Page 50 of Fate of Draga

Veri relished the ruthless qualities she’d always known Adelina had possessed – that had been in Asher from the very beginning. The royals were a breed apart.

The Game of the Wolf had confirmed Veri’s original suspicions about the shy princess. And enough time had gone by Adelina had embraced those vicious qualities.Thatwas what would get them through this war and on the other side alive.

TherealQueen of Draga.

Adelina took out a shreve and placed the seal on her palm on the surface. Then she tapped a few commands. A moment later the shield parted. “Come through and quickly. It will only hold its shape for a quarter of an hour before the strain will collapse the entire thing.”

Asher wasted no time getting the Draga Royal Army and the entire fleet through that shield to join the fleet Adelina had cobbled together on the other side. The sight of theJasmine, theWolf, and theRosehad Veri blinking back tears.

She’d had real doubts they’d ever get to this point. There had been moments she’d thought all was lost – so many times. And yet, here they were.

“I will see you soon, brother,” Adelina said with a smile, handing her shreve to someone off screen.

Then the transmission cut out and Veri tugged on her blue ponytail as she considered everything she wanted to speak to the queen about. How would she manage it with so much going on?

Then Veri saw the other ships.

Some were golden and beautiful in designs she’d never seen before. Those were clearly Drakesthai. They had wings after all, or something that reminded her of them. A few other plain, yet functional starships Veri assumed were the Unchanged’s and she couldn’t wait to meet the legends themselves.

But that wasn’t all.

There were Neprijat fighters, warships…as far as the eye could see and glittering in the dim light from two suns far from the center of both systems. And based on what Adelina had mentioned in the recording Delphine had dropped off, this was only a fraction of the ships they’d captured. Most had gone off with the Warrior Princess of Khara. Along with the small armada of pirates led by Captain Delphine. Or would it be Commodore Delphine now?

Either way…

Holy balls.

Veri couldn’t help her laugh.

So many had doubted the princess’s mission would have any real value in this war. Adelina had not only succeeded in her mission – she’d excelled.

“It’s impressive,” Asher admitted, knowing her thoughts as he always did. “If someone had told me this is what would happen three months ago I would have laughed myself sick. And now…I never should have doubted her.”

“She’s a master,” Veri murmured. “Everyonedoubted. All but those she wished to see the truth. If she had failed…no one would care. That level of manipulation is impressive. Not just this,” she said, sweeping her arm to indicate Adelina’s hodge-podge fleet.

“It still boggles my mind,” Asher admitted. “But even she had no idea what she was truly capable of. That makes me feel less like an ass.”

Veri snorted. “We all have our own problems. It’s easy to forget about what isn’t currently demanding our attention.”

Then they were through the shield, with the rest of the fleet following behind. They pulled up alongside theJasmine.

Veri eyed the planet in the distance and the outpost.

She had so many questions.

Mostlyhow. How had Adelina managed to get so many people to agree to work with her, to form alliances? Veri wished she had that kind of charisma but she never had. People obeyed her because she had the dominance to force them, but didn’t. And then she worked just as hard as anyone else.

“Hard seal to theJasminein three, two…” The captains of both ships worked together to make sure there wasn’t an accident. A jolt and a hiss and they were connected. TheRoyal Rosaneranow orbited around the outpost with Adelina’s flagship.

“Let’s go,” Asher said, sending a quick message off to theAlora, the warship Prince William was stationed on. “William will meet us in fifteen minutes.”

Veri followed her prince without question as they walked toward the lift that would take them down to the main hangar. The seal was on the same floor, conveniently placed. As the lift went down she wiped her hands on her spidersilk armor and tried not to think about the fact that she’d be meeting one of the Drakesthai.

The dragons had been a horror story her mother had told her to get her to obey. And now she was about to be face to face with one, and eventually fighting alongside them. Not only that, a Drakesthai prince would be her queen’s husband.

Asher took her hand in his and squeezed. His own palms were sweaty and Veri took comfort in the fact that her fearsome dark prince was just as nervous as she was.

It was one thing to receive orders over a cast, transmission, or recording. It was another thing entirely to see the quiet female they’d known as shy and submissive as the queen she was now. Months had gone by since they’d seen Adelina.

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