Page 126 of The Dragon Queen

“The wall is down?” I remembered the Duke of Harlston, remembered the dark plans he concocted with his sister, the queen. This was no richly dressed duke congratulating himself on his own cleverness. Instead, his shirt was untucked and half unbuttoned as he pulled on his boots. “They attacked too soon. I can’t wait for the ships. I need a dragon to get me to the capital, now!”

“Of course, sir,” a rider said. “I?—”

“Your Grace.” Did the rider see the manic gleam in the duke’s eyes? The way he went pale suggested that he did. “You will refer to me as Your Grace.”

“Of course, Your Grace. Please accept my apologies.” As he went to bow, the building shook as another explosion went off. “So we are ordering a retreat?”

“Retreat?” The steel seemed to return to the duke’s spine. “No, I need you and the rest of your flea-bitten dragons to strike back! Burn these usurpers that threaten our home. Tear them from the sky!”

“But, Your Grace?—”

“But, but, but,” the duke sneered. “All of you are idiots. Fearful for your animals, for your own pathetic lives.” he gripped the rider’s arms. “You’ve committed treason, lad, you do realise that? What happens to those found guilty of treason?”

“They’re hung from the gallows in the capital’s grand square,” the rider croaked out.

“That’s right, so if you’re going to die, do so with honour, lad.”His tone changed abruptly, becoming warm, almost cajoling. “Go and defend our city and we will strike back at these bastards, bringing the capital to its knees. Beatrice!”

My hands slapped down on the wall and a faint growl had me looking down, noting that Glimmer’s claws were also digging into the plaster.

“You’ve got the eggs.”

“Of course, darling.” That warm voice, the shift in her expression the minute she walked into the room, with several servants tugging an insulated box behind them… She went to him, ready to fall into the duke’s arms. “We lost another one?—”

My nails dug into the plaster, sending a shower below.

“Not the queen.” He stared into her eyes. “Not the queen, correct?”

“No, my love, though…” This was the first time I had seen fear in Beatrice’s eyes. Not when she tried to poison me. Not when she succeeded with Glimmer. I raked my nails downward, the feeling of crumbling plaster only partially satisfying the rage in me. “Perhaps it would not be so bad if it did die.”

It? I looked down at Glimmer and saw that her fangs were bared.

“I have tried and tried to use the amulet to get through to the little bitch?—”

“No,” I whispered, feeling that same claustrophobic feeling I’d experienced when I’d had a vision of Glimmer’s treatment in the egg. “No, no, no…”

“You failed me again?” Why did anyone throw their lot in with the duke? He was a snake in a man’s form, his voice little more than a sibilant hiss. “After you were unable to force the other queen egg to bond with you? A dragonling in the shell, and still you were unable to bring it to heel?”

She went deathly pale as he approached.

“My love?—”

“You are the weak link here, Beatrice. You. I should’ve chosen another girl.”

“No, Your Grace, please,” she said.

“If I had found someone stronger, better, then we wouldn’t be where we are now.” He looked past her to the servants. “Bring the box to the top floor and be careful about it! I’ll toss your unworthy hides from the balustrades if you crack another shell.”

We had to go, race up the stairs and meet the duke before he got there and then?—

“Have a dragon meet me on the balcony,” he snapped at the rider. “Your fastest one.”

“That would be my Celerity,” the rider replied stiffly.

“Really? How convenient. Well, you can redeem yourself now and get me out of here. We should’ve left the moment my nephew’s riders arrived. Why the idiot didn’t strike immediately, I’ll never know, but his weakness is my gain.”

“Of course, Your Grace.”

“Your Majesty.” Both Beatrice and the rider paused at that, but despite the chaos going on outside, the duke smiled. “My nephew had his chance to sit on the Nithian throne. All he had to do was recognise where his power came from and he would’ve enjoyed a long and prosperous reign, just like his father. Now it’s time to usher in a new era.”

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