Page 19 of The Storm of the Empire (Flyers Of The First Kingdom #3)

EIGHTEEN

LUKA

W e laid tangled in each other on her bed as the storm rolled over us, but we couldn’t stay there forever. We had to get dressed to go and find Alora and her egg.

Watching Hazel slide into her leathers was enough to make my own uncomfortable. I groaned, shoving myself down to lace my pants. She smiled when she noticed and moved towards me.

“Oh, no you don’t,” I said, trying to sidestep her. “If you start that again, we will never leave.”

She reached forward to straighten the front of my tunic for me, though, not undress me again. Which was more of a disappointment than a relief. Then, as her fingers slid down to the center of my collar, she hissed and snatched her hand away.

“What’s wrong?” I gasped, realizing with a start that my pendant had heated up against my skin.

“Something burned me.” She rubbed at her hand.

“I think it was this.” I held the pendant out by the chain, not wanting to touch the hot vial.

She grabbed the chain, staring into the vial.

“What are you doing?” I tried to pull away, but the chain around my neck didn’t allow me to with her hold on it.

“Let me get a look at it. Hold still.” She did her best to hold it up to the light and scowled at it for long moments.

“It’s just a pendant,” I hedged, knowing after Zaria’s experience, it was slightly more than that. But I’d lived a good life with no magic, and I didn’t have some mate hunting me down, so what was the point of rocking the boat? It was my only connection to my past. I’d left everything else behind, and whether it was sentiment or fear, I had no interest in taking it off. This burning thing was new, though.

“Do you know what’s in there?” she asked. Her tone was almost accusing.

“Some kind of sand glass, I think. Zaria had one, too. We all did at the compound. It’s supposed to represent our connection to the Goddess.”

“Draco Fulgurite?” she asked hesitantly.

“Something like that.”

Hazel muttered a litany of curses. “We need to get this off you,” she said, tugging at the chain.

“Hey, no. I’ll keep it on, thanks.” It made me sick to think about taking it off.

“Luka, this is a problem. It’s imbued with the power of the storm. It disrupts magic. It should never be worn—especially not by someone not native to storm.”

“It’s fine, though, because I don’t have magic to disrupt.” I reached up and grabbed it from her, but as we both had our hands on it, a pulse blasted through the space between us. I staggered. The only thing that kept me from keeling over was her grip on me. Flashes buzzed behind my eyes, a million blips and images none of which made any sense, and they crushed in on me until I was completely lost.

“Luka!” Hazel called, panic pitching her voice higher. I couldn’t make out her face in the chaos.

I blinked, and when my vision cleared, I found I was looking up into her worried face. I didn’t know how I got on the ground, but I was laid out on the floor beside her bed while my brain tried to push its way out of my skull from the inside.

Hazel leaned over me. “What was that?”

I groaned.

“Luka?”

“What happened?” I asked slowly, my body still coming back to me in pieces.

“You passed out! We need to get you to a healer.” Her eyes flickered with concern.

I shook my head, forcing myself to sit up despite my head being in the process of trying to split itself open. I pulled my knees up and rested my elbows on them, trying to get the spinning to stop.

Hazel said something, but I couldn’t hear her. I was still sorting through what happened, but I couldn’t make any sense of it.

“Luka!” Hazel demanded again.

“I’m okay. Just dizzy. Give me a few moments.” I finally picked my head up. “Sorry. That’s never happened to me before.”

“You don’t look so good.” Her dark brows furrowed, and it should have been illegal for her to look so good while so concerned about me.

“Strange…I was just thinking you look breathtaking,” I said with a wonky smile.

Her lips pressed into a line. “Don’t start that now. You’re ill.”

“It’s the truth.” I forced myself past the unease as the world stabilized. I pushed up, getting to my feet. The headache wasn’t going anywhere, but at least whatever had made me feel seasick had passed. “What were we talking about?” My head felt too jam packed to remember ten minutes ago.

“Your pendant,” she said carefully.

It came back to me in parts. “Right. It’s not an issue.” I rubbed my forehead, needing to find a healer if only to get a tonic.

“Not an issue? We both touched it, and you had some kind of episode, then passed out! I think that’s an issue.”

“We had no problem touching before,” I teased, trying for levity.

“I think this proves there is a problem.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“What does?”

“Your reaction!”

“I’m probably coming down with something.” I had spent a lot of time locked in with a priest in a tiny, dark cabin on a boat with only one hammock over the last few days. That can’t be good for anyone.

Hazel studied me. “I’m not buying it. That thing needs to come off you if this is what it does.”

“It has never done it before. It’s fine,” I grumbled. “Now weren’t we going to see your friend?”

Hazel looked displeased, but since I wasn’t offering an alternative, she rose with me. “I think we have some tonic you should take for your head before we do.”

I nodded and followed her to the kitchen, my queasiness fading some as I moved.

“What are we going to tell her?” Hazel asked as he handed me the head tonic.

“Who?” I asked absently, downing the whole thing.

“Alora,” she huffed.“I can’t let them just take her egg. So what’s your plan?”

“You said you two are friends. Can’t you go see how she’s doing before the check like we talked about?”

“But are we going to tell her?” She tilted her head in thought. “I don’t know how well I can hide my worry from her, to be honest. Should we just tell her?”

“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. What if we are wrong, and it upsets her? Do you think having a nesting dragon freaking out over her egg which we don’t know really will be taken is the best idea? Especially before we speak to Nyx about it?”

“What if I tell her I’ve had bad dreams about her egg being taken and felt the need to come home and check on her? That way, I can share my worry without telling her any of the rest of it.”

“That could work,” I agreed.

“It’s kind of true in a way. Something did pull me back here. Maybe it was this?” She shrugged. “I don’t know anymore. But still, how are we going to prevent her egg from being taken?”

“If they steal the egg, we have to let it happen and follow them. We can’t start a panic over the priests before Nyx even knows what’s going on. Then they will know we are on to them, and we will never see any of the eggs again.” This was bigger than one egg.

She pressed her lips together.

“You have to promise me, Hazel.”

“I can’t let them do that to her.”

“Hazel,” I warned.

“I don’t know if I can,” she admitted.

“We will see it returned to her, I swear it. But if we stop it from happening, we will never get to find out what they are taken for and where to. And that is a far bigger issue than just one egg. We need this knowledge so that Nyx can put an end to this.”

Hazel nodded slowly in agreement, and I prayed she would be able to stick to the plan.

Hazel’s friend Alora was living at the sands, which was apparently the best place for hatching an egg in the kingdom. Her dwelling was built from stone and set into the hillside where the coast began, which offered protection from the storms.

She had been a flyer until she was excused from her duty to guard her egg—a rare gift from the King’s Army. I guess no one really wanted to argue with a broody dragon who was dead set on nesting in her homeland. So this was her temporary home until her youngling hatched, when she would return to the First Kingdom and retake her place with her youngling in tow.

“Hazel, how lovely to see you! What are you doing here?” Alora greeted her warmly.

“Just back for a visit,” she said offhandedly. She was already showing her nerves. She needed to relax. She glanced at me, and I nodded encouragingly.

“This is my friend, Luka.” she said, introducing me.

“Good to make your acquaintance,” I offered, remembering myself before I adopted a priest’s demeanor. The last few days had become confusing, remembering who I was meant to be at any given time.

Alora fixed me with her gaze, and I felt hunted. “Pleased to meet you.” she said politely but returned her attention to Hazel. “What kind of visit?” she asked, clearly sensing there was a motive.

“I had to see you,” Hazel said. It was clear she didn’t know what to say even though we had come up with a story. This was always the hard part, the lead in without making it too obvious one was leading the conversation. Especially for Hazel, who was not used to adapting to the situation as much as I was.

It took a soft hand and careful finesse.

I brushed Hazel’s fingers with mine for encouragement.

“Why?” Alora asked, tilting her head to the side. She was the most dragon looking fae I’d ever witnessed. From the way her eyes tracked every movement in the room to the way she moved and even the smallest curl of her lips, it all made her feel like a predator. She kept herself between us and her egg at all times.

I almost felt bad for any priests who would even try to take her egg from her. After seeing her, the love and care she had for that youngling already, I wanted to break the neck of every priest that would walk through that door later if stealing it was really their intention.

I’d kill them myself if they got to her egg.

“I keep having dreams…” Hazel looked off in the distance, settling into her part.

“What kind of dreams?” Alora’s eyes flicked to the egg and back to where we sat.

“I dreamt someone tried to take your egg, Alora.” Hazel sucked in a breath. “I didn’t know if I should even tell you, but the dream keeps coming to me. I wouldn’t feel right if anything happened and I didn’t tell you. Maybe it’s just…” She looked down at her hands, twisting them in her lap.

Alora got up, moving to sit next to Hazel. “We have been friends since we were children in the training schools. You can tell me anything.”

“I felt drawn back here. It wouldn’t let me sleep. I flew home and hoped the feeling would subside, but it only grew worse when I got here.” She took Alora’s hands shakily, I knew she hated the lie. “I feel like there is danger. Is there anyone coming to visit other than the females who assist?”

I could tell she wanted to say something about the priests, but it was best not to give all our suspicions away.

“Only the priests to reseal the egg with storm opal later today. But their visit will bring more protection. I’m sure my egg will be safe. You know I’d never leave it unattended with them anyway. It’s mine to protect.”

“Can I stay with you while it’s done?” Hazel’s voice trembled, and I couldn’t tell if it was real or acting. Maybe a bit of both.

“Of course. I’m sure the priests would be overjoyed to see our famous weapons master home to visit.”

Hazel managed what could pass for a blush. “Maybe I shouldn’t be seen. I don’t want to interfere or distract from the process. I’d just feel better knowing you had help here if something were to happen.”

Alora squeezed her hands. “Whatever you think is best, my darling.”

Just then, both females looked towards the entrance. “They are on their way,” Hazel said with trepidation. Of course, their hearing could detect the priests much sooner than I could.

I stood and looked around. There were not many hiding places in the home. Hazel took a place behind a dressing shade in the back corner of the room while I tucked myself into a wardrobe. Neither hiding places were very stealthy, but they would do without a thorough search of the room, and these were not highly sensed dragons attending. Just priests with their own agenda to concentrate on.

The priests arrived promptly, all smiles and warmth. I hated casting the doubt I had in Hazel’s mind. I didn’t know what I’d tell her if their actions were as they claimed, and I was wrong. I’d brought the Goddess’ disgrace upon myself wishing for either outcome. Either I was right, and that meant Alora’s egg being taken and possibly never seen again, or they would only protect the egg with the opal coating, and I’d lose Hazel’s trust.

Either would inflict a personal wound to my soul.

I prayed I was wrong and that Hazel would forgive me. I prayed for there to be any other explanation for the priests having eggs. Maybe I didn’t see what I thought I saw. Maybe?—

I stopped myself. There was no point in borrowing sorrow.

The priests came in a group of six. After accepting tea, they checked on Alora’s well-being and prayed on her continued health, then they turned their attention to the egg. They inspected it thoroughly, using tools to look at it and then listen. Then they weighed and measured it, proclaiming it healthy and decently sized.

All was good so far, but I watched vigilantly from the crack in the door as they prepared the precious supplies to paint it with the protective opal coating.

Two of them swept the egg back to the heat of the sands in the back of the room while the other four sat with Alora, explaining to her that the heat would cure the coating better. They didn’t try to leave the room with it, and Alora kept half her focus on the egg at all times. But of course her guard wasn’t fully up. They were priests. Perhaps the only fae you could always trust in all the Twelve Kingdoms. She had no cause to suspect them of any ill intent.

Seconds ticked by, and nothing untoward happened. I’d almost breathed a sigh of relief when a crash took my attention off the egg for a second. One of the priests had dropped his teacup, but I forced my gaze back to the egg, knowing this was it.

I barely looked back in time. From my vantage point, I sat helplessly as, in a swirl of robes and a flash of movement, I saw two eggs for the briefest of seconds before one was gone. Alora’s head turned back to the egg, and she smiled, seeing one almost identical to hers where it should be. My stomach dropped. I prayed Hazel had seen it too, but I knew in my gut she had because I could almost feel her sorrow from across the room. I was proud of her for holding firm in the circumstances and not trying to stop them. I knew it had to be killing her.

The priests who’d performed the switch packed up their equipment and took it outside. I cursed being stuck in the wardrobe, unable to follow and watch their movements.

The rest of the priests held a final prayer, then departed after their fellows.

Hazel and I slipped from our hiding places, exchanging a look that told me all I needed to know.

While Hazel said a few parting words to Alora and tried to seem appeased by the fact that no harm had come to the egg. I excused myself to watch the priest’s departure from a safe vantage point. I needed to see how they were traveling and which direction they set off in.

With Hazel in dragon form, we could track them if we needed to, and I didn’t want to let the egg out of my sight if at all possible.

We had to get it back.