Page 13 of The Dragon Queen

Chapter 7

“Time to get up, cadet.”

I blinked my eyes, then groaned into my pillow. My pillow groaned back because I was lying on Ged’s chest, but neither of us could resist Soren’s voice. Everyone in the expansive bed yawned, stretched, and then rolled out of bed.

Everyone but Draven.

His hair lay like a fan of black silk across the pillow, but it was his position, his proximity, that caught my attention. He lay on the far edge of the bed, facing the wall, and that’s what protected him from our movements. Brom lay closest to him, but the gap between each man may as well have been a crevasse. Brom’s eyes flicked open and he barely made a sound as he looked back over his shoulder at the prince before climbing from the bed.

“Brom…”

I moved towards my husband and saw his expression change. He still looked tired, far too tired, but he smiled when he saw me.

“Good morning to you, wife.” That title was said with just a little irony. “Ready for a long ride? We’ll be in the saddle for most of the day.”

It was then that Draven’s eyes opened. For just a second, hestared at the walls, but whatever he saw there wasn’t enough to keep him awake. His eyes fell closed again, and he sighed, snuggling back into his pillow. We were given no such luxury, snatching a quick breakfast as we walked through the castle kitchens, the cook handing us all bread rolls stuffed with meat and cheese, along with a basket full of supplies. Glimmer snapped the slices of steak tossed her way out of the air, swallowing them before rushing out the door and towards the courtyard where all the other dragons waited.

We were travelling to a far-flung estate wedged between the borders of Tharfield and Skane. Belonging to neither duchy, it was assiduously ignored by each duke, because it was the territory owned by the broader branches of the king’s own family. Draven couldn’t trust anyone else to do this job, not until he could be sure of who the Duke of Harlston’s co-conspirators were. We were to go and retrieve his cousin and bring him to the capital to give an accounting of how much dragonfire they possessed.

“So who is Her Highness riding with today?” Flynn asked. I saw some of the man I loved in the way he offered me his arm with a smile, and part of me wanted to accept, if only to keep him in this good mood and to be there when he crashed again.

“Don’t get in the saddle with that idiot,” Soren said, stroking his dragon’s head. “Wraith is the most steady of all the dragons.”

Glimmer moved closer and my heart couldn’t help but clench when she raised her muzzle. Wraith’s massive one stretched out carefully to touch hers.

“And the slowest.” Ged grabbed my hand and twirled me around like we were at a country dance. “You want to ride on Cloudy for certain.”

“Glacier beats Cloud Raker two times out of three,” Flynn shot back as he hauled himself into the saddle.

“And how does Obsidian fare?” I said, turning to Brom.

“He’s ready to serve you.” There was something so serious about my husband’s expression. He seemed to realise that, shaking his head and then gestured to his dragon. “We are always ready to serve the queen-in-waiting.”

“Not her.” I stepped up to Obsidian’s flank, rubbing my hand onhis scales in thanks as he offered me his foreleg. “Not today.” I stared back at the palace for a second. “We will be free of titles, or obligations, bar one.” When I settled into the saddle, Brom moved behind me, the sensation a familiar one. Glimmer was sitting on Obsidian’s neck, trilling in anticipation. The big dragon looked back with a snort, seemingly amused by this. “Today we’re just Pippin.” My hand covered his when it went around my waist, my finger tracing the shape of his wedding band under his gloves. “And you are just my husband, Brom.”

“But for how long?”

I don’t think he meant for me to hear that, it coming out as barely a sigh. There was no opportunity to interrogate further. His hand went up and he gestured forward, Obsidian already moving. I clung on tight, Glimmer already flapping her wings in anticipation, as the massive black dragon launched himself into the air.

“Brom…”

This wasn’t the place for heart-to-hearts. The wind whipped away my words before I could get them out, and yet he leaned forward. The press of his body, the prickle of his beard against my ear, it was all familiar, and yet it had a feeling of stolen pleasure. Before, we were forced to creep around the keep, hiding what we were to each other, but now…? Now, I was to be the king’s intended. I felt a pang of disloyalty, but to whom?

“Speak, Pippin.” Brom’s voice came out far more commanding than he intended to I think, the roar of the wind forcing him to say the words with his whole chest. I felt the need to answer him, but everything I needed to say was a messy tangle, each point trying to force its way out first. His hand slid down, coming to rest over my diaphragm. “Breathe first, then speak.”

He was my wing commander right now and I could trust him, trust that he knew what had to happen next. I sucked in a breath, my chest feeling tight as I let it out again.

“What do we do?” That was the simplest way to express the turmoil inside me. “How do we go forward? I mean…” As a strange collection of people, our relationships complex and enmeshed. “As husband and wife.” I figured I may as well start there. “I don’t want a divorce.” His grip on me tightened almost to the point of pain but it wasn’t in response to a shift in angle from Obsidian. The dragon flew on and on with powerful sweeps of his wings. “I want?—”

“You’ll always be my wife.” How I needed to hear those words. “Always. No king, queen, emperor, or the gods themselves can take you away from me. It may have been a rushed thing born of necessity, but when I stood with you before the priest…” I saw it then, our hasty wedding in the tiny chapel, the light streaming in through the stained glass, turning his dark hair reddish. I turned then, staring back at him as much as I could. “It felt right.” That certainty I saw in his eyes, perfectly unwavering, I needed it. “Like something I’d been waiting my entire life for.”

“I as well.” I tried to smile, glad for my goggles, because perhaps they hid the tears that filled my eyes. “The way forward is clear. Draven must be married to the woman bound to the dragon queen, but why…?”

A small, childish part of me could see it, not just Brom standing before a priest, taking my hand in marriage, but Draven too. Each one of our hands clasped the other, as we vowed to love, honour, and cherish each other. That triad expanded as the rest of my men stepped forward. Each one of them would wear a ring I gave them, claiming each one as mine.

Just as they did me.

“Because the populace recognises Draven as king, and as his wife, they are invested in the idea that any child you bear carries his blood. Polyamorous relationships fell out of favour when Gloriana was deposed, used to explain her inadequacies as a ruler.” He stroked my cheek, the leather of his gloves no fit replacement for skin-to-skin contact. “For him to introduce… what we are to the people during such a time of upheaval? The Duke of Harlston, gods, any number of people, would use it as a means to delegitimise him as king.”

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