Page 20 of The Storm of the Empire (Flyers Of The First Kingdom #3)

NINETEEN

HAZEL

W e said our goodbyes and left, which hurt more than I knew was possible. We couldn’t tell Alora anything, and it broke my heart into a million pieces. This was part of something bigger, and we needed help to stop it.

If we jumped in now and tried to stop them, it would blow the entire thing and possibly send the priests further underground so they’d never be found. I barely kept it together to get out of there before I broke down, but Luka managed to steer us far enough away from Alora’s home so I could fall apart.

I pushed my curls out of my face, my hands shaking. “What do we do, Luka?” I clutched my throat, trying to suck in a breath. I needed to get it together. I’d been bred for war my entire life, and I was losing it over an egg.

Maybe that was why the Goddess never sent me a ryder. Perhaps I wasn’t cut out for that deep a connection with another fae, if I couldn’t even cope with something like this. How would I cope in battle if something happened to my ryder? It could be I was not made to ever know for a reason.

“Hazel.” Luka cupped my face, forcing me to look him in the eyes. “Come back to me please.”

“We have to follow them,” I said weakly, but my entire body shook, and Luka was the only thing keeping me upright. I tried to stumble a few paces to go after the priests, but he blocked me, drawing me closer so I could lean against him.

“I know.” He pressed his lips to my forehead, holding my body tight to his.

“We have to go now,” I tried, but the trembling wouldn’t subside. My words became fractured.

“You have to take a breath,” Luka’s voice was calm. How could he be calm when this was going on?

“I saw it with my own eyes. They switched her egg.” My heart jumped into my throat, barely letting me speak between beats.

“Shh.” He glanced around before pulling me into an alcove. “We don’t know who’s listening.” He was right. There were fae everywhere.

“What do we do?”

“We follow them and find out where they are going.”

“Don’t you think we should return to Amaya and tell Nyx? As the Head of the Dragon Council, he needs to be made aware of what is happening.”

“With only half the information? What good will that be? We know eggs are being taken, probably from the nurseries, but for what? Who knows, maybe they are taking them to another nursery? We won’t know unless we dig further.”

“You think there’s some honest explanation for all of this?” I asked incredulously.

“No, but what if we don’t dig fully and expose them, and it turns out all to be above board some how?”

He was right. We had to figure out as much about the operation as we could. I couldn’t think straight. My head was a mess. The priests? How could they be involved in anything this untoward? Luka had tried to tell me, I just couldn’t?—

“You were right. I’m so sorry I doubted you.”

He squeezed me tighter. “Anyone would. I’m sorry it’s come to this.” Sorrow laid heavy on his shoulders. I could feel the tension where I clung to him.

I pressed my face into his shoulder, shuddering a sob. “What can we do?”

He wrapped his arms around me, then whispered, “I think I know where they’re taking it.”

I pulled my head back to look at him through my tears. “Then why aren’t we moving?”

“What do you think it will look like if I’m dragging you through the streets barely able to stand?” he asked skeptically.

“Does it matter?”

“I think it will blow our cover, don’t you?” His words barely registered. I knew they meant something, but we were wasting time.

“Every second that egg is out of sight, we risk losing it,” I insisted.

“I know, but if we go out there like this, half the city will be on me. Then we will never get away from all the concerned fae who see their beloved warrior distraught and being manhandled by a stranger in the city.”

Finally, his words broke through my panic.

“You’re right.” I gripped his arms, forcing myself to take slow deep breaths. I closed my eyes, letting the emotion out in long breaths and drawing in strength from the Goddess. It triggered memories of my nan teaching me the technique at the training schools.

Breathe in, Sparky, Nan’s voice echoed in my ears. Fill your lungs and calm your center. No one can take your center away from you. Feel it. Now feel your roots in the earth. We are all connected to the Goddess through the gift of the soil under our feet, the breath in our lungs, the light in the sky, and last but not least, the magic that runs through our veins, through the very fabric of what we are, connecting us to this existence. We are and always will be tethered to her.

My breathing slowed, and I calmed. In the stillness, I could feel my powers crackle just under my skin, reminding me of all the ways the Goddess blessed me. I had a greatness to wield and a duty to protect the dragons and fae of Storm.

I stepped back, out of Luka’s hold. “Where are we going?”

He looked me over before giving a slight tip of his head, convinced I had myself together. “Do you need to say goodbye to your family first? I don’t know how long we’ll be gone.”

I shook my head. “I can send a raven.” They’d understand eventually, if not now. This was greater than any missed dinner. This was for the dragons from all of the Twelve Kingdoms, and it was my duty to protect them above all else.

“Okay then.” He nodded. “I think the eggs are going back to the docks.”

We arrived at the docks before I had time to process what we were doing. Luka was in his element, though, a sudden change of direction doing little to rock him. To keep his cover, he’d changed into the priest’s robes in his bag of blending in tricks I now realized was always with him.

We searched through the busy dockside, looking for a friend of his he said was supposed to be departing from here today. I scanned every fae and box for signs of the egg. I wasn’t expecting to board the ship, but Luka strode confidently up the gang plank, and I followed.

“Follow my lead,” he muttered as we stepped aboard.

The ship bustled with activity. The tide was about to change, and they would need to get the ship out soon or miss it.

“What is the plan?” I hissed, eyeing our surroundings to stay on my guard.

“I usually try to slip into the work unnoticed. Most times, acting like I belong in a place is enough to make everyone around me believe it.” He picked up some boxes and nodded for me to do the same.

“You just slip right in, don’t you?” a voice said from behind us, startling me.

Luka put on his best roguish smile before looking over his shoulder. “I’m no stranger to hard work.”

We both turned to face this male who was obviously the friend Luka was seeking. His scent hit me, and mine must have hit him at the same time because our eyes met in recognition.

Dragon.

He studied me for long moments, then returned his gaze to Luka. “I didn’t think we were gonna have a supervisor this shipment.”

“No watch duty this go around,” Luka said with ease. “Just taking the ride with the cargo if that’s okay with you?”

The dragon sized him up, then looked down at the papers he clutched. “I did offer it to you if you needed it…but how far are you going?”

“That depends on where you’re heading. I’m hoping you’ll at least get us part of the way to our destination.”

“We are hitting a few ports but eventually going to The Ice Kingdom.” Faolan replied, taking my question in stride despite having already told me his destination at the temple. I like this fae for that reason. Much like myself he rolled with the situation, understanding that at times you just had to assume everyone was being cagey and act accordingly. If I didn’t bring it up, neither would he.

“Is that where you’re taking our things?”

“Some of it.”

“Are you picking up in the Fifth?”

“Let me check.” The dragon licked his index finger and shuffled through the parchment papers while his gaze scanned over the neat writing. “We have a pick up there, actually.” He switched his attention to Luka. “How did you know?”

“I used to handle the shipments there. I’m heading back to check on them.” He gave him a knowing smile, and I was speechless at how easily it came to him.

The dragon mirrored his easy smile. “Something tells me you should be doing my job. I hope you’re not in the market to take it.”

Luka held up his hands. “I serve the Goddess. I go where She needs me.”

“Do you have a duty with the order?” He held Luka’s gaze, and I could sense he was testing him.

Luka didn’t waiver. “I am an observer. I go where She calls to make sure Her will is followed.”

“And you have a passenger with you?” He nodded, his attention returning to his parchment, pointedly not acknowledging that I was a fellow dragon. Neither of us needed passage on this ship when we could easily out fly it, so we both had other motives to be here.

“A passenger traveling with me in the Goddess’ service.”

“Does she have a name?” He didn’t look up.

I breathed out slowly not in a hurry to answer, running through all the reasons why it wouldn’t be a good idea to share my name. But no one in his world would know who I was. I was well-known among the training schools and in the palace, but on this ship, I was nobody. And it was always easier to answer to one’s real name. Before I could respond, Luka must have come to the same conclusion.

“She goes by Hazel.”

The dragon looked at me then and smiled. “Welcome aboard, I’m Faolan.”

The boat was as bustling as the dock, and we carried our crates into the flow of fae. We were shown below decks where we could store our cargo and then, to my surprise, we turned around to go and collect more. There I was thinking that carrying the crates was simply to get us on board, but apparently, we were doing the work.

I caught Luka’s eye in question, and he nodded once, telling me that, yes, this is how it’s done. We needed to work until the ship set sail or it would be obvious we didn’t belong.

The ship was dirty, full of smells overwhelming to my dragon senses. I didn’t know how Luka did it, going from the palace to places like this without hesitation.

We were on our fifth or sixth trip to the hull when we saw males in chains being taken down to a different part of the ship. My eyes went wide at the sight. Who knew these cargo ships carried such diverse cargo?

“Keep walking,” Luka ordered under his breath, nudging me on.

“Were they prisoners?” I whispered as we put our boxes down.

“Later,” he scolded.

I huffed. I was getting tired of all the orders, but if we were really going to set sail with this ship, I might need to get used to it. Nothing would change once we were out on the water.

The fae loading the cargo were thinning out, and I assumed the ship was almost loaded. Luka glanced up the stairs and down the corridor. “We should look around.”

“Now?”

Luka looked at me meaningfully. “We don’t know when we’ll get another chance—trust me.”

I nodded, and we began to inspect what we could see in the small hold area. Luka found a bar to lever lids open, and we went through several boxes, turning up nothing but goods being shipped for sale.

“None of these are marked,” he said almost to himself.

“What do you mean?”

“When I found the eggs, the crates were marked with a sun symbol. It’s a symbol I tracked through the temple. It was very similar to another I’d seen on…”

I tried to meet his eyes, but he looked away. “On what, Luka?”

“On the Dragon’s Bane I used to deliver,” he said carefully. “It’s how I know it’s all connected to the same group.”

I dropped down to a seat on a crate and studied him.

“What?”

“I don’t know. It’s just easy to forget how involved in all this you have been.”

Luka frowned. “Only out of necessity.”

“And for Nyx, right?” I pushed.

“Right.”

I folded my arms, wishing I had a week to process everything.

Luka moved in, pulling me up to face him. “Hey, you aren’t doubting me are you?”

“No, it’s just a lot to take in.” I rested my forehead on his chest.

“I know, but we will get to the bottom of it, I promise.”

“Okay.”

“Come on. We need to search a few more rooms down here before they close them up.”

We worked our way through room after room. Nothing stood out, and I got no sense of the eggs in this space. But with so much export down here, it was harder to isolate the sense of opal anyway.

“What about those prisoners? Why are they here?” I asked, remembering that was yet another thing that was a big question. Nothing about this strange underworld Luka seemed to know so well sat right with me.

“I have no idea,” he admitted. “They were collected from the temple while I was looking around this morning.”

“What?” I blurted, louder than I intended and slapped my hand over my mouth. “What were prisoners doing at a temple?”

“I don’t know. I have the same questions you do.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me?”

“Our priority was the eggs. I thought that was more important.”

“They are! But things like prisoners being kept at a remote temple by the sun order is also a thing you should share.”

“Sorry. I wasn’t hiding it, I was just prioritizing.”

The ship shuddered, and several shouts went up. Obviously, we were pushing off.

“Let’s go up and see what else needs to be stowed. It might give us access to another area.”

As I helped push barrels down a gangway into the hold, I was beginning to think Luka’s life was exhausting.

“Over there,” Faolan called, checking his manifest as we worked. “Then would you close up the sections down here for me?”

I looked up and realized he was talking to Luka.

“Sure,” Luka said brightly, and Faolan nodded, leaving us to load in the last barrels.

“Is that normal? To be trusted like that?” I asked, mystified.

“Are you complaining that we have more time to search?” He seemed so comfortable here.

I held up my hands. “No, I’m not complaining.”

“Good. Now come. Let’s start at that end.”

“What are we doing?”

“Room by room, we look in, check the cargo, make sure it’s secure, then close up each section so it’s safe during the voyage.”

“Lead the way.”

We went door by door, checking the contents quickly before using ropes to secure things. We worked for over an hour as the ship left the bay and hit the open sea. Nothing was marked with the sun symbol Luka had described.

And then…there it was.

I had opened the door, but we both stepped in. In this room was an assortment of sacks and crates all marked with a red sun.

Luka froze. “Leave,” he hissed.

“Why?”

He didn’t hesitate, just shoved me out the door. “Dragon’s Bane!”

My heart fell into my stomach. I had never encountered it, but knew those who had.

The door slammed in my face.

“Luka!” I whisper yelled.

“You have to get back,” he ordered through the wood.

“How do you know it’s Dragon’s Bane?”

“I recognize the sacks.”

“Shit,” I muttered, doing a self-check for symptoms “I’m already exposed,” I said, feeling helpless.

“And we don’t want to make it worse. Stay away from this door.”

“Do we want to draw attention to ourselves with me waiting outside the door?”

“I’d rather that than you end up dead leagues from a healer.”

“It might be too late now.”

“Don’t say shit like that,” he growled, and I could hear him shifting things around in there.

Minutes went by, and I waited, feeling ridiculous stood out in a corridor, worried that any moment I could be discovered, and they would know I didn’t belong here.

“What are you doing in there?” I called out, my patience at an end.

The door whipped open, and Luka looked thoroughly spooked. “I was checking this stuff wasn’t going to kill you.”

“Will it?”

He shook his head and held open the door.

I stepped in. “What is this stuff?”

“Some herbs, not the deadly kind. Candles, crystals…priest stuff.”

“But no eggs?”

“Not here.”

My shoulders dropped.

“That scared the life out of me,” he said as he towered over me. I shouldn’t have been turned on, but I was.

“You would have saved my life if it was bane. Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me. I can’t put your life at risk in this. You have to be careful.”

“Who are you to tell me what I can and can’t do?”

His lips found the corner of mine in a chaste kiss. “Someone who cares.”