Page 19 of Realm of Wind and Vines
Alarm crackles up my spine as I whip my head in the direction that Draven was looking, but I don’t even have time to see the danger before something heavy tackles me from the side.
I slam down on the ground with it on top of me. Air escapes my lungs in a huff as I hit the grass, and I gasp to refill them again. A hand slams down over my mouth. Yanking my arms up, I try to shove at the weight above me while panic pulses through my veins.
Then my gaze meets a pair of gold eyes.
Confused, I stare into them for another few seconds.
It takes me two more to realize that it’s Draven.
Draven is the one who tackled me to the ground and who is currently lying on top of me with his hand pressed over my mouth. My heart beats erratically in my chest. Was he… trying to protect me?
As if he can read that question in my eyes, he immediately snatches his hand back and scrambles off me.
“Don’t get any ideas,” he snarls at me under his breath. “You would’ve given us away if you’d remained standing any longer.” Rolling over on his stomach, he braces his elbows on the ground and then nods towards something to our right. “And I simply didn’t want to be fightingthat.”
Tearing my gaze from him, I shift my attention towards the spot he nodded at.
Cold dread washes over me like ice water when I find an entire host of silver dragons flying towards us.
“Malachi’s balls,” Orion curses from where he is lying on his stomach on my other side.
Isera, who is in a similar position next to him, just stares at the large group of silver dragons through narrowed eyes.
Based on the size of the dragons, Bane and Jessina are not among them, so it must be a squad of soldiers or something.
Their scales glitter like starlight in the bright sun, and their massive wings boom through the air like thunder. My heart pounds as I watch them draw closer. They’re flying in formation towards the mountain doors, and they don’t look to be in any particular hurry, so they can’t be here for us. But I still curl my fingers into the soft grass, gripping it hard, as if that can somehow steady my racing pulse.
The four of us are powerful. But there looks to be at least twenty-five of them, so I doubt we would win a battle against them in these circumstances.
Gusts of wind rip across the landscape as the host of dragons reaches the flat stretch of ground before the mountain doors. The grass trembles in fear as their wings slam down above it when the dragons swoop down to land. Thuds echo across the grasslands as their massive bodies hit the ground.
From under the cover of trees and bushes, I watch as one of the silver dragons hovers over the grass instead of landing straight away.
I suck in a sharp breath as the dragon opens his claws and sets a person down on the grass. Long brown hair whips in the wind from the dragons’ wings, revealing a pair of pointed ears.
Lavendera.
The other dragons finish landing. Five of them shift into their human forms while the other twenty remain in dragon form. The dragons face the mountain, standing there in their massive forms as if they can glare the doors open. The five who shifted, however, turn to watch Lavendera. They don’t approach her or restrict her in any way. In fact, it almost looks as if they’re guarding her. But from a wary distance.
Narrowing my eyes, I study her.
There is no fake iron collar around her neck now. Instead, she is wearing a simple pair of gray pants and a white shirt with silver details that glint faintly in the sunlight. And the way she is standing, the way she is carrying herself, it’s as if… As if she is a person of authority.
I furrow my brows.
Why would the Icehearts give Lavendera any authority? I thought they hated all fae. So who?—
I almost gasp when a sudden thought strikes me like a lightning bolt.
Snapping my mouth shut, I just barely manage to cut the sound off before it can escape my mouth. But my heart starts pounding in my chest.
Is Lavendera related to the Icehearts? A bastard birthed by one of Emperor Bane’s previous life slaves? Based on the way he treated Isera and how he made her dress, and how he talked about her mother as well, it wouldn’t surprise me if he actually crossed the line with some of his previous life slaves.
My heart beats hard against my ribs as I stare at Lavendera in a new light.
I don’t know for certain, of course, but it would explain a lot. It would explain why the Icehearts give her so much freedom and authority. And it would also explain why she is loyal to them. If she’s half dragon shifter, and Bane’s bastard to boot, getting her to switch sides might turn out to be impossible.
“It’s Bane and Jessina’s elite guards,” Draven whispers from my right, but his eyes remain fixed on the group of silver dragons. “Which means that whatever they want from the Green Clan is important.”
