Page 66 of The Flame King's Queen

“I’m pleased for Aurissa that she was able to place.”

Zabriel shakes his head in wonder. “You should have seen her. Aurissa understood the purpose of this event instinctively, and she tore the competition area apart searching for the clicking rocks. She and Corin almost bested your time.”

“Aurissa was excellent.” Stesha has appeared beside us, Nilak by his side, and I’m surprised by the genuine admiration I see in his face as Aurissa disappears over the horizon.

“Well done to you and Nilak, dragonmaster,” I tell him.

“Thank you, my queen. You made us work for it.”

“You sound happy about that.”

“I’m grateful for the chance to prove myself,” he says. “Competition should be fierce, and you and Esmeral were ardent in your efforts.”

As he and Nilak move to the other end of the dragongrounds, I ask Zabriel, “Does he mean it? He’s pleased we did so well?”

“Stesha is deadly serious when it comes to dragon matters. He means every word.”

My dragon’s mood is fiery as I bid her farewell. Esmeral’s confidence has swelled, and she has her mind on the agility event tomorrow. Despite telling myself breezily that I don’t care if we win, I feel a blaze of determination in my own heart as I see our names up on the leaderboard.

People continue to congratulate me and Esmeral for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. The feeling of being respected as a dragonrider, not just the king’s mate? Too wonderful for words.

I feelas though I’ve doubled in size overnight. The baby sits heavily in my pelvis this morning, and I push my palms into my aching lower back and groan. Esmeral and I are surrounded by dragons and riders, and we’re watching the agility event begin. I’m feeling far from agile this morning.

As a dragon passes close to us, Esmeral wraps her wing around me and moves me out of harm’s way. I’ve noticed that she’s becoming more protective of me as my belly grows. I’ve seen the mother dragons shepherd their fledglings around the flare in the same manner, nudging them out of the path of oblivious older dragons, and using their wings to guard them.

Esmeral nuzzles my belly after the dragon passes us, and I smile to myself. It’s not so much my baby as our baby. Esmeral keeps it safe just as much as I do.

When Omaira completes the course, there’s a burst of applause so loud that it takes me by surprise. The dragon and rider must have done well. I crane my neck, hoping for some clue about their flying technique, but it’s too late because the race is over.

“Rats, we should have been paying attention,” I say to my belly, and I give the growing baby and Esmeral’s snout a rub. “Well, we three have already practiced our flying technique, and we can’t change it now, can we?” I move my big belly around and cling on tight, and Esmeral flies as fast as she can.

A few of the dragonriders around me shoot me amused looks.

“A sound technique. You can’t do better than holding on tight and flying fast, my queen,” Calliope tells me with a smile. From what I can see, Calliope and Verdun are the only Alpha pair from Zabriel’s flare entering this event.

“Good skies to you. I’m pleased to see an Alpha pair will be flying.” I’ve spotted Ragdyn and Rhan this morning as well, so I presume they’re here to try their luck.

Calliope grins. “The others are scared of making fools of themselves and tripping over their own wings, but Verdun insisted we enter. She’s always been nimble, and we must play to our strengths.” She hesitates and then says, “I have watched you flying, and this isn’t just about doing your best in the games, is it? Do you have hopes about going into battle?”

I feel a twinge of dismay, and wonder if Calliope isn’t going to politely discourage me, or outright tell me I’m stupid for thinking Esmeral and I can keep up with the other dragons.

Calliope must notice my expression because she assures me, “Esmeral is quick-witted and fast, and Verdun would be proud to fly alongside her, if and when the time comes.”

I rub my belly again. “You don’t think I should stay home in my nest with my babies?”

“A queen who is prepared to protect Maledin with her own heart and dragon makes us all proud.”

I smile at her. “Thank you, Calliope.”

“I’ll tell you a trick to help Esmeral with the namyr in the future. Once, I had a musician play music all the way through Verdun’s heat, and she finally got used to it. That’s the only reason we were able to do well in the Three Howls.”

Alpha female dragons go into heat, though they don’t feel the urge to nest like Omegas do and stay out in the open. “I’m surprised she didn’t attack the player.”

“So am I. It was actually Verdun’s idea, and for some reason, all that mating turmoil helped her learn to tune out the horrible racket of the namyr, and she was fine after that. You and Esmeral might like to try the same thing.”

I find myself standing there staring at Calliope and unable to say a thing.

She frowns. “My queen?”

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