Page 19 of The Dragon Queen

“And Darkspire’s burns holes in leather and organic material,” Brom replied.

“Glacier’s burns like ice.” Flynn yanked off his glove, revealing a thin scar on the edge of his hand. “He got me one day when we were learning manoeuvres. The master of water dragons tried to tell me, but I didn’t listen.”

“You learned your lesson,” Soren said with a nod.

“This dragon…” I looked around me. Did the earth shift restlessly, unable to remain reliably still when it covered an ancient threat? “He was… considerably more powerful than others. One of the old ones.” Each man stared at me in incomprehension, because they hadn’t seen it. “And you use his blood to make weapons.”

“Burns through anything organic except clay and metal,” Stefan replied. “Explodes on impact. It’s powerful stuff, more powerful than anything my cousin has in his armoury. For a long time we were the secret weapon of human queens, then when Gloriana took the throne, we decided we were done waiting in the shadows.” He stood up and so did his brothers, staring down at me. “One of our own was selected as the queen’s consort. Enjoyed the soft life, he did, for a while, but why would he remain in the background, supporting a queen who couldn’t be bothered to rule?”

When he could be running things himself. I shook my head slowly, and that helped dispel the remains of the spell the past had cast over me. My toes flexed along with my fingers, making clear they were all in good working order.

Males can be dangerous.Glimmer shot Stefan and his brothers a wary look.Their drive to protect, to defend can sometimes go beyond what is appropriate. When they seek to control, to coerce, to ensure you stay safe, then what is the real threat?Her head tilted to one side.Them or the external danger?

“Don’t you worry your head, Highness,” Stefan continued. “I apologise for the funny turn you had down there, but as these fine riders have ascertained, my numbers are correct. We can start out at first light and see what my cousin intends to do about those bloody Harlstonians.”

Apparently,that’s what we’d do. We were given a serviceable room which had an excellent view of the desolate lands beyond. I stood by the windows, staring out at them, as my men brought our bags in.

“How’re you feeling?” Brom’s hands landed on my shoulders and I turned to stare at something far finer. “That was… terrifying.”

“You looked like you were going to become an icicle.” Ged tried to smile and failed.

“One that wasn’t telling the entire story down there.” Flynn crossed his arms. “Not that I’m complaining. Draven’s family… they’re a strange bunch.”

“One part lives in the city,” Brom explained, “providing support for the king when the nobles meet, but the others… They’ve stayed true to their origins, keepers of a valuable yet terrible resource.”

“Power is a terrible, wonderful thing…” Everyone stared as I quoted Tanis, so I sat down on the side of one of the beds. “This is what I saw.”

The others claimed their own seats, clustered around me and waited for the story to come out.

“So if thestuff is truly that destructive,” Ged said. We were all lying in bed now, having pushed the singled beds together to create one large one. “What does Draven propose to do with it?”

“We’ll find out when we return.” Soren sighed and then pulled me closer, tucking me under his chin. “Though I must say, what we know can’t become common knowledge. We don’t even know which of those lordlings killed their family to claw their way higher up the rungs of power.”

“Who murdered them, you mean.” Flynn’s voice was taut, so I reached across the pillows, finding his hand and giving it a squeeze. He returned the gesture, holding my sensitive fingers even after my arm began to ache. “That’s what we need to focus on next. All the war preparations in the world will come to naught if we don’t find the rats in our midst. I told Draven to let me loose Glacier on them. I’ll fly home, have every member of my house face my dragon, work out which one of them committed these heinous acts.”

“And why hasn’t he?” Brom’s reply was just as intense. “A dragon has to be directed to read the mind of someone to work out if they are guilty or not, and yet he has not done so.”

“Because he doesn’t want to go off half-cocked.” There was a note of reproof in Soren’s voice. “Everyone is on edge. Making accusations before his father is in the ground?—”

“Both our fathers.” I looked up over Soren’s shoulders, seeing Flynn’s eyes burning in the darkness. “Are we forgetting that? My father died as well, along with my brothers.”

“And Draven will bring them to justice.” I said that withoutthought, but once the words came out, I knew they were true. “This is a delicate time. We all must play our part.”

“And right now, that involves sleeping.” Soren tugged me back down into his arms and I settled in against his chest, letting my eyes fall closed. “We need to be well rested for the journey ahead, because I don’t think there’ll be much to be had once we land.”

“Unless you’ve got other ideas to relax us…?”

I heard Ged’s suggestion, caught the sly note to it, but it wasn’t enough to keep my eyes open. Exhaustion hit me hard, forcing me to melt into Soren. He held me close, making sure I knew I was secure, safe now, but… As I fell asleep, I couldn’t help but feel it. Icy fingers that plucked at the blankets we’d heaped on top of us, sliding over our skin, forcing us to shiver at some point in the night. Stefan and his brothers were right. This place was cursed and I’d be glad to see the back of it.

The next morning,we all convened in the courtyard outside the citadel.

“That dragon of yours can create ice?” Stefan asked Flynn, nodding to Glacier.

“As long as he has access to a water supply.”

We all watched with interest as a great barrel was brought closer, Glacier giving it a sniff.

“This.” Stefan held out the tiny vial that he’d taken from the storeroom and we all shrank back at the sight of it. “It’s stable enough in the bottle, as long as you don’t slosh it around too much.” He made a show of thinking further on this. “Or drop it. Ice helps make it much more secure, though.”

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