Page 66 of Crown and Dragon

They kept their voices quiet as they soared over the moonlit city. Though they couldn’t be seen, they could still be heard.

“Before I escorted Durniad’s sorry arse to the afterlife,” Tahlia murmured, “he claimed to be in league with the Witch herself as well as the Eelsmen.”

“I seriously doubt the Witch would give him the time of day. But the Eelsmen…” He grunted, thinking. “We’ll deal with them in the next moon. It matters little whom he was in league with anyway since he is gone.”

“So are you finally finished loathing humans?”

The hesitation in her voice punched a hole in his heart. “I don’t loathe everyone in Midhampton and I certainly don’t loathe you.”

She held him tightly, and her body moved as she took a deep breath. “Well, I am glad to hear my mate doesn’t hate me.”

The tear in his heart ripped open further. He took her hand again and nipped at her palm. “You know what I mean.” Gods, she smelled wonderful, and he couldn’t wait to ravish her properly.

Through the plumes of mist, the ballistae on the city walls whipped around to face them. Those manning the weapons looked around like their heads were on swivels, so Marius was fairly certain they remained invisible.

Queen Revna eyed Marius and pointed up.

Ragewing, prep for a launch.

On it.

Chapter 33

Tahlia

Ragewing shot toward the very moon itself and Tahlia nearly swallowed her brains. The queen’s black dragon did likewise—the flying part, not the brain eating—assumably because remaining close kept them all invisible and they needed to get out of range of the ballistae. The cool night air bit at Tahlia’s cheeks and she grinned widely, restraining herself from whooping with joy.

The dragons leveled out until the city was a fogged gathering of stone that appeared to be the size of a fisted hand. They flew quickly past the walls and over the nearby forest.

“We are visible now!” Queen Revna shouted over the wind, her words barely audible.

Tahlia knew how that felt. Their voices weren’t powerful like Marius’s and the other Mist Knights.

“To the Witch’s abode, my lady queen?” Marius asked, using said Mistgold blood power.

She nodded, and the dragons flew onward into the night. Tahlia couldn’t decide what was more exciting: Marius’s divine body against hers—she shivered with delight as he gripped her thigh with one of his perfectly large hands; the success of their mission—if one didn’t fret overmuch about the murdering; orthe fact that the Witch was now responsible for healing Lija and soon she’d be in the skies with Tahlia, flying high and heading for battles with pirates.

“How much trouble will I be in for killing Durniad?”

“No more than Ragewing and I will be for exposing our identities.”

“I hope we get to share a dungeon cell at least.” Tahlia slid a hand over Marius’s leg and stroked the inner side of his powerful thigh. Oooh, she loved those thighs.

Marius growled low in his throat, the sound he made when pleased but also not able to approve. It was one of her favorite sounds.

At the Witch’s house,Ragewing and Arkyn landed. The queen remained on her dragon’s back, but Marius dismounted and bowed. Tahlia followed, taking Marius’s hand. An owl hooted from the peaked roof of the Witch’s abode, and a chill ran over Tahlia’s back. She ripped off the remainder of the dress’s skirts, glad that she’d slipped some loose sleeping trousers underneath before she’d been “married” to Durniad.

Queen Revna cleared her throat and looked around, as if she was expecting someone. “Well, this is where I leave you. I was never here. You never saw me,” the queen said quietly, and then she and her forest dragon flew away.

The branches of the oaks overhanging the Witch’s house waved in the wind of Arkyn’s wings. Marius looked at Tahlia; he was chewing the inside of his cheek as if deep in thought.

“What was that all about?” Tahlia whispered.

Marius grumbled. “She was helping us in an unofficial capacity, so we must pretend that she never did. We’ll give the crown to the king. He doesn’t need to know details.”

He unbuckled his belt and handed her the crown. It was invisible in spots; the Witch’s concoction was wearing off.

“But we will have to tell him that we killed Durniad, right?” She turned the crown over in her hands, studying its shine and weight. “And that the humans saw Ragewing.”

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