Page 71 of The Dragon Queen

“Of course, there’s girl dragons,” the boys said. “How do you think they have baby dragons if there’s no girls? Don’t you know nothing?”

“Yes, well, rather than revisit how baby dragons are made, how about you lead us to Lance and the other lads? Pippin.” Marcus looked back at me. “She was a cadet at the same time as the lads, and she’s come to see how they are.”

That’s what I was doing? I shot him a hard look, but when the children turned and led us deeper into the village, I followed along, taking in the sights as I went.

“What is that?” I asked, watching people digging a massive hole. Soil was shovelled into wheelbarrows, then ferried out and away from the site, spread out across a nearby field.

Marcus didn’t need to answer me, because a dragon landed then. Not Lance’s or one of the other fledglings, but a massive beast, one with no rider. I blinked and stopped where I was, watching the people pull back and allow the dragon to burrow into the ground. He raked through the dirt, sending it flying like a dog might when he was trying to bury a bone, then collected up an armful of dirt before springing back into the air, clutching it as if it was precious. I turned back to the man, waiting for an answer, but Marcus waved me off.

“Wait until you’ve seen it all before making a judgement, and I’ll make sure you’re back at the palace before those lads of yours have finished making war for the day,” he said.

It sounded like an order, and he had the upper hand here. I couldn’t climb back into that carriage and order that I be returned home. Instead, there was almost a note of… Was it pleading? I shook my head and followed him as both the man and the children marched on.

If I didn’t know better, I’d assume it was harvesting day. Men were clustered around a flat bed cart in a stubbly field, but it wasn’t because they were picking up the remaining stalks of wheat. Instead, they urged the carthorses on, the massive beasts’ hooves slamming down into the earth as the cart rattled along behind them.

With four dragons riding the winds above it.

I was pinned to the spot by the sight of it. Lance, I remembered well. How could I forget the way he sought to teach me to wield a sword, much good that it did me? Jenkins thought to challenge me to a fight during our training, assuming he could put a woman on her arse, but right now he ran beside the bed of the cart, shouting encouragement to his and the other dragons.

They were flying, and I was flying with them, it felt. My hearthurt because it couldn’t soar free of my chest and fly along with them. I forgot about Marcus, about the gimbals, everything, as I watched the dragons glide along, then flap their wings, gaining altitude. Their progress was messy, their bodies jerking in the air, as if still learning how to coordinate the movements, but they were doing it. My breath caught in my chest. They were doing it.

“Pippin?” The golden sunlight bathed the four cadets, turning their hair to different shades of dark gold, but it was Lance who held a hand above his eyes to better look at me. “Pippin, it is you!” He came loping towards me, the other boys doing the same as their dragons glided above them. The young dragons landed first, looking up at me quizzically, right before the boys arrived. “By all the gods…”

Lance’s hands landed on my arms and he stared at me as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“How are…? When…?”

“How did I get here?” I asked, unable to stop myself from grinning. “Marcus brought me, but that is of little consequence. Lance…”

He was smiling, right up until my hand reached up, my fingers brushing across the scar that scored his cheek. The flinch was an instinctive thing, not one he was born with, but had learned under Raina’s cruel rule. Lance seemed ashamed of that response, grabbing my hand and squeezing it before stepping back and sketching a bow.

“So I should be calling you Highness now?”

“Not Pippin.” Jenkins focus shifted from me to Lance and back again. “You didn’t marry the bastard prince, did you? Not after what he did to Ged.”

“And us.” Harley hung back. I didn’t know him well at all and he made it clear he had no interest in making my acquaintance. “Him and that bitch of a mother of his.”

“A bitch that was swallowed by her own dragon.”

I didn’t like using that word when talking about a woman, but for the former queen, I’d make an exception.

“No way!” Billy gasped.

“I saw it with my own eyes.” My smile faded. “Right after she tried to kill my dragon.”

“Glimmer…” Lance looked stricken as he glanced around, his dragon and the others letting out plaintive creels. “Is that why she’s not here? The queen?—”

“Died before she could succeed. Glimmer is fine, lazing around on my bed right now, I’m sure.” I looked down, not able to recognise the dragons before me. The last time I saw them they were thin and drawn, grieving for their bondmates’ pain, but I saw none of that now. The beasts looked like they’d grown twice over, their scales shining with good health. “But enough about me.” I turned to face them. “What about you?”

What an inadequate question, but what could I say? Did Raina hurt you too much? Do you still deal with the consequences of her cruelty? Of course I didn’t, each one too intrusive to even consider. I think Lance at least recognised that, because there was a painful twist to his lips as he smiled.

“Everything’s better now, since Marcus rescued us.” My focus shifted to the man in question, a simple purse of his lips making clear he hadn’t discussed the fact that the boys’ rescue was a joint effort. “Being away from the city, the keep, the crown, everything.” Lance gazed out over the field, both of us watching the village men lounge around the cart, smoking pipes and chatting. “Here, we’re safe. No one can touch us. The wild dragons have made clear that they’ll protect the village from anyone who’d try.”

A sharp cry had me looking upwards, catching the moment when adult dragons passed overhead and I was willing to bet none of them were ridden by a Royal Rider.

“You should come and settle here, Pippin. You don’t have to be queen, don’t have to put up with the prince, the king’s bullshit. Here at Dragon’s Rest, we can be free.”

Chapter 34

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