Page 84 of The Flame King's Queen

“It’s not just that. Kane will not leave the city while I am here. I will draw him away so that you and the residents of this city will finally know peace once more.”

“But we need you. I need you,” I plead with her.

“What you need is the wild flare to return to the east so that the king may focus on what comes next. King Zabriel has united Maledin. Now he must kill his brother, once and for all. The burden is a heavy one for him to bear, and it will not be an easy task to find and kill an ancient necromancer.”

I squeeze her hands, gazing at the freckles dotting her wrists. She’s right about Kane, but I will not see her leave believing she is in disgrace. “You have done nothing wrong. Kane and Stesha are responsible for all the bleeding flesh and broken hearts.”

Ravenna doesn’t answer.

“Where will you go? You can make your home in Amriste. I know Biddy will enjoy your company.”

She smiles sadly. “You heard what Biddy said. My path leads me in another direction.”

“To the east?” I ask, and she nods. That means closer to Kane.

Ravenna speaks quietly. “Wherever I make my home, Kane will always be flying Auryn overhead, being as loud and disruptive as he can. I won’t be rid of him until he is dead. I won’t kill him, as I know you have worried I might do, so I must hope he kills himself through misadventure. There are hexes that will drain away a person’s luck and make death likelier…” Shadows flicker in Ravenna’s eyes, telling me of her despair and dark thoughts. “Many nights I’ve laid awake thinking of ways to murder the man whom I’ve been fated to, but that is a dark path for a witch.”

“Zabriel and I can…”

Ravenna shakes her head. “You andMa’lenhave done so much for me. I have never been freer in my life, and I will make good use of that freedom. The eastern villages are remote, and perhaps they’ll be so grateful for a healing witch among them that they won’t mind the bad-tempered yellow dragon and the angry, frustrated witchfinder following me wherever I go.” She smiles a little. “Perhaps those villagers might even be proud to be under the protection of a wild flare. No other region in Maledin but Lenhale has a flare.”

IfKane protects them, rather than trampling them underfoot in pursuit of his Omega. It’s clear that Ravenna has been thinking about this for a long time. Though it hurts my heart to say so, I finally concede. “Whatever you think is best, you must do it. It’s your path to walk.”

We hug each other fiercely until I have to reluctantly let her go. I watch Ravenna make her way through an arch and into a courtyard as the sunlight glints on her red curls. I know little about the villages in the east, but they must be filled with hardy people if they are able to farm in such a difficult region. I hope they will welcome Ravenna, or at least treat her with respect.

To my shock, a short distance away, a figure peels out of the shadows cast by a high wall. My stomach drops as I realize how thoroughly Kane concealed himself during our conversation. He glares at me with flashing black eyes, filled with hate, and then turns and follows the witch in a swirl of cloak.

Days pass,and Stesha and Zenevieve do not return. The castle feels empty and silent without the two of them, Ravenna, and the crowds who watched the Dragon Games.

Santha and Posette keep me company and help me prepare for the baby, and Fiala and Dusan are always around as well, but I miss Ravenna and Zenevieve dearly.

I thought I had nine months of pregnancy, so it comes as a shock to learn from the Temple Mothers that Omega pregnancies are shorter than human and Beta pregnancies.

I pace up and down with my hands pressed against my aching lower back, trying to come to terms with the fact that I’ll be going into labor sooner rather than later.

Exercise has been recommended to me, so twice a day I walk down to the dragongrounds and check on Esmeral. More often than not, as the days progress, she’s in the nesting caves, looking as hot and restless as I feel. She lays with her head on my thighs, huffing in frustration.

“I know how you feel,” I murmur, stroking her snout.

Finally, one afternoon I come down to the nesting caves and find that she’s laid a clutch of eggs. She’s been bathing them in dragonfire and they’re too hot to touch, but she moves aside a little so I can count them.

“Four eggs,” I exclaim in delight. Four pale, stone-shelled eggs, each the size of one of Zabriel’s fists.

Esmeral nudges them happily with her snout. Scourge is at the entrance of the caves, which is too small for him, and he’s making a deep, pleased, rumbling sound within his chest.

There’s no dragonmaster around for me to ask questions, but Zabriel tells me that they may hatch in just a few days, but can sometimes take weeks or months if the mother senses peril.

I gaze up at him in shock. “But we are in peril. Esmeral knows that Emmeric is still out there and that you and Scourge may be called into battle.”

“I don’t know if Esmeral’s instincts tell her that her hatchlings are safe to emerge now or later. Esmeral herself might not even know. We will have to wait and see.”

I clasp my belly with both hands. “What about our little one?”

Zabriel chuckles and pats my belly. “Our little one is coming whether we’re ready or not.”

Gods, please let there be peace in Maledin long enough for our babies to be born. Emmeric always chooses the worst moments to rear his head.

But this time, the gods are favoring us.

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