004: Voices in The Dark

[Carnelia]

"I'm here," warm arms wrap around me and I'm surrounded by my mate's musky scent. "Oh Gods, Carnelia, I miss you."

"Then miss me closer," I purr, bringing his lips to mine in a crash of teeth. We open to one another and our bodies melt together as the darkness becomes more real, the two of us creating a world around us, as our joined thoughts recreate the world where we wish to be.

And tonight, that world is my bedroom back in Ridgewood Castle.

"Of all places," I laugh as Primus lifts me in his arms. "I thought you'd pick the beach this time."

"Oh, but we've done the beach," he smirks playfully. "Tonight, I wanted the chance to bring you home."

He lies me down on the bed and I'm already naked before him. There's no need for clothing when you are living inside of a dream. In a heartbeat he is lying atop me, his forked member finding its home as I open wider in every way.

"Primus!" I scream as he finds his home within my center and I grasp the space between his wings with my sharp talons.

He fills me up, taking every inch of me.

But then his warmth is gone.

Opening my eyes I look up, but he isn't there.

"Primus?"

The room disappears, and the void returns as it was before, silent and unyielding as if I hadn't just been touching my mate, feeling his body wrapped around mine.

"PRIMUS!" I call his name once more, although the small spark of hope in my heart is quickly fading. The darkness ripples around me, creating waves that radiate in every direction, with me at the center, looking out into nothing.

A stray note of something that sounds almost like my name reaches me, but when I try to call out again, the sound is caught and swallowed by the nothingness of the void.

This has never happened before. Not only was it hard to reach him, but now he's been taken from me as if he were never here. Something is blocking me--something AWARE. It is as if the darkness itself has gained sentience, and in its sudden awakening, decided to block me from my love.

Sending out my thoughts as a probe, I push against the darkness, looking for a wall, or a seam, or some kind of edge, a barrier to break or circumvent.

But the darkness stretches forever. The more I seek to find its end, the deeper I fall into nothingness. And yet, I am unable to shorten the distance as I have in the past, moving at the speed of thought to be at my beloved's side.

What could be keeping us apart? Is it this place they've taken me to or has something happened to Primus?

What if I never find him again?

The only thing I know for certain is that my mate is not dead. If he were dead, I'd feel it.

A voice bellows all around me, coming from no particular direction. It isn't Primus--I'm not sure it belongs to any living soul. Whatever is creating this noise, I can't understand what it is saying, the words are muffled and in a language I do not know. I can feel the words, however, feel them on my body and in my mind, and with them the overwhelming sensation of fear belonging to someone else. This fear pummels me with the force of its screams, pushing me back like a strong, hot wind.

Imagining a cold shield around my soul, I push back attempting to move forward.

But whatever it is, it knows the dynamics of this dark space better than I do. Soon I'm blown back to my body just as the first rays of sunlight creep through my windows. Sitting up, I place a hand on my chest in an attempt to still my rapidly beating heart as sweat drips from my scales and my breath comes out in ragged gasps.

Was that a dream or was it real? As far as I know, other than my son, Nox, I am the only other shadow walker alive. My father was eaten by the void before I was born.

As my tummy rumbles and my sore spine aches, my body sends me little reminders that I did not die in my sleep. Instead, I am fortunate enough to live the nightmare of being trapped in this room, a prisoner they are calling a queen.

I rub the sore places along my spine and tail, massaging my hips. Soon my eggs will be too large to conceal, even in this form, and then I'll have a new problem to face as I do what I can to save them.

I need to get away from them before then. I won't risk any more of my family.

"Time to wake up, my Queen," Lyra's sharp voice cuts through the early morning din as the door opens, revealing her in her half-dragon form, her blonde braids arranged high on her head in a fanciful style, as they were the day before. "The court is expecting you."

I follow her out not bothering to question her intentions. I've learned that saying less gets me much further with her--the fewer words I say, the fewer reasons I give her to mock me. Keeping quiet also allows me to observe my surroundings, to listen to their conversations which piece by piece I'm slowly starting to comprehend.

I wish I had a greater talent for languages. Everyone I've met before now spoke Luxandrian and I didn't need to learn anything else.

But here. even the sound of my footsteps on the tarnished marble seems to speak in a different tongue as I make my way from the cold antechamber into what must have been a grand dining hall. The stone table at the center is easily large enough to seat 50 dragons comfortably in their half-dragon forms, and 80 or more in their human forms. The stone is dark, like obsidian, and carved along the edges with vines, moons, and stars.

"This table tells the history of our people," Lyra comments in an offhanded way. "Or at least it used to when we still knew how to read it. Over time, the royals saw no point in teaching any of their offspring to read the ancient tomes, and this grand meeting table became just another decoration, a fancy place to eat on a very special occasion. Do you know why?"

I'm not sure if she wants me to respond or not, so I keep myself quiet and extremely still.

"Because today, we will finally have a new queen," Cosmia answers for me. "Only queens can read the text. Only VERY SPECIAL queens," She grins at me, every one of her pointed teeth shining as she looks at me predatorily.

"You will be the first universal solar dragon to hold this throne in 5 generations," Lyra explains as she takes her seat in a wide-legged position, straddling it with the chair to her stomach, her tail swishing behind her. "When our people first came to this place, They were ALL universal dragons. What do you think happened to change things?"

"They died," I answer flatly. It feels like she is leading me to some kind of conclusion, but my mind just can't grasp her thoughts in the way that she wants.

Lyra's bright gaze darkens and she opens her mouth and then closes it, a small smirk twisting her lips upward. "Yes," Her eyes narrow shrewdly, "Indeed."

My blood chills as she watches me eat, each spoonful of fruit entering my mouth an amusement of some sort. There is something in the hungry way that she watches each of my movements that has me on edge--something none of them are saying directly, but are hinting at. Nothing they have done to me has killed me yet, but only because they have a bigger plan for me. Something that involves our father and this place. Thalan was insistent that I stay alive for their plan to rescue the shadow drake I've never known.

Which might be exactly what happens when my sisters do whatever it is they have planned for me. I do not like how happy Lyra seems, or how blissed out Cosima has been, as if I'm the solution to all of their problems. Nova sitting across the table from me has an unreadible expression, as if she's contemplating something dark.

"Perhaps we should wait one more day," Nova speaks up before taking a drink of wine. "For the coronation. Today doesn't feel...right."

"Nonsense," Lyra scoffs. "Cosmia, says the stars are perfectly aligned. When will the Celestials be in position?"

"Soon," Cosima's unseeing eyes gaze upward. "They are approaching as you speak. As soon as she is done eating, we should move to the throne room or we might miss our chance for another cycle."

Placing my spoon in the bowl of fruit, I set it down. "Why does the location of the Celestial Kingdom matter?" I query, wondering what the hovering dragon realm had to do with them crowning me.

"You see the celestials need to be directly above the throne," Nova explains, "For the transmission to...

Lyra hisses quieting her sister. "Enough."

"But Lyra, another cycle is only 30 days. She should have enough time to learn why it is worth it to..."

"I SAID ENOUGH," Lyra slams her fists onto the table. "Desire doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the connection. HER connection. Without this, none of the rest will happen. Our father will remain lost, our people will remain ignorant. Nova, pleas don't tell me that you're growing soft, just as our victory is so close."

Nova, the only one of them who had bothered to consider me or fight for me, bows her head in submission. "Of course not, Lyra. It's just that...I want her to care. I don't want her to be forced. And, considering, um, everything." She looks at me intently, her eyes flickering down for an almost imperceivable second, "It could cause more harm than good."

Nova knows. Somehow, she's discovered my secret.

The question is, how long has she known?--And why hasn't she told Lyra? What possible reason could Nova have to keep quiet?

Cosima tilts her head to the side, her face still turned upward as her head moves in a slow and steady arch. "They approach," she announces in a sickly-sweet whisper.

Lyra laughs, wiping her mouth before jumping to her feet and clapping her hands in pure jubilation. "Don't worry, sister, you'll see it was all worth it," she addresses Nova before turning towards me. "Both of you will."

Grabbing me by the arm she yanks me to the feet.

"Ready the crown!" she shouts. "It's time."