Page 1 of Queen of Legends and Lies
Chapter One
Mygist’s wings sweep through the air, carrying me to where the palace blooms out of the night like an exotic flower. Over the last few months, the sight of Tirene’s crown jewel has come to fill me with a sense of awe. But tonight, despite the castle’s majestic spires, pale stone walls, and cobblestone pathways that beckon me home, my chest tightens and my mind reels.
Tonight, I’m returning without the man I love more than anything in the world.
Every inch of my body aches from battling the Aclarian king…and from using every last ounce of my power to burn Flighthaven’s eyril field in the hope that destroying the original source of the drachen’s powers would eradicate the monsters once and for all.
But the hideous creatures still live. And now they’re possessing the students, instructors, and soldiers of Flighthaven Academy. They grow stronger each day, killing and corrupting everything they touch.
They’re also manipulating the love of my life, Sterling.
Worse, King Xenon controls both the drachen and the corrupted.
Finding my friends frozen and helpless as my betrothed held them captive under King Xenon’s orders was gut-wrenching.
It still is.
A knot forms in my throat. Other than releasing the dragons from a life of captivity and abuse, the only thing I accomplished was watching helplessly as Xenon commanded Tirene’s Prince KnoxSterlingBarda, the man I fell in love with at Flighthaven when he posed as “Instructor Sterling Thorne,” to murder my friend.
Inhaling a few shaky breaths, I push down the despair and hopelessness that threaten to consume me. After several painful attempts, I manage to lock down my warring emotions.
I focus on the beat of the black dragon’s wings. They sweep through the sky as we join the rest of the flight. Like a discordant drum line, the descent of the eclectic mix of two kingdoms’ dragons shakes the air around us.
We’re a ragged assortment of shadows, dragons and riders alike, carving through the darkness to land in the flickering torchlight of the courtyard.
Though dragons usually live together, they only fly in large groups like this for a reason.
Tonight, I am that reason.
All my allies—human and dragon—came out to help me. And I still failed. How am I ever going to defeat the drachen if burning the eyril field wasn’t enough? What will be enough? How am I going to get Sterling back?
The dragons land in the paddock tucked within the sprawling marble wings of the Tirene Palace.
Myriad emotions filter through my mind. Anxiety, uncertainty, exhaustion, relief. A sense of homecoming. Countless others as well—the emotions of dozens of dragons, all mingling with my own.
As a sure sign of their significant place in Tirenese culture, the paddock is located in the center courtyard and separated from the walking gardens by a moss-covered wall. Of course, the dragons tower off the ground at a height tall enough to peer into third-story windows and the arrow slits built into the palace walls.
“Easy, boy.” I send soothing thoughts to Mygist as his talons scrape the cobblestone paths next to the paddock. His obsidian scales ripple as his unease slithers into my mind.
When I first attended Aclaris’s Flighthaven, I shared an unexpected encounter with this black dragon. Unknown to me at the time, we formed a mental connection, and I freed his mind from the drugs that kept all the academy’s dragons compliant. He escaped later that night.
I’m lucky he deigns to trust me.
Kaida, Chirean, and Tanwen follow suit, landing in the fire paddock. Their riders, Leesa Axton, Bastian Drago, and Agnar Kerrin, cling to their smooth, scaled backs. My adoptive sister, half-brother, and the Tirenese soldier who’s like a brother to Sterling and me are the only reason I’m still able to think and not give in to the grief after tonight’s events.
Dozens of dragons swivel their serpentine necks. They pin me with golden stares that gleam from within their triangular heads. The pale frills above their jaws—tender membranes that protect their earholes from the wind—undulate with the anticipation of the dragontenders bringing fresh meat after the long journey.
But even the thought of food isn’t enough to distract them from my empathic outpourings. Mygist stills beneath me.
These creatures are the reason I’m still alive. If not for Mygist and the others, I’d have burned to death in the eyril field or died at Xenon’s hands. Agnar, Bastian, and Leesa would still be captive or dead too. Just like Nick Pendrick.
A fresh wave of sorrow rolls over me. Nick escaped the drachen’s corruption at Flighthaven, only to die at Sterling’s hand. The image of his severed head and those vacant, glassed-over eyes will haunt me for the rest of my days.
Once again pushing down my grief, I try to focus on the positives in this screwed-up situation. No one else died tonight. Not even Helene Mortimer or Elijah Durand, the two uncorrupted fledglings who’d hidden out at Flighthaven until we found them and dropped them off at their families’ estates. And though Sterling remains corrupted, I will get him back.
I refuse to consider the alternative.
We’re a mess of dirt- and soot-streaked faces, our cuts and bruises and tattered clothes telling the tale of a lost battle. On Agnar, the image blends in with the stained battle gear stretched out over his broad shoulders.
