Two steps towards the door, that’s all I got before he replied.
“Perhaps not,” he admitted, “but you are no white-gold queen. You’re not even a dragon. The queen took you prisoner because you are weak, easily controlled.” As I sucked in a breath, whirling around to snap my reply, he looked at the doors. “Riders!” The doors were jerked open and several other officers stood there, looking pissed. “It appears Lance has resigned his position.” Eyes went to the bare spot where my insignia once was. “As he’s decided to throw his lot in with the silver riders, he can join them in the lockup.”
“For how long?” Arms wrapped around mine, ready to drag me out of the office. “How do you see this ending, Rex?”
I’d never called the general by his last name, and right now I could see why. His brows drew down hard, then slid sideways. Dad had trained me to be sensitive to people’s tells, claiming that there was always subtle signs of what they were about to do, so I followed his gaze. It went to a large cupboard at the side of the room, the doors firmly closed.
“That is something you’ll have to discover in good time, boy.” His smile was like sharp nails raking across my skin. “You’ll be able to wonder what that might be in the stockade. Take him away.”
“You ended up in here too?”Kael was on his feet and walked my way as soon as the door was opened. “By all the gods, I thought the idea was to get free of this place, not have all four of us locked up in this cage. Who’s protecting Fern, Lieutenant? Who?”
“Auren is,” I replied. As if in response, we all heard a distant roar. “She will never allow anything to happen to her bondmate. “But there’s more. I was just in the general’s office and there’s something?—”
“In the cupboard.” Dain blinked, his eyes turning from frosted white back to dark brown. “It’s in the cupboard. I can’t see what it is but…” I’d seen the man frown many a time, but this was different. Fear, I realised, it was fear. “Whatever it is, Rex thinks he can use it to control Fern and Auren by extension.”
“Then we end this farce.” Lorien’s grin was sly. “Have our dragons melt the walls to get us out, right before we go and get our girl.”
“Which is what the general wants.” I looked at each man in turn. “Not saying it’s a bad plan. Just want everyone involved to be aware that this will be construed as a declaration of war.”
“My father turned a quarter of the corp dragons against their own country for little more than the offer for land and a wife.” Kael’s smile was an echo of Lorien’s. “I’m prepared to pitmine against the best and brightest of the corp for far nobler goals. Rescue Fern and get her and Auren clear of this damned keep and somewhere safe from all this politicking. What say the rest of you?”
That question was purely rhetorical. We all rose to our feet at once, standing together for the first time as a wing.
Ready, lad?I asked Viridian.
I fly with my brothers, he said.
Your blood brothers are the dragons we might have to fight to get clear of here, I told him, not entirely sure how he’d respond.
The bond of the shell isn’t as powerful as the bonds of the heart, he said.My mate needs me and I will always rise to the challenge.
We would rise to that challenge, I vowed, right as the sounds of four dragons’ screams cut through the air.
Chapter 61
Fern
We are leaving.Auren’s rage was palpable, forcing my feet to move faster.We are leaving after I land on the keep roof and then force my way into the general’s office. He thinks to control me? I will pluck that fool from behind his desk and show him exactly what a wild queen dragon is capable of.
Neither of us wanted me walking back to my suite. However, the riders ‘escorting’ me there did.
Slade cast sidelong looks my way, then smirked at that big lunk, Frederick, right up until we reached my door.
“Well, you’ve done what was asked of you,” I said, turning to face the two of them. My dragon’s anger was pulsing through my veins. “Now, run along?—”
“What’s the hurry?” Frederick seemed to think very highly of himself as he leaned against my doorframe. “No need for you to go and sit in that room by yourself.”
The audacity of the man was so great all I could do was stand there and stare for just a moment.
I will eat him, Auren insisted.I will tear this impudent male’s head from his shoulders, then make clear to his dragon the man’s folly.
There was no way for the rider to hear my dragon’s thoughts, but her roar? Some instinct wiped the smile on his face as his head jerked up, catching the sound of Auren’s challenge.
“I would rather walk face first into a wall at great speed than spend another second with the men who’ve appointed themselves as my captors,” I said.
Before they could reply, I ducked inside the suite, then locked the door firmly behind me, but then what? I walked into my bedroom and saw it with new eyes. When I first arrived, I was grateful for the amenities, to have a place to call home. Now? While I had no bars on my windows, this was a cage nonetheless.
One I will break you out of,Auren growled.That man… Those men… They think they can bend us to their will, but they will discover just how wrong they are when?—
