Sterre & Elke nummer zoveel

The house of Fox was a mystery nobody could solve. Raphael remembered them. The people had been beautiful, but their schemes ugly. They always tried to pin other houses against each other by telling lies and betraying others. Until one day, they were no more. Their entire estate burned to the ground, no survivers. Nobody ever talked about them again and although people had their ideas, nobody dared speak them out loud. For Raphael, this was just another sign of tyranny. A family did something the dragons didn't like, they would be murdered, burned to ash. The Foxes didn't even get proper burials. Although the hippogriffs and foxes had never been friends, this was not a fate he wished upon anyone. He knew better than to speak his mind, though.
Raphael still didn't like her attitude. She was arrogant, still. Even though he had full control over her, she was still arrogant. He decided to not get into that, but she should be smarter than this. Although, her words did make sense. Marian definitely liked him a lot and she only spent time with her other consorts because she had to. Because it would be unfair to not spend time with them. If he stayed on her good side, he would become king. Not a title he aimed for when he got here, knowing it was only a title of honor, but combined with Morgayne, it could work. The current king was worthless, Raphael knew that, but if he could keep Marian on his good side, he would definitely be able to influence her decisions at least a bit. It was interesting, but a long shot. Did he have a choice right now?
His eyes locked with Morgayne. 'I promise I won't kill her, as long as you keep your end of this deal,' he said. Maybe a little bold, but if they couldn't keep Marian in check, there was no use to making this deal in the first place. He had to get word to his family about Morgayne, in case shit did go down and he ended up behind bars.
Morgayne definitely still underestimated him and his family. He would leave her in that fantasy. Of course, dragons were stronger, but his family was a lot bigger and they were definitely not weak compared to the royal family. That was why the two families kept a friendly bond with each other, why it made sense for someone like Raphael to be sent to the palace. It was like marrying a son and a daughter of one family to remain allies. He doubted whether Morgayne had actually seen a hippogriff before. He had been flying around, but she had been locked in her room before. And when she entered te courtyard earlier today, he had already shifted back. She had no idea.

'I will keep to my deal,' that just didn't mean there were no other plans involved as well. 'Just one more thing, Raphael. You are capable of giving me orders, but realise that every time you decide to boss me around, I will remember. And I will pay you back in full.' As long as he didn't order her not to do something, she could do whatever she wanted. He would not be able to stop her if she decided to hunt certain family members. That wasn't necessary for now, but who knows what might happen in the future.
'I am leaving now, goodnight.' She wasn't going to wait for him to agree or disagree with her, she had no business here anymore and she wanted to go, so she did. She was glad to be rid of him, even if it was just for now. She ran towards the open window and jumped through, a couple seconds later a dragon was soaring through the sky. She had entered and left through the window because nobody would notice it that way. Of course they weren't blind, but she blended very well with the sky and people would probably just think she appeared out of nowhere. Wouldn't be the first time she did that.

The next morning Morgayne was one of the first people on the courtyard, even though she wasn't in human form. She didn't always train as a human, sometimes she trained in her other form, just to make sure she was capable of that too. Her family thought it stupid, it wasn't necessary to train your dragon form, but they didn't realise how much stronger training had made her. How much better she was than them. That was okay, they didn't need to know.
So Alistair had set up a parcours in order to help her train. She didn't know what kind of parcours and that made it fun. Alistair had a tendency to include surprises. Surprises that usually hurt, big time. Sometimes she thought he enjoyed it when he managed to hurt her, then again, who could blame him? Must be incredibly satisfying to knock a dragon to the ground and not get burned to death for it. Of course, he was the only person alive who was allowed to do that. Others shouldn't even think about it.
She raced through the parcours, dodging every spike and hurtful object she could see and she was almost at the end, when from the side a boulder caught her by surprise. She had to swing to the left to dodge it, where soldiers were waiting and managed to get chains around her legs, pulling her down. Suddenly a lot of weapons were pointed at her. She couldn't hurt her own soldiers, so she had to admit that she lost. Not a great start of the day.

Almost a week passed again, in which Morgayne and Raphael didn't really interact with each other. They didn't talk or train with each other and they avoided being in the same room. Marian seemed to have noticed that the two weren't really training together and Raphael got the sense that she wasn't really sad about it. The crown princess and he spent every possible moment together and Raphael realized that Morgayne would probably be right. Unless he fucked up real bad, Marian was gonna pick him to be her husband. Weird, but good. He never expected to become king, but it seemed like that was becoming more and more of a possibility.
'A letter arrived for you,' Marian said. They were lying on her bed, on the messy sheets they hadn't tidied up yet and Raphael looked surprised as she handed him the piece of parchment. 'A raven brought it in this morning. I hope you don't mind that I read it.' The seal on the letter was broken and although definitely didn't like it that she went through his letters, getting angry was not an option. He smiled. 'I have no secrets for you,' he responded. Luckily, he and his mother had made sure that nobody would understand the meaning of their letters if they got into the wrong hands. He read through the words and a slight frown appeared on his face. Marian seemed confused.
'Are you okay?' she asked, and Raphael nodded.
'I didn't expect my cousin to get married to a wolf,' he explained, 'and the wedding is so soon.'
Marian smiled. 'I guess congratulations are in order?'
'I suppose so.' His cousin wasn't marrying a wolf, though. It meant he had to come home for urgent business. The fact that his mother chose a wolf, meant no good. It worried him, but he had to hide that. Instead of frowning, he kissed Marian. 'I used to be very close to my cousin,' he said to her, 'and I would like your permission to go home to help prepare for the wedding.'
Marian didn't seem too happy with his request, he immediately noticed. She didn't want to let him go, of course she didn't, but he had to. 'It would only be for a few days, I'll be back before you know it,' he said.'
'I don't like the idea of letting you leave,' she said. He heard some firmness in her voice, so he bit his lip and made a choice. He got closer to her, kissed her lips, cheeks, onto her neck until he heard a slight moan. Yeah, he had learned about most of Marians soft spots.
'Please?' he said, looking up to her with big, innocent eyes. She smiled.
'Fine. But you better come up with a way to thank be once you get back.' She picked the letter from the sheets, looked through it and handed it back to him. 'You will be back in three days, right after the wedding.' It was more of a demand than a question and Raphael smiled. 'Yes, my queen-to-be,' he whispered, before kissing her neck again.

Later that day she waved him off. He asked her not to inform too many people and although she insisted he take some servants with him, it would be no use if he flew there as a hippogriff. The servants wouldn't arrive at the estate in time.
'Take care,' Marian said before they exchanged another kiss.
'Of course, my princess,' he replied. He took a few steps back and shifted into his hippogriff form. Before leaving, he made a short bow towards Marian, who smiled a little bit. She still didn't seem happy with letting him go, but he had to. His family came first. Raphael took off and flew towards his old home. He might not be a dragon, but his wings were strong and carried him quickly across the wind. He would be home in a couple of hours, instead of a couple of days on foot.

She had no idea what was going on in the castle, because Morgayne wasn't home that day. She also didn't plan to come home for a few days, because she was with her soldiers in the woods. Alistair had set up some sort of training for the newest recruits and she came to help him with it. This was his area of expertise, so she was here to learn from him and maybe select some recruits for her personal guards, but nothing more. She wasn't expected to help unless Alistair asked it. She was fine with that really. Hanging in the forest, watching people work their ass off... Nothing wrong with that, especially if she didn't even have to take care of it. Of course she also attended because she liked being around Alistair. He was the closest thing she had to a friend and he had gotten back to calling her Morgayne, so that was a good sign.
Beside her, Alistair was yelling at some of the recruits. Apparently he wasn't too happy about them just hanging in that three. They were supposed to be able to climb it really fast and then jump back from the top, one branch at a time. Climbing the tree wasn't the problem, but as soon as some of the recruits saw the way down, they panicked. Morgayne had to hide her smile during all this. She wasn't laughing at the recruits, they were just children and she could imagine that this was really scary if you hadn't done it before, but she was laughing about all the fuss Alistair was going through just to get them down.
'The princess is watching, do you really want to disappoint her?' Alister shouted to the new recruits, knowing full well that they already knew Morgayne was watching.
'I am pretty sure shouting that isn't going to help, but may I?' He looked at her and saw her smile, she was up to something and he knew it.
'Go ahead, try and get them down without them breaking their bones.' Morgayne chuckled. They both knew she wouldn't make that kind of promise. She ran up to the three, climbed it without hesitation and reached the recruits in a fairly short amount of time.
'Now, listen up. In five seconds I am going to shift into a dragon right here. If I do that and you're around, you will get crushed or fall to your death. Or you can do what Alistair is trying to teach you and just go down. Okay?' She smiled at them, but they looked terrified of her. Yet, nobody moved.
'Five, four,' that did push them to action. All of the recruits were back on the ground after a while. It took them more than the promised five seconds, but at least they tried. Now they knew that it really wasn't that scary, so next time it would hopefully not be a problem. She remained high up in the three, watching over the forest. She loved it here. Nature was where she belonged, not the castle with all it's stupid rules. She could stay here her entire life, away from her family and her obligations. Unfortunately that just wasn't an option.

In a few hours, he landed on the open spot that was designated for the hippogriffs. One of the guards must have seen him flying their way, because it didn't take his family long to come outside. He didn't like what he saw.
'What happened?' he asked his sister, who seemed to be highest ranking among the people here. Their mother wasn't here, which worried him. His mother was always on top of everything, so why didn't she come out the minute she heard he was here?
'Come inside first,' his sister, Reina, replied. They exchanged a quick hug before he followed her inside the estate. It was a big mess inside, with people walking around at a quick pace, soldiers in full armour and he saw smiths carrying the gigantic pieces of armour the hippogriffs sometimes wore into battle.
'What's going on?' he asked again, more urgently now. Reina shook her head again, this time she nodded towards the left side of the room, where the family usually ate on a higher platform that the rest of the houshold. Their mother was sitting right there, in a heated discussion with one of her soldiers. At first Raphael didn't notice, but her eyes were fierce and she had blood on her clothes.
'Reina, what the..'
'Mother will explain, Raphael. Come.'
He wanted her to tell him right now what was going on, but she was his sister. She was the boss. He bit his lip before walking up to his mother, who ended her conversation with the soldier when they approached.
'Raphael,' she said, acknowledgin him.
'Mother,' he replied, 'Reina said you would explain what is going on?'
'We're at war, Raphael. Last night, one of our scouts reported weird birds in the skies near our lands. Another reported lions.'
'So the gryphons overstepped their lands again?'
'Worse. A farm girl came here late at night, claiming the gryphons killed her family. Not later, soldiers came back with bodies.' The look on his mothers face was grim. Raphael understood why. 'So they are not just overstepping, they are challenging us.'
His mother nodded. 'We need to prepare, we need all our forces here. You're one of our strongest, thats why I called you back. We need every shifter we have to fight this battle with us. We have to show them we are still stronger than them.'
Raphael nodded. There was no time for pleasantries. This was urgent, they could not let the gryphons ravage their land and people.

Not a lot later, everyone was prepared. The entire hippogriff family had come to defend their family. The shifters had all showed up, forming a majestic line of gorgeous beasts. Normal soldiers accompanied them, some on horses and some on foot. Some of the family members wore special forged armour, others preferred not to. Raphael was one of the latter. The armour would just slow him down.
A shriek echooed through the darkening sky. This was their mark to march. As a solid army, the hippogriffs stretched their wings and set off, filling up the night sky.
They were not the only ones prepared to fight. Raphael heard a strange noise, followed by the wooshing sound of an arrow passing right by his ear. He barely dodged it, but before he could react to the rain of arrows, he was charged by a gryphon. He let out a wild shriek when the animal clawed into his side. It burned, but he ignored the pain. The adrenaline took over as he snapped his beak at the attacker, cutting its throat instantly.

She was lying in the grass, looking at the sky. Waiting for Alistair and his recruits to finish their game of hide and seek. If Alistair could find you, you failed. Most of the recruits so far had failed. They all got a fifteen second start before Alistair and yet none of them managed to succeed. Right now a very promising recruit had run off and Alistair went after him. This wasn't just a game, if one of their soldiers got caught in an enemy camp, then being able to find a good hiding place in time was crucial. But it looked really stupid. The recruits that were already caught or were still waiting for their turn, were in the grass beside her, training. She could hear the sounds of clashing weapons and it calmed her down.
Morgayne actually decided to take a nap, when it felt like her side was on fire. She shut up, frantically looking around her, but nobody was even close. With her hands she felt her side, but there was nothing. No blood, nothing that could indicate that she got hurt. Perhaps it wasn't her that got hurt. Stupid Raphael. What was he doing? Her side kept hurting and she knew that wasn't going to go away very soon, so she might as well investigate what was going on.
When Alistair and the recruit returned, she motioned at him that she was going to go fly a little while. She didn't want him to think that she left because she was bored, that really wasn't true. As soon as she shifted into a dragon, she knew that Raphael wasn't where he was supposed to be. The bond told her he was to the north, while her castle was definitely east. Great, where did he go? Following her instinct, she went north.

It took her around an hour to reach her destination, but she heard it sooner than she could see it. War. She had never been in a war, she had no idea what it sounded like and yet, this was unmistakable a battle. Probably one where Raphael was fighting, she heard wings flapping like crazy. For a little while she stayed high above, hidden by the clouds. Looking at what was happening here. She needed to know where Raphael was, who the enemy was and who she was supposed to protect.
It didn't take her long to find Raphael, who was obviously hurt and in way over his head. There were three griffins around him, trying to take him down. They had chosen the wrong hippogriff to attack. This was her hippogriff, she was the only one allowed to hurt him.
A mighty roar split the clouds in two and Morgayne dove straight down, right into the middle of the fight. She had watched long enough to know not to attack the hippogriffs, so she had to be careful when using her fire. Not that she cared if they got hurt, but Raphael probably did. With a swing of her tail she took care of the griffins around Raphael, before she set them on fire. Every griffin that was within her range, got toasted.
While she was busy roasting the enemy, people on the ground almost stopped fighting. Behind her she could feel the hippogriffs watching her, before her the griffins were retreating. Fast. Nobody could have imagined that a dragon would come to join the party, let alone a dragon that chose to side with one of the houses. This hadn't happend in over a thousand years. The dragons ruled the kingdom, but the houses were allowed to fight each other if they wanted to. Well not anymore, Morgayne wouldn't have it.
There were no more griffins in sight to roast, so she stopped breathing fire. They had retreated far away enough so that her fire wouldn't be able to reach them, but this wasn't the end of this fight. She was glad it wasn't, they would attack again. The question was whether or not they would do it now or if they would postpone the fight to tomorrow. Most battles were fought during the day and night was already falling.

In stories, they never told you how long the battles lasted exactly. They told about brutal fights, outnumbering the enemy or winning battles that were not in your favour. The stories told how these fights were exhausting, but Raphael never understood what that meant. Until now. He had fought so many enemies, both on the ground and in the air. He had snapped necks with his beak, trampled footmen with his hooves and clawed at eyes with his front legs. He was exhausted, hurt and bled out of many wounds. He flew up a bit, in hopes of being able to see what was going on. They had the upper hand, but both sides had suffered heavy losses. His mother was fighting multiple men on the ground, hitting them with her brown wings. She was strong, but even she seemed exhausted. They exchanged looks, but that was about all they could do. Three gryphons had caught up with him and started attacking him. He dove down again, hoping to disappear into the mess before he got hurt too much, but it was idle hope. They caught up with him and he defended himself, scratching and stomping where he could, but he was tired.
That was when the sky split open. A dragon the colour of the night sky soared down and Raphael didn't even realize what happened at first. The intensity of the battle had taken it's toll, but it didn't take him long to realize. Morgayne, who must have felt his pain from far away. He felt a sense of guilt, he never meant to get her involved in this fight. Not that her help was unwelcome, certainly not. He managed to dive away in time, before her tail sweeped his three attackers and he felt the heat of the flames on his fur when barely got away in time.
In only a little more time, the battle was won. There were no screams of victory though, nobody seemed to be sure what to do. When they were sure the gryphons wouldn't return, Raphael came down from the sky. It was as if the others had waited for that, because slowly, all the hippogriffs in the sky started coming down. Soldiers relaxed a bit. They were still too scared to freely talk to each other with the dragon so close to them, but they had won. For now.
Right after he landed, Raphael shifted back. It was not his own choice, it was his body telling him it was exhausted. He couldn't even stand, immediately after shifting to his human form his legs stopped carrying his weight and he fell on the ground. The wounds on his body were painfully visible. Scratches, some deeper than other, heavy bleeding. On his chest an ugly wound was visible, with skin hanging loose. He would heal, he was certain of that, but right now he felt more dead than alive.

Reina, who had stayed on the ground to command the ground forces, rushed to him, but slowed down when her eyes crossed with those of the huge dragon. No. It couldn't be. Why would a dragon be here? Did they find out about Raphael, was this their punishment? Would the dragon wipe them out? She gave a sign and all soldiers got back into position. Not like they would stand a chance in their weakened state, but if they were going down, they would go down fighting.
'Reina...' Raphael was weak, but alive. He grabbed her hand and she looked at him, surprised. 'Don't attack her,' he said, 'if you kill her, I die as well.'
Her mother heard those last words as she approached. The woman who was head of the hippogriffs was old, but not ancient. She had never seen a dragon and a rider, but she understood what Raphael meant. 'Stand down,' the lady of the hippogriffs commanded, before looking at the huge dragon in front of her, waiting for her to shift to a human form. Around her, hippogriffs started to turn back into humans. The battle was over for today, the dragon didn't seem to be a threat for now.

She was almost sad that the fight was over, even though it wasn't really over. Griffins weren't the kind of creature to back down, dragon or not. Today's battle was won, but there would be another one tomorrow and Morgayne couldn't wait for it. The only problem was the bond with Raphael. He weakened her and she couldn't use that in a fight. Perhaps she would make him stay in the castle the next day, then at least he couldn't get them both killed.
She turned around and saw that Raphael already went to the ground, she could see him in his human form on the ground, in the dirt. It looked a bit sad. Beside him some of his family members turned up. At least she thought they were his family, their armor looked a bit to expensive for normal soldiers. One of them had the guts to tell the soldiers to point their weapons at him, a growl rippled from her lips. Not a great idea to challenge a dragon that was still working on not going after the enemy and ripping them to shreds.
Her focus went back to Raphael and she set a course right to him. It was like she was falling out of the sky, she went that fast. People on the ground were screaming, yelling at each other. They had no idea what to do when a dragon came at them full speed. Luckily for them she opened her wings right before she would hit the ground to slow down and then shifted back into her human form. Landing right next to Raphael. She kneeled beside him and smiled.
'I hope you heal fast, Raphael, because I am going to kill you. Are you insane? Are you literally insane?' She wasn't yelling at him, but this definitely wasn't a normal tone either.
'Next time you think something is a good idea, you're going to talk to me about this. You could've died, you imbecile. What did you-'
'Do not talk to my brother that way!' One of the hippogriffs came up to him. It was a young female and although Morgayne had no idea who she was, she immediately recognised the way the soldiers looked at her. She was a general, at the very least. Perhaps even the heir to the House of Hippogriff, given that she just called Raphael her brother. Slowly Morgayne rose to her feet.
'Do you dare talk to me that way?' Raphael would know that his sister was in danger. Morgayne spoke calm, collected and very precise. She didn't do that unless fury was building up inside her.
'Not only are you talking to a princess, I am the commander of the royal army and I just saved your life, your brothers life and the lives of the people that depend on you. You should be groveling on your knees. Without me, a lot more people would have died. Without me, a lot more people will die, because those griffins are not going to leave anytime soon. But I can. So do not tempt me to leave, if you value the lives of everybody here.'
Before anybody could react, Morgayne grabbed the neck of the female in front of her and lifted her in the air.
'I am well aware of your plans against my family, do not make the mistake of thinking I care about your life. I came to protect my own. That does not include you.'

You know what? Morgayne didn't scare him. When she decided to land right in front of him, with her big entrance and her last second shifting, he expected it. It was like she had done with her visit to his quarters, she liked a dramatic entrance. When she kneeled next to him, he even felt a faint smile crawl up his cheeks. The bond between them had just strengthened again, so it was probably that which made him smile, regardless of the horrible-looking wounds on his body. He wanted to respond to Morgayne that he had not wished to pull her into this, nor had he known up front that he would end up in a war, but his sister was faster. And he could immediately sense the dragon in Morgayne stirring up again. If anyone in this company had felt more even slightly happy because they had won the battle, those feelings of joy were immediately downed by Morgayne. When she grabbed Reina by her throat, half of the soldiers wanted to do something, the other half was too scared. Their mother stepped forward to interfere, which was expected of her as a mother, but Raphael, who was still sitting lying on the muddy ground, grabbed her clothes. She stopped, looked at him with a puzzled look. Other family members stepped forward as well. Nobody liked that some dragon went feisty on the heir of the hippogriffs.
'Morgayne, that is enough,' Raphael said. His voice was calm, but there was a sense of authority to it. She didn't respond to it and he knew what he had to do.
'Put her back on the ground and let her go.' This time, his voice was different. He felt the weird tingle through his body, a shiver down his spine. He knew what that meant and although he hated it, he also realized that this made him the most powerful person here. 'Mother, tell the troops and our family to stand down.'
His mother looked at him in disbelief. There were not used to a man being in command, not even Raphael. His mother loved him, but normally she wouldn't let him command her. She must have realized what was going on though, because she just nodded and gave the soldiers the sign to stand down. Again. 'Introduce me to your friend, Raphael,' she then said, without even looking at him.
'Friend might be exaggerating it,' Raphael said, with a careful look in Morgayne's direction. 'But she is princess Morgayne. Princess Morgayne, this is my mother. And the woman you tried to strangle is my beloved sister Reina.'
'I suggest we continue this conversation in private,' his mother said. The woman must have realized what was going on, but didn't want the entire army to know the details. Raphael tried to get up, but realized the pain wasn't gone just yet. These wounds wouldn't heal in a few hours, he was afraid. Hopefully he wouldn't keep scars, Marian would be so angry if she knew he had actually been fighting in a war.

She squeezed a little bit tighter before Morgayne released the woman from her hand. The look on her face made very clear that she didn't agree with the command that had just been given her, but she didn't fight it. For some reason she felt no need to fight it, as if it was alright to let Raphael command her. Her mind knew that it wasn't, but her body accepted it. It was a strange feeling.
'I am nobody's friend.' Raphael already said that 'friend' wasn't the right word, but he might as well just call her an enemy, because that was what these people were to her.
'And I don't care if she is your beloved sister Raphael. We made a deal about my sister, I don't believe we said anything about your family.' She smiled lovingly at the female in front of her, only to turn around and face the real lady of the hippogriffs. She wanted to rip her throat out too. These people wanted her dead as much as she wanted them dead.
'As long as you're not planning on killing me, but oh wait, I would first need to start an harem for that.' She walked right past Raphaels mother, to the guy on the ground, when one of the other family members started speaking.
'You may be royalty, but you are not allowed to talk to our lady like that. There are rules, even for you, princess.' She looked over her shoulder to the older guy that tried to reprimand her. How cute.
'Talk to my mother if you want to know how great I am at following rules, she has been trying to get me to listen to her my entire life. I think she gave up on it.' She shrugged and turned her attention to Raphael. 'But I do agree that we should continue this conversation inside, before you faint and can't stop me from killing somebody. Don't you, sweetie?' She knelt next to him, knowing full well that he wasn't able to get up. She could feel the pain he was in, that wasn't something you could just walk off.
'I suggest you swallow your pride,' she smiled at him, there was some kind of twinkle in her eyes that gave away how happy she was about the situation. Without hesitation she pulled him up so he was sitting on the ground, then put one arm on his back and the other under his knees. She lifted him from the ground and started walking towards the castle.
He was heavy, but she was still a dragon and she managed to carry him to the castle without giving anybody a second look. It wasn't far to the castle and that was a good thing, because his pain was wearing her down.
'I mean it Raphael, don't sleep. I came for you and for your people, but I find it very hard not to go after your family.' She whispered the words this time, so his family wouldn't hear it. She wanted them death, but she didn't want Raphael to command her to stop. Which he already did once and she wasn't exactly thrilled about him doing it again. As long as he was awake, she might be able to stop herself knowing that he would stop her otherwise. If he fell asleep, it was game on.

Now, everyone knew that she knew the plan. That was okay though. Inside, there would be plenty of time to explain the situation, clarify some things and, most importantly, make a plan for tomorrow. Raphael had no clue how quick his wounds would heal. It was immensly fast, but there was no way he would be ready to go again tomorrow.
He did one more silly attempt to get up, only to feel the pain tearing through his body once again. So he gave up, noticed the voice right next to him and he immediately realized what she was gonna do. He had to grit his teeth when she positioned him so she could lift him, because it hurt, but he didn't even really mind it. Sure, it would be an odd thing to see that the son of a hippogriff was carried towards his own castle by a dragon princess, but they would have to suck it up. To him, it was a lot better than walking and honestly? It wasn't even that uncomfortable.
His mother and sister followed them at a safe distance, probably still scared Morgayne would turn and burn them alive. Not that the distance they kept would safe them if it came to that, but still. It wasn't far to the castle and they were inside rather quickly. Raphael pointed Morgayne towards a room that could be closed off, so the conversation would remain behind closed doors.
'Thank you,' he said softly and he meant it. He wasn't too happy with the fact that she carried him like a baby, but it felt strangely reassuring. Maybe that was parft of their bond as well, he didn't know. God, he still didn't know anything at all about this thing. Just that if he didn't have it, he might have died tonight. Not the best possible outcome for sure.
He smiled at Morgayne as if she had just told him a funny joke. Must be the blood loss, but he found her words rather amusing. Not in a degrading way, he knew she meant them, but the irony of the situation was interesting. She basically told him to stay awake, so she wouldn't be tempted to go rampage on his home and family.
The others, his mother and sister, entered the room as well but Raphael kept his voice down, so they wouldn't be able to hear him say it. 'I wonder if I could command you to sleep for an exact amount of hours too,' was his reply to her threat. 'Don't worry, I won't do it, but I just wonder if such specific commands would work. I'll stay awake tonight anyway, don't think I can get a good rest with these wounds.'
The four of them sat down. Well, Morgayne had to put him down and Raphael made an effort to sit up, which worked. The pain faded a little when he didn't move, so he went with that.
'So,' his mother said, her eyes piercing his first, then shifting to Morgayne, 'a dragon and its rider. A rare phenomenon, really.'
'Trust me, we know,' Raphael replied.
'And she also knows about your mission?'
'She knew I lied. I had to tell her.'
'And yet, you're not in the royal dungeons. So, what happened?' This time she didn't want Raphael to answer, but Morgayne. He wondered if she would even reply to his mother, no matter the age or authority difference. Also, he had hoped his mother could provide some more insight in the bond they had. But it seemed like even she was no expert on this field. Of course she wasn't, everyone believed it to be a myth nowadays.

'Try, I would love to sleep for a couple of hours, it just doesn't seem like thats going to be an option. My body is still in fight-mode, I can feel the bloodlust getting to me. Did you know that dragons have bloodlust? It's really fun when fighting, but I now feel the need to go back out there and rip somebody's head off.' It was probably the first time a dragon actually told a non-dragon anything about being a dragon. He could of course feel her emotions, but she now gave him the explanation to them as well. As a dragon it was hard to get out of a fight, they didn't stop until everybody was dead. That was what happend to the House of Fox too. There was no need to kill everybody, but Morgayne couldn't stop once she started. Her mother hadn't cared, but she did. A little bit.
She put him down on the bed and started pacing the room. Just because his mother and sister decided to sit down, didn't mean that she had to. Morgayne didn't like to sit, she was also busy with something, even just walking around. She listened to their conversation, waiting for Raphael to respond to the last question, when she realised that the lady was talking to her.
'Oh, I am sorry, am I supposed to talk to you now?'
'You're really the most immature person I have ever met.' His sister, Reina, decided to answer and Morgayne smiled. She took the bait.
'I am also the only dragon you have ever met, might want to watch your words.'
'Really? What will you do? Raphael can order you around, if I'm not mistaken.' That one hurt, but Morgayne smiled nonetheless.
'Yes, he can. He most certainly can and yet, you should watch your words. He bonded with me, it is my duty as a dragon to protect him. Him, only him. He can order me not to kill you, he can even order me to fight against the griffins if they attack again, but he can't make me fight like a true dragon because he does not know how. So if you want to survive the attack that is going to come, you need me. Okay?' The two females were staring each other in the eyes for a little while, but Morgayne decided it was enough.
'As for your question,' she turned her attention to the lady, 'I couldn't come up with a valid excuse to throw him into jail that would satisfy the rest of my family and make sure I never had to see him again. Every option I could think of would sentence him to death and I am really not ready to die yet.' She had thought about it though. She really tried.
'But we did make a deal, he isn't going to touch my sister and I will be a good dragon. Isn't that great!' She didn't care at all what Raphaels family thought about her. She didn't like them one bit.
'And next time you plan on killing a dragon, make sure you pick the right one. If you're going after my sister, killing me first would have been the better play. But oh well, guess that's not an option anymore. Too bad.' Her temper was all over the place. She really wanted to hurt somebody. She was also hungry and that didn't make it any better for the people in the room. That was when she realised that she was slightly shifting every time. Her skin sometimes became the blueish color of her dragon form, with some scales to top it of. Not good. If she wasn't in control, then Raphael had to be, or people were going to die.

Although he was weakened, Raphael payed close attention to what Morgayne told him. It was as if something happened between the two, changing the bond they had. Either that, or they both came to accept it more and more, which was scary. Was it just something that happened, whether they wanted it or not? Not important. What was important, was to keep in mind what Morgayne told him. The bloodlust. If he concentrated enough, he could definitely feel it raging through her. It was not as intense as when she was a dragon, but even if she was just a human he could feel her dragonlike instincts. The bloodlust and the rage she was trying to keep in check.
It was not just that. With the four of them together in a room, it was hard not to focus his attention on Morgayne, the only one who was walking around still. Raphael got worried. Not because she didn't sit down, but because her emotions flowed through him like seawater with the tides. At moments, he could feel her very strongly. Seconds later, the intensity would fade away. Raphael had no clue what it meant and at the same time, he knew exactly what this was about. He could see the colour of her skin changing and when that happened, he could feel her emotions getting stronger as well. She was not in control. Her shifting was out of control.
'So it is true that you feel each others pain?' his mother asked the dragon princess, not really paying attention to the colour changes Morgayne was undergoing. And even if she did pay attention to it, she certainly didn't feel like it was necessary to do something about it.
Raphael knew his mother would want to speak with him in private after they were done here. She would want to talk about the plan, ask if what Morgayne had said was true and what their next move would be. Right now, Raphael was a little busy though.
He closed his eyes and focused on the emotions he was feeling that weren't his own. It felt weird to peek inside Morgayne's head, to dig into her feelings and emotions, but he had to. It was really just to help her, not to command her. It felt like the right thing to do.
'Focus,' he thought, not sure if Morgayne would even be able to notice his dabbling in her head, 'you can control this, Morgayne. You're stronger that your lust for blood.'
Raphael took a deep breath, tried to focus on calm emotions. And then, focused on channeling them her way, as if the link that send her emotions his way, could also send his calmness her way. He tried to take some of that rage and replace it with focus and calmness. God knew if it actually worked, though.
The rage she had felt stirred inside of him now, although a lot weaker than it must be for her. He could ignore it.
A quiet knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, although he didn't think there was anything else he could do.
'Come in,' his mother said, after which the door opened. One of the cooks brought in a tray with different kinds of food on it. His family had eaten something before the battle, but fighting sure had stirred up his appetite. Also, the fact that he needed to heal would cost him a lot of energy.
'Feel free to eat something.' His mother looked at Morgayne, unsure whether the dragon princess would want to or not. 'Don't worry, it's not poisoned. I don't want my son to get hurt even more than he already is.'

Somehow she could feel that Raphael was calming her. He helped her push the bloodlust down, make sure she didn't act on it, but it didn't go away. It was still there, waiting to come back up if she forgot to pay attention. She didn't want that. Even though she didn't particularly care if people got hurt, she knew that Raphael would order her to stand down if he had to and she still wasn't okay with that. She either had to listen or she got hurt and then had to listen. Both options weren't great.
She had decided not to answer the lady of the hippogriffs, her attention was with Raphael and her bloodlust. Morgayne was still pacing the room, but she managed to become a little bit calmer. That was all undone as soon as somebody knocked at the door, startling her, making the bloodlust rise once more. Before she knew it, she growled at the person that entered the door. The poor servant almost dropped everything, but he managed to get it on a table before making sure he got out of there. She needed to hunt something.
The lady talked to her again and this time Morgayne did look at her, but the only answer she gave was showing her teeth. She didn't trust her, didn't matter what she said. But she was hungry, she needed to eat something and so she would. Without a second thought Morgayne went through the window, shifted and fly high up in the sky. She wasn't going for a fight, but she needed to clear her head and eat some animals.

The lady of the hippogriffs released a soft sigh when the dragon decided to leave the room. It wasn't great to have a dragon loose on her grounds, but right now there was other stuff she had to worry about. She went up to her son and sat next to him, smiling.
'Raphael, do you realise what this means? We can't kill Morgayne, but we can kill Marian. After her, Morgayne will inherit the throne and you will be able to control the queen!' When she sent her son away, she never thought this would eventually be the outcome. It was even better than she could have hoped for.
'After Marian dies, their mother will have no choice but to let Morgayne live, even if she finds out about the bond. Then we just wait till the current queen is dead and after that, we let Morgayne give us the power. Raphael, you can control a dragon, do you know how long it has been since something like that happend? Nobody is more powerful than you are now.'
'But you do have to learn to keep a tighter leash on her,' Reina decided to pitch in as well. She loved the ideas her mother had about the future, because in the end it would make her reigning queen. 'From the looks of it, she is very free to do as she pleases. That won't be an option anymore. Bind her to you, make sure she cannot do anything without your permission. You are her rider, you control her. Let her know that, because it does not seem like she realises that now.' And Reina wanted Morgayne to know that she was nothing. She hated the dragons and everything they stood for, to her, it didn't matter that Morgayne was a human too. The dragons never treated anybody as humans when they didn't want to, so Reina would be sure to extend that courtesy to Morgayne as well.

'She's not a pet, Reina,' Raphael said, tired now. He understood what his sister wanted, but she was not the one bound to a fucking dragon. She was not the one who had to make sure the bond remained undiscovered, make sure they didn't discover his plan to kill the princess and god knows what else he had to do to keep his head above the water. 'I can't control her every minute of every day. Not just that, this bond is not to make the rider the owner of the dragon. It's about working together and helping each other, not some dominance establishing over a beast.' He grew rather annoyed with the things they were saying. As if he was a rebel teenager, but they just didn't understand what was going on.
'Besides,' he now turned to his mother, 'Morgayne already made it clear that if I touch Marian, she will make sure we both die. i can't control her, I don't even want to control her every minute I am awake. And I know she wasn't lying when she said she would kill herself to get rid of me.'
He decided to pitch in even more. 'If I am the most powerful person alive right now, you have to let me make the decisions regarding this. You have not been in the castle. You don't know what its like in there. Her mother wouldn't hesitate to kill both of us if the bond became known to others. Even if Marian dies. The king is still alive, they'll just make another crown princess if necessary.'
Reina really didn't like what he said. 'Raphael, you are my brother. You were assigned this mission because we all thought you could do this, but now you're trying to change the plan? It's really not that hard to tell that bitch to sit down and stay, right?'
'Don't talk to me like that, Reina.' He was tired, so tired. He would need to rest if he wanted any chance of his wounds healing tonight, but he was afraid he was not gonna get some rest as long as Morgayne and her emotions kept stirring in the back of his head. He had felt that she was calming down earlier, but the servant who brought in food had completely undone that. It was good to know that he could help her, calm her down a bit, but in this particular situation it was no help at all. And now she was back into her dragon form, strengthening the bond between them even more. He wondered if she could also feel his emotions, or just his physical pain.
He sighed. 'We need Morgayne on our side. She said it herself. I can force her to do what I want, but I cannot force her to give her all. I cannot force her to use her best tactics and strongest attacks. The bond between a rider and a dragon is more evenly divided than it might seem. Both partners need to work together, not against each other.' Although Raphael really didn't have a lot of experience yet with the bond, he was certain his words were true. It felt true. That might be the reason why it felt wrong to just command her around all the time, why he could help her regain some of her calmness. Even though it didn't work this time.
Reina wanted to speak again, but her mother cut them off. 'Enough. We will talk about this later. I am not happy with the bargain you struck with Morgayne, because we need to spark an uprising. Not some half arsed measures.' She seemed a bit angry, but at the same time his mother realized exactly how strong Raphael could be together with Morgayne if they were both against them. 'But you are right, Raphael. We don't know anything about the bond and we need to figure out more about it. You're the only one of us in the palace, we cannot make decisions for you. I just really hope you know what you are doing.'
She got up and Reina followed her movements immediately. 'Eat something, brother,' she said, 'and take a rest. We will have to fight again tomorrow and we can't use some half-dead hippogriff in our ranks.'
With those words, the two women left the room. Now, Raphael really felt how exhausted he was. And how intense the bond between him and Morgayne was. His sister was right, he should eat something and rest. But he couldn't, not now. He was worried about the dragon flying around outside and he hoped she would get back safely. He didn't think she was gonna get into trouble, but her emotions were all over the place. As were his.

Three hours and six sheep later, Morgayne was calmed down a little bit. The bloodlust certainly wasn't gone, but hopefully she could handle it. She was still high in the sky so she didn't have to go down, but she knew she had to eventually. It wouldn't be long until the sun would come up and when that happend, they needed to start preparing for another battle. Even with Morgayne present, it would still be hard to win. She scouted the enemy and saw that they had a lot more soldiers and weapons they could use. They only retreated because they didn't expect Morgayne to show, but now they had the night to prepare against her and she was sure they would. It was hard to shoot a dragon out of the sky, but not impossible.
She decided to return to the room where she left Raphael and his family and entered the same way she did that first night in his room. Although she tried to be a little bit quieter, especially when she noticed that it was only Raphael in the room and he was asleep. Now there was nobody here that she could be angry with. Bit of a bummer, she liked fighting with people, but maybe it was for the best. The words between Raphaels family and her certainly hadn't helped to keep her bloodlust under control. It may have even made it worse.
Morgayne was walking around the room, not sure where to go or what to do. She didn't want to leave this room because she was fairly sure somebody would get hurt, but she also needed to sleep. She could get next to Raphael, part of her wanted to, on the other hand that was really awkward. For her mind, not her body. That time in his bedroom when he grabbed her hands, she finally understood why nobody was allowed to touch her. Right after that, she went to the library and dug through all the text she could find, until her answer was confirmed. When a dragon had a living rider, but hadn't met that person yet, the dragon could find out who it was by touch. Nobody else would be allowed to touch that dragon, it felt wrong and almost painful, but not when he touched her. That was what freaked her out in that moment. He was allowed to touch her. He should be, if he was supposed to ride on her back one day. You can't sit on somebody without touching them.
The texts also explained that a dragon could be calmed down just by the touch of their rider. The band wasn't just mentally, it was very physical too. It could help against the bloodlust, against her own mind turning against her and making her do stuff she didn't want to do. However, she was scared of it. Unsure how to handle it, what to do with it. Nobody had ever been allowed to touch her and suddenly her body was okay with it? That was weird, to say the least.
She had to make a decision what she was going to do now. She couldn't walk around the entire night, even she wouldn't be able to handle that the next day. So she gave in to her instincts and walked towards the bed. Slowly, gently she pushed him a little bit to the side. She touched him. Yikes. No, not yikes, it was good. But still yikes. It was a good thing that he was asleep, because she didn't want him to know what was going on. That she might give in even a little. It was almost a miracle that she was laying next to him now, but she tried not to think about it as she closed her eyes.

As hours passed, Raphael could feel himself calming down a little. It meant that Morgayne was calming down a little as well, which was good. It meant that maybe, he would be able to sleep for a few hours. Maybe. Finally, Raphael felt calm enough to lie down and close his eyes. He didn't really fall asleep though and the sound of someone landing on the floor made him tensen up a little. It was Morgayne, though. He knew it was her, since she was the only one that would enter through the window like that. He was glad she was home, it gave him a lilttle more peace in his head. Instead of opening his eyes and sitting up, he kept quiet and listened to her movements. She came closer to him and for a second he thought she was gonna wake him up and pick a fight with him. The bloodlust inside of her had not completely vanished, although it seemed a lot less out of control.
The opposite of what he had expected happened. He felt her touch, briefly, because she pushed him to the side a little. Although he was supposedly asleep, he worked with it and made room for her. Because that is what she did. She got in the bed, next to him. And instead of it being weird, it felt good. He had slept many nights with Marian, but this was so completely different from that. There was no sexual aspect to it, but it was more intense and relaxing at the same time. As if the bond between them could rest easy with them being so close together.

A few hours later, the first rays of sunlight woke Raphael up. He was a little disoriented at first, but quickly realized where he was and what was going on. also, Morgayne. She seemed to be asleep yet, more at peace than he had ever seen her. Apparently, when they were asleep, he had rolled closer to her again and in his sleep he had put his hand on her shoulder. Immediately he remembered that she didn't like being touched, so he slowly removed the hand, hoping she wouldn't wake up. Since he didn't know about the physical aspect of his bond with her yet, he didn't want to antagonize her by touching her. Although, he had to admit that it felt good. Not in a weird way, although it was definitely odd, but it was reassuring to touch her. Calming. Just good.
He didn't get up just yet, afraid he would wake the dragon princess sleeping next to him. Her emotions seemed a lot more calm than last night, when she came home. Even more calm than when she was in that heated argument with his mother and sister.
Suddenly, she moved and Raphael swallowed. He had no clue how she would react to this situation. Of course, she was the one that lied down next to him, but she thought he was asleep at the time and he would leave it at that. He knew very well that she might get very angry out if he did something stupid though, or if he said the wrong words. Maybe she would just get up and leave, acting like none of this ever happened. He had no clue. 'Good morning,' he still said, hoping she wouldn't be too grumpy. He had slept well, even though he was wounded and hurt before. Wounds that seemed to be healing very well right now. As in, insanely well. Another perk of being bound to a dragon, combined with his own healing skills? Possible.

It took her a while to realise where she was, but when she opened her eyes and saw Raphael so close to her, she froze. When she decided to lay down next to him, she thought she would only sleep for a little while and be gone when he woke. That was the plan. He was supposed to be sleeping while she got up and flew away again. Why couldn't her plans ever work out the way she wanted them to?
'Good morning,' she still hadn't moved, unsure what to do next. Raphael didn't seem to know any better. He was awake and looking at her, but he did nothing.
'I am glad that you're feeling better.' Because you know, she could actually feel that. 'But you can't fight like this, you will get us both killed. I will fight, but you're staying here.' She couldn't command him the way he could with her, but if he just thought about it for five seconds, he would know this was the better option. Morgayne rose from the bed, leaving him on it. She had never slept in the same room as somebody else, let alone the same bed. It was strange, but somehow she was okay with it. Should she tell him that his touch calmed her? That not touching her was actually what set her off the other day? They were connected in a way that neither of them understood, but his presence was what could keep her calm. That wasn't just meant to be mentally. Not romantically either, that was twenty steps overdoing it.
'I need to-' she got interrupted by a knock at the door. Before she even knew what she was doing, the furniture was shaking from the roar that she threw at the intruder. Shocked from her own outburst, she took a few steps back from the door. Although she could hear that the person behind it, was already gone. She probably scared a servant half to death. Great start of the day. It wasn't her fault that these people weren't trained around dragons. None of her servants would knock on the door before a certain timeframe and even then it only happend if it was absolutely necessary. On top of that, every dragon had one or two servants that were allowed to knock. They would recognize their scent, so they would know it was okay. Here was nothing like that. It wasn't good for her nerves. At least she thought it had to do with her nerves.
'Next time you need to get me out of the bloodlust, touch my shoulder. But do it gently, I don't want to break your bones.' A big part of her still wanted just that, which was exactly why she warned him.
Again there was a knock on the door, but this time she remained silent. She also didn't ask anybody to come in, she didn't want them to come in.
'The lady asks if you would join her in the room of elders, there will be breakfast there too. She asked for the both of you.' After saying what needed to be said, the person quickly left again. Not eager to overstay their welcome. Something he or she already did by showing up in the first place.

Grumpy was maybe a little of an understatement, the way she reacted to the knocks on the door was a little exaggerated, maybe. Man, it would be good if they would just go back to the royal palace, where she could do her own thing and he could let her go a little. Now that she was in his house, with his family, he felt like he had to keep an eye on her at all times. Not because he didn't trust her, although he was afraid some people might die if she was set loose, but he was worried what this environment would do to her. Like yesterday. He was really worried about her then, and really glad she came back that night and seemed a lot less tense now. Well, the knock on the door had certainly not helped her, but it wasn't as bad as yesterday. No more half-shifting.
'Are you sure that's okay?' he asked her. Last time he touched her -and she noticed it- she almost clawed his face off. Not something he'd like to happen again. It was weird to him that she would change her mind now, but he wasn't gonna tease her with her change of mind. He just needed to be sure.
Meanwhile he decided to get up and do a short inspection of his body. Most wounds were healing very well, even the skin that was torn off his chest yesterday seemed to be recovering really well. Morgayne was right though, he wouldn't be able to go on the frontlines like this. His body needed more time to heal and although he definitely wasn't going to let her go wild without him, he would have to agree that fighting was no option. They had to think of some way he could still be of use. Maybe after breakfast, though. He was starving and that was no joke. Healing did cost him a lot of energy. especially when he was healing as fast as he was doing now, it just burned through his energy. That was probably why he slept so well the moment he did fall asleep.
Luckily, he still had clothes here. This was not his room, but when the servant came last night to pick up the tray with food, he had requested some clothes for himself. And for Morgayne, in case she wanted to wear something else as well. The servant had brought some of the clothes and then left, so the pieces of fabric were now on the table.
They were simple, not really suited for a formal family meal, but he didn't really have a choice. He stood up and barely felt his body, it was mostly muscle ache from the intense battles. Good. Maybe, when they went home tomorrow, he wouldn't have to explain to Marian what happened. If she found out, she'd probably never let him go anywhere anymore. Not something he wanted.
He started putting on his clothes, not really embarassed to do it in front of Morgayne. He wasn't getting naked and felt quite comfortable around her now. Maybe the night in the same bed did help them.
'If you want to put on a fresh set of clothes, I had a servant get some for you yesterday. It's not the most princess-like clothing we have, but you didn't seem to like that last time I saw you wear a dress anyway. I will wait outside if you want to change.' He would give her some privacy if she wanted to put on other clothes, for a woman it was usually different than for a man. The clothes were probably her size, one of his cousins was around the same height as Morgayne.

'If it wasn't okay, I wouldn't tell you to do it, now would I?' Maybe a little bit more harsh than she intended, but there was no reason for her to repeat her words. Once was more than enough. If he decided not to believe her or be scared of her reaction, than that would be his problem, not hers. She couldn't help it that he didn't pay attention to what she was saying. On top of that, she was the one that decided to lay down next to him, that should say plenty about the situation.
Raphael started to change his clothes and she immediately looked away. The might be bonded, but there was no need to see anything more of him than his face and maybe his bare arms. The rest was completely and utterly for her sister. It was grossing her out just thinking that her sisters hands had been all over his body. And worse. A shiver went down her spine. That was really something she didn't want to imagine. She just slept in the same bed with a man that slept countless of times with her sister. Even though the difference was that Morgayne and Raphael truly only slept in it, it was still gross.
He offered to give her some space so she could change. She nodded and waited for him to leave the room, before quickly changing in the clothes that were left for her. It fit. But that was everything that could be said of the clothes. They hugged her figure and she could move around in them, but they were ugly. No doubt about it. Didn't matter, she didn't care that much about her stature, but she was still a princess and used to a little more luxury than this.
Morgayne left the room, looked at Raphael and walked with him to the area where they were supposed to be. She had no idea how to get there, but this was his home and she supposed he would lead the way. After a few corridors they finally entered a room. It wasn't that big, not to her standards at least, but it would suffice. It was big enough for the meeting they were having here. Or better yet, stopped having after Raphael and Morgayne entered the room. Reina and her mother were already there and the princess shot an irritated glare to Morgayne. She expected nothing less.
'Next time you are staying here, we would appreciate it if you did not eat our livestock.' Oh, right. The sheep.
'Six sheep equal around ten humans. Your choice,' Morgayne just smiled at her. It was true, she did eat humans if she had to. They just didn't taste that great. Way too many bones and muscles, not enough fat. At least most of them didn't have enough fat, some were quite tasty. The problem with humans was that they were harder to swallow, so she generally just went for sheep or cows. Sometimes deer if she was in the mood for hunting.
'Reina, Morgayne, enough. This is no time to argue. We need to create lines of defense, but in the meantime, please help yourselves to some breakfast.' She gestured towards the table full of food. Morgayne didn't need it anymore after that night, but she knew that Raphael did. 'On that note, Raphael, are you feeling well enough to lead the left flank?'
'He won't fight.' That was a tone she barely ever used. It was the tone of a princess giving an order and she wasn't expecting anybody to go against that. She dared them to try. Raphael was done fighting this war, she would tie him to a chair if she had to.

It was interesting how similiar the bickering between Morgayne and Reina was to te bickering between Morgayne and Marian. Reina did of course share some similarities with Marian, but they were definitely no sisters. Well, actually they were. By marrying into the harem of Marian, Reina and Morgayne kinda became sisters. But that was not how it worked. Reina wanted power, just like Marian. And neither of these heiresses would let Morgayne get in their way of getting the power they were working hard for. And Morgayne seemed to make achieving their goal harder for both females. Interesting.
'I don't think mother asked your opinion,' Reina said. She was still being polite, but her eyes were on fire. She didn't understand how a guest of their house dared to talk to her mother when not asked to speak.
Before Morgayne could react to Reina and start another verbal fight. Raphael interfered. 'Morgayne might have said it blunt, but I can most certainly not fight tonight. My wounds are healing fast, a lot faster than I expected them to, but that is taking a toll on me. Besides, I don't think Morgayne will be able to give her all on the battlefield if she has to keep looking back to see if I'm not being torn to shreds. I make her vulnerable if I go out there and fight for myself.'
While he was talking, he proceeded to sit down and grab some food for himself. He realized that Morgayne probably didn't really need a meal after hunting that night, but that didn't silence his stomach. Healing really did take a toll on him, because even with a plate full of food he thought it wouldn't be enough.
'You do realize that the core of your bond consists of entering a battle together, right?' his mother said. Raphael immediately had a hard time swallowing his food. Of course he knew what it meant to be a dragon rider. But he didn't really realize it. The thought of actually sitting on the back of a dragon was a little unsettling. He couldn't even picture himself right next to the gigantic dragon, let alone ride its back. He'd probably do more wrong than good if he went and told Morgayne what to do when she was in her dragon form. What if she forgot he was sitting there and just went off to go hunt a bit more? Of course, he could shift as well so he wasn't afraid of the flying itself, but it was very different.
'I don't think the princess would allow Rae to ride her,' Reina said. She called him Rae, some childish nickname that stuck. She still used it when she was teasing him, although there definitely was a serious tone to her words, 'after all, princess Morgayne seems to be the one holding the reins on this bond.' She chuckled a bit, Raphael ignored it. He was pretty sure Morgayne would have something to say about it, but he wasn't gonna interfere. He didn't completely understand why Reina would want to provoke a dragon, she probably assumed he would be able to protect her like he did yesterday, but he didn't like it at all.

She shrugged at the heir of the hippogriffs, not caring one bit about what Reina had to say. Morgayne was in her rights. Members of the royal family didn't wait for permission to speak, never. They spoke when they wanted to. Actually, they did everything they wanted to, when they wanted to do it. She was pretty sure if Marian or her mother had been here, Reina would've been killed for her comment. Unfortunately Raphael started speaking before she could, so she had to leave it at that.
She was glad that he agreed with her, but his mothers comment made everything a lot worse. After that, Reina didn't make it any better. Everybody was staring at her, waiting for her response.
'Look, maybe, although not very likely, in the future I will allow Raphael on my back. But trust like that is going to take years. Dragons have this kind of instinct to kill everything that comes close to them. Somebody being on my back is going to get caught in my fire, which I am sure is not something that feels very nice. So no, he will not be allowed to be on my back.' There was however something else she needed to say. 'Reina, I am sure that you think you're capable of a lot now that your brother and I are connected, but you do forget one thing. I can leave. In fact, I am going to leave. Right now. Goodluck with your fight.' Morgayne turned on her heels and walked towards the exit. Behind her however, Reina motioned for the guards to stop her. Morgayne could see the fear on their faces when they stepped in front of her.
'Really?' She asked.
'Raphael, command her to stay, we need a dragon in this fight.' Where did Reina find the guts to talk to her that way? That was a mistake, a big one.
'You need a dragon? Fine, I will give you a dragon, if that is what you desire,' Morgayne turned and smiled, before she shifted into a dragon right in the middle of the room. Her tail hit the two soldiers that stopped her and threw them across the room, but they weren't dead. Yet. Other than that she did nothing. She just took up all the space and slowly walked to Reina, who had the good sense to take a few steps back. Smart.
''One more word and I am going to kill her.'' She thought. Well, actually she wanted Reina to make a move, but the female certainly had not expected that Morgayne would shift right here, right now. It was really the first time that people got a good look at the dragon in front of them. Even for Raphael, who had only seen her during battle. Now it was day and some people were only a few feet away from her. She allowed them to look. To see the scars that were on her body. Scars that told them this wasn't the first battle she had been in. Let them look. It was not everyday there was a dragon in your dining room. Although getting out was the harder part. She either had to shift back or break the ceiling. Morgayne hadn't decided yet what she was going to do.
She had been so focused on Raphael, Reina and their mother, that she didn't even realise there had been a child in the room. It was the daughter of one of the counsellors and she now ran up the the dragon, hugging her. Morgaynes head shut up, but when she realised it was a child, all she did was look at Raphael.
''Get her off. Now.'' She wasn't sure whether or not they could communicate like this, but even if they couldn't, her look said more than enough.

That was one way to shift the conversation topic, Raphael thought. Although he definitely got spooked when Morgayne decided to walk away, Reina only annoyed him. He explained her yesterday why he couldn't do that. He couldn't force her to stay and fight. Not in this stage of the bond. Instead of panicking because Morgayne was trying to leave, he took a bite of his food. Only to almost choke on it when Morgayne decided to shift, opening their bond. That in itself was rather uncomfortable, but the fact that she was actually talking to him was what really surprised him. He put his food down and turned towards the gigantic dragon. She didn't scare him, though. Other people in the room were definitely scared shitless, but he wasn't. Probably because of the bond.
'If I were you, Reina, I would refrain from speaking anymore. Princess Morgayne seems to be quite keen on roasted hippogriff.' He just delivered the message, nothing more. He could see his sister becoming red with anger, but she did not dare speak now.
Raphael got up from his chair and walked towards the little kid that was hugging one of Morgayne's paws. The kid smiled happily.
'Dragon!' it said, probably not understanding too much about the danger she was in right now. Raphael nodded.
'You're right, that's a dragon. But dragons don't like hugs a lot.'
'It feels funny,' the girl said, this time stroking the scaled skin. This time, Raphael didn't let her. He picked her up and walked away from Morgayne. He put her on the ground next to her father and looked her straight in the eye.
'Listen. Has your dad ever taught you to not come too close to the hippogriffs?' The girl nodded. That was good. 'It's the same for dragons,' Raphael explained, 'and this one is especially grumpy sometimes. So be careful, okay?'
He got up, looked at the counsellor that was her father and narrowed his eyes. 'Take care next time. Morgayne noticed that it was just your kid this time, but it's never a good idea to run up to a dragon and hug them.' Wise words.
"I would appreciate it if you turned back now. I think you made your point, Morgayne,' he thought. if she could communicate with him, he would definitely be able to do the same. That made sense. He looked at the people in the room, most of them pressed themselves against walls to get as far away from the dragon as possible. Well, he was the exception. And his mother, who hadn't moved at all. Reina still looked like she was going to explode any second, but that could also mean she was gonna wet her clothes. Both options were not really desireable right now.

Surprised she looked up to him. Morgayne didn't realise that he could hear more than just the words she wanted him to hear. She actually didn't think that he heard her about what she wanted to do to Reine if she spoke one more word. Luckily for her Raphael warned her and she decided to listen. Not so lucky for Morgayne, she wanted to attack. Too bad it didn't work out that way.
Raphael managed to remove the child that was clutching at her paw and she was glad for it. There had never been a child near her, touching her and she certainly didn't like it. Children were messy creatures. She would never want any of them. Too much trouble. And that was coming from a dragon that liked to rebel against literally everyone that tried to get something from her. It made sense, if she was already a rebel, she didn't even want to know what her child would be like. That is, if she ever found a guy she actually wanted a child with. She doubted that would ever happen.
When Raphael called her grumpy, she showed her teeth to him and let her tail go right over his head. As a warning, of course. She didn't really hit him. The other people in the room however seemed to think that she would and they ducked away. She wasn't even aiming for them, what a wimps.
''But I don't want you. Your sister said she needed a dragon, well here I am, she got her dragon. She is going to have to live with me now.'' Instead of shifting back, she turned a little and laid her head down on the floor. Just like the rest of her body. She pulled her wings towards her body, to make sure people wouldn't be able to touch them. Her wings were the most vulnerable part of her body.
''You can continue the meeting, you know. I am fine like this.'' She closed her eyes and pretended not to be there. Of course that didn't work that way, being a dragon and all, but this was really not her fault. Reina asked for it and Morgayne delivered.
''Did you know we can communicate like this? It's a bit scary, really. I am not sure how I feel about this.'' She was still getting used to the touching thing, let alone the mental bond they now seemed to share.
'Everybody, please.' It was Raphaels mother that decided to continue in the end. 'We need a plan. These griffins outnumber us and they will attack again. We need to know what we're going to do to put an end to them. This is the third time they challenge us and this time it is for real. I want them gone, for real. Dead, never to return. They should have never crossed my borders. Give me options to make this happen.' Morgayne already liked how the woman talked. Death and destruction. That was really her thing.

So it worked. She could talk to him, he could talk to her and they could communicate like this without having to use any words. That was interesting and it might come in handy in the future. He wondered if it was just when she was in dragon form, since some aspects did seem to work in both her human and dragon form, while others did not. Might be interesting to test in the future. It would be a bit awkward though, especially combined with his duties in the palace. Morgayne would definitely not want to know about that.
Raphael didn’t even blink when she lashed her tail at him, because he knew she wouldn’t actually hit him for calling her grumpy. “Come on, you are a bit grumpy,” he thought with a smile, before walking back to his place at the table, continuing his meal. If Morgayne wanted to add something to the conversation, she’d have to do it through him. Not a very big issue.
‘We could split a part of our army up,’ one of the commanders proposed.
‘Why would we do that?’ His mother didn’t seem to like that idea.
‘If all the griffins are here, that means their estate will not be guarded well. With a dragon in our ranks here...’ the commander looked at the giant dragon who seemed to be resting, but was most certainly not, ‘we could afford to send a small group to attack the estate. If you want them wiped off the earth, we have to kill them all. Not just the soldiers who are fighting here.’
‘So, like the Foxes?’
‘Exactly. No fox survived and even if they did, they are too weak to be considered a threat to anyone. We could do the same to the griffins.’
“I didn’t know,” Raphael responded to Morgayne. “And it sure is a little bit weird, but it makes sense too. You can’t really talk when you are a dragon, but you need some way to communicate with your rider without having to hit them every time you disagree with what they say.” His eyes shifted from his mother and the commander to the dragon, who seemed to be so calm right now. Almost like a pet that was resting near the fireplace. Except that this was a very big and deadly pet and she probably didn’t like being compared to a dog or a cat. Not even to a big pet.