Page 36 of Crash Landed with My Weredragon

"About us, about the bond, and about the alliance."

"Can we talk about it after I've had breakfast? Emotionally devastating conversations with the D'Karr go better on a full stomach."

"We need to get there before the gossip does."

"The gossip arrived approximately twelve hours ago. Twenty thousand people, Marina. The surveillance guards on the night shift have certainly filed a report, and Auren has probably told everyone he's ever met." He sighed. "You're right. Let's go."

"I'm always right."

"I know. It's extremely attractive and deeply annoying."

They dressed. Marina borrowed a clean tunic from Toren's wardrobe. Dobromian clothing was designed for Weredragon bodies, but the sleeveless cut worked surprisingly well on her frame, if a bit long. She caught her reflection in the polished obsidian wall and saw a woman she barely recognized. Not because she looked different, but because she looked happy. Genuinely, uncomplicated happy. It had been a long time since she'd seen that expression on her own face.

Through the bond, she felt Toren watching her. Felt his surge of warmth at the sight of her in his clothes, in his quarters, in his life. The feeling was so unguarded and so sincere that it made her chest tight.

"Stop feeling things at me," she told him. "I'm trying to look professional."

"You're wearing my tunic."

"Professionally."

* * *

Boradrith was standing when they entered the audience chamber. Not at the table, but by the window that overlooked the central waterfall, hands clasped behind his back, gold scales dull in the morning light. The posture of a man who'd been thinking for a while and had reached conclusions he wasn't entirely comfortable with.

He turned and looked at Toren. He looked at Marina wearing his son's clothing, standing close enough to his son that the space between them was a formality. He looked at the bond that was practically visible in the air around them, if you knew what to look for.

"Sit," he said.

They sat. Their hands found each other beneath the table.

"I'm not surprised," Boradrith began. "I've watched you for nineteen days, and I'm not surprised. A father who didn't see this coming would have to be blind, and whatever my failings, blindness isn't among them." He paused. "I assume the bond has activated."

"Last night," Toren confirmed. "It's mutual, voluntary, and permanent."

"Permanent." The word sat in the chamber like a stone. "My son has permanently bonded himself to a human. The first interspecies claiming bond in Dobromia's history."

"The first acknowledged one," Toren said. "I doubt we're the first compatible pair. We're just the first to stop pretending."

"The distinction is politically irrelevant. What matters is that the prince of Dobromia is bonded to Earth's primary representative on this planet. Every decision you make together will be scrutinized for bias. Every policy she advocates will be questioned for personal motivation. Every moment of public affection will be analyzed by people who are looking for reasons to undermine the alliance."

"They'll look regardless," Marina said. "People who want to undermine the alliance don't need the bond as an excuse. They'll find reasons whether we're bonded or not. At least this way, the commitment is visible. A prince who bonds with a human isn't hedging his bets on the alliance. He's all in."

Boradrith regarded her with the expression of a king who was being out-argued and who respected the person doing it too much to resent it. "You'd make a formidable D'Sharr," he observed.

"I don't know what that means, but I'm choosing to take it as a compliment."

"It's the highest one I can offer. My wife held this Colony together through three crises. You remind me of her in ways I find both reassuring and alarming." He sat down. The act of sitting after standing through the opening was itself a signal. The storm was settling. "The earthquake changed things. My son tore through rubble to rescue humans. The Colony saw it. Khrelan saw it."

"Speaking of Khrelan," Marina said. "Has he…"

"Khrelan co-signed the alliance proposal this morning." Boradrith let the words land. "His version with the sliding-scale provision he developed with you. His note said, 'The human's framework is sound. My modifications make it survivable.'"

Marina felt her breath release. She hadn't realized she'd been holding it. Khrelan's signature was worth more than anyone else's on the council. The hawk signing the peace treaty was proof the treaty was honest.

"The assessment benchmarks have been met," Boradrith continued. "The food exchange is working. The scientific collaboration produced results neither species could have achieved independently. The diplomatic framework is drafted, reviewed, and co-signed by the council's chief skeptic." He looked at them both; king and father, weighing the same decision from two angles and arriving at one conclusion. "The alliance is approved. Effective immediately."

The words landed with a weight Marina felt in her bones. Approved. After nineteen days of data, debates, earthquakes, one confession in a hallway, and two people from different worlds choosing each other in a warm pool underground, the alliance between Earth and Dobromia was real.