The Onyx Empress - Chapter Fourteen

Author: Milady Dragon

11 June 5310 (Earth Standard Date)

Yanshan Mountains, China

Badaling Section of the Great Wall

Seeing Nathan and Xia lying there, looking so very peaceful, did something to Lisa's heart that felt a little like it was melting.

It was perfectly innocent, she could see that. But it was also cute and spoke more for them being true mates than anything else, that need to just be with the person you're meant to have eternity with. In a split second, Lisa could see them, a glimpse into the future with the one power she hated more than the magic that had been forced onto her by the late and not at all lamented reincarnation of Morgause Gorlois: happy, with children and grandchildren and a home on the world they were going to eventually settle on and a spaceship so they could travel, Nathan showing Xia the stars and them having the eternity they both so deserved.

She wiped the tears that had gathered in her eyes at that vision. Sometimes, her ability to prophesy was a good thing.

They roused, Xia setting aside the black pearl that obviously meant more to her than the rest of her hoard, and together the pair took on their human shapes. "What's going on, Aunt Lisa?" Nathan asked. He held his hand out, and Xia took it, and in that moment they were a united front against the world.

"There's been a…confrontation," she explained as the wards that Merlin had set up around Xia's hoard let them through. She went on to inform them about the government people, but didn't go into a lot of detail. She wanted Xia to make her own decision, despite what Lisa's vision had just showed her. If there was one thing she'd learned, time could be rewritten, and that lesson had come from the Doctor, who was just about the closest one to understanding her ability beyond the Great Dragons, and she trusted his wisdom.

"And I will be expected to decide what I wish to do?" Xia sounded scared, and how could Lisa blame her?

"You'll get both sides," Lisa said.

"Hey." Nathan pulled Xia to a halt, once they were past the slide down into the hoard cavern. He met her frightened eyes. "No matter what you choose, I'll be with you. You aren't going to be alone anymore. I swear it, Xia."

There was a faint rumble under their feet, as if the Earth was sealing the pact that Nathan had just made with his mate. Lisa, knowing the ways of the clan's Pacts and Vows, was certain that it had.

"You…hardly know me, Nathan. I do not wish you to base the rest of your life on what I choose to do."

"Silly," he chided lightly, "my life was yours the moment I recognised you as my mate. And I wouldn't have it any other way."

In one of the romance novels that Lisa would never admit to loving, it would be at this point that the hero and heroine would kiss. That wasn't what happened here, though. Oh, there was a meaningful glance, and for a split second she thought Nathan was going to do it, but he didn't. Instead, he gave her a nod, and together they resumed the trip out of the cave.

Once out in the sunlight, Nathan turned to Xia. "Uncle Gareth says you're not supposed to fly. I'll carry you."

Lisa wanted to make all sorts of noises at how adorable they were. Nathan and Xia might have been older than her, though not by much, but Lisa very much thought of them as younger. After all, she was carrying an entirely different life around in her head, as much as she didn't really want to, and she could recognise that it made her a bit more mature than her physical years.

That decided, Nathan took on his dragon form, holding out a foreleg in order to help Xia climb up onto his back. "This does not work for me," she managed to laugh as she settled herself. "It is not meant for a dragon to ride dragonback."

Nathan twisted his neck around, in order to glare down at her. "You are not flying, and that's final."

"I'd listen to him," Lisa advised as she, too, adopted her dragon form. "Nathan can be impossibly stubborn when it comes to someone he loves."

The smile that graced Xia's pale face was a wonderful thing to behold. "You love me?"

Nathan's own eyes went soft. "I could, you know. I could love you very much."

Damnit, no…Lisa was not going to cry.

Nope.

Oh, who was she kidding?

With a push off from her muscular back legs, the black dragon launched herself into the air, letting the updrafts from the mountains catch under her wings and propel her upward into the sky. Nathan was right beside her, his antlers glowing faintly with the magic that kept him in the air. While her nephew was of mixed heritage, dragon and Margath, that simply didn't explain his dragon form. Gareth had wanted to run some basic DNA regression tests, but both Nathan and Nicole had declined, the twins not at all certain it mattered. This was the way they were, and how they got there didn't matter to them.

Nathan, though… at least he was finally secure in his dragon shape. He really was quite handsome as a dragon, even if it sort of grossed Lisa out to think of her nephew that way. Still, she could appreciate the aesthetics of the Chinese dragon form, and it made a nice change from all of the European dragons that made up the clan.

Of course, there were those who didn't fit into that mould: Nathan and Nicole, Carys, and Bronwyn, who was a feathered dragon from the Central Americas. It had been her birth that had had Tad investigate closer what had happened to that branch of the dragon family, and had eventually led to him discovering the lost clan of the Quetzalin. He was still hoping to get some sort of information on where they might have gone.

All too soon, the camp came into view. Thankfully, the shuttle had been moved; Lisa hadn't wanted to tear someone a new arsehole if they hadn't taken her advice. At least she could rely on Dad to do something if those idiots had refused.

They both set down gently just outside of the camp. Xia clambered down from her perch, very gracefully Lisa thought, and Nathan was back in his human form almost from the moment her feet touched the ground. Lisa followed a split second later, and walked with them toward the gathering that was awaiting them.

Xia was holding Nathan's hand again. It made Lisa smile.

Not so much the Chinese officials who noticed immediately.

The Senior Adjudicator, however, noticed but ignored it, only to give Dad and Tad a slight side-eye, which had them both looking quite smug. Phillip and Clint weren't much better, and Daisy was hanging off Skylar's shoulders and making cooing sounds. Skylar was mortified. Merlin was hiding a smile behind his hand.

"You are Zhu Xia Daiyu?" the Adjudicator asked.

"I am, My Lady." Xia sounded nervous, but then who could blame her? She was about to make a decision that was going to affect the rest of her life, and she wasn't nearly ready.

"I am Senior Adjudicator Asha." She was being gentle, which Lisa appreciated.

"May I enquire…what is an…Adjudicator?" Xia stumbled a little over the word, and Lisa couldn't help but notice that she used the Galactic Standard word and hadn't relied on the translator.

"I suppose you could say I'm a sort of judge, one that travels and mediates disputes wherever I'm needed."

"Ah, I understand. Aunt Lisa says there is a dispute over my fate, and that I need to decide what I wish to do."

The Adjudicator, or course, hadn't missed Xia calling Lisa 'aunt'. She seemed to be amused by it.

Of course, the Chinese official who seemed to be the spokesperson of their group objected. "They are already contaminating her against her own people!" he accused.

Xia stared at him. "Are you a dragon as well?" she sounded sceptical. Bless her heart.

"Certainly not!" the man denied.

"Then you are not my people." With that single sentence, Xia dismissed him from notice.

Tad was trying to stifle the laughter, but Dad didn't even bother, nor did Merlin. Phillip was his usual, stone-faced self, but this pale blue eyes were twinkling. Clint and Daisy were snorting in their own attempt to hide their reaction, and Skylar slapped his sister's palm when she held it up.

"Ms Zhu," Asha began again, once the hilarity – and the anger from the strangers – ended, "I know you've only been awake for a short time, but you're now being asked to make a decision that will affect your future."

Xia was doing her best to hide her discomfiture. She stood up straight, meeting Asha's eyes even though she was blushing shyly. "I understand."

"I am going to ask the Chinese government to speak first."

Apparently, they hadn't volunteered names since Lisa had left, or else the Adjudicator was ignoring it and not giving them the satisfaction of politeness. Lisa got the distinct impression that the Senior Adjudicator was doing this for show, that perhaps she had an idea where this might go. That wouldn't surprise her; she'd seen her brother, Alun, make such leaps when it came to arbitrating a dispute, and he'd been inevitably correct.

The man who was ostensibly in charge took a step forward, after giving Liao a death glare that had Lisa stifling a smile behind her hand. She'd been wondering what had precipitated their arrival: Professor Kong and her impulsive need to get her hands on Xia's hoard; or Liao and his impossible claims of ownership based on the chipped off section of antler that his family had taken while Xia had been sleeping, and now she thought it might have been a combination of both, with Liao being the tipping point with his so-called magical key.

"We have much to offer you," the man began. Lisa couldn't help but notice that he didn't address Xia by any parts of her name. How rude. "We can offer you safety, and security, and a place where you can live without need or care. You will be prized and cherished and want for nothing. You are a symbol to us, and would be treated as the treasure that you are."

Xia had a lost look in her eyes. "That is very much like my life in the Imperial Palace. The Hongzhi Emperor told me that I was important, and gave me anything that I wanted. I did not have a care in the world."

Lisa's heart broke a little for her. Xia had been sheltered and pampered and it hadn't been any sort of way to live. Just from the very short time she'd known her, Xia had proven to have a sharp intelligence, and although she was obviously suffering from having lost all that she'd known, and it would take a lot of time for her to heal. Lisa could tell that if given the chance, Xia would prosper. The worst-case scenario she'd given the Adjudicator had only been because Asha has asked for it. Lisa honestly didn't think that it would apply to the strong, brave dragon who was standing at her nephew's side, his hand still clasped in hers.

Xia had been through so much. And yet, there was she, damaged and hurting but standing up for herself.

Still, there was the very real chance that she might want the old life that she'd had. Even though that life had led to being betrayed and magically entombed underground for so very long.

Every single person under that canopy was watching Xia, and yet she didn't seem to notice. The government stooge was looking smug as he took a step back, as if he was positive of the outcome.

"And who will speak for the Jones clan?" Asha enquired.

For a moment, no one spoke.

But then…

"I will."