Chapter 10: Pride (2)
Leona sat up as the dragon examined her fellow queen. Her fur ruffled and the wolves around the throne grew alert, their eyes fixed on the dragon with a fierce protectiveness. The room was quiet, the only sound being the distant drip of melting ice and the steady breathing of the pack. Adrei felt a tension in the air, a silent challenge that seemed to ask: 'What brings you here?'
"You seem to have a story to tell, my master." The voice, though low, resonated with wisdom and power throughout the chamber, echoing off the icy walls. Leona's gaze bore into Adrei, as if she could see every thought and emotion the dragon queen had ever experienced.
Even as she remembered her vow, the dragon queen's lips curled up into a grin. It was a thrill, a challenge by a being inferior in bodies, yet superior in spirit. She took a deep breath, her scales fluttering slightly as she stepped into the light, the frosty air around her shimmering in the blue glow of the witch's eyes.
Then she noticed it, the large claw mark that marred the otherwise perfect fur of Leona's torso, a scar from the battle that ended the tyranny, the battle that Adrei had never had the chance to apologize for. The tyrant's flame is brutal, the ashes still stemming and smoking against the white fur, a contrast so palpable she almost felt the heat of her father's wrath.
But more than that injury, the dragon followed the wolf's gaze. It was focused on Demond, the witch who had once been her master. The dragon could feel the weight of the stare, the years of pain and the unspoken words that lay between the two. The silence grew heavier as the witch took a step closer, her eyes meeting those of the wolf queen, her voice a mere whisper that seemed to resonate twenty years of solitude they both shared.
"Leona. I'm here." Demond's voice was steady, yet Adrei could feel the tremor of nerves beneath it. The wolf queen's gaze remained unwavering, a silent greeting that spoke volumes of the history between them.
"In a curious form. A form that I could only recognise as a product of witchcraft." The wolf growled. The smell of iron from her master's injured feet tickled her wary soul, as she lent her sharp bloodlust towards the dragon who had caused it. The dragon's smile never wavered, her eyes filled with the warmth of a mother's love.
"So, what brings you to this lowly being's lair, daughter of destruction and betrayal?" Leona's voice, though not unkind and malicious, held an edge of accusation that sent a shiver down Adrei's spine.
"I've come to pay my dues and respect for you, Leona the Wolf Queen." The dragon queen's voice was sincere, her posture unyielding as she faced the creature that had been her wife's fiercest ally.
"Our respect for you died the moment your kind scorched the lands of humanity aflame, Dragon Queen." Leona's words were sharp, but her gaze softened as it shifted from Adrei to Demond. The witch took a tentative step forward, her heart racing in her chest.
"Master, what is the meaning of this? Explain your alliance with one of those who brought about our allies' deaths, before I tore her down with me." The wolf queen's eyes never left Demond's, a mix of anger and confusion swirling within them.
"It is...complicated, my partner." Demond's voice was calm, yet it carried the weight of unspoken words and a history that brought relief instead of pain. The pld wolf recognised the tone, when her master drank her first ale in a delirious streak, or when she held her last as they lay battered after a desperate victory.