“We’ve heard rumblings recently that an underground group of Eleanor’s old supporters are organizing. I don’t know how many there are or what they’re planning.”
Marius straightened in his chair. “Then how do you know they exist?”
“Someone left a flyer at the Silver Sunset. I brought it with me.” Roosevelt rose from his chair and conveyed a piece of parchment to Marius.
He unrolled it and read the message.
Concerned that Queen Raven and King Gabriel are breaking the old law?
Want to see things return to how they were before the revolution?
Eleanor is gone, but supporters of the old ways are organizing. Discerning dragons will know us when they see us. You can’t find us, but we’ll find you.
He handed the scroll to Queen Raven. “Concerning, to say the least,” he mumbled.
Raven glanced briefly at it, then returned it to Roosevelt almost violently, but when she spoke, she was as cool, calm, and collected as any queen could be. “Although it hurts me that any citizen of Paragon would feel that Eleanor’s reign was superior to where our kingdom is now, there is nothing illegal about this scroll. Citizens of Paragon are allowed their own thoughts and opinions. Eleanor is dead. She will never sit on this throne again. Anyone who legitimately is calling for a return to the old law needs to look no further than Marius at my side. The old law would have him as king, and he has not only already refused that position but acknowledged my position here. Unless and until this group threatens to take the throne by force or undermines the kingdom through illegal means, all we can do is keep our eyes and ears open to their activities.”
“I firmly agree,” Marius added to back her up.
The council grumbled their agreement.
“Any other news to report?” Marius asked. When there was no response, he tapped his gavel and dismissed everyone. The elders stood and started speaking among themselves, but Raven turned immediately to him.
“May I speak with you privately?”
“Of course, my queen.” He followed her from the room, down the hall to her private chambers. Confused, he paused outside her door. “Gabriel will not like my scent being in your room.”
“It’s the only way to get to my ritual room,” she said. “And my ritual room is the only place in the palace where I can guarantee our conversation will be private. Let me deal with Gabriel. Please.” She gestured to a door at the back of the suite.
He growled, completely uncomfortable but unwilling to tell her no. If she required total privacy, this had to be a sensitive topic. Maybe something about his nightmares. Reluctantly, he followed her through the door she held open for him.
Inside, Raven’s ritual room caught him by surprise. In a palace made of shiny black obsidian, somehow she’d created a room of sparkling white. The only color was the purple outline of a circular symbol on the floor and the bright green of the forest beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows on the far wall to his left.
“The white stone is marble,” she said. “Gabriel and I procured it from Earth. It helps ground my magic to have something from home.”
“Don’t you worry about someone watching you?” He gestured toward the windows.
She smiled. “No. They’re enchanted. That wall is made of stone. From the outside, all you see is the side of the palace. The enchantment is on the inside. It sees around the stone.”
He blinked and walked closer to the window. A bird flitted by and landed on a tree. “This isn’t real?”
“It absolutely is real!” Raven said like the thought offended her. “That bird is sitting in the tree on the other side of the wall.”
“But it’s not glass,” Marius said.
“So? Do the materials matter if the view is the same?”
“I guess not.” He turned back toward her. “What is it you wanted to talk to me about?”
“The scroll Roosevelt found at the Silver Sunset is more concerning to me than I could let on during the council meeting. What I said was true. Everyone does have a right to their opinion. What concerns me is that someone might act out violently against my sister Avery.”
“Why Avery?” The queen’s sister had always been kind to him and was the only one who wore one of the same symbols that was branded into his skin. He couldn’t understand why anyone might want to hurt her.
“Because she’s mortal,” Raven said lightly. “Her innate power is to neutralize magic, therefore she can’t take Xavier’s tooth. She can’t heal like you or I do either.”
He frowned, remembering that was why she’d needed to be resurrected. “That does make her a target, but I was under the impression that her condition was a well-kept secret.”
Raven rubbed her palms together and paced the room. “It was meant to be, but when we brought her back after killing Eleanor, we did so on the veranda. With dragon sight and hearing, I can’t say for sure that no one else saw or heard what happened. If one of the soldiers was flying over or invisible—”
