My throat bobbed as her smile widened. Surely this would be the moment when she pressed her advantage. Fern hadunmanned me completely, but no. She just shook her head and then went back to work combing my hair straight.
“You’re like some big cat,” she said, “climbing into my lap and insisting I give you a pat. Will you purr for me?”
Her tone was light, teasing, but still I shifted restlessly.
“If that’s what you want.”
I sounded stiff, terse, and somehow I knew that was not right. Fern gave me so much pleasure. If she wanted me to make noises like a cat… My tongue felt too big for my mouth as I tried to make the vibrating sound.
“Are you…?” My eyes flicked open at the sound of her laugh. This was what I had expected all along. I’d misread the cues, done something— “Oh, Dain.” She leaned down, getting closer and closer and didn’t that have my heart racing? A kiss was pressed to my lips, then she pulled away again. There was nothing in her face that indicated that her mouth burned at the contact, just a gentle smile. “You are so sweet.”
Sweet? I’d been called so many things before, but never that. Her words, her hands, they filled me so completely with a feeling I wasn’t too familiar with, so it took me a little time to recognise it.
Joy.
This wasn’t a true dream. It couldn’t be, but for just this moment, I’d pretend it was as I dropped deeper into sleep.
Chapter 50
General Rex
“All the riders have been assembled, sir.”
The man saluted as I approached the main hall.
“Very good, Kennedy,” I replied, then entered the room.
Watching the entire Royal Rider corp rise as one had a familiar feeling flaring to life inside my chest. I nodded in recognition as every eye turned my way. Taking up position at the head of the room, with a gesture, all of the riders sat down at once and focussed entirely on me.
“I’ve asked you all here for a reason.” My hands gripped the lectern tight. This was a conversation that I shouldn’t need to have and yet here I was. “Many of you have reached out privately to ask about the whereabouts of Lady Fern and her queen dragon.”
A low murmur through the crowd made clear that this conversation was long overdue.
“When the silver dragons first appeared, my thoughts were that such powerful creatures could be just the thing to keepNevermere safe.” Yet more rumbling from the assembled men. I smiled, knowing that I needed to get my riders on side and fast or I’d lose the crowd. “The lack of discipline of their riders was my first clue that this was not the case.” I held up one of Christian’s precious books and every eye followed the movement. “The second came from my research.”
Ahh, now I had their attention. I set the book back down on the lectern. It wasn’t the annals of history I wanted them focussed on, but me. I had the solution. I knew the way forward.
“The corp enjoyed hundreds of years of peace and stability under the Nithian kings. We had but one queen dragon and she was infinitely precious. Bonded to the king’s consort, she rose to mate only with his dragon. Her progeny became the next lot of dragons riders bonded with, ready to lay down their lives to protect our country.”
Spines straightened and chins lifted as the mood of the crowd shifted. Pride, I knew that feeling well, and my smile widened.
“One woman changed all of that. Many of you will remember Pippin and her queen dragon, Glimmer. We call them the gentler sex, but that minimises the very real power a woman and her dragon can wield.”
My throat bobbed, remembering the day I counselled the Runaway Queen, making clear her responsibilities going forward. The little chit had to scurry off to some backwater, leaving the king of all Nevermere behind as she left with his riders. The shame of that, it felt like it had happened yesterday, rather than five years ago.
“Women are creatures ruled by their emotions. They have evolved this way to ensure they become good partners, mothers, good caregivers to our elderly, but I think we all know that this… tendency towards irrationality means as men, we need to ensure their soft hearts don’t make unwise decisions.”
For a moment I just stared out across the crowd. The wilfulness of women knew no bounds. Fern could’ve chosen to take any of my riders as her husbands and she’d enjoy a good life, ahappy one. Moving into one of the suites in the keep left empty for bonded riders, she’d have born bouncing baby boys that would become the next generation of riders, if those hips of hers indicated anything. But when did women ever make sensible decisions? Flush with a sense of her own power, that plump partridge of a woman had dared to come into my office and declare how things would be?
We’d see about that.
“Many of you have sisters, cousins, young women in your family whom you seek to protect. What would you do if an unsuitable man came sniffing around her skirts? Where she saw charming smiles and flattering gestures, you saw him for exactly what he was. An opportunist, a cad. Someone who would talk his way into taking her money, her lands, her virtue. Would you allow this to happen, picking up the pieces once the bastard was done with her?”
The sound from the crowd had changed to a far more familiar one. The dull rumble of a corp readying itself to tackle the next challenge with all the bravery, pluck, and determination that had kept the country safe for generations.
“You would not stand by and let someone despoil a woman under your care then, and you won’t do that now.”
“Sir.” That should’ve been a question, but when Rider Harrison stood up, his frown made clear his intention. His arms crossed his chest and he regarded me steadily. This kind of frankness would not be tolerated in the infantry, but the corp did things differently. “The girl has gone to the gods know where with these blaggards. You’re right. I’d never have allowed my sister within ten feet of those idiots, but Lady Fern has spent the week in their company.”
