Page 31 of Dragon Blood

She did not see her sisters fall, torn and wrecked by enemy male dragons asserting their imaginary rights.

Regina may have trained with the guardians in her youth, but she was always sheltered from the front lines, only allowed to preside over funerals of the fallen, when their bodies could be retrieved from the ocean, or dragged back from the far-off lands where they’d been dumped.

That should have been enough to harden her resolve.

But she’d always had a soft heart, even when her own mother had been lost when she’d flown out to battle and fallen. It was then that the Council had decreed the queen should never leave her beloved island vulnerable. She must be the stalwart symbol of her dwindling people.

Regina.

Too soft. Too forgiving. Too hopeful.

Naïve.

There was no hope outside the Aeleftherian boundary.

True hope was bound to Regina’s ability to stay the course. Hold true to her agreement.

I’ve given up too much, I’ll sacrifice no more.

I was the shining star of Aeleftheria, her greatest protector.

If I can’t be the warrior that I once was, I shall be the hand that guides their resolve.

This nation will remain sovereign. She will bow to no male. Ever again.

The matron’s steely gaze remained on the young guardian’s face.

The younger woman’s eyes flicked ever so briefly to the matron, enough to shore up her strength under the Council’s scrutiny.

The other matrons’ knowledge was limited. Though elders in their own right, none counted the years that this dragoness did.

None of them could claim birth in the previous cycle, surviving millennia, despite all that the world threw at her. Despite what the males had taken from her.

This matron was the singular constant in Aeleftheria, except for the Dragon Mother herself, asleep in the sanctuary deep below the bowels of the citadel.

I failed to gain control of the seals, for now. But I will be successful before it is time for her awakening.

With or without the crown’s cooperation.

With Regina forced into stasis, the Council was stronger for it. They would guide the young Astred in the queen’s place as regent.

It was perfect.

Uninitiated, Astred wouldn’t have the full link to the Mother that the queen held as the goddess’ oracle. The heir would be vulnerable and in need of the Council’s sage guidance.

Perfect.

There was plenty of time still to regain possession of the seals.

The matron would find another way to outsmart the Consortium’s dirty, grasping, thieving fingers.

They wanted control of the Great Mother, so that they could controleverything.

As for the mountain dragons?

Well, that new development could be played to Aeleftherian advantage.

If they wished to open their doors, so be it. Another infiltrator—an Aeleftherian—could be housed among them, and when their guard slipped, she would act.

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