Chapter 37 Nymphaea's been with you the whole time
I was in trouble.
Worse, I could not even recognize myself anymore. Just days ago, I had bucked at the idea of two men.
Now, I was messing with a third one.
“We vetted everyone on the list,” A strange voice said. “Oddly, there was someone outside the list who constantly circled back to her bloodlines.”
The meeting had begun.
But the speaking voice sounded nothing like a zombie’s. It rang sentient, intelligent.
Come in.
I turned the doorknob, and walked through the door. The room immediately fell silent.
My eyes found Draki where he sat on a couch at the head of the table, dark and silent like the underworld god he was.
I jerked my eyes away, lowering my gaze to the floor again.
Was he going to tell me off in the presence of these people who were humans but not really humans?
Eyes still pinned to the floor, I took measured steps towards him. The room was still silent, and I could feel a dozen eyes on me, watching me, gauging me.
My palms started to sweat.
Today was the first time Draki had been a little less angry, irritated with me. And I already managed to mess it up.
“Closer,” he said, voice deep and depthless.
I moved closer till my knees were almost touching his. What did I tell you about eye contact?
My head jerked up, my lips already parting to apologize, but I hurriedly sealed them shut.
“Good girl.”
In a blink, his hand shot towards my thighs, and I crumbled into his arms. Stunned.
“Closer.” His voice was a soldier’s command.
I wiggled up his lap till my cheek was against his shoulder, my legs hanging sideways over his left thigh.
My heart pounded. Confused.
Suddenly, his arms embraced me, holding me to his chest like you would your toddler. Just like he held me at the hospital last night.
“Before that,” he spoke over my head to the people around the table. “I want to hear about the compensation for the property damage.”
My heart was thudding, beating so loudly I could barely hear anything else.
What was he trying to do?
Why was he not angry if he knew Finn and me…
Or perhaps he did not know. No. That made no sense. Why else would he summon just as we had been about to cross a boundary of no return.
Next time I summon you. Do not hesitate. And you will respond promptly to anything I ask you to do.
I hesitated. Yes sir. I said in my head.
Good.
“Thankfully,” a gruff male voice cut through the air. “The Tremors did not travel very far. We’ve budgeted about three hundred million to cover the damages.”
“Was anyone hurt?”
“No…” The gruff voice was saying when a sharp female voice cut in.
“Yes. Your roar caused several accidents, and there was one just left of the Cathedral that involved a school bus. The children were hurt, but they will live.”
Could Finn have been wrong?
These people sounded human. And from the way, whoever that woman was who just spoke, it appeared they had working brains.
His skin burned hotter beneath my cheek. He was getting angry. But his hand stayed the same way, one hugging me to himself, the other running up and down the length of my exposed thigh, over and over.
Whatever his intentions were, he was worsening what Finn had done to my body downstairs. Every stroke of his fingers against my skin, made me wetter.
“Glad to have you save the day, Oracle.” He responded finally, that deep voice vibrating in his chest just under my ear.
“I believe our hoardkeeper is already working to compensate them, yes?”
“Yes,” an enthusiastic voice said. He sounded different from the other man who spoke earlier. I was curious to watch them, but I knew better, and kept my eyes on my lap.
“The Silver Summit Airways is all set to announce their donations for the quake early tomorrow.”
Silver Summit? Silver Summit Airways?
The whole conversation suddenly made sense.
Yesterday at the academy, I learned that the quake I had experienced in that cave had not been restricted to that area alone.
That it started from here in West Hollywood, caused a number of accidents, and destroyed properties.
My stomach lurched.
This man, this man cuddling me on his lap had caused that earthquake. He had roared, and caused the earth to shake.
I shivered at the thought of whatever had caused him to roar.
Maybe Hale was right after all. The Dragon barked and snapped at people he was smitten by, but when he was really pissed, he casually destroyed half a city.
“Have them do it today,” he said now, and turned his hand on my thigh. With his palm flat against my skin, he resumed stroking.
I had to bite my lip tight, force myself to think of other things. Things like Silver Summit.
It had always puzzled me why our district and that big airline shared a name. The same airline I found out yesterday he was a pilot at.
He owned it. He owned that airline.
It made sense that he would own an airline he pretended to be just a pilot in, as he and Hale preferred to live a normal, quiet life, running everything by proxy.
Our pack had a puppet-Alpha who represented Hale. But this Dragon never bothered to give us a representative. Now I see he had his own court.
I smelled Finn before he came in.
He walked in with the smell of delicious food, pushing in the tray just as Draki said, “Back to the ancestry topic.” He squeezed my thigh, hard. I gasped.
“Tell me.”
“Like I was saying.” The gruff male voice returned as the sound of ceramic dishes kissing the glass-covered table-top filled the room.
“There’s one strange person who keeps showing up around the Queen’s past families.” He paused. “Thank you, this looks delicious.”
He was talking to Finn now.
I was grateful I did not have to look at him, see the torture on his face at the sight of me this way in Draki's arms.
My heart ached for him.
He gave a brief chef's description of the meal, and then his hurried footsteps echoed till the door opened and closed again.
The gruff male voice continued. “At first, it was unbelievable. So I kept the information to myself. Cross-checking over and over.”
“But it became increasingly evident that they had strong ties to every single one of the Queen’s past families. Also, under naturally reflective surfaces, you will see they have the same rare eye color.”
The room was silent. No one was eating.
This queen in question was no doubt the wife he had told me about earlier today. The wife I feared for a second could have been me.
My heart was thumping now, palms sweating.
“You’ll need a witch to confirm it, but I think your queen has been with you the whole time.”
My ears started to ring.
“She only came as a boy. Finn is Nymphaea.”