Page 115 of The Dragon Queen

What ‘Spire could do was well known, so I wasn’t sure why Royce went so pale. He looked down at Draven’s dragon, as if seeing him for the first time. I watched his throat work, his grip on the saddle tighten, but right as I wanted to glory in this idiot’s newfound fear, a sharp pain stabbed through me.

“Ah…!”

I doubled over, trying to breathe through it, but I wasn’t able to. It was as if my whole body seized. I’d had my menses often enough, knew the dull ache of that, but this pain was something else.

“Pippin?”

Draven’s hand went to my back, and he leaned forward to try to find the source of pain, making Royce laugh.

“Aw, look at you, wasting concern on a whore like her. There’s no point in pretending here, cousin, because I know the truth. Your ‘friendship’ with Brom was well documented. Everyone in Harlston knows you’d never set him aside. That’s why you left the job of impregnating this slut to the rest of your wing. Is that what’s happening right now? Is her womb quickening with another man’s seed?”

Gods, was it? I had no experience to call upon, but that’sdefinitely where I felt the pain. My breath came in rapid pants, a scream building in my chest. I couldn’t get it out, that was the only thing that stopped me from disgracing myself. Then, just as soon as it started, the pain stopped.

“You fucking bastard. I should’ve pushed you from my uncle’s parapets when I had the chance,” Draven snapped.

“Suffering, lass?” Royce used the same pet name as my men, but with none of the sweetness. He looked me over like a wolf might a side of beef. “If you’re not getting what you need, I can help you.”

“Really…?” My voice was hoarse, as if I had screamed in reality. “Seems to me you’re only good for using amulets to force a bond with a dragon, because none would choose you willingly.”

There, Glimmer said, triumphant.That!

I had no idea what she meant as I was focussed on straightening up. My midsection felt tender but was no longer hurting so badly.

“Steady, lad…” Draven told Darkspire as he moved restlessly. “Still being cruel to girls because they won’t give you a second look, Royce? I would’ve thought you’d have grown past that by now. You’re not a lad pulling a girl’s pigtails anymore.” My king’s grip on me tightened. “Or worse. So if you’ve quite finished posturing, perhaps we can start discussing your surrender?”

“Surrender? Why the hell would I surrender? I’ve got an amulet that can control any dragon in Nevermere.”

That’s when I realised what this was. Not just an opportunity for Royce to goad his ‘cousin,’ but another attempt to steal our dragons. His eyes burned with an unearthly light as he raised the amulet. The breeze had his dark hair shifting, Sunfire beginning to get restless. His head jerked, as if he would throw off his rider. No, not his rider, the leech that had attached itself to Sunfire’s back. Royce moved with the dragon, but his focus wasn’t on his mount. He held out the amulet, as if that would keep him safe, and then forced his dragon forward.

Eggs, Pippin, Glimmer snapped, yet somehow they were already in my palm.Eggs and blood.

Another wave of pain stabbed into my womb, but this time I could breathe through it. Perhaps because right now, I needed to.The cut on my fingers was mostly healed over, so I was forced to open it up again with my belt knife. That drag of the blade across my fingertip, it was a bright counterpoint to the deeper one inside me. It felt like my whole body rebelled as I gripped the egg tight, until the world fell away and was replaced by this.

“My sister?” I didn’t know this rider, but his uniform, his stance, was familiar. “My mother? What the hell is your father playing at?” His voice rang out across the courtyard of what I assumed was the duke’s palace. “We came here with you for a new life, one where we settled down and had families.”

He reached out then, stroking our scales that burned bright like the sun. We felt a rush of love for this man, one born from many, many shared moments and the future we had dreamed of. We shoved our head into his side, needing that connection to get us through this.

With children, we insisted.And a queen of our own.We will raise our young together.

Aye, lad, our rider said, before turning back to Royce.

“Any lord that has to take prisoners to ensure his people fight is no true leader.”

He was gaining support. The deathly silence was broken by the grumbles of the crowd. Royce noted how many nodded their heads in agreement, his eyes narrowing.

“Are you questioning my father’s orders, Rider?” he sneered as he drew closer, his hand shoving deep into his pocket.

This one, his mind is… bad,we told our rider.He is diseased. Vigilance found it hard to bear him, and then his dragon deserted him. There was no true bond. Maybe we should go too. Now that we’ve left the keep and…

Royce didn’t declare himself, didn’t propose a duel or reprimand the rider in the way competent leaders did. He was a snake, one that struck first and asked questions later. We didn’t see it, didn’t anticipate it, and that mistake was like Darkspire’s acid, except it ate us up from within. Our head whipped around, rising, rising, just as his sword did, the silvery sound of it being pulled from the scabbard theonly warning. Before we could move, the blade plunged down and into the chest of Sunfire’s rider.

That was the moment we died. If our life in the keep was grey, monotonous and unending, then this was its brutal end. We watched our rider’s hands slap down on the blade, as if to stop it from going any deeper. Our scream cut through the air, echoed up to the sky. Our reprisal would be swift. We would kill this one for…

What was it we were going to do?

All pain, all thought, was driven from us as we were swallowed in a thick, white fog. Our mind stilled and so did our body. Some man stood before us, wielding… something. That was important, somehow we knew, and yet the thought slipped away as soon as it occurred to us. Instead, we nestled down on the cold hard stone that stank of fish and the sea. Our head lowered and our eyes fell half closed, right as he–

Pain!

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