DPOV

She will be the death of me yet. I can't believe I agreed to just take it a day at a time. That was a bad strategy, certainly for someone that had always planned everything in meticulous detail.

Rose had left to head back to Lissa with some rare ingredient I had lying around. She said Lissa didn't have anything planned for Sunday so that she would be back then. I was already looking forward to it.

After she left I had a nice long bath, I moved towards the library and was reminded of Rose's presence here. The books were still all across the floor. I picked them up one by one and placed them back into the bookcase in their respective places. What had she been searching for?

When I had walked in, I had seen markings on her wrists and neck. Was she researching them? She wouldn't find any reference to those in these books. These were human books with human knowledge. My Dragon library was located at the back of the dome, and Rose hadn't been there yet. I was deliberately keeping her away from there because me crashing here as a Dragon from time to time was a lot easier to explain than me having a Dragon library.

The markings on her wrists and neck were ancient Dragon sorcery. I didn't understand what they meant and why Rose would have them, but I knew it was definitely strange for a human to carry around Dragon sorcery. I had seen the markings and was glad I could remember enough of it to write them down. I couldn't read the ancient language of magic, but I had seen enough over the years from my grandmother, to have a feel for the symbols and remember them accurately.

And if somebody knew what was going on it would be Yeva. I decided I would have to talk to the old bat.

As I was flying back the distance to the palace, I was thinking over my interaction with Rose in the library. On the one hand, I was glad Rose hadn't confided in me about the marks, because then I wouldn't have to lie, denying I knew they were of Dragon origin. But on the other hand, I was a little pissed off she hadn't confided in me. I briefly wondered if she would have confided in the Dragon form of me. She had confided about her mother to him, but there was no mention of her to me. Maybe I was reading too much into this? Maybe she had already gotten it off her chest when she talked to the Dragon and felt no need to discuss it further.

I landed in the middle of the courtyard, and people seemed to be a little surprised to see me. It is unusual for me to make trips here so often. But I paid them little mind. I needed to get to my grandmother's chamber.

I was nearing her chamber that was attached to my mothers. I heard voices coming from inside. I wondered if I should give them some privacy, but once I heard his voice and recognized him, I decided to come in and see what this was about.

"You said the spell would keep her hidden."

My grandmother was about to reply when I walked in.

My grandmother looked up from her position on the rock but didn't seem surprised to see me. Her conversation partner, on the other hand, was surprised by my presence and I could see anger flash across his face.

I knew my grandmother had dealings with pretty much everybody, so I shouldn't be surprised to find him here. But I was surprised because Zmey, or Ibrahim the Shrewd as he was officially called, didn't ask for help from anybody. He was the person that people came to when they needed something done. In a way, he and my grandmother were rivals. Both had vast resources to get things done, and both were respected and feared amongst their clients. But where my grandmother's resources consisted of magic and knowledge, Zmey's resources included money, contacts and everything shady. I was a little surprised to see none of his goons here with him. He always had a guard with him. But I suppose that whatever he was discussing with Yeva, he didn't want anybody to hear. And by the dangerous look in his eyes, that included me.

The Dragon itself didn't seem that scary. His black scales and dark eyes were a stark contrast to the gaudy jewelry he wore. Most Dragons didn't wear anything, sometimes females would wear a ring or a necklace, but Zmey always wore some bright ring around his talon to show his wealth and perhaps to give off the message that he just didn't care. He was a lot smaller than me, but still average for a Dragon.

I stood a little taller as to assert as much dominance over him as I could, but Zmey just narrowed his eyes further at me. He wasn't impressed, which was actually impressive, because everybody in their right mind would be afraid of me and my skills and he wasn't. Then again, anybody in their right mind would be afraid of Ibrahim the Shrewd, and I wasn't, so I guess that made us even.

"Yeva, always a pleasure, I see you have company, so we will discuss this business another time."

He inclined his head towards her in a rare show of respect as he exited the door.

"You have dealings with Zmey?" I turned towards my grandmother with my claws crossed.

She just shrugged.

"I have dealings with everyone."

"Well, now you have dealings with me. I need some information about an ancient spell."

I handed her the sketch of the markings I had seen on Rose. She looked down at the paper and raised an eyebrow at me

"Where did you see this?"

"Does it matter?"

Her eyes narrowed, and she swung her tail at my chest again. I didn't understand how an old woman could slash her tail so fast that a highly trained warrior couldn't defend against it. I claimed it magic; it had to be.

"Of course it matters, knowledge is power. Have I taught you nothing boy?"

I tried very hard not to roll my eyes, and my face actually strained to remain impassive.

"I have seen these markings on Rose, they're on her wrists and neck and probably more places."

"When did you see them?"

"She came over earlier today. She was standing near the fire in the library."

She looked down at the paper again, but I had seen she recognized these markings.

"This is a binding spell. It binds Dragon magic."

I looked confused now. I took the paper from my grandmother again and looked to see if maybe I had remembered the markings wrong. But as I stared down at the paper I could clearly visualize the marking on her skin, and these were an exact match.

"Why would a Dragon binding spell be cast on a human?"

That made my grandmother smile.

"It wouldn't."

So somebody messed up? They cast it on the wrong person? Was she at the wrong place at the wrong time? She did have a knack for that. Maybe that was why the Black Dragon had been watching her? Maybe a spell went wrong, and he just wanted to observe the effects and make sure there wasn't any damage to her.

"Can you tell me who can cast these kinds of spells?"

Her smile only grew wider, showing her fangs. She knew something; she was just mocking me, trying to make me find out on my own.

"There aren't many people who can cast spells like that. This particular spell can only be cast by one person."

"Who?"

Now she was grinning from ear to ear.

"Me!"

She sounded way too cheerful which was scary in and of itself.

"Why would you cast this spell on Rose?"

I was thoroughly confused. My grandmother knew Rose? What did she know about her that I didn't? Rose didn't know anything about the markings because first of all she was looking for answers she clearly didn't have, and she was looking in the wrong place.

"All in due time, boy."

I just gawked at her. She wasn't going to say anything. But this thing with Rose just kept getting more complicated. Could this be tied to her fast healing?

I stormed out of there and went to my chambers. When my grandmother didn't want to talk, she wouldn't talk. I just hoped she would reveal her secrets before she met our ancestors in the afterlife.

My mind was reeling from this new revelation, and a thousand different scenarios were running through my head as to what was going on with Rose. But no matter how I thought about it, the correct answer seemed to elude me.

I must have been staring at the ceiling for some time, lost in thought, because Christian cleared his throat, standing only a few feet away. I hadn't even heard him come in.

"What are you doing here again so soon? You don't seem the type to just come here to brood and look at the ceiling."

I sat up from the plateau carved into the cave wall that functioned as a bed.

"I had some dealings with my grandmother."

Christian's snout contorted into a grimace.

"Now, I know you aren't stupid enough to actually have dealings with your grandmother, favorite grandchild or not, she will still demand payment, and I am sure that is not something you want to part with."

I chuckled. Yes, my grandmother had a tendency to ask for strange items and things as payment. People would usually agree to pay 'anything' for help from my grandmother. They all assume she wants money and that 'anything' just means an absurd amount of it. But Yeva tended to ask for other things of value. Some things were physical items, but others were immaterial. Information, your ability to see color, I even heard she asked one Dragon to be celibate for the rest of his life. God knows what she could do with it, but I learned early on to agree to a price of a bargain before I negotiated the bargain itself. I briefly wondered what Zmey paid.

"No, I am not stupid enough to bargain with my grandmother, I just needed information. But she was frustratingly silent on the matter."

At least I wasn't stupid enough to bargain with her yet. The more I was drawn to Rose, the more I was considering asking her about the longevity spell. But every time I entertained the idea, I quickly dismissed it. Christian was right, the price would be high, and Rose wouldn't leave Lissa anyway.

He sat down next to me.

"I also saw Zmey with my grandmother."

Christian leaned back on his haunches and touched his claw to his face.

"Like sitting in a circle mocking all the stupid deals their clients made with them. I can totally see them doing that."

I laughed. Yeah, I could too. For some reason, those two were peas in a pod.

"No, he seemed to have business with my grandmother."

"Zmey?"

I nodded.

"The serpent?"

I nodded again.

"Ibrahim the Shrewd, asking somebody else for help?"

I sighed but nodded.

"I wonder what he wanted?"

"He said something about a spell keeping her hidden. But he stopped talking the moment I entered the room."

"So is that what has you so worried? I know Zmey is a dangerous man, but he is fair. I don't think you need to worry about your grandmother."

I laughed.

"Oh, I wasn't worried about Yeva. If anything I think Zmey would lose that battle."

"Then what has the great General Dimitri so distracted that he didn't hear someone come in?"

I sighed deeply and looked at the ceiling again. I don't know what kind of look I had in my eyes that gave me away, but Christian seemed to have picked up on the accurate truth.

"Not this girl again. She is getting under your skin too much."

I laughed a half bitter laugh. He had no idea.

"I kissed her."

Christian's mouth fell open.

"Well technically she kissed me, but I reciprocated. And it wasn't just one time."

"Did you sleep with her?"

I looked over to him to see if he was serious and to calculate how fast I could deck him if he said anything inappropriate.

"No, she is innocent in that sort of thing."

I smiled a little at how flustered she had looked when she had read the books from the knight. Now they were well-written books, and the story was compelling, but I would hardly think that kind of description would warrant such a heated response from her. It showcased her inexperience.

Christian just laughed.

"You can't sleep with a human virgin; you will break her in half. Most experienced human women have a hard time accommodating a Dragon."

I actually never thought about it like that. Dragon's did tend to be larger than human males and a lot stronger. It could cause some difficulties with human women, although most of them never wanted anything else but a Dragon after that. Not that they knew we were Dragons, but still.

I never thought that I could hurt Rose in such a way. I doubt I would. We could just take it slow, experiment with each other's bodies, find out what she likes and doesn't like. I would make her ready for me before I would bury myself inside of her.

"Dude, stop thinking about how you are going to fuck her."

I looked up at Christian. Damn, I needed to work on my stern face. I swear I never had a problem with that before.

"Look I am not saying you can't have a little fun with her. God knows every Dragon has had a human, but getting attached to her like this, thinking about her like you are doing isn't going to lead to anything good."

I ran my claws across my horns. I knew this. Of course, I knew this.

"It isn't like that. I know there is no future with her. She knows it too. We both have responsibilities we cannot leave behind, but that doesn't mean I am ready to let her go just yet. Even if it is only for a little while, I want to experience more of her."

He shook his head.

"You are in deep. Way too deep. Maybe you should ask your grandmother to make you an anti-love spell. Might be your only hope now…By the way, I wasn't here on a social call. You have been summoned by Queen Tatiana."

I groaned.

"She thought if she sent you, I wouldn't kill the messenger?"

He chuckled and put his hands up in surrender.

"I know you have been blowing her off and if you do it this time, not only will she be pissed at you, she will also be pissed at me."

I rolled my eyes and stood up.

"Fine. Let's get this over with."

I followed Christian towards the large throne room. Each reigning Monarch had sat in this room since its construction thousands of years ago. The room had incredibly high ceilings, and the construction was a true work of art that must have cost stone masons decades if not centuries to accomplish. How the structure hadn't collapsed under the weight of the mountain, I didn't understand. There was a single hole in the ceiling that let in natural light, and it shone directly on the throne and on our Queen, making her look angelic and innocent.

Both couldn't be further from the truth.

Tatiana the Regal had earned her name well, and it had nothing to do with her actually being Queen. She had earned the name when she was still a princess and had ordered the death of a traitor. Now the call had been just, and treason is punishable by death, but usually, the sentence would be carried out in the dungeons, by an executioner. But Tatiana had wanted to make an example and had taken off his head herself. And while decapitating this Dragon, the small polite smile had stayed on her face, and her form had remained graceful, and even the blood splatter on her scales or the last screams of this Dragon could not move her to be anything less than Regal.

She stood up from her throne and waited for me to be near enough to outstretch her claws in a rare show of familial affection. She kissed the air on either side of my snout and pulled back.

"Dimitri, my nephew, what a pleasure you could finally join me for a chat."

I retreated slightly and bowed my head in etiquette.

"I apologize, my Queen, I have been rather busy, and I was under the impression we had discussed all important matters only a few weeks ago."

I didn't hide the fact that I thought my visit here was an utter waste of time.

Tatiana moved for me to rise.

"Oh, none of that here. We are family after all."

"Oh really, could have fooled me."

I saw her eyes darken a bit in anger, but also in regret and perhaps a bit of shame.

"I never wanted things to end as they did. But your father wasn't fit to take the throne. At the time you and your sister were too young to decide anything, so I made the decision to appoint Nathan and subsequently Adrian my heir. Now you know I have no intention of letting Nathan rule, but I am sure Adrian will make a fine King… and for what it is worth, I thought you or your sister would have made a fine monarch as well."

She thought our animosity came from the fact that we were passed over as heir to the throne. I had no interest in the throne, and I knew Karolina or Sonya had even fewer aspirations to that end. Viktoria was simply too young to want anything. Actually, losing our position as next in line for the throne had been the only good thing to come out of the mess with my father. I actually thought that Adrian would make a decent King. Adrian the Charming was able to convince a lot of people of a lot of things, he could handle the diplomatic side of this a lot better than I could. The boy had no knowledge of military strategies, but he had me for that. I knew that once Adrian was on the throne, I would take over most of the military aspects. Adrian and I had discussed it on many occasions and we have a plan. Hopefully, we don't have to think about that for a long time. Tatiana still had a century or two to go before she would even be thinking of retiring.

No, it had nothing to do with being bumped down the list of next in line. It had to do with the fact that after I kicked my father out of the palace and Tatiana disowned him, she practically disowned us too. My mother was shunned by other Royals, because she was low-born, and considered weak for letting Randall claim her without her consent. My sisters were considered damaged goods, and I was judged as my father's son. I only regained some of my good name through the military. And Tatiana and Nathan had stood by and let it happen.

And here she was wondering why I wasn't greeting her as my aunt.

I simply nodded at her comment, cursing the little bit of satisfaction I felt from her approval.

"So what is it you called me in for?"

Her gaze darkened and I knew this wasn't just one of her obsessive compulsive tendencies to know the status of each of my troops.

"The Snow Dragons are moving closer to the border. There have been reports that they are banding together. There was a town not far from the border completely massacred. Thank the Gods, it was only a human town, but I don't like the fact that they seem to be organizing."

I almost rolled my eyes at her comment about humans. Although I hadn't had any particular love for them before Rose, I never thought they were insignificant. They deserved to live in peace and safety just as much as we did.

I looked over the report about the Snow Dragons close to the border. The report was detailed and outlined exactly what they found. This wasn't something done by a handful of them, they had indeed banded together and attacked this village. But why? As provocation towards us? As a show of power? They were getting bolder and bolder.

Normally Snow Dragons were too violent to do anything together. They would turn on each other before they could harm us. Any infractions that occurred on our side of the border were dealt with. Snow Dragons were stronger than us, but our superior military force had always been able to keep our villages safe.

"We need to be ready, Dimitri, we need to be ready to crush them if they decide to come over. Please tell me we have enough force to defend our lands."

I looked down at the map. Tatiana's Kingdom was vast and outstretched. The entire northern territories bordered with the Snow lands where the Snow Dragons lived.

"We have enough manpower, that isn't the problem. The problem is distributing them. Snow Dragons won't attack in a full army. Maybe it would have been better if they did. To be able to cover the entire border we would have to spread my men too thinly. We need superior manpower and skilled warriors to take them down effectively."

Tatiana didn't seem to like my answer, but she wasn't surprised to hear it.

"Do I need to evacuate Dragon families from that region?"

I looked down to the map again.

"Where are the nearest Dragons located?"

She pointed to a mountain range a little bit inland. I doubt those families would be in immediate danger, but we had a choice to make. Not evacuating them could put them in danger, but evacuating them could cause panic. That kind of mayhem and chaos would provide the Snow Dragons with perfect opportunity to attack. It was a hard decision, but I told Tatiana not to evacuate them.

"And any human towns?"

She looked a little funny but pointed out the human villages none the less.

"Any of them have strategic value in terms of trade?"

She shook her head. The lands to the north were pretty bare, so these villages were poor and didn't have much we wanted to trade.

I saw the only town that would have been an easy target was the town they'd already destroyed. They knew if they ventured any further and crossed the border they would essentially be declaring war.

"I'll send scouts to survey the area and keep a close eye on any movement. I'll send out the order to prepare to mobilize at any moment. But for now, we wait. I don't want to start a war I don't have to."

I wouldn't want to start a war I wasn't sure we could win.