Page 120 of The Dragon Queen Complete Series Collection

Chapter 119

"I assume you don’t actually need to go to the loo,” Ged muttered out of the side of his mouth. “The moment we walked into this place, you broke the rules we set out.”

“The others can be the diversion,” I hissed back, as we walked down the hall of the garrison. “And while the commander is distracted, we can do a search of our own.”

“Cunning,” Ged admitted, “but a plan I’d much rather enact with one of the boys, not you.”

“Consider me ‘one of the boys’ then,” I shot back, darting my eyes around us for clues. Glimmer, can you feel the cadets anywhere?

This way , she said, veering off to the left.

“I’d never do that.” Ged grabbed my hand. “You’re not a boy. Pippin, you’re not a facsimile of a man and you don’t need to be.” He stopped me for a few precious seconds, smoothing his hand down the bodice of my dress. “That remains true no matter what you wear.” His eyes flicked up to meet mine. “You are Pippin, first and foremost, a beautiful woman second and the one I…” He swallowed. “The one I love, most of all. We only want to protect you because you are so bloody precious to us.”

And how could I stand firm against that? I reached up and touched his cheek before I heard the sounds of footsteps, hating that I had to pull it away as several soldiers passed, shooting us curious looks.

“As you are to me, Ged. I...” I smiled then, feeling my throat close up. “Know that I love you as well with everything I have.”

This should’ve been a glorious moment, one where the angels sang and a stray beam of light shone down from the heavens, but instead we faced a challenge. A need to find the lads and remove them from whatever diabolical plot the queen had in play.

“I’m going to say that again when we get back to the keep,” I promised. “Over and over, until I get better at it.”

He snorted. “As if you aren’t perfect as you are. Now, let’s find those lads.”

Glimmer waited patiently; her eyes gleaming as we drew closer.

You accept them as your mates, she observed.

More and more , I agreed as we walked down the hall. It’s a hard thing for us humans. We are terribly afraid of love.

But you are not human , she told me. You are a queen. Be as fierce as a queen in love as in battle.

I’ll try , I replied wryly, though it may take me longer than a glorious creature like you. You must be patient with me.

She snorted at that, then turned to the right.

The riders are down here.

We approached a series of locked doors that had small openings built into them at eye level, but we couldn’t see much through the metal grates in the openings. The rooms seemed to be dark and dank, much like the dungeons the boys were held in. I heard muffled moans and tried to work out where we should look. Glimmer just walked up to a door and stopped in front of it, like a hound pointing to its quarry.

“Lance?”

I rushed over to the door, and was wrapping my fingers around the bars, ready to bend them with my bare hands, when I heard a reply.

“Pippin?”

His voice sounded rusty and corroded, and when he appeared before the small gap, he didn’t look much better. One eye was swollen shut and his face was covered with bruises gone a sickly yellow and green. My hand shot through, reaching out, reaching for him but he flinched back, something that hurt my heart.

“Lance, lad,” Ged said, peering around me. “Are you all there, and all in one piece?”

“All here,” Lance replied, “but in one piece? Jenkins has been lying where they threw him when we got here, not moving at all. He’s still breathing but…”

His voice trailed away as I drew back, looking down at the door, the lock. I tried the door handle, scratched at the lock in desperation before turning to Glimmer.

Do you have fire? Can you melt this lock? Burn down the door?

Not yet . Her reply was almost shamefaced. I’m not full grown and ? —

Before I could find out anything further, the far-off sound of a bellowing dragon’s reverberated through the complex, making Lance and the others shrink back in their cell.

“Who’d you bring?” Lance had to pause for a coughing fit, then his voice grew in strength. “Please tell me you brought others, the whole fucking corps down here, because that’s what you’ll need. This is a Harlstonian garrison in the middle of the city. They’re slowly taking over each one, though fuck knows where the king’s soldiers go. They either join the cause or get shoved off a cliff, I’m willing to bet. You’ll need everyone, every man to stop her, because nothing else will. She’s got that stone, Ged, the stone that?—!”

We need to go, now , Glimmer told me. Darkspire is creating a diversion, but we’ve been gone too long. We can’t open this door right now.

But he can , I shot back. ‘Spire could melt the place to the ground.

And declare war? A queen doesn’t tolerate ? —

Yes, I bloody know that, Glimmer, you’ve told me that often enough.

And the only reason why I am tolerated thus far is because I am not grown, have not claimed my mates, my territory. I am not a threat, Pippin.

And that’s what it took for me to stop. At this moment, none of us was presenting a threat. None of my husbands’ dragons were here, only Draven’s. And if he used Darkspire to retrieve the boys, to attack the garrison, it would either be spun as a rebel prince attacking the king’s own men or used to prove the fact that he was not loyal to the Harlston faction.

And I knew exactly what would happen as a result.

Another ‘accidental death’ of a prince, the line of succession reverting to one of Draven’s paternal cousins, I was sure, and who was to know what sway Raina held over them.

“Lance, we’ll be back tonight,” I promised, as the sound of boot steps became louder and louder. “We’ll go directly to the general and get the rider corps mobilised to rescue you. Half will come, no matter what he has to say. The keep is on edge already.”

“Promise, Pippin?”

The plaintive note in his voice broke my bloody heart, and tears pricked my eyes as I nodded definitely.

“The minute we’re out of here,” I replied. “The very minute.”

“C’mon…”

Ged grabbed my hand and dragged me down the hall into a small alcove, where he pressed me against the wall, slamming his mouth down on mine the minute the soldiers appeared.

“Rider…”

The soldiers looked at us as we jerked apart, the picture of guilty lovers.

“Hello, lads,” Ged said, with a wink. “You can keep your mouths shut for a coin or two, can’t you? Buy yourselves a beer on me.” He flicked a few coins their way and they scrambled to catch them. “I’ve got a bit of a thing for the commander’s wife and I don’t want him finding out about it.”

“Right you are, Rider,” the leader said. “But you’ll need to come this way. The prince is asking for you.”

“What the bloody hell were you two playing at?” Draven hissed, the minute we got outside of the garrison. “Remind me when we decided you two would slope off to conduct a clandestine investigation?”

“We found Lance and the other cadets. Jenkins is breathing but not much more.” My eyes shot to Brom. “We need to go to the general now, bring the corps down in force. Rip the bloody bars from the windows with our dragons and free those cadets.” I turned to Draven. “And you can’t be anywhere near the rescue mission when it happens. Plausible deniability.”

Draven went rigid, his eyes filling with blue fire the moment he understood my meaning. Surprisingly he nodded, albeit stiffly.

“I’ll fly back to the keep now.”

“Take me with you.”

There was so much more in those words than I’d intended. My mind was full of the desperate need to get to the keep as quickly as possible, but as I gave voice to that idea, it came out echoing my need for him. The emotion behind my words softened Draven’s terrible gaze, and he took a step closer to me.

“Take both of us,” Brom said. “We need to get back to the keep as quickly as possible. Getting a carriage down to these streets in the dark will be a nightmare. I need to speak to the general.”

“Of course,” Draven said, then turned to the others. “Can you find your way back? You don’t want to be here when the general returns, not without his order.”

“I’ll make sure the riders get back to the keep,” Marcus said, stepping forward from out of the darkness and, with a click of his fingers, a carriage rolled closer, the driver tugging the brim of his cap.

“This is going to be awkward, uncomfortable,” Draven warned me as I lifted my skirts and we ran over to Darkspire. He turned to Brom. “We’ll need to wedge Pippin between us to keep her on ‘Spire’s back.”

“Why do I feel like that was your plan all along?” Brom replied in a very different tone. There was amusement and affability and need all rolled up into one, something that had the prince smiling.

“Just don’t ruin my bloody dress this time,” I snapped, hauling myself up into the saddle as Glimmer clambered onto ‘Spire’s neck. “I like this one.”

“I do too.”

Draven settled into the saddle in front of me, then reached back to wrap my arms around him, and Brom pushed himself in behind me. A traitorous throb started up between my legs at the feel of the two men pressed into me, but it only took the echoing of Lance’s pleas in my ears to push that aside. Darkspire lumbered forward, throwing himself off the edge of the road, and it felt like he skimmed the tops of the roofs below before he flapped hard and we went circling back, towards the keep.

“Come to me in my room at the keep,” Draven said, the moment we landed, not bothering to clarify who he meant because there was no need. It was both of us, we all knew that. “Don’t go down to that garrison. Don’t put yourselves anywhere near the place. Don’t draw attention to yourselves. Tell the general you got reliable intel from Marcus Lighthands, that eye witness accounts have confirmed it. And if you have to…” Draven shook his head. “Mention the code word: Felix. It’ll tell Rex that I can confirm the veracity of the information.”

“Will do,” Brom said, though I wasn’t sure exactly what he was agreeing to. I didn’t get a chance to ask because he grabbed my hand and dragged me down the stairs and through the halls until we were rapping on the general’s door.

“What’s this about?” the general asked, looking somewhat dishevelled, his jacket partially unbuttoned, his hair ruffled.

“We’ve found the cadets, sir, in a garrison in the city,” Brom told him in a great rush.

“In a garrison? Well, where are the boys? The king’s soldiers must’ve taken custody of the lads by mistake. Soldiers don’t keep riders in custody, not even cadets.”

“The prince told me to mention the code word.” The general’s air of mild confusion disappeared, and he went still and silent. “Felix?”

“Bloody hell…” He shook his head slowly, then stood to the side. “You better come in.” The moment the door was closed, the general poured a shot of whiskey for each of us, then commenced pacing back and forth. “It’s Raina, isn’t it? She’s the one behind this.”

“To ensure the prince’s compliance,” Brom confirmed. “In the absence of having access to Pippin at the keep, she needed something else. Those lads are just a means to ensure he would do as she bade him. But there’s more.”

“Of course there fucking is.” The general shot me a rueful look. “My apologies?—”

I held up a hand. “No need. It's the only word fitting for this situation. I can tell you exactly where they are in the garrison and what state the boys are in, but you’ll need to move very fast. The garrison commander will be sure to have sent word to the queen and I have no doubt she’ll move them again if we don’t act now.”

A quill, ink and paper were set before me on the desk. I sat and scribbled down my best mud map of the place, my hand flying across the page.

“Stay here,” the general instructed. “Don’t wander off or return to your quarters until we get back. You’ll need to stay out of sight so no one connects you with this mission. Raina may guess at it. But without concrete proof? It’ll make her less likely to move on you.”

“Of course, sir,” Brom said, rising to his feet as the man exited the room.