Page 202 of The Dragon Queen Complete Series Collection

Seven years later

“Mummy, will I be a dragon rider?”

Lily was no longer a chubby-cheeked child anymore. She was ten years old, and I could see the beginnings of the woman she would become. It was late summer, and the sun was just setting, bringing with it some blessed cool breeze.

Not that, Glimmer told one of her brood. Pippin doesn’t like it when you eat the roses.

But Mother, they taste so nice . Viridian was a green dragon, and he extended his muzzle towards a particularly pretty apricot rose bush. Like a peach.

Then eat a peach. She reared up on her back legs, ready to pluck one from a nearby tree, but Wraith’s tail flicked out. He expertly dislodged one and sent it sailing over to land at his son’s feet. She nodded in response, then turned to see if Viridian would eat it. They are far sweeter than roses.

He hunched down in the grass and then put it between his paws, chomping down on it and then startling when a burst of juice hit his nose. I chuckled and turned back to my daughter.

“Perhaps.”

My son, Charles, was sitting astride another of Glimmer’s sons. Kay, Brom’s mother chuckled at his antics, even as she hovered at his side. Jericho was a blue dragon, and Glacier and Flynn were keeping an eye on them both as Jericho walked around carefully. Charles chortled, crying out, “Horsie! Horsie!” as they went.

“The dragon—” I started to say.

“Chooses the rider.” I saw some of myself in Lily’s thoughtful gaze, and I followed it to where our Ember sat curled amongst the flowers. A golden queen, she was an image of her mother. “I would die to become Ember’s rider.”

“She might not want a rider.”

That had been a controversial idea for humanity to accept. Most of us have grown up in an era of dragon compliance, so the idea of them rejecting all overtures was foreign. Marcus, Willoughby now, not Lighthands, was actually doing quite a good job of educating the people. The fact that he had Hadrian by his side to assist was a large part of his success. Many of the wild dragons returned back to Dragon Home, but others remained.

They had to advocate for their kind in the newly formed House of Representatives. Apparently, wags across the channel mocked us with our multi-species representation, but we didn’t care. I gazed out over the garden, watching dragons and children playing together, and felt a wrench inside me. Gratitude, that’s what it was, the word too small to encompass what I felt. Reverence, disbelief, and?—

“Hello.” Draven slid in behind me, wrapping his arms around me, then reaching out to cuddle Lily as well. “How are the world’s most beautiful girls this fine evening?”

“Daddy…”

Lily squirmed, always embarrassed by her fathers’ fawning, yet I knew she loved it just as much. I’d had many such moments with my own father before he died, and now I ensured she would have the same.

“I’m going to make Ember a rose wreath,” our daughter announced, pulling away. “Those red roses always look so beautiful against her golden scales.”

Ember will choose Lily.

I turned around to see my dragon had joined us. Now a massive beast, she hunkered down beside me with a sigh.

You know this? I asked, my heart beginning to race.

They were drawn together since the moment my daughter was born. My dragon looked over at me. And why not? We have made an excellent team. Imagine what the two of them could achieve together.

I did, all the time, dreaming of it sometimes. Of Lily and Ember and Glimmer and I racing through the skies. Dragon queens, each and every one of us, ruling the skies together.

And her mates? I asked that carefully. Has Ember indicated who she will bond with? There were those very nice dragons from two counties over.

Glimmer snorted, her head going to her claws.

We will see, Pippin. We will see.