Page 137 of The Dragon Queen Complete Series Collection

Chapter 136

This is why Draven hadn’t wanted me to come, because I had no answer.

I…

My thought trailed away and this was manifestly inadequate. It felt like I was back in the school room, all eyes on me, but back then none of my school mates had the reptilian eyes of dragons.

Nor their intensity.

It felt like each dragon stared right into me, making me painfully aware of their huffs of breath, the shift of their scales on the flagstones, but that brought with it a reminder. They could peer into me, into my heart and my mind, so lying was pointless.

I don’t know. Gods, it was a relief to admit that. The old human queen tried to poison Glimmer. Cynane’s head jerked upwards like a snake ready to strike. But Zafira killed her. The human queen was no fit bondmate for the queen dragon. Zafira has… I saw again the girl Zafira had never forgotten in my mind’s eye. Gone to find her chosen human companion. During the chaos of losing the queen and healing Glimmer, they… they… My mind stuttered, unable to frame coherent thoughts.

The truth. Just tell them the truth.

I felt Glimmer’s head press into my hand, the smooth warmth of her scales helping defrost the shard of ice that was thrust into my heart the moment I saw the fates of all those people. I stared down into her golden eyes, feeling a relief that she was not one of them so intense it left me wallowing in guilt. I smiled, scratching at the ridges above her eyes until they went half closed.

The Harlstonians staged a coup, one they had been planning for some time. Shadowy figures moved inside my mind, knives out, and if they did for me, then the dragons saw them too. They killed off all of the dukes of the other duchies. I winced as I saw murder after murder take place yet again. Their families too.

When my eyes met Cynane’s again, I felt like a child might when staring up at her mother, needing for it all to make sense.

They used the uproar that resulted from the human queen’s death as a means to steal the latest clutch of eggs, I continued. Hadrian moved closer with slow, ponderous steps, the scales around his throat rattling. Among them is the unborn queen dragon. I searched both of their faces, unable to get a read on their expression. Dragon faces weren’t made to communicate such things, not when they possessed the psychic power to speak mind to mind. The dragon riders loyal to the Duke of Harlston took the eggs and headed towards the border with their bonded dragons. I shook my head. They’d be halfway towards the ducal seat now. Draven… I turned towards the palace, searching the many, many windows for evidence of him, but instead just saw the sky reflected on the glass. The king, he prepares a response as we speak.

And what of you? There was curiosity and judgement, expectation and anger, in Cynane’s tone. Why were you sent here to greet us like a lowly herald? From my limited experience with human queens they are difficult to get audiences with, preferring their minions to deal with visitors.

I swallowed, knowing now what a mistake this was. Draven didn’t want to talk to the dragons until he decided how to deal with the situation. If he presented himself earlier, the dragons would see clearly that the Duke of Harlston had caught us with our pants down, literally. While we enjoyed each other with orgiastic abandon, the duke had moved, using agents he had hidden in each court to destroy the rest of the country’s leadership. I shook my head, smiling with no mirth as I realised that in my first moments as queen-in-waiting, I’d made a major misstep.

Well, wallowing in regret would get me nowhere, so I needed to forge on. I squared my shoulders, stood tall, hearing my father’s voice inside my head as I did so–even my mother’s much more faintly–then stared each one of them down.

“Here you go.”

Ged appeared in that moment with a side of beef over one shoulder, another being carried by a wide-eyed lad wearing a blood-stained apron. My lover stopped and bowed low to the dragons, something they noted with bent heads, but the lad’s steps slowed, then stopped some distance away. His nerve failed him. The beef was dropped like a stone, and he turned and scurried back to the palace with several backward glances. I think he thought he might’ve made for a tastier morsel than the beef.

“My apologies for not bringing you food and drink before this. This is a lapse in common courtesy my prince…” Ged stopped himself. “My king would not normally tolerate. I have wine…”

The sounds of barrels rolling over flagstones made clear that was also arriving, just not from the right direction. The guards stationed in the courtyard started to mumble restlessly as Marcus came sauntering up the grand boulevard that led to the palace, a brace of goats being led on a string. Behind him came several barrels of wine, but for some reason, I think they were not brought from Cheapside at Ged’s urging.

“What the hell is that bastard doing here?” Ged hissed, his hand going to his sword as he moved to place himself between Glimmer and me and the interlopers. Cloudy dropped from the sky seconds later, providing a much more impressive barrier, his head dropping low as smoke curled from his nose.

Dear gods, what now?

“Morning!”

Marcus sounded as chipper as a baker once the market opened, not a man beset on all sides by men armed with swords, or dragons with sharp teeth. He nodded to the guards closest to him, pushing forward when the men turned our way. Not to look to Ged for direction, I realised fast enough, but me. Stop him, arrest him, cut him down where he stood, that was the unspoken question, and yet I felt utterly unable to answer it because Marcus was both a thorn in my side and an uneasy ally. Without his warning, I would’ve had no means to anticipate what Queen Raina had planned.

“What do you want me to do, Pip?” Ged hissed. “Cloudy will snap Marcus up, and his little goats as well, before he gets within ten feet of you.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t want to go and do that.” The gold in Marcus’ teeth shone in the sunlight. “Not when I’ve just come to pay homage to our recent guests.” He turned towards Cynane and Hadrian and sketched a bow with a kind of insouciance I frankly admired. “Marcus Lighthands, at your service. I bring you gifts of fresh meat and the finest ale you’re likely to taste.” He nudged one of the sides of beef with his boot. “Red, hot-blooded meat would have to be nicer than this cold, dead stuff.”

He got his answer swiftly. Both dragons moved like lightning, lunging forward from their seated position, the wind that resulted from their rapid strike ruffling my short hair. One goat made a small bleat before both were dispatched in one bite, the dragons chewing noisily and then swallowing without fanfare. Everyone stared as the massive apex predators’ tongues flicked out, cleaning the blood and bone from their jaws before settling back down again.

That was all it took to break the nerve of some of the guards. They took off at a run, sprinting towards the palace doors while Cloudy settled down in front of the nearest haunch of beef. He scissored off several smaller chunks, searing them, and then nudged them towards Glimmer, not eating a thing until she started to scoff hers down.

Break open these barrels of fine ale, Smallhands , Hadrian said and Marcus’ eyebrows shot straight upwards, obviously unused to communicating psychically with a dragon. And tell us why you have come to this place. Not to get tips on how to raise young dragons, I think.

Young dragons…?

I stared at Ged, not needing a mind link to know he was thinking the exact same thing. All dragons within the capital belonged to the Royal Corp, I wanted to insist, but that was no longer true, was it? A number of the Harlstonian riders had deserted, taking the dragon eggs with them.

And Marcus and his people had used the upheaval of Queen Raina’s death and Zafira’s defection to retrieve my fellow cadets’ dragons from the mews. Lance, Jenkins, Billy, and Harley, the lads that Raina had captured to force Draven to comply were now in Marcus’ clutches.

And so are their dragons , Glimmer told me, relaying the images she could glean from Marcus’ mind.

“You bloody bastard…” Ged snarled, tearing his sword free.

Gods, this morning just kept on getting worse. Guards drew their swords as well, following Ged’s direction. Cloudy snarled in response, leaping to his feet, and Hadrian slapped a claw down in the midst of everything.

Step back, my queen , he growled at Cynane. I will protect you.

“No need to protect anyone from anything.” Marcus’ ready smile faded as he threw his arms wide, making himself a far more vulnerable target than the goats were. Hadrian noted this gesture with his steely gaze. “I am not a threat, but come to offer an alliance.”

And that’s when it all made sense.

I despised Draven’s mother with every breath in my body. Her treatment of me was merely a side note to her tyranny, the depth of her betrayal. The death of her eldest son, her husband, the king, then her attempt at murdering Glimmer, I could list every act of cruelty she committed from now until sunset and still have more to say. It wasn’t what she did that mattered so much now, it was the repercussions of her death.

Nature abhors a vacuum, that’s what I had been taught when I was still Lady Pippa Wentworth. In the absence of one power player, many rushed in to try to claim the surrendered territory, and that’s what I was seeing right now.

Something Draven no doubt anticipated.

He was cloistered in the war room with the people who needed to be consulted about what to do next, but that wouldn’t stop other factions from clustering close, seeking leverage. Sending me to get dresses made was like sending a soldier to an armourer. Draven wanted me to have all the protections of rank and position he could give me, and if I looked like a queen, then people would be more likely to treat me like one.

I’d need to act like one instead.

“Seems to me that a couple of unattached dragons like yourself…” Where the hell had Marcus got that information from? As soon as I had that thought, I knew. From all the people who lived and worked in the palace. Information could be bought for a pretty penny and rivers of gold would start flowing during a period of instability. “I represent the people of Nevermere,” Marcus continued. “The overlooked, those taken for granted by the nobs.” He nodded to the palace. “But what we lack in overt power, we make up for in number. The first human to land on Nevermere forged an alliance with the first queen dragon.”

Tanis.

At the sound of her name inside my head, my hands were thrust into my pockets, closing around the crystal eggs. I didn’t need them to prompt the memory, seeing the moment those bedraggled humans landed on a beach studded with dragonstone and pebbles, hoping not to be eaten by the dragons they met.

The first time a human bonded with a dragon.

Marcus had obviously heard something of the same story and was trying his luck now.

“Your gifts of goats and ale are appreciated.” My voice was crisp, my steps swift as I marched forward. “It is the least we can do for our honoured guests.” I bowed towards both dragons but straightened up swiftly. “I can either organise for gold to be sent as recompense to The Pickled Parrot.” My hands went to my hips. “Or I can have you locked away for trying to forge an alliance with royal guests on the king’s own doorstep.”

“You wouldn’t want to do that.” Marcus’ sly smile was back. “Not if you want to see those young dragons again.”

“As you can see,” I told them. He wasn’t what was important, the visiting dragons were. “This is not a good man. He uses young dragons as bartering chips.”

Something you all do to varying degrees.

I swallowed hard at Cynane’s rebuke, then forged on.

“You want answers. We all do, even bloody Marcus Lighthands,” I replied, Glimmer coming to stand beside me. My hand strayed to her head, feeling how the sun had warmed her scales, and that buoyed me up. “I can assure you that King Draven will deliver us from this situation, but I must request your patience. Nevermere hasn’t experienced a civil war since the end of Gloriana’s reign. We can act swiftly and hastily or take our time to find a way forward that harms the least of all of Nevermere’s citizens.”

Queen was an ill-fitting title. It was like someone had placed Raina’s crown on my head and it was tilting at an odd angle. However, I was born a lady and therefore knew the protocols for dealing with unexpected guests.

“Can I suggest that you rest in the caves of Wyrmpeak until the king is ready to address you?” I said.

“Pippin…” Ged growled, shooting me a meaningful look, but if I was to be queen in anything more than name, I needed to learn to trust my own counsel.

“I will personally ensure he takes the time to consult with you at his earliest possible convenience,” I told the two dragons.

You invite us to take up residence in the place you call Wyrmpeak? Hadrian said. His tone, then the shuffle of his wings were the first indication I may have misstepped. We accept your kind offer of hospitality. My queen?

To Wyrmpeak , Cynane said, her wings flapping open like a ship’s sail, her only response as she took flight.

“And you, Marcus…”

I spun around to deal with the thief, only to find that he had disappeared. All that was left to mark that he had been there were the barrels of ale.

“Perhaps we better get to the dressmaker,” Ged said between gritted teeth, eyeing the guards, even as he offered me his arm.