Page 46 of The Ballad of the Vampire Prince

Most of the wyverns in Avalon are winged fire drakes that can lay waste to an army of thousands in a single breath. Their scales are harder than most metals and armors. Ordinary arrows will not be able to penetrate their body. When they take flight, the sky grows dark with their wings.

I feed her every single detail as best as I can.

Her pupils dilate and double in size with my passing words. “Is it true that the young ones have different colors than the adults?”

“Yes, the full grown, in their prime mostly have black scales. I haven’t seen any hatchlings. They’re hidden deep in the caverns by their protective mothers. But the juvenile ones have various colors, from turquoise to auburn, and even gold.”

I keep divulging every information I know of. But what does the color of their scale have to do with battle strategies?

Her brows knit for a moment but then a faint blush covers her cheeks. “I wonder if there’s one with a rose-colored scale.”

I fight a smile at that. The bastard Coinneach suggests I steal one of the tamer wyverns and paint it the coral color Rhianelle loved.

“Do they laze in the daylight like Blaire’s lizard?” she asks again, her lips pulling into one of her bright smiles.

The fuck is a Blaire’s lizard,I almost ask, but I answer her all the same. “They climb the rocky terrain of Ashenstone to sunbathe. I saw one of them in a pale-mauve color like your dress.”

I add the last unnecessary detail for her.

A strange yearning twinkles in her eyes. “It must have been beautiful to watch their scales glisten under the sun.”

They are your enemy, I almost remind her. The fae have tamed those beasts to mount them. They are bonded to their riders, the fae dragonlords, for life. Their loyalty and devotion to the Fae King are unyielding.

“How many do you think there are?” she asks.

Finally, a tactical question.

“Hundreds as far as my eyes can see. But the chasm of Magehorn runs deep. There are probably more in the cavernous pockets below grounds.”

A heavy, tense silence follows and her face changes into something solemn. I guess she finally remembers those fire breathing beasts will be used to burn her kingdom into ashes.

“I can check again for a better estimate,” I offer.

Her hand grasps my forearm instantly. “No, don’t go. It’s dangerous.”

The fear on her face from before has tripled—no—magnified by a thousand. My eyes lower from her face to her tight grip on my arm.

She’s worried for me…?

Lilith and the other curse bearers would have made me go repeatedly, even if I was burned to death each time.

“I won’t go then.” My voice is strained. Her grasp on my arm loosens but she doesn’t remove her hands.

Good. Just stay there forever.

“I’m sorry I took a peek at your chart. But I saw that you marked the Fae Market in Avalon. Have you really been there?” she asks.

“I have. Both the Seelie and Unseelie one,” I say, and I regale her with the specifics of what I had seen. She listens to me with those sparkling eyes. It’s her world and yet I’ve seen more of itthan she has. I wish I can just scoop her in my arms and show her everything.

That might not be a bad idea.

I take another look at the girl beside me. “I’m not in the mood to train today, but there is a place not far from here called Duskwood. It’s great for target practice. We can go there if you want.”

Rhianelle doesn’t need a lesson on archery. Her form already rivals some of the best marksmen I know. But the girl has been cooped up in this keep for so long. The only places she goes back and forth to every day are the council chamber and our room.

She needs this.

Wariness pulses on her tender face. “Duskwood is too close to the Red Road. Aelfric will get mad if we run off near the fae territory.”

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