shifted, some being pushed back by Asha, it became hard to tell where one began and the other ended. After what must have been hours of careful maneuvering, the scent grew more wretched. I finally saw it, nestled deep within the middle of the cetani. “It is an egg, Umari. They guard an egg.”
The gasps from the draconian fae resonated through the entire room.
“Out. You must get out right now.”
I turned my back to the egg and looked at Asha. She spread her wings and would not let me pass.
“I’m afraid that’s not going to be an option,” I called.
“Is there anything else that she is trying to show you?”
I spun back to look. I took a few more steps forward, and my heart plunged into my stomach. I turned back to Asha and raised my hand to her once more. She lowered her head to mine, and I imagined the sound she made was her form of crying out to me. “You must let me leave, Asha. I promise I will come back. We will figure out what is happening.” I spoke softly to her, hoping she would understand.
She moved to the side and let me climb my way back out of the ailing cetani. Once I reached the edge, I paused.
“You must eat, Asha. If not for me, then for her. For our Efi.” I left her behind, and though Umari tried to stop me for answers, I had to leave the cave entirely.
“Stay here,” Umari ordered the draconians.
I let the sandstorm beat against me as I walked all the way back to the sizable hut she met me in, and took my seat. I placed my head in my hands and tried to compose myself. I knew I’d have to say the words. I knew what this would do to them, what it would have done to my mate.
As part of our bargain, the draconian fae were challenged with taming the cetani so that they may become weapons should the southern kingdom ever need them. They took to the task with reverence and were bonded with the cetani faster than anyone thought possible. Perhaps they recognized the ferocious nature of each other. Efi was the first to bond with Asha, before we had finished our negotiations. As the bonds continued to happen with the draconian fae, they began to find purpose and new traditions in the Flame Court. All these years later, I believed the draconians would be lost without them.
“King Tolero?” Umari asked.
I looked to her and knew she could read the despair in my eyes.
“There is an egg,” my voice shook. “There were two eggs.”
“Were?” She looked down to her hands, her posture stooping.
“There is a sword.” I paused, trying to clear the image from my mind. “There is a sword pressed into the second egg. I believe the second cetani egg holds only a skeleton. It’s rotted from within.”
“No,” she answered, hand to her mouth. “They have laid no eggs in all the time we have been with them. Who would do this?”
“There is more, Umari.”
