And that would be even more humiliating.
“Fine. I’ll cede my position as basilinna, but not to a Katagari whore.”
Growling, Sera started for her, but Samia caught her and stopped her from taking the bitch’s head in cold blood.
“She’s not worth your honor, Seraphina. Besides, we all know the truth. She gave up her honor attempting to take Max’s and he, a simple Katagari, upheld his vow to you.”
Sam raked a scathing glare over Nala’s body. “The only shame in this room belongs to her. Let her live knowing that. Let it haunt her every night when she attempts to sleep and it echoes in her head with the voice of the Furies until it drives her mad with the truth.” She glanced around to the rest of Sera’s tribe. “As the basilinna for the Thurian Riders, I call a vote from the Scythians. Who do you want to lead your nation? A coward, or do you choose someone worthy?”
Tisiphone stepped forward and sheathed her sword. “Honestly? We just want to go home to what we knew. Scythians are done with the politics of the gods. They have brought us nothing save misery. Our only wish now is to return to our time period at the next moon. None of us are happy here. And while we would be honored to have Seraphina as our leader, we respect the fact that she will want to stay here with her mate and children. She has more than earned her peace. None of us will ever judge her for that.”
Sera lowered her sword from Nala. “Is that truly how all of you feel?”
One by one, they nodded.
“Then it is with great sadness that I lose my sisters. But I won’t stop you. I know what it’s like to live without what you need to be happy. And I wish that on no one.”
Seraphina narrowed her eyes on Nala. “Not even you.” But in spite of those words, bitter hatred rose up inside her and she had one thing she needed to know. “I put my faith in you. I trusted you over even my own mate. Why did you lie to me about him?”
“Because I hate you!” Tears glistened in Nera’s eyes as she pulled off her leather gauntlet and showed her palm to Seraphina. A palm that bore a Katagari mating mark. “Like you, I was given to a Katagari bastard. But I held my dragonslayer’s oath sacred and refused to seal the mating.” She glared at the rest of their tribe. “They lied to us. The mark never fades. It stays as a forever reminder that I am sterile, and that the bastard who did this to me still lives. My only comfort is that he’s impotent.” She raked a vicious sneer over Seraphina’s body. “It’s not fair that you should have your Katagari mate and I, the basilinna of my sister tribe, should be without his comfort. Should be without children.”
While Sera felt bad for her queen, it didn’t justify her cruelty to them. “You had no right to blame either me or Maxis for your cowardice. It wasn’t your oath that kept you from mating. It was your own fear.”
Nala screamed and ran toward her, but Dev caught her and forced her back. “You need a time-out, woman.” He glanced to Sam. “I’m putting this one on ice. I’ll leave you ladies to attend the others.”
Sam swept them with a gaze. “It’s up to you, my sisters. Behave and we’ll allow you freedom here until the next moon. Start shit and you can sit in a cage with Nala to wait it out.”
The Amazons sheathed their swords and stood down.
Fang sighed in relief. “Good. Now all of you can help us clean up the mess you made.”
Grateful to have it over and done with, Seraphina had moved forward to help him when someone touched her on the shoulder. She gasped, thinking it was another attack, then relaxed as she saw Falcyn behind her. She glanced past him, looking for her mate. “Where’s Max?”
The expression on his face made her stomach tighten.
“What?” she gasped.
When he didn’t respond right away, she felt all the air get sucked out of her lungs as if she’d been punched.
“No… he’s coming.” Her tone brooked no argument. Max would be here. He’d promised and he never broke his word.
Tears glistened in Falcyn’s eyes as he gently took her hand and teleported her from the bar into the attic with Carson and a redheaded woman she didn’t know.
In his dragon form and on his side, Max lay on the ground with blood pooling around him. Carson and the woman were trying to stop the bleeding, but nothing was slowing it down. It ran everywhere and coated Max’s beautiful scales.
When Carson saw her, he winced. “I’m sorry, Sera. There’s nothing we can do. He took a wound straight to his heart. Honestly? I don’t know how he made it back alive and is still breathing.”
“No… no!” She ran to Max’s large head and threw herself against his neck. His faint labored breaths rattled ominously in his chest and throat. “Maxis? Can you hear me?”
I hear you, Seramia.
He was too weak to even speak. And even the voice in her head was nothing more than the faintest of whispers.
Tears blinded her as she clutched at him. “You can’t leave me! Not now. You promised me you wouldn’t break my heart.”
I’m sorry. He slid one bloodied, taloned paw toward her so that he could touch her hip.
Sobbing, Sera thought about all the times she’d slaughtered dragons in her past and had taken so much pride in it. Had stupidly worn their hides and scales as trophies. Was this her payback for that cruelty?