Page 13 of The Dragon Queen (Ember: Queen Of Dragons #6)

EMBER

We're training down by the river again a couple of days later when a siren wails in my ears. I clamp my hands to my head, completely disrupting the sad excuse for a shadow bolt I had been trying to conjure. My gaze darts to the sky, and what I see stops my heart.

Dragons.

Instantly, I go on high alert. There's a crackle of something in my blood--not quite magic but not quite not magic, either.

"Are we under attack?" Amy shouts.

My eyes widen.

The dragons' scales gleam silvery white, and there's an aura about them. The earth beneath my feet trembles with power--but not with menace.

"No." I drop my hands from my ears. The wards keep blaring their warning, but I don't care.

Between one breath and the next, I'm launching myself into the air. The rest of my training has been an ongoing disappointment, but my dragon comes to me without hesitation now. In a rush of scales and darkness and ash, my wings and tail unfurl, and I soar toward the castle, hot on our visitors' heels.

In the main courtyard, Freya and her guards are already assembled. I watch from the sky as the new dragons descend peacefully. To my surprise, half of them bear human passengers. Women all of them, dressed in white robes.

Sister Grace bursts through the castle doors.

The Stone Temple Sisters disembark and surge forward to meet her. The gleaming white dragons morph into their human forms, and one in particular looks skyward.

High Priestess Fang's black eyes connect with mine, and she smiles.

I swoop in for a landing of my own moments later. I run toward High Priestess Fang, and a part of me wants to throw my arms around her neck, but I somehow manage to pull myself up short.

High Priestess Fang is--or at least was the leader of the Grand Stone Dragon Temple.

My throat tightens as I approach her.

We aren't exactly close, but she was one of the first people to recognize the bracer for what it was. The entire time I was in the Stone Dragon Kingdom, she worked tirelessly to train me. While I didn't exactly master my skills, her tutelage was invaluable in setting me on the right path, and helping me to build a strong foundation.

Right now, just seeing a familiar face pulls harder on my heartstrings than it has any right to.

"High Priestess Fang--" I start.

"Ember." To my surprise, she throws herself at me, and I squeeze my eyes shut tight as she folds me up in a warm embrace. She releases the unexpected hug, but only to grasp me by my upper arms and fix me with an appraising gaze. "You've been busy."

I let out a harsh hint of a laugh. "You have no idea."

"Actually." She slides her hands down my arms. I breathe in deeply, doing my best not to flinch when her cool fingers graze my forearms. Her thumb digs in gently against the place where the Shadow Bracer used to be, and she connects her gaze with mine, her eyes narrowing. "I have quite a good idea. Prince Jianyu filled me in."

Oh, thank goodness. I don't know if I could recount the whole story yet again.

"Tonight," she whispers. "You will show me the pieces."

Unable to suppress the shiver that passes through me, I nod, and she pulls away, seemingly satisfied.

As she greets Sister Grace, a throat clears behind me. I turn to find an unexpected face.

Furrowing my brows, I take an unconscious step back. "Lady Tsing."

An old flame of Jianyu's--a member of a rich and powerful Stone Dragon family.

And also an underground member of Bedrock, the extremist group who had been agitating for the Stone Dragon Kingdom to close its borders and cut off contact with the rest of the dragon world.

"I--" My throat catches, and I swallow in a vain effort to clear it. "I didn't expect you."

"Many things have happened of late that I did not expect, either," she says elegantly.

My abdomen does a little flip. Even after what must have been a solid day of flying, she's strikingly beautiful--not a hair out of place. Knowing that she and Jianyu have history tweaks something tender in my chest. But I can feel my connection to him. It's as strong and vibrant as ever.

Standing up straighter, I force a smile. "It must have, for you to be joining a group like this."

I gesture around vaguely, encompassing the wide variety of people who've come out to see what all the fuss is about. Just in my traveling party alone, there are dragons from every corner of the earth, representing the nations of Stone, Fire, Water, Air and Shadow--not to mention the unclaimed territory of Unity, which is home to even more dragons, as well as wolves, bears, wizards, witches, and even a hyena and a turtle, I think.

Suffice it to say, it's not a paradise for a Stone Dragon isolationist.

Lady Tsing huffs out a breath. "I'm not a racist, Ember."

"I didn't say you were."

"I just want the Stone Dragon Kingdom to stand on its own." Her eyes darken. "And it can't do that when it's been infiltrated by agents of the Shadow King."

I suck in a harsh breath. "So it's true, then."

We imagined as much, when we were being chased out of the country by the Stone King's royal guard, but we were never sure.

Lady Tsing nods. "On the highest levels." She pulls her brows together. "I'm not swearing allegiance to you--or to any flag that would unite the kingdoms."

I squirm uncomfortably inside. I may have embraced my destiny to ascend to the grand throne, but the idea of asking for fealty is still way too weird to fully wrap my head around.

"I never asked you to."

"But I will fight with you--to rid the nation I love of those who would destroy it."

The ball of anxiety in my chest loosens--just a bit. I still don't know how any of this will work. I don't know how to defeat the Shadow King or how to stop his plans.

But for the first time since I lost the bracer, I can see the faintest glimmer of hope.

We're interrupted by Freya, who rallies the new arrivals. "Welcome to the exile colony of Unity, and to the Water Dragon Kingdom's ancestral home." She gestures toward the doors opening onto the castle. "If you'll follow me, we'll attempt to find you all quarters."

High Priestess Fang smiles thinly. "That would be most appreciated." She casts her gaze to the sky. "But bear in mind--I believe that we will soon be joined by many, many more."

SHE ISN'T WRONG. We've no sooner figured out accommodations for our Stone Kingdom guests than the wards are blaring yet again. Three dozen Fire Dragons join our midst, including two of Rafe's brothers and an old woman with a crooked spine and streaks of flame in her otherwise silver hair. I try not to gawk at the Fire Kingdom Enchantress, here in our midst, but it's difficult. Between her and Fang, we have half of the dragon world's population of supreme magic users.

And from there it only grows. It's like a dam has broken. Air Dragons and Water Dragons join our group by the score, each telling the same tale.

Their kingdom was taken over by Shadow Kingdom forces. One moment, everything was normal, and the next, Shadow Dragons were coming out of the woodwork, revealing themselves in the highest levels of the military and magical councils.

The rulers of all four great Dragon Kingdoms had been compromised. Not a shot needed to be fired.

And then, just when all hope had been lost, all dissent squashed, an exiled prince had returned, telling the story of a new Dragon Queen, who would ascend to the grand throne and unite the kingdoms. But she needed help.

Every time I hear the story, my stomach twists more tightly with anxiety. As much as I might try to blend into it, our new arrivals spot me in the crowd. Their eyes shine with the kind of hope I felt when High Priestess Fang arrived--the idea that I could be sparking it feels impossible.

But it's also impossible to escape.

Especially later that night, when I meet High Priestess Fang in the castle's library.

She and the other new arrivals managed to smuggle a new treasure trove of old texts and maps out of their kingdoms. When we haven't been dealing with the logistics of housing a host of new recruits, we've been cataloguing their contributions.

Yet again, I whisper a silent prayer of thanks to the Gods and to my mates. I don't know if we'll find the secret to recovering the Crown of Cinders in these documents. But the more resources we have at our disposal, the better our chances.

It's late, and only a few of the Stone Temple Sisters remain in the library with the high priestess. When she spots me approaching, High Priestess Fang gives her assistants a nod and dismisses them, making plans to reconvene and get back to work in the morning.

Finally, we're alone.

I tip my head toward a comfortable leather sofa near the window.

Folding herself elegantly to sit, she raises a brow. "You brought it?"

Taking my own seat on the other end of the couch, I exhale deeply and reach into my bag.

The most disconcerting thing about handling the shattered remnants of the Shadow Bracer is how utterly normal it is. The dark metal has no hum, no spark.

No magic.

I withdraw the fabric bundle of shards and lay the cloth out on the empty cushion between us. As my fingers graze the sharp edges of broken metal, I shiver. It's cold--some of the deep ebony color is even fading, leaving it a tarnished, lifeless gray.

High Priestess Fang has already heard most of the story from Jianyu, but I recount the final moments when the bracer rejected me again. As I speak, she inspects the broken pieces, picking them up one by one.

When I was her student, I saw first-hand the power this woman wields. Stone Dragons can manipulate rock and metal. Doors in the Grand Stone Temple were often carved from solid marble, only able to be opened by a skilled practitioner of their arts. If anyone can fix this, it's her.

By the same token: if she can't, no one can.

As my tale comes to its end, I bite the inside of my cheek, curling my hands into tight fists. High Priestess Fang is silent, and I resist the urge to speak, just to fill the void.

Slowly, she rearranges the pieces, lining them all up so that they form the shape of the bracer. My heartbeat pounds in my chest. A shiver races along my arm, and for a second, I swear I hear that weird static that hummed through my ears from the moment I first encountered the bracer. It's like it's coming from inside me--but between one breath and the next, it's gone.

High Priestess Fang waves her hand over the pieces, and they rise into the air. She rotates them in a slow arc, but after taking it through a single turn, she drops her hand and shakes her head. While the shards remain in the air, my heart falls to the floor.

"I can repair the item itself," she says. "But the core of magic within it has been lost."

My voice cracks. "So it's just...gone. There's no hope?"

She looks at me, and not for the first time, it feels as if she's peering straight into my soul.

"For restoring the bracer to its former power? I'm afraid not." Her gaze softens, and she lifts her hand once more. "But Ember, there is always hope."

She spins the shattered bracer faster now--faster and faster until it's a blur. Something in my bones shimmers, and the metal gleams, and then a blinding burst of light explodes outward, filling the dark room.

I blink, trying to clear the stars from my vision.

When I look again, the bracer is back to slowly rotating. I suck in a rough breath, my hand going automatically to my wrist.

The bracer gleams a dark, gunmetal gray. The pieces have all been fused together, even the subtlest detailing in the metal restored. As it completes its final twist in the air, the light from the lamps around us hits the metal at just the right angle, and soft purple and green iridescence shines off the surface.

High Priestess Fang gives a gentle flick of her fingers, and the bracer floats through the air toward me.

I hesitate before holding out my arm.

The bracer takes that as the opening it is. The metal expands, revealing a slit down its center where it wraps itself around my wrist. I hold my breath, waiting--praying--for that flash of brilliance, that cloud of darkness. The crackle of light and the sensation of floating in an infinite field of stars.

Instead, there's only a shiver. A faint whisper, deep in my chest--too far below the surface for me to reach.

The disappointment threatens to pull me under.

I slide my fingers desperately along the gap between the bracer's edges. It's some small relief that it willingly opens. I pull it off my arm, but somehow that doesn't help.

"Your Emergence changed your relationship with the bracer," High Priestess Fang tells me.

A bitter note leaks into my tone. "By which you mean it destroyed it."

"Change is not destruction." Sliding closer, she places her hand over mine. Deftly, she wraps the bracer back around my wrist and holds it there. "Wear it."

"But--"

"The magic it once had is gone. But the magic inside you?" A small hint of a smile curls her lips. "That is only growing."