Page 263 of The Queen’s Shadow

When Ash Nevra had taken over and proclaimed herself Queen of The Dominion, I had seen it for what it was immediately. My fleet’s mandate changed overnight. We were no longer on the offensive, but the defensive.

My crew fought to the end to protect Envy from enslavement. It had been Princess Niahmara who had agreed to a back door deal with Prince Titus of Greed. That alliance is what had led to our ultimate downfall.

This was not the story that was told. History is written by the victors, after all.

My punishment for resisting enslavement for so long had been to publicly slit Niko’s throat. His last words still haunted me.

‘I forgive you, Nytara.’

He knew I didn’t have a choice. He knew it was the slavery bond. And he knew, none of that mattered. I would never forgive myself for killing him.

Niko had been kind and full of energy. He had the power to communicate on a deeper level with animals. His painted drake, Aquaflit, still flew out to sea, looking for him regularly.

On days when I wasn’t actively being ordered to exact Ash Nevra’s will, I often found myself on the beach with Aquaflit, soothing him as he mourned the loss of my brother.

Painted drakes lived nearly as long as daemons did, and I wondered sometimes if Aquaflit would ever move on from the loss of Niko, or if he was doomed to mourn him for eternity as I was. If I had thought Ash Nevra wouldn’t use my love for the tiny painted drake against me, I would keep him with me. As it was, I never allowed Aquaflit to follow me into the caves beneath Princess Niahmara’s villa, where Ash Nevra had built her colosseum and imprisoned the Prince of Darkness.

I made my way to the beach, mulling over the fact that I had just told Amon that Raven had been captured. I still was unsure whether or not that had been the right thing to do.

There was nothing he could do about it. He was enslaved and confined to his cell. I wasn’t sure if forcing him to sit and wait for the inevitable was a kindness, or if it would have been better to allow him to find out when she had been sent into the colosseum as his next victim.

I followed the sandy shore of the beach to the hidden cove where I normally found Aquaflit waiting.

Sure enough, the tiny painted drake fluttered onto my shoulder, gently nipping my ear in greeting. His rainbow feathers blended into brightly colored scales on his little body, and he made a clicking sound that I took to mean ‘hello’.

“Hello, little one.” I greeted him, looking out to sea. The drake chirped in my ear and I sighed. I knew I needed to do something, I just didn’t know what.

Outside of Raven, there was the issue of the Obeah Man, and the human. I wasn’t sure what it was about that damn Obeah Man, but I was furious that he had been captured. Nothing had made me want to kill Niahmara more than finding him trapped in that cell. The look of betrayal on his face when he had seen me had cut me to my core.

I didn’t understand how he could even feel betrayed. I had nearly killed him once already, and would likely be forced to try to kill him again. I was his enemy, but still, he looked at me sometimes like he believed I could be a friend.

No one had looked at me like that in a long time. I didn’t deserve it.

Aquaflit chirped in my ear the way he did sometimes, that made me feel like the drake could read my thoughts.

“I can’t save him, Aqua.” I murmured. “I can’t save any of them when I’m still a slave myself.” The little drake chirped again, and it sounded a lot like, ‘bullshit, Nytara’.

“What would you have me do?” I asked incredulously. “I can’t go against a direct order.” I pulled The Flute out of my pocket and looked at it with disdain.

‘If you come across any of Amon’s followers you are to use The Flute on them without hesitation.’

How I had become the keeper of this atrocity, I would never know. Aquaflit chirped again and I frowned. Ash Nevra had said that, yet she had also said ‘make sure our other guests are… comfortable.’

I could take that order literally, and release them. I was sure that the sea cave cells were not comfortable. I bit my lip. It was worth a shot. I didn’t know where she was keeping Raven, I hadn’t been trusted with that information… but somehow the idea of saving the Obeah Man was impossible for me to let go.

I glanced up to the horizon, allowing the sound of the waves to crash over me, as I became more and more enthralled with the idea of doing something to help.

If I freed Conrad and the human… I could send them back to Pride where they could gather reinforcements. How would I get them back there quickly? It took days by sea, even with the Obeah Man’s water magick… I tapped The Flute against my leg anxiously, glancing over at the painted drake. But by air, it would only take several hours. Flying across the Obsidian sea was dangerous. Daemons who attempted to do so often disappeared without a trace. However, the sea drakes migrated across the ocean several times a year.

Aquaflit was not the only drake Niko had befriended.

“I think I have an idea.” I said and the little painted drake cocked its head to the side. “But I need your help. Do you think you could convince Tidewalker to fly an Obeah Man and a human to Pride?” I asked. Aquaflit made a chattering sound in the back of his throat in what I assumed was a ‘yes’ and took off. He launched himself from my shoulder and I watched as he flew out to sea. Presumably to find Tidewalker, and bring the old grumpy sea drake back here to receive his cargo.

Steeling myself, I slipped The Flute back into my pocket and turned on my heel. It was time to make our other guests more ‘comfortable.’

The back of a sea drake was more comfortable than a prison cell… right?

Conrad