Keeper of the Flame (27 page)

“She seems to trust you,”
Trey commented.

“She is just a baby and already she has helped save my lady’s life by attacking one of the assassins who held a knife to Lera’s throat. Miss has the heart of a lion.”
Hugh felt he was justified in the pride he felt for her accomplishments.

“She has the face of one too. Or at least some relative of a lion. Is that why her parents abandoned her? They did not like her cat features?”
Jenet asked in her rumbly, warm voice in his mind.

“Yes. Apparently there are a few others like her. The innkeeper where I was staying said he’d seen a kitten like her abandoned once before. It’s one of Lera’s duties to find such creatures and take them in. That’s how we met. The innkeeper sent word of Miss to the palace and Lera came to take her.”

“Obviously that didn’t happen. Did you not want to give her up?”
Collin asked.

“Lera came in disguise. I didn’t know she was the Doge. She wanted to take the child and I wanted to know more about her before I let a stranger take Miss anywhere. If you could have seen her in that alley… She had a very rough start in life.”

“I can imagine,”
Collin replied. The silent conversation ceased for a while when the food came and everyone settled in to eating.

Hugh fed Miss from a bowl of tidbits the servers put in front of him. He selected a small piece and handed it to her. She took it between her little paws and nibbled at it with impeccable manners.

“She’s very dainty,”
Collin observed. He looked from the gryphlet to the larger gryphons seated with the dragons. Miss was a neater eater than all of them, except perhaps the emissary.

“I don’t know if that’s because of her differences from other gryphons or if it was something her parents taught her before she was thrown out,”
Hugh confided.

“It would be interesting to discover the truth of it,”
Collin went on.
“If her parents are such sticklers for manners, it could help us identify them. She has not spoken of them, you said?”

“No. She refuses to say much of her origins. Only that her papa was mean and that she’d seen Hyadror before and thought he was nicer than her papa. Hyadror had never seen her before, so that means she was watching him from concealment. She was also very afraid of being seen by the gryphons circling above us when we landed on the tower yesterday. I had to hide her under my wing whenever we were outside.”

“We’ll keep our eyes open while we’re here and see what we can learn,”
Trey promised.
“No youngster should be treated this way. Justice must be served and her parents taught a lesson.”

“I agree.”
Hugh was greatly pleased by his brothers’ support.

If there was any way to discover who Miss’s parents were, he’d take it. He needed to have a few stern words with them at the first opportunity. Lera probably would have something to say to them as well. Regardless, he had to discover who they were first.

“I still have many contacts in this land.”
Drake spoke after a short break in the silent conversation.
“I will put out feelers first thing and see what we can learn about these problems we face.”

“I am grateful you came here. All of you. I’ve been handling things, but it will be so much easier knowing I have a team I can trust beyond the shadow of a doubt.”

“I am flying out with Hyadror to meet the various Wing leaders after we finish here.” The emissary spoke aloud, making a sort of general announcement, garnering everyone’s attention. Hugh knew that meant Miss would be staying with him for the day. He looked forward to having her around. “I was sent, among other reasons, to choose those gryphons best suited to forming fighting partnerships with the warrior priests. This may be a good opportunity to begin looking for the traitor among them.”

“I would go with you, if you don’t mind the company,” Reliendor put in, a slight smear of blood on his beak from the hunk of raw meat he’d just consumed.

“We would welcome your pressence, Masster Rel,” Hyadror replied politely. “I ssent word lasst night to convene an open meeting of the Gryphon Council today, at which all the Wing Leaderss will be pressent. Many otherss will be in attendance, as well. I thought only to introduce the emisssary, but now that you are here, you may deliver your messsage from the maker. I think it iss clear from thesse passt dayss that masssive change has come upon our land. We besst gear up for it.”

“Well said, Wing Leader.” High Priest Gregor spoke into the heavy silence that descended after Hyadror’s grave words. “Emissary, many of my brothers have already volunteered to train with the chosen gryphons. I will arrange to have all the candidates ready for your assessment at your convenience. Simply tell us how you wish to proceed and we will accommodate you in every way.”

“Very kind, Father Gregor.” The great cat bowed her head slightly in acknowledgment. “I will fly out shortly and return when the meeting with the Gryphon Council concludes. If all goes as planned, I will bring four gryphons with me. We will start there. Your brothers have already begun the expansion of the temple garrison that we will require once the fighting pairs are made.”

“Excellent. That just leaves the problem of the Eyes.” Father Gregor turned his attention to Lera once more.

“We can protect Lera,” Hugh put in quickly. “Between myself, my brothers and the knights and dragons, she will never be unguarded.”

“And a formidable guard contingent it is,” Gregor agreed. “But we must get to the root of the problem if we are to stop the Eyes.”

At that point, their conversation rolled back around to the main problem they had been discussing before the meal was served. They ironed out a few more details as they finished eating and soon all were leaving in different directions, purpose in their steps.

All except the Draconians. That core group of knights, dragons and royal princes stayed behind with Hugh and Lera at his direction.

Mace spoke first, uncharacteristically stepping forward. “We’ve been thinking about how best to work this.” Hugh was glad to see the new confidence in his actions, wrought by his mating with two such dynamic people, no doubt. “Drake and Krysta have the skills and connections needed to elicit the most information in the shortest amount of time. We propose they go out into the city and see what they can learn. The dragons and I will stay here. Nellin and I will take first watch.”

“A sound plan.” Hugh nodded. “What about you two?” He addressed his question to the twins.

“We go where you go,” Collin stated.

“Until this is all sorted out,” Trey put in.

“Then I think we should go back to the palace and put things to rights,” Lera said, unexpectedly. Hugh turned to her and noted the firmness in her expression. “Hyadror said he’d already sorted out the gryphon guards. I trust him to have done a good job. Now we have to see what’s happening with the human part of my palace guard.”

“We can help with that,” Trey said eagerly.

Hugh knew his brothers and the dragons were more than up to the task, but outside the temple grounds Lera’s danger would increase a hundred fold. There was no all-seeing flame to test all the people she came into contact with before they were even allowed into the palace. They could get much closer to her without ever being examined, or even seen.

“It will be dangerous,” was all he said. She knew the risks as well as he did.

Lera nodded, swallowing her fear visibly. He was so proud of her. This was a woman of true courage, meant to share his life. Hugh knew he was the luckiest man alive.

“It’s something we have to do. We can’t continue living here in hiding, sharing three small rooms with all the help we have at our disposal now.” Her smile brightened as she gestured toward the group. “Plus, there are others like Miss at the palace. They have all been with me since they were born and are loyal to me.”

“Are you certain?” Hugh wasn’t so sure. Until recently, Lera had thought all the gryphons were loyal.

“As certain as I can be.” Her expression clouded.

Hugh wasn’t pleased by that answer, but he understood her need to be doing something rather than just hiding in safety while everyone else put themselves in danger on her behalf.

“Can you test them with that eternal flame in some way?” Collin asked.

Lera’s eyes widened as she turned to look at the twins. “An excellent idea. I can’t be as efficient as the flame here at the temple, but I do have certain powers as Keeper of the Flame that can be extended with some effort. At least enough to test the beings in my immediate vicinity.”

“I bet our brother’s magic could augment your power,” Trey said with a calculating grin.

Lera looked back at Hugh, and he had to smile. “An excellent notion. I bet you’ll find you have more magic than you thought now that we are a couple,” Hugh said.

“I hadn’t even considered—” She broke off, her expression full of wonder.

“I know. But he makes a valid point. Together, we are stronger than either of us was alone. We need to use that to our advantage. To keep you safe.”

He drew closer and deposited a soft kiss on her forehead. He didn’t give a damn that his people saw the tender moment. He would kiss his mate if he wanted. He’d waited a long time to find a woman he could call his own.

Miss squirmed in his lap from where she’d been dozing after the meal and he moved back so she could jump down. She looked at all the faces watching her and shied away, rubbing against Hugh’s legs for support. Hugh patted her fur in reassurance.

“Sweetheart,” he addressed the child. “I want you to meet my brothers, Collin and Treymayne. They are both dragons like me.”

Her head perked up to really look at the two identical, black-clad warriors when she heard that and the two princes crouched to be closer to her level.

“I’m Collin,” the one on the left said.

“And I’m Trey,” said the one on the right.

“Hi,” Miss replied shyly, but with more confidence than Hugh had ever seen her display with anyone other than the boy from the inn, Tomlin. Hugh made a mental note to reward the boy when this was all over.

“They will be guarding Lera over the next few days. Until she is out of danger,” Hugh added. “As will my human friends, Drake, Mace and Krysta, and the dragons, Jenet and Nellin.” Miss looked at all of them, huddling against Hugh’s shins but looking carefully at the humans and much larger dragons.

“They are all from my homeland and I trust them all with my life,” Hugh said very seriously. “They will never harm you, Miss, because you are under my protection. That means, you are under their protection as well. If you ever have a problem of any kind, you can go to any of them as you would come to me. All right?” He looked deep into her eyes, hoping she understood the importance of his words. She was so young, after all, he wasn’t always certain of her grasp of certain concepts.

Hoping she’d understood, Hugh went back to the strategy session. After a few more minutes, Drake and Krysta took their leave. The dragons stayed behind while the rest of the group discussed the logistics of removing to the palace.

After a while, Miss seemed to become more comfortable and began to stretch her legs and move around the room a bit more. She was a curious little creature, like the cat she partly resembled.

Hugh stopped talking when she walked up to Jenet and placed one paw on the dragon’s foreleg.

“You change?” Miss asked, looking up to meet the dragon’s jeweled eyes. “Change like Hoo?”

“Sire?”
Jenet looked from the curious kitten to Hugh for guidance.

“I think she’s asking if you can shift shape to a two-legged form,”
Hugh replied to Jenet.

“Oh.”
Jenet lowered her head to the gryphlet’s level.
“No dear, I am only a dragon. I cannot shapeshift like Prince Hugh or his brothers. Like you, I am what I am. I take no other form.”

“Talk in head like Hoo,” Miss insisted.

“That is because I cannot talk with my mouth like you do. Being in this form has its limitations and not all beings can hear me when I speak. You are luckier than I am in that respect. You can speak out loud.”
Jenet had always been good with young creatures. She would be an excellent mother one day, Hugh thought.

“Pretty color,” Miss said, moving on. She patted Jenet’s foreleg with her little paw, watching the sparkle of magic that passed between them. Jenet was indeed one of the prettiest dragons of her generation. She was a cross between a red dragon and a golden one. She was the exact mix of their coloration—a lovely peachy, shimmering rose-gold. She was absolutely stunning.

“Thank you, Miss,”
Jenet said politely.
“I like your stripes,”
she added. The kitten seemed pleased by the compliment. If Hugh wasn’t much mistaken, a friendship had just been struck.

They spent a few more minutes making plans but the time for action had come. Like it or not, Lera was set on going back to her palace. He could understand her desire to do so, but he would have preferred keeping her in the safe environs of the temple.

“I don’t really like this,” he said to her privately as they stood from the table.

“I know. I don’t either. But it must be done. A monarch cannot hide behind temple walls, and with your people here, I doubt the Eyes will get another real chance at me. Plus, appearing to be out in the open might tempt Sendra into revealing herself. You don’t know my cousin. One thing about her—she always likes to gloat. I think she’d want to be present if and when her assassins strike.”