“So now you take orders from random dragons?” The queen’s voice dripped with ice.
Juniper took a steadying breath. “What did this male look like?” They needed to focus on more important things.
“Large, like…well, your mate. He was a dragon. Dark hair, it was short and… I don’t actually remember. He had on dark clothes, a tunic in the same style as us,” Marcus said, motioning to himself and his compatriot. “I assumed he worked for Starlena, if I’m being blunt.”
“Ah.” Soleil nodded once. Then she said, “Return to your quarters now. I will deal with your breach of protocol later.”
As the males hurried out of the large stone room, Juniper called out, not bothering to wait for her mother to do so. “Zephyr!” she called out to her mate—who’d opted to hang back when the two guards had come in because of some kind of protocol. But she knew he was in the next room, a similar one to this—all stone with huge tapestries hung up on the walls and a large fireplace to keep the room warm.
He strode through the stone entryway looking like the warrior he was. “My love?”
“Talk to Virgo, please order him to gather up a small search party. We need to search the forest for signs of more fae and figure out how they got into our realm. I’m assuming it wasn’t through the portal, but that is a possibility.” Especially since the two guards had already proven they didn’t follow protocol. One of them should have stayed behind. “Also, we need to do a search for Stella. I’m sure she simply crossed over while those two left their guard station but…” She looked at Soleil, who was completely unreadable. “What?”
“I would like you and Zephyr to go to New Orleans after we do a search, just…check on Stella. I know she is capable and I know I promised not to send a guard, but you’re not a guard. You’re her sister, so I’m not breaking a promise.”
“Of course. But I want to be part of the search of the forest. Just to make sure they didn’t miss anything. If I know Stella…she might have seen what happened and then snuck out of the realm because she was worried you’d make her stay after a fae breach.”
Soleil’s mouth pulled into a hard line. “I had thought of that as well.”
Well that’s what happened when you smothered your child. Juniper kept the thought to herself, however.
“I’ll gather Virgo and some others and we’ll meet you in the bailey.” Zephyr moved ghost quiet out of the room.
“You really were born for this,” Soleil murmured as she pulled on a cord near the fireplace.
“For what? Giving orders?”
Soleil simply lifted a shoulder. “To lead.”
Juniper nodded, not sure what to say. She had led her own small black ops team for decades before discovering her birthright.
“I like that you called me Mother,” Soleil said into the quiet, taking Juniper off guard.
Oh. Juniper wasn’t sure how she felt about it. She cleared her throat and was saved from saying anything more when one of the staff hurried in—Valentina, her mother’s right-hand woman.
“How may I help?” Valentina was a badass warrior who kept things running efficiently at the castle, Juniper had learned since moving here.
“Please alert Ares that I need him—we’ll be out searching the forest for hours. So I want to make sure there’s enough food ready for everyone when they return. I’m not certain how fae made it into our realm, but we need to make sure there aren’t more and to assess the entire situation in general. Make sure the castle and surrounding areas are on high alert—and I need someone to send a message to my parents about what’s happened.”
Valentina simply nodded and strode out of the room.
“How long a flight will it be to get to them?” Juniper asked. Meaning, her grandparents. She was still getting used to the fact that she had them, had a clan and family. Though she’d always had family, even if they weren’t blood.
“A few days at least, but if I don’t send for them, my mother will not be happy.”
“Why did Marcus assume the male who killed the fae was sent by Starlena?” Juniper’s grandmother and Soleil’s mother.
“Because she oversees an elite group of warriors and if the male dragon gave orders, he might have assumed it came from one of her people—otherwise he would have recognized someone from the regular patrolling guards… It was stupid of Marcus and Rye to assume but they’re young, still learning.”
“So you won’t be too hard on them?”
Soleil’s expression was like granite. “I didn’t say that.” Then she cleared her throat. “Are you ready? Do you need to get anything?”
“I’m good to go.” She’d be shifting to her dragon form, didn’t need anything else for a search. She wanted to get to the bottom of this, and she could admit she wanted to rush out to New Orleans, to chase after Stella.
But she also didn’t want to be another family member who tried to smother Stella by being overprotective. The last thing she wanted to do was break the trust she had with her sister.
CHAPTER SIX
“You can stop pacing.” Stella sat in a comfortable chair by the window in the bedroom she and Rhodes had been led to.
The healer’s place in New Orleans was buzzing with activity and while she was exhausted, it was nothing like before, when they’d left that little home hours ago. The chill hadn’t abated, however, and she hated how cold she was.
“Someone should be in here.” Rhodes was a caged predator as he stalked back and forth near the door, his jaw a tight, hard line. He really was a stunning male and in the brighter light of the bedroom she could drink in every inch of him.
His tunic fit him much more snugly than the one she had on, his pecs and biceps clearly outlined, molding to his body. He was taller than she’d originally thought, perhaps even taller than her mother and father—and they were huge dragons.
“They’ve taken my blood to be analyzed,” she murmured, not that she thought he’d forgotten. He was just very impatient.
He grunted in response, but at least he’d stopped pacing. Instead, he leaned against a delicate-looking piece of pale gray furniture, some sort of dresser, and glared at the door, as if willing it to open.
They’d arrived maybe fifteen minutes ago and the healer, Greer, was efficient and kind. Stella had no doubt she and the others working with her were doing everything they could to see to all their patients.
“Rhodes?”
He turned to look at her and she got the full focus of those green-gold eyes, felt pinned in place for a moment. She didn’t know him, not really, didn’t even know what clan he came from. He was clearly from her realm, but there were different, smaller clans that made up the entirety of the realm.
When he’d shifted to his dragon form, he’d been so dark it had been difficult to make out his form fully. And she found that she very much wanted to know everything about him. “Will you talk to me?” she continued.
Nodding, he moved away from the dresser and came to sit across from her in one of the other cushy chairs.
The room was large, as were the chairs, but he seemed to dwarf his. “What do you wish to talk about?”