Page 78 of The Dragon Queen

And wings not doing anything to keep them aloft.

They were falling like stones, my heart beating faster and faster as I stared at the sky, noting I was right in their path. They would crash down and crush me, my body was sure, even as my mind knew I was safe.

“Pippin…!”

Flynn cut off my vision of the flailing dragons, and for a second, all I could do was stare, unable to reconcile his beloved face with the horror I faced. “Pippin, what happened?” He looked down, seeing the stone egg for the first time, and tried to prise it from my fingers, but instead I cradled it against my chest. I didn’t see the end of the fight, but I knew what happened. Hadrian’s treachery was taught well in classrooms all across Nevermere. What was missing, though, was the fact he tried to avert all of this.

“I…” My voice cracked, my throat wanting to scream like a dragon, just to get what I had seen out of me. “I…”

“Shh…” He looked around at the ruins now with a wary eye. “I never should’ve brought you here. I’ll get us back to the palace as quickly as I can.”

But there was no flying away from this, I thought, as Glacier rose up into the sky with us on his back. That fight, the destruction it had caused, I could see it perfectly now from this height. Where Kaida had fallen, where Hadrian had, the two of them scrambling to right themselves and continue to battle. We’d be lucky if this was all the devastation we saw in the battle that was to come. That thought had me shivering, even as Flynn’s arms tightened around me.

Chapter 37

We were riding out to war, and I felt completely unprepared for it.

Each member of the wing slept that night at the keep, Draven included, and that was somehow disorientating.

“Got your bedrolls packed?” Soren barked, already having organised his kit, his uniform, his insignias regulation perfect as he stood in the middle of the room. “Water flasks... Flynn, don’t shove your shirts in your bag like that!”

“I’m fairly sure the enemy isn’t going to care if my gear is packed neatly or not,” Flynn shot back, but he stopped what he was doing and pulled everything out, barely suppressing a sigh as he re-packed it.

“Ready for inspection, cadet?” Soren smiled at me as I stood beside my bed, my arms behind me, my back ramrod straight. “Our newest recruit has gotten herself ready faster than you idiots, and you’ve been with the wing for years.”

There were traitorous mutters from the others as he crossed the room, but I couldn’t focus on them, not while Soren inspected me closely. Hands went to my collar, twitching it slightly as he inspected my insignias. I’d polished each one to a mirror shine, a small crown added to them to mark my rank. “Perfect,” he said, then straightenedthe seams of my tunic slightly, tugging it to fit slightly better before stepping back and looking at my bag. “Perfect in every way.”

“Sucking up to the drill sergeant.” Ged appeared at Soren’s shoulder, resting his elbow on the other man, only for Soren to shove him off. “I see how it is.”

“Everyone will need to see what we need them to see.”

Only those who knew him could hear the tension in Draven’s voice. He finished packing his own bag and slung it over his shoulder, and that’s when I saw that he was exactly the king we needed right now. I couldn’t imagine his father rising from his throne, let alone being ready to lead a force to war, but Draven? He was the perfect combination of monarch and career soldier. If I was willing to follow him anywhere, surely everyone else would be too?

“We will provide a united front.” Draven was using the same speech patterns he deployed when stirring the troops. “I will walk out there in front of the entire capital and lead our forces into battle with my queen at my side, my wing at my back.”

“The general wants a word before we go before the people,” Brom said quietly.

“Doesn’t he always?” Draven’s eyes softened as he turned towards our lover. “If he brings up the divorce again…”

“Again?” I asked, in time to watch Draven draw Brom’s head down towards his. Their mouths hovered over each other’s.

“Don’t worry, love. Draven’s made clear that no papers will be signed,” Soren told me. “Those certifying your marriage will be held within a royal vault, safe from prying eyes.”

“I’ll fucking kill the general in front of the entire city,” Brom said in a low voice.

“Then let’s avoid that.”

Draven tried to bring him closer for a kiss. That’s what sweethearts did when one of them marched off to war, but Brom’s eyes slid to me, not Draven. I hated it, but he seemed to be almost asking for permission. I nodded, my hands clasped against my chest, as if it was me who waited for his kiss, and that seemed to be enough. Brom tried to give our king a chaste kiss, but Draven would never stand for that. He dragged Brom’s mouth down, kissing him in thathard, brutal fashion that marked their connection. Brom stepped back as soon as it was done, both their chests heaving.

“Enough of that,” Draven said, as if he wasn’t the instigator. “We need to get to the palace.”

“Right as I was about to throw our queen down on the bed and ravish her?” Flynn asked, hoisting his bag on one shoulder, then moving to do the same to me on the other. I shrieked, fighting to get free, when Brom stepped in.

“What we share, it can’t leave this room.” He stared us all down, making clear it was the wing commander we faced, not the man. “That will be much, much harder in the field. We must show restraint.” He slapped his fist down on his chest. “Our strength comes from our joint purpose.”

“So we fight now so we might fuck freely later?” Ged swept in and smacked a kiss on my lips. “Well, that’s something to get me fired up to fight Harlstonians. Are we doing this or not?”

Apparently,we were. It felt like the entire city was there to watch us march out. People thronged the streets, cheering and waving, the ranks of the infantry already standing in formation, ready to leave. They were waiting on us, the sounds of the crowd intensifying as the entire flight of the Royal Riders came to land in the massive space left clear for this purpose.

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