It’s one possibility. Eben said noncommittal even in his thoughts. There are others.
Yes.
Lord Bochus sat at the end of the table. Beside him was a dragon dressed in sapphire. He sat tallest of them, though he lacked the girth of Bochus he made up for it in sheer perfection of feature. He was almost too pretty actually. Too perfect, like you couldn’t really touch him. He had brown eyes the color of a good wet earth. Though his house was water.
Fahlion. A distant relation of mine.
He sleeps through most of the council meetings. Ladon added drily. I always wondered why you never took the seat.
Because then I would have to come to the meetings.
Air was dressed in diamond, his hair white; his eyes were a silver fog. He looked older that the rest, though not in years. More serious somehow, as if he knew the answers and they weighed heavy on his mind.
The man next to him was obviously earth with its abundance of gold. Besides the others, he was almost nondescript, at least for a dragon. Brown hair with veins of red running through it and green eyes. He was beautiful and powerful and seemed to disappear among his flashier council cronies.
Is he trying to do that?
I have often wondered that myself, Ladon stated. He is always looking so harmless. It makes me wonder what he’s up to.
Very wise. Eben said the surprise obvious in his thoughts. I believe it is Lord Graedon that plays the deepest game. He has fooled many into thinking him harmless but I see him as the most dangerous.
Dangerous to whom? Morgan wondered.
Before either could form an answer, Lord Bochus spoke.
“Prince Ladon. We had given you up for dead until Shehar gave us the happy news.” He didn’t sound happy. “Perhaps you could explain why you have caused all this fuss by running off to begin with and now this mate business. You've always been quite the young prankster but this is taking things too far."
Eben answered mildly. "Since you've heard the news from Shehar, you must have also heard that we share this 'mate business'. Are you suggesting that I am prone to pranks as well?"
Lord Bochus looked from Ladon to Eben and paled visibly.” My Lord? You do not usually grace us with your presence." He looked confused for a minute. "Then, if it’s true, where is your mate?"
"Perhaps it would be best to have this discussion without a human present?" Lord Graedon suggested mildly.
"Might I present our mate Morgan, mage and newest member of houses fire and water." He looked directly at Graedon. "And she stays as this discussion involves her as well.” Then he went on. "Prince Ladon was abducted from his house after someone drugged him, he did not run off. He was taken and bled then left to die among the humans. If Morgan had not found Ladon and saved him, he would even now be dead. This same someone gave dragon blood from the house of fire to the blood mages for use in their spells. Blood mages that destroy the earth we have vowed to protect. I have been past the gate and seen the destruction. They kill the earth to fuel their greed for power and destroy potential mates with their drive to drink mage blood. I have called you together because this cannot stand."
The silence echoes after that little bomb was dropped. Either the council had not shared with the warriors or no one had believed it because everyone was looking at Morgan with new eyes. Not all of them were happy.
"Are you suggesting that you mated a human and intend to desecrate our house by breeding her?" Lord Bochus' bellow was loud but not nearly as loud as the tension that followed.
That's what he heard in all that?
Eben and Ladon seethed beside Morgan, she expected any moment for the anger to burn. But since he had addressed Ladon it was Ladon who answered, though she could feel Ebens desire to rip and shred right beside him.
"Speak of my mate like that again old man and you won't have to wait for the next new moon to face challenge."
"Challenge?" Bochus blustered.
"I have reached my adult molt Lord Bochus. As prince of my house I have the right to take my place on the council."
"Your father..." He began, only to be interrupted by Ladon.
"My father chose not to claim his place, rather desiring seclusion with his mate. He trusted you to uphold the family honor. I am not my father, nor am I so trusting. Not if that is your only concern after what Lord Eben just said."
"Perhaps we can table the family business until this other matter is settled." Lord Graedon stated benignly.
"Quite right." Bochus rallied. "A human mate has never been accepted into a dragon house. With all due respect Lord Kinkaid but even for you I do not see that changing."
Did he just say what I think he said? Morgan was not the only one wondering that.
"Are you saying, Lord Bochus, that mates have been found among humans before?" Ebens voice was low and intense.
"A few here and there among the magic users over the eons. The family leaders have dealt with the matter privately. It has certainly never been brought before the council in such a public way."
"Dealt with?" Morgan asked. But it was as if she didn't speak because Bochus refused to acknowledge her question.
"My mate asked you a question Lord Bochus. How were they dealt with?"
"I don't answer to human’s prince Ladon, no matter how you dress them up to ape their betters."
"Then answer to me." Eben said his voice gruff with rage. "Are you actually saying that you knew some of our mates could be found among the humans and you not only kept that secret but killed them when it was discovered?"
"As I said. It was house business how they dealt with their embarrassment. The council was not involved."
"Besides the issue of mates,” Lord Topa interjected before the room imploded. "We cannot allow the blood sworn to kill the Earth, nor let stand the attack on Prince Ladon. Dragons have always been the protectors of the natural earth and all its magic. To ignore this pestilence is to court our own doom."
"Melodramatic clap-trap. We protect our lands, the humans have always had dominance over theirs, or we would have wiped them out long ago for their abuse of it." Bochus brushed a hand across the problem as if it was insignificant. "We will deal with this problem when and if they ever cross the dragon gates and come here to try their filth."
"You are a fool."
The words spoken in the soft voice of a human mage was loud and the silence after the announcement frozen.
"What did you say?"
"I said you're a fool." Morgan repeated. "The Blood mages drink power. Their whole purpose is to bleed it from the land and people. Do you think when they are bloated from destroying the rest of us that they will sit quietly in their black castles and be content?" She was not aware that her control was slipping as she continued, but both Eben and Ladon stepped closer as the power built around them. "You think they aren't already after the magic in your blood? One of your own has betrayed you to the blood mages already. They are using dragon’s blood to further their dark cause and you prattle on about human inferiority. Are you arrogant enough to let this wound fester until the whole of the body is infected?"
"That is enough of that. You are a human barely old enough to be called adolescent in our culture. You think to lecture and insult us?"
"I think to lecture and insult you." She said distinctly, her magic rising further. "Your warriors would back Eben on this. I have seen the dark and cold they live in waiting for the warmth of a mate that may never come." She stepped forward and looked at the assembled nobles and their elite guard. "Young I may be, but I am mated to Ladon and Eben Kincaid. I have seen your warrior history through his eyes and your government through the eyes of Prince Ladon. And I am mage, with the stories of my people passed down." Her hair beginning to float around her building power. "I am not an insignificant thing. The Earth moves through me, wind speaks, and fire and ice answer my call. The blood mage is an abomination but they are not powerless. Ignore them; ignore us, at your own peril."