Page 29 of Dragon Blood

I wish you could tell me what’s happened.

She didn’t dare speak aloud, disturbing the napping shaman, as she stroked her mother’s cool hand, searching her face.

Regina’s fingers twitched against hers, though her features remained unchanged.

Astred held their hands close to her heart, waiting for some further movement.

When none came, she bent, resting her head on the thick coverlet draped over Regina’s torso, and closed her eyes.

Sometimes, when she was a child, Regina would play dream games with her while she slept. Subtle things, wherein she would visit Astred in her sleep state and leave her clues to some small treasure that she would find the next morning.

That had stopped once Astred reached an age where she’d decided she no longer wished her mother to have access to her unconscious mind.

‘Shows little evidence of visionary connection.’

Astred huffed.

Now, she relaxed, seeking that sliver of connection that she’d closed off so long ago.

Perhaps it’s been too long, with too much between us now?

Astred hovered on the brink, slipping into the lighter realm that lifted her into the dream world. Dimly, she was aware that Regina’s fingers tightened on hers again.

Astred…

Her heart flipped.

Mamma?

Astred’s dragon rose to the surface, reaching.

Regina’s dragon appeared through a clouded barrier, exchanging thoughts with Astred’s. Her human self was on the cusp of comprehension, as the fog slowly receded.

A shooting star streaked across the sky, over a tree bent with age, its trunk so vast it seemed to devour the clump of earth it clung to. Surrounded by rings of rippling water, it drew her forward until a black, smokeless flame appeared to engulf it. It neither burned nor withered as it disappeared into the heart of the flame.

The blaze brightened until painfully blinding, when a pair of blue eyes appeared. The eyes then formed into the body of a white tiger, emerging from the searing fiery light as the falling star sped toward them.

In the distance, oily smoke and writhing clouds grew as they tumbled toward her like an avalanche of blackened debris.

“Your highness, you must not disturb the queen.”

The stern voice snapped Astred’s connection, waking her instantly.

She straightened, turning her irate gaze on the elder shaman, glaring down at her with disapproval. The younger shaman stood by the door, eyes downcast, cheeks red.

Regina’s face remained at rest, her mind locked away.

Astred released her hand, clasping her fingers together to still their trembling.

What did that vision mean?

“Your highness. You should find comfort in your own chambers to rest. We will update you on any changes to her majesty.”

Astred’s gaze slid from the lead royal shaman to the collection of queen’s councillors lingering by the door, expressions stern, though a few regarded her with compassion.

She stood, studying the stern ones; the surviving elders, overseeing the direction of Aeleftheria since the divide.

Astred could not forget that there’d been an incident involving an infiltrator that Marli had witnessed. No one had updated Astred with the details of the ongoing investigation to discover the identity of the traitor, though Marli had not been assigned to the investigative team.

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