They opened the door and pushed me into the vast, echoing space ahead of them. The tall stone Drake tables were still set up, lining the four walls of the room, and chained to the furthest one was Ari. His mother and father were chained to another table and even little Jalli was there, also chained up. I could see by the tear-tracks on her pale cheeks that she’d been crying but she was quiet now—they all were—until Ari saw me.
“L’lorna!” he cried and strained against his bonds to no avail. I wondered why he didn’t simply turn into his Drake—for that matter, why didn’t his father do the same? Was there something stopping them? Some magical spell or maybe just the thick metal manacles they wore around their wrists?
Had the people who had captured me decided to chain Ari and his family up and hold a kind of intervention to talk about what a bad queen I would make? If so, there was no better way to force them to listen than to take away their ability to shift into their Drakes.
The answers came soon enough when the man who was holding me came around so I could see his face. It was Chamberlain Sanchez and beside him was his son, Pedro.
I hadn’t seen Pedro since he’d been expelled from Nocturne Academy for hurting me by hitting me in the face with a football but the blue outline of Megan’s handprint on his cheek was unmistakable.
“Pedro?” I looked at him uncertainly and he glared back, baring his teeth at me.
“Hello, puta,” he said and slapped me hard, across the face.
I heard Ari’s angry roar as my head rocked back and stars exploded in my field of vision.
“That’s for getting me marked,” Pedro snarled and slapped me again, across the other cheek. “And that’s for getting me expelled.” Another slap which almost didn’t hurt because I was so numb from the first one. “And that’s one just because I feel like it.” He laughed and spit on the marble floor at my feet.
I felt cold now—cold and sick inside. On the other side of the vast room, Ari was still fighting the heavy metal manacles and roaring that he would kill Sanchez for daring to strike his L’lorna. Ari’s father raised his voice as well.
“How dare you do this to your Alpha and his family, Sanchez?” he thundered. “Knowing that the punishment for such disrespect is death?”
“I dare because you’re not going to be the Alpha for long.” The Senior Sanchez gave Ari’s father a cruel smile. “You and your family have ruled the Sky Lands for long enough—it’s time for fresh blood. I and the rest of the Chamberlains agree.”
He nodded at the group of men standing with him and I recognized them as the same ones I had seen when Ari’s Drake had first brought me into the palace.
Understanding dawned on me. This wasn’t just a kidnapping or an intervention—it was a coup. Sanchez had convinced some of the other Drakes to back him and he planned to murder the entire Reyes family—even little Jalli—and take the throne for himself.
I felt sick to my stomach. Oh God, how horrible! And what were we going to do?
“Don’t do this!” Ari’s mother looked pale and Jalli, who was chained beside her, had started to cry. “You know you cannot spill innocent blood without incurring bad luck and the wrath of the Goddess. If you kill us all—”
“Oh, we aren’t going to kill you all, Maria,” Sasha Sanchez purred, coming out from behind another one of the huge tables. “We’re going to keep this one.” She pointed at me. “Just as soon as she proves that the Blind Crone’s words are true. You see,” she continued, glaring at Ari’s mom. “That little puta your son chose as his L’lorna got my son shame-marked.”
“Kaitlyn never—” Ari began but Sasha Sanchez didn’t let him finish.
“Look at him!” she shrieked, pulling Pedro forward and pointing to the blue handprint on his cheek. “Look at his face! Do you think any girl will have him now—will want to tame his Drake and be his L’lorna? No!”
“Which is why I’ll be taking your L’lorna, ex-Alpha-to-be,” Pedro snarled, smiling nastily at Ari. “She’s not much to look at, I admit, but if she’s really got a Drake inside her and she’s going to be the mother of a new race, well then, my name will go down in history as the male who bred her!”
“Leave her alone.” Ari’s voice had gone low and deadly now and his eyes were glowing the murderous gold of his Drake. “I swear to the Goddess, Sanchez, if you touch one hair on Kaitlyn’s head I and my Drake will make you pay and pay and pay.”
“Shut up,” the Senior Sanchez said rudely. “Your threats don’t scare us, boy. Your Drake is locked up tight and so is your Sire’s—you’ve got nothing left to bargain with.” He turned to me. “All right, enough talk. Let’s see what you’ve got girl.”