Page 30 of Enchanted Crown
Esta’s voice rang out clear. “No. Six is enough for today. He just came along to watch.”
I turned to look her in the eyes. “Krew and Owen can do it. How about that?”
“Fine.”
Samori let out a snort and then lightly pushed Owen all the way out to Krew, still standing in the water.
It took a little longer for Samori, Owen not used to using hismagic in this way, but Krew and Owen managed to heal the queen’s younger cousin. One at a time, I had laid the healed shifter’s human sleeping forms at Esta’s feet.
“Seven shifters healed today,” Owen said as he rubbed my shoulders entirely too aggressively. “Going for bragging rights, or a record?”
“Neither. Kian and Savanna were just the first shifters who made me feel welcome here. This was personal. While Krew was here, I wanted it done. Samori was just a bonus. I didn’t want us to work to burnout, but I wasn’t tired yet.”
Kian, Savanna, and Samori were moved to Serkan’s old lair momentarily. Esta would send a healer to fetch them to take them to the castle with the rest of the healed shifters.
“I have something I would like you to see,” Esta told us as we readied to leave. “I will escort you, Owen, and the Wylan king back.”
“You can call me Krew, you know,” Krew said with a laugh.
“I’m trying to show you that I respect all you’ve done in Wylan. And that I am relieved you didn’t send your brother here to off him.”
“And I am trying to show you that I am thankfulyoudidn’t off him. That it is possible we could all do away with formalities in the near future,” Krew provided.
Esta’s eyes went to mine. “Is he always this stubborn?”
“Runs in the family,” Owen answered. “Let’s go.”
“Are the three of us too heavy?” Krew asked her.
But Esta had already shifted and blew a smoke ring at Krew as her response.
“Right,” he muttered. “The dragon queen is pretty andverystrong. Got it. Though I am not sure I’ll ever get used to seeing that.” Then after a moment. “But where does her crown go?”
I laughed. “Their shifted forms wrap around their human forms to protect them. So it’s still there. Underneath the scales. Ihad the same question. I thought they’d all be naked when they shifted back and forth.”
Fortunately, not,Esta provided, and I sensed the humor in her tone.It’d be far harder to get things done.
“You’d have my attention,” I deadpanned.
Her response was to do a roll, making us all cling to each other, blues and greens of our Enchantment running along our veins.
We rode in a content silence for a bit, and the shifters who were running protection for Esta met us as soon as we left The Drak. Samori had been one of those shifters, and I realized my error. I needed to be more careful about any extra healings. Though in his human form Samori looked no older than fifteen, he’d still been helping. He was an adept flyer. Maybe just sticking to the lottery would be better, they’d be better able to plan protection for Esta that way.
I was lost to my thoughts as we rode, thinking of the lottery. Every three days we would heal four or more shifters. So we had a break now. The breaks were to account for burnout, and to allow the newly healed to rest, not leaving Dra Skor too vulnerable while they healed.
Next up would be Jagen, the former king and queen, and Morana. The fact that Zaire would have to wait for the next batch of four healings at The Drak brought me an unnecessary amount of pleasure. Though if he was truly loyal to Dra Skor, we could use another dragon on guard.
I didn’t know all the cities of Dra Skor well enough yet, but I recognized Arava as we neared it some time later. “Back to The Pit?”
No. Listen.
My stomach lurched as she held her wings out wide and dropped us down. We flew low over the tops of buildings. I could hear the thump of music; lights were sprinkled everywhere in such a way that the entire city felt alive instead of nearing the end of aday. In the case of a certain area, people packed into a small courtyard together laughing and chatting.
“Is today some sort of holiday?” Krew asked.
She banked around for another lap, letting out a roar from the sky as she did.
Numerous people picked up their heads to the sky and cheered.
