Page 79 of The Dragon Queen

“Majesty.” General Rex gave Draven a curt salute as we walked over, and he ignored me entirely. “Have you had time to think about my proposal?”

“To leave my queen behind to keep the home fires burning?” Draven cocked an eyebrow and smirked as he looked back at me. “Why don’t you get on Herald’s back?” He nodded to the general’s dragon. “See how far you get without the queen and Glimmer.”

My dragon was sitting beside us, perched on Darkspire’s neck, her eyes half closed as she was soaking in the early morning sun. We’d made sure to feed the beasts well last night to ensure their energy was up when we moved out. The general cast Glimmer an irritated look, then marched up to his dragon.

No doubt he’d climbed into the saddle many times, and today he thought things would go as they usually did. He directed the dragon to rise up, I’m sure, but a snicker went through our wing as his beast ignored him completely. That laughter spread across the riders around us as the general tried kicking his heels into the dragon’s ribs, as if the big lunk was just a headstrong stallion, not a massive saurian. At some point, Rex looked around, realising that he had an audience watching his failure closely. He slid from the saddle and marched back to us, face a dangerous shade of red.

“The queen dragon is always the most important member of the Royal Riders,” Draven said before Rex could say a word. “She is the heart, the soul, of our force. It is for her that all our dragons ride out. To retrieve the stolen eggs, to save the baby queen dragon from being enslaved as well, but mostly.” He looked over at my dragon, then smoothed his hand down Darkspire’s neck. “It’s for Glimmer that we ride. Leaving someone in my stead is good advice.”

“Cousin!”

Stefan came running up, tugging at his much grander jerkin before stopping before the king.

“Punctual as ever.” Draven wrenched a signet ring off his hand, the same one his father had worn, and then handed it to his cousin. “Though being on time for such a momentous event might go some way to building greater confidence in your stewardship.”

“Forgive me.” Stefan bowed deeply. “Before this, I just had to make sure the family estate didn’t blow up. I was doing the same with the first shipment of dragonfire. The ice dragons?—”

“Water dragons, cousin,” Draven corrected gently.

“Those big, blue bastards,” Stefan replied. “They’ve iced the first lot of explosives and will be responsible for ferrying them to and from the battlefield.”

“Which is my cue to leave.” Flynn took a step towards me, as if he could kiss me farewell with the same freedom we did behind closed doors. The general’s brows drew down into a scowl, and that stopped the two of us cold. “I’ll see the lot of you at the border tonight,” Flynn finished hastily, sketching the briefest of bows before jumping on Glacier’s back. His dragon had leave to goapparently, because they took to the air quickly, as did the other blue dragons.

“Look after things while I’m gone,” Draven advised Stefan. “The instructions are similar to those you followed at the estate. Keep the capital from blowing up and you’re doing things right.”

“Make sure everyone keeps their cool? Got it,” the man said. “And you’ve got your own supply of dragonfire to keep you safe?”

“In the insulated container we found in the vaults,” Draven said, patting Darkspire’s saddlebags.

My eyes widened as I stared at the bulging leather satchels, trying to see past it to what was inside them. Stefan was distracted, staring at the signet ring for a second, then slid it onto his finger, holding it up to the light to watch the gold shimmer, but my focus was on something else just as shiny.

Ready?I asked Glimmer.

Ready. Now we go to retrieve the rest of the dragon eggs, freeing them from human tyranny.

She sounded every inch the queen, I just wondered how we’d achieve the same end after the eggs were placed safely back on the hatching sands.

“People are putting their loved ones on the line to restore peace to Nevermere,” Draven told Rex. “The queens riding with me makes clear I do the same.”

“You didn’t even allowhim to respond,” I whispered as my king led me to Darkspire’s side. One look over Draven’s shoulder made clear how the general was taking this news. “The man is furious.”

“The man needs to remember who is king here.”

We paused then, and for just a second, I held myself back, but that’s when I remembered. This was the one relationship I was allowed to acknowledge in public.

“You’re being very masterful.” The tension in his lips reduced and they quirked up at one corner. “I don’t think anyone would mistake you for anything other than a king right now.”

His arm went around me and that seemed to be a signal. People rushed in from the sidelines, thrusting flowers, tokens, packages into the arms of their loved ones, kissing them, hugging them, because they didn’t know if this would be the last time.That had me holding Draven tight, clinging to him and he let out a little huff of surprise.

“And you know I’d never allow anyone to force me to leave you behind, my queen.”

I kissed him then, like I was one of the women forced to watch her man march out. Somehow, it felt like if I did this, I would keep Draven, all my men safe.

“As if you could prevent me from coming,” I growled, which only made him laugh. Those blue eyes, they crinkled at the corner as he stared down at me.

“What a fierce queen you have become.”

I leant into his hand when he touched my face, but whatever moment we were having, it wouldn’t be shared for long.

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