Page 56 of Lightningborn

“Is that Storm?” she gasped.

“Go!” Remy called back. “Get back to theQueen’s Blade! We’ll be right behind you!”

She blinked, seeming to shake herself out of her daze, and nodded. “Cloud, up!” she cried, and the white dragon launched himself skyward. They rose swiftly into the air with the smoke and swirling embers and flapped away out of sight.

Remy slumped in relief. “All right, they’re gone,” he breathed, and slapped the dragon’s shoulder to get his attention. “It’s our turn now. Come on, Storm. Let’s get out of here.”

Storm opened his wings but froze, every muscle in his body coiling tight. “Storm,” Remy urged as the dragon continued to stand there, staring at something in the flames. “Come on. What are you looking…?”

He trailed off, his insides going cold. Through the smoke and flames, he saw something that made his blood freeze. A shadow in the darkness, bulky and hunched over as if in pain. The gleam of a cold blue eye glaring at them through the haze.

Jhaeros. He was still alive.

A billow of smoke gusted between them, and when it cleared, the silhouette was gone. Pirates were shouting, a few of them running toward them with their swords raised.

“Storm, let’s go!” Remy shouted, and the dragon jerked up. With a final roar of defiance, he sprang into the air, flapping his wings to gain altitude, and the deck swiftly fell away. Remy watched theWindsharkgrow smaller and smaller beneath him, watched the pirates scrambling to put out flames and recover from the rampage of an angry lightning dragon. He searched for Jhaeros among the flames and wreckage, but the pirate mage, if that shadowhadbeen him after all, was nowhere to be seen.

Storm leveled out, flaring his wings to the side as he glided on the air currents. In the distance, near the edge of the Vortex, Remy saw the sleek outline of theQueen’s Blade.The right wing had been shredded, and smoke curled from several holes in the hull, but it flew straight and true, injured but unbowed, and his heart lifted at the sight of it.

Blowing out a breath, he slumped against his dragon, thinking back to everything that had happened. He remembered then that moment in the Vortex when he thought he was going to die, hearing a voice in his head telling him to hold on. Of course, with all the chaos and weird things happening around him, it might’ve just been his imagination.

With a sigh, he patted the dragon’s shoulder, causing Storm to peer back at him. “Well, that was a wild day,” he muttered, and the dragon blinked. “But everyone is all right. And you’re big now. I have no idea howthathappened, but at least now I can ride you.”

Storm let out a snort and rolled his eyes. And a voice, perfectly clear and acerbic, echoed in Remy’s head.Don’t make me dump you into the Maelstrom, it said.Also, I hope there’s food on that ship. I’m starving.

EPILOGUE

They were waiting for him on theQueen’s Blade: Gem, Bart, Cloud, and Captain Cutlass, all looking relieved as Storm swooped down and landed on the deck. When Remy slid from the dragon’s back, stumbling a bit as he hit solid ground, Gem strode forward and threw her arms around him. He froze in shock as the princess of Gallecia hugged him tightly, wondering if it was okay to hug her back. But before he could do anything, she pulled away, her smile shaky with relief.

“I thought you were dead,” she whispered. “When you and Storm fell, I thought…” She trailed off, then looked past him at the dragon, her gaze shifting to amazement. “Is that really him?” she asked in awe. “How did he get so big?”

“Maelstrom magic,” Bart said, stepping forward. “The beast is a True Dragon, after all. Or at least, Jhaeros seemed to think it was.”

Storm flared his nostrils.Who are you calling a beast, old human?

Everyone except Bart started. Even Remy. He still wasn’t used to hearing his dragon’s voice in his head. But Bart simply smiled. “It’s been a long time since I’ve heard voices in my mind speaking to me,” he mused. “Sometimes, I wondered if I had gone sky-mad, after all.” He shook his head, then gave the dragon a very serious look. “Treat the boy well,” he said. “Don’t break his heart, like mine was broken all those decades ago.”

Storm blinked but didn’t answer. Captain Cutlass cleared her throat. “Well,” she stated, “this has all been very exciting, but I have a ship to look after. TheQueen’s Bladetook quite the beating, which I expect to be fully compensated for,Princess.” She gave Gem a pointed look, and Gem grimaced. “We’ll be heading back to port to get her patched up,” the captain went on, pragmatic and composed as always. “Dragons, sky knights, and talking lizards aside, I suggest you all decide what you want to do from there.”

Remy shared a glance with Storm and found the dragon thinking the same thing he was. What did they do now? Go back to Cutthroat Wedge like nothing had happened? Return to a life of stealing, begging, and scrounging to survive? He didn’t think that was possible anymore. Not with a dragon who, though not a full-sized True Dragon, was still as big as any normal adult.

Besides, he thought with a chill, Jhaeros was still out there. And he didn’t think the pirate mage was the type who would just give up and forget. If he and Storm stayed in one place, he was certain that Jhaeros would eventually find them.

“Boy,” the captain said, making him jump. “Your dragon can stay in the hold with the other one,” she told him, giving Storm a scrutinizing look. “With the same conditions I gave the princess: Don’t set my ship on fire, and don’t eat my crew. Do that, and I won’t even ask how in the Great Abyss a dragon you told me was no bigger than a dog got this big this fast.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Remy said. “He can understand you.”

“Can he.” Captain Cutlass turned to Storm. “Very well. Dragon, don’t set my ship on fire. Do that one thing and we’ll get along, understand?”

Storm blinked, thumping his tail against the deck in contemplation.As long as I get fed.

“I’m sure we can spare something.” Without missing a beat, the unflappable captain of theQueen’s Bladetook a step back. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, the crew is waiting for orders. Blackmailed by a kid and a talking dragon,” Remy heard her mutter as she strode away. “I’ll need a vacation after this for sure.”

Bart watched Cutlass leave, then turned back to Remy and Gem. “So,” he began, as if preparing for one of his long stories, “I think it’s high time someone told me what is going on. Princess”—he bowed his grizzled head to Gem, putting a fist over his heart—“why have you come? I appreciate the rescue, but I am not a fool. That you are here at all, away from the king and the capital, means something big is happening. Otherwise, why go through all the trouble to rescue a washed-up old sky knight?”

Remy’s heart beat faster. Was she finally going to tell them? Explain why a princess had come way out here to the Fringe, fighting pirates and mages and warships, all to rescue Bart? Gem paused, putting a hand on Cloud’s shoulder as she seemed to gather her thoughts. Her gaze strayed to Remy and Storm, and her lips tightened, as if she were trying to come to a hard decision. Finally, she sighed. Raising her head, she squared her shoulders and gave all of them a grave look.

“This stays between the three of us,” she said. Beside Remy, Storm gave an indignant snort and thumped his tail, making the princess blink. “Sorry, thefourof us,” she amended, gazing at them all in turn. “You must promise not to tell another soul,” she continued solemnly. “I trust you all, but this is something that could destroy the kingdom if it got out. So swear an oath to me right here, right now, that you will not tell anyone what I am about to reveal.”

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