Page 14 of The Dragon Queen

So we were doomed. I turned back to stare at the endless sky, cloud after cloud passing us by.

“I just need you to know my heart,” he said. “Because that remains unchanged. Nothing Draven, Raina, gods, anyone, could do will change how I feel. Courtiers will mock me, people will talk, but I will wear this ring forever, even if I’m forced to move it to my other hand.”

“I will do the same.” For a moment there was quiet between us, but it would never last long. It was never just us two, but three. “What of Draven?”

You’ve barely looked at him since you heard the news, I wanted to say. Your body angles itself away from him. You don’t hold him like you would me if I had experienced the same horrors.

“Try not to worry too much about Draven and me.” I let out a little snort at that and he pressed a kiss to my neck. “Or not more than usual. He is as he always was: arrogant, always assuming others will go along with what he wants gladly.”

“Perhaps that needs correcting?” I suggested.

“You assume he will hear me?” I could feel Brom shaking his head. “Then you truly have a different kind of relationship with him than I do. I’m not sure if he even sees the man I am now, cares for him at all. In his head, I’m still the boy with stars in his eyes, unable to stop myself from following the beautiful prince around. Why would he think otherwise? I’m still following him, even into this madness.”

“You are much more than a follower,” I said, rubbing his hands with mine. “So much more. You command our wing, keep us safe, find a way forward when given impossible directives, and keep your head even when we lose ours.”

“So that’s the draw for you?” I could hear the smile in his voice. “My level head? Well, then listen to this advice from your wing commander. It would be a tempting thing to try to manage the emotions of all the men dancing around you, Pippin, but it is a fool’s errand.” His arms surrounded me, holding me close, and up here, so far away from the earth, the palace, all of it, I could lean back into it. “Be the queen in earnest. Force each one of us to pay you fealty in every way we can, proving we are worthy to take a place by your side. Like young Glimmer.”

My eyes jerked around to catch the moment my dragon launched herself off the neck of Obsidian. I screamed in earnest, ready to throw myself after her, but her wings flapped out, keeping her abreast of Obsidian. A whoop from below made clear that there was no need for concern.

I am a dragon, Glimmer told me.I fly.There was something almost reproachful about her tone.And my mates, they will never allow me to fall.Cloudy, Glacier, and Wraith all moved into formation, some below Glimmer, some beside her. This seemed to funnel the air stream towards her, helping her stay aloft.You should allow yours to do the same.

But it was more complicated in my case, I wanted to argue. It felt like each man needed something from me and I didn’t have enough of me to go around. Ruminating on that helped the hours pass, and it wasn’t until Brom moved in the saddle that I knew we’d reached our destination. He retrieved the flags we’d been given last night to signal that we had permission to land, and it became clear why as we descended.

A great castle had been built, but it was the only grand thing here. No fields of crops, no rolling hills of grass appeared when we dropped below the clouds. The land was barren, desolate, providing an unrelieved plain of brown in contrast to the citadel. That’s what it was, I soon realised, as two massive ballista swung around to set us in their sights.

“Gods above…” Brom muttered, gesturing with the flags madly, but I couldn’t watch that. My eyes were trained on the gleam of the ballista bolts, sure they’d be shot forth and into us seconds later.

This is a bad place, Glimmer said and I could only agree, the dire state of Draven’s family seat coming into clearer focus. She had been resting on Obsidian’s neck, but he rumbled as she clawed her way towards me and into my arms.We should not have come here.

And yet, we had. Draven had given us an order, and we’d followed it to the letter, landing outside the citadel walls, the dragons instinctively clustering close around Obsidian and Glimmer.

“Who are you?” A man snapped as he rode up on a black horse. His hair was close cropped, his eyes narrowed down in thecustomary squint of a man who worked on the land, but the blue was terribly familiar. This was Draven’s cousin, I was sure of it. “What are you doing here?”

“We come from the king.” Brom dismounted slowly, aware that more and more armed men were surging behind our interrogator. He pulled out a scroll that bore Draven’s seal and then went to hand it over.

“I’m fairly sure Magnus wouldn’t send a bunch of riders out here.” The man’s eyes narrowed as he took me in. “Especially a woman.” He saw Glimmer for the first time. “And a young queen dragon. What the hell has my uncle gotten himself into this time?”

The others were going to answer, but I stepped forward, unfazed by the stiffening guards.

“He’s dead. Raina’s hold on him was broken when she was eaten by Zafira, and there wasn’t enough left of his mind to keep him alive. Draven will be king.”

“So you must be his queen-in-waiting.” His smile was a close approximation of Draven’s, though there was a reckless edge to it that the prince lacked. “I’m his cousin, Stefan.” He slid from his horse and held out his hand. “And you are?”

“Pippa, soon to be queen of all Nevermere,” Brom said, stepping closer, and Stefan seemed to take in the ring on my hand, then my husband’s. “Bondmate of the queen dragon, Glimmer and…” His hand landed on my shoulder. “My wife.”

“Well, it appears there’s a story to be told.” Stefan took the scroll finally and broke the seal, scanning the contents. “Righto, lads, escort these fine dragon riders inside.”

Chapter 8

“So His Highness wants a full inventory of our current stocks of dragonfire, does he?” Stefan threw himself down into a chair at the head of the table, then gestured for us to take a seat. No maids appeared with wine and food. Instead, some of Stefan’s men produced a few bottles and a chopping board with some good coarse-grained bread and crumbly cheese, nodding to us to help ourselves. Soren added to the spread, dragging out the food we’d been given for our journey. “Doesn’t want much.” Stefan shook his head. “As if I don’t have enough to do right now.”

“That includes travelling back with us to the capital,” Brom added smoothly.

Stefan let out a frustrated hiss but another man with the same dark hair and blue eyes shook his shoulder.

“Going to leave me in charge, Brother?”

“I’m older than you, Callum,” another man said, sitting down beside us, then shooting me a rakish smile. “By a few seconds.”

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