Page 60 of The Dragon Queen Complete Series Collection

Chapter 60

It was as though Draven lured me forward, drawing me to his side with only his gaze, his companion finally noticing. She was stunning, with long red hair that spilled over her bodice and cat-green eyes that narrowed when she caught sight of us.

Not her. Glimmer’s voice was tense. I remember her.

Glimmer, I have to ? —

Not her!

I got no further explanation as the prince stepped forward and she came with him. Glimmer’s claws dug mercilessly into my shoulder until they both came to a stop.

“Lady Pippa.”

Had his voice always been this feline purr? Did I always feel a flush travel from the top of my head to the tips of my toes when he drew closer? Did I watch the way those perfectly formed lips curved as he…

No. No, I didn’t, and I needn’t now. I shook my head then performed a belated curtsey as the woman next to him sauntered over and then took his arm.

“And who do we have here, cousin?” she drawled. “Apparently, fashions in women’s hair have changed drastically in the capital. I must get the name of your hairdresser.”

“Lady Pippa Wentworth.” His voice was tighter now. “This is my second cousin, Countess Beatrice Marchant.”

“My lady,” I said, then curtseyed.

But Glimmer, her tail lashed across my back, smacking into my shoulder blades in distress as the countess drew nearer.

“And who is this?”

Beatrice looked up at my dragon, smiling the way I imagine cats do when they corner a mouse. I couldn’t understand why. Why would she approach a being that so obviously did not want her near her? Why would she reach up, cooing some nonsense as a growl formed in my dragon’s chest?

Glimmer, what did this woman do? Glimmer?

She showed me rather than told me and all of a sudden the room fell away. I was small, tightly encased, trapped and unable to get away as they went to work. Bond… bond… bond… Their combined will were like sledgehammers slamming into our newly formed brain, only some innate barrier we were born with stopping them from smashing who we were to smithereens. I was pulled back to the room by the sound of Beatrice’s cry as Glimmer lunged forward, snapping at the air where the woman’s fingers had just been.

People turned to see what the matter was and Beatrice held her hand cradled against her chest like a wounded bird, tears forming like diamonds in her eyes.

“Draven, the little beast tried to bite me! What is an untrained animal like this doing in the king’s ballroom?”

“A very good question, indeed,” he replied and then before I could reply, his hand gripped my arm and dragged me away from his cousin, away from the dancers and out of the ballroom. He continued on, down the hallway and into a nearby darkened room before he turned on me. “What the bloody hell do you think you’re playing at?”

“What the hell are you doing?” I shot back.

I pulled Glimmer off my shoulder, cradling her in my arms as she continued to let out angry growls. She showed me scene after scene of brutal eviscerations of Beatrice, of her flesh being melted from her bones. I tried to soothe her, tried to find out more about what had happened, but it was as if her consciousness had gone offline.

Glimmer wasn’t my friend right now, she was a cornered animal and I’d been the one to put her in this situation. Draven’s gaze softened when he watched me stroke her scales over and over, whispering comforting words to her until she began to settle.

“Why did you request your wing to come here?” I asked.

“To protect you, much good they’re doing. Flynn’s got you politicking in plain sight of the entire ballroom. Cast aside any hopes you have of becoming Duchess of Skane?—”

“Is that what you think I want?” I was treated to the singular pleasure of seeing Draven’s face go smooth with shock. “Is that what this has all been about? I didn’t want any of this: not to be queen-in-waiting, not to come to the capital, not to be your wife.”

That was apparently the wrong thing to say. In the small strip of light coming in through the half-open door, I saw the way his eyes hardened and his mouth went to a thin line.

“I know that, just as I know what your little pranks are doing, beyond meeting your goal of pissing me off. I’m trying to keep you from that fate, Pippin, which is more than the Duke of Skane can say, isn’t it? You think I don’t want you to return to Deepacre? To live your life with Glimmer by your side? Damn it, woman.” He surged closer then, hands going to my arms. “Don’t you think I’d prefer that, too? To live the life of a country lord, worrying only about the next season’s harvest…”

Right then I could see it, the four of us. Darkspire lazing around in a field transformed for his use, Glimmer nestled into his side. Then later, when she was grown, a clutch of eggs baking in the summer sun. And Draven, striding along the halls of my estate, ensuring everyone did as he asked, that dour expression enlivened when he saw me. Right now, it was as if we were visualising the same thing, my eyes boring into his, his into mine.

But that could never be.

“I know about the stones that control the dragons.” I was spilling key information, I was aware of that, but I had to know. Was he friend or foe? “I know about the queen and the way she rules the king.” A small flinch there, just enough to betray him. “I know what she tried to do with your cousin and Glimmer.” His eyebrow twitched at that. Was that information he wasn’t privy to? But I charged on, wanting, needing to get this out. “I know about your brother.”

That’s when his expression changed. Those eyes became frosty all over again, his lip curling.

“If you know all of those things, then you’ve acted like a bloody idiot the entire time. You have a target on your back. You earned it the moment you cracked Glimmer’s shell. Mother never wanted Glimmer to bond with anyone, hoping she’d die in the shell and if she didn’t…?”

His pause provided me with a vivid image, Arabella raising Glimmer’s shell to smash it on the ground replaced by the queen.

“Well, she had a plan for that too. She does control my father, but even he baulked at the idea of killing a baby dragon. That’s the limit of her power. She cannot force anyone to do something completely antithetical to their nature and the House of Nithe has built their power base on the dragon’s back. So an unwanted queen dragon was sent out into the world and I prayed no one would bond with her, because otherwise my mother would try to force me to kill my wife. I’ve been trying to protect you, you bloody idiot, both of you.”

When he looked at Glimmer, his eyes softened so much so that it was like looking at another person. She let out a questing little chirrup and he moved closer.

“You’re the future, aren’t you, little one? So much responsibility to shoulder, but I can’t see any other way.”

He rubbed the sensitive spot between her eyes and she closed them in response while pushing up into his hand.

We had a moment of quiet then, a woman, a man and a dragon, somewhat aware of the challenges we faced and completely unsure of how to negotiate them. Were we allies or enemies? What the hell did he have planned and why had he neglected to inform even his wing about it, let alone me? But before I could ask another question, a voice was heard outside the door.

“Is the wine ready, brother?”

It was the queen’s voice, that was certain and we turned as a result.

“One of my best vintages,” replied a deep masculine voice. “Pity to ruin it with your little additive, but I see the wisdom in it.”

Draven put a finger to his lips, then, using the technique he’d shown me, he crept forward, moving right behind the door that was standing ajar. I attempted to put his teachings into action, tossing off my slippers and inching closer.

“Zafira will rise to mate,” the queen said, “I’ll make sure of it. I’ve been holding her back for some time and the king’s birthday is the perfect setting. Everyone will drink a toast to the king’s health and then…”

“And then the ballroom will devolve into a bloody orgy.” Bloody hell, it was the Duke of Harlston. “I’ve half a mind to drink a glass myself to experience it. The… side effects of Zafira’s heat are already heady, let alone when augmented by an effective aphrodisiac. The results could be quite delicious.”

Draven shot me a dark look when I appeared beside him, but then he mouthed two words to me. My uncle.

“Resist the temptation, brother. You’ll be needed for much more pressing matters,” the queen said. “While everyone is distracted by their debauched revelry, we’ll dispatch the girl and her dragon, crushing Skane’s ambitions and clearing the way for Beatrice. She and Draven have always gotten on well and she’ll make a perfect queen-in-waiting.”

I didn’t stare at the door, I stared at Draven, needing to know how much he knew about this plan and not liking what I saw. There was shock there, I could see that, but also… He’d known this was coming, knew what they had intended. He’d let me flit about the keep, thinking I was building myself a new future when there was never any intention to allow that. I was like one of my pigs, wallowing contentedly in my own shit, unaware that the herder was approaching with a sharp knife.

“Well, I guess we best get on with it. It’s an unfortunate business, but needs must. With the larger dragonstone we discovered in the king’s vault now in our possession, the next queen will be much more pliable.”

I went to move when I heard their steps trail away, but Draven yanked me close, holding me still for some minutes until finally he whispered in my ear.

“You need to get out of Wyrmpeak.”

“What?”

“Have the wing take you out of the city, just until Zafira’s heat is done. That’s what this is all about, what she had planned. Mother can only control so many people for so long, but when Zafira is in heat? Felix thought Mother was weaker then, but she’s not, she’s stronger. As Zafira’s call to male dragons is cast wide over the city, with it goes my mother’s will. Everyone will be distracted, falling all over themselves to get to each other, gone mad with rut and she’ll walk through the debauchery with a knife in her hand, and there’ll be no one to witness what she does. Gods, they might not even remember the two of you existed afterwards.”

His grip tightened on me.

“I’ll leave here first and return to the ball and you come a little while after me. Find the wing, tell them my order and make sure none of them drink anything.”

I had questions, so many questions, but I could see that I wouldn’t get to ask them. The muffled sound of the party seemed to grow, letting me know the celebration was about to take place. Draven did as he said, slipping out like a stray cat, off to pretend to be the perfect prince his mother wanted.

But how did she not know she had a traitor in her midst?

Or did she?

Glimmer looked up at me then, staring into my eyes and I knew then what I had to do. When she was grown she would protect me, but up until then, I had to protect her. I could feel the weight of the daggers against my thighs and while I didn’t feel at all confident in using them, I would if I had to. I’d use any means I had to keep her safe. I emerged warily from the room but the corridor was empty, so I moved swiftly to re-enter the ballroom.

I won’t let anything happen to you , I said. I’ll die before they do.

You’d better not. There’s no life for me without you in it. She moved closer. You’re my heart too.

“Where the hell did you get to?”

Brom’s hand was like iron, hauling me closer, even as people around us looked at him askance.

“The wine’s drugged,” I muttered. “Zafira will rise. When everyone’s maddened with lust, she’ll kill me and Glimmer.”

“Rise?”

He stared at me then, taking in all of me and all of Glimmer and that’s when I saw his mind begin to race.

“She’s going to… And then…”

Both our eyes snapped upwards as the queen stepped in front of the crowd, but with her came several men. They were dressed finely enough so as to not to stand out, but still, we all knew what they were. Broad shouldered, with swords at their hips and with the easy grace of born swordsman. Men trained to kill.

“We need to fight,” I rasped, pulling at my skirts, wanting to get at those daggers, but Glimmer’s voice rang out clear in my mind.

A queen is the only one who can fight another queen in her territory. You need to take your crown first.

What? I glanced across the room at Raina, spying her golden circlet. I need to take–

Your crown, not hers.

But then I felt it. All of the prickling heat of before felt like it flared to life, turning me into a living flame.

“Fuck…” Ged groaned, shouldering forward to take hold of me, his touch only making the fire burn hotter.

Just as Raina wanted.

“We have to get out of here,” Brom muttered at the others in a low breath. “There’s something in the wine and Zafira will rise.”

“Zafira…?” Flynn stared at me, then Ged. “Get your dragons.”

“What’s the plan, commander?” Soren asked in a sharp voice, eyeing the men beside Raina.

“The balcony. We stationed the dragons by the palace. Get them here, now.”

“Pippin… Gods, Pippin…” Ged said my voice in a low groan, as if pleading for something, but I wanted to give everything to him. My upbringing, the rules of being a lady, going to the keep, seeing the rider rutting against the wall, Soren’s touch as he massaged my aching muscles, then the thick taste of him in my throat, and Ged, always Ged. I leaned up to kiss him, to touch him, to tear that delicious jacket from his body and–

This is how you take your crown , Glimmer said.

“I ask that you all raise your glasses.” Everyone turned as Raina did just that, standing by her husband’s side. “To celebrate the fact we have enjoyed another peaceful year under the auspices of King Magnus. Long may he reign!”

Zafira’s bugle could be heard somewhere out in the palace grounds, but it was partially drowned out by the crowd crying out their toast to the king. Glasses were tipped back and fine Harlston wine was drunk. The fire inside me raged higher as I heard it, felt it.

Go. I could hear the queen’s voice in my head now, along with the dragon queen’s scream of defiance. Rut. Kill.

The men moved like well-oiled machines, pushing their way through an increasingly discombobulated crowd. The party goers were too busy tearing at their own clothes or the finery of those nearest them to be worried about offence caused.

But not my men.

They were supposed to have been just as affected, I realised. I was supposed to have been left all alone, just like I had been back at my family estate. No allies, no friends, no one to mark the moment our throats were cut and the obstacle we posed was removed.

However, that wasn’t going to be the case.

Soren pulled me away from Ged and swept me into his arms, and Glimmer was forced to dig her claws into me to stay with us.

You won’t ever be alone again , she assured me even as my arms tightened around her.

I watched the queen’s men rush towards us, drawing their swords, intense looks in their eyes, right before Soren threw me and my dragon up and over the stone railing of the balcony.

I shrieked then, thinking he had done the queen’s work for her, when Wraith swept forward and under us. We landed hard, as he was still moving. Glimmer flapped her wings when I was forced to let her go, then she landed on Wraith’s back and held on. I did the same, gripping one of his spines tight and wedging myself between two of the larger ones.

“Hold on, lass,” Soren said from where he’d landed with ease behind me. “Riding bareback is a bitch of a thing, but it’ll have to do. Don’t go wild, Wraith lad, but get us out of here.”

“Where to?” Ged shouted, then Zafira let out another scream. “We need to get the fuck away, now!”

“To the ruins – the old amphitheatre!” Flynn called back. He and Glacier pulled out in front as Glimmer began to hum.

“And where the hell is…?” Soren said. “Oh, bugger it. Follow him, lad, quick as you can.”

We swept up and away from the palace, skimming across the city rooftops as the dragons clawed the air for greater height.

“Away from the gunners!” I shouted, remembering belatedly that Prince Felix had done the exact same thing and, at that, I wondered if this was all a trap. Had Draven played us? Tricked us into believing that we could escape the queen’s machinations, doing her dirty work much more effectively than her swordsmen could? As if in answer to that, I heard the deadly whistle of a projectile.

“Veer right!” Soren shouted, his attention entirely over his shoulder as Wraith did just that.

For a second I understood perfectly the pain Draven felt at his brother’s death, because I watched the massive bolt go tearing past, Obsidian and Brom in its path. From had been forced upon me, chosen for me, but right now I chose him. I would marry him, be a dutiful wife if he just… Glimmer’s humming grew louder and louder, then Obsidian abruptly dropped his wing and the projectile missed its target.

Each man whooped as we cleared the city walls, the dragons climbing higher and higher. Every muscle in my body was locked down as I clung on tight, my burden only alleviated by the feel of Soren’s body caged around mine.

“I’ve got you, lass,” he promised. “I’ve always got you.”

We escaped the city, the sounds of dragons’ distant roaring in our ears, not as they rallied themselves to attack us, but because the queen dragon was rising to mate. I heard her brassy bugle, declaring her readiness. I was worried then that our dragons would turn and answer that call, but they flew resolutely on.

They do not belong to Zafira. They belong to me , Glimmer informed me.

And so we flew onwards and into the night, until Glacier led us to the dragon’s ruin.

Moonlight poured into the bowl of stone as we landed, turning each man, each dragon, to silver. Glimmer threw herself off Wraith’s back, gliding to the centre of the complex and the male dragons moved forward.

“They’re not going to try and…?” I waved my hand ineffectually, but before I could finish the sentence a pulse of the most intense heat washed over me. I gasped, my hand sliding to my stomach, then lower. “They won’t…?”

“Mate her?”

Brom was always the quietly contained one, but right now I didn’t see any of that in his demeanour. He was a dark figure limned in silver, the very picture of a demon come to slip into your bed at night and tempt you with all of the forbidden things.

“No. The dragons know that Glimmer is not mature enough. She is their queen. She was from the moment they caught sight of her. She determines when she is ready, not them. It was a lucky thing though.” When he glanced up at the moon, the light seemed to caress his face. “You just so happened to have with you the only four dragons in Nevermere capable of ignoring Zafira’s call. Glimmer is safe now, and she has all that she needs.”

His eyes seemed to glow with an unearthly light when they shifted to me, and all four men moved closer, closing down the vast space until there was only them and only me.

“What do you need, Pippin?”