INFERNAL - 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐲𝐬 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫

SIX

Ndete's thoughts raced as she approached the gathering.

"Stay here," she said to Fayal and Xian, "I'll be right back to announce you." She turned to her friend. "Kana, can you stay with them while I talk to my father?"

"Of course."

Ndete threaded her way through the crowd, stretching her neck to find him.

"Quincess," a voice hissed near her ear. "So glad you could find some time to attend your own preliminary."

"Okmok." Her voice was flat as she saw who had come up beside her.

She said nothing more. She felt no need to explain herself to this impote. After a moment of silence the red dragon cleared his throat.

"Are you finding the proceedings... suitable?"

Where was her father? Surely he was here somewhere. Meeting the colony leaders as they arrived was not something he would take lightly.

Okmok sighed heavily. "You are as stubborn as your mother."

Something heavy slammed into Ndete's left side. The air left her lungs in a whoosh. She stumbled, expecting to run into the warren wall, but instead found herself slipping through a narrow space into semi-darkness. She regained her footing only to find Puyu pushing in behind her, blocking her exit. Fury and distrust knotted together in her chest. There was a scraping sound behind her. She spun to find Okmok entering the narrow cavern from another entrance, effectively cutting off her escape. She was trapped between the two red dragons.

"What do you want, Okmok?" Smoke accompanied the words, a testament to the heat of her ire.

"I assume I now have your undivided attention?"

She tossed a look over her shoulder, hoping it conveyed every bit of her loathing. When she finally turned back to Okmok it was with her fire burning hot in her belly, running molten through her veins.

"You may have me outnumbered," she growled, "but I will not go down without a fight. Tell me what it is you came here to say, or we can see whose claws do the most damage in these narrow halls."

Okmok chuckled, his eyes burning. "I can see why Puyu finds you so provoking."

Flame licked between Ndete's lips. "And I can see where he gets his revolting character."

Okmok's smile didn't leave his lips, but his laughter stopped. "I have a proposition for you, mortalis-lover."

A proposition? So now she would find out what Puyu had been plotting.

Okmok misread her look of anticipation as one of shock. "That's right, Quincess. It is no secret that you shift to mortalis form without a need. That you do it for the sheer... pleasure of wearing the human skin." He spit the words out as if they were dirty.

"Is there a law against it that I have failed to hear?"

Okmok's eyes narrowed. "No, but do not think that will help you if the people learn of it. You stain the old ways with your lust for it. You betray of your own kind." He stepped closer, filling up the space between them with his bulk and smoke. Fire dripped from his jaws. "You invoke the allocai with no intention of fulfilling it! You make a mockery of our traditions!"

Ndete felt the heat pressing in from behind as well, but stood her ground. She would not—could not let them intimidate her.

"You want your mortalis skin so badly?" Okmok took a half step back, the smoke swirling in the air between them like a spirit. "I will offer it to you, Quincess."

What?

"That's right. I will give you what you want. I will let you keep your precious shift."

How?

"You will not be forced to mate, or to bear eggs. You will keep your power and the ability to use it. That is what you want, is it not?"

She could not answer. It was too dangerous. If she did, the truth might escape.

"Other eggs will be provided," he explained. "No one need know they are not yours." Now Okmok leaned back in close, his warm and fetid breath surrounding her. "All you need do is select Puyu, and I will make sure of it."

Was that all? A bubble of laughter swelled within her, trying to escape. She swallowed it down before it could get out.

"I invoked the allocai," she said instead. "It is my right to choose my own mate, and I will, but it will not be Puyu. Your son will never stand on the raised rock. He will never be Pendragon!"

She felt the immediate shift behind her, but Okmok flicked his eyes and Puyu stilled. When he shifted them back to hers they blazed with contained fury.

"If you do not," he rumbled, "your secret will be exposed for all to see. You may not have broken any laws, Quincess, but your people may not be so inclined to accept your invocation if they know it is only a ruse so that you may cloak yourself in human skin a while longer. And once the allocai is revoked, I will call for the Furnas." He leaned in a scale closer, his vile red hide pressing against her own. "Are you willing to risk the lives of your family—what's left of it—for your mortalis skin?"

He backed away, and Ndete felt a cool rush of air against her back. Puyu was gone. She was no longer trapped between them.

At least not physically.

"Decide quickly," Okmok said as he turned to go. "I'm not a very patient dragon."

And then he, too, was gone.

Ndete closed her eyes. Was Okmok right? Would her people turn against her if they knew she shifted? It seemed so foolish. If the humans were so inferior, why did her people fear them so much? For it certainly did seem like fear that drove the conceptions that they held.

She wasn't afraid of Okmok or Puyu. They disgusted her, they did not frighten her. But the idea that her actions might bring harm to her family filled her with sadness and worry. They mingled like ash and water, turning her intentions into a slurry that did not sit well.

This was their plan. They would try to force her hand to ensure their own.

She wondered if they could possibly understand how much she disliked it when someone tried to intimidate her.

"Ndete?"

She turned to find Kana in the opening behind her.

"Is everything all right?"

Behind her, Fayal peered into the gloom, his eyes filled with concern. Beside him, Xian gazed with eyes luminous with innocence.

Looking at her, Ndete felt a plan blossom from the ash.