“There is something I have to tell you,” she said, “and we do not, as a rule, tell humans.”
“That sentence always improves a morning.”
Her mouth moved, almost but not quite a smile.
“No,” she said. “It generally ruins one.”
She looked past me toward the gallery window.
“I watched a woman die slowly of the thing your body is doing right now in this corridor,” she said. “I was younger. I was less powerful. I told myself there were rules.”
Her jaw tightened. “I have since developed a less generous opinion of rules.”
Yuki looked back at me then, expression flat. “The bond runs through you,” she said. “You carry both marks. That makes you the center channel. When the channel opens and the three bodies remain separate, the channel runs hot.”
“In plain English.”
“Elevated heart rate. Tremor. Sleep refusal. Dream bleed. A persistent sense of vigilance the mind will explain however it can.”
I swallowed.
“The body holds it,” she said, “until all three of you are together.”
“In the same room?”
“In the same room, yes. But not merely occupying air.”
I stared at her.
For the first time since I had known her, Yuki Ashenmere looked openly uncomfortable. “Dragons are private creatures,” she said. “Absurdly private. We would rather let civilization collapse than have one direct conversation about mating mechanics before breakfast.”
“That sounds familiar.”
“Yes. It is a cultural failing that we have cherished for centuries.”
Despite myself, a laugh tried to surface. Yuki’s expression did not move.
“The first mate, in this case Dominic, usually tells the human,” she said. “Quietly. Privately. Before the body reaches this point.”
“Dominic doesn’t know.”
“No.”
“Rhain?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because they are young, male, and dragon enough to assume the body will explain itself when necessary.”
She drew one careful breath. “The protocol is older than both of them. Older than me. It is not written because dragons do not write down what they are embarrassed to admit they need. It is passed in whispers.”
My hands were cold. “So what happens if I ignore it?”
Yuki looked at me directly. “At first? What is happening now.”
I swallowed. “And after that?”