Page 190 of The Dragon Queen Complete Series Collection

Chapter 189

“Well, well, I didn’t think you’d dare come to face me, ‘cousin.’”

The first time I met Royce, I thought him an arrogant fool, the second time, I was repulsed by him. Now I was horrified. Not by his smirking visage, but by the state of the dragon he rode. It had bright orange scales at some point, of that I was sure, but now the dragon was a dusty ochre colour. His head hung low, like a horse run to ground, his eyes wide and staring. That was what had me stiffening in the saddle, but Draven’s grip on my waist held me still.

“Cousin?” Draven’s disinterest was palpable. “Please tell me you haven’t come out here to ‘catch up on old times’…” His eyes slid down. “On a dragon that looks like it’s seen better days.”

What the hell was he doing, baiting Royce like this? I thought as the idiot’s hand went to the orange dragon’s spines. Royce wrenched on one cruelly, drawing a faint whine from the beast. My hand slipped to my sword, right as Glimmer scrambled forward. She stood there on Darkspire’s neck, taking in everything this bastard did.

Keep him talking , she told me. This one, his mind, it’s like a midden, full of stinking rotten things. I need to work out how to break the hold of that amulet.

What? I yelped, but Royce cut across our conversation.

“Bold of you to criticise Sunfire here.” Royce slapped a hand on the dragon’s neck. “You can hardly malign him for showing signs of being ridden hard.” I almost felt the moment when his focus shifted to me. It was like wet, slimy fingers being trailed across my flesh. “I dare say poor Sunfire has had less men on his back than your ‘queen.’”

I fought the urge to laugh. Not through joy, though it was a strange, hysterical thing. Darkspire let out a low, rattling growl and took a ponderous step forward.

I. Will. Eat. Him.

‘Spire’s voice echoed around in my head, more akin to the roll of thunder than anything a vocal chord could conjure, but Draven stopped him with a word.

“Not now, lad. It’s not this dragon’s fault he’s been forced to carry this sack of shite around. Your acid breath would reduce Sunfire to raw meat.”

What ‘Spire could do was well known, so I wasn’t sure why Royce went so pale. He looked down at Draven’s dragon, as if seeing him for the first time. I watched his throat work, his grip on the saddle tighten, but right as I wanted to glory in this idiot’s newfound fear, a sharp pain stabbed through me.

“Ah…!”

I doubled over, trying to breathe through it, but I wasn’t able to. It was as if my whole body seized. I’d had my menses often enough, knew the dull ache of that, but this pain was something else.

“Pippin?”

Draven’s hand went to my back, and he leaned forward to try to find the source of pain, making Royce laugh.

“Aw, look at you, wasting concern on a whore like her. There’s no point in pretending here, cousin, because I know the truth. Your ‘friendship’ with Brom was well documented. Everyone in Harlston knows you’d never set him aside. That’s why you left the job of impregnating this slut to the rest of your wing. Is that what’s happening right now? Is her womb quickening with another man’s seed?”

Gods, was it? I had no experience to call upon, but that’s definitely where I felt the pain. My breath came in rapid pants, a scream building in my chest. I couldn’t get it out, that was the only thing that stopped me from disgracing myself. Then, just as soon as it started, the pain stopped.

“You fucking bastard. I should’ve pushed you from my uncle’s parapets when I had the chance,” Draven snapped.

“Suffering, lass?” Royce used the same pet name as my men, but with none of the sweetness. He looked me over like a wolf might a side of beef. “If you’re not getting what you need, I can help you.”

“Really…?” My voice was hoarse, as if I had screamed in reality. “Seems to me you’re only good for using amulets to force a bond with a dragon, because none would choose you willingly.”

There , Glimmer said, triumphant. That!

I had no idea what she meant as I was focussed on straightening up. My midsection felt tender but was no longer hurting so badly.

“Steady, lad…” Draven told Darkspire as he moved restlessly. “Still being cruel to girls because they won’t give you a second look, Royce? I would’ve thought you’d have grown past that by now. You’re not a lad pulling a girl’s pigtails anymore.” My king’s grip on me tightened. “Or worse. So if you’ve quite finished posturing, perhaps we can start discussing your surrender?”

“Surrender? Why the hell would I surrender? I’ve got an amulet that can control any dragon in Nevermere.”

That’s when I realised what this was. Not just an opportunity for Royce to goad his ‘cousin,’ but another attempt to steal our dragons. His eyes burned with an unearthly light as he raised the amulet. The breeze had his dark hair shifting, Sunfire beginning to get restless. His head jerked, as if he would throw off his rider. No, not his rider, the leech that had attached itself to Sunfire’s back. Royce moved with the dragon, but his focus wasn’t on his mount. He held out the amulet, as if that would keep him safe, and then forced his dragon forward.

Eggs, Pippin , Glimmer snapped, yet somehow they were already in my palm. Eggs and blood.

Another wave of pain stabbed into my womb, but this time I could breathe through it. Perhaps because right now, I needed to. The cut on my fingers was mostly healed over, so I was forced to open it up again with my belt knife. That drag of the blade across my fingertip, it was a bright counterpoint to the deeper one inside me. It felt like my whole body rebelled as I gripped the egg tight, until the world fell away and was replaced by this.

“My sister?” I didn’t know this rider, but his uniform, his stance, was familiar. “My mother? What the hell is your father playing at?” His voice rang out across the courtyard of what I assumed was the duke’s palace. “We came here with you for a new life, one where we settled down and had families.”

He reached out then, stroking our scales that burned bright like the sun. We felt a rush of love for this man, one born from many, many shared moments and the future we had dreamed of. We shoved our head into his side, needing that connection to get us through this.

With children , we insisted. And a queen of our own. We will raise our young together.

Aye, lad , our rider said, before turning back to Royce.

“Any lord that has to take prisoners to ensure his people fight is no true leader.”

He was gaining support. The deathly silence was broken by the grumbles of the crowd. Royce noted how many nodded their heads in agreement, his eyes narrowing.

“Are you questioning my father’s orders, Rider?” he sneered as he drew closer, his hand shoving deep into his pocket.

This one, his mind is… bad, we told our rider. He is diseased. Vigilance found it hard to bear him, and then his dragon deserted him. There was no true bond. Maybe we should go too. Now that we’ve left the keep and…

Royce didn’t declare himself, didn’t propose a duel or reprimand the rider in the way competent leaders did. He was a snake, one that struck first and asked questions later. We didn’t see it, didn’t anticipate it, and that mistake was like Darkspire’s acid, except it ate us up from within. Our head whipped around, rising, rising, just as his sword did, the silvery sound of it being pulled from the scabbard the only warning. Before we could move, the blade plunged down and into the chest of Sunfire’s rider.

That was the moment we died. If our life in the keep was grey, monotonous and unending, then this was its brutal end. We watched our rider’s hands slap down on the blade, as if to stop it from going any deeper. Our scream cut through the air, echoed up to the sky. Our reprisal would be swift. We would kill this one for…

What was it we were going to do?

All pain, all thought, was driven from us as we were swallowed in a thick, white fog. Our mind stilled and so did our body. Some man stood before us, wielding… something. That was important, somehow we knew, and yet the thought slipped away as soon as it occurred to us. Instead, we nestled down on the cold hard stone that stank of fish and the sea. Our head lowered and our eyes fell half closed, right as he–

Pain!

Our sides worked as we felt it tear through us. A thin cry escaped jaws that wanted to stay welded shut. The white fog got thicker, swallowing him, the stones, everything, and yet it wasn’t enough. Pain was like a hound on our heels, nipping, nipping and with each ache?—

Sunfire.

It threatened to push the fog away. The white clouds shivered and?—

Sunfire!

They felt like they roiled around us the way the clouds did during a storm. Just like riding the lightning, our whole body came alive. It was as if we had been struck by a bolt, our whole body becoming electrified. We felt exhaustion first, thirst second, a hollow ache in our belly third, and then…

Pure, unadulterated hatred.

He killed my rider, Sunfire thought, the realisation burning all remaining ennui away. He killed Brandon. We were going to live together on a farm in the east of Harlston. We had visited there when on the king’s business. We liked the peaceful vale very much, the tasty sheep even more so. His sister used to come and scratch our eye ridges and tell us how pretty we were…

And this one had taken that all away.

He tried to use that milky rock to control us, a dragon. The stone was used to preserve our history, to maintain our link to our past and he… Our head swayed back and forth, and for just a moment, we gloried in the stink of fear coming from the man.

You gave Brandon no warning , we told him, watching him flinch back. Consider this my one act of mercy.

Royce tried to run, because after all, he was a coward. Vigilance was kept by his side by coercion alone, not a bond. It had concerned every one of us, but when the humans did nothing or dismissed it, we assumed that happened some time.

Not every dragon enjoyed the kind of bond we had with Brandon.

It pulsed inside us like a living thing, that pain. It throbbed in time with our heart. On and on it seemed, enduring, right before we struck. Our jaws snapped around him, our fangs sinking into that hated flesh.

We would never eat Royce. His body was poison, just like his mind, but he would not walk free of this moment. We whipped our head back and forth, some primitive instinct kicking in, right before we heard that small click. That was enough to force his body limp, all life departing him along with a stream of piss, right before we threw the body down on the ground.

It was a strange thing, looking at Sunfire and seeing ourselves from his perspective. Glimmer glowed like the sun and I… I looked far too pale. I was hunched over, clutching at my stomach, even as I strove to retain eye contact.

I cannot help you in this fight, my queen , we told Glimmer.

You already have , she said with a nod. Go, be free, Sunfire, and… grieve for Brandon. When the time comes and you are ready to begin your life, seek out your rider’s dream. You may find some solace there.

Our minds separated, and I came back to mine with a snap. My chest was heaving, my breath coming in too fast until I forced it to slow. I straightened up and then stared across the expanse, ignoring Royce’s body. He didn’t matter, but…

They did.

“Draven…!”

I croaked that out, but he had already seen it. A wing of traitor dragons were flying back to the duke’s estate. Their flight path would have them cutting across my men’s wing.

“I see them,” he growled. “Come on, lad.”

Darkspire began running. I turned around, straining to look over Draven’s shoulder, just in time to see our wings rising. They were flying to engage with the enemy, to stop them from hurting Brom and his wing, but they were too far away.

We weren’t.

“Hold on tight!” Draven ordered, and both Glimmer and I clung to Darkspire’s back like limpets to a rock. “We’re going in.”