Page 18 of The Dragon Queen

A dragon couldn’t smile, but I could almost imagine the seer dragon doing so as she bent her head in acknowledgement.

Whether it is terrible or wonderful depends on how that power is used, but…She looked off to one side, and my eyes followed hers, seeing now a familiar barren plain.Finding the right balance between those two poles is almost impossible to achieve.

We watched as some ragged looking humans picked their way across the landscape. Each one looked thin, desperate, as they would have to be to go scavenging here. Some jerked back from the ice as if stung. Still others screamed when the green blood touched them, the rest watching their flesh melt from their bones.

The natural curiosity of human beings means we never know when to leave well enough alone. Some time later, I saw that one of them had created a primitive bow and arrow. If the tip of the arrow was wood along with the shaft, it would’ve melted away, just like everything else that had touched the blood before, but it wasn’t. A simple stone arrowhead was dipped into the blood, and then I watched the archer pull the bow back, notching the arrow carefully, and then aiming it at a nearby tree. The subsequent explosion had every man crying out in surprise, all but the archer. That sardonic smile, those cold blue eyes, I knew them well, having watched them soften, heat up, and harden to ice at different times.

The power of Aisenbran is immense, Tanis told me, some urgency bleeding into her tone.

“Get the egg out of her bloody hand!”

“I’m trying! I don’t want to break her fingers!”

Find the balance, young queen. Find the balance or see all of Nevermere burn.

I was coming back to my body. Aisenbran was loosening his grip on me right as they tightened theirs on my hand. One finger, another, was prised back, sharp stabs of pain letting me know what awaited me.

Pippin!

For a moment I thought I stared at a glimpse of the future, the adult queen dragon transforming into Glimmer. Instead, my eyelids fluttered open to find my dragon on my chest, golden light glowing from her. The minute I saw her, the egg was dropped from my hand, shattering into a million pieces like a dislodged icicle.

Pippin!Glimmer shook her head, jerking closer to snuffle at my face.Where did you go? I couldn’t reach you. You were?—

I’m right here.

My arms went around her, the warmth of my dragon a welcome thing as I felt that residual cold. Finally, my body began to shiver, as if only now free to engage in the kind of involuntary responses that would keep us alive.

“I’m right here…” I stammered out, looking around the room and seeing my men clustered close.

“So you are.” Brom spared me a tiny smile before turning to the others. “Let’s get over to the fireside.”

“Blankets,” Soren snapped at a white-faced Stefan. “Blankets, now.”

“Right you are, Rider.”

Chapter 10

“Don’t put her too close to the fire!” Soren dropped down by my side as I was lowered into an armchair. Ged moved in swiftly, picking me and the chair up and moving us a little further away from the crackling flames. “Now let’s have a look, lass.” Soren’s hands took mine in his and I could feel them as he turned my hands this way and that. “Still got good circulation.”

“How…?” Flynn came into view, staring at me with wide eyes. “Ice was crawling up your hand, encasing you… It was heading for your heart.”

He would not claim it.Glimmer clambered back into my lap, and I pulled away from Soren, wrapping my arms around her. He nodded, then went to work unlacing my boots. They were removed along with my socks.Your heart belongs to me, nothim.

Did you see it?I asked her.Aisen?—

Don’t say his name here,she said with a shudder.Don’t. He lies under the earth, but… uneasily. She pulled back to stare into my eyes.That’s why we are here? Darkspire’s bondmate hoards dragon blood?

“Is that what it is?” I was forced to clarify what I meant by that question when I asked it of Stefan. “Dragon’s blood?”

“Don’t know.” There was something stubborn about the man’sresponse, and sharp looks from my men had him rethinking his answer. “Look, no one ever really talks about it. Just don't stay down there too long, and if someone starts whispering in your head?—”

“Get out.” Caden looked too pale right now. “This place is cursed. Everyone knows that. It’s why we don’t have anyone hammering down our doors, trying to take what’s here.” He glanced at his older brother. “Just your luck, you’re getting out of here for a bit.”

“You need to keep your heads on straight,” Stefan growled, then looked at Callum. “Both of you.” His expression softened when his focus shifted back to me. “What do you need, Highness? Should’ve known you shouldn’t go touching things down there, but…” A strange look of longing filled his eyes. “I wanted to know. Part of me always has. That place might be cursed, but why?”

“I’ve seen what dragonfire does in a vision,” I replied, clasping the heavy blankets I’d been given closer around me. They were both a means to try and drive the cold from my bones and a buffer between the fire and my skin. It felt a little too hot, alive, flickering behind the grate. “I think I know what it is.” I blinked, unable to contradict what I’d seen and yet saying it out loud? Some primal part of me thought better of it, but I forced the words out. “It’s dragon’s blood.Hisblood.”

“Dragon’s blood?” Ged frowned. “How is dragon’s blood a weapon? Cloudy’s runs red, just like mine does.”

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