The humans thrived. The Dragon Kings held off extinction as if by chance.
The Indranan senators never failed to disagree with Malnefoley. He didnt attribute it to their unnerving telepathy. They simply didnt want to acknowledge what he had to say, for reasons he could never comprehend. Personal? Political? A means of manipulating the emotions he kept in check?
Then there were the senators from Clan Garnis. Useless. They
were almost always quieteven their Youth. Compared to the organized, even powerful governments of the other four clans, Garnis had nothing. The Lost. In twenty years, Mal had yet to discern whether their lack of involvement in Council discussions was because of their clans ways or because they had little power to reinforce any point of view. Surely they believed something .
He wanted to paceor rain lightning down on those who opposed him. Too much temper for a Giva. Hed known it from the beginning. A slow-boil fury made him vibrate with things unsaid, actions not taken. He pushed his anger into the pit of his stomach. No one would humble him. For all the doubts others harbored about his legitimacy, Mal knew the truth. He had the insight and resolve to see his people through this crisis.
We all know her husband was killed. No one has seen her or her son since. This letter is the first communication anyone has received from her. Its half-scrawled in blood, for Dragons sake.
Arguments burst across the table as the senators took his words, warped them, turned them into weapons to brandish at one another.
Aster guards the secret to our survival, but at this price?
Nynns words haunted him day and night. Even the fierce mountain winds sounded like his long-lost cousin. Her voice was strong enough to compete with the ticking clock in his mind that said they were running out of time.
His aunt, Leoki, had been dead since the accident no one mentioned. She had given birth to Nynn by a Pendray man. Perhaps one day she wouldve been accepted back into Clan Tigony, especially with Mal as Giva. Instead, Nynn had killed her.
Grief still pounded in his joints. Leoki had been his aunt, but theyd been separated by only five yearsmore like siblings. Hed lost so much that day. Leoki dead. Nynn subjected to the process that had boxed away her dangerous powers. Shed emerged practically human, so that his decision to have her educated in the States was an easy one to edge into her consciousness. After only a few weeks, shed taken up the idea as her own.
And marrying a human man . . . That had been the end of Nynns life as a Dragon King.
Hed fought the Council. Hed even fought Nynn, hoping she would relent and come home. But layered over that wretched era had been one moment of goodness. She had appeared happy for the first time in years. Even when the Council delivered its verdict, she was a woman relieved of deep burdens.
Only, she didnt know what burdens remained in her mind.
Thats what Id expect to hear from a Thieving liar like you! came a shout from Pendray Youth.
Quiet! Mals voice thundered around the wide circular room. Youre spoiled children, not senators. I will act without this Councils consent if name-calling is the extent of your involvement.
Act without our consent? Sath Youth looked ready to turn his chair into a weaponwhether to strike Mal or Pendray Youth didnt seem to matter.
Tigony Wisdom cleared her throat. She was the only person who could stem the tide of so much anger with the arch of one brow. The Pendray and Sath Youths glared, but one cast his eyes toward the table and the other fussed with draped robe sleeves.
Named Hobik, Tigony Wisdom was Mals adoptive grandmother and the only senator whose name he still used in his mind. Despite no blood relation, they looked a great deal alike: thick, straight bronze hair and eyes so deeply blue as to appear black in the low light of the Council room. Elegant, the Tigony had always been called. Cultured. Gracious.
Another reason they werent taken seriously in times of war.
Mal couldve laughed. His people had taught the Greeks and Romans how to fight. How to build cities and raze them. At that moment, a crackle of static was taking the form of sparks in his blood, inside him, all around him. If he let his concentration slip, those sparks would amplify into violent kinetic energy. He would become a living turbine.
Not now. Maybe not ever.
He gave his grandmother the barest nod.
Hobik turned her attention to the rest of the Council. Whether or not Nynns child has been blessed by the Dragon, the other two human cartels remain our clearest stream of information. They are openly jealous of Dr. Asters acquisition. Because of the timing of her kidnapping, we can assume some truth to the Asters involvement. Why would he hold them captive if they werent important?
That logic was apparently the key to coalescing the Councils attention. Mal had been too agitated to think of it.
He breathed deeply of the mountains thin, chilly
air, thankful that Hobiks logic had quieted the senators. For now.