Page 114 of The Dragon Queen

Draven’s voice was far gentler, but the way he clasped my hand, what he said, was still an attempt to placate me. That wouldn’t work. I could see it in ways they never would, not until it was done. They had no life experience, whereas I had borrowed some when watching the visions unfurl each time I touched the eggs.

“No, this must be factored into any plan,” I insisted. Rex sighed and I shot him a dark look. “What did we learn from Castle Fast? That the vast majority of Harlston wasn’t even aware of their duke’s treachery. The assassinations, that was a coup, not a declaration of war.”

“It became one anyway,” Draven growled.

“You can’t condemn yet more people…” I blinked, seeing the bodies that had been dragged from the ruins of Castle Fast. “To die needlessly. All this talk of Harlston and Skane, Cantlyn and Tharfield, is forcing us to forget something important. We are Nevermerians.” Draven’s grip on my hand tightened, but not to silence me. There was no joy in his eyes, but there was… pride. “Whatever plan we come up with, it must focus on that fact.”

Appealing to their sense of justice wasn’t working, I could see that in their sidelong looks.

“If only to prevent a wholesale brutalisation of one of thelargest duchies in the country. The sons of men killed, their daughters, they’ll pass on stories of the barbarity of the Royal Riders for years to come, and at some point, one of them will rise up to get revenge for what is done here.”

“Yes, well,” Rex said, his mouth pinched. “That is something we need to consider, but?—”

A dragon comes, Glimmer told me.

“Who’s that?”

Draven had his spyglass to his eye, and I was already on my feet. The large dragon, I thought it was Obsidian for a moment, but Brom’s dragon wouldn’t launch itself off the parapets of Blackreach.

Vigilance’s ‘rider.’The scorn dripped from Glimmer, right before she turned to Draven’s dragon.Darkspire.

He was lumbering forward, ready to scoop my dragon up, when Draven and I began to move.

“Majesty?” Rex said. “Majesty!”

“The bastard thinks to come and confront me?” Draven said, throwing himself into the saddle as soon as Darkspire got close. “He’ll regret that.”

“Take me with you!”

His eyes burned into mine, the setting sun turning his hair dark red. Those full lips parted as he readied himself to deny me, but Glimmer decided for him.

Now, Pippin,she said.It must be now.

I couldn’t pause long enough to ask why, scrambling up into the saddle and holding tight as Darkspire launched himself into the sky.

Chapter 55

“Well, well, I didn’t think you’d dare come to face me, ‘cousin.’”

The first time I met Royce, I thought him an arrogant fool, the second time, I was repulsed by him. Now I was horrified. Not by his smirking visage, but by the state of the dragon he rode. It had bright orange scales at some point, of that I was sure, but now the dragon was a dusty ochre colour. His head hung low, like a horse run to ground, his eyes wide and staring. That was what had me stiffening in the saddle, but Draven’s grip on my waist held me still.

“Cousin?” Draven’s disinterest was palpable. “Please tell me you haven’t come out here to ‘catch up on old times’…” His eyes slid down. “On a dragon that looks like it’s seen better days.”

What the hell was he doing, baiting Royce like this? I thought as the idiot’s hand went to the orange dragon’s spines. Royce wrenched on one cruelly, drawing a faint whine from the beast. My hand slipped to my sword, right as Glimmer scrambled forward. She stood there on Darkspire’s neck, taking in everything this bastard did.

Keep him talking, she told me.This one, his mind, it’s like a midden, full of stinking rotten things. I need to work out how to break the hold of that amulet.

What?I yelped, but Royce cut across our conversation.

“Bold of you to criticise Sunfire here.” Royce slapped a hand on the dragon’s neck. “You can hardly malign him for showing signs of being ridden hard.” I almost felt the moment when his focus shifted to me. It was like wet, slimy fingers being trailed across my flesh. “I dare say poor Sunfire has had less men on his back than your ‘queen.’”

I fought the urge to laugh. Not through joy, though it was a strange, hysterical thing. Darkspire let out a low, rattling growl and took a ponderous step forward.

I. Will. Eat. Him.

‘Spire’s voice echoed around in my head, more akin to the roll of thunder than anything a vocal chord could conjure, but Draven stopped him with a word.

“Not now, lad. It’s not this dragon’s fault he’s been forced to carry this sack of shite around. Your acid breath would reduce Sunfire to raw meat.”

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