Dragon Story

A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts.

\"May I come in, princess?\"

I used my newfound ability to open the door, stepping away from Mourn and Liam by a pace. Gabriel stood on the other side, smiling at me, his female guard beside him.

\"Come in, Gabriel. I am surprised to see you.\"

Gabriel came in, and the door closed behind them. He stepped up to me, kneeling and offering his throat.

\"You have done nothing to offend me.\" I was confused. What was going on?

\"I am offering you my life. I know what happened between you and Deven, and I came here to throw my support with you.\" He placed my hand on his throat. I didn\'t squeeze, just let my hand rest there, thinking about what he was saying. \"You are my queen.\"

I dropped my hand. \"I am not queen, not yet, at least.\"

Gabriel stood up, kissing the back of my hand. \"There is a lot about dragon politics you do not know, Angela. In short, I obey you, not Deven, not Mallory. I obey Stephen because I still respect him. You need people on your side, Angela, or you be destroyed.\"

Gabriel\'s bodyguard came up then, unholstering her gun and laying it at my feet. Gabriel stepped back to give her room. \"I also offer my life.\" She offered the long line of her neck. I placed my fingers over her throat and let her go. \"I am his bodyguard, but I am your servant. You are my queen.\"

I nodded at her. \"Thank you.\" I looked over her head at Gabriel. \"Won\'t my uncle be pissed?\"

\"Her name is Adrienana. Let her rise, and then let us sit, so I may explain some of how the court works.\"

\"You may rise, Adrienana.\"

Adrienana rose, and we all took seats. The front room was quite spacious, and there were more than enough seats for everybody. I wound up on the couch with Mourn and Liam on either side of me. Gabriel took a seat in a high backed chair, and so did Adrienana.
\"The council is on your side, as I am sure you are aware, but they do not like to be. There are many lords and ladies here, but there are also many more you have not met, who reside in England. When you take the throne, you need as many of them on your side. Deven and Mallory both have their supporters, as they have been pretty much tied for the throne. If you had not come along, it would have been a bloodbath, because Mallory would inherit the throne, being female, and Deven, since he has the backing of many, would fight to get her off, because the only reason she would be on it was because she\'s female. Otherwise it would fall to whoever had more supporters.\"

\"Who did you support, then?\"

Gabriel smiled. \"No one. I was one of the ones who pressed for you. I am not council, but I have openly supported finding you and making you queen.\"

\"Why?\"

\"Because I know that Mallory is weak and Deven a sadist. You know nothing of us, I know, but I had hopes. Hopes that you could learn, or at least, bear us a daughter and keep Mallory and Deven from the throne.\"

\"Oh.\" I frowned. This was a lot to digest in a few days, though some of it wasn\'t exactly new. And I had even more to learn. Damn. \"What about my uncle? Shouldn\'t you wait to swear your loyalty to me until he dies?\"

\"You need supporters, Angela. Any new king or queen would.\" He sighed. \"The dragons work like this. When a ruler is coming to the point where she is sick, or too old to keep the throne, the lords and ladies decide who they will support. Most will usually support the heir. There are always those who won\'t. But, when an heir has the minority of supporters, it weakens her power base, and she usually winds up being assassinated. The king is pressing to find you supporters. He let his closest advisor go back to England to find as many for you as he could. Luckily most of the council supports you already.\"
I shifted on the seat. \"This is a lot to digest.\"

\"I know.\" Gabriel smiled. \"It gets better. Once the king dies and you become queen, the other dragon races will come to assess you. As will the sidhe. The sidhe...I will not get into where they stand with us right now. Suffice if to say that we have a long standing love-hate relationship with them.\"

\"Oh.\" I worried my lower lip. \"How many other dragon races are there?\"

\"There are the Japanese dragons, the Chinese, the Korean, and a few others, but those are the biggest ones.\" He shook his head. \"Luckily, at the moment, you don\'t need to know about them. What my king doesn\'t bother to tell you, I will fill you in on. You don\'t need to worry about lack of knowledge that way.\"

\"Thank you.\"

Gabriel smiled. \"You are most welcome.\"

\"What else do I need to know?\"

\"A lot, but I have only one more thing for today. I have been talking with some of the other lords, and, while they might not officially change their stance, they are willing to be open and see what you can do. Hoard your power, and learn what you can, because the more impressed they are, the more likely it is you can change them.\" Gabriel stood. \"I must be going, but I look forward to seeing you again.\" He picked up the back of my hand and kissed my knuckles. I smiled.

\"Thank you, for everything, Gabriel. I appreciate it.\"

He smiled. \"You don\'t know how useful it us to have an ally, Angela. I might just prove to be more useful than you think.\" With a wink, he kissed my hand one last time and left with Adrienana.

\"That...is a lot to take in. And I thought human politics are bad.\"

Mourn snorted. \"Human politics are down right insulting. True politics is a game that must be played carefully.\" He smiled and stood. \"Which reminds me, we really need to get you a new wardrobe.\"

\"Okay. But, who do we...\"

He shushed me and flashed a credit card. \"One of the guards gave it to me as he was leaving. So, shall we leave?\"