“Best to listen to the lady.” That smug bastard. I wanted to wipe the smile right off his face. “We wouldn’t want you to come to any harm.”
“If I did, where there was once the keep of the Royal Riders,” I said. “There would only to be rubble left.”
Just say the word, brother,Argent growled and some of the riders had the good grace to go pale, because Slate and ‘Fang emerged from their dens as well.
“That’s just what he wants.” Fern looked from me to the general. “To have you lose control of your beasts. Then he can declare the silver dragons a threat to the country and hunt us down. We’ll find a way to get free of here.”
The general smirked as he tried to take her arm, but as I lunged forward, she jerked it away, glaring at the man.
“Auren will never mate any of your dragons,” she snapped, and a roar from the gold dragon confirmed that. “And I would never consider an offer from any of your riders, but if you wish to confine me to my room like a child?” Her nose rose high inthe air. “Then I will go, but this is a gross abuse of your power, and you know that.”
“I’ll get you out of here,” I promised her. “Whatever it takes.” My vision started to double, triple, making clear another vision was incoming. Riders muttered at what no doubt was my eyes going milky pale. “No one will hurt you, Fern. Not while I draw breath.”
The general went an alarming shade of red, but he held his tongue until Fern was escorted from the mountain, then he turned to me.
“Are you going to re-sheathe that sword or do I need to put you down like the dog you are?”
I grinned. One thing my family had gifted me was the ability to bear any blow without reacting. Slowly walking past the man and towards the very large group of riders, I said, “Wouldn’t that be convenient? Sure you don’t want to manufacture some situation here to give your riders an excuse to draw a weapon on me?”
Watching the man’s jaw tighten was very satisfying. The whites of his eyes showing as Argent throat began to rattle was even better.
“No, I don’t suppose you would. No one knows the stink of fear more than I do, and you…” I shot him a backward look. “Reek of it.” Turning to the riders, I held out my wrists. “Take me to my brothers and then all of you can spend some time thinking about what you are doing. I don’t know the credo of the Royal Riders, but I’m fairly sure it doesn’t involve locking up your fellow riders.”
They did just that, though.
“Fuck…” Lorien pushed himself away from the wall. “What the hell happened? Lance came in here, tried to get us out, but then they?—”
“Alerted the general,” I finished for him. “I had a vision.”
“Didn’t think to warn Lance about that?” Kael asked. “Pretty sure the lieutenant is cooling his heels in the general’s office right now.”
“I…” Sinking down onto the thin bed, I couldn’t keep it back. My lips still burned from kissing Fern’s, and Kael’s eyes narrowed, as if he could see the evidence of it. “I got distracted.”
“With Fern?” He sat down beside me and Lorien also drew near. “Tell me she’s free and clear of here. Tell me at least she got away.”
“No, she stopped me from cutting a swathe through the riders. She thinks that’s just what the general wants.”
“What the man wants is us in the stockade,” Lorien said with a frown. “And now he’s got it. Lance is only up in his office because the man thinks he can still get the lieutenant on side.”
“The general better hope Lance doesn’t.” Kael glanced around at the stone walls of the stockade. “The only thing keeping us in this cell is a reluctance to turn the entire corp against us, but that changes if Lance switches sides.”
“Let me think.” My elbows went to my knees as I sank my head down, willing my eyes to go out of focus. The flickering at the edges of my perception grew more pronounced. “And see if my visions can tell us what to do next.”
“Look hard and look deep, brother,” Kael growled. “Because one way or the other, we’re leaving this place and Fern with us.”
His voice faded away as I sank deeper into the vision.
Chapter 60
Lance
“You know there were many that argued against you bonding with Viridian.” The general had returned from whatever he was doing and was now pacing back and forth in front of his desk. “When all the usual lords put their sons forward and his egg didn’t respond to any of them, there was a push to bring in the sons of other minor nobleman, to ensure your dragon ended up with a rider of the right class.”
I sat back in my chair, my back pressed hard against the leather. With a smile, I watched the performance play out. He came to a stop, hands clasped behind his back.
“But I rejected that. Your father was well known to the keep.” Dad had done the job I’d ostensibly been employed to take over. “He was a good man.”
So by comparison, I was not.
