Page 89 of Monsters of Air

Tanja hit him again and whispered something else, her eyes on me.

He sighed, giving her a look before turning back to us. “You’ve done well out there. The Fae have become more aggressive lately, and you managed to stop them there long enough for us to gather and push them back. We are grateful for that.”

The tension in my shoulders relaxed, I had expected so much worse given the way he kept looking at me.

“What he isn’t saying is we will be taking you to the king,” the rider, Tanja, said with a look to her dragon. Oh, there was the bad news.

“Even the Gryiene,” the Captain said, snarling at Zilon again.

“Yes, even him,” Tanja gave him a look before she continued. “You have shown all the good qualities of bravery and courage. King Laskis will want to reward you.”

“Reward?” I asked, not liking the way she said that. I could only see it not, my reward of beheading for not going across the mountains myself.

“Don’t be dramatic,” Landers warned in a whisper from behind me.

“Yes,” Tanja went on with a grin. “We had reports of the Fae in Crotlyn Mountains, gathering to attack. We just didn’t know when. If you guys hadn’t been there to stop them, this could have ended very badly all around. So thank you.”

“They weren’t there for me?” I asked, realizing too late how selfish that sounded. Even Tanja’s smile faded. “My Da said the Fae took the riders and the way they chased us through the mountains, it felt like they were.”

Well, that and the Fae we had captured said that he would take me when he came back with his army to attack us.

“They probably saw you as a bonus as they prepared their attack,” she said, waving me off. I nodded, even if it didn’t make sense. They must know more about the Fae, besides, that one we captured was more lies than he was worth. He sure loved to stir up drama.

I told myself that was it, even if the confusion that was rumbling through me from Zilon told me I wasn’t the only one to question.

“So wrong place, wrong time?” I whispered, the confusion that was raging through me turning into something closer to concern. Shock. Betrayal. That last one was mine, and it was quickly turning into rage. “My Da is dead because we were unlucky?”

Tanja’s expression softened. “Do you need us to arrange anything?”

“We’ll send for someone to take care of it; and to alert your family.” The black dragon spoke before I could respond, his tone bland, like it didn’t matter, like none of it mattered.

I bit my lower lip, needing to keep myself in check. I had been punchy ever since Philit’s lesson, and I had a feeling punching this guy would not end well.

Zilon’s hand stiffened against my back, pulling me back. The other two moved closer to me, clearly ready to stop me from doing stupid. Like punching a dragon captain. Tanja’s eyebrows raised as she watched us.

“Interesting,” she mumbled low enough that without my hearing I might not have heard her. “Well, we better get you to the king before he grows impatient. The old coot doesn’t understand that things take time sometimes.”

“Don’t talk about the king like that,” Captain Corniz warned, giving her a dark look. Well, at least he looked at everyone like that. Tanja didn’t recoil, though, she just laughed.

“Or what? He’s going to behead me. My uncle won’t touch me. He loves me too much.”

Captain Corniz sighed, as if he was used to her acting like that. I was just stuck staring at her, the King was her Uncle. I didn’t know what that meant for us, but Landers' bow from early suddenly made sense. I tried to bow to her just then, but ended up stumbling and falling into her. Zilon tried to catch me, but only ended up grabbing the back of my pants. They pulled with a ripping sound, the fabric shredding as they lifted from my backside and I promptly mooned the King's niece.

Awesome.

“Follow me.” Captain Corniz sighed exasperatedly and turned and walked away, leaving Tanja behind with us. “Don’t let Duran or his position scare you. He’s a giant teddy bear.”

“Maybe for you he is,” I whispered, suddenly glad I hadn’t mooned the king.

Tanja laughed again. “True.” She didn’t expand on that even though her expression briefly darkened.

Tanja bugged me the whole time about my journey and everything we had to go through. I told her mostly everything, but not about my bonds with the dragons. I skipped over those details intentionally, not trusting her. She was too observant, too close to the king. Besides, something about it was starting to grate me, some ping of warning.

I had three mates… everything in me told me that was right. But now I wasn’t so sure.

I wasn’t so sure that what we were being led to wouldn’t end in something worse.

Chapter Thirty-One

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