Page 143 of The Dragon Queen

You’re rising to mate, dear heart.

Never!She hissed at one male, then another.They are not worthy!

No, darling, because they have to prove their worth to you.

“Steady, lad,” Soren said to Wraith, the big purple dragon tracking Glimmer’s every movement. “Don’t rush her first time.”

They will never be able to. Glimmer was pure arrogance. As a fully grown queen dragon, she’d never felt more in control of her own power.You will never catch me.

Are you so sure, beloved?

That was Darkspire. His progress was slow, studied.

You left. Her voice dripped with scorn.You didn’t follow me here. You came too late.We all looked nervously at each other. My dragon seemed to accept Draven’s back with open arms, but a heat brought out some primal instincts in a dragon.You are the least worthy of mating me.

Then fly high, my mate.Obsidian came to stand beside Darkspire.Do not fear. We will catch you.

You fools…

With a growl, she flung herself upwards. I felt every sweep of her wings, clawing through the air. Higher and higher she climbed, and the dragons watched her every move.

It will be a grand thing when we catch her.If a dragon could chuckle, Glacier did then.

You have to try first.Cloudy threw himself into the air and started after her, spurring the others to do the same.

“Mm…”

Hands, so many hands, covered my body but I was up there in the sky, flying along with Glimmer. My muscles burned, my body ached, and still we pushed on. Survival of the fittest, that’s what this was, and yet we had already chosen the males that would father ourchildren. I turned around then. Each one of my men looked just as hungry, just as desperate, as the dragons felt.

“Ready to give Lily a little brother or sister?” Flynn asked, tugging me closer.

“Ready,” I said, slamming my mouth down on his.

Epilogue

Seven years later

“Mummy, will I be a dragon rider?”

Lily was no longer a chubby-cheeked child anymore. She was ten years old, and I could see the beginnings of the woman she would become. It was late summer, and the sun was just setting, bringing with it some blessed cool breeze.

Not that,Glimmer told one of her brood.Pippin doesn’t like it when you eat the roses.

But Mother, they taste so nice. Viridian was a green dragon, and he extended his muzzle towards a particularly pretty apricot rose bush.Like a peach.

Then eat a peach.She reared up on her back legs, ready to pluck one from a nearby tree, but Wraith’s tail flicked out. He expertly dislodged one and sent it sailing over to land at his son’s feet. She nodded in response, then turned to see if Viridian would eat it.They are far sweeter than roses.

He hunched down in the grass and then put it between his paws, chomping down on it and then startling when a burst of juice hit his nose. I chuckled and turned back to my daughter.

“Perhaps.”

My son, Charles, was sitting astride another of Glimmer’s sons. Kay, Brom’s mother chuckled at his antics, even as she hovered at his side. Jericho was a blue dragon, and Glacier and Flynn were keeping an eye on them both as Jericho walked around carefully. Charles chortled, crying out, “Horsie! Horsie!” as they went.

“The dragon—” I started to say.

“Chooses the rider.” I saw some of myself in Lily’s thoughtful gaze, and I followed it to where our Ember sat curled amongst the flowers. A golden queen, she was an image of her mother. “I would die to become Ember’s rider.”

“She might not want a rider.”

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