Page 3 of Dragons' Future

"Wait." Darren says. “I wasn’t done.” He turns toward me, and pumps his cut hand until a thin trickle of blood streams to the snow. His chin rises and a trickle of magic stirs around his palm. "From horizon's edge to world's end,” he intones, “by my breath and my bone, I am yours to command."

A whisp, like a tendril of living fog, rises from Darren’s spilt blood and trickles through the air. It brushes over me with the softness of a butterfly wing, yet I feel it settle deep in my bones.

Cyril inhales sharply and Tavias jerks his gaze back to Darren, his brows rising. Even Quinton steps back, dropping his sword.

Hauck looks as confused as I am.

"Those are ancient words," Cyril says. “And ancient magic.”

"My family is of an ancient line," Darren replies to Cyril before addressing me again. "That is a dragon's fealty oath, my queen," he explains. "Once made, it cannot be broken."

Oh stars. "You… You really shouldn't have done that," I stammer. "I'm not whoever you think I am—I can’t be, because I don’t even know who I am. I didn't even know I was a dragon until today.” I’m rambling. I know I am.

"But, I do know who you are," says Darren. He seems a great deal more confident in this whole mess than I am. “From distant lands, mortal strays,” he says, reciting the prophecy the dragons have held to for so long.

“With locks of white and air that plays.

Thus rises one that’s strong and true, who’ll conjure life her soul imbued.

Her spirit fierce, her power vast, her fate entwined with dragons' past.

Their numbers scarce, their hopes forlorn, for generations hatchlings mourn.

Until the dragons forge a bond, a unity that grows beyond.

With only her shall dragons find, a future thriving and entwined.”

As Darren finishes, his two brothers kneel beside him and draw their palms over Tavias’s blade. They give the same oath Darren had. My mind spins. Before I can find words however, there is a sound behind me. A mix of a pained roar and whimper.

Sethis’s dragon is stretching his head toward me, his nostrils puffing warm air that turns to steam in the chill.

My queen. A voice that I know belongs to the injured dragon sounds in my mind, before the dragon’s strength gives out and his head drops back to the snow. My… queen.

CHAPTER 2

Kit

“Geoffrey had two other packs with him by the time they found us,” Darren explains as we forge our way down the mountain through the blizzard. “Their offer was simple. Pledge support to Geoffrey until the trial’s end, or die.”

“Why would anyone agree?” I ask. The cold bites my lips and tongue, making it hard to speak. I have to shout to be heard over the wind’s howling. According to Hauck, the worsening weather would have forced us to decamp even without Sethis smashing our shelter into smithereens, but it’s still a miserable trek. “No one entered the trials just to forfeit to Geoffrey. Don’t they still want the elixir?”

Lee makes a whimpering sound as she trips and nearly falls into the snow.

“A great many things have changed since the trials started.” Darren scoops her up into his arms. My friend makes a noise that’s a mix of gratitude and protest, but buries herself into the dragon’s chest. Worry rolls off her in waves I can now smell.

I follow her gaze to Sethis.

It had taken longer than anyone liked to convince the injured dragon to shift back into fae form. Rand carries him now, with Quinton bringing up the rear guard and Hauck leading the way through the forest. Each time a harsh gust of wind makes Rand shift his gate, Sethis grits his teeth.

“We can’t go much farther,” I say to Tavias. “Sethis?—”

“- Sethis needs safety in which to heal.” His voice is hard, that of a general, his attention moving nonstop through our procession. “We stop when it’s right and not before.”

I nod bravely but it’s all a pretense. Each step is a fight against the wind. Icy snow seeps into our boots and tiny bits of hail stings our faces like needles. Stings my scales. Stars! How do the males deal with the assault of sensation that comes from all sides?

Tavias uses his fire magic in judicious bursts to clear some of the snow, but the males’ concern over setting off an avalanche keeps everyone’s magic in check.

Needing something to take my mind off the misery, I pick my way to where Darren is carrying Lee. “I still don’t understand why the other packs are joining with Geoffrey,” I say through chattering teeth. “If they’ve shifted focus from securing the elixir to survival, why not just leave? The trial ground wards will allow it for the dragons.”

---