Page 28 of The Dragon Queen Complete Series Collection

Chapter 28

“Wake up, lass.”

Just like I had been at Deepacre, I was jerked out of sleep by a male voice, and I sat straight up in bed, blinking as I saw a man standing at the foot of my bed. Soren, my mind prompted, belatedly: Soren stood there.

“Get dressed and be quick about it. We want to get to the dining hall early, try and avoid some of the fuss.”

I just nodded groggily, Glimmer letting out an almost feline sound of sleepy protest, but while she dropped her head back down on the covers, I couldn’t indulge in that. I was out of bed the moment the door closed and into a fresh set of clothes, wondering for a second how we cleaned the ones we used, then figuring that was for later. I fed the leather belt I’d been provided through the slots in the knife scabbard, somehow feeling better for the weight of it on my hip before collecting up my dragon and carrying her with me as I walked out.

“At least one of you knows how to move,” Soren snapped at the others as I appeared. “You laggards need to move your fucking arses.”

His command cracked through the air, but it didn’t make Flynn or Ged move any faster. I blinked several times, looking away from Flynn when I saw a broad expanse of white muscular flesh as he changed his shirt, then a whole lot more when I turned away, catching Ged pulling on his pants.

And finding out the man didn’t like to wear underclothes beneath them.

My eyes remained resolutely on the floor when the door opened. Brom strode in, already dressed in his leather armour. He deposited another suit onto the table and then nodded to me. “That’ll be yours this afternoon.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said, not knowing what honorific enlisted men used for their wing commander.

“Sir…!” Ged guffawed.

“At least the cadet knows how to show some respect,” Soren barked at him. “Unlike you, Rider. The amount of time you’re spending getting those pants on has to fall into the category of self-pleasure, because your cock is not big enough to warrant it.”

“My cock—” Ged shot back.

“Will be ground under the heel of my fucking boot if you do not get your fucking arse outside. Move!”

I did so automatically, scurrying out the front door of the suite, which Soren was still pointing imperiously at, to find that other riders down the hall were doing the same. They looked down the corridor with some curiosity at my appearance. Probably because I was the only one in cadet’s uniform, while each one of them wore the leather and insignias of a royal rider. When Ged and Flynn emerged, still grumbling, Soren nodded to Brom who turned without a word, leading us downstairs to the dining room.

Just as it was at dinnertime, the place was teeming with male riders and female servers, with plenty of men turning to watch us as we passed. Some held out morsels, making smooching sounds to draw Glimmer’s eye, and it worked.

“C’mere, pretty,” a dark haired man said, with a smirk, and I had to grab my dragon to stop her from launching herself as him in her hunger. She creeled piteously in response, as if it’d been days rather than hours since she had her last lot of food.

“Shot down in flames again,” one of his fellows said with a raucous laugh, slapping the man on the shoulder. But he just watched me pass, ignoring Glimmer now, as several other men seemed to. I paid them no attention, focussing on Brom’s back, on his long horsetail of brown hair, noting the reddish strands in with the dark.

“Breakfast,” Nancy said, appearing at my shoulder and depositing plates on the table. “Eat up, love. You’re eating a lot better than those cadets downstairs.”

“Oh, well, perhaps—” I began to say, pausing in mid-movement, my bottom hovering over the bench seat.

“No.” Just one word from Soren, but that’s all I needed to hear.

“You’re stuck with us,” Ged said, wrapping an arm around my waist and tugging me down beside him, but that arm didn’t move away, not until utensils were passed down the table.

“And for Her Majesty.” Nancy performed a little curtsey for Glimmer, the dragon responding in kind, bending her long neck in a sign of respect that had the table cackling. Well, everyone except Brom.

“Nancy, Glimmer is just a dragon, not a queen.”

“Oh, so she’s not…?”

Her voice trailed away as Soren shook his head, silencing her. It didn’t seem to matter though. The bowl of meat she set before Glimmer was attacked with gusto. She was able to eat more and go longer between meals, something Soren had prepared me for and which I was glad to see. Being able to sleep through the night was a welcome, welcome thing. But Nancy’s question continued to reverberate, unsaid, in the air in front of us as three men marched over to our table. By the look of the insignia on their armour, they were top brass.

The room went quiet for a split second, then there was the sound of hundreds of men getting to their feet. I dropped my fork beside my plate and did the same, running my eyes over the other men at the table and then affecting the same rigid stance.

“Brom,” the tallest man said, slapping his gloves against his other palm. “So, this is the new recruit?”

I dared a sidelong look, but as I met the older man’s gaze, I jerked my eyes to the front.

“Yes, sir. May I present Cadet Wentworth?”

I’d been taught much about how and when to address others depending on rank as a lady, and if the man had walked into my drawing room for dinner, I’d known exactly how to act. I was conscious that riders had just as rigorous rules, but they were ones I was yet to learn.

“Turn to the general and salute him,” Soren hissed.

I followed his instructions to the letter, raising my fist, then slapping it down over my heart, as was the custom.

“As you were, riders,” the general said with a nod, the whole room seeming to exhale as they all sat down and got back to eating. “So this is the dragon that’s caused all of these problems. May I?”

“Glimmer…” I tried to pick her up, but her claws latched onto her bowl of meat and she let out a low growl, so I was forced to pick it up as well, both bowl and dragon sitting in the curve of my arm as I brought them closer.

“Colour is good. Bright and clean. She has good formation,” the general said, more to Brom than me.

“We were there when she hatched, sir, and we had no reason to believe she was anything other than a healthy baby dragon.”

“And she’s growing well?”

“She’s a few days old, and she’s almost as twice as long as she was. She was obviously small from being in the egg for so long, but she seems to be making good strides towards being a full size dragon, if one on the smaller side.”

“Which will make things interesting when she comes into her maturity.” I snuck a quick look at the general, taking in his bald and shining head and his grey streaked beard. “You’ll keep me informed of her development?”

“Of course, sir.”

“Now, Lady Pippa Wentworth…”

The general said my name with a sigh, like a long suffering father, something that had my head dropping down until I forced my spine straight.

“Just Pippin, sir,” I replied.

“Dropping the title in here? Then you know how this will go.” I nodded, despite feeling the exact opposite. “A devil of a thing, putting a noblewoman here in amongst the royal riders, but it’s not for us to question His Majesty’s decisions. You’ll need to pull your weight here. There’ll be few allowances for your rank and your gender.”

I nodded again.

“Are you putting her with the new recruits?” the general asked Brom. “I’m not sure that’s wise. There’ll already be jealousy due to the preferential treatment she’s receiving.”

“Pippin will be with my lads, sir,” Soren replied.

“Good man. That’s probably the best solution to this mess. Get her trained up, and fast. I’m not sure if swordplay is worth your time, though she is bloody tall. The queen said she was a mannish lass, and I put it down to feminine pique, but looking at those shoulders, maybe it’s something we need to look at.”

Apparently, taking on a traditionally male role didn’t stop people discussing me like I was a horse at market, just as they had when I was wearing a frock.

“I’ll put her through her paces, same as I do all of the lads,” Soren replied with a sharp nod. “We’ll see what she’s capable of.”

I stood there, perfectly still, which was appropriate for a soldier, but it wasn’t good discipline or respect that had me standing to attention. Tension thrummed through my body, forcing every muscle to tighten as my mind raced to work out how that would work.