Page 66 of Dragon Blood

Thematronscowledatthe first barrier to her prize and drew yet another deep breath before shaking the frustration out of her hands. The first set of heavily warded doors, made of the strongest wood.

Patience. We’ve waited too long for this opportunity, and there is far too much at stake.

Opportunity not by chance, but by painstaking design that would not be understood—not for a long while. Not until after this crisis that Regina was leading them into was long behind them.

Only then would Aeleftheria thank her for her great effort to preserve the freedom they fought so hard for all those centuries ago.

The matron remembered what it was like, and she would never forget, having lost a daughter in the war, and now the other was becoming a disappointment.

She didn’t understand. How could she? None of the younger generations truly did. Oh, they’d had their skirmishes and many, many close calls since the divide and the emigration. But there were few left who’d lived under the rule of dominance.

Never again.

And although the matron’s blood was as royal as Regina’s, the accident during the previous era had seen to it that she could no longer serve as an heir to her mother’s throne. And thus the crown had passed to her younger sister, Rayna. Regina’s mother.

As a youngling at the tail end of the previous cycle, a shining meteor had fallen from the heavens, impacting too near the original Aeleftherian territory, and Zadora had been too close. Too close even for a powerful dragon royal. When she’d awakened, her deep bond to the earth had been shattered, her essence altered, and her connection to the Mother nearly broken.

The day the meteor struck their earth, she ceased to be Zadora Arakkil. She was reborn as Zadora Steelscale, first of her name.

Her mother had mourned for her heir, but renamed and reshaped her anew during the tumultuous centuries that followed as the males exerted their will more and more.

Zadora could no longer be considered for rule, but she could be the throne’s greatest protector, when she beheld the celestial rock that altered her destiny and made herother.

The Dragon Star.

Over the last few centuries, Aeleftheria slowly forgot what Zadora sacrificed. The story was buried in the annals, her lineage broken from the royal chart and started anew.

So be it. But she wouldn’t let that sacrifice be in vain.

No.

There from the beginning of the Descent, through the Divide at the lowest point of the decline, and now that they were facing the Ascension, she would see it through, as she had everything else.

These greedy males had taken nearly everything from her. Nearly.

Zadora didn’t know how much longer she had before the earth reclaimed her bones. She guessed that she still lived out of sheer will and duty.

Protect the throne, even from itself.

And if that meant removing her niece from her position as ruler in order to protect Aeleftheria and reinforce her most sacred duty to the Mother, so be it.

Zadora would do what she had to, as she’d always done.

Working with one enemy against another was just a tactic that every side employed. A gamble.

She wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty so that the queen could remain pristine—as she should.

There were a few others among the councillors who secretly shared Zadora’s dedication, though none would ever conspire.

That, she did alone.

Manipulating, whispering, pressuring.

But she knew their leanings. Saw it in the glint in their eyes, the tightening around their mouths despite their greatest efforts to maintain the mask of neutrality that every councillor was expected to bear.

Behind those masks, burned a fierce resolution to maintain Aeleftheria’s sovereignty.

No matter the cost.

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