Page 93 of The Dragon Queen

The perpetrator snarled that at my rider as he held a woman’s wrists clasped tightly. Every time she thrashed, fought his hold, his grin just got wider. It excited him, being in this position of power. He felt like he was striking back for once, against all the bitches who had dared to disrespect him. This was a pleasure he’d long been denied, and he would not allow an overgrown lizard to take it away from him.

“Jade!”

That moment of betrayal, when I felt the dragon’s heart break, nearly killed me. My own chest ached in sympathy, my breath coming in sobs as his rider stepped forward. The amulet held a sizeable chunk of dragonstone and the rider tried to use it then to regain control of his beast.

No, enslave him.

It had appeared the night they left the keep. His rider had told him then that Zafira had left the eggs behind, rejecting them as some mothers did, and left them to care for them. They needed to fly the eggs to the Duke of Harlston’s to be cared for properly. That hadn’t felt right, we had fought that order, right up until the amulet was produced. All thought was driven out of our heads bar the order we had been given. Take our rider, take the eggs and go, and so we had.

That didn’t explain how we had gotten here.

“You won’t get away with this!” The human woman sounded just like a queen, authority ringing in her voice, but with that came fear. That had us moving forward. Males protect and queens let them, we knew that like the beat of our own heart, and this man…

This man was not protecting.

Human males were hard to understand. They had such capacity for cruelty. We saw it over and over in their hearts, when our rider sat in judgement as a magistrate, when we passed into the city. So many fantasies about hurting others, too many for the riders to act upon.

But there was nothing stopping James from stepping in now.

They were armed, these soldiers, but we were rider and dragon.We could burn them whole with one blast of our fire breath. They would run screaming and we would protect this female and all the others in the tents. As if summoned by that thought, the other soldiers started moving in their direction.

We let out a low, rattling growl of warning.

“Down, lad,” James insisted, wielding the amulet like a whip. “Down!”

But that wasn’t right. We could see it in his mind, what he wanted us to do, but that didn’t make sense. We would never keep the women safe if that’s what we did.

“Save it!” James hissed. “You can’t pull this kind of stunt in front of a dragon.”

“Keep your beastie in line,” the first soldier growled, tugging the woman’s neck to one side at what we knew to be a painful angle, placing one kiss then another on her skin, even as she sobbed.

It was the fall of one tear, glowing bright in the firelight, that caught our attention. We followed its path down her cheek, even as she begged for help. We were pinned to the spot, unable to do a thing until it rolled free and then dropped.

Now, Jade!I said.Now!

We lunged forward like a cur on a leash, snapping and snarling with all of the ferocity of one. James shouted something, but he couldn’t be listened to now. It was as if a hood had been torn away and we saw everything now. What the men intended to do to these women, whether their menfolk did as the duke asked or not. James’ resignation, that hit us like a punch to the chest. We saw all the acts of violence he had committed thus far, the broken shell of one of the dragon eggs, forcing us to pause for just a second, though not for long. We couldn’t mourn the hatchling, not until we got her free.

Take the amulet!I ordered.

Jade snatched the piece of metal from James’ grip and then flicked his head, sending the piece of jewellery flying across the treetops, lost forever. The rider backed up, arms outstretched. But he wasn’t our prey. They stink of fear, deer, sheep, pigs, cows. Whatever we hunted, we caught that stink in our nostrils as we flew behind, ready to strike. Piss went dribbling down the soldier’s leg as he threwthe woman away, leaving her to collapse to the ground like a discarded handkerchief, as his hand slapped down on his sword hilt.

Pitifully small, that weapon would do nothing.

We couldn’t burn them all in the manner they deserved. The women were too close, these vile creatures using them as shields now rather than playthings, so we would despatch them in a more direct way. Our head reared up, swinging like a snake’s does, right before we struck.

Chapter 45

“Get up!” I barked, fighting my way free of the bedroll. My men groaned and snuffled, as if this was just another day and the lives of the hostages weren’t on the line. “Get up now! I know where the women are.”

“What?” Brom sat up and blinked, finding me seconds later as he processed what I said. “How?—?”

“Because Pippin is brilliant and perfect and your queen.”

Draven scrambled over, taking my head in his hands and kissing me, right before hauling me upright. Thank the gods we’d slept in our uniforms, because we were in Darkspire’s saddle as soon as Draven’s beast opened his eyes.

You found them, Glimmer asked, running up Darkspire’s spine with a chirrup.You found the lost ones?

I think so.I sat still, examining my thoughts. All the certainty of seconds ago left me.I dreamed of them. At least I think I did.

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