All Chapters of Called by the Dragon: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

"This is where the understudies train the apprentices," Anzi murmured. "There aren't enough masters in the Magisien body to teach them all, so they delegate what they can to the most qualified."She didn't know if Kai even wanted an explanation, but by the conclusion of the long-winded speech from Abelard in front of the hall full of several dozen adolescents, she was sure he had tuned him out just as she had and therefore had little idea of what was going on. She believed in the great strength and glory of the Capital, too - even if she had doubts about a few things lately - but she wasn't putting on performances for its sake. The elderly mage, on the other hand, had thought it fitting to wax poetic about the storied history of the Empire's mage class and its renown throughout all the land,No one particularly liked his speeches as far as Anzi knew. She didn't live here, but the practiced, dead-eyed stares of all the students at their desks were proof enough.O

 "It's got nothing to do with anything.""It has to do with you. That's enough for me to want to know.""I don't want you to know. That's my business.""So you won't tell me?"Anzi's expression sharpened into one that bordered dangerously on angry. "Are you going to make me? Are you going to report me to my superiors if I don't?"He crossed the distance between them in two long strides, so quickly that she didn't have time to react. Or did she? She saw him coming, saw him staring at her with his fire-intent, bright gaze eating her up, but her feet remained glued to the floor, trapping her in place. And when his hand came up to lift her chin so that she had to meet his eyes squarely instead of glaring at him from under her eyebrows, her stomach twisted with something that was weaker and more pliable than the anger she wanted to feel."This isn't about that," he said. "You've been unhappy for days, and now this. I knew when we ca

 He was so much taller now than when she had last seen him. Her stomach lurched for the hundredth time since they had all begun climbing the steps, but this one was the final one, the real one. She was here, looking Oza in the eye and coming face to face with the boy she had left to fend for himself in a world that she had known would be too cruel to him.And yet he looked healthy. Well - he looked as healthy as she could expect considering his illnesses that would never lift from him. He was taller now, even though he was still as skinny as she remembered. He positively swam in his robe."You're not wearing initiate's robes, anymore," she said, partly because she was proud of him but mostly because she didn't know what else to say. "Congratulations."He raised one shoulder and made a twitching gesture with his opposite hand, but made not a sound. His eyes blinked, long lashes somehow making his eyes look even darker than they already were. Did she look lik

 "I'm not wearing that." Anzi pointed at the door with a commanding finger. "The thought's appreciated, but no thank you. You can go.""You don't mean that.""Yes, I do.""I'm talking about you saying you appreciate it. You don't." Letti planted her hands on her hips, eyebrows furrowed hard like two swords on the verge of a violent clash. "Why don't you like it!""Because.""Give me a reason. A real one!""The list is so long that you could make new dresses and wraps out of it for every girl in the harem. Take it as it is. I'm not wearing something that clumsy to the gala."Letti looked like she was going to explode. Her fabulous blonde ringlets bounced along her bared shoulders as if they had a life - and anger - of their own. "But I saw it! That man, the one with the wonderful back and beautiful chest, him - he said, he said - that he was looking forward to escorting you there!"She hated how fate had arranged things. Th

Anzi couldn't believe that the one time she wanted to see Bastien, she couldn't.Did he know? Did he know about the possibility of surviving wild dragons yet? There was a chance it would send him into a raving mad, delirious fit of ecstasy, but more importantly, she could ask him how that could even be possible. He had been there during the Purge, right? Despite his looks and his decidedly immature, irritating personality, he was an old, old man who could shed far more light on the subject than nearly anyone else in the entire Empire. And yet tonight was the one night she couldn't go to see him. No egg-searching, not when she had to accompany Kai all night and entertain him....Entertain.Had the Emperor meant it? Had Kai really told him that he intended to couple with her tonight? Maybe he had changed his mind after everything that happened during their afternoon together; he hadn't told her a thing about it. But wait, he had dragged her to his room and put her

They were in the throne room, Anzi discovered upon seeing the Emperor's personal guard stationed outside the grand doors. And evidently, his Excellency was in grand spirits, judging by the faint laughter that filtered faintly through the wood. It made her pause. Had she ever heard the man laugh that way? It startled her to think that Kai - because he was in there too, the guards had confirmed - would be the reason for such joy.Oh, but dragons. Of course. Now that Anzi knew what was at stake, she could imagine that Kai was perhaps the only person in all the Empire who could make His Excellency so joyous now. It was a strange though, especially since she knew a little of the chieftain's opinion on him...that he was the one who bore the blame for the massacre of the dragons in the Purge.It was surreal. To think that Kai would now offer to bring back those dragons as a gift for the man he had scorned before. Then again, it was hard to defy the will of the

 She knew she wasn't mistaken. This was Noemi, the woman who had slapped Violetta that day in the market district days ago. Her black hair was done up in an elegant style with delicate silver links decorating her tresses, but there was no mistaking the poison-green eyes and the beauty mark by her mouth, nor the sour, sharp expression creeping into her gaze. Evening darkness had fallen, but the torch light was plenty enough to see by.Anzi knew. This was her. And for some reason, she had the emerald brooch in her hair that Violetta had bought for her and held onto. Anzi could believe that she and other young harem girls were forced to lend pretty baubles over to their senior sisters on demand, but something was wrong about this. Not only was Letti nowhere to be seen, but she had disappeared from the harem quarters altogether.After another fight - or more abuse, rather - had she run off somewhere so no one could find her? If Noemi had slapped her again and left ano

"Anzi?"She looked up. "Yes.""I'd like to sit with you.""It's not comfortable.""I'm not looking to be comfortable."She scooted to the side and made space for Kai on the stone steps that led out to the rear of the palace grounds. This area wouldn't open up to the milling citizens just yet, not until the gala was truly underway and all the wealthy elite decided they wanted to admire the beautiful scenery here. She had managed to bully her way past the guards with a cold look, and surprisingly, they had let her go on through. She wondered if they knew who she was somehow. That was possible.Kai settled down next to her, but she said nothing to him as the silence stretched on. It was dark now, so she could pretend that she didn't see him staring at the side of her face as if she had the map of the world on it. She didn't want to talk, anyhow. He should know that just by looking at her.And he did, it seemed. He said nothing for a long

When it happened, there was no warning."You're leaving?" Anzi demanded. "Now? But you never said -"Kai's hand rose to cup the side of her face, and for once, she didn't shoot him with a glare or make a single complaint about it to keep up appearances. She was too stunned to remember to, as he stood there with a small entourage of similarly dressed men standing behind him, all of them waiting in silence. No, two of them were women, too, now that she looked more closely into the darkness, all various shades of bronzed skin with their heads and shoulders wrapped in the style of the desert nomads. It didn't take a seer to figure out that they must be bodyguards of some sort with their weapons at their hips and slung on their backs. She had never seen them before tonight. Where had they been all this time?Kai said nothing, but when her narrowed eyes continued to dart around over his shoulder at his companions' silhouettes, he turned her face back to him with a gen

"Go in and look. I've got everything prepared for you."Anzi hesitated outside the chamber. This one was different from the ones she had seen before, but then again, she had only been to the main hall, the egg chamber, and the small sleeping quarters so far. With how cavernous and extensive this underground system had to be, she knew that there was much she was missing. This would be one of those things."Something wrong, girl? You nervous?""Yes," she said. How could she not be? There was a dragon egg hatching in there - two, apparently - and she wasn't ready to undertake this with all the doubts she had. She couldn't do this knowing that she would be expected to train her dragon into absolute submission as Bastien had made so clear in her short time here. A dragon, noble, thinking, feeling, reduced to a glorified pet. She couldn't do this.Not that he knew what exactly she was thinking. He was no doubt chalking her hesitance up to a simple case of nerve