Page 23 of The Dragon Queen

“Glimmer, then.” The woman spared me a nod. “The birth of a second queen dragon complicates things.” She allowed herself a smile. “Or makes things easier. One of our own girls could bond with the little dragon in the egg.”

Lady Helene nudged a couple of very pretty girls sitting further down the table. Both of their eyes went wide, and then they fluttered their eyelashes a little, smiling up the table at Draven in a way I remembered well.

Don’t be too direct. Don’t make clear what you wanted. As alady, you needed to be a picture of serenity, a pool of quiet, elegant energy that the man could sip from to replenish himself. Don’t have thoughts, feelings, opinions. All those old strictures were like a corset being laced tighter around my ribs, stealing my ability to breathe. The remnants of that training kept my mouth shut as people discussed me like I was a horse at market, not a sentient person.

“Now that bloody Raina isn’t here to skew the results of the bonding, perhaps one of our own could become the next queen,” another Nithian man said with a well-practised smile.

“Nothing creates order like inbreeding…” Stefan shook his head. “Eloise is very beautiful.” The girl flushed at that. “Genevieve as well, but surely having seen them in swaddling is enough to dissuade any man related to them from making an offer of marriage?”

“It has nothing to do with bloodlines or alliances.”

Draven was uncharacteristically quiet during dinner. So much so, I wondered if he was having a conversation with Darkspire instead. He came back to the moment with a snap. His hand took mine, cradling it close as everyone seemed to turn in that moment to stare. Not here, I wanted to tell him, not now. I didn’t want any of what we shared out there for passers-by to consume. But as my heart thudded way too fast, he said the words.

“The bonding of a queen dragon is much like other matters of the heart, one spurred by emotion, not politics. When we retrieve the other queen egg…” We all heard the emphasis on the first word of that sentence. “Then any woman that wishes to put herself as a potential bondmate may do so.”

In that moment, I felt it, that claustrophobic feeling Glimmer had endured in the shell. Mind after mind buffeting hers as it was still formed, trying to push their will, their wishes upon my dragon. We were the same, I realised now. Glimmer constrained to her egg, me to mine. When I heard the harsh sound of scratches at the door, I looked down at my free hand, half expecting it to be me that was demanding ingress. The door slammed open and a bemused footman ushered Glimmer inside. My dragon marched up the length of the table, her head held high.

I am queen here, she announced with all the confidence that had been bred out of me.This is my territory. People turned to watch her pass, but she didn’t even give them a second glance. Instead, she came to me, my arms moving of their own volition to scoop her up, but she was not content to sit on my lap.Their dragons are my mates.Draven smirked as she stomped across the table, scattering bread and side plates, to sit down in his lap, looking like the most incongruous of lap dogs.And this is my king.

I dared to smile then, turning to face these lordlings that thought to talk over me, as if I wasn’t even there. I might be the daughter of a minor lord, little more than a country squire, but Glimmer had chosen me.

And so had Draven.

“Who my queen will be is not up for debate. The matter is closed. My heart, my hand, the place by my side has been claimed by Pippin, and that’s where she will remain.” I gripped his hand tighter, watching each person in earshot react. “I’ll fight the Duke of Harlston, bring the queen dragon egg back, as well as all the others. The dragon riders who defected will face trial, but no harm will come to their beasts. I will restore order to the country, return us to the peace that the Nithians have always prioritised in their rule of the country, but…”

Did they see the dangerous glitter in Draven’s eyes? His were the same blue as theirs, but something very different burned there.

“If you try to push me or my queen-in-waiting, you will do so at your own peril. I can whisk Pippin away from all this, fly for the continent on Darkspire’s back, and spend our days in idyllic splendour on the mountainsides or fields of foreign countries, but you’ll…”

Gods, how I wanted that. I could just see the lot of us living rough, dirty, dishevelled, but happy, so happy. Draven didn’t allow himself that liberty. His smile had the dangerous glitter of a wolf’s fangs, right before its jaws clamped down on its prey.

“You’ll be bending a knee to the Duke of Harlston, or rather King Rion, first of his name, if he lets you live beyond the coup.”

“To our queen-in-waiting.”

Stefan raised his glass with a smirk that seemed like a wilder, freer version of his cousin’s.

“To the queen-in-waiting.”

I hadn’t wanted the title, their regard, anything other than to get through this dinner in one piece, hopefully with more knowledge about who the murderers were, but I got it anyway. People stood up all around the table, holding up their glasses. To me, to Draven, and also to Glimmer, though it was only four people’s focus I craved. I flushed but stood tall, accepting the attention with as much grace as possible, glad when everyone finally sat down.

The dinner concluded without fanfare.Draven escorted me back to his suite, only for us to be intercepted by the general.

“The list of names you asked for, Majesty,” he said, then turned to me. “Highness.” His eyes drifted down to spy Glimmer at our feet. “My queen.”

I quite like this one, she told me.

But she wouldn’t like the list we now skimmed. Names, too many names, had been written down with precise strokes of a quill, and while I didn’t know many of them, Draven did.

“The plan goes ahead as discussed,” he told the general. “The funeral in the morning, then a wake will be held in the courtyard. The entire corp will be on high alert.”

“Already are, Majesty,” the general replied. “Having another queen dragon at Wyrmpeak… Well, it’s got some of the males feeling a bit frisky.”

“They’ll need to focus on blood and honour, not mating.” Draven fixed the older man with a deadly stare. “This is a time for retribution, not regeneration. That can come once my uncle and his co-conspirators are brought to justice.”

“So you have the list?”

I wasn’t sure what I expected Brom to say when we got back toDraven’s suite, but it wasn’t this. He crossed the room every inch the wing commander.

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