Page 65 of Dragon Fight

No matter how young she is, Glimmer is every inch a queen. She is correct. She does not owe anything to Dragon Home. If any other queen chose to seek her own territory, we would not think of saying no to her.

But she is the seer!Agnath cried.How are we to ever restore the balance when…

It was the way his voice trailed away alerted me to what was happening. Glimmer let out a crooning sound, and her song was quickly picked up by the rest of our dragons. This time the hum dragged us under and into another vision.

Everything seemedto be swirling around violently as I came to full awareness within the vision. I realised I was on dragonback, airborne, which was potentially the reason for the swirling sensation. As I looked around, however, I realised we weren’t on a pleasure jaunt. I clung to Glimmer’s back as she swerved away from the claws of some other queen dragon. We twisted suddenly to turn back around, our bodies completely in sync as Glimmer’s claws raked across the other queen’s side, blood spilling free.

The vision shattered and was replaced with a series of vignettes.

Draven striding into the dungeons, a bloodied sword in his hand.

No…I hissed.

An older woman speaking earnestly to a much younger Raina, showing her a very familiar crystal egg. The young queen’s eyes were entirely trained on the crystal, not her teacher.

No.

A more contemporary Raina sweeping into court, appearing to be the woman I knew and hated. And with her? A cat-eyed Beatrice was on her arm. The two of them surveyed the entire court with twin smirks on their faces. Everybody’s focus was on the two of them, including Draven’s. He stepped clear of the throng, a smile on his face which was met by heat in her eyes as he—

No!

A memory of the previous night, of me riding Draven, my hips thrusting spasmodically, but then I faded away and Beatrice took my place, smiling right at me as she drove the prince wild.

No!

Me, with Brom’s knives out in the open court, slicing through the air, going for Raina’s throat, as Brom bled out on the floor.

NO!

The horror of more death. Ged, open-eyed and staring, his skin blue, his throat a ruin of blood and muscle. Soren with his hands bound before him, being marched up to a scaffold, the crowds jeering at him. Flynn standing before a firing squad, each man with his musket trained on my love, his eyes glittering with rebellion, even as they pulled the trigger. And me, always me, dying over and over and over until…

There’s more than one way to skin a cat, Glimmer told me.That’s what humans say, don’t they? So many paths, so much pain. We must find the stone eggs, seek Tanis’ wisdom, to avoid all of this.And then she showed me one more vision.

It was not so personal this time. We flew across what remained of Nevermere, but there wasn’t much to see. It was a wasteland of burned, screaming death, the only signs of life we saw were of creatures that weren’t long for this world, thrashing and crying out in all the ash, our eyes unable to determine if they were dragon, human or animal. Then, as my heart felt like it would burst from all the pain, she showed me one last vision.

The setting was the royal court, the Nithian throne before us, but no one sat on that gilded chair, not yet. I walked forward, head held high, and my dragon, full-sized now, walked in step with me. I took my seat on that throne like it had always been mine. And, what was the cautionary measure, if anyone should have anything to say about that? Glimmer curled around it, like a dragon on a mound of gold, settling down on the cold tiles, but eyeing each and every person there, as if looking for signs of dissent.

But you can help me,she told me, told the enclave.You can help me learn how to be the seer I must be. I don’t have to be within Dragon Home to do that.

No,Cynane agreed, lifting off the golden necklace she had worn around her neck when we first met her and holding it out to Glimmer. Some of the enclave dragons complained about that, but Hadrian quickly silenced them.Take this.

Cloudy ambled forward, reaching out with his claws to receive the necklace and bring the jewel closer to Glimmer. She wasn’t interested in the golden setting, but the glowing dragonstone within it.

This is the first of Tanis’ stones, Cynane said.Take it and learn her lessons well, young seer. Then use it to communicate with me if you have a need to.

You can’t mean—

Enough, Hadrian growled at the other male dragons of the enclave.Your queen has spoken.

As had mine. Cloudy passed the stone up to Glimmer who grasped the setting between her paws and stared deep into the swirling dragonstone continuing to do so as we took our leave of the council, and had walked back to that massive flat rock that marked the entrance and exit to Dragon Home.

“So, we will return to the keep,” Brom said, before everyone swung up into their saddles. “We will need to be vigilant. Beyond vigilant. Any hint of our relationship, any mention of what has happened to Glimmer and Pippin, will result in our downfall, quite possibly our deaths. We’ll need to be careful about even thinking about any of this, in case someone else’s dragon detects our thoughts. I’ll make clear that we are prepared to go on as many patrols as are needed, to get us out of the keep as much as possible, but—”

Not with this stone.I heard Glimmer, as always. but when I saw that the men had all stiffened, I realised that they did too.That so-called ‘queen’ Raina has her stolen stone, but we have this.The golden setting fell to the ground as Glimmer clasped the freed dragonstone within her claw, the milky iridescence growing brighter with each moment.I will not be able to stop people from hearing you talk or noticing the bond between you, but Raina will not be able to use her stolen power to mind rape us again.

“Still gonna need those patrols, Commander,” Ged said, shooting me a heated look. “I can keep my hands to myself for a while, but…”

He shot me a rakish grin, and my heart warmed. I wanted to absorb every moment of connection with my riders. I wanted to feel that certainty. I felt like what I’d done last night hung between us. It was what was stopping me from taking a step closer towards any of them. I’d made a promise to each one of them, in different ways. And then I’d broken that trust, the moment the prince crooked his finger at me.

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