Page 9 of The Dragon Queen

“You hid that well,” I said, remembering his dismissive manner the first time I laid eyes on him.

“I do that a lot,” he said, his hand finding where my jacket ended and my pants began, slipping his shockingly cold hand underneath it to press his bare palm to my stomach. “Such is the lot of princes and now… kings.”

We spiralled downin the darkness, landing on the top of a hill somewhere far from the capital. Instead of bright lights and noises, there was just the quiet hush of the night air and the slight bob of wildflowers. Draven slid from the saddle, then held out his hands, helping me down and not letting go, even when my feet hit the ground. As Darkspire and Glimmer wandered off, he drew me over to a large, flat stone. Still somewhat warm from the sun’s heat, he sat down and pulled me onto his lap.

“I’ve never brought a lover here before, but I’m starting to see that was a mistake.”

My hands found the harsh planes of his face, lit by the moon’s glow, and I knew how this could go. I could kiss those full lips, now curved in an impudent smile, and know I’d be gasping and he’d be there along with me shortly afterwards. The other night doing just that felt like we were claiming something, claiming us now that we were safe to, but… Whatever we were to each other, that was still to be determined, it had to be more than heat and skin and kisses that threatened to drag me down in a sensual undertow, so I pulled away, sliding in behind him, my arms going around his chest and holding tight.

“So why do you come here?”

My voice sounded thin, weak, perhaps because I was in uncharted waters. He was to be king and I…

Am his queen.

Was that Glimmer’s voice or my own internal one? I didn’t know, but I straightened up, daring to run my hand through his long, dark hair, caught up in the way it slipped through my fingers, when he finally spoke.

“To get away.” His voice sounded creaky, like a door hinge that needed oiling. “To be free…” Of what? I wanted to ask, but he answered me without prompting. “Of the palace, the crown, the court, all of it. Of the fucking vipers there. Of the incessant gossip. Of the games.”

I felt his sigh more than heard it, his whole body relaxing into mine. I took the weight of him gladly, needing the press of it.

“And what happens when you do that?” I asked, staring into his eyes as he turned to face me. “Who do you become away from the palace?”

“Just Draven.” He leaned in slowly, giving me all the time in the world to pull away, but I never would. Passing that test, he pressed a kiss to my lips. “Just Pippin and just Draven, that’s what I need right now.”

So that’s what he would have.

Chapter 5

“You’re doing the best you can.” My words were blurted out, so it’s no wonder Draven stopped where he was, his lips hovering over mine. “I mean, I have no idea how you do it.” I was stammering out words, having no idea where they were coming from or if they were the right ones. “Trying to deal with courtiers and not knowing where their loyalties lie.” I swallowed hard but forged on. “I imagine the weight of that is immense, and yet you keep going.”

He eyed me then like I was a wild horse, unpredictable, but it was him who was skittish.

“No one…” He swallowed hard. “No one’s ever said anything like that to me before.” When his hand shook, when he finished raking it through his hair, I grabbed it with my own, giving his hand a squeeze. “I…” His breath was coming in faster and faster, noisy in the peace of the field. “I was never meant to be this, Pippin.” It felt like a boil was being lanced within him and while that gave him some relief, the poison within had to leak free first. “I was born to be a soldier, a rider, to distinguish myself in the dragonrider corp and bring glory to my house. My brother was to be king, had been schooled in the arts of leadership, whereas I…” He looked over to the dark shapes of our dragons. “Learned how to ride a dragon.”

“More than that.” I grabbed his hands and squeezed them. “Because you’re doing it. Each morning you get up, step up?—”

“And stumble where Felix would’ve stood tall.” His eyes met mine, and it wasn’t just the darkness that had shadows forming in them. “He was trying to work out what Mother had planned, to discover her plan and counter it before she could’ve put it into place.”

“You took up that work when he was killed,” I told him.

“And failed.” If I saw under Flynn’s mask earlier today, it felt like now was the moment when I really saw Draven. Not the arrogant prince, not the sensual creature of the other night, but a man–a vulnerable, wounded man. “I failed, Pippin. When I was…” His hand pulled away, reaching for me, but he stopped himself. “When I was celebrating the fact she was dead and gone, my own fucking mother. When I dared to think that we could move forward into a new era. One where people could live peacefully, happily.” His voice broke then. “Where we could be happy…”

He didn’t need to tell me what came next, how that dream died a premature death, because I knew. We all knew, but only he bore responsibility for it.

“Instead, my uncle used her death as a pretext to enact a plan so breathtaking in its selfishness it boggles my mind. Nevermere has been at peace since the demise of Queen Gloriana. My family was responsible for that peace.”

And now another part of his family was responsible for its demise.

“You are not your uncle, your mother, your brother,” I said.

“It is one of life’s tragedies that Felix died and I lived.”

He bit every word off, a rage burning there, but I couldn’t stand the fact that he directed it at himself.

“No.” I rose up on my knees, turning his face my way, even as he resisted my grip. “No, never say that. I’m sure Prince Felix was a very nice man and would’ve made a great king.” He stared into my eyes, making clear how much each word hurt him. “But I dare say that if I bonded to Glimmer while he still lived, he wouldn’t have driven me mad from the moment we first met.”

“You would’ve loved him,” Draven ground out. “Everyone did.”

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