Chapter 42: Trust

[Daax].

I must not have heard Orion correctly. Because if I did, I'm not sure what I am going to tell his mother.

She's likely to kill us both. Me for telling her to trust his judgment, and him for doing something so stupid.

"Orion," I place a gentle hand on his shoulder. He has just taken a big step as a drake, and if I do not tread lightly, both Ona and I could lose him forever if I handle this incorrectly. "She said she was who?"

"My cousin, Father," his face is flush with embarrassment, torn between expressions of sadness and pain. "Princess Juliana."

Tritus' daughter. Tritus Majere. Ona's half-brother and the drake who sold our family to his brother Segundus over and over again. He was a talented genius with more brains than honor and if his daughter is half of what he was, she can't be trusted to be anything but calculating and cruel.

To make matters even more complicated, Orion shot a lightning bolt through Tritus' heart to save his mother and me because he had us and our people enslaved by the Imperium.

And now his daughter, Princess Juliana Korallis Majere, the one who had been missing for decades, is Orion's mate.

"Did you know," I whisper hoping Ona is still fast asleep and can't hear a word we are saying. This is not how I want her to find out. "You know, before you..."

"I did," he confesses. "And at that moment I didn't care. I can blame it on the heat--we were both under its thrall," he sighs deeply, "But that would be a lie and a dishonor to us both. She is my mate, father. I cannot deny what I feel for her. And she loves me, even though..." he swallows a sob,

"Oh gods, Father, what am I going to do?" He looks like he might pass out. "I need Mother's permission to marry, father. I need her blessing. She's not just my mother but my Queen! And she isn't going to approve this. I hardly approve of it, and Kora is mine to love. What if she's with clutch? I don't want our children to be bastards. She deserves to be honored. Damn it, what if..."

"Oh, son," I squeeze his shoulder. I remember this feeling, coming down from the first rush of heat. My pairing with his mother was very similar. She was the daughter of the enemy, and I was her captor, but neither of us could deny the pull, our bodies wouldn't let us. We were destined to be together.

Now that they have joined, it should subside. Maybe.

Forty years later I still burn for my mate like I did all those years before.

Orion might be different, he has a more logical mind than either myself or his mother. But at this moment, with the scent of his mate still fresh on his skin, and the memory of her touch imprinted on his own, he will be impossible to reason with. Telling him he can't have her will just drive him away from us as his primal urges push him to protect her and his future offspring. Maybe, decades from now, he'd forgive us. But that would mean losing him again. That would break Ona.

Panicking, Orion paces back and forth. "I need to go back to watching the younglings. I need to pretend like tonight never...

"Orion, listen," I am pleading now, "Do not go in there like this. Go back to the room and clean yourself. Your mother..."

"Is standing right here," my mate's voice turns my head, as it always has, bringing my full attention to her.

She steps forward into the light, her eyes blinking away sleep as they struggle to focus.

Her face lifts, her nostrils flare and her eyes glow bright red.

"What have you done?" Ona hisses, her body shaking. "I told you not to do it. I told you! Damn it, Orion! Now is not the time to take a mate!"

"Mother, I couldn't help myself I..."

She doesn't listen. She and Orion are so much alike. Their feelings are explosive and passionate, and when they take over, their thinking brains disappear.

"You could have avoided this if you had stayed away from her entirely!" she explodes, her words raining down on us like embers. "Like I told you to do IN THE FIRST PLACE!" footsteps of magma follow her as she paces, her body burning the stone beneath her.

"They were in heat, Ona." I try to explain to them both. "You remember how hard that is to resist."

She pauses, his anger cooling slightly. Good, if I can get through to her, maybe she can calm down enough to keep from making this worse.

"We knew this could happen," I place a hand on her back, warming it with my energy just enough to soothe her muscles and hopefully her heart. "As his parents and guides, we should have been better prepared."

"I guess we better get a wedding set up soon," she huffs, throwing her hands up in the air, ignoring my words "Our son is going to need to marry this girl if we want to keep the family honor intact." She shakes her head. "Who is her family? Who do we need to discuss this with? We will need to send out formal invitations, which means I'll need to take you back to the Celestial Kingdom immediately...and the younglings--do you realize how big a mess you just made?"

Orion is very silent. Looking down at his hands, he responds, "I know, and I'm sorry, Mother," his body slumped. He knows what he did might endanger us all, especially since his mate likely knows who he is as well, and could destroy us all by placing the truth in the queen's ear.

And that isn't even putting into consideration where she comes from.

"She has no family," Orion isn't quite lying, but he also isn't telling the complete truth. "They died in the Starfell War."

My mate slowly deflates, her anger dissipating as she observes her son awash in his misery.

"Oh," is all she can say in response. "No family. I see. Is there anyone watching after her? What about that...Magician fellow?" Ona is struggling to keep sane, to be reasonable.

"He's not really in charge," Orion's eyes shift to the side. He is hiding something, something he isn't ready to share. "And he isn't her guardian. They...work together. She's a free, independent drakaina, mother."

My mate is becoming more and more agitated as she speaks to our son. She can tell that he is hiding something, and with a mind like hers, she is likely running through the worst possible scenarios.

Turning to me she demands I tell her the truth since our son seems unable to give her a completely honest answer. "What isn't he saying, Daax?"

When I don't open my mouth and tell her what she wants to hear, she asks again, looking at us both. "Aegir..."

"Tell her," is all I say, looking at our son. "You need to tell her or I will have no choice. She is my mate, after all. And as your mother and queen she needs to know."

Ona stands a little straighter, understanding that it must be something serious if I invoked her title and her status.

Orion clutches his own hands so hard that his talons draw blood. "Majere."

"Majere?" Ona snarls. "As in House Majere. Our family."

"Yes. We are cousins"

"But how?" her mind goes straight to Primus, whose children are too young and too closely related to be his mates. "I don't understand. I..."

Her mind is searching through the possibilities and as the truth becomes obvious we watch as her face changes from confusion to comprehension and settles on shock and horror. "Tritus."

"His daughter," Orion sighs. "Juliana Korallis."

Ona roars, rattling the windows and scaring her nieces and nephews awake. Behind me, I can hear them mewl in discomfort, woken too soon from their dreams.

But she can't hear them. She's too busy feeling.

She doesn't want to hurt her son despite his open sin against our family. Of all the dragons he could have bonded with, finding a pairing worse than this would have been hard.

This is why we so rarely find our true mates. Especially royal dragons. Those mates often exist beyond enemy lines--a convenient little way that nature forces us to compromise and come together.

Rarely does it lead to love. More often it leads to war.

Ona pushes Orion away as she rushes past him. Lifting off with enough force to shatter marble, she takes to the sky, changing mid-flight into a beast of terror and fire.

"Take care of the younglings," I demand as I prepare to chase after my mate. "I am trusting you to protect them like your own."

I see the light of understanding as his own newly awakened parental senses settle and he realizes the gravity of what we've been asking him to do this entire time. By protecting his uncle's clutch, by keeping our secrets safe, he is keeping our family safe. What he did tonight put those babies at risk. And now he is responsible for keeping them safe while I sort out this mess.

With one last look over my shoulder, I take to the sky. I don't need to see where she's going.

I can feel it.

I only hope to keep her from burning everything down.

And that she hasn't already begun.