“Ah.”
“I heard you. Scented you.” Sol finally glances down at me. “I’ll answer your questions tonight if you’d like.”
I don’t know whether to try to melt into the ground or make excuses or maybe just expire on the spot. The path ends before I decide. There’s a cozy courtyard tiled with the same stone that the path is and even more glowing flowers around its perimeter. The trees seem to arch over the space a little, framing the full moon overhead. In the center, sits a square table with two chairs—a backless one for him and tall one with arms for me. Several candelabras give a bit more light to see by.
My chair is tall enough that I have to hop to get into it, and I think I hear a hissing laugh, but when I look, Sol’s expression is carefully blank. “Do you have a lot of human visitors here?”
“You’re the first in a very long time.” He scoots in my chair and moves around the table to take his seat. “Azazel and his people keep their contracted humans close, so if one wants to, ah, sample their charms, one must travel to him. It pleases him to have us coming begging for the pleasure.”
I don’t know how I feel about that, so I set it aside. “Is it a fetish thing? The reason you want humans?” I press my hands to the table to keep from slapping them over my mouth. He said I could ask my questions. I will not be sorry for doing it.
I just might die of embarrassment in the process.
“No.” He clears his throat. “I accepted Azazel’s invitation the first time because I was curious, but that’s not the reason I attended the auction, and it’s not the reason I married you.”
I recognize some of the food on the table from meals I’ve eaten previously and spoon a few of the dishes onto my plate. The goblet is filled with a spiced wine I find really pleasant. I take a quick sip. “Why did you marry me, Sol? I deserve to know the full truth, don’t you think? Why not marry another dragon? I’m sure it would be less of a tightrope than we’ve been walking the last couple days.” Bold. So bold. My heart races in a rhythm I can feel in my temples. It’s a question, but it feels like a challenge, and experience says challenging men is dangerous.
Either I am safe with Sol, or I am not. My actions have nothing to do with it. His do.
He sits back and picks up his goblet, which is when I realize that, like the chair, mine has been sized to me. Because his fits perfectly in the palm of his hand. He studies me. “I originally intended to do exactly that. I was courting with the intent to marry, but my parents stepped in.” He doesn’t make me ask for clarification. “They had bigger plans for me than my individual happiness, and while I resented that for a time, in the end they were right. A leader’s responsibility is to their people, not themselves.”
I don’t know how to parse out the history from those few sentences. “But why is a human so necessary?”
“I’m knowledgeable about my people’s history, but I’m hardly an expert on biology, so forgive me if my explanation leaves something to be desired.” He sips his drink, somehow making it look perfectly natural despite his non-human jaws. “There’s something about the biology or the inherent something of humans that makes you excellent conductors for magic, even if full humans don’t possess it themselves.”
A shiver works through my body, and I have to set down my drink. “So you’re going to, what, experiment on me?” I’m proud of myself. The sentence comes out calm and unruffled.
“What? Of course not.” His crest flares in obvious agitation. “I’m making a mess of this. No, let me back up and start at the beginning.”
“Please do.” I think I’m shaking, but I can’t quite be sure. Of all the explanations I expected, this seems the most outlandish. Humans are conductors? What does that even mean?
Sol shakes his head, and his crest eases a little. “Our realm is steeped in magic, and the territories are linked to their individual leaders. The strength of the leader—and their magic—directly influences the strength of the territory’s magic and the well-being of its people.”
“Okay,” I say slowly. It boggles my mind, but that’s easy enough to follow. “Where do humans come into this?” I will reserve judgment until he finishes his explanation. I will.
“At some point in the distant past, it was discovered that breeding with humans boosted that magic. It was at a time when travel between the realms was more widespread. So we intermingled with humans, and that’s partly why we all look the way we do now. But then the realms closed to each other, except for the bargainer demons, and each following generation became a little weaker, a little less magical.”