Rivers of blood and sand

My heels clacked against the marble floors of the council chambers as I walked down the hall, leaving the portal room. Murals of the capital cities of each court lined the walls, their bright colors a sharp contrast to the white of the floors and ceiling. The painting of the Lunar Eclipse court depicted the city during a lunar eclipse. A dark red moon sat above the peaks of the stained glass castle. Before, I would’ve found this beautiful and would’ve marveled at the way the shadows and light played across the castle and the colorful glass buildings surrounding it. It was still a beautiful sight, but was now marred by the memory of all the destruction and carnage brought on several months ago.

It was a busy afternoon in the Convergence point. Mythics filled the walkways, some stopping in front of the shops to talk to one another. As I followed the cobblestone walkways, I caught a few glances thrown my way, followed by hushed whispers. Which was a pointless act, since I could still hear them despite all the chatter and surrounding noises. I couldn’t hear the inside of the buildings, not with the sound barriers, preventing you from hearing inside of them until you crossed the threshold.

Whispers followed me, talking about how they were pretty sure I was Koa’s sister. A couple of Mythics argued back that I looked nothing like him. Those comments were easy to ignore, I’d been hearing them most of my life. My brother and our new group of friends have come under scrutiny recently, what with them living with and protecting a necromancer. Speculations were thrown out as they debated back and forth whether or not I was a part of bringing her here. A lot of the whispers were simply observations and gossip. Which was nothing new, every city and town did the same thing. Others held a malicious edge that had my dragon lifting her head, and had I not had an iron grip on her, would’ve probably sent out a burst of fire or at the very least, released my claws.

My lips were pressed together in a thin line as I continued hearing the gossip, my ears unfortunately picking up the assholes’ conversations. I kept overhearing them talk about how those who lived in that house were fucking traitors to their own kind. They detailed how "those fucking traitors" had nearly killed those of their own kind to protect a necromancer, leaving out how those dumbasses had come to their house to start shit.

Not once did I respond to their words or their not-so-subtle glances thrown my way. Honestly, I couldn’t care less what they thought of me, or whether or not they thought I was a traitor by association. Alora was one of the nicest people I’d ever met and deserved to live here. Not only had she turned her back on all she had ever known and sided with those she was told were her enemies, but she helped patch the rift the necromancers had been opening. That was more than enough to earn her place in our realm. Whether they liked it or not, she was a Mythic and belonged here.

The path I took led to the training building. It had several floors, with multiple training rooms on each connected by a long hallway. A familiar scent immediately caught my attention and I followed it down the hallway, up the stairs, and down another hallway. This room was smaller than the one downstairs, where I had first met everyone. Weapons lined the walls, with large blocks of wood, targets, and other equipment sitting beneath them.

Set in the center of the room was a large mat, where Ander and Koa sparred. In typical male fashion, both of them were shirtless, probably done to show off their muscles and tattoos, despite the lack of audience. Well, I guess they now had an audience since I was here.

Koa’s back was to me, showing off his tattoo, the script drawing my attention. I’d always thought it was strange how much he’d always loved that story, to the point where he had it tattooed on his body. He always said he was drawn to the strength of the dragon summoner, and how she managed to pull herself back from the precipice. While I understood his reasoning, I couldn’t feel anything but sorrow every time I heard that story. There may have been a somewhat happy ending, but I had a hard time thinking of the story as anything other than a tragedy.

My attention didn’t linger on my brother for more than a few seconds, shooting to Ander and staying there. Like my brother, he was drenched in sweat, but unlike Koa, it made him more appealing. The glowing crystal lights from above reflected off of his glistening bronze skin. His muscles bunched and coiled under his skin as he dodged one of Koa’s punches. Across his chest were five permanent sigils tattooed with red ink infused with his blood. Between each sigil were black lines and swirls connecting each in a stunning design. I wished he would stop moving so I had a chance to admire it.

His dark brunette hair was damp with sweat, but somehow still found a way to keep falling on his forehead, even though he tried shoving it out of the way multiple times. Multi-hued eyes tracked Koa’s movements the way a predator would as they circled each other. Both of them assessed the other’s weaknesses as they waited to see who would attack first. Their fight was almost like a dance—a violent one—with fluid movements despite their size. It spoke of their years of training and experience of honing their bodies into deadly weapons. Both of them were evenly matched, each of them getting in their fair share of hits.

A glance over my shoulder told me the footsteps entering the room belonged to Reed. The red-headed elemental gave me a small smile and nodded his head in greeting as he came to stand beside me.

“Which of you thought it was a good idea to let these two fight? Even in a sparring setting it’s a bad idea,” I said, but there wasn’t any chastisement in my tone. I didn’t bother dropping my voice, knowing they’d both be able to hear me no matter how softly I spoke.

Reed let out a short chuckle, his deep brown eyes sparkling with humor as he met my gaze. “This shit is tame compared to their first few sparring sessions.” He gestured at them with a wave of his hand.

This gave me pause, my eyebrows shooting up as I tilted my head to the side. “Do I want to know what happened?”

Reed’s already tousled hair was disheveled further when he ran his hand through it. He may not have been as big as Ander or Koa, but his arms were still fairly big and muscular. “They didn’t hold back and actively went for blows designed to hurt the other. Luckily they didn’t use real weapons the first couple of times.”

Smart. With the way those two were at each other’s throats and the pure rage Ander had toward Koa in the Fire Court, made for a terrible combination, especially when combat was thrown into the mix. Adding weapons to the equation seemed like a recipe for disaster.

“And then one day they decided to use swords,” Reed said, rolling his eyes. Oh no. “Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty when Jay saw all their wounds.” He shook his head, letting out a long whistle as a smile played on his lips. “Ari and Harm had to stop her from attacking Ander by removing her from the room.”

Reed rubbed his jaw as he chuckled again, his gaze returning to where Ander and Koa still fought. “In retaliation, Jade and Ari hid his favorite sword—yes, he has a favorite—and held it hostage for an entire week. They even took it with them when they visited their parents. Going as far as sending him videos of the sword having so much more fun with them than it ever did with him. They even recreated King Arthur pulling out Excalibur with it.”

I snorted, having not expected the story to go in that direction. I’d been expecting something more violent. Something only an insane person could come up with. “That sounds like something Ari would do.” She was the type to come up with crazy and wild ideas, while Jade went for the impulsive physical plans

“Yeah, all of Jay’s plans were violent. She talked about punching him in the dick. Kneeing him in the dick. Stabbing him in the dick—that was a particularly dark moment. Pushing him out a window, a third-story one since she only wanted to lightly maim him. Drag him to the human realm and hit him with a car. Push him out of a moving car. The list goes on and on.

“Finally Ari pitched her plan, and at first Jay wasn’t going for it, but after some convincing, she realized it was a better alternative than maiming the man that is basically her older brother. But Koa didn’t get out of this unscathed either. She reamed him out for hurting Ander. Hell, that night she even slept in Ari’s room to punish him. Now that was a rough night.” Reed chuckled again, and I was kind of disappointed I missed all of that.

I joined in on Reed’s laughter. Now that sounded like something Jade would do. When I first saw the interest burning in Koa’s eyes after Jade called him an asshole under her breath, I knew she would turn his life upside down and keep him on his toes. She had proven me right multiple times within a day. She drove him crazy in a way no other woman had before her.

The two of them continued sparring, ignoring our conversation about them as they traded blows. My focus kept finding its way back to Ander and lingering far too long. I’d never had a chance to watch him fight before and it was hard to look away. The way his muscles flexed with his movements had me shifting around on my feet as my blood heated. I couldn’t help but notice how good he looked in the sweatpants and how they accentuated—

Nope. I would not stand here drooling over him. Yes, he was sexy as hell, but he was also a huge fucking asshole.

Giving my head a firm shake, trying to rid myself of thoughts of Ander, I turned to Reed. “How’s Alora?” It had been almost two months since I last saw her at Jade and Koa’s mating ritual, and she’d still been acclimating to our realm at the time.

“She’s good. She’s been working hard on her studies and has made some progress.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he pursed his lips for a moment. “Well, other than the lessons about the rulers and the courts they preside over. There’s been little progress with that. I’d go as far as to say, she’s terrible with names. I’m starting to believe it’s lucky she even remembers Caspian’s name.”

“Yeah, that would be awkward if she couldn’t remember his name.” I snorted at the thought of her struggling to remember the king of the Water court's name when she had to check in with him once a week. “She probably needs more time. She didn’t grow up hearing these names like the rest of us. I’ll bet she'll pick it up eventually.”

With the way Reed’s lips were firmly pressed together as he tilted his head, I got the feeling he didn’t agree with my assessment. “She can name, maybe five deities, and even then she struggles to recall what race they were.”

“There are a lot of them,” I half-heartedly defended, trying to hold back my laughter.

Reed shot me a bland look. “The ruling class?”

A surprised and baffled laugh escaped and I clapped my hand over my mouth. “I’m trying not to make fun of her, but how can she not remember their names? They had statues of them all over their territory.”

“That’s my point. The girl can’t remember names to save her life. It’s honestly impressive she’s remembered all of our names.” Reed shook his head, a smile tipping the corner of his lips, softening his words. From the fond tone of his voice, I could tell he wasn’t being malicious or making fun of her.

Like Mythics, there were a ton of deities. Way too many to learn and remember all of their names. It would be like being expected to remember a third of the Mythics’ population’s names, that’s how many deities there were. The ones we worshiped and had statues built in their names were what we called The ruling class. They were the ones kids learned about in their lessons. All of the others were mainly nameless faces, most of their names lost to history.

Ander and Koa’s sparring came to an end, both of them stepping off the mat and heading over to chug water. They each had a towel sitting on the chairs, that they used to wipe the sweat from their faces and bodies. I most certainly didn’t sneak a glance or two—or five—at Ander and watched him run the towel over his drenched hair, his biceps flexing with the motions.

Ander gave me a cursory glance, his gaze dipping to my thighs—where the tattoos on my thighs were on full display due to my shorts—before wiping his towel over his face, and I once again pretended I wasn't noticing and appreciating his physique. “I didn’t know your sister was coming to visit,” Ander said to Koa as if I wasn’t in the room. Nice to know he was still his charming self who made me feel welcome and right at home.

“Neither did I.” Koa finished wiping off his face before launching the towel in my direction. Before it could hit me in the face, I caught the damp material with a sigh. He’d done this enough times, resulting in me having my fair share of sweaty towels to my face in the past, so I’d been expecting it. “What’s up Star?”

Biting my lips, I shot a glance at Ander and found his icy gaze on me. A shiver worked its way down my spine, feeling like an ice cube slipped down the back of my shirt. It was so disconcerting how his stare could freeze me to the core. While his body had my blood boiling, and not just with anger. Two opposite sensations, fought for my attention as I pulled my gaze away from his.

“I’m just here to check something out.”

Koa’s eyebrows shot up at my vague answer. Before, he knew everything I did, but that was when he was unmated and lived with me in the Dragon clan lands. Recently, his priorities had shifted. He still cared about our realm and the problems that were far from solved. It just wasn’t his main focus anymore. Jade was. I wasn’t saying he was wrong for doing so, she should be one of his top priorities. But it now meant he wasn’t always brought into the loop right away, or in the meetings, or out tracking down lead after lead.

“It doesn’t feel so good not being told everything, huh?” Ander chuckled as he patted Koa on the back.

My jaw dropped. He just joked with Koa. There was no derision or mocking in his tone or face. I shot Reed a disbelieving stare, my mouth still hanging open and he just laughed. This was something I never thought would happen—or at the very least, not for several years—there had been so much animosity between the two before. How had this happened within the last two months? Did finally being able to kick the shit out of each other allow them to get over everything? If we had let them fight right off the bat, could we have saved ourselves from countless arguments and dominance contests?

“What are you checking out?” Koa questioned, pulling his shirt over his head.

“I’ll tell you if it turns out to be something. It might be nothing but a waste of time.” It wasn’t like I didn’t trust my brother or the others to know what was going on. I just didn’t see how this lead could be related to the necromancers, the rift, or the keys. Hell, I wasn't sure anything was going on, the lead was pretty thin.

Koa made a noncommittal sound, not appreciating my answer. His keen eyes tracked over my face, trying to see if he could gain any answers from it. He couldn’t, and he knew it. Picking up his water bottle, he gave up trying to pry it from my expression. “We’re not done with this conversation.”

He and Ander joined us near the door, where we made the trek back to their house. I knew he was right about how this conversation was far from over. Koa was never one to let things go, and my keeping a secret irked him more than he’d ever admit.