Phuong stilled and stopped trying to pull the covers back. She took the dress that Gahariet offered and shimmied into it. It was purple, indigo, and green with hints of blue in several places.
“Who is it?”
“She’s a Yore seer. She foretold that you would come to us. And now that you’re here, she wants to meet you.”
Phuong looked confused. “She knew that I’d be your mate?”
“Yes.” Gahariet could have explained more, but it was a little more complicated than that. “Everybody is fine now, right?”
Phuong and Olivier nodded.
Gahariet went out to the door to bring the Yore seer into the room.
When she got into the room, she immediately got to her knees at the foot of Phuong’s bed.
“Are you okay?” Phuong said. “Gahariet, help her up.”
“I don’t need to be helped up, my queen,” the Yore seer said softly. “I am not quite that old.”
“Queen? I have no crown, no throne. At best I thought that I was a princess.”
“Your parents are gone, my dear. That means that you asce
nded to the throne. You and your brother are quite close in age, but you’re the eldest child. And in Yore culture, it’s an absolute monarchy. It doesn’t matter that he’s a boy. You have the right to the throne.”
The dragon twins looked at each other. What she was talking about was pure treason, but they wanted to hear more.
“My family thought that I had finally gone crazy. I saw that a lost Yore royal would mate with two Draka at the seat of royalty. Such an alliance would change the balance into Yore favor. They said that it seemed too far-fetched. But I knew the whole time that my visions never lied. I’m descended from what should have been the royal advisory. If the Yore still ran this world, I would be on your council as a voice of spiritual guidance.”
“That’s a whole lot to process,” Phuong said weakly.
“She’s a queen?” Gahariet asked. “But she hasn’t had a coronation ceremony.”
“The royal children were lost years ago. We’ve been searching for them for a long time, but the men who killed their parents must have felt merciful towards small children. And now they are full-grown adults. Where is your brother, Phuong?”
“Xuan? He’s in hiding.”
“Now that you’re safe, you can call him out.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Phuong shifted uncomfortably on the bed. “He’s not going to be very happy that I mated two Drakan Thrones.”
“Nonsense,” the seer said. “Perfect nonsense. This is the only way.”
“Well, you are hired now,” Gahariet said. He liked the seer’s style, even though he still didn’t know her name. “You can be Phuong’s personal attendant.” From the smiles on both of their faces, it was a good choice.
36
Empty Bottles
Marc
Marc poured the rest of his current bottle of wine into his glass. There were five empty bottles on the table next to him.
Lucien said, “Snap out of it. Whatever happened, it’s not worth drinking this much booze. Dragon metabolisms are magical, but not that magical. You can still kill your liver. Honestly, you’ve been moping around here for too long.”
“Not long enough. Not if I can still remember.” Marc drained the glass in one gulp.
“If one plan fails, we’ll just try something else.”