“They could become really powerful and dangerous.” Avelyn turned to Max. “And you told all these things to the Council?”
“Yes.”
Viggo took a sip of champagne and cleared his throat to get their attention. “Truth is… if the werefoxes learn how to use their tails to produce jolts of electricity and control lightning, not even the weredragons can stand in their way.”
“Hmm… don’t you happen to have some magic of your own?” asked Avelyn.
Viggo raised an eyebrow and gave her a wicked smile. She was clever, he had to give her that. “Maybe we do, maybe we don’t. You see, nature has a way of balancing things out. Dragons can live for thousands of years, and this makes us wise and powerful. Foxes, however, have the shortest life span. They only live around 200-250 years. But, if they use their time well, then they can become extremely dangerous to all the other shape-shifters who live longer than them.”
“It does make sense…” Avelyn made a note to herself: she had to start reading as much as possible about all the shape-shifters in the world. There were hundreds of therianthropology studies, old and new, covering many aspects of the shape-shifters’ origins, traditions, culture, and specific abilities. There were even some which claimed there might be more than five types of shape-shifters. Now, that was an interesting topic.
“Nonetheless, we’ve got what we wanted,” said Max. “We’ve revealed their plan, and the Council is going to make sure the werefoxes never become numerous and powerful enough to afford challenging the peace treaty.”
“Why would they even want to do something like that?” asked Avelyn.
“We don’t know yet,” said Jocelyn. “We have some theories, but it’s impossible to know for sure.”
“If I had spent a bit more time in Alaska, maybe we would have known now…” Karl shrugged his shoulders and finished his glass of champagne. Yes, many things would have been different now if Sabine hadn’t decided to carry out her vendetta against Clan Blackmane. They would have known more about the werefoxes’ plans, they would have still been Voinom’s advisers, many Crescents, Moon Children, and Dark Wolves wouldn’t have died… But there was no point in thinking about the past. Yes, they had all taken a huge blow, but they were strong and united. Together, they could start over and build on what they still had. “I’m going to get another glass of champagne,” he said, snapping everyone out of their thoughts.
Max asked Avelyn if she’d like to meet some of his friends and work partners, and she accepted. It was time for Avelyn Blackmane to make her entrance in her husband’s world.
***
She tried to keep the smile on her face and make light conversation with the people in front of her, but she couldn’t focus. Her eyes would search the crowd for Viggo’s blond head and golden eyes. Finally, she spotted him a few feet away from her, talking to Councilor Christian Kwahu. She turned back to the petite brunette who kept going on and on about some dress she saw at the mall and wanted to buy, nodded although she had no idea what the woman had said in the past five minutes, then tried to find the perfect moment to excuse herself. The woman smiled pleasantly, although Avelyn was sure she didn’t appreciate being interrupted, much less being left like that, before she even had the chance to finish her story. But Avelyn didn’t care. She just needed to ask Viggo some questions, and she had been trying to catch him alone for what felt like hours. He still wasn’t alone, but at least the eagle councilor was a nice guy.
“Excuse me, I’m so sorry to interrupt you,” she said, offering Christian and Viggo her most beautiful smile.
“Oh, Mrs. Blackmane! Good evening! It’s such a pleasure to see you again!” Christian kissed her hand. He looked genuinely pleased to see her.
“Hello, Mr. Kwahu. The pleasure is mine. How are you?”
“I’m fine. Thank you for asking. A bit tired after the meeting today, but I couldn’t possibly miss this wonderful party.”
They exchanged a couple more pleasantries, then the councilor got the hint that Avelyn actually wanted to speak to the dragon-shifter. He excused himself, telling them he had some people to say “hello” to. He wasn’t lying either. As a councilor, he rarely had any time to breathe and simply enjoy his wine or champa
gne.
“He’s a great fellow, don’t you think?” Viggo offered Avelyn his arm. He had a good idea about what she wanted to ask him, so he thought they might as well have the conversation on the balcony, where there were less people who could overhear them.
“Yes, he is. I can’t quite figure him out, though.”
“There’s nothing to figure out.”
“Max said he might have been on our side back in September.”
“Max was right.”
“But why?” Avelyn looked at Viggo’s profile, at his straight nose and slightly pointed chin. She thought how unfair the dragon’s traditions were. Because he was a Beta, Viggo couldn’t take a bride before his Alpha. Such a waste… Any Dracones girl at Alma Venus would have probably loved to be with this incredibly handsome man.
“Christian Kwahu is a simple man. Or eagle-shifter, if you will. But then, eagle-shifters are never complicated. It’s their nature. They’re artists. They like to paint, sing, dance… They like freedom and they don’t care much for politics. All Christian wanted was to prevent things from escalating, that’s why he was on our side. Find the easiest solution, apply it, and move on.”
“I see… Well, I can’t say I’m complaining.” They reached the balcony and Avelyn took a moment to admire the starry night. It was very cold outside, but she felt comfortable even in her sleeveless dress. “I wanted to ask you about my friend, Delyse. I know you bought her for Eric Drekinn, so I was thinking I’d see her here tonight.”
Viggo put his hands in the pockets of his dress pants and sighed. He knew this moment would come.
“Max told me. That you bought her, I mean.”
“Yes, I bought her. I want you to know that I didn’t do it because your husband asked me to help him keep his promise to her brother. I bought her because she truly is the perfect bride for my Fyrstur.”