“Yeah, you two aren’t settling in like normal,” Vemar said. “Or…” He paused and thought a moment. “Maybe you are but it’s been so long since someone was new that we’ve forgotten.”
“The prince has nearly everyone out of suppression, and the people in the villages are shifting,” Hannon continued. “There are a lot of first shifts happening, and there’s an incredible number of dragons. Incredible, given they are coming from non-dragon parents. They say this happens when the people are in peril. The goddess, or the old gods, or nature—no one agrees on who or what—calls dragons into existence to defend their people and set things right in the natural order. Or the kingdom. Or something—again, there are a lot of views on this. Regardless, there are a lot of dragons who need flight instruction now, but the prince doesn’t have wings.”
Micah frowned. “Why doesn’t he have wings?”
“He refused to let the curse and the suppression take his dragon from him,” Tamara said softly, in the way of someone who’d repeated it often. “So he forced the change as the suppression was trying to take hold. It reduced his power and sheared off his wings, but he kept his dragon when everyone else lost theirs.”
“If a lot of people are doing their first shifts, why didn’t you, brother?” Vemar asked Hannon.
“I tried. Wouldn’t happen. Everyone else in the village did. I felt the swell of power and all the other things I was supposed to, but it just wouldn’t happen. My animal didn’t seem frustrated by it. It felt like whatever needed to happen in order for him to come out hadn’t yet, and he is content to wait. Neither of us knows what we’re waiting for, though.”
“Unlucky.” Micah’s voice was soothing. “That happens sometimes. We used to call that a late shifter.”
“But at least you aren’t suppressed anymore,” Lucille said. “There’s that. You know you have an animal, and you get most of its rewards, so that’s good enough until we get out of this toilet.”
“Speaking of. Strange Lady, when are we getting out of this toilet?” Vemar asked with a crooked smile.
I took my cup from Tamara and went to stow it under one of the loose stones in my cell. I had three cubbyholes now, which I’d dug out myself. They mostly held leaves, except for the one that held the cup and Nyfain’s notes.
I sighed and shook my head. “They don’t let us out. Me especially. I think we’ve fucked ourselves with our ruthlessness. I need to speak to Hadriel and see if he’s made any headway, but I haven’t seen him. They don’t even whip us at the same time as the other dungeon.”
“Have you practiced subduing your stench, though?” Vemar asked. “That’ll help you get into the after-parties, and that will help you socialize with the others.”
I leaned against the bars to Hannon’s cell. “Yes, I have. It means I have to subdue my connection with Nyfain, and he goes a little crazy when I do it, but yes, I can get it done.”
“Even though I rather like that smell”—Lucille licked her lips, then winked at me—“do it and let’s see if it works.”
Quickly, so as not to stress Nyfain out too much, I pushed down the feeling of our bond and muffled the connection, the separation from him immediately making my heart ache for his touch. For the slow smiles only I seemed to tease out of him, and the sparkling rage in his eyes that led to explosive sex.
Micah reached out and grabbed the bars, his large body tense and eyes blazing. “That’s enough.”
Vemar started laughing. “Makes it even more enticing to claim her, huh, Micah?”
Micah rolled his shoulders. “I’ve never felt that level of challenge before,” he murmured. “When it’s subdued, it’s almost like the male is taunting me, hiding the full brunt of his power. It’s…hard to explain.”
“You’re obviously powerful, even in suppression,” Hannon said to Micah. “How did a powerful dragon like you end up in here?”
Vemar answered, “A storm blew us off our trading route. We ended up on foreign land. Faerie land, actually. We ran aground, and guess which creature owned the vessel that found us?”
“So they just randomly take people they find?” Hannon asked. “They kidnap magical people all over the world?”
“They host a collection of missing peoples, yes,” Lucille said. “And stolen people. And conquered people. No one comes looking because why would they think to search in the bowels of the demon castle for people who were last known to be out at sea?”