“We could send a wing to escort them back,” another rider said. The formalities were being dispensed within their excitement, but I prided myself on the fact I prioritised getting a job done right over strict adherence to protocol. “To ensure Lady Fern and Auren return to the keep unmolested.”
“And make clear she’s got other options than those idiots,” Slade grumbled.
More stood, ready to give their input, but when I held up a hand, everyone sat down and went quiet.
“All good ideas,” I said, “and I presented similar options to Lady Fern before she left.” Eyes widened at that. “Which she rejected absolutely. This is a privileged young noblewoman who is letting her newfound freedom get to her head. Just as you would your sisters, she needs our protection. It’s why I insisted that Rider Axton travel with the group.”
People seemed to settle at that.
“He assured me he’d do his best to make sure Fern was not… pressured in any way during the trip. When they return…” That should be any day now, if the information forwarded to the keep by bird was accurate. “We need to make clear that Lance has the entire corp behind him. More specifically that a select few of you will become the lady’s husbands. Your dragons will mate with Auren when she rises, producing the next lot of corp dragonlings that will grow up to protect our borders.”
Something the silver dragons could not be trusted to do. It was bad enough we now had all of these wild dragons flying around willy nilly, but as they kept out of human politics and the running of the country, they were not a threat to our national security. But those silver beasts…
“During the civil war, we saw exactly what can happen when men use dragons for their own end rather than for the protection of the country.” That was the moment when the hall went perfectly quiet. Every rider here had seen or heard about the horrors visited on dragons and men alike, and the fact the man who initiated it all was the father of the leader of the silver riders? Well, that was just coincidental. “The corp’s strength comes from our collective purpose. Protect our country.” My fist slammed down on my chest and I watched my riders do the same. “Serve the king and keep our people safe.”
A murmur rippled across the hall as mouths moved, repeating our motto along with me.
“In this instance, it is a person we need to keep safe. Lady Fern.”
Breaths were sucked in and I saw riders begin to move, ready to ask the question, but as general, I had already mapped out a plan. Reading all of Christian’s books and some others I had acquired had helped me formulate it.
“When non-Rider cadets were admitted to the keep, we were told the discipline that had kept the corp strong for so many years needed to be relaxed. That the focus was on education, not battle readiness. Well, I say that all men benefit from being expected to be their best. That if some lordling’s son wants to swan around the keep, playing at learning, he would be better served the university, not here. But they are not the only ones who need to be exposed to the kind of discipline that has made our corp great.”
I scanned the crowd and saw the moment when each one of my men saw my vision.
“The silver riders need to understand the kind of focus and self-regulation a Royal Rider must develop, and I expect every one of you to help them develop that.”
Things would go one of two ways. Either the silver riders would buckle down, learn their place in the corp, and they truly would become the assets I initially saw them as.
Or…
They’d be just as obstinate and disrespectful as they’d proven themselves to be thus far and when they inevitably lashed out? I’d have all the evidence I needed to take to that bastard masquerading as a prime minister, as well as the king. They’d be forced to give me a free hand to deal with the lot of them and I’d ensure none of those men and their dragons posed a threat to the country.
Nor produced anything as monstrous as a white-gold queen.
If it wasn’t bad enough that the future of dragon kind was decided by wilful queen dragons and their equally as silly womenriders. What I’d read about white-gold queens had my blood running cold. A creature so large, so uncontrollable that no dragon alive could contain her.
No, that would never happen. Not while I drew breath.
“Lady Fern and her contingent will be returning any day now,” I said. “You know what to do. Thank you, gentlemen.”
With a nod, I turned and walked out the door, feeling satisfied I had the situation in hand.
Chapter 51
Lorien
“Well, well…” I said in a low hiss as I crept closer. Dain was still far too pale, but his breathing had evened out and he was sleeping peacefully now. Better than his moans of pain from before. “Looks like that salve of yours did the trick.” My eyes met Fern’s. “That or the fact you’re stroking his hair has him resting easy.” I made a show of looking over my own arms. “I might’ve copped a scrape when a rock fell on me.” My eyelids fluttered as I grinned at my girl. “Want to pat me until I start purring too?”
“Lorien!”
Her look of outrage had me laughing, then thinking about my life choices as she snatched her hands away from Dain.
“Don’t stop on my account. My brother will never say it, but…”
He had to be loving this soft treatment, even if he had to pass out to accept it.
Argent says that Dain is feeling very good and… bad, ‘Fang said.
