Page 46 of Caress of Fire
“If he won’t listen to reason then it’ll have to be a show of force.” Fedryc’s voice was heavy with anger. “The law is clear on this. Until Silva turns twenty-one, it is my privilege to accept or deny a mating claim.”
Marielle watched as Fedryc left, and once she was alone, she clutched her chest.
A feeling of dread descended upon her as the large figure of Nyra flew out over the desert landscape. Fedryc was flying into danger, and she only wished she could help him.
* * *
“What did your source tell you?”Fedryc turned from Nyra to look at Henron while the dragoness huffed with impatience. “How many are we talking about?”
“No more than a hundred, but the report wasn’t clear,” Henron answered, his face grim and his neck strained with tension. “They were expelled from Virhot and seek asylum in Aalstad, but the journey through the desert is too long for them. They’ll die if we don’t bring them back.”
“We don’t have a choice then. I’m not leaving a hundred people with women and children to die of exposure in my land.”
“This could be a trap. Lord Anion is stupid enough to try and attack you out in the open.”
“Let him try.” Fedryc stared at his friend, who returned his gaze steadily. They understood each other. Nyra was several times more powerful than Lord Anion’s gray dragon, but with the looming threat of the Knat-Kanassis, they would have to tread carefully. “Nyra will reduce them all to ashes.”
“You shouldn’t fly too far ahead of the transport.” Henron shook his head as he glanced up at Nyra. “The Knat-Kanassis could be behind this. I wouldn’t put it past Lord Anion to be a member of the order.”
Fedryc cursed loudly in Delradon then shot a glance at Nyra, who stood on her hind legs, staring down at Fedryc and Henron with fury in her eyes. The dozen guards Henron had selected to assist with the refugees lifted wary eyes to the red dragoness, tension running in the air as they breathed fast.
They were afraid of her, and that wasn’t a good thing. Not when she was their shield, their best attack, defense and everything in between. If there was even the tiniest chance they would run away from her in a battle, then Fedryc had lost his kingdom before the first blow.
His people needed to trust Nyra just as much as his enemies needed to fear her.
“Settle down,” Fedryc whispered harshly to Nyra, who exposed sharp fangs to him before dropping down on all four legs. “You’re unnerving the troops. They can’t be scared of you. They need to be confident you’ll protect them, not burn them to a crisp.”
Nyra stared at him, her foul temper exuding from her scales like the dust rising from the desert sand. Her sapphire blue eyes were set on him with a sentient distress, and Fedryc understood. The dragoness was as scared as he was. The fate of the entire kingdom rested on the strength she would project to their enemies. The lives of all the dragoness held dear hung in the balance.
“I know,” Fedryc spoke to Nyra again, but softer this time. “I need you to stand by me, like always. But it’s not just you and me now. Marielle needs us both.”
Nyra’s too blue eyes held Fedryc’s until she bristled, a wholly female pride gesture, then the dragoness opened her wings wide, shielding all the men in her shadow, and screeched up to the bright desert sky. The message was as clear as a dragon could convey. She was their protector, their guardian, and they could rely on her savagery to shield them from harm.
His men’s reaction was immediate. They cheered and hooted, holding their swords high above their heads, their faces fierce and confident.
“Thank you.” Fedryc patted Nyra’s broad chest, then climbed atop her neck into the saddle under the constant cheer of his men.
Fedryc lifted his dragon blade above his head. His men fell silent as they looked up at their High Lord with expectant faces.
“Today, we will show those who would bully us that we will stand for Aalstad.”
His men shouted their approval before stepping into the large hover transport that would take them all the way to the border. Then, when the last one was in the transport, Fedryc took to the sky with Nyra and flew toward the border of his kingdom with Virhot.
Nyra flew fast, and they left the transport far behind as she made her way over the dry wasteland that constituted the northern border of Aalstad.
“Here.” Fedryc spoke to Nyra. “This is it.”
As Nyra made her way down, Fedryc stared at the scene awaiting him. Nyra landed close by, and her silence through the bond said more than any words he could speak. He dismounted and moved slowly at first, then faster as he approached the figures lying on the ground.
In the distance, the humming of the hover transport reached his sensitive hearing but he didn’t turn to see it coming.
So many. The figures lying on the desert sand were so numerous, his mind rebelled against the very idea of such a horror.
Finally Fedryc stood over the dead body of a woman of about thirty, orange eyes already clouding over as she looked straight up at the blazing sun. He blinked as his brain unlocked and he understood what he was seeing.
A massacre. This was a massacre.
At his back, the hover transport landed a good distance from the group of bodies. Fedryc didn’t turn to see them descend from the transport in silence, but the sound of their boots made it clear his men saw what he was seeing, and couldn’t find the strength to speak.
