49. Bertrag ver Kleelan
An unexpected ally shows herself...
The Queen’s Aerie is a MMF fantasy romance (romantic fantasy?) in 57 parts that I serialized throughout 2023/2024! If you are just now joining the story, you can catch up by starting here. Full story ToC here.
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Previously: Mani had a heart-to-heart with his kidnapper...
At the end of his wild tale, Rodgardae looked up to see the majority of Watt’s admirals looking at him as if he were insane. Which was fair, he thought.
“The descendant of Princess Beatra?” Worthan asked skeptically, the first to recover himself.
“So Consort ver Kleelan claims.” He nodded.
“That’s an old family legend. Even I did not believe it, and Agadart is my cousin,” a voice from behind the wall of admirals said. Mistress Seraphinite tilted her chin up in defiance. The guards had known not to stop the headmistress of the Kaaltendt dragon maids, but she herself had not stepped any further into the space. Her eyes were narrowed as she glared at Rodgardae malevolently.
But Rodgardae was looking past her at Captain Wildt, whom he had assumed had flown off after Agadart himself. He was holding Maid Pyrite by her upper arm in a clutch so tight it would eventually bruise her, if it hadn’t already. Even more perplexing, Maid Pyrite was gagged.
“What is the meaning of this?” Rodgardae’s sister stepped forward. “Mistress Seraphinite? Explain yourself.”
The clutch of officers parted to let Mistress Seraphinite through. Wildt followed behind her, dragging a very unwilling Maid Pyrite with them.
“This person,” Mistress Seraphinite said, dripping disdain as she motioned at Maid Pyrite, “is a spy for Emperor Rhezv.”
There was some murmuring from the observers, but Rodgardae’s sister cut a hand through the air. “That’s her death warrant, certainly, but I do not understand what it has to do with why you brought her here, or your connection to the missing Maid Aegirine.”
“Lady Agadart ver Kleelan,” Mistress Seraphinite corrected fiercely.
“As you say,” Rodgardae’s sister said with a roll of her eyes. “Explain yourself. I shall not ask again.”
“Maid Aegirine is my cousin. I was of course informed of her identity by Queen Theaedra when she was assigned to the Dragon Maids Corps. What I did not know was that Maid Pyrite, whom I trusted, was reading my personal correspondence and so found that out herself. She is the one who related to Emperor Rhezv’s spies that Lady Agadart was being sent to Endestern.” She turned to face Rodgardae. “You’ve heard the story of the legends. Clearly, so had Emperor Rhezv, and that was why he targeted her, knowing that she could be the next queen of Watt.”
That had his sister stepping forward. “Mistress Seraphinite, I have always given you the respect of your station, despite the differences between our countries. Please understand that I do not mean this disrespectfully, but your claim is that of a lunatic.”
There was some shifting among the observers, but no one spoke up.
Seraphinite did not rise to the bait, merely shrugging her shoulders. “I am merely human, but I do know what it feels like to have a queen. I know what it feels like when the dragons around me are confident that their queen is hale and healthy. I admit I do not know what it is to belong to a land that does not have a queen, but I myself saw her fly in to fight the emperor, same as all of you. I knew who she was immediately, because I have seen the ancient paintings of the ver Kleelan dragons of Battenruck.” She stepped forward into the tent proper at last, the officers nearest to her stepping backwards to clear a path for her. “I have spent my life believing those old stories about as much as you do now, which is to say, not at all. But I cannot deny the facts when faced with them in the form of my cousin flying through the sky.”
Worthan scoffed at her. “Are you really suggesting Maid Aegirine is a queen of Kaaltendt?”
“We have to admit that it is at least a possibility,” Seraphinite said. “You have a queen, and I have a cousin who is reputed to be the heir of Princess Beatra.” She looked over at Rodgardae speculatively. “Unless Admiral Leonteinparre the Younger disavows her?”
Rodgardae bristled at the implication and found himself standing right in front of Mistress Seraphinite, looking down at her, his shoulders pulled back. He could feel the vein of fire that was his dragon essence creeping up his spine and out into his blood, probably making his eyes glow, but to her credit she did not back down. “I know for a fact that she is my queen. I say that as her king, as her consort, as her mate.”
There were several gasps around the room, and only then did it hit Rodgardae that the majority of the people present, including his own sister, had no idea of his relationship with Agadart, if it could be called that. Whatever it had been, or whatever she had decided it couldn’t be, the fact was that he loved her and was bonded to her in the same way that he loved and was bonded to his own consort, Mani.
His sister looked at him with shock on her face, as if she had never seen him before. “Are you saying that there was a preexisting relationship before she manifested?”
He turned his focus to her, ignoring everyone around them. “Yes. Although she decided not to pursue it with us once we made it to the shores of Allemann.”
“It was my understanding that dragon maids would be harshly penalized if they became romantically involved with any dragons in their care,” his sister said, tilting her head as if she was trying to figure him out. “I personally did not see the reason for such a rule but I have heard that the Kaaltendt people take it very seriously.”
Rodgardae carefully transferred his gaze from his sister back over to Mistress Seraphinite and stared at her.
She pursed her lips. “We do. But as in all things, sometimes passions cannot be corralled the way we think they should,” Mistress Seraphinite said, staring back at Rodgardae with bright eyes.
The timing wasn’t ideal but he supposed the truth would be coming out anyway. He looked over at Wildt. “Captain Wildt, please answer me: How did the two of you discover Maid Pyrite’s treachery?”
Wildt closed his eyes briefly. “I was spending the night with Mistress Seraphinite and woke up to hear someone rifling through paperwork several rooms over.”
Some of the dragons present snickered, knowing that he was indirectly mentioning the heightened senses dragons experienced after sex.
Rodgardae’s sister just raised her eyebrows. “Looks like the Dragon Maids Corps is doing a smashing job of upholding those principles.”
“Marra,” Rodgardae sighed.
His sister shook her head. “Fine. Let us return to the topic at hand.” She faced off with Mistress Seraphinite again.
“If the legends pointed at Maid, ah, Lady Agadart being a possible heir of Princess Beatra, I’m surprised your queen would have spared her the execution block with her husband.”
“Have you all forgotten that Queen Esthae was a close cousin to our Queen Viridis?”
Apparently many had, if the expressions on most of the people present were any indication. Even Worthan was frowning.
“As such, this made it a family matter, and Queen Theaedra spared her thanks to the plea of Lord ver Kleelan on behalf of his daughter. However, the queen of Kaaltendt wanted to keep Agadart’s identity a secret within the dragon maids, not simply because of the scandal involving her traitorous former husband, but also because there were those in the nobility who were fully aware of the family legends. Their goal was to keep her as far away from court as possible, in the off chance that she might be forced to manifest in reaction to her situation, or a perceived threat...especially if she felt genuinely threatened by Queen Theaedra. No one needed a fight for ascendancy, or suffer the aftermath of a queen’s death in battle.”
“That does at least explain why she spared her life,” Rodgardae said thoughtfully. The violent killing of a queen, even one that was not manifested, could destabilize an entire country with the uncontrolled magic that would be released upon her death. Wildt nodded along with him, having clearly come to the same conclusion.
She straightened up again. “I did not come here to explain old legends. We came here to turn in Maid Pyrite as a traitor to Kaaltendt, and by association, an enemy of the Isle of Watt,” Mistress Seraphinite said with her eyes locked on Rodgardae. “Given that, I am here now to seek asylum in Watt.” She stepped forward and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a rock and held it out to Rodgardae. He looked at it in confusion. It seemed like a regular rock to him, if pretty, the dark emerald color of it shot through with streaks of reflective, feathery, bright green. He looked up at her face again.
“We take our names from the rock we choose when we enter service. It is considered a connection to the elemental powers of dragons. This is a chunk of seraphinite, and it has been in my pocket for over twenty-five years. I am now returning it to the Master of Endestern, as notice of my resignation as headmistress.” She was staring at him with a stoic expression, but her eyes glittered with tears that she refused to let fall. “I am throwing myself at the mercy of the king of Watt,” she added.
Everyone looked on at the scene in dead silence.
Wildt, who had passed off Maid Pyrite to one of the more attentive guards, stepped forward as well to stand next to her. “I beg leave to be granted asylum in order to remain with my bonded mate, my consort, my beloved and cherished guardian.” He reached out and grabbed Mistress Seraphinite’s other hand, and they clutched at each other, eyes on the ground.
Rodgardae held out his hand and she dropped the rock into his waiting palm. He closed his fingers around the rock. “You have the asylum, and the thanks, of the clan Leonteinparre and the whole of Watt for your service.”
His sister sighed loudly. “Meaning now that your cousin is the queen of Watt she can leverage her political position to keep you from suffering the consequences of your actions.”
Mistress Seraphinite looked at her placidly, and simply nodded. “It was never my plan, but given the circumstances I would be a fool to let the opportunity pass me by.”
Rodgardae raised his eyebrows at her sister. They had to respect Mistress Seraphinite’s brutal honesty, if nothing else.
She returned to facing Rodgardae directly and then, holding her skirts back, got down on one knee and bowed her head. Wildt followed her lead immediately. The message was clear.
“Your allegiance is accepted…by me at least. I cannot speak for our queen.” He put the piece of seraphinite in his pocket. “Don’t think this gets you out of service though, because while we may be going into battle against the Iskaryyvan Navy, our true goal is likely to be a group of nearly feral dragons protecting both of my mates, one of whom might herself be on the verge of tipping over into madness. You have your work cut out for you, Mistress…” He stalled, wondering what to call her.
“Bertrag ver Kleelan.”
His sister snapped her fingers, picking up the slack quickly. “You’re still mistress of the dragon maids for Kaaltendt, at least for now. Your experience will be helpful as at least three of the Endestern flight are in immediate service to the queen at this very moment.” She gave Wildt a long, critical once-over. “You are reassigned to assisting Lady ver Kleelan in her work, Captain. As my brother said, we’re going to need all the help we can get in this unprecedented situation.”
Everyone looked very grim at the statement. Even as Admiral Leonteinparre the Elder spoke, though, Rodgardae’s blood sang with the connection to his queen and the presence of Mani at the back of his mind. He needed to get to them, and quickly.
