Page 132 of The Savage Queen

“Dagfin never should’ve followed you,” he continued. “He was meant to be king. To rule alongside myself and the other mortal sovereigns. To lead mankind into greatness. Instead, he let you manipulate him and plague his mind until he bent at your will. Until he followed you down a path that offered no escape for him. And youlethim.”

Starn licked his lips, crouching down beside Dagfin’s body. He brushed the backside of his knuckles against Dagfin’s cheek. A gesture that awakened something in Aisling.

“You are selfish, Aisling. Pathetic. Weak. And wholly undeserving.”

Aisling’s veins ignited.

I wish to summon the fire, she shouted internally at thedraiocht. The collar blocking her lungs.

Starn unfurled from his crouch. “It wasn’t I that killed him, Aisling. It was you.”

I SUMMON THE FIRE.

Aisling’s eyes lit with violet flame, Fionn’s collar shattering at the force of her strength alone, and from the silver lake, a beast appeared.

Adragún.

Forged in a cauldron of boiling night sky, Racat lifted his head, the crown of horns spiraling from its temples, a foil to its silky, obsidian mane, billowing in the highland wind.

Starn, Iarbonel, Fergus, Annind, and Killian staggered back, faces slack with terror. TheFaerak’s hands instinctively reaching for the crossbow on his back.

Lir cursed beneath his breath, eyes gone wide at the sight of hisdragúnoutside Annwyn.Not a dragon of fire as it’d been before Danu. A flesh and blood beast, glittering before them with all the majesty of the Other.

“We come for the curse breaker!” Starn shouted. “By order of the Lady!”

Racat moved closer to the shore, fixing his eyes on Aisling’s brothers and Killian. His shimmering scales sparkling amidst the fog.

“High prince,” Racat said, his voice an ancient, primeval song. “You’ve owned what you covet all your life only to now take it with a knife?”

“Owned what you covet.” Aisling’s eyes glazed over, her mind elsewhere.

Iarbonel, Fergus, Annind, and Killian drew their weapons.

“Enough riddles,” Fergus shouted. “Give us what we want so we may go in peace.”

Lir shook his head, not understanding. Racat was the fae king’s dragon and had found a home in Annwyn thanks to Ina. How was it possible the curse breaker they all sought was hoarded by the dragon of power all this time?

“You speak of peace, yet you threaten war,” Racat said.

Aisling and Lir exchanged glances, turning to search her brothers’ and Killian’s expressions. Thedragún’sominous words seeping into both their bones.

“Your armies thread through Fjallnorr prepared to destroy and burn everything in your mortal wake.”

Aisling raced to the edge of Lofgren’s peak, peering over the ledge.

Dread sunk its dull teeth into her gut.

Thousands, if not millions, of soldiers approached Iod, donning the armor of those left from every northern mortal court. Aithirn, Kinbreggan, Roktling, and Tilren. Their iron contaminating the feywild opiate.

“Then be threatened,” Starn continued. “And give us the curse breaker.”

Aisling’s stomach fluttered.

“Owned what you covet.” Recognition dawned on Aisling. It was her. She was what Nemed wanted, Starn, her brothers, the mortal realm. “Owned what you covet,so you might take it with a knife?” Owned, controlled by her own clann only so they might wrench what she’s worth to them with a magic blade gifted by the Lady.

Aisling’s mind spun. Ears buzzing.

The world suddenly brighter.

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