Page 103 of The Dragon Queen Complete Series Collection

Chapter 102

“We need to leave today,” Flynn insisted. “I’ve always taken an interest in the old ruins and I know of one not that far from here. It’d be most of a day’s ride but?—”

“Before we go off anywhere half-cocked, I assume we need more information about these eggs, the ruins themselves,” Brom said, nodding to Cynane. “We don’t know a lot about them, in fact we’re discouraged from exploring them typically. Can you tell us anything about them?”

“Seems to me there’s no need to hurry at all,” Soren said, crossing his arms. “We’re talking about stone eggs that have lain hidden for how many hundreds, if not thousands, of years? I reckon they’ll be safe for some time to come, especially if Pippin and Glimmer are to take some time training. The queen still has that damn dragonstone. What’s to stop her from waltzing into the keep and using it to brainwash all of us into taking a long walk off a short cliff?”

“Everyone’s saying a lot, but you’re not saying the right thing.” The other men looked at Ged in irritation, but my rider’s focus was entirely on the two of us. “What do you want to do, Pippin?” His eyes slid down. “Glimmer?”

He was always the best of your mates , Glimmer told me in a terse voice. They all want to protect us. All of them. She glanced at the restive male dragons who were flexing their muscles and fluttering their wings, as if she was being bombarded by overprotective male input as well. But it is only his response that befits a queen . My dragon nodded slightly to Ged. Though that was mostly due to Cloud Raker’s input. He is my most favoured at the moment .

I shook my head as if to flick all of the differing opinions out of it. What everyone said was true and was logical, but… it was Jenkins and Lance I saw, not sense, and it was them that made me speak up.

“Lance, Jenkins, and some of the other cadets. Draven told us that his mother had them locked up but…”

“You saw them?” Soren moved closer, reaching for my hands, searching my face, hearing my concern. “What is she doing to the lads, Pip? What has she done?”

I heard the urgency in his voice, knew that he would somehow want to take responsibility and I felt the need to prevent that, even as I knew I wouldn’t be able to.

“She has them in the cells in the castle and I saw her walking towards them with a knife.” Ged let out a low hiss of breath at that. “They look… They look…” I didn’t need to say it, because they all knew. A woman who was willing to commit the cardinal sin of killing a baby dragon would have no problems torturing young cadets with no one to speak up for them. Perhaps it was something she did on a regular basis. “She’s hurting them,” I said finally. “She has been the whole time.”

“And Draven skimmed over those details.” Brom shook his head sharply.

“But we can use this,” Flynn said, striding forward. His eyes gleamed as he spoke with a hectic light. “We need a pretext to use to move against the queen. How about one that will unite all of the Royal Riders behind us? If we get word of what she’s doing to those lads?—”

“No one will stand for that,” Soren said in a fierce growl. “No one.”

“Except Royce,” Brom said flatly, naming the bastard son of the Duke of Harlston and one of the riders who had voiced an interest in courting me. “And all the other Harlstonian riders who remain secretly loyal to their duke, not their king. This news will create a schism, two factions of riders pitted against each other. Unless the king?—”

“He’ll never move against that bitch,” Flynn spat. “Remember, he can’t, even if he wanted to.”

“But Draven can,” Soren said, eyeing his wing commander, “if we can persuade him to work with us rather than just using us to his ends.”

“Is that possible?” Ged asked, his forehead wrinkling before turning back to the two of us. “Glimmer is a seer and Pippin is her rider. Surely, they can see what we need to do next.”

My bondmate , Glimmer corrected and Ged jumped, making it clear that he’d heard her voice. And everything everyone has said is correct. The queen poses a threat to all of us, but most immediately to those young humans and myself. We are the smallest, the weakest, still needing protection until we are at our full power.

I heard her voice inside my head, but her tone? It had my muscles tensing, and they were already sore from holding tight during the vision Tanis had shared with me. I saw the queens fighting, the eggs crushed, all those small lives ended so quickly and with so little thought.

Was that always the way of the strong and the powerful? To march over the broken bodies of the weak?

We will need to find the eggs, gather together all of the information Tanis has left us, because what we saw now was just a glimpse. If we are to finish The Battle of Two Queens then we will need to enter that battlefield armed with every advantage , Glimmer continued. I need to learn how to fly. I need to get bigger, big enough to defend myself. My hand went to my sternum, rubbing at my breastbone as an ache set up behind it. But those young humans can’t wait for that.

Glimmer will need to stay here in Dragon Home . Cynane’s words were the axe I knew was hovering over my neck, ready to be dropped on my unprotected flesh, and when that judgement hit, it felt just as sharp as a blade.

“No—” My denial was on my lips without thinking. The queen dragon shifted her focus to me.

You are bonded to Glimmer.

“She is my heart!” I shot back. “I can’t leave her.”

“So you stay here.” Soren was warming to that idea by the minute. “Help Glimmer grow stronger, better able to ward off the queen and her blasted stone?—”

“No!” I snapped.

“We said we’d always keep Pippin with us, always,” Flynn said, then flushed. “We vowed that would be true.”

“You’re not leaving us here,” I snapped. “You’re not.”

“No one wants to, lass, but we can’t leave those lads to the queen’s tender mercies,” Soren replied. “And taking you and Glimmer? It’d be just another risk, one I’m not willing to take.” He stared at each man in the room. “I can’t bear the thought of those boys getting hurt, but you…” His dark eyes pleaded for understanding. “I can’t do what I have to if it puts you at risk as well.”

“But Pippin–” Ged started to say.

“Enough!” Brom’s bark had everyone falling silent and, with his eyes blazing, he was every inch the wing commander. “This is a mission, just like every other one we’ve ever been on, even if the stakes are higher. We have never gone into an engagement as a wing unprepared, ever.” He nodded to Obsidian. “At the very least, in order to keep our dragons safe. Just as we always have, we’ll collect relevant intelligence, consider the objective and plan for the best way forward. We will make no decisions about anything until that process is complete.”

He met the eyes of every person, every being in the room and then nodded when no one argued.

“Cynane, if I could prevail upon you to take me to the prince. I need to find out more?—”

“Me too,” I said. Brom shot me a wary look but I just stood taller. “I’ll come as well. Surely I can help gather information safely?”

Don’t ask , Glimmer hissed. Tell them what you want.

“Then we’ll start compiling what we know about the castle and its dungeons,” Soren said grimly.

I am happy to bring you to the prince, but know this , Cynane replied. Your focus is on the human world, whereas ours is on that of dragons. You brought Glimmer here to us. We will not be relinquishing her to participate in any kind of hare-brained scheme. We have waited for a very long time for a seer to be born. Her place is here.

But when I looked at my dragon, I saw a rebellious light in her eyes, glittering just as brightly as her scales.