FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The message on Chisur's phone read simply: Come to Lunelei's apartment alone. We must talk. S--

Now the dragon rode the commuter train disguised as one of the dragons he usually met Lunelei as. He was unsure how to arrive. The message came from a restricted number--Mauren's work, Chisur guessed. He had no idea what to expect, or if Setara even wanted discretion at this point.

Though, Chisur guessed discretion would not be a concern for much longer.

When he arrived at the BetaSar Tower, Kyle reached out one last time.

Take your time with her, love, he warned. Don't let her push you away, don't get mad--

I would feel better with you beside me.

Yes, but you will be fine. And I will see to keeping Casey and Jerawk entertained. If you are gone long, I will have them both stay the night at our suite.

You expect me to be gone long?

I expect you will need time to sort things out. Take it, love, and Kyle withdrew the connection between them.

That was it. Chisur stood before the door to Lunelei's apartment.

It slid open and there stood his sister. No silver dragon, just Setara in the same black, unremarkable clothing Lunelei wore.

"You came," she breathed.

Chisur stopped channeling the illusion so he could stand in front of his sister with no masks between them. "You didn't think I would?"

"I thought..." Setara struggled with a range of emotions. Chisur did, too. Frustration for all his sister had done, regret for not figuring it out sooner, for not being there for her, relief that she was safe and whole, and tangled in all of that--

"You should come inside," Setara said.

He realized they both had been staring at each other for some time. When the prince walked through the door, he admitted, "I don't know if I should kiss you or strangle you."

Setara grimaced. "I don't understand why you would be happy to see me."

"Setara."

The dragoness met his gaze, clearly holding back tears.

Chisur took a step to her but stopped when she flinched backwards. He sighed. "Alright, how about we take a seat?" The prince went to sit at the desk, and Setara fell back into her bed. Chisur set his elbows on his knees and studied the floor.

Mauren, in all this time, was silent.

Chisur said, voice heavy, "It hurts, deeply, that you don't understand why I would be happy to see you."

"I'm sorry..." Setara scooted until her back was to the windowed wall. She hugged her knees to her chest and admitted, "When I messaged you, I started rehearsing all the things you would yell at me for lying to you, for hurting Jerawk, and all those dragons I--"

"I am mad at you, Setara. But... I've not seen you in five months. I've missed you, so much. Agonized about you. Seeing you here... fuck..." Chisur's voice cracked. "I'm sorry I've not been here for you. Not just for all this, but for Phelise as well."

Setara trembled with the effort to hold back tears. "Baby brother... you idiot..." she sniffled, "Always trying to take responsibility for everyone else's grief. It's selfish."

"Then I guess I'm just selfish," Chisur said dryly. "Can I hug you at least?"

Setara quivered and said, "Long as you save the strangling for later."

"And the kissing?"

"Shut up and get over here."

Chisur did, sitting on his knees next to Setara. He pulled her into a tight embrace, wrapping her in tail and wings as well, and she began to weep. Quietly, Chisur rocked her back and forth, hand rubbing up and down her back. He did not try to soothe her with magic, not yet, at least. Kyle was right, they had barely spoken, and already minutes ticked by while Setara cried and cried.

And she bared every dark thought she had. She was worthless. She was a monster. She was only good for hurting others. A loaded gun. A bomb. She deserved to be put on trial and executed. She deserved to die nameless and alone in a cell. She did not deserve love. She was a black hole. She sucked the light out of everything in her orbit. She was scared. Afraid what came after this. She feared being alone again.

Chisur needed to answer each of these with a kind of coldness, a distance put up between himself and his sister. It hurt to hear Setara say such things. When Chisur lost Kamore, when he was driven out of KalXay University, he had similar thoughts about himself. Setara had been there, a force of swaggering confidence that said things like, "My brother is a great dragon destined for great things" with enough sureness to make Chisur believe it. Setara had been there, a deep well of patience and kindness that healed with words like, "You will always be worthy of love, brother, no matter what you might feel."

He had not been there when Phelise died, and now his sister was a shell of a person. Driven on a self-destructive, torturous march to this moment by a grief and revenge that Chisur had not once--

"A-a-are you... okay?"

Chisur blinked and realized tears had been running down his face and falling onto Setara's ear.

She was looking up at Chisur now and flinched when their gazes met. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"It's okay," Chisur whispered. He kissed her brow. "We can both be sorry. I wish I had been there for you."

"This again."

"Fuck you, sister," Chisur growled. "I love you, and I get to regret not being able to ease your suffering sooner." He hugged her tight. "I'm here now, though. And I'm not going anywhere, and I won't let you get away from me again."

"Chisur..." Setara shook for a minute before she forced herself to wrap her arms around her brother and hug him back. "Thank you... I love you, too."

They held each other a few minutes longer. Chisur found a great deal of comfort in just hearing her breathe. Eventually, he asked, "How long have I been here?"

"Mauren?"

"Fifty-six minutes, Master Lune," Mauren chimed in.

"They still call you Lunelei?" Chisur asked.

"Master Lune has programmed me to never refer to his true identity as a security measure," Mauren said.

Setara said as she retreated a little, "I wanted to take every precaution I could think of." She still kept a hand in Chisur's lap, their wings and tails still touched. But they were not quite as close.

Still, now that they had both calmed down a little, Chisur couldn't help but lean in and smell her shoulder. "Mmm, I've missed your scent."

Setara shoved his muzzle away, but she couldn't help but smile a little at the comment. She said, "I wish we had time to catch up, but we do have work."

"Archayon's Phoenix."

Setara took his hand and said, "I know everything, Chisur. And I'm not sure what to do."

They were facing each other now, shoulders leaning against the wall. A lock of Setara's cropped, silver hair had fallen over her murky blue eyes, and Chisur had to resist the urge to tuck it behind her horns. "You're really beautiful..." he whispered like she was some first crush at an adolescent dance.

Setara glared at him and snapped. "Mother is behind Archayon's Phoenix."

Chisur gawked.

She smirked, some of that confidence he always admired returning. "Do I have your attention now? Or would you like to excuse yourself to the bathroom and so you can empty a load and--"

"No no," Chisur said, bewildered, chagrinned, and upset. "You're sure?"

"I talked to her, Chisur. At their headquarters. They called her Lady Phoenix."

He frowned. "Seriously?"

"My thoughts exactly."

Chisur took a deep breath. "Okay, why don't you start from the beginning, and maybe when you've finished I'll be able to wrap my head around all of this."

"Are you okay?"

"I just can't believe it."

Setara studied the hand she held, ruby-red scales holding each other tight. "Honestly? I hated how much sense it made."

And Setara finally shared her story. Not only the details of the Nest, their mother's years of plotting and scheming, the horrid creature that was the Seed, but also the story of Lunelei. The story of a desperate dragoness looking for clues, answers, anything, in Phelise's final moments and finding a single thread to follow.

Chisur's hand rested on Setara's tattooed stomach. He traced a finger around the black phoenix, and sensed in its tracing a spell. The magical residue was faint, and Chisur did not think he would have ever sensed it if he did not know to look.

By now the pair had shifted, Setara lying flat on the bed while Chisur sat beside her. He said, while admiring the supple strength of her core, "I've heard of this magic before, but I've never seen it."

"Most who can imbue the ink with a spell do work for those who wish to disappear or practice some kind of counterintelligence in the sprawl--be it for or against Archay authorities," Setara said. "I called in a few favors--for Mauren, for this disguise, even the wards to this apartment I got another dragon to do."

"And here I thought you did all this alone."

Setara shrugged. "Favors, not friends. I knew where to go for discretion, people who would have a vested interest in keeping their client list away from mother."

With a grunt, Chisur lay down beside her, propping himself up on an elbow. "And she still found out about you."

"The game was rigged in the first place. If I had even an inkling she was the leader..."

Chisur noticed her claws digging into the bed. He squeezed her forearm and whispered, "You couldn't have known."

"But who else had the funding, the resources?

"Setara," Chisur clenched her arm harder, "Stop."

The dragoness grumbled but relented.

Chisur watched her ribs lift and lower, her breathing so gentle and slow. He had to resist the urge to just touch her all over. It had just been so long since they had taken time alone like this. Years. But Chisur knew there was too much at stake to worship her like he wanted. He asked, "What do we do now?"

Setara said to the ceiling. "Mauren?"

"Yes, Lune?"

"Have you finished processing the data from the Nest?"

"Yes."

She sat up and said, "Let's go over it."

She went over to the desk as a screen projected a blueprint of the Nest. The facility was built around the domed "Seed Chamber" with the flanks of the Nest not quite circling the entirety of that chamber. It was roughly five hundred feet below the surface, and most of the facility clustered around the hub of the command center. It was half a mile east of the sprawl, dug out of an old surveying tunnel when dragons first considered living underground instead of building their towers upwards.

Mauren reported, "The facility runs on a self-contained network. There is a single access point, but after some initial probing, I can comfortably say ten of me could not penetrate the cybersecurity there."

"Other A.I.s?"

"Three maintain the facility, two help interpret data on the Seed. They're regularly reset every thirty days to avoid personality development. None specialize in security or infiltration."

"Are you thinking of hacking the facility?" Chisur asked from the bed.

Setara studied the reports on the A.I.'s for a moment. "Something like that. The facility's security protocols are remarkably light, wouldn't you say, Mauren?"

"Seriously?" Chisur asked, getting up and looking over Setara's shoulder.

"The facility has remarkable security protocols against an invading force, but an attack on the inside would be devastating."

"Like the Warrens."

Setara nodded. "Mauren, does the facility have any procedures for termination. Such as in an instance of catastrophic containment failure in the Seed Chamber?"

"No."

"You mean mother didn't put in a big red self-destruct button?"

Setara gave him a look. "Are you going to take this seriously?"

Chisur shrugged. "Kyle is the one who keeps me on task."

"You've used him like a crutch ever since you formed that tether."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean I remember when my brother used to not rely on others for his strength."

Chisur scowled and snapped his tail on the ground to get her to turn around. "You can't seriously think, after the torment you put yourself since the ball, that dragons are better on their own."

"Of course not, but this," and she gestured outside to the sprawl, "needs a ruler who can make his own decisions."

"Do you really believe Archay is better off with a ruler?"

"If it is a good one, like you--"

"Setara, no. I am stronger when I'm willing to rely on others. Kyle has taught me that. You would be, too." Chisur took a step closer and touched her side. "You'd be unstoppable."

Setara shoved him away. "I did and everything betrayed me."

It hurt for Chisur to be shoved away. Before he might say anything, Mauren asked, "Should we put off our strategizing in favor of conflict resolution?"

"No," Setara growled. She turned back to the desk and asked, "How large is the facility's staff?"

"There are five hundred and seventy-six people who use the facility, but no more than two hundred live on site at any one time."

Swallowing the urge to drag Setara back into their fight, Chisur said, "Two hundred dragons is a lot for two to face."

"Most are noncombatants who have no role in security measures," Setara said as she read the report on a screen. "Really the number is closer to sixty."

Chisur grimaced. "Even if we were able to take control of the facility, I don't want to go on a killing spree to do it."

"They are the enemy, Chisur."

"That doesn't change--"

Setara held up a hand to silence him. "Mauren, what's this?"

The dragoness had zoomed in on a certain part of the schematic. It was an oblong room at the facility's edge. Some kind of power cell connected to the Seed Chamber that channeled energy throughout the rest of the facility.

"The Nest is powered by two circuits that siphon magical energy from the Seed. With this, the facility maintains power and is able to use the Seed's own energy to power the wards keeping it contained."

Chisur said, "Makes sense--if power was coming from Archay's energy grid someone would have noticed."

"Could you access these systems if we got you inside the facility, Mauren?" Setara asked.

"They communicate on a wired circuit self-contained from the rest of the facility, to ensure remote tampering is impossible."

"Not a surprise," Setara mumbled. "How much energy are these things siphoning from the Seed?"

"Fifteen thousand megawatt-hours."

"Do I look like an electrician, Mauren?"

"Enough to power PelTar Tower," Mauren said, with what Chisur thought was the slightest bit of annoyance.

"That's the biggest tower in the sprawl," Chisur said.

"70 million dragons use up as much energy as this monster produces," Setara said grimly.

"The 'monstrosity' in question actually produces more," Mauren corrected. "The majority is expended in the chamber."

"Mauren, would magic kill the Seed?"

"Clarify query?"

"The rebound explosion of the 255 Summer Solstice Ball, would something like that kill the Seed?"

"Unknown."

Setara cursed.

Chisur asked, "You want to use those siphons to create a bomb?"

"I imagine that much energy would create a big enough rebound to level the entire facility and the Seed Chamber."

"And the rest of Archay?" He stepped beside her and touched her shoulder to get her to look at him. "Setara, I don't want to kill all of us just to stop this."

"Then what do you suggest?"

Chisur's jaw set as the two siblings stared each other down. He did not have an answer, but this? Rebounds occurred when the magical energy being circulated suddenly became cut off from a circuit and its energy overloaded. But controlling the level and intensity of one on that scale sounded like a suicidal task.

"We have to stop her, Chisur."

He said, "Not at the cost of Archay. Not at the cost of you, Setara."

"May I interrupt?"

Setara looked back at the screen. "What is it, Mauren?"

"Previous data shows past iterations of the Seed were killed simply by severing some of the tethers that produced it."

"That could work," Chisur said, eager to interject a new plan. "The violence caused by severing a tether is catastrophic when not done slowly and carefully."

"Enough damage to kill the rest of it?"

Mauren said, "Data shows that the more bodymindspirits tethered together the more devastating the severance becomes."

"It's like a rebound," Chisur said, mind racing. "Of course, they're using these connections to produce a planet-sized amount of energy. If a circuit is broken without anything grounding it that energy has to go somewhere through the rest of the network."

"Mauren, pull up surveillance of the Seed Chamber for Chisur."

On the screen projected the Seed Chamber. Setara had described it in detail, but Chisur still stared, horrified, when he saw the calamity of shambling, organic and inorganic matter that made up the Seed.

"Is this what Archayon looks like?" Setara asked. "Could it really just be that easy to kill a planet?"

Chisur shook his head. "Archayon is not a rat king of souls tethered and tangled together. If it was it would be just as unstable as the Seed is."

"Mother seems to think differently."

The prince chewed on his lip, considering if now was the time...

"You're hiding something," Setara said. "What is it?"

"Kyle and I, we know what Archayon is. It's only a recent discovery, a recent process we understand. Kyle understands. Even with our tether I'm still not able to do it."

Setara turned around and leaned against the desk, wings and tail phasing through the projected screen before Mauren simply shut it off. "Out with it, then," Setara urged.

"Archayon is a neural network, a consciousness, but the network is made through billions of threadbare connections between life on the planet. Incredibly weak compared to a tether, but the diversity and multiplicity of the nodes makes up for their weakness and also makes the planet much more stable. Kyle and I, without really realizing what we were doing, found out the way to heal the scarred lands was to find these dead nodes and return the magical energy to it. It's created new life, Setara. Life that lives within the storm of the Scarring. And Archayon..." Chisur stopped, with the wards around him he could not commune with Archayon. That door to the planet just as inaccessible as his tether. He shook his head, "You remember all those months ago when you sparred with Kyle?"

Setara nodded, her face unreadable.

"When he used magic to throw you off of him. That magic came from the planet--the planet communing with him."

"Can you both do this?"

Chisur nodded. "We share a connection with Archayon. The planet formed it with us--or at least we thought it made the connection, but it just strengthened what was already there."

"A tether with the planet?"

"No," Chisur said. "It's... Archayon calls it binding. It is sensing the connection between two nodes and tying them closer so the connection is more stable, more readily accessible."

"So this connection," Setara gestured with a finger, "one exists between us?"

"Yes, but it is no more powerful than any other living thing on the planet. When you bind yourself to someone, it is like a tether, but you are able to switch it off. No need to feel another's pain needlessly or be privy to conversations your partner wishes to be private."

"How is binding done?"

Chisur shook his head. "It took months for Kyle to master and he has only successfully bound himself to a creature from the scarred lands. You have to enter into a communion with the other node, see your relationships to the world as extensions of reality... and I can tell I've lost you."

Setara dismissed her confusion with a wave. "I don't have to understand it, just tell me why it's relevant."

"When you are bound to another node, the connection is safe, stable, able to do everything a tether can without any of the commitment, the constant presence, the risk that comes from severing the connection. A tether forces two nodes to be codependent."

Setara said, "If Phelise and I had been bound, instead of tethered, mother would have never been able to threaten her like she did." She stared into the middle-distance, clearly overtaken with some kind of memory.

Chisur brushed her leg with his tail. "Sister?"

"Nothing," Setara said with a shake of her head. She asked, "What can we do with this information?"

"Well, there is a lot we plan to do with--"

"No, I mean killing the Seed."

Chisur winced. "I am not sure. If Kyle and I could get into the chamber we might be able to sever its connections, enough to kill it."

Setara faced the desk, standing off to the side so they both could see again the recording of the Seed Chamber. She gestured at it with a wing. "Do you really want to take Kyle, who is pregnant, inside here?"

The thought of what that chamber might do to Kyle or his developing baby made Chisur sick.

Setara added, "Besides, mother sent me to get you. If I brought you both back she would know we were plotting something immediately."

"So you're saying I do it by myself?"

"Not necessarily," Setara said. "I can do it, I would just need your help getting out of the facility later."

Mauren spoke up, an edge to their voice, "That would be suicide, Master Lune, and I cannot allow you--"

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Setara snapped at the ceiling. "If we try to invade the facility with any kind of security force Airok will just dig in until she figures out a way to unleash the Seed."

Chisur's brow furrowed. "Do you really think--"

"I know how their operatives see that monstrosity," Setara said. "Unless we kill it first, they will defend the facility down to the last dragon."

Mauren interrupted again, "In previous iterations, the larger the Seed became, the more difficult and dangerous it became to kill. It is likely, without something to ground your mind, your consciousness will be pulled into the Seed's and you will become tethered to it as well."

"Archayon's asshole!" she cursed again. Setara paced around the room. "Then we will need to think of something else."

Chisur watched her walk back and forth the length of the small apartment. Even troubled as she was, she had this easy grace the prince envied. She moved like a trained dancer. It occurred to the prince, as he admired his sister's beauty, that the answer was obvious.

Chisur asked her while she continued pacing, "You are certain we wouldn't be able to get Kyle into the facility?"

"Not without meeting armed resistance before we reached the front door. Airok would subdue all of us and be sure we had no access to magic until she knew what our goals were."

"Then you and I will have to kill the Seed."

Setara growled and wheeled on her brother, "Chisur, you heard Mauren, we can't--"

"We can ground each other, Setara."

She stared, wide-eyed and body coiled with tension as if she might in the next moment pounce or flee. "No... no, no, no, no. Chisur, are you really suggesting--we cannot form a tether--never mind being brother and sister. You already have a connection to Kyle and--"

"Setara," Chisur said gently, taking a step to her. "Tethers can be severed safely. It takes being a very skilled mage to do so, but I can't think of three mages better prepared to do that than Kyle, you, and I."

"But... but what if it goes wrong? What if..." her lip quivered, "What if I don't want to go without a tether again if I make another?"

Chisur took another step, the distance almost closed between them. "Sister..."

"No! You don't know what it is like--waking up every morning with migraines because she's not there, how big that absence feels inside you, how suffocating the silence of your own mind can be." She was trembling, tears streaming down her cheeks, when Chisur wrapped her in his arms again.

He crushed her to his chest a moment before easing off his grip. Quietly, he whispered in her ear, "Once this is done, if you're not ready to break the tether... we will figure something out." He planted a kiss in her silver hair. "But no matter what, I won't ever let you be alone again. I promise you."

"A promise is a dangerous thing," Setara mumbled.

"You're worth it, sister."

"Am I? I'm so... ruined and--"

"No," Chisur growled. "I'll form a tether with you just to banish those terrible thoughts from your mind. You, sister, still have a life ahead of you--a life that will be filled with love again. You will have the chance to make up for all you've done as Lunelei and then you will do so much more." He released her, a hand sliding down to hold hers before he sat down cross-legged on the floor. Setara sat with him, and, facing each other, he could see she wanted this. Wanted to believe what Chisur said was true.

Still, she couldn't help but say, "What if, when we're tethered, you're revolted by--"

"Setara," Chisur whispered, "I still love you, after all that's happened. Do you really think there is anything--"

"Okay, okay," Setara said, her wings and tail hugging close, clearly nervous and flustered. She said, with a hint of shyness that actually made Chisur's chest flutter, "You know, now that Phelise is gone... no one else seems to understand me like you do. I'm... I'm scared when I let you in I'll just fall in love with you even more."

Some part of Chisur knew. Knew, too, he was in love with her. A smoldering desire that ran much deeper and burned much hotter than familial affection. He just... he also expected they would never talk about that side of things. Certainly not now, not when it should have been trivial with the stakes of everything else.

She giggled, a giddy edge to her voice when she asked rhetorically, "What's with that look?"

Chisur blinked and babbled for words: "I... um... Setara... how long?"

She shrugged. "Oh over a decade by now. Remember when I would visit you at KalXay and get jealous when you brought Kamore with you? Although, it wasn't until after Kamore's passing that I admitted it to myself. Seeing you like that... I wanted to whisk you away in my arms and take you far away from here. We'd bring Jerawk and Phelise, of course, we'd be helpless without them."

Chisur laughed softly, squeezing her hand as he felt a lightness, a weight lifted from his chest.

Setara, still smiling, asked, "How long for you?"

"Since I was nineteen, maybe? I knew that was the first time I wanted you, really wanted you."

"Hmm, seems we could have solved things much sooner if we just sat down and talked about it."

"Imagine that, talking about your feelings."

Setara rolled her eyes dramatically. "Ugh, I get it, you can chide me all you like once we've formed the tether."

Chisur asked, "Are you ready for it?"

Setara took a deep breath, and, still smiling, said, "Yes. Are you?"

"Yes."

And they began to form the second tether of both their lives. Their fingers, twined together, began to feel one and the same. Warmth, magical energy passed between them. They both felt a pricking in their skulls, sensed each other's spirit, sensed its connection to body and mind. These three things on an indistinguishable network that they steadily began to thread together, until they felt indistinguishable from one to the other. Till Chisur felt the cold walls of Setara's mind--her panicked rush making his heart leap into his throat. Then it was finished, and the pair looked at each other with no mask between them.

You're speechless, Setara said, a little scared at the observation.

He was. She was a chaotic swirl of grief and rage, and he sensed what she was afraid he would sense. You plan to kill yourself after this.

Chisur... Her will to live was so weak. She wanted her revenge. Wanted to protect her brother from this danger. But she saw no future past those goals. Wanted nothing--

I won't let you. I won't let you do something so selfish.

I have nothing--

You have me. Chisur leaned in and caressed her cheek. "You will always have me."

"Brother..."

He kissed her. He no longer cared, and he would make her not care, either. And he felt the fight in her. Setara tried to push Chisur away but he held her close. He had suspected, but now knew for certain it was no fear of an incestuous relationship that held her back. It was a fear of being loved again. Being known by another and trusting them. Being vulnerable with them. Setara clutched so much fear and tension between her ribs. She spent over a year with nothing but a cold focus to keep her from completely giving up on life entirely, and Chisur needed to force his way through that barrier, that focus.

Even as it fought back with, Chisur we need to worry about Airok--we need to stop the--

No, Chisur said, finally breaking the kiss from Setara's unresponsive lips. He shoved her on the floor on her back and said aloud, "Let me in, Setara." He held her down by her wrists, pinning the dragoness down with his weight.

She snarled and hooked her legs over his shoulder before throwing him on his back, swinging herself up so now she sat on top of him. "Why can't you just let me do this for you?" she snapped.

I thought you said you loved me, Chisur said in her mind. She sensed him reaching for her there and began erecting a mental barrier between them.

I do, and Chisur, knowing you love me just makes this harder. Let me do this for you and then let go of me. I am a yoke of burdens and pain no one should shoulder.

And he knew what she said she believed with certainty. It made him weak to hear. She had finally erected her barrier.

You made me a promise.

I promised to see you again, and I have.

Setara kept him pinned while Chisur's mind fought to get through her defenses, to know what she really felt. He was waves crashing against a wall, trying to summon the force to break through. Eventually she shook with the effort to keep him out. Tears beaded her eyes and she asked, "Why do you have to be so stubborn? Why can't you just accept what I want?"

"It's not what I want," Chisur growled, straining in her grip a moment. He managed to lift his arms a few inches off the floor before Setara shoved him back down.

"Accept this, Chisur."

"And then what do I tell Kyle? What do I tell Eska when she asks what happened to her aunt? That I let you do this? Do you think Phelise would let you do this?"

The question cut deep. Setara recoiled, defenses weakened just enough that Chisur shattered the wall she held up in her mind. Setara groaned, swayed, and the sharp pain in her skull shot through Chisur's as well. He did not care. He broke her grip and grabbed her into a bear hug, holding her tight while his mind embraced hers. So much unwieldy, negative emotions and thoughts ran wild through her. Even now, she felt like a burden for Chisur doing this to her. He dug to the root of her mind, a warm core of her personality and wrapped his mind around it like his body wrapped around hers, cutting off those intrusive and negative thoughts.

Live, he urged her. You can thrive again--do not give up, Setara.

She trembled in his grasp, crying softly against him. They were tears of relief, relieved of the pain that had been eviscerating her since Phelise's death. Her breathing and heart rate picked up, and he felt her going into a sudden panic at the overwhelming sense of feeling. Without the depression, the grief, the resentment and bitterness, the warmth of her brother's mind was a shock to her nervous system. At that point, scared he might overwhelm her too much, Chisur used a bit of magic to relax her mind and body. Slowly, Setara's breathing steadied, the adrenaline stopped flowing, and she slumped against him.

The prince held his sister tight a few moments longer, listening to her breathing relax and slow until she eventually passed out--a combination of exhaustion from sleepless nights and a reaction to the panic attack Chisur had cut short. He picked her up off the floor, laid her down in her bed, then climbed in with her. Spooning her, Chisur held his sister tight in both body and mind until he, too, dozed off.

Setara woke some time later, her brother still holding her tight. For once she woke without pain--no headaches, soreness from grinding her teeth, or aches from some combat the day before. No heavy, simmering hole in her chest from all her grief. Just her brother blanketing her, body and mind and spirit. He handed every part of himself over to her to protect her, and, for once, she did not feel pain or fear or confusion at the gesture. Setara felt... happy. Grateful he was here. Here with her.

His breath ran down the nape of her neck, and she sighed, rolled her shoulders back into his chest.

"Mmm..." Chisur yawned and asked, "What time is it?"

"Four minutes until eighteen hundred," Mauren answered.

Chisur started to pull away, mumbling, "I should check on Kyle."

Setara did not want him to leave. Her tail hooked around his thigh before he could get up. "Wait."

"Setara?"

She rolled over and faced him. "Stay," she whispered, "Please?"

He was a little taken aback by her request, by what desires shifted underneath it.

"Sister..."

She grabbed his hand and whispered, "Earlier, when we were in bed together, you wanted to touch me all over. That's what you thought, yes?" She knew it was; their tether made his desires plain for her to see.

Breathless, he said, "Yes."

He knew what invitation came next, yet he waited for her to say it. She took his hand and rested it tenderly across her throat. "I want you to touch me, Chisur."

An invitation he barely waited for her to finish.

Chisur rolled on top of her, knees straddling hips, hand stroking down her cheekbone, across the length of her earfrill. He leaned in, nervous Setara might take it back, but when his lips met hers she wrapped her arms around his neck. The dragoness' moan sounded like letting go.

The two siblings frantically threw their clothes off, only breaking contact so scale might rub against scale.

Then Chisur tilted his muzzle and their lips met in another kiss, mouths opening. He let his sister tease against his larger tongue. Their taste buds smeared up and down each other. Her hands combed through his thick mane of red hair. You can be rough with me, she said, sensing his reluctance. And Chisur sensed her desires as well--knew she wanted him to exorcise some of her pain with rough, tumultuous pleasure.

Chisur gave in, snarled, and shoved his tongue into her mouth. The oversized muscle overwhelmed hers before shoving down the dragoness' throat. Chisur shuddered as they shared the sensation--Setara gagged and sucked, a swell of pain and pleasure at the slick intrusion. At the same time, the prince's claws raked down his sister's sides, dragging furrows across the border of her ruby red and golden scales.

The sharpness of the pain made Setara's sex throb with need. She hooked her legs over his tail and humped up into her brother's waist. No longer holding back, she shared everything he wanted from him. And those images, those fantasies, made Chisur growl possessively. He broke the kiss, tongue pulling up out her mouth and into his. Setara gasped for air before her brother bit her throat, hard enough to make her squirm against him. Chisur huffed and wrapped his arms around his sister; he lifted them both off the bed before slamming her back against the wall. Setara groaned as his teeth found her collarbone. Lips sucked hard against her scales, while his impressive strength kept her pinned to the wall.

Chisur felt his cock begin to peek from its sheath. Both siblings' arousal grew sharper and sharper by the moment. He took a deep breath. Setara smelled so good: warm, a musky spice with fragrant undertones. He sighed. You smell good, too, Setara told him. More salt, more bitterness, undertones of that same spice.

He growled, "You've wanted me to do this to you for years."

She didn't answer right away, too busy trying to hump her mound against her brother's growing endowment. It was half-hard at this point--the ebon meat sliding against her inflamed lips. "Yes," she gasped, "Now please."

He did not need more than that. Her whole body ached for him. Begged to be filled. Chisur positioned his cock and she sank her vent down on it soon as she felt it. Brother and sister went still for a moment. Those wet walls were the tightest Chisur had in some time. Setara's abdomen flexed as she squeezed and encouraged his length to grow more and more. Her cunt stayed shoved up to his slit while she huffed and let more and more of that endowment grow inside her. Eventually, she buried her face in her brother's shoulder and moaned, shivering while the cock inside her became ten inches, eleven, a foot. Fullness. His spade tip ground against her cervix; its point meant to penetrate that spongy barrier. And she wanted it. Setara had no desire to have children, but she wanted her brother in every part of her.

Chisur grit his teeth and his grip shifted from her waist to beneath her hips. His claws dug into her ass. He began to pull out, only managed to get half his length from her walls before slamming back in. Setara's body rocked against the wall with a ragged gasp. He repeated the motion and this time went still as his cock jumped and precum jetted from his tip. It felt sticky and heavy inside Setara. She wanted more. On his next hump, she gasped, body quaking as pleasure slammed through her. Chisur met his sister's open lips with another kiss. Setara kissed him back, hard and desperate. Her tongue tried to put up a fight with his, the two muscles sliding and pressing against each other. Drool slid down their chins in the sloppy kiss before Chisur pounded in again. Her whole body was stunned by the motion, and suddenly his tongue overwhelmed her again. Setara's eyes practically rolled back as she submitted to him.

Her brother's hips became a piston. They pounded the dragoness against the wall, cock stabbing deep inside her. That tip battered her cervix. Chisur felt it. That tight pressure and heat boiling through her core and simmering over her crotch. And Setara felt his cock embraced over and over by her wet heat. The walls of her sex almost fighting him as he split her open again and again. Tears rolled down her eyes as that tongue undulated in her mouth and throat. She burned with how much her brother was her world. Far more than she could even fantasize about--for she felt, too, his mind's overwhelming raw need. He wanted to claim her, keep her, prove to her she needed no one else. Feelings he carried for years but never let see the light of day till now, when they raged as their bodies raged together.

All the pleasure and heat, all those desires overwhelmed Setara. It had not been more than a few minutes when she hit her first peak. She scratched at Chisur's back as she came. Her body whited-out a moment, head going blank while cock continued stirring her cunny up. Pleasure white and hot boiled in her body. Chisur's knot had swelled and now smothered her mound, trying to shove its way inside her while his shaft pulsed. A flood of his cum was filling her. Rich seed shot right against her cervix, and she couldn't care less. She'd take a contraceptive later--a thought Chisur found disappointing. Her perverted baby brother wanted to breed his sister.

Wants to claim every part of you, Chisur corrected. He broke their kiss and rested his brow against the wall, panting as they both passed through their shared orgasm. His cum pumped out around her cunt, her sex visibly squeezing his shaft, and each flex of her cunt made more thick dollops of cum drool out around his knot.

Setara kissed his neck, whispering in his mind, As if you don't have me, completely, totally yours.

"I love you, Setara," Chisur breathed. It felt miraculously different to say it now compared to when he said the same thing to her earlier.

She giggled, a quiet, ecstatic sound that made Chisur's heart flutter. She felt the difference, too. "I love you, Chisur." She filled his mind with images of them fucking in all manner of positions, all manner of desires pouring through her. And for once it was her asking, Can you stay the night with me? Kyle suggested--

"Of course," Chisur whispered before he kissed her again. "I'll check in after I have you again."

"Just once?"

"Twice... a dozen times," the prince growled before yanking her back into a kiss. Keeping a tight hold on her, the prince fell back into bed. Setara's body rocked up and down on his shaft. She clenched on his meat. Both partners shuddered before Setara sat back on his cock. She let her weight settle on his knot. She let out a long, soft moan, quaking a little for him. His hands settled on her thighs and he rolled his hips to stab his tip against her cervix. Cum still leaked around her messy labia.

Inside his mind, Setara's voice was ambrosia: Hehehe, that's what you want, hmm? To see your older sister play with herself while she bounces on your cock?

His shaft twitched inside her in response. Setara bit her lip and rocked on his knot. Her hands rubbed across her flat, toned stomach. The claws just teased her scales before she cupped both breasts. Each one filled her palm. She massaged the full flesh a moment, fingers teasing across her areola--a darker yellow flesh that matched her cunt. She pinched a nipple and sucked in a breath. Her hips kept humping up and down his shaft. Those lips smeared more fresh arousal against his ebon knot.

Setara hefted one of her breasts, neck bending down. Her tongue slipped free of her mouth and licked along her chest. The golden scales glistening with spit before the dexterous muscle swiped across her areola. They both shivered at the sensitive bud being teased. She shoved her breast higher, craned her neck lower to suck on the areola in question. Her teeth grazed it just as Chisur's spade tip grazed her cervix. Both sensations made the dragoness shut her eyes and moan around her breast. Chisur continued to watch--lost in his sister's sensuality, the feel of her wall against his girth, the scent of their shared sex. She suckled her bud a moment longer before releasing it. She panted, gave him a satisfied smile before he said, "You're so--mmph--hopeless little brother."

Chisur thrust into her while her hands drifted down to her split cunt. She whispered, "Let's get this knot in, hmm?" She spread the lips of her sex wide as she could--scales pulled taut. Then she started to hump and grind down on his hips. Chisur did his best to push back up into her. His dick slowly churned her insides with more and more heat while they both felt her mound yield. The flesh caved inward on each wet slap, but more of that ebon bulb rubbed and teased inside her. More of her pussy stretched around it. The siblings both went silent, faces screwed up in concentration as they worked in tandem for this slow, deliberate tie.

When her walls gave in, both partners went still. The knot slipped inside Setara's yawning cunt, his spade tip battered open her cervix. The dragoness almost fell over across her brother, planting a hand on his chest to keep herself up. She panted, both of them recoiling to the shared pleasure of being so full and so taken at once. But they fought through it, each resisting their orgasm until Chisur asked, Can I do this next part?

Don't keep me waiting, she answered. He reached under her, and Setara's muscles locked up when a single finger traced around the edges where her labia had swallowed his knot. Her sex had become so ravaged and tender already, but she grit her teeth and let Chisur's finger push up against her clitoral hood. Both siblings moaned as the sensation passed through them. Being full of her brother's throbbing heat had made her clit so sensitive. That slick, cum-smeared finger teased up against the bud again. It rubbed the arc of her hood before flicking down the length of her button. Each touch was a sharp, spark of pleasure through her body, gathering more tension and heat in her core. Chisur felt it, too, flexing his lower abdomen to try and hold back his internal testes. His sister had become so tender and sensitive and he was so close to finally claiming her womb.

And she knew what he wanted. Setara lay across him, wrapping arms around his neck. Her walls clenched up and down his sheathed cock, while his finger continued to slowly edge her clit to orgasm. "Nnngh, don't keep me waiting, brother," she breathed in his ear, "Don't you want to breed me?"

Chisur snarled, "I do... fuck..."

"Then do it," she practically pleaded, wavering on the edge with him, "Impregnate your sister."

He let go and, rubbed, quick as he could, her clit. The sensation overwhelmed them both. She hugged him tight, moaning louder and louder until she nearly screamed into the bed.

"Setara... oh fuck..." Chisur groaned, not letting up until her clit practically hurt and stabbing pleasure lanced all through her body. They both gave in. Her messy cunt, already half full of one of her brother's loads, milked his cock in tandem to the churning of his internal testes. Each pulse of seed filled her stomach with a satisfying warmth and weight. The thick, fertile cum quickly flooded her egg chamber and back down into her passage. The tight seal of his knot kept it all inside her, until Setara thought she might burst. But her womb somehow accepted it, swelled a little as his brother's cock fed her seed. It was rapturous. Pleasure simmered through her body until there was nothing else, till she thought she needed nothing else but him.

Both siblings slowly came down, panting against each other. Occasionally, Chisur would spill more seed inside Setara and more twinges of pleasure would pass through them both.

Chisur stroked a hand down her back, idly thinking about what came next.

Food might be a good idea, Setara suggested.

Worried we won't eat if we choose to stay here longer?

Mmm, worried if we don't leave this bed I'll never let you out of it. Setara kissed his cheek and sighed in his ear. "Thank you, Chisur."

He knew what she meant. He whispered, "It was nothing... we've always taken care of each other..."

"But earlier... you might have just saved my life..."

"Mmm, it was a life worth saving."

"Do you really think that?"

He nuzzled his cheek against hers. I never doubted it. The only way you make up for what you've done is if you live, Setara.

Do you think Jerawk will ever forgive me?

Probably not--not for a long time, at least. And he teased through her memories and saw how sick that night made her. How the familiar faces she saw locked in death haunted her dreams for months. All these things she could barely face or stand to admit were buried, all because she did not have the strength to face them alone. "You are not alone, not any longer."

"I know, Chisur." She shook against him, tearing up with a wash of relief. I was just so scared--that once you and Kyle knew the truth you would both cast me aside. Leave me to rot in a jail.

Even if you must spend time in a prison, we will not let you rot, Chisur insisted. Once we have survived this we can figure out what your penance will look like.

She hugged him tight, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"You're still scared," Chisur observed her thoughts.

"Yes... but it will be okay," Setara said, before she said to his mind directly, where neither could lie, I will be okay.

She believed it, which filled Chisur with a great deal of his own relief.

His knot had retreated some by then. Setara said, "I'm going to take a shower, then food?"

"Mind if I join you?" Chisur asked with a smile.

"Hehe, you know a shower in one of these apartments would never fit us both."

"Next time we hold the clandestine meetings at my suite, then," Chisur grumbled. She giggled a little more at his pouting before gingerly sitting up. She slowly began to lift off his waist, till his cock popped free of her cunt. With a shuddering sigh, she slipped off him and got up. Chisur admired the wobble of her thighs, the cum dripping between her legs as she crossed the room to her bathroom.

Setara sensed his thoughts, and said, Don't be too proud of yourself. We've got a long night ahead of us if you even want to come close to my record with Phelise.

Chisur laughed and looked up at the ceiling, deliberately taking a deep breath of the stench of sex in the room before exhaling. I look forward to it, he told her.

She left the door to the bathroom open, stepping inside the standing shower before turning the water on. As she washed off her scales, her mind did begin to turn back to the matter at hand. There could be a lifetime of happy nights, but first...

Chisur heard her call from the bathroom, "Mauren?"

"Yes, Master Lune?"

"Is there any chance you can find a way to pull the data from the Nest and upload it to the net?"

Through their tether, Chisur now knew their mother had supplied Setara with a data chip to take with her that had all the data of Archayon's Phoenix. But it was coded so that doing more than just reading the data would cause the chip to wipe its memory.

"I have been examining this, and I cannot confirm a method to do it without risking the integrity of the data. If, perhaps, we had another chip, I could run tests on it, but there are currently no guarantees I can bypass the chip's fail-safes," Mauren explained.

We should not be surprised, Chisur said.

Would have been nice to spite Airok with that while we infiltrated the Nest. Setara turned the water off and stepped out. She grabbed a towel and dried off before tossing it out the door. Use this if you're not planning to wash up.

What if I want other dragons--

Don't be so crude, Setara reprimanded him. Other dragons don't need to know what our cum smells like while they eat just so you can have a little thrill at their expense.

Chisur rolled his eyes and got off the bed. His cock had mostly retreated back into his slit by now, left a little aroused by the residual soreness he felt from Setara's sex. He grabbed the towel and wiped himself off while Setara relieved herself.

Do you just get dinner through the resident services here?

I'll occasionally don a disguise and go to one of the old restaurants I used to frequent before all this mess--have to do something with all that pit fighting money. Setara wiped herself and flushed, before she stepped out of the bathroom to find her brother dressing. "Should I have Mauren make us reservations somewhere?"

"Would be amusing to surprise Kyle and show up at Archayon's Harvest."

Setara's brow furrowed. She understood, by the nature of their tether, immediately the details of the restaurant, but did not know of a place called that in TorVah. "Did it open recently?" she asked.

"It came at the recommendation of Jerawk's second," Chisur said, and, at the mention of the dragon, Setara saw in her brother's mind's eye the dragon Silben. Who she immediately recognized as Kisk, and they both visibly realized at the same time the trap laid for Kyle, Jerawk, and Casey. Chisur rushed out the apartment to warn Kyle while Setara threw on her clothes.

When she stepped outside a flood of connections made her sway and put her hand on her brother's shoulders. There was Kyle--who had just opened the door to Archayon, and power flooded through their connection and into both siblings before Kyle was suddenly cut off. Their mate--Chisur's mate, Setara corrected herself--had just realized they were being drugged once Chisur warned him. But they were too late.

Setara started running for an exit outside of the tower. Archayon's power flowed through her, she sensed its presence. Protector it called her. And it urged her to use magic to move faster. Before she did she told Chisur, Leave rescuing Kyle to me. I've been trained to use magic to move quickly, you're likely to pull a muscle or twist your ankle if you're not careful.

But--

No, Chisur, go to the palace and get Eska. We must find someplace safe to keep her, otherwise she is one more liability. She cut off their connection as distance made their thoughts recede from each other. She was a brilliant, glowing beacon, quickly bounding through crowds of dragons till she reached an exit platform for the tower. She broke off into a leap using magic to propel her several hundred meters to the next tower, using her wings to adjust her flight path to avoid transports and other flying dragons. She beat her wings hard to slow her trajectory when she slammed into the side of the tower. She ran across its wall before leaping to the next tower, moving at speeds that made her a flashing blur of magical energy.

Setara had hoped to lock Kyle and Eska in her apartment with Mauren until things were resolved, but now they might need to change plans. She couldn't believe she had been so foolish. Of course their mother did not trust her to just drag Chisur back. She had been used to draw the prince away from Kyle so they could take him. With one of the two under her thumb, Airok would have all the leverage she needed to control both.

At the edges of her mind, she sensed her brother's discord. She wanted to soothe him, but not slamming into a tramcar or bystander took all her concentration. She sped across the sprawl in a matter of minutes, climbing higher and higher in elevation as she did. Until eventually she beat her wings up the side of TorVah, climbing a story on each flap. She extended her senses through Archayon and pinpointed the restaurant--a balcony had its glass exterior cover blown open. It was a way for her to get inside but--

Kisk. She would not reach him in time, but magic would.

***

Jerawk flinched when the pistol went off. But no ballistic pierced his flesh. He stared, stunned as Kisk's hand hung in the air. The gun glowed as if some invisible force kept the sidearm in place. Then they both heard the beat of wings.

Jerawk saw the light of a glowing, ruby-red and gold hide, and at first he struggled to get up, exclaiming weakly, "Chisur!"

But the dragoness ignored Jerawk when she landed in the restaurant. "Kisk," she snapped at the brass dragon. "I doubt Jerawk was a target mother assigned to you, so what in the fuck are you still doing here?"

The other dragon was frozen in place as Setara now stood in front of him. She shouldn't have been able to hold so much energy without being in communion with the planet. Only Kyle and Chisur could do that.

She took his gun and threw it off the tower with a flick of her wrist. "Leave," she ordered before releasing the dragon. He did not even try to fight or protest, he retreated with as much dignity as he could muster. Setara let him go before she released whatever communion she held and went to kneel by Jerawk's side. She lifted his head off the floor and asked, "Still with me, Jerawk?"

"Kyle... Casey..." the dragon uttered, barely able to get the words out as the drug finally began to overwhelm him.

"I had to let them go," Setara said with a pained look. "Chisur and I don't want to, but the only way Airok will let us inside the Nest and end this is if we let them go."

"Nest?"

"We will explain later," and she touched his temple, "Sleep."

And Jerawk finally passed out.

***

Setara sighed. She picked Jerawk up off the ground and reached out to her brother. He was still traveling to the palace, so she told him, I will meet you there.

Is it really the only way Setara? We can still--

If we do, Airok will lock down the Nest and we might not break her defenses before she releases the Seed. We need to let her believe she's in control. She doesn't know about our tether or our connection to Archayon.

Chisur still boiled with inner turmoil. He hated doing this, but he knew she was right. Their mother was weakest when she thought she had the game won.

Okay, I trust you, Setara.

She hoped, for all their sakes, she was right.