Page 116 of The Dragon Queen

Our sides worked as we felt it tear through us. A thin cry escaped jaws that wanted to stay welded shut. The white fog got thicker, swallowing him, the stones, everything, and yet it wasn’t enough. Pain was like a hound on our heels, nipping, nipping and with each ache?—

Sunfire.

It threatened to push the fog away. The white clouds shivered and?—

Sunfire!

They felt like they roiled around us the way the clouds did during a storm. Just like riding the lightning, our whole body came alive. It was as if we had been struck by a bolt, our whole body becoming electrified. We felt exhaustion first, thirst second, a hollow ache in our belly third, and then…

Pure, unadulterated hatred.

He killed my rider,Sunfire thought, the realisation burning all remaining ennui away.He killed Brandon. We were going to live together on a farm in the east of Harlston. We had visited there when on the king’s business. We liked the peaceful vale very much, the tasty sheep even more so. His sister used to come and scratch our eye ridges and tell us how pretty we were…

And this one had taken that all away.

He tried to use that milky rock to control us, a dragon. The stone was used to preserve our history, to maintain our link to our past and he… Our head swayed back and forth, and for just a moment, we gloried in the stink of fear coming from the man.

You gave Brandon no warning, we told him, watching him flinch back.Consider this my one act of mercy.

Royce tried to run, because after all, he was a coward. Vigilance was kept by his side by coercion alone, not a bond. It had concerned every one of us, but when the humans did nothing or dismissed it, we assumed that happened some time.

Not every dragon enjoyed the kind of bond we had with Brandon.

It pulsed inside us like a living thing, that pain. It throbbed in time with our heart. On and on it seemed, enduring, right before we struck. Our jaws snapped around him, our fangs sinking into that hated flesh.

We would never eat Royce. His body was poison, just like his mind, but he would not walk free of this moment. We whipped our head back and forth, some primitive instinct kicking in, right before we heard that small click. That was enough to force his body limp, all life departing him along with a stream of piss, right before we threw the body down on the ground.

It was a strange thing, looking at Sunfire and seeing ourselves from his perspective. Glimmer glowed like the sun and I… I looked far too pale. I was hunched over, clutching at my stomach, even as I strove to retain eye contact.

I cannot help you in this fight, my queen, we told Glimmer.

You already have, she said with a nod.Go, be free, Sunfire, and… grieve for Brandon. When the time comes and you are ready to begin your life, seek out your rider’s dream. You may find some solace there.

Our minds separated, and I came back to mine with a snap. My chest was heaving, my breath coming in too fast until I forced it to slow. I straightened up and then stared across the expanse, ignoring Royce’s body. He didn’t matter, but…

They did.

“Draven…!”

I croaked that out, but he had already seen it. A wing of traitor dragons were flying back to the duke’s estate. Their flight path would have them cutting across my men’s wing.

“I see them,” he growled. “Come on, lad.”

Darkspire began running. I turned around, straining to look over Draven’s shoulder, just in time to see our wings rising. They were flying to engage with the enemy, to stop them from hurting Brom and his wing, but they were too far away.

We weren’t.

“Hold on tight!” Draven ordered, and both Glimmer and I clung to Darkspire’s back like limpets to a rock. “We’re going in.”

Chapter 56

“They’re going to attack Brom’s wing!” I snapped, leaning down low in the saddle.

“Not while I still draw breath,” Draven growled.

“We’re not going to make it!”

Have faith.Darkspire and Draven said that at the same time, leaving me feeling like a madwoman.You could fly to safety, my mate, he told Glimmer.We will defend the wing.

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