Lisella couldn’t take it any longer. “You fool,” she spat, her voice filled with vitriol. “Do you realize what you’ve done? You’ve endangered every single person in the kingdom!”

  Baron Thistle finally noticed the hostility in the room, but it was too late. “I—I was just doing what I thought was right. I was protecting Forlay’s sovereignty... protecting our people. It’s that dragon and the Emperor who are undermining our security. Forlay can’t survive without our dragons to protect us.”

  “The only thing you managed to do is to paint a massive target on our backs,” Lisella snapped, her eyes blazing. “Nicosandumas is not some petty lord to be trifled with. He is a force of nature, and you just declared war on him.”

  King Henri stood, his imposing figure casting a long shadow across the throne room. “Baron Thistle, your actions have put the entire kingdom at risk. You acted without orders and without thinking of the consequences of your actions. This is treason of the highest order.”

  The baron’s face drained of color, his previous bravado disappeared as the reality of the situation sank in. He fell to his knees, his hands clasped together in a plea for mercy. “Your majesty, please. I—I didn’t realize. I thought I was doing what was best for Forlay.”

  Lisella felt sick to her stomach. The man was a fool, but he was also a coward. He’d lashed out in blind ignorance at the most powerful creature to grace their kingdom, yet crumpled at a harsh word from her uncle.

  King Henri looked down at the Baron, his eyes cold. “What is best for Forlay is peace. What is best for Forlay is having allies like the dragon Nicosandumas, not making an enemy of him. Your short-sightedness and arrogance have put us all in danger. How could we possibly support the enslavement of dragons, given what we know about those collars?”

  Lisella stepped forward, her gaze fixed on the Baron. “Your majesty, we cannot let this go unpunished. Baron Thistle has committed treason, and the penalty for treason is death. If Forlay does not wish to do so, the church of Miseria will pass judgment.”

  The King’s gaze shifted to his niece, and for a moment silence reigned in the room. Finally, he nodded. “You are right, Lisella. We must send a clear message that this sort of behavior will not be tolerated. But I will not have some outside force take responsibility for our own. I will have to beg forgiveness from Nico myself.” The King shook his head as the weight of his words settled on them.

  Then he glared at the Baron. The man started to protest, but at a gesture from her father, one of the guards slapped the butt of his spear into the man’s mouth.

  King Henri took a step away from his throne, staring down at the now blubbering Baron. “Robert Thistle, I hereby strip you and your family of all lands and titles. We are not monsters, so your family will be given one week to relocate before I appoint a new baron to oversee what were formerly your lands.”

  The former baron’s eyes were red with tears. Blood from his swollen mouth dribbled onto his chainmail hauberk and part of one tooth lay on the floor. Wearily, he struggled to his feet, “Yes, your majesty. Thank you…”

  Lisella stepped forward again. “That isn’t enough, your majesty. Nico doesn’t care about titles. He only understands life and death.”

  “Niece, you may be the crown princess and a high priestess of Miseria, but in Forlay I am still the King.”

  Lisella blushed and stepped back. “Yes, your majesty.”

  The King took another step forward, going down onto the first stair that led up to the dais his throne was on. “I was not done with my pronouncements. Robert Thistle, you and all of your co-conspirators are hereby condemned to death. You will be taken to the dungeon and put to the question so that you may give up any names of those who worked with you. Then, with the rise of the sun in the morning, you will be hung from the neck—the same as any commoner guilty of capital crimes.”

  Thistle returned to being a blubbering, sobbing mess. He begged for his life, but the King was deaf to his words as a pair of guards dragged him from the throne room. Out in the hallway, his personal guards were being arrested without any resistance.

  As the doors closed behind the guards and the baron, the throne room fell into a heavy silence. King Henri sat back down, his expression weary. “May Miseria have mercy upon his soul.”

  Lisella shook her head. “This isn’t over. I fear before all is settled that the rest of us will need Miseria’s mercy more than that fool.”

  Chapter 20 - Next Steps

  The lingering emotion I felt from the dream was more powerful than any other I’d experienced. I wasn’t sure how it had was possible, but that had been Tiamat. Much of what I thought I knew about her seemed to be wrong. Still, she had clearly played a significant role in history—both of Ileria and of dragons.

  The facts would hopefully come if I pushed into the Dragon Dream again. Not now, of course, but when the time to sleep came. Intent played a part in which dreams I was shown, after all. Now that I’d formed a connection with the mother of dragons, it should be easier.

  She had even recognized my presence. What I didn’t know, was if she was my direct ancestor or if there was some other connection.

  The other thing that threw me off was the depth of her emotion. I’d felt the draconic drive for power in her. She wouldn’t let anyone, even her offspring, stand in her way. Her confidence that she knew what was best for dragonkind was absolute.

  I wished that I felt even a degree of that confidence. Oh, I acted it… but a host of lingering doubts plagued me. Her confidence, I had expected.

  What I found most interesting was that she was not entirely hostile to other dragons. She seemed keen on building something for all dragonkind. Perhaps I was reading too much into the depth of her emotion.

  What I did know was that she felt a level of isolation which couldn’t be healthy, even for a dragon. Was that what happened to those of us who lived long enough? We eventually lost our reasons to live and our hibernating naps became the endless sleep decreed by Eternity.

  Then, there was the nature of Ileria. I had felt the magic. It was at once more potent but also less controlled. It was difficult to measure power precisely through the dream, but if I had to guess, I would have said that my ancestor, the blue Draconis was stronger than the blue Tiamat had fought, but not the red.

  Of course, none of them compared to her might.

  I pushed it all aside. It would take some time to process all this. It made me feel small, realizing how little I knew. But Cami was waiting and I needed to see if what we’d attempted had worked.

  Lifting my head, I stared down at her. Something seemed different about her. It wasn’t clear at first. The resonance between us had deepened.

  “Nico,” she murmured, “you worried me.”

  “I was only dreaming.”

  When Cami looked to the side, I realized that Cassandra was still here. My bonded ensured I knew of the woman’s presence before I inadvertently said more than I wanted to in front of a minion. I felt a sudden pressure in my chest.

  Cami was a good partner. She was a good friend, if such a thing was possible between a dragon and a human. To be a dragon was to stand alone—the vision of Tiamat had reinforced this fact above all others.

  My bonded nodded. “I know.”

  It was only then that I noticed she was standing on her own two feet and not lying in bed. “You’re healed.” I’d been looking so deeply into her that I almost missed the obvious.

  Cassandra shook her head. “I think I’m missing half of this conversation.” Still muttering to herself, the alchemist bowed to me. “With your leave, Nico, I’ll depart.”

  “That might be for the best,” I replied.

  For a moment, I almost thanked her. But she was a minion, and dragons didn’t thank their minions. Minions were our servants; it was their purpose to serve us. A human wouldn’t thank a chair for holding up their weight.

  No. I shook my head. That analogy didn’t work. Minions weren’t objects. They were more like the horses humans chained to carriages. They were meant to work for us, and I’d seen humans thank their animals.

  Some humans even kept animals as pets—animals which did no work. It was a strange concept.

  Coming to a decision before Cassandra got too far, I called out, “Thank you.”

  I’d said the words before, but I still felt Tiamat’s arrogance flowing through me. Perhaps that’s why the words tasted so odd. She smiled in reply, but didn’t ask what I was thanking her for. Then she simply left.

  I’d thought she might become a great minion, but I didn’t know if she had what it took to be an exalted minion. I wasn’t sure, but I worried that I might need more combat minded individuals for that role. Which brought to mind one… no, two possible choices.

  Modessa might be a viable option, if I could get over being upset with her.

  When it was just Cami and I, we began to speak at the same time.

  She laughed and said, “You first, Nico.”

  I knew there was a reason we worked so well together. She knew how to show proper deference. “I’m pleased to see you walking. I take it that whatever you did worked?”

  She nodded. “Yes, but it sounded like you have something exciting to tell me.”

  I sat back on my tail and haunches before lowering the rest of my body down so she wouldn’t have to look up so much to see me. Then I told her about the Dragon Dream, and how it had connected me with Tiamat. She paused me at all the right points to ask questions, which allowed me to expand upon the story or enabled me to highlight my awesomeness. We went back and forth about what it all meant, but didn’t come to any conclusions other than that I would need to seek more information in the dream.

  “I agree that there are answers I must seek in the dream, but I don’t think now is the right time to focus on that. We only have a year before the horrors can resume their invasion of Ileria. Now is the time to empower ourselves, free the dragons, and found Scale Nation.”

  Cami nodded, but before we could begin discussing the next steps we needed to take to do all that, she said, “I need to tell you what happened to me.”

  She explained how she had used her ability to forge souls and our bond to graft a piece of my soul onto hers. I used Soul Seer once again to verify everything as she was speaking. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her, I was looking for more insight. She was only human, after all.

  “I feel like I’m… different somehow. The world around me feels odd. It is almost like I feel unmoored from the ground.”

  “Hmmm… your soul now has some draconic aspects and some human aspects, but it doesn’t truly look like either a human’s or a dragon’s soul. It is some hybrid blend… but where the fusion is greatest, there is something else.” I paused, testing each word. “There is another aura there, one that almost triggers a memory… though I can’t say exactly what it is. I’d almost say that it looks like the gods.”

  Cami smiled at my statement. “It makes me feel better that you confirmed.it You need to see my status sheet, Nico. Something changed after the process was completed.”

  Without saying anything more, she sent me a portion of her status sheet.

  Name: Camille Westfork

  Height: 5’5” Weight: 120 lbs.

  Race: Demi-goddess, dragon bonded

  My first thought was to wonder if she had gained some weight. Was she asking me if she looked fat? Maybe the process had affected her. It was hard for me to tell… it was possible she had packed on a few more pounds. She certainly seemed denser in some way—more… well, like there was simply more to her.

  I was about to assure her that I was strong enough to carry her even if she had gained some weight, when my eyes locked onto the third line.

  Demi-goddess? What did that even mean? I pushed aside the sudden stab of betrayal. The gods were hardly my allies, after all. Instead of focusing on that, I pushed my focus into Soul Seer, while at the same time casting Identify.

  Camille Westfork - Demi-goddess

  She is your bonded companion who is now connected to your soul.

  She is your truest ally.

  What was before has come again.

  Beware, only so many threads may be pulled before even the greatest of tapestries unravels.

  That wasn’t enough, so I called upon another of my new spells.

  Psychic Cognition

  This spell allowed me to detect psychic impressions that had been left behind, especially those which were very powerful or which came from powerful beings. No matter how I looked at her though I couldn’t see any hint that one of the gods had interfered with Cami.

  A great sigh escaped my mouth.

  “What is wrong?” she asked.

  “Nothing… well, it’s not nothing, but I can’t find any indication that any of the gods have touched your soul.”

  She didn’t sound happy as she said, “I did this to myself, Nico, with the help of your soul. No god caused this change. I don’t pretend to understand it, but I am still me. I’m still yours, Nico.”

  “Can you open your soul for me to examine more clearly? This is significant, I just don’t understand it yet.”

  Her lips drew into a thin line, but then she nodded.

  I felt a pulse through our connection and Soul Seer showed how she pulled back the defensive aura which normally surrounded her soul. I was anxious, but not so anxious that I didn’t realize the great degree of trust she was showing me.

  “I won’t hurt you. I only want to understand.”

  It hurt to have to spend more DKP, but every fiber of my being screamed that this was important.

  Do you wish to increase the level of Soul Seer?

  Cost for raising Soul Seer to Level 2: 20 DKP.

  Cost for raising Soul Seer doubles for each higher level.

  I had a whopping 629 DKP, but I had the feeling I was going to need as much as I could get. Still, this had to be done. It felt like I was biting into rancid meat, but I dropped 60 DKP to raise Soul Sear to level 3.

  Immediately, I could see more details but still wasn’t getting any further system information. That gave me another idea. Perhaps, if I could boost the power of one of my spells. It was a bit of a shot in the dark, but maybe it would help.

  Do you wish to increase the level of Elevate Spell? Cost for level 3: 15 DKP.

  I groaned when I realized I’d have to raise it all the way to level 7 for it to do what I wanted. With a frustrated groan, I spent another 136 DKP.

  Elevate Spell 7: This ability may be used by either you or your bonded companion. The DKP cost for using this ability is reduced by 90% of the base DKP cost for elevating a spell.

  You may now elevate any spell to become a legendary tier spell (10th tier or higher). The original base cost for elevating a spell doubles plus one, for each additional tier:

  It costs a minimum of 1 DKP to raise a spell by 1 tier

  3 DKP for 2 tiers—with 90% reduction, this is 1 DKP

  7 DKP for 3 tiers—with 90% reduction, this is 1 DKP

  15 DKP for 4 tiers—with 90% reduction, this is 2 DKP

  31 DKP for 5 tiers—with 90% reduction, this is 3 DKP

  63 DKP for 6 tiers—with 90% reduction, this is 6 DKP

  127 DKP for 7 tiers—with 90% reduction, this is 13 DKP

  255 DKP for 8 tiers—with 90% reduction, this is 26 DKP

  511 DKP for 9 tiers—with 90% reduction, this is 51 DKP

  1023 DKP for 10 tiers—with 90% reduction, this is 102 DKP

  Further the strain of using this ability to raising any spell other than a 9th Tier spell to 10th Tier will result in a cool-down of 15 minutes on this ability and will lock the casting ability of whichever one of you uses this ability.

  I was even less happy with the costs, but it would do what I wanted, at least it better. I now cast Identify directly on her soul, but I elevated my 1st Tier Identify spell to the 11th Tier. I would have raised it more than that, but I already winced at the escalating cost. Even with the reduction, it still cost me another 102 DKP.

  The power of the spell formed, and it was intense—beyond anything I’d ever cast before. Grabbing onto the fabric of the spell, I pushed all of my desire and intention into it. I was a dragon and all the magic of Ileria was mine to control. Having seen Tiamat in the Dragon Dream only made this fact that much clearer. In fact, I wasn’t just any dragon, I was a dragon monarch.

  This world was mine and no secret would hide before my eyes.

  The spell swelled and then contracted as its magic became impossibly dense. When it touched Cami’s soul, it pierced her and all of her was laid bare before me.

  Your spell is too invasive.

  Unless you deepen your bond with Camille Westfork, you will damage her soul.