Page 16 of Dragon Blood (Dragon Island #3)

I t took three days for the Wardens to agree to Astred’s requested pilgrimage to the Nexus.

Three days, with no relayed information from Marli or the Crimson Claw. Whether this was good or bad, she couldn’t know, so she decided to stay the course, only adjusting her sails when necessary.

That morning, Odson was recounting the dragonling story of the legendary hero Dragon Star, which Astred had fixated on, when Heidi’s phone pinged.

Something about the star in her vision.

Heidi set aside her coffee to pick up the phone, her expression grim.

Everyone had fallen silent.

“It’s time.”

They rode in Odson’s Mustang Shelby, Heidi in the front seat, Astred and Kai in the back.

Working to help rebuild the refugee village had helped pass the days, but it had still been too many hours to think. Too much time for her worries to circle around and around in her head.

The situation with Kai was ever-present. He was constantly in her periphery, lingering at the edge of her consciousness.

Then there was the fear for her mother’s wellbeing and the status of the investigation into the traitor. The threat of an Aeleftherian working with the Consortium, jeopardising their people, their home, the queen, and their most treasured Mother.

Betrayal burned through her like acid.

And now, because of all of this, she was forced to go to the Nexus.

As much as the otherworld had mystified Astred, it also gave her the heebie jeebies. A girl—and her dragon—were creatures of the earth, not the astral. She lived the adventure-filled life of the seas, preferring to keep her soul firmly planted earth side—or seaside— where she was much less likely to wander off after shiny light beings or be trapped by the murky ones. Or so Astred had imagined.

Stomach tight, Astred became hyper aware of Kai next to her as her anxiety escalated, needing something—someone else to focus on.

It was time.

She was about to journey into mystical territory that terrified her, driven by the vision that led her from her mother’s side.

Maybe it wasn’t a vision, with a capital ‘v’. Maybe it was just a psychosis, and she’d hallucinated a way out. An excuse to run away from the turmoil of the island before the council matrons jammed her mother’s crown down onto her head.

She wasn’t ready for that. She wasn’t ready for this .

Chest tight, her lungs struggled for air, like when she stayed underwater too long. Straining, begging for freedom.

Her hand shot out to grasp Kai’s on the seat between them. With a glance of concern, his fingers immediately closed over hers.

Warm. Secure. Calm.

Kai.

Eyes closed, she drew a deep, steadying breath. Astred was accustomed to barrelling headlong through things to avoid thinking about fear.

She couldn’t do that here.

Not with the three days wait. Like the Wardens had done it on purpose—to build up her fear of the unknown. Just like the Aeleftherian Matrons liked to do.

Assholes.

Another breath, easing the tension across her chest and releasing the impatience that had bound it up in the first place.

They drove through town along the river road, leading them out to the tiny clump of land that supported the sacred tree.

Odson turned the Shelby onto the winding Moon Road that descended with a sharp curve to the right. He parked at the end of the narrow peninsula, overlooking the small inlet.

Exiting the car, Heidi led them between the trunks that arced out into a grove of mature individual trees. Not a single type, as would be expected of a space such as this.

Oak, Golden Spruce, Scots Pine, Maple, and several more that Astred couldn’t name, rose to ring a flat clearing sprinkled with sweet grass and meadow flowers, whose scents filled her nose and lungs, chasing away the tension. Butterflies, tiny birds, moths, and other insects fluttered around the clearing, carrying on as though there was nothing sacred about the grove at all.

Or perhaps that’s exactly what made the grove sacred.

The peace and nourishment it offered, both to the tiniest of bodies and largest of souls.

Glancing at Kai to her right, her gaze dropped to their linked fingers, realizing that she’d grasped his hand again on exiting the car.

Clinging to him.

He lifted their joined hands, placing a soft kiss on the back of her fingers, holding her gaze.

I’m here.

The message was clear and the last of her tension fluttered away with the most delicate of moths vacating the clearing, looking for a safe place to rest.

The look in his eyes brought a smile to her lips for the first time in what seemed forever.

Turning her attention back to the meadow, she allowed another moment to admire the beauty of it before continuing on.

She wasn’t here for the grove. She was here for the Nexus.

Releasing Kai’s warm fingers, she strode through the meadow toward the river, glittering beyond the trees.

At the bank, the wind swirled around her from across the water; the sun kissed her face in welcome.

At this junction, the Black River flowed out to meet the great St. Lawrence River, its opposing banks curved in and around a mound of earth, supporting a solitary twisted tree.

The Nexus.

She’d sailed past it, her ship too far out to pay much attention, though she was aware of its existence. Her mother had at least ensured she knew about it, before Astred set her sights on horizons as far from Aeleftheria as possible.

It was exactly the type of tree she loved to climb as a child. Crooked and twisty, with deep undulating roots and a high arching canopy to lose yourself in.

Astred closed her eyes. Beneath the sensation of the wind brushing her skin and hair was the rippling power, teasing her dragon to the surface.

Similar to what she’d felt the few times she’d accompanied her mother down into the bowels of the Citadel where the sacred chamber protecting dragonkind’s most precious treasure was concealed.

Regina had never told her what slept behind that door. She waited for Astred to ask.

Astred never did. She feared she hadn’t needed to.

She saw it once—and only once because it had been too much for her young mind to grasp what she’d glimpsed.

Deep within, she knew . And that terrified her, shying away from any sort of confirmation.

Oracle of the Mother.

As she stared at the tree, serene on its lonely clump of rock, that fear crept toward her with seeking fingers.

The Nexus was going to rip away her childish veil, a thin sheet against night terrors, and show her what she already knew.

Her mother’s crown, Astred’s unwanted inheritance, was much more than a symbol of rule.

It was the deepest connection to dragon divinity.

And that was what scared Astred the most.

Sacrifice.

All her life, Astred held tight to her identity, molding it from the depths of the seas and wildest of storm fronts. What she feared most was having it ripped from her so that she was nothing but a vessel for something other.

‘Which is silly. The queen isn’t an empty vessel.’ Her dragon whispered.

Astred rolled her shoulders, displacing the icy fear creeping through them.

‘We will stop running from them,’ her dragon asserted, lifting Astred’s head, sniffing the air. ‘This Nexus will tell us why.’

Odson’s retellings rolled through her mind as her heart pounded, eyes locked on the tree nestled in the gentle flowing waters of the Black River.

I don’t like this.

‘We don’t have to. But we will do it, anyway.’

Astred’s gaze found Kai watching her, expression grim.

‘We should claim him.’

I can’t. They won’t let us. Besides, it’s too late for that, nor is it the time.

Astred’s dragon snorted, giving her a shake.

‘We can. They can’t stop us, Astred. They never could, unless we let them.’

Charmaine Shea, Heidi’s friend and lead warden, approached Astred.

“Princess Astred Arakkil, heir of the Aeleftherian throne and Oracle of the Mother, do you consent to this journey into the Nexus?”

Breath stalled in Astred’s throat.

Oracle of the Mother.

Raw fear spread throughout her body in icy blooms.

I can’t. She… I am not worthy.

‘Worthy or not, we must and will protect her.’

Her dragon pushed the words through her constricted windpipe. “I consent.”