Page 57 of Enchanted Queen

Move,she repeated with a snarl.

“You are being set up, whoever is orchestrating this wants you to kill him,” I said as quickly and forcefully as I could, not caring if anyone overheard. “None of these people can hear what he’s done to you.” I looked over my shoulder at the land dragon pinned to the ground by the queen. “I do not question whether he deserves it or not, I question if you have thought through that you are playing into their hands perfectly by doing this. Killing him without him physically fighting you. Forcing the people to wonder if you are losing your humanity.”

“My queen,” Amory called from behind her. “As much as I hate to admit it, he has a point.”

The queen tipped back her head and roared. I wasn’t certain what would come next. She might still kill him anyway. In which case I needed to get the hell out of the way.

“I don’t know what he has done. I don’t know why he is doing this to you or would betray the shifters like this, but I do know that if you do this right now, right here, those people watching who do not know either will start to wonder if the rumors that the queen has gone feral are true. You want to punish him? By all means, do. I am sure he deserves it. But not here. And not now.”

I can take him to the cells in the desert and allow him to rot,the queen offered, taking a heaving and rather defeated breath.

She must have loosened her grip slightly because the land dragon finally fought. But not her, rather he swung his tail at me. The queen roared again, I thought I heard Malachi’s screeching whinny, but my magic had also flared to let me know and I released it at once, freezing the tail in the air before it ever touched me.

The land dragon roared in pain.

“As you were saying?”

The queen blinked. Once. Twice.He can rot in a cell,she repeated.He deserves death, but the cells will do.

The land dragon was now writhing and roaring. Causing more of a scene than he had when he was apparently throwing insults at the queen.

Not the cells,the land dragon pleaded, sending it to the both of us as we decided his fate.

I strode for the front of him, keeping my magic burning along my skin, ready for whatever came next. “So you wanted to die then?”

He was quiet but swiped out at me with an arm. I froze that one too and he fell to the ground. “You prefer death over the cells?”

Yes.

I looked to the queen and back at the land dragon. “Why? Why would you betray your own kind like this?”

He let out a roar of rage and offered,I am tired of being like this.

“That is understandable. Betraying your own people isn’t.” I paused. “Either someone knew how miserable you are and exploited you, or you did that all on your own.” A thought struck me. “You didn’t set up the netting for yourself, did you?”

He said nothing.

“Who were you working for then?” I demanded.

You figure it out if you know everything, Prince of Wylan.

The queen was apparently tossing out orders, as Serkan, Kian, and Savanna all surrounded him. Serkan let out a loud roar which hurt my ears with its intensity. I understood now why I had seen a man put in ear plugs earlier.

We will watch him until the cell arrives,Kian told me with a gentle nudge to my arm.

“He wanted death,” I explained to him, not sure how much he heard. “And wanted your queen to deliver it so that the people further suspected the shifters of becoming more violent.”

Kian stepped forward like he wanted to pummel the dragon.

I let my magic fall so the traitorous dragon was free of it. The other three dragons before me would ensure he went nowhere. I headed for Dex but would also stay in the area just in case he tried to either make a run for it or forced the dragons before him to make a move on him and kill him.

Death was what he wanted, so that was exactly what we would not allow.

Within an hour, shackles were slapped onto the dragon and he was loaded into a cell. The cell was then carried by ten winged shifters, all sharing the load as they headed off in the direction of an apparent desert.

I spun toward Kian and Savanna where we all still stood on the shore. “Tell everyone, shifters and people alike, the true story of this. That he put those anchors in the sea for the trap. That he is working with someone and wouldn’t talk. That he provoked the queen because he wanted her to kill him. That he wanted her to look bad. Let’s try to weave a little truth into all these rumors swirling around, shall we?”

Kian nudged me with his head.I knew I liked you.

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