The furniture was clean. A low sofa in midnight blue. Chairs that looked designed for actual comfort rather than proper posture during meditation. A desk covered with papers and what looked like half-assembled clockwork mechanisms. Bookshelves lined one wall, packed with volumes whose spines showed titles I'd never heard of. Everything was organized but lived-in. Used. This was a space where someone actually existed rather than just performed rituals.
I couldn’t believe I was here.
The temperature was perfect. Not the underground chill of the temple or the fever-heat of the ritual chambers. Just comfortable. The air tasted clean, without the incense smoke that had flavored every breath I'd taken for six years.
Zephyron carried me to one of the comfortable chairs and set me down with surprising gentleness. The fabric was soft under my hands. Plush.
A door I hadn't noticed opened. A woman stepped through, wearing a neat uniform in silver and midnight—practical trousers, a fitted jacket, comfortable shoes. Her dark hair waspulled back in an efficient braid. She looked directly at Zephyron without lowering her eyes or bowing.
"My Lord, I heard you land." Her voice was steady. Professional. "Do you need anything?"
I stared. Servants at the temple never spoke first. Never looked directly at Solmar or the High Priests. Never asked questions.
"Medical supplies." Zephyron moved to his desk, already sorting through a drawer. "Surgical alcohol, clean water, bandages, and the extraction kit from the laboratory. The one with the electrical impulse generator."
"Right away." She turned to leave.
"Thank you, Ellie."
She smiled. Actually smiled. "Of course."
The door whispered shut behind her.
"Your staff . . ." My voice came out hoarse. "She wasn't afraid of you."
"Afraid of me? Why would she be?" Zephyron pulled out a wooden case, setting it on a side table near my chair. "Ellie's worked here for eight years. She's head of household management. Gets an excellent salary."
“Salary?”
He looked at me like I was joking. “Money? In exchange for her service.”
“She’s not a slave?”
He chuckled. “Of course not. I may be a dragon, but I’m not an animal.
"And she can . . . stop working for you? If she wants?" The question came out small.
"Of course." He glanced at me, something sharp and assessing in those storm-gray eyes. "Anyone can stop. It's in the contract they sign when they're hired. As I said, they're employees, Thalia. Not slaves."
Free people. Working by choice. The cult had always taught that hierarchy was natural. That some were born to serve, others to lead, and fighting that natural order created chaos. Dragons, they’d taught, were the top of the pile. Well, except for the unnamed, of course.
I'd believed them. Had watched girls led to the harvest altar and believed their deaths served a higher purpose in that grand design.
My stomach twisted.
Zephyron knelt in front of my chair, bringing himself to eye level. Through the bond, I felt his patience. His understanding. His complete lack of judgment for my ignorance.
"The tracking shards have to come out immediately," he said quietly. "Every minute they're in your spine, they're broadcasting your location. The cult has had time to position more hunters. We need to go dark."
"Will it hurt?" Stupid question. Of course it would hurt. They'd embedded the shards directly into my cervical vertebrae during my High Priestess initiation. Three days of fever and pain while the obsidian fused with bone.
"Yes." He didn't lie to me. Didn't soften it. "But I can numb the area with controlled electrical pulses. It'll feel strange but it'll help. And I'll be fast."
Through the bond, I felt his absolute certainty. His steady control. The same precision he'd used to kill three cult hunters with surgical lightning strikes.
"Of course, my Lord." I turned slightly, presenting my neck. Every movement pulled at the carved intelligence in my back, sending fresh agony radiating through my shoulders.
Ellie returned with a tray of supplies. Clean white cloth, glass bottles filled with clear liquid, bandages still in their sealed packaging. And a strange tool that looked like a thin metal rod with a crystalline tip that pulsed with contained lightning.
