Page 110 of Dragon Fight

It wasn’t anything she hadn’t said before. Every other time I’d side-stepped it or laughed it off.

But not now.

In this place, away from everything else, I couldn’t smile, move on, focus on the next terrible thing that demanded my attention. I couldn’t sink into my men’s arms, losing myself in them. The whole world narrowed down to just Glimmer and just me. Knowing she had my full attention, she said the words again.

Our view of things changed once more, and I saw those tall steps, that golden throne and the two of us walking towards it, the crowds cheering.

No, Glimmer, I’m just—

You are a queen, she insisted.

I could see the Dukes of Skane, Cantlyn and Tharfield standing behind it, Draven now in a Harlstonian uniform, his circlet that of a duke, not a king. Each one of them waited for me to ascend.

Being a human queen is a terrible thing, I said.It’s not something either one of us would want. We’d be hampered by royal protocol, by the petty jostling of the dukes for more power.

You are a queen, was all she would say in reply.

Tanis had said that for the future to be ensured the past had to be restored, but if this was the future, I wanted none of it. Living as a Royal Rider, working to keep the country secure, stepping in to right wrongs, to bring to justice those who were happy to step on others to get what they wanted…

You are a queen.

And then I dredged up the memories that showed I knew would show my dragon why this wasn’t true. Arabella appeared again, slapping me clear across the face, my head whipping to one side from the impact of her blow.

Her eyes were wide, shining bright with surprise, with triumph, when I didn’t fight back. I was taller than her, stronger than her, but she beat me like a recalcitrant child all the same, lashing out with her hands, her fists while I held to my father’s directive and tried to keep the peace. But even as I begged for her to stop, tears clogging my voice, she didn’t.

I am no queen, I said, my words tasting like ashes in my mouth and so my heart feeling cold and dead as I watched myself get beaten. I’m not sure I can even be a Royal Rider.

You are.

My memory shifted to show Glimmer more evidence of my incapacity for the role. There was my younger self sobbing silently, because I’d learned to cry without making a sound now, as I carried poor little wounded Lassie. I hadn’t even made a sound when the dog bit me, lashing out due the agony she was in.

I’m not.I watched, dully, from the future as Gerald took the dog from me, as he told me in a low voice what needed to be done.I’m not, I said again, jumping as he held her close and then broke her neck. That bloody sound, such a little yelp followed by a click that seemed too small to herald the end of a dog’s life.I couldn’t even save poor little Lassie.

The vision changed again, and this time Glimmer was in my arms, far too limp, and it wasn’t Gerald that stood there, it was Raina. Her smile spread slowly as she stared down at the two of us.

“You couldn’t even save a poor little dog. What makes you think you can take on a queen? At least you are aware of your failings.” Her lips curled into a sneer. “You will never be queen after me.” Her eyes dropped down to dwell on Glimmer’s prone form. “And your dragon will not survive either.”

My fist closed over the dragonstone egg, my grip tightening on it, the light within flaring to life, but she just laughed.

“You don’t even know what you wield nor how weak that egg is.” Her eyes met mine. “How weak you are. You haven’t the will to prevail. You let them beat you, steal everything that was yours and then, when you were exiled from your family home, what did you do? Left like a whipped dog, without so much as a whimper in response. You are weak, Pippin, perpetually a victim, and you always will be.”

Glimmer coughed, bright red blood splattering on the sands beneath us and that’s what it took for me to pull free of the vision world. I loosened my fingers from around the crystal egg I grasped, letting it roll free and that’s when Tanis, Raina, Glimmer, everything fell away.

“What happened?” Brom demanded, one hand on my shoulder, the other pressing another handkerchief to my nose to try to stem the flow of blood. “Pippin, you just… faded away. Glimmer has been unconscious making sounds of distress the whole time. Half the dragons in the peak are in an uproar.” The muffled sounds of their roars finally filtered through, but I was desperate to make sense of what I had seen.

I grabbed at Brom’s arm and stood up. As I found my balance and stepped away from his supporting hand, I saw that the dragonstone egg was rolling on the floor at my feet. But that wasn’t what I was focussed on. Glimmer opened her eyes, just as she had in the vision, not seeing me for a second at first. Her eyelids fluttered as I picked her up and then set her carefully down in my seat before I turned to the others.

“What hope have we of preventing war if I do not master the ability to control the eggs, to wield the same power as Raina?”

My voice was steady although my heart rate wasn’t, with each beat my heart felt like it skipped and lurched inside my chest. But the way the three of them looked at each other first didn’t give me any sense of hope.

“We might be able to stage an uprising within the Royal Riders,” Brom replied. “But we’d have to be cutthroat in ways we’ve never even considered before.”

“Royce and the other Harlstonian loyalists would have to be executed in their sleep, and their dragons, too,” Soren said. “Otherwise the beasts would go on a rampage, destroying everything in their paths to get to those that killed their bondmates.”

“Draven could assassinate the bitch, smother his mother in her fucking sleep,” Flynn bit off.

“Matricide?” Brom frowned at that. “The prince is capable of many things but…”

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