Dragon's Melody by Ophelia Bell

tendrils escaped his lips and reached out, teasing at the crevices in the patterns of the box. “She knew much about the new world by then, no doubt. And the women in it. This is such a pretty object, but the markings are perplexing. There are three aspects to it. Three distinct sets of symbols, and two of the sets are reminiscent of ancient draconic. The other is more modern—more human.” The dark ghosts of his breath seeped into the minute etchings that surrounded the box, but were repelled almost instantly.
    That the Shadow couldn’t breach the box’s barriers didn’t surprise Skye. There was no key but to accomplish what his mother asked. He appreciated that Kol tried, however.
    Skye accepted the object back and studied it. Indeed, the patterns in it were intricate and delicate. Gold framework with blue jade inlay—a vibrant blue that matched his true color. The imagery on opposite sides matched, which made him think it might be a game, but he still hadn’t figured out the rules.
    “A woman already bonded to one of us might be a better option. Do you have any in your employ who appeal to you?”
    Skye had thought of that, too. A bonded human female would be easier to transition to a mate. But he’d met all the women who held that status in his employ. Most were attractive, and some gave him pause enough to think of mating, but in the end he was stuck with his mother’s requirement. They were all too old to breed.
    “Our stock is outdated.”
    The second he said it, he regretted it. It was an old way of thinking and he knew Kol hated the old ways. Humans weren’t a commodity anymore. They were equals in too many ways. Allies, maybe. Dragonkind was outnumbered by humans at any rate. They had no choice but to adapt and conform.
    Which meant he had to stop thinking of humans the way his mother used to.
    She’d told him as much anyway. The world around us is not the world you left behind. Sensitivity is necessary to persist.
    He’d been learning what that meant for months and had only recently begun to understand. Humans had always been their subjects before, but he had to treat them differently now.
    Kol remained silent for a moment, sipping his fresh cocktail and gazing into the orange glow across the surface of the Pacific Ocean beyond their darkening beach. The soft glow of lights around the resort’s patio grew brighter. Kol had more to say, Skye was sure of it. Yet he continued to quietly enjoy the deepening sunset.
    The quiet was comforting, because Skye had a sense that Kol had an answer for him, even though he was being cagey about delivering it. That was the extent of what he could gather from the Shadow’s emotions, however. Most dragons were as open as humans were, but Shadows had always been different. They didn’t project unless they intended to—on the contrary, they tended more often to compel others to project without even getting into their heads the way a Blue like Skye could do. Shadows could clarify the most prominent of a person’s emotion simply by virtue of casting all the less important ones in shadow. Skye could feel him doing it now, in fact, as his true desires gradually became clearer to him.
    He stared down at the box, mesmerized by the patterns that seemed to glow in the twilight. The golden curves of the patterns on it shifted, becoming the bars of a cage. Then they shifted again, with the doors opening.
    This box somehow embodied his future with a mate he had yet to meet. He smiled a little at the thought of Garen and how his friend might react to being put inside a cage.
    Garen had caged himself, though, centuries ago and long before their hibernation when he’d pledged himself to Skye.
    “I am yours, whether you’ll take me or not,” Garen had said, in a fit of passion that his young Guardian nature couldn’t suppress.
    “What if the Virgin chooses you? You won’t be mine then.”
    “Then you’ll be mine, because I’ll outrank you.”
    The Virgin hadn’t chosen