Cami didn’t like being talked about while she was standing right there. It used to happen all the time at home. Her da, her mother, her brothers... they would all do it as though she were nothing more than a decoration in the background.

  Ha! she thought bitterly to herself. It was like she had been one of those flowers that Nico had joked about. But then she’d bonded with Nico. The change didn’t happen overnight, but she stopped sliding into the background as easily.

  She stood up for herself. Nico had influenced her, just as she had influenced him. While she may have helped to smooth some of his jagged edges, he had helped her grow claws—literally and proverbially.

  “Didn’t anyone ever tell you that it’s rude to talk about someone like they aren’t present, your majesty?”

  Mercius’ eyes popped wide open.

  Ferdinand stared for a moment, too, before he started laughing. It took half a minute for him to stop. Finally, holding up a hand in apology, he spoke again. “Quite right and it’s for the best. You have so much potential, young woman. You can be the bridge between humans and dragons… that is, if you’re willing.”

  Cami’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t say anything.

  “I don’t mean anything suspect,” the Emperor continued. “I wouldn’t try to break your bond, if such a thing is even possible. What I mean is that Nico is different from his kin, but he is still a dragon.”

  “And?” she challenged. “You say that as if it is a bad thing, your Majesty.”

  “Ahh… yes. Well, let me rephrase that…”

  At least he had the grace to look embarrassed, Cami thought.

  “You are different than you were,” the Emperor continued, “but you are still a human. If Nico rises to become Draconis eventually, as I suspect he will, then he will speak for all dragons. It would be well if humans had a voice to speak for them to the dragons.”

  “You don’t know dragons as well as you think, your Majesty, if you believe that anyone—including Draconis—speaks for all of them. I’ve only met a couple of dragons and I can already tell you that they are not followers.”

  “It is as you say,” the Emperor admitted. “But you are young and there are things you may not have considered. As long as I am the ruler of the Empire, we will do everything we can to free the dragons and to make reparations to those who were enslaved.” He sighed heavily. “But, I won’t live forever and I can’t promise what will happen after me.”

  “Isn’t that what laws and treaties are for?” she asked.

  The Emperor smiled, “In theory, yes… but how long will Nico live?”

  Cami’s mind spun with that question. It was one of her greatest fears. She knew Nico would live a long time, and their Bond would supposedly allow her to live just as long as he did. But the idea of living hundreds or even thousands of years? That seemed impossible to her.

  “A very long time,” she eventually replied.

  “Yes, but if your bond reaches a deep enough level, I have reason to believe you will live just as long as he will.”

  When she nodded, the Emperor continued. “Then you already know, or perhaps have heard this.” He seemed thoughtful for a moment. “Perhaps it seems unreal to you, but let me assure you it is possible.”

  A moment of panic went through Cami. Was he reading her mind?

  “I know this isn’t the best timing for such a statement, but it’s nothing quite so insidious as mind reading. My perception is just greatly enhanced. My class is…”

  He suddenly stopped and frowned at Mercius. “You are dismissed. I will meet with you in my office in two hours.”

  After that, he turned to his guards and said, “Go and make sure that Nico is getting along with his sister. I’ll be fine here with just Cami.”

  Cami watched as first Mercius started to argue, but eventually left. When he left, the bodyguards reluctantly withdrew.

  “I’m going to share my class with you. This is something no one other than my wife knows… and no, that wasn’t some backhanded attempt at propositioning you. I just want you to know that I’m sharing a great secret with you.”

  Cami said, “Thank you for your trust,” even as a part of her wondered if this was just a show. She never would have thought something like that without Modessa’s training, but now she couldn’t push such suspicions aside.

  “My class was originally Grand Magus, just like Serius’. Actually, I was stuck at level 18 and having trouble progressing,” the Emperor began. “I specialized in divination magic, which was beneficial for my father’s reign, but not the easiest class to level.”

  Cami tried but must have failed to keep her thoughts from showing on her face.

  “It isn’t that I don’t have combat abilities,” Ferdinand said quickly, “I do. But I’m not as strong as someone of my level would normally be. What I did have was an exceedingly rare class ability known as Aura of Prescience. It allowed me to sense what was happening around me before it would happen, as well as to sense the general feelings and intentions of those around me.

  “Then I got an item called the Tear of Eternity. Let me show its specifications. For what I hope are obvious reasons, I’m not going to just pull out the actual artifact.”

  Eternity’s Tear

  Quality: Artifact

  What God made, mortals have broken. Such is the curse of free will. When the shepherds slumber, all pastures lie unguarded, and night has fallen.

  Possessing this item permanently evolves your class to legendary.

  Levels: +10*

  Primary Stat is Tripled after all other gear modifiers.

  Secondary Stat is Doubled after all other gear modifiers.

  Eternity’s Tear is soul bound.

  “I immediately shot up to level 28 and my Mind stat tripled while my Durability doubled. But most importantly, it evolved my class to become Eye of Eternity. My Aura of Prescience also upgraded to Eternal Prescience.”

  He gave her a gentle smile. “I can’t help but get a general sense of your thoughts, Camille. I can’t even turn the ability off. But it has revealed some important things to me, things which I am still processing.

  “I will only share some of it with you, because if I’m wrong about something I could do more harm than good by revealing it. But this I can tell you, the gods did not make Ileria and they are no more native to this world than are the eldritch horrors. Both groups are fourth dimensional beings which are using our world as a playground of sorts.”

  Cami didn’t know what she’d expected, but that wasn’t it. “Why are you telling me this? And what is a fourth dimensional being?”

  “Some things are beyond even me,” he admitted, “or are things that I’m slowly processing. The gods avoid me now because if they manifest around me, Eternal Prescience starts to reveal all their secrets to me. Suffice it to say that fourth-dimensional beings are existences which experience time differently than we do. To them, time is a bit like distance is to us. They can’t be in all of it at the same time, but they can go to a place and then back to a different one with ease.” He paused, then scratched his cheek. “Though something about the Pact between the gods, horrors, and dragons has altered how they can interact on Ileria.”

  Cami didn’t say anything for a full minute as she thought about what he’d said. She soon realized that it was going to take far longer than she had now to understand what any of that meant.

  “As for why I’m telling you that, some of it is… selfishness. I need to talk to someone—and you would be surprised how hard it is to find someone I can tell some things.” He shook his head. “You don’t need to worry about the gods now. I believe that someday a reckoning will come, but you’ll need to figure out that on your own.

  “That is a problem for future Camille, though. Now, the horrors are a threat to all life on Ileria. They represent the concept of oblivion and their idea of playing here is to unmake our world.”

  Cami couldn’t help the spike of rage that erupted within her. She violently chopped her hand through the air. “They. Will. Not! Nico won’t let them.”

  The Emperor nodded. “Except they can’t fully do so and that frustrates them. Not that it matters. Dead is still dead, whether your body had been completely annihilated or not.”

  Wrestling her anger down to a burning ember, she nodded. “We are aware of the threat the horrors represent, but I don’t understand what you think we can do about it… now.”

  “Clearly, I want you and Nico to recruit other dragons to fight the horrors—true dragons, that is. I believe that only dragons will be able to turn the tide, but you’ll need our help. I’m willing to offer just about anything within my power.”

  He paused, studying her. “As for my questions about your age, if you were to marry one of my sons—not my heir, but another of my sons—you would be connected to the family.”

  Cami froze. Had he just offered up one of his sons like her da might a cow in barter?

  “An immortal ruler is a dreadful thing, but a nearly immortal liaison keeping peace between humans and dragons with both a bond to dragons and a family tie with the empire would be ideal. So what do you say, would you like to be a princess?”

  Cami was floored. The first words out of her mouth were, “I could never betray, Nico…”

  “I’m not asking you to, child. And don’t worry, the marriage could be political only, if you like. It isn’t as though you won’t outlive whichever of my sons you choose to marry by many lifetimes. Oh, and lest you think that I’m heartless to suggest this fate for one of my sons… such is the price of power.”

  It was almost as if he suddenly aged before her eyes.

  “If I want to protect the world, sacrifices have to be made. I, however, won’t force it on anyone. The previous dynasty sought to gain power by abusing the dragons. I will only work with willing partners.”

  For one who professed to have trouble finding a confidante, the Emperor sure liked to talk. Cami didn’t want what he was offering, but she didn’t want to offend him. She wanted peace between dragons and humans, but she wasn’t willing to marry someone—anyone!—she didn’t know and love.

  She thought about it for another moment, but then everything became clear to her. She wanted peace between humanity and dragonkind, but not more than she wanted her Bond with Nico. Her loyalty wasn’t to humanity, nor was it to dragonkind.

  Her loyalty was to a specific dragon, her Bond mate. “My loyalty can’t be bought, not to be a princess, and not even to save the world.”

  When she finished speaking, the Emperor smiled. “Good, I had to be sure. I need allies—but not the kind who can be bought. But now we need to go see Nico. An attack against the Empire is happening, and since I have forbidden the use of domesticated dragons in battle, I’m not sure if we can hold the enemy back this time.”

  Chapter 38 - Rescue or Dominion?

  I walked down the hall toward my sister. I didn’t know what to expect. The Emperor had implied that she was being well taken care of, but the humans’ track record for caring for dragons didn’t bode well. The Dragon Dream didn’t show me anything like what had happened to result in domesticated dragons, but it wasn’t like humans and dragons hadn’t fought many times in the past.

  That led to me thinking about Cami. I sensed her emotions through the bond. She was agitated, but safe. I couldn’t force myself to stop—and I would have had to force myself—not now.

  It was because of me that Sheraleigh had been captured. I hadn’t been strong enough to protect her. I’d fled when given the opportunity. Except why had I even thought like that?

  Dragons didn’t die to protect one another—it wasn’t the dragon way. We might combine against a common foe, but nothing in the Dragon Dream told me that dragons were one big happy family. It was quite the opposite.

  Draconis was a partial exception, but the current version showed me that wasn’t a universal truth.

  Then I caught a whiff of dragon scales mixed with the blessed scent of gold, and some ozone. Yes, there was a dragon through the doorway which loomed in front of me. Specifically, there was a blue dragon.

  Then I walked in and there she was, larger than life. There were some piles of coins, spread around the room. Her hoard was nowhere near as large as my own. I found a sense of satisfaction in that, but perhaps it was nothing more than sibling rivalry.

  The room she was in was massive—by human standards. The walls were worked stone and rose up more than two hundred feet into a dome which had an opening large enough for even me to fly out of in my newly expanded form. The diameter of the circular room was about three hundred feet. It made my sister seem quite small, lying there in the middle of it.

  Sheraleigh was curled up on the mound of coins. She hadn’t even lifted her head to look at me. The thing that stuck out most about her to me was how small she looked.

  Identify

  Sheraleigh

  Young Adult Blue Dragon (14% to Adult)

  Affiliation: N/A

  Minimal Threat

  Class: N/A

  She hadn’t really progressed since the last time I’d seen her—maybe only 2 or 3% closer to Adult, if I had to guess. I hadn’t possessed the Identify spell before, so I was going by instinct.

  “Don’t just stand there,” Sheraleigh grumped. “If you’ve brought me a treat, put it in the usual place. I’m not hungry now. If you want to add something to my hoard, then drop it off and leave before I decide that I am hungry.”

  I coughed, trying to get her to look up at me. She did.

  Her expression was lazy, but after just a couple of seconds, her eyes grew wide. “Nicosandumas?”

  Rather than responding, I transformed into my true form. I swelled and, as I did, the room which had seemed so large before was suddenly much smaller. I wouldn’t say it was cramped, but it definitely wasn’t the luxurious and spacious natural lair which I had. Of course, that lair had been built for a great wyrm, so it was hardly a surprise.

  If I’d thought her eyes were wide before, they were twice the size now and her mouth hung open. “You’re huge… how? My chief minion said that you had been growing, but this is beyond anything I imagined. You’re bigger than mother was, and not by just a little bit.”

  “Is that all the greeting I get, sister? I haven’t seen another blue in more than a year and all you want to talk about is how big I am?”

  She lowered her body and moved back off of her mound. “What else would be more important? Power is everything. You do recall that don’t you? After all the fights in our clutch, you survived by being the strongest.”

  She studied me for a moment. “But perhaps there is one other thing to discuss. Why would you take the form of a minion? I understand shape changing for health, but why a minion?”

  As her words sank in, I realized the degree to which I had expected something which I should have known was not going to happen—perhaps based upon romanticized feelings about our early years. She was my sister and I expect that if a something came and attacked us, she would fight next to me. But she was still caught up in the trap which seemed to affect all the free dragons.

  Even bonded, Beliciosia had been far too ambivalent about caring for others. I cursed inwardly. Then a second blow landed on me, and this one was even heavier. The empire, the former dynasty, or even humans as a whole, were not the main enemy of dragonkind.

  I still didn’t understand to what extent the gods, horrors, or even the system itself were to blame, but it seemed the Pact was what was impairing dragons the most. The worst part was that the dragons of the past had agreed to the Pact. We were our own worst enemy.

  I could hunt down and kill some humans. As I grew in power, I could even raze entire cities, but that wouldn’t stop the real problem. The insult of domesticating dragons wasn’t the real threat.

  The real threat was how the Pact or our own hubris made dragons unable to think beyond the most basic of selfish desires. It made us blind to the advantages of other races. And that blindness would be our undoing.

  Something had to give, or we would end up going extinct. I didn’t have the full picture, but if I analyzed the dream, it was easy to see that there were fewer dragons now than there had been even a thousand years ago—despite our long lives. My mind raced through all those thoughts as another impulse hit me.

  I wanted to assert my dominance. I hated the smug way which Sheraleigh thought she could speak to me. Forget my class and my enhanced magic, she was a third my length and a fifth of my weight. Her small claws would never make it through my scales.