Page 32 of Dragon Blood (Dragon Island #3)

N o.

It was all Zadora Steelscale could do to comprehend what was spread out before her.

The sky was littered with writhing bodies, roars punctuated by screams, the booms of heavy beasts colliding mid-air.

Over Aeleftherian soil. Inside the boundary. Not beyond it, as was right. One of the massive enemy dragons had knocked Zayli from the sky, sending her crashing down into the rocky archipelago.

She lay prone, too still.

She’d darted ahead of Zadora, taking the heavy strike on her behalf.

Stupid girl.

The enemy male had snuffed at Zadora, dismissing the old dragon as unthreatening, before he turned away to face a clutch of guardians headed straight for him instead.

Zadora descended to check on her granddaughter, who’d served as her wing woman and defender, catching her breath.

Despite the fury of her spirit, it had been centuries since she’d last fought a battle, and it was taking time for her body to remember how to move like a warrior. Her reflexes were slow, the muscles stiff.

At her feet, Zayli had lost her dragon form and lay crumpled on the sand, unmoving except for the nearly imperceptible rise and fall of her chest.

Not dead.

Overhead, Aeleftherian guardians and civilian dragons alike battled in the skies, while some skirmishes destroyed swaths of island jungle along the archipelago.

In the distance, the small cottages that lined the main island’s coastline were razed. Jagged piles of broken wood and tumbled stone. No longer homes.

Her chest tightened as her conscience pricked her sense of duty.

It was her duty to ensure the safety of Aeleftheria’s citizens. Their queen.

From their enemy.

This wasn’t making sense to Zadora.

How could it?

Dragons—yes. Male and female alike, attacking Aeleftheria. Dragon, and not dragon. Abominations, some. Augmented.

Different, like the shapeshifter hidden in the male dragons’ mountain.

Paranormals, shifters of other kinds with wings sprouting unnaturally from their backs. Shifters that had no business in the air.

Not the male dragons she expected to come for them from the mountain, finally showing dragonkind there was no compromise. No alliances or partnership. No peace.

Somewhere deep in the back of her thick skull, her brain registered that these enemies were Consortium soldiers. Her heart pounded in her chest as she took in the magnitude of the conflict facing them.

The next click of the cog brought Sam Egan’s face to mind. Zadora had tricked the Consortium spy into coming to Aeleftheria alone from her undercover post at the mountain, bearing the seal.

My fault? Can’t be.

She’d strategically taken Regina off the board so that she could guide Aeleftheria through Astred. Then Astred had disappeared, willing or not, with Kolina’s son.

My grandson. No. I have no male issue. There will never be male Steelscales.

But she scanned the surrounding sky again.

Not the enemy she had expected, but that didn’t mean the males were not also Aeleftherian enemies.

In the distance, more dark figures appeared.

Dear Goddess, no. I will never, ever forgive Kymri or Kolina for bringing this upon us.

She sank to her knees beside Zayli’s inert form, brushing the hair from her forehead, seeing her lost daughter in her features.

“Your mother was the best of us. It can’t end here.”

Standing, she turned her face to the sky and the incoming enemy as she summoned her magic to slide into her beast.

I am still the Dragon Star, no matter the star was taken from me. I was tasked with protecting the crown and the Great Mother.

She wasn’t long in the sky before another of the enemy rushed at her from behind. Instinct finally kicked in and she rolled aside, clipping him with her claws.

Righting herself, she turned, surging after him…

Her.

Zadora gained speed, closing the distance enough to realize that this dragon was female.

And not entirely dragon.

The scent was… Wrong.

Sam Egan?

No, not the same.

The opponent faced her, malice in her eyes, her snake-like tongue tasting the air as her slitted eyes blinked at Zadora.

She spared a glance toward other nearby skirmishes. Other beast-like dragons over coming the guardians. In the distance, Kolina fell.

Her heart stopped, attention focused on her surviving daughter, tumbling with a much larger enemy toward the ocean.

Zadora’s opponent’s tail jerked forward.

Pain lanced her side where the barbed tail had struck her, forcing her attention to what was in front of her.

Not the mountain males.

The Consortium.

Pain of a different kind twisted through her chest, shattering her heart.

Reality erupted in a great roar from her depths, lashing out at the abomination hovering before her.

Her body took over as thought gave way to blind instinct.