Page 121 of The Dragon Queen Complete Series Collection

Chapter 120

Once the door was closed, my husband came to sit down beside me, taking my hand in his and stroking his thumb across my knuckles.

“It seems a ridiculous thing to discuss, but…” Brom’s breath came out in a long hiss, and I knew he heard the echo of Draven’s order, just like I did.

Come to me.

Autocratic as always, ignoring everything that had gone on since we’d last been with each other. His disappearance, the presence of Beatrice at his side, his pretence that nothing that had happened in Dragon Home was real, it was all swept to one side in the face of his demand.

And we were going to accede to it, I knew it.

Because when I looked at Brom’s face, I saw a twin to my own expression. Desire and need stifled, tamped down until the other person had said their piece, until they gave their permission. I smiled.

“You’d say no to him forever if that’s what I asked, wouldn’t you?” I said.

“Always.” He grabbed my hands with his, pulling me closer. “You are my wife, my love, my first priority.”

“But he’s your love too.” I rubbed my thumb across his skin.

“And yours?” Brom’s question was a careful one and I laughed in response.

“I wouldn’t say that. What we have is…” I shook my head. “Beyond explanation and not in the sense of the word in any lovely, poetic way. Just… He’s like a damn bull at a gate, demolishing all of your objections.”

“Gods, yes.” The sight of Brom’s smile lightened something inside me. “Though there is something real behind it. He doesn’t let those barriers down for just anyone. If he lets you in under his skin, you’re there forever.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Whether you want to be or not.”

“So…”

My mind revisited the image of Marcus and his lad kissing. The act between them had a kind of ferocity that women couldn’t match, the two of them almost like equals wrestling for control and I wondered if that’s what it would be like with Brom and Draven. Would they…? My mind seemed to stutter at the possibilities, but even as I tried to piece my thoughts together, Glimmer jumped up on the desk.

Put the egg here , she said, tapping the desktop with her claws.

What?

They’re leaving now. Give me the egg so I can follow them.

But how…? I didn’t finish the question, plucking the egg from my pocket and placing it before her. We all watched it as it began to glow. What are you doing?

Seeing what they see, what their dragons see.

At her reply I felt it too, and I drew in a breath as the office fell away, replaced by the whipping winds of the night sky. The number of them pleased me, the jewel tones of the dragons muted in the dim light, but I could see blues, reds, greens and orange, even deep purples like Wraith, in the air. They flew in a loose formation, discipline fraying a little at the desperate state of the mission. When they landed in what felt like moments later, the garrison was in an uproar.

Soldiers ran everywhere as dragons landed within the gates, on the training grounds around the building proper. Some dragons made a beeline to the place I’d marked out on the map. My heart felt like it jumped into my throat when soldiers came running out with flintlocks raised, ready to shoot.

They didn’t get very far with that. Dragons moved with cat-like grace, tearing the offenders to pieces, a terrible foreshadowing of what might come… Dragons used against Nevermerian citizens at the behest of despotic leaders, tearing them apart when they resisted, like these dragons did.

But somehow these soldiers’ deaths weren’t the worst of it.

They aren’t there , Glimmer said. I repeated the words to Brom haltingly, frowning at what she showed me. Riders, dragons rushed to the wall they’d torn down with their claws, but while there were other prisoners there, quivering in their cells, there was no sign of Lance or the others.

Where…?

Pull your knives out, Pippin , Glimmer ordered.

Why would ? —?

Just do it!

Brom watched me tear my skirts up and retrieve the two daggers. I slapped them down beside Glimmer and she began to hum.

And it wasn’t just her. I could dimly hear the sounds of other dragons taking up the song as hers rose in pitch. The stones flared brighter in response, all three of them now. So much so I was forced to look away and then I felt it.

It was as if we were flying along, as we had done with the other dragons on the trip down to the garrison, but now we were free of even a body. Our consciousness felt like it streamed across the city, squirming through gaps, racing down streets, touching people’s minds as we passed. The connection between a dragon and its rider as always felt as if we were talking, one person to the other, but this was different. It was as if the means to communicate psychically became a tangible thing. Something that could actively search for another person or in this case several. We were jerked sideways, the scent of the sea and the tanneries growing stronger and stronger until…

“Get them inside!” a rough voice ordered. “And get that medic in here. Gods fucking balls, look at what that bitch has done to these lads.”

Our view of things was crowded, blurry. Corridors were dark, and we felt like we were lurching from one side to the other. Then a lamp was produced and lit and that’s when I saw them.

“Poor bastards,” one man rumbled, from amongst those carrying the boys’ prone bodies and laying them down on clean but humble pallets. “If this is what they do to their own…”

“Then you know well what that bitch will do to us.”

Our view sung sideways to see Marcus fucking Lighthands swing into the room, a couple of women dressed in white following behind, who dropped down beside the boys at the sight of them. Bags were produced, tinctures pulled out and applied by one woman as another wiped the lads clean with a soft cloth.

“There’s nothing that she-wolf wouldn’t do to satisfy her ravening ambition,” Marcus snarled. “And you can tell that to anyone you see. She thinks she rules this city, can do as she likes, but she has no idea. Change is coming, lads?—”

Whatever vision I was getting, it was cut short. My awareness returned to the room I was sitting in as the door slammed open and the general strode in.

“They weren’t there.” The man’s voice was taut with fury. “I just deployed countless dragon riders against one of our own garrisons. And for what? We couldn’t see hide nor hair of any of the cadets. Your intelligence was incorrect.”

But it hadn’t been. I saw again the gleam in Marcus’ eye as he’d spoken to his men and now I wondered at the reason for it. Had we just done his dirty work for him? He’d obviously been the anonymous source that had brought Draven down from the palace at the same time we’d appeared at the garrison, but why?

“Pippin!”

Brom rushed forward with a handkerchief, pressing it to my nose the moment blood gushed forward, his hand moving to stop a drop from falling free and onto my dress. I clutched at the cloth, trying to staunch the blood flow, while I looked up to see the general’s furious gaze. My eyes flicked to Brom’s concerned expression and then, past him, I saw Glimmer’s eyelids flutter shut. She slumped down on the desktop, and I leapt up to grab her and hold her close.

Glimmer? Glimmer!

I moved my hands feverishly to feel for her heartbeat. My own beat too loudly in my ears as my fingers pressed into her body over and over until… there! I felt the reassuringly even beats, always much slower than mine. I held her close to me, more than blood seeping from me as I stroked my hand down her sides, my tears falling on scales that had turned a dull copper.

Glimmer…

My dragon didn’t respond, and the dragonstones were now flat and pale as the distant moon, no iridescence in them. The general narrowed his eyes as he looked at me, the state of the dragon, and the stones.

“Why do I feel like I have only part of the information here?”

“We all do.” Our heads whipped around to see Draven in the doorway and he shut it quickly behind him, then locked it. “And perhaps that needs to change. Did you see any familiar faces in the garrison? Did you recognise the commander?”

“It’s difficult to say, Highness,” the general snapped. “Dragons were attacking them at random, so mostly all I remember was screams and blood.”

“Well, I’d make overtures to the army high command, volunteer on behalf of the corps to send money to the men’s families. I’ll cover the costs,” Draven said. “Because I think when you get the list of names, the results will be interesting. We were there earlier tonight and every man there was one of my uncle’s soldiers.”

“A Harlston-run garrison in the city…?”

The general was always full of blustery confidence, but that demeanour had left him and that was unnerving. He grew palpably paler as he considered the idea.

“Your mother… Your uncle…”

“We need to expand our patrols to the borders of the four duchies,” Draven said. “And when you do I think you’ll find that there will be reports of mobilised Harlston troops. When the hatching takes place, civil war will be declared. As far as I can tell, my mother and my uncle seek to replace the Nithian dynasty with a Harlstonian one.”