Page 70 of The Dragon Queen

I stiffened. Nothing he’d said to me before scared me, but this did. My elbows went to my knees as I leaned forward.

“You seek to keep the dragons.”

“Not my dragons to keep, l?—”

“Do not call me love,” I snapped. One of his eyebrows jerked upwards. “Not some silly pet name, as if we are friends or…” I swallowed hard, a ball of bile forming in my throat.

“Or what, Highness?”

Marcus’ salacious look was no compliment. I’m fairly sure he looked at every man, woman, and some animals that way.

“Or anything to each other,” I finished. “You can keep me ignorant, kidnap me against my will.”

“Kidnap…” he snorted, as if the idea was preposterous, but what else could you call this?

“But my dragon and all the dragons of the Royal Riders will come and find me, and then you’ll wish to all the gods you never even thought of this stupid plan.”

“All the way out here?” He made a show of peering at the thin crack of light coming through one side of the shutters. “One way or another, a question that’s been plaguing me for ages will be answered. Everyone knows the dragons have powerful psychic abilities, but what are their limits? No one talks about that. Don’t want it getting around, do they? That the dragons might have limits to that invisible power. How close to you does your dragon need to be to touch your mind?”

His cane was raised, ready to tap my forehead, but I knocked it away.

“I guess we’ll find out.”

Marcus laughed at my stiff reply, because I’d revealed myself utterly. I didn’t know. Each dragon seemed to have different abilities, each person different sensitivities. It was like a great master doing a sketch and a child drawing a stick figure. Each was a drawing of sorts, but a world’s difference in the results. I threw myself back against the seat and sat there, arm’s folded and waited for the journey to end.

We were somewhere farfrom the capital, I knew that much. As soon as I stumbled out of the carriage, I spun around, trying to find some landmark, something significant to help place where I was, but Marcus just shook his head. He spun his cane with a flourish, then marched down the main street of a quaint little village. It was surprisingly pretty. Neat little houses, each one with a garden teeming with flowers out the front and children. They spilled from the front doors, then came rushing towards us.

“Uncle Marcus!”

Uncle… Marcus?

The man himself chuckled as the children rushed over, making a show of patting his frock coat pockets, then pulling out a bag of sweets. Each of the cellophane wrapped lollies were then flicked out with precision, one landing in the outstretched hands of each child.

“Where are those lads with their beasties?” he asked the group.

“Over in the field. They’re trying to teach their dragons to fly,” one child replied, then wrinkled his nose. “Why do they need to be taught? Don’t they just know? You don’t see mummy and daddy birds putting them on the back of a trailer and then pulling them along.”

“They’re doing what?” I asked, bustling forward.

“Who’s this?” The kids all looked at me. “Are you Marcus’ lady?”

“No!” I didn’t mean to snap at children, so I felt a rush of shame as soon as I replied. “Sorry, I’m Pippin.”

“Hello, Pippin.” The children were like puppies, wariness warring with a natural exuberance. “Have you ever seen a dragon before? Four live here!”

“They are so pretty…” one little girl sighed, clasping her hands. “I want to be a dragon rider when I grow up.”

“Girls don’t become dragon riders!” one of the boys spluttered.

“I’m a dragon rider,” I said.

That redirected all of their attention back to me.

“Nah…” one of the lads said. “If you were, where’s your dragon, then?”

“Back at…” I stopped myself from giving the specifics. “The capital. She’s still growing, so she’s not big enough to ride yet.”

“There’s girl dragons?” the little girl said.

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