Chapter 11
Josie
The cold continued during the following weeks but didn't get worse. Thankfully, it hadn't reached a freezing point. The crops grew and were reaped under the watchful care of the gardeners, who kept the small fires going to mimic warmer weather. Life went on, and Josie grew frustrated, almost angry. Maxxus was never around unless their duties shoved them together. Sure, once in a while he'd pull her out of sight and give her a quick hug and kiss. It wasn't enough. They had made declarations in that cave, hadn't they? Was the romance supposed to end there? Had she imagined the intimacy, the promises she thought he'd made?
Slapping her palm into the pool beneath the beautiful, sparkling waterfall, she muttered to it, "Tell me why he hasn't repeated his vows, and while you're at it, reveal the secret of how to fix the atmosphere. You communicate with others; why not me?"
She came close to tumbling in when Maxxus's deep voice answered from behind her, "I have asked the same question of it many times, the volcano too. We all feel the energy and power they project, but only a few get the privilege or honor of understanding what they are saying. Tae and Eveline are the closest, though Shara and Acer get small snippets."
Josie closed her eyes briefly and said some fast thanks for the fact he hadn't heard the beginning of her muttering. She was about to rise when she saw Maxxus kneel beside her, dragging his hand in the water too. He moved it towards hers until he could clasp it and the water warmed considerably as they touched.
"It is not as cold as I expected. The weather has not changed its temperature much," he stated, looking into her eyes.
"No," she whispered back, tingles running down her spine when his dark eyes softened. "The volcano kind of flows under the ground here, keeping the pool warm. The falls are icy, though. I made the mistake of trying to wash my hair in them."
Maxxus tugged her to a standing position and wrapped her in his arms. "Let me warm you up while we talk. It has been a long time since we were so completely alone. It has been difficult for me. Many times, I have come close to entering the ship and hunting down your quarters. The only reason I did not was that I feared stumbling into someone else's room. I doubted they would care for my sexual overtures."
"You could have reached me by communicator. I would've have met you at the door. I thought your declaration might have been made in the heat of the moment and you didn't want me to get any romantic ideas." The sadness and distress she had undergone were clear in her tone.
"I meant my vows, Josie. We are mated by Talonian law. The words we uttered during lovemaking sealed the mating the same as if we had held a ceremony. I should have explained that. Do you regret it?"
"Not even for a second," she replied. "But, if we're mated, why haven't we been staying together? It's been weeks now. It's confusing."
"I am disturbed many times a night by scouts arriving with news or reports from the weredragons on Earth. I had hoped you might get more rest in your quarters, but I have discovered I cannot bear to be away from you any longer. I want you in my bed as you should be. Will you move to my palace, my love?"
Relief and happiness at the sudden turn of events washed over her. She had gotten an answer, sort of, from the waterfall. The idea of that made her smile. "I would like nothing better. I'll be late sometimes because I have to be in the lab, but I promise to sleep with you every night."
"Once the citizens realize that we are together, they will expect other duties of you. Be prepared for them to bow and treat you differently, adding your title to your name unless you ask that they not. I sent out orders that they not use mine. It makes me feel distant, and I do not like it," Maxxus told her.
"My title?" she asked.
"Josie, my love, have you not realized that you are now Talonia's queen?"
"Oh, my goodness," she choked out, her legs turning to jelly.
Holding her up, Maxxus promised, "You can do this. In many ways, you are already acting like a queen. The population sees you as a savior and are counting on you. From now forward everything I am told, you will be privy to as well. You will be in on all decisions for our people, here and on Earth. I will guide you, just make it through one day at a time as I am."
He sealed the promise with a kiss that steadied her while drawing forth a desire she was ready to have him quench. He would have obliged with enthusiasm if his new communicator had not gone off. He cursed the fact that this one worked so well. "What is it," he snapped, trying to ignore the hardness in his pants.
"The last scout has returned," Hesher told him. "He flew in and is asking for help. A group of refugees is two walking days from here, and they cannot walk any further in the cold. He had them build fires and settle in a place between large rocks to block the wind. Once warmed, the adults can transform and fly, but the children need another way to get here."
"The hovercraft," Josie announced. "I can carry a half dozen at a time. What takes two days to walk will only take a couple of hours to reach this way. I'll make as many trips as it takes, starting immediately. Get the coordinates so I can find them."
"See, you are a natural at being a queen. You gave those orders without a thought," Maxxus declared.
Josie groaned, "Don't use that word or allow anyone else too. It's creepy."
The hovercraft was waiting with coordinates already put in by one of the spaceship's crew. Maxxus, as the black dragon, insisted on making the journey to stay with the children and allow their parents to find solace in the city. Outlying villages that still had resources were joining together to survive. A large city in the western hemisphere, rivaling the capital in size, was prepared to receive refugees from its nearest regions so that the capital did not need to bear the entire burden. Talonia wasn't lost yet, and they still had a fighting chance to restore it. Josie was making progress with her research, but not fast enough to satisfy her. She was frustrated, believing there was a clue she was missing. Besides, she had a new concern to deal with, one she couldn't tell Maxxus about until she was certain she wasn't mistaken. Holding her hand over her still flat stomach, she prayed for the safety of Talonia's children.
Big eyes in rainbow colors stared up at Josie. The children were so beautiful, a fact that had slipped her notice previously. Trapped in her work, Talonia's predicament, and her obsession with all things Maxxus, she hadn't really looked at the weredragon children. Now they were her responsibility, and she saw them for the dragons they would become. Intelligence, dedication, and a fierce longing to be set free shone from their cherubic faces. Their eyes spoke of the magnificent colors that would fill the sky once they reached the age of transformation. Right this minute, those eyes appeared too large for their heads. They had grown thin traversing the planet's rugged terrain with little to eat. If she had been one of their parents, she would have taken the risk of flying them to the city, but it wasn't her call. Some kind of contraption could have been built, like a saddle, to make the flight safer. However, she wasn't a weredragon, and maybe that was painful or disrespectful to their majesty. After all, they weren't packhorses or mules. She had a lot to learn about weredragons if she was going to be their queen.
One little boy with hair as black as that of Maxxus and eyes as blue as her own sent an arrow straight to her heart, causing emotional pain and joy all at once. If what her body was declaring turned out to be the truth, then her child could look exactly like this one. A gasp slipped out when it hit her; the baby could be a weredragon. It would have abilities that she didn't. She didn't know how to care for a human child, so how was she supposed to raise a weredragon? She wasn't ready to be a mother; she was barely a mate.
"Lady, do you need help?" Josie broke from her inner panic to see a small girl of about four, with golden hair and seafoam green eyes pulling at her hand.
"Oh, sweetheart, I'm fine. It's my job to help you, not the other way around. How would you like to ride in my hovercraft? I brought treats and water for you."
"Will it feel like I am flying? King Maxxus says it will. Oops, sorry. I forget. He said not to call him that, but my mommy always said I should or it would be dispected or something."
