“What the hell…?” one spluttered.
“What the hell indeed,” I snarled. “Right now, you can call me the devil himself, because you’ll answer to me for your sins.”
“Stop…” the other clawed at my hand. “Stop… You can have a turn too.”
“Turn?”
When I dragged his face up to meet mine, his feet paddled in the air.
“Yeah, buxom girl like that…” the first one gasped. “Plenty to share.”
“Is that what you intended?” A faint whine started up inside my head as I struggled to process it. “To assault Fern?”
“That’s her name?” The men thrashed, trying to pull free, but I would never let go. “Wasn’t going to assault her.”
Yes, they were.
Argent’s voice was a fierce sound inside my head. The other dragons were restive, Auren prowling forward.
Hold them, she ordered.I will deal with these creatures. Hold them!
“No, you won’t.” I threw the two of them on the ground, enjoying the moment when they scrambled backwards. “You won’t lay a finger on any woman, least of all Fern. She is…” Goddess, queen, a succubus that haunted my every dream. “The light in a world full of nightmares. A soft place where everything else is hard. If I ever catch either of you trying this kind of thing again.” The dragons loomed over them, flame trickling out of Auren’s nostrils. “I will personally ensure you spend the last moments of your short lives screaming.”
“Right… Got it…”
The stench of urine, the way they got to their feet in an awful rush and then started backing away, made clear the message was communicated.
Why did you release them?Auren snapped, her head rearing higher.
If you killed every man that thought about hurting a woman, there’d be few of them left, I replied.Killing them without due process will have the local riders investigating the case, forcing us to stay in the district.
“Oh…” Fern appeared, looking slightly befuddled. “I didn’t see you there, Master Dain. Auren.” She walked over to her dragon and wrapped her arms around the beast’s neck. “Are you ready to go home?”
“Go home?” Lorien came bursting out the back door and his sloppy smile, his unsteady steps told me everything I needed to know. “Don’t mind if I do. Milady.” He swept Fern a clumsybow. The fact he nearly face planted during the process had Fern giggling. “Care to ride on my trusty steed?”
“There you are.” Kael and Lance came to join us and thankfully, the lieutenant was considerably less drunk. “Wondered where you got to.”
Wondered… My teeth ground together as I bit back a vicious reply. My brother had confessed he shared my feelings for Fern, but where was the proof? The fact he’d allowed his guard down at all, let alone enough to get drunk… For a moment, all I could do was breathe through the intense wave of frustration threatening to drown me.
“We should get you home, Fern,” Lance said. “We need to fly out early in the morning.”
“Certainly!” Gods, she was drunk too? Things were going from bad to worse. Auren’s jaws snapped down on her rider’s tunic and then she used that to toss the girl on her back. Fern found her seat, then beamed down at the lot of us. “Last one home is a rotten egg!”
How would I become a rotten egg?Argent asked.I was hatched years ago.
It doesn’t matter, brother, I replied.We need to follow Auren and Fern and make sure she doesn’t slip from the saddle on the way.
As the others all scrambled to climb onto their dragon’s back, Argent and I were already in the air. His wings cut through the night sky, following the faint glimmer of Auren with ease.
She’s alright, isn’t she?I asked my dragon.Auren wouldn’t let her fall.
Never,came his reply.Just as I would never allow you to drop. Your mate is bonded to mine.
Fern’s not my mate.
That would’ve sounded a whole lot more convincing if I hadn’t thrown myself out of the saddle the minute we reached the estate. Fern was giggling as she tried to work her leg free of the stirrups they gave new riders, then almost fell as she wrenched herself backwards. Auren caught her with ease, then set the woman down on the ground.
“Thank you, great queen.” I knew a perfectly performed curtsey when I saw one and Fern did just that, right before letting out a loud yawn. “Goodness, I’m for bed.”
