The Dragon King (14 page)

I accepted his hand, though, and shook it. I’d heard the men talk about a firm handshake, so I gripped his palm and then let go as he did and hoped I did it right.

“You told your father if he didn’t let you live your life that you’d take the crown from him?” Abbott asked. I had the feeling he was informing me he knew, rather than verifying the information.

I nodded and gave him a flicker of eye contact before I avoided his gaze. “I did.”

“You can look him in the eye, Soph. I trust him and so can you.”

Abbott chuckled and said, “It isn’t only a matter of trust, Princess Sophia. Aaron is an old one and quite powerful. He’s one of the few people on the planet I couldn’t sway to my will even if I chose to try. If I were to attempt it with you he’d know it immediately, so you don’t have to trust me at this point, you only need to trust him.”

I didn’t want to screw up and anger a potential ally, so I met his gaze and said, “I apologize if I offended you, Mr. Hamilton. In answer to your question, I fully intend to try to take the crown away from my father if he doesn’t back off and let me live my own life. I realize I’ll still have responsibilities to my people, but I will not live as his prisoner any longer, nor will I marry Cyrano.”

He nodded and looked to Aaron. “She’s yours?”

“And I’m hers. I assume you heard of her dragon form?”

Abbott nodded and looked back to me, waving his hand towards a seating area. “Please have a seat, both of you. You’ll find a variety of finger foods on the coffee table in front of the sofa, along with chilled water. If you’d like something else to drink we have a variety of teas as well as soda, and a number of fruit juices.

I was starving, but refrained from running to the food and stuffing it in my mouth as quickly as possible. I did, however, down most of a glass of water in one gulp.

Aaron tilted his head at Abbott in thanks before looking at me to say, “I’d start with the barbeque sandwiches while they’re hot. Abbott may not eat food anymore but he orders the best for his guests.”

I picked up a sandwich as Abbott asked, “Do you have a game plan?”

Aaron bit into half the sandwich at once, apparently unconcerned about manners, which was another clue he considered Abbott a true friend and not just a political associate. Aaron talked around his food, his mouth mostly closed but still full. “We’ll start figuring out who’s an ally, who’ll stay neutral, and who’s against us. From that point, we work to get as many people in the first column as we can.”

I swallowed and told Aaron, “I didn’t get a chance to tell you about the rest of my conversation with the Winter Queen.”

Abbott leaned against his desk and I looked to him, noting the surprise and curiosity in his expression as he asked, “You spoke to the Winter Queen and weren’t apprehended and turned over to your father? And Aaron isn’t in prison?”

“Aaron left through the doorway as she arrived. I chose to stay and speak with her.”

Aaron sat on the sofa beside me and said, “I didn’t have time to ask earlier, but what’s your connection to her? It isn’t like her to strip her guards of clothes and give them away without asking for something in return.”

I shook my head. “I know she and my mother were friends, but I’m not sure of much else. When I was growing up, sometimes she treated me like a loving aunt would, and other times she scared me so bad I thought I’d lose the contents of my bladder every time she looked at me. As I grew older I decided sometimes she wanted to take care of me because I’m my mother’s daughter, and other times I reminded her of my mother and it caused her pain, and she hated me for it.”

“How often did you see her?” Abbott asked.

I shrugged. “Most of the winter festivals. Sometimes I’d be taken the night before and we’d have fun together, then she’d dress me and do my hair the next morning. I saw her a few times a year, maybe more some years?”

I turned to Aaron and aimed us back onto the subject. “But I need to tell you — she said if you gained a swan form she’d crown us Swan Queen and king, and would transfer the Swan Faerie Lands into my name.” I paused and added, “I don’t know how I know she meant little ‘k’ for king, but it was clear when she said it. She intends me to have control, not you.”

Aaron nodded. “If it happens, that’ll be my choice. I’ll be King of the Dragons, you’ll be Queen of the Swans, and we’ll both be second in charge of each other’s animal kingdom.”

Abbott walked to us and sat in what looked like a comfortable but regal armed chair. “It sounds like the first thing on the agenda is food, and then sleep.” He considered Aaron a few seconds and said, “I’ll have someone change the sheets on my bed. You know how the wall mechanism works in case you have need of it.” He ran his hand through his hair and added, “If it works, I suggest you fly to the falls and immediately go to Faerie.”

Aaron nodded and I asked, “If what works?”

“Most likely,” Aaron told me, “we’ll need to physically mate before I take on a swan form, if I’m going to at all.”

My face flamed hot as the meaning of his words took hold, and Abbott excused himself to go make arrangements with his housekeeper. I knew he’d likely already given the instructions telepathically, but appreciated his giving us a little privacy.

“So, you’re saying it’s time for us to…”

He shook his head. “No, I’m telling you what will likely need to happen before I have a chance of taking on a swan form, and it may not work. If you aren’t ready, Soph, we won’t.”

I sighed, turned to look at what I thought might be an original Rembrandt, and took a few bites as I let my mind go over the facts versus the suppositions.

Finally, I turned back to him and said, “I don’t like the idea of my first time being on a timetable, but the truth is I want to, and I’m ready. Can you help make it so it isn’t like we’re doing it to see if it produces results?”

He stood and stepped to me faster than my eyes could follow, so I was in his arms before I realized it. My body immediately relaxed into him even though it took my mind a few heartbeats to catch up.

“Of course, Soph. And Abbot’s offer means we can be totally and completely safe, without worry of anyone coming in on us, and yet we’ll have a way to exit if we turn to swans as we finish.”

“Okay, then. Let’s eat a little more and then see what happens.”

Aaron

I pinged Abbott telepathically once my conversation with Sophia drifted to more mundane topics. I couldn’t speak to him with words, but could send simple signals, like ‘
all clear
’, or ‘
danger
’.

When he returned, we told him our story from beginning to end, minus the sex parts. I couldn’t leave Duke and Brain out entirely, but I called them David and Bob, and only said they were supernaturals without naming their species.

When we reached the end, Abbott looked to Sophia and said, “I assume you understand my feelings towards your father?”

“The high points have been explained,” I told him. “But it might be a good idea to tell her your current thoughts.”

Abbott nodded to me and looked back to Sophia, his gaze serious but compassionate. “A close friend of mine had an opportunity to purchase and then free a young woman your father put on the auction block six years ago. Her name is Madeline, I believe you know her?”

Sophia nodded, and I marveled at how things always seemed to work out for Abbott. No matter the supernatural, he could almost always find a person they had in common, someone he knew and had either helped or had a hand in helping.

Abbott continued. “She took five years to complete her Bachelor’s degree, and is currently working on a Master’s degree in Human Performance, with a bent towards research. Once things calm down I can arrange for the two of you to see each other.”

“She isn’t… I thought people couldn’t be owned in your territory?” I was proud of Sophia, she asked the question with tact, and without accusing him of doing anything wrong. She was simply asking for clarification.

“The vampire who purchased her made her an offer. She could live with him and work off her debt to him by cooking, doing housework, or yard work — anything he needed done around the house she was willing to do. She could come and go as she pleased, and if she wanted to go to college, he’d pay her tuition and add it onto what she owed him. He would arrange for transportation to school for her, as he does for the others in his household.”

I could see Sophia’s temper rising, but I sat back and stayed quiet. I knew Madeline would’ve been given other options, but for some reason Abbott wanted to give the information in pieces.

“Nineteen year olds are not supposed to go out into the world with a huge debt on their heads!” Sophia exclaimed, obviously pissed. “How can you say humans can’t be owned when you let people buy them and then make them pay off their purchase price? It’s servitude, whether you want to call it that or not!”

Abbott’s smile told me he was pleased with her reaction. “Yes, Princess, you’re correct. My friend wanted her because she’d been a whipping girl, and when he told me his intention to buy her, I made it clear if she wanted her freedom outright, he’d have to give it to her. His first option gave her a place to live and people to look out for her. His second option would have been to help her find a job and a place to live, and say goodbye.”

“Why do I get the feeling there’s another option?”

Abbott nodded. “Yes. The one he hoped she’d take is the one she eventually opted for, where she is sustenance for a vampire and well-compensated for her contributions. She’s long since paid off her initial debt, as well as the money he fronted her for books and tuition. She now pays for her own tuition and has a nice nest egg built up. She stays with him because she cares for him, and because she’s well paid, but also because his household is her family, now.”

“Do you have young women here? People you keep close for food?”

Abbott nodded and offered, “I can walk you to their section of the house if you’d like, and will give them leave to speak freely, as I have nothing to hide. There is most often sex when I feed, because the two are so closely intertwined. They can all leave at any time, and I generally have one or two a year who either meet someone and fall in love, or who get job offers in other cities and leave to take their dream job.”

Sophia looked at me and then back to Abbott. “I may take you up on that offer another time, but for now, Aaron considers you a friend and has great respect for you, so I’ll take you at your word. I hope you can arrange for me to see Madeline once I’m no longer in danger of being spirited back to my father’s house.” She looked down with a shake of her head, but looked up to say, “I was told she’d been allowed to leave to go to college. I wasn’t aware my father had sold her to someone else. Thank you for seeing to it she was taken care of.”

He nodded and said, “This brings us back to the conversation about how I feel about your father. Madeline took a good deal of rehab and counselling before she was ready to survive in the world. She wasn’t as bad off as many of the girls I’ve seen come from Raul and his people, but I need you to understand why I have no respect for him.”

Sophia nodded but stayed quiet, and Abbot continued, “I realize you need to
take
your father’s crown if you are to have any hope of holding it. I wish I could offer to take him out for you and then install you in his place, but…” He shook his head. “I’ve been around a long time and I know the Swans won’t respect a Queen who holds the position because a Vampire gave it to her. So, out of respect for you and Aaron, I won’t declare war.”

I finally spoke. “But you’ll help, if we ask?”

He glanced at me, but his smile was for Sophia. “I can see your energy blending with Aaron’s. Even when you were across the room from each other earlier, your auras reached towards each other. Whether the two of you have said the words or not, I can see the love each of you has for the other. Aaron has been my dear friend for longer than I care to say. When it’s time to leave one city and move to the next, we stay together. We know the next three cities we’ll live in, and have already begun to purchase land under names that will one day die off and leave wills naming the people we will become. I want you to understand I’m offering my help because you make Aaron happy, not because I want to hurt your father. It will likely work out that your father will get hurt, possibly physically, but most definitely politically and emotionally.”

Sophia’s smile was sad. “The little girl in me still wants him to give me away at my wedding, though the realistic adult in me knows it’s a long shot. Still, if I can do this without making him an enemy, and without killing him, it’d be my preference. I hope to cripple him politically and financially though, so he can no longer afford to keep slaves. I’ll have to figure out the best way to help the people in our territory, if I take power, and I trust you can help with that? Decide who is emotionally stable enough to go out on their own, and who needs help learning how to be self-sufficient?”

“Some will never be able to survive without being told what to do,” Abbott told her, his voice soft. “I’ll help you find homes for those people, loving Masters who’ll care for them without abusing them.”

Abbott looked to me and said, “I approve, old friend. She has strength, compassion, and intelligence. She’s also tired.”

I closed my eyes as I remembered I needed to begin increasing her energy reserves soon, and dreaded having to hurt her again. I opened my eyes, met his gaze, and asked him, “Can you explain to Sophia why different kinds of energy are kept in different parts of the body, and what I’m going to have to do to her to increase her reserves? I need to make a few phone calls to the office, let them know I’m not totally out of pocket anymore, and catch up with the most critical assignments.”