Chapter 151: Matriarch of the Jiusnu clan
The rain continued its relentless fall over the high passes as the Jiunsu clan guards closed in around the massive serpentine form of Jake and the smaller dragons behind him. Their spears and swords remained leveled, though the fear in their eyes was unmistakable. The ground still trembled faintly from Jake’s landing, mud and shattered stone scattered across the courtyard. Raani sat tall on Syreth, her golden eyes scanning the guards with calm readiness, while the other Dragon Maidens held their formation, hands resting on weapons but making no aggressive moves. The air was thick with tension and the constant patter of rain on armor and scales.
After several long, silent moments, a senior guard stepped forward, his scarred face pale beneath the hood of his cloak. "You will come with us," he said, his voice tight. "The Matriarch will see you. Shift back if you can. We will not allow a beast inside the hall."
Jake’s massive head tilted slightly, red eyes glowing with quiet intelligence. For a heartbeat the guards tensed, expecting another display of power. Instead, the air around the great serpentine body began to shimmer once more. The transformation reversed itself with the same deliberate pace as before—scales receding, body shrinking, wings folding inward until Jake stood once again in his human form, cloak damp from the rain, expression calm and unreadable. The Dragon Maidens dismounted, leaving their dragons in the care of a few wary stable hands who kept a safe distance. Raani walked at Jake’s side as the guards formed a tight escort, leading them through the massive gates and into the heart of the Jiunsu stronghold.
The interior of the clan’s main building was as imposing as its exterior. Thick stone walls, blackened by centuries of hearth smoke and rain seepage, rose around them. Torches burned in iron sconces, casting flickering orange light across tapestries depicting ancient battles and clan heroes. The air smelled of wet stone, burning wood, and the faint metallic tang of old blood that seemed to cling to every surface. Guards lined the corridors, weapons still drawn, their gazes hard and unwelcoming. Whispers followed in their wake—fragments of conversation about the "abomination" that had landed in their courtyard, the dragon that had no rider, the power that had shaken the very ground.
They were led into a vast audience hall built into the side of the mountain itself. The ceiling arched high overhead, supported by thick stone pillars carved with serpentine motifs that now felt uncomfortably pointed. At the far end, raised on a dais of black stone, sat the Matriarch of the Jiunsu clan. She was an older woman, perhaps in her late fifties, with iron-gray hair pulled into a severe braid and sharp, angular features that spoke of a life spent enforcing clan law. Her eyes were cold and calculating, the kind that had seen too many betrayals and survived them all. She wore robes of deep crimson edged with black fur, the fabric heavy and regal, and a circlet of dark iron rested upon her brow. Flanking her on either side were the clan elders—older men and women whose faces were carved with the same cold disdain. They looked at Jake as if he were something that should never have been born.
The Matriarch’s gaze swept over him slowly, lingering on his face, then on Raani beside him, then on the Dragon Maidens who stood at attention a few paces back. There was no warmth in her expression, only a mixture of revulsion and wary calculation. The elders mirrored her look—some with open disgust, others with the kind of fear that masqueraded as hatred. To them, Jake was not a grandson or a lost blood relative. He was an aberration. The child of Raaya’s forbidden elopement, now twisted by some dark power into something monstrous. The dragon transformation had only confirmed their deepest suspicions.
"Jake of Raaya Villa," the Matriarch said at last, her voice low and edged with frost. "Or should I say Jake of House Veyra? You have made quite an entrance. Landing like a mountain falling from the sky. Turning the sky dark with your shadow. The whole of Roakan speaks of it already. They call it power. I call it an abomination."
Jake met her gaze without flinching, his expression remaining perfectly calm. He had expected hostility. Raani had warned him of it. But the depth of their revulsion still surprised him. These were his mother’s people, yet they looked at him as if he carried some original sin simply by existing.
"You were invited here," the Matriarch continued, "because blood demands acknowledgment. But what we see before us is no simple blood tie. You have become something else. Something that should not walk among men. The dragon blood that should have stayed buried has awakened in you, and it makes a mockery of everything this clan has stood for."
One of the elders, a thin man with a hooked nose, leaned forward. "Your mother’s choice to run with that Raikarndel whelp was already a stain. Now her son returns as a beast wearing a man’s skin. We should have ended this line when we had the chance."
Raani’s hand tightened on the hilt of her blade, but Jake raised his hand slightly—the same calm gesture he had used at the gates. She stilled, though her golden eyes burned with quiet fury. The Dragon Maidens behind them remained motionless, but the tension in the hall was palpable.
The Matriarch studied Jake for a long moment, then spoke again. "We will offer you one path forward, boy. Join the Jiunsu clan. Take your rightful place among your mother’s blood. But there are conditions. You will renounce the Raikarndel name entirely. You will leave Raaya Villa and all that it represents. You will cut ties with the Dragon Maidens, with whatever harem of women you have gathered there, and with the power you have claimed through that bloodline. In return, we will acknowledge you as one of us. You will be protected. You will be given purpose within the clan. Refuse, and you will leave this hall as an enemy. The invitation will be revoked, and we will treat you as we treat all who carry the stain of Raikarndel."
The words hung in the cold air like a blade poised above his neck. The elders watched him with the same cold, disgusted expressions, as if simply speaking the offer had cost them something. To them, Jake was not a man to be reasoned with. He was a mistake that had grown too large, a power that should have died with his mother’s defiance.
Jake stood in silence for several heartbeats, the rain still falling outside, the torchlight flickering across the stone walls. He could feel Raani’s presence beside him like a steady flame, the Dragon Maidens’ loyalty a quiet wall at his back. He thought of the women he had left at the villa—Chelsea, Rosa, Matilda, the others who had chosen him not because of blood or politics, but because of the life they had built together. He thought of the power that now lived in his veins, the dragon that had answered his call without hesitation. He thought of the invitation that had brought him here and the grudges that had shaped it.
When he finally spoke, his voice was calm, carrying none of the anger or revulsion that had been directed at him.
"I came because blood was offered," he said. "But I will not cut away half of who I am to satisfy old wounds. The Raikarndel name is mine as much as the Veyra blood that runs in my veins. I will not renounce it. I will not abandon the people who have stood with me. If that makes me an enemy in your eyes, then so be it."
The Matriarch’s expression hardened further, though something like grim satisfaction flickered behind her eyes. She had expected refusal, perhaps even hoped for it. The elders shifted, some reaching for hidden weapons, others simply watching with the cold certainty of people who had already decided the outcome.
"You were warned," the Matriarch said. "You chose the path of the outsider. Leave this hall. Leave these lands. The next time we meet, it will not be with tea and offers. It will be with steel."
Jake inclined his head slightly—not in submission, but in acknowledgment. He turned without another word, Raani falling into step beside him, the Dragon Maidens forming a protective escort as they walked back through the stone corridors. The guards followed at a distance, weapons still drawn, but no one moved to stop them. The rain greeted them once more as they stepped into the courtyard where their dragons waited.
Jake paused for a moment, looking back at the square-mountain fortress that had once held the blood of his mother. The Jiunsu clan had made their position clear. They saw him as an abomination, a mistake that should never have drawn breath. Their offer had been a cage dressed in the language of family. He had refused the cage.
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