Rhae

Helion was kind enough to knock on her bedroom door, not that she got much sleep. Her mind had drifted in the darkness, warping the walls of her new cage to match those of The Prison.

Her mind had grown quiet, not a calm stillness but a dry deadness, borne of grief and fear. It must have been her conversation with Helion last night, it had the thought of children on her mind. All her children. Dead and alive.

In truth, she could no longer remember their names. Had probably never held them long enough to name them anyways. She couldn't think about that time of her life. Not willingly at least. Though her mind had decided for her long ago, she could remember little of her years in slavery. Not through the fog of a broken mind.

Breeding camps. The Lord of Summer at the time had come up with the idea. The others had been happy to train and break the dragons themselves. The Night Court had been happy to experiment on them, the one time in history that Night and Autumn had worked together. To warp the dragons and create Wyverns. It was summer who created the waterdown breed of Drakes, smaller, weak creatures with little intelligence to their name.

But they had kept the strongest dragon, the strongest they could control at least. They had been smart enough to cull the dragons, leading them to traps and using the creatures that were once the apex predators of this world to hunt the wings of fire.

Rhaemarys may have been a legionnaire, or perhaps a captain or lieutenant not that the difference mattered anymore. But she wasn't the strongest, wasn't even fully grown when they had captured her troops.

They had separated them into groups, kept them trapped in the illyrian mountains, clipped their wings so they could never fly away and bastardised the old averies there. She had been tempted many times to ask Rhys for permission but she had never decided if she wanted leave to raze those places to the group or– or rebuild them. Bring them back to their former beauty and glory.

Could she erase history or write it over?

Or leave those dark places as a reminder. Unless the Illyrians had taken them over, turned them into compounds and training grounds. What if there were still bodies there? Dragon bones were metal after all. What if she had to look at the carcasses of her legion? The stone cold eggs trapped in the broken hearths.

Her children had been taken from her as eggs. They were smart enough to wait till she was sleeping, or maybe they drugged her food. Either way, she went to sleep one night, curled around them as she had been for months, and when she awoke they were gone.

The panic still clings to her thoughts. The fear that had clenched her heart, crushed her lungs until she was gasping and hysterical, spitting fire and roaring at the world. They had been so close to hatching, she had been so excited to meet them. In some way she had forgotten where she was, having fixated on her children to escape the horror she lived in. It was naive of her. Childish to let her mind wander with fantasies and dreams.

She couldn't do the same this time. Couldn't risk ever being that weak. She had all but let them take her children, and hadn't even fought back. Complacent and barely capable of human thought. Clearly being trapped in her other form had started to affect her thoughts. Reducing her to base instincts.

Not this time. Not with this queen and these lords. She wouldn't let them have power. They didn't deserve it. The courts had truly been damaged under the queens rule. Vivian had updated her on the status of the courts. Many had grown into darker places, the illyrians running rampant, the Autumn gentiles starving the lower classes, not to mention the library sackings in Day.

It would take a lot to get the courts back to full strength. Which unfortunately meant reinstating the high lords as she could not be in so many places at once. But oh she would take great pleasure in watching them like hawks, waiting for them to slip up.

Not when there was so much at risk. A war breaking out on the horizon and the humans — her girls — would be caught in the crossfire. They would be defenceless, it was only thanks to the wall that the thin strip of human land had remained unconquered. Without the wall they would be razed to the ground.

Hybern was thirsty for blood and power. He wanted an empire. She remembered that king, he was young — only a prince — when she knew him. Hybern had been with the Courts during the Fire Ages. Trapping dragons and using them to build their empires. Each court had owned a part of Pryrhian. Used it as a capital, a place to rule from and govern over the various realms they held territories in.

Those realms now belonged to the humans. Hybern would seek to take them back. Even the score and reset the balance. The humans owned too much land. They had backed the fae into their own little island. Rhae couldn't help but wonder how much magic was left in those lands. If they were still haunted by creatures of magic, if they still had their human warlocks and witches. Their alchemists working away in laboratories and their huntsmen wielding ash arrows.

Her daughters certainly hadn't benefited from the human realms. They were ruled by queens who paid them no mind. Who acted like the territory already belonged to the fae. They had been left and abandoned to the dark creatures of Spring that crossed their borders.

Which is the thought left on her mind as she stalks through the halls. Following a cowering servant who is taking her to the queen's chambers

The bedroom doors connecting to the living and dinning space are once again left open. She can see Rhys stalking naked towards what is no doubt the bathroom. He doesn't look at her, even though the servant announced her presence. Her stomach twists. How ashamed he must feel, how humiliated to have her see him like this.

With a soft yawn the auburn haired queen pads into the room. Wrapping a black silk gown around her body as she makes little effort to drag her hands through her knotted hair.

"Did you enjoy my gift?" Amaranth asks, moving to pouring two glasses of wine.

"Not yet."

"Was he not to your liking?" She arched a manicured brow, sharp black nails clicking against the glass that she places before Rhaemarys. "I'm sure we can find someone more suitable, a female if you prefer."

Rhae smirks, eyeing the queen meaningfully as she folds herself into a dining chair.

"Perhaps," she drawls, enjoying the way Amarantha's eyes narrow. "Though dragons may be closer to their instincts we are not ruled by them in this form. I won't indulge in the first pretty face you present me with— I'm not desperate."

"And your other form? What does its instincts demand?"

"I would have burnt this city to the ground and made a nest from your people's bones."

The words are said so casually that even the queen blinks in surprise, before a laugh falls from her lips.

"I quite like you."

Rhae feels herself frown, unable to stop her brows from scrunching. "That was not my intention..." a pause as she tilts her head. "Thank you?"

"Your people skills are rusty." The queen jests, sipping from her wine. "I find it amusing but others may not."

Rhae sighs, irritated that she could no longer hold her own in a diplomatic conversation.

"Then may I be blunt?"

The queen smirks, amused. "I do not think you know any other way."

She inhaled, pushing down the petulant urge to hiss. "I want a place here, freedom to nest in this mountain, hunt wherever I please, play courtier when I want, fuck who I want and kill who I want..." Rhae inclines her head. "Within reason."

Amarantha leans back in her chair, arms folded in her laps.

"In return I will join your war, and any further fights and skirmishes of my choosing."

"I thought dragons were protectors."

"And creatures of war. We were divided in two but it was your people who pushed us into the fires of death."

"So you would work for me."

"No." Rhae shakes her head ruefully, tilting her head as she tries to formulate her next words. "I cannot promise fae morals. I am a dragon in fae skin, your majesty. There will be times when I disappear for months, even years on end. Perhaps on a hunt, maybe to spend time flying or even to just slumber."

She has the queen's attention, she's considering her requests— demands — at least.

"Dragons are uncontrollable. Sure, your people remained in control of us for a fraction of time but we decimated your entire world within a matter of months."

Tens of years was worth nothing to creatures that loved a millennium. Time was a funny thing for dragons, for they barely felt it's passing yet they could be so easily consumed by emotions and memories.

"So what? You threaten my rule with ruin and expect me to bow over." The Queen all but hisses, eyes dark as she leans forward in her chair. "I can't imagine you are that socially inept."

"Nor can I picture you being naive to the truth." She snarls, "Don't play coy, your majesty. We both know you didn't take power by being flippant and quick to anger. Where has your cunning mind gone?"

And just like that the rageful expression smoothed to a calm bemusement. How much control this woman has. Not at all out of control or impulsive. Granted she can be, but how much of it is an act of madness she's putting on?

"You make a fair point." The queen concedes, not at all sounding like it's a concession. "But we both know I'm going to need more from that deal."

As Rhae had suspected.

"If I summon you to fight, you must."

"I'm not a mercenary."

"But you want to fight in wars?" Amarantha countered, shrugging slightly in dismissal. "Why not let me call for you when there is one."

"I willingly fight in wars," Rhae narrowed her eyes, not liking the queen having control over when and who she fought. "I will allow you to call upon me for aid but I will not be summoned by anyone," The queen looks close to irritation so Rhae adds. "Bloodlust is an easy thing to succumb to, I will not shy away from a fight but I need the freedom to decide which fights are worth the risk.... Wouldn't want any rogue dragons on our hands."

"More threats." The queen taunted, "I'm not liking this debate."

Rhae remained silent, knowing she was playing into the Queen's hand somehow. That she knew something Rhae didn't.

"You nest here, this mountain is your home and where any potential... offspring will be raised." Amarantha clasped her hands together, chin raising up. "I will help you rebuild your people, carve out a stretch of land once you have grown in numbers for you to live in. Our two species would work together."

"You want an army of fire breathing drakes at your command." Rhaemarys had gone quiet, too quiet and it was only the High Lord of the Night Court stepping into the room that stopped her from saying something she would regret.

"I want allies." She gestured to the Lord, signalling for him to conjure up an impressive breakfast. "A fellow nation at my side, one with a similar cause."

"Cause?"

"Restoring the old ways," And Rhae's heart skipped a beat. It would truly be a sight to have her world back. "Maintaining the natural order of things."

"I will rebuild my people..."

"And I will have a fellow queen at my side."

A/N: Rhys and Rhaemarys scene coming up soon. What would you like to seem them discuss or do?