Chapter 48: He Looks Like A God And He Marked Me In My Heat! 1
Neve felt it before anyone else did.
The bond mark had been warm since he sat down. Now it was something more than warm. It was like a directional pull, as if something magnetic were sitting just under his skin, orienting toward a fixed point. He pressed his fingers to it and felt it pulse.
He looked up at the sky without knowing why.
"He’s coming," he said. "He’s really near,"
Soren was already moving before anyone had processed what Neve said. He went around the table with the energy of a new chief who had decided that whatever Neve said was worth acting on and told the nearest group of tribespeople that the dragon king was arriving.
They looked at him.
The particular look of people who respected the position and were not yet sure about the person in it. Soren was new. He had been unconscious for two years. The chief bead was around his neck, but the weight of it hadn’t settled into their eyes yet.
They only nodded and started moving slowly. Their faces said they were being polite, but they were filled with distrust. They didn’t believe his words.
Cael watched them.
"They don’t believe me," Soren said, coming back. He kept his voice low enough that only the immediate group heard it. "Maybe because I just became chief. They think I’m—"
"You told them," Cael said. "They chose not to listen. When he arrives, they’ll remember you were the one who said so. That’s what matters."
Soren looked at his brother.
A smile settled on his face. It was obvious that he was still finding his footing in the role... but he was going to work hard to get everyone’s recognition as the new chief.
"I suppose you’re right," he said to his brother and then looked at Neve. "How far do you think he is? Which direction? Over there?"
Soren asked as he pointed at the main entrance. The same route everyone in the tribe had followed to walk into the leopard tribe.
Neve had his hand on his neck and his eyes on the sky.
"He’s not coming from there," he said, pointing at the path where every other tribe had arrived from. He moved his finger up. "He’s coming from up there."
They all looked up.
For a moment, nothing happened. They all wondered if Neve was lying or if the dragon king had gone back.
Then the moon disappeared at once.
The light just went out as something passed across it, a shadow too large and too deliberate to be a cloud, moving with purpose against the dark sky.
The entire festival ground went dark, but the reaction was not quiet.
Somewhere in the crowd, someone screamed. The wave of response that followed was immediate... every tribe scattering backwards behind their stalls and displays, bodies pressing together, voices overlapping. Children are being pulled close. Warriors reaching for weapons and then not knowing what to point them at because whatever was up there was already too large for anything they were carrying to matter.
The leopard tribe moved back behind their table.
Isabella appeared from somewhere in the crowd, moving against the flow of everyone backing up, pushing through until she reached Neve. Her eyes were on the sky, but she had found him before looking down, and that was its own kind of calculation.
"You didn’t forget our deal," she said. It wasn’t even a question.
Neve looked at her. His hand was still on his neck. The pull in the mark had intensified into something he felt in his chest, his spine, the tips of his fingers. He did not have the capacity for Isabella right now.
"Go away, Isabella," Cael said, backing Neve up.
She didn’t move. Of course, she didn’t.
"It’s fine," Neve said, before Cael could escalate it. "All we have to do is wait for him to come down."
"Of course, we’ll all wait for him to come down," Isabella said as she leaned toward his ear. Her voice dropped to something that only reached Neve and Cael beside him.
"I don’t know who you think you are," she said. "But you should know something. I have been patient. I have planned, and I have waited for a very long time to become mates with all the noble and powerful beastmen from all the tribe." A pause. "You took Cael from me. That will be the last thing you take. I promise you that. I won’t let you hoard everyone to yourself."
She straightened up and smiled.
She then walked to Soren with the warm expression back in place, as she had simply changed channels.
"Chief," she said, going to her knees in front of him with practised ease. "Allow me to welcome the dragon king on behalf of the leopard tribe. I am the former chief’s daughter. I know the protocols. I know what is expected." She looked up at him. "Please. Trust me not to embarrass us."
Soren looked at her, confused. He wasn’t expecting anyone to even wish to welcome someone as cold and dangerous as the dragon king. He didn’t know what to say, so he looked at Cael, who looked away. He was not going to make this decision for his brother, and his face said so clearly.
Cael didn’t want to decide for Soren, and later, when something goes wrong, he’ll be the one to blame.
Soren was quiet for a moment. The particular quiet of someone who understood that every person around them was waiting to see what they would do and that this was, in some small way, the first real test of what kind of chief they were going to be.
He cleared his throat.
"I’ll welcome him myself," Soren said. "As chief, that’s my responsibility." Isabella started to smile. "But if he wants a host for the evening... he can choose that himself."
Isabella’s smile didn’t fully form.
"You can’t be serious," she said, the warmth slipping slightly. "You’re making this decision because of Neve, aren’t you?"
"Be careful," Soren said quietly. It was not a threat, just a boundary, stated simply, the way a chief who had been paying attention to his whole life stated things.
Isabella opened her mouth to complain again.
"HE’S COMING DOWN!"