Page 65 of The Dragon Queen

Draven sucked in a breath to argue, then stopped himself.

“And some of us didn’t even get the chance to ask for Pippin’s hand.” All eyes were on Flynn, who bore that attention with equanimity. “Seems like the two of you quarrel over her like two dogs and a bone.”

“Steady…” Soren growled.

“Whereas you don’t even dare put yourself forward, so sure you are of being rejected,” Flynn added.

I was hot and cold, all at once. Sweat prickled across my skin, Brom’s seed slid down my inner thigh, and yet all I could focus on was them.

“A rider gives up on the hope of marriage when he signs up,” Soren grumbled. “It was an oath we swore.”

“So what do you call this, then?” Ged’s grip on me tightened and his nose nuzzled into my neck. “Common born people often can’t afford a church wedding or a fancy ring, so they just shack up together and call each other wife and husband.” I looked back at him, warmed by his smile. “It’s what you’ve always been to me, Pippin. I know we can’t tell the world, but what do I care about what the fishmonger or the night soil man thinks about our relationship?” My breath caught in my chest as I watched his lips twist. “You’re all I could ever want, all I think about, and that’s been the case since the moment I laid eyes on you. Was a bloody uncomfortable thing as back then I thought you were a pig boy…”

I snorted at that and so did he, his smile infectious. I turned around and threw my arms around him.

“Of course, when I worked out what lay beneath those bloody clothes…” His hand snaked down to cup my arse. “I admit I was more than a little relieved.”

“I’m working on it.” Draven blurted that out. “I didn’t want to say anything, give anyone hope, not until the royal lawyers were sure of it. The queens took several consorts before. Why couldn’t I do the same?”

“I am not pretending to be your lover for the people,” Flynn said. “No offence, Brom.”

“None taken.”

“Make Pippin queen then.” I turned to stare at Soren, taking in his wry smile in my confusion. “Return to the old ways. It’s not as if this doesn’t have precedent.”

“I don’t want to be queen.” My hands were up, ready to ward off that honour. “I don’t.”

But of course, no matter what anyone said, someone got hurt. This time it was Draven, his faint smile pure agony. He stared at me in the darkness, as if he could see beyond the shadows, both in the alleyway and inside me.

“Let’s get everyone back to the palace,” Brom suggested. “If we’re going to discuss sedition, I’d prefer far fewer witnesses.”

The rider and his barmaid had long disappeared thankfully, and so we hailed a carriage, piling in and enduring a long, silent ride back. It felt like we had resolved nothing, which left everyone sitting with their own thoughts, not willing to share them. I feared we would go to bed like that, but everyone stripped down and washed up, Soren patting me dry and then carrying me to bed like I was his bride in truth. When he laid me down on the bed, the others came with him, clustering around me like Cynane’s mates did the queen.

As they should…Glimmer’s thoughts were sleepy, sluggish, as if I’d roused her from her rest.Males protect and queens let them.

I couldn’t find it in me to argue. It was the end of a long, hard day, and I couldn’t keep my eyes open for one second longer. I fell into sleep, dimly aware of the weight of their bodies pinning me to the mattress.

Chapter 31

I woke the next morning to find the bed empty. Well, empty but for Glimmer and me. She was curled up into my side, breathing evenly right up until the point I began to move.

Where—?

Obsidian’s and Darkspire’s riders are in a meeting with men planning the war.She replied.They are very bored and very upset all at the same time.Her brow ridges wrinkled.That is a strange combination of feelings.

And Ged?I asked.

Cloud Raker’s rider is fussing over carriages.Her head jerked up, and then she stared at me.Are they going to use my mate like a cart horse?

I don’t?—

Wraith’s rider is with the younglings, she said.He is not happy, which is strange, because he seems to take great pride in helping young humans. Her head settled back on her claws.He will make a good father to your hatchlings when you have them.

When I…?I wanted to ask questions, many questions about this, but forged on.And Flynn?

But I knew where he was. Not just away from the palace, but out of the state altogether.

Glacier is very sad. Her colour seemed to dull slightly.His rider hasbeen trying to distract himself with hot thoughts of vengeance and honour, but all fires burn down to embers at some point. He is full of the grey ash of his pain.

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