My head rose then, ready to strike.
Auren.I glanced down to find Fern’s hand resting on the base of my neck. It was such a tiny thing, but somehow the comfort it provided far outweighed its pressure.You don’t have to protect me from the general.
Protect us, I corrected.
“Yes, sir.” The purple dragon, his rider stepped forward, looking suitably abashed. “Spark wasn’t listening at all.” The stupid beast shoved his head into his rider’s side and he rubbedat the dragon’s eye ridges absently. “He’s never behaved like that with Cora and Lumina.”
My sister and her rider sat very still in one corner of the roof.
Because the males are your brothers, I said.
Cora is going to mention that to the general, Lumina replied.I’m just not sure when. She says its best not to contradict the male when his face is all red and flushed like that. Apparently that is a human male threat display?
Threat display…?
My focus shifted back to this male with all the pretty silver insignias. I wanted to pluck each one with my fangs and then see how threatening he’d try to be.
The human general raked his hands through his hair, then flung them in the air.
“This is why I don’t like queen dragons participating in training exercises,” he said. “It used to be that queen dragons stayed quiet and safe inside the keep.”
My claws made an alarming screeching sound as they raked across the stone used to create the roof, but before I could give voice to the rage that flared back to life, another female voice cut across all of us.
Quiet and safe?I knew that voice, because it was one of the first I heard when I hatched from the shell. Not my mother, I knew that, but Zafira was as close as I would get in this life. She was Lumina’s birth mother and she returned to the keep to help raise all of us when we were only dragonlings.I’m sure you meant to say enslaved, forced into docility, broken.
Zafira’s rider, Hazel, jumped from the saddle. I always liked this human. She didn’t bow and scrape for any male, human or otherwise, and she marched up to the general right now.
“Hazel—” he started to say. She silenced him with an upraised hand.
“I’ve heard the news.” With a glance over her shoulder, she surveyed the now crowded roof. “Dragons are such terrible gossips. It’s plain to see what’s happened. Like lads at themarket, showboating to impress the girls, these dragons are trying and failing.”
She nodded to me.
“To try to impress a queen dragon they can actually mate with. They don’t do the same with Lumina because she is their sister. Auren.” A nod to me and I returned it. She was just as constant a presence in my early years as Zafira was. “Is not. This is a tricky situation, but as dragon consul.” The human woman was a conduit between dragons and humans. She advocated for our rights in the places we couldn’t go like the human parliament. “Surely Zafira and I should’ve been brought in to consult on this issue earlier?”
“I intended to send word for you.”
That admission felt like it was dragged from the depths of the general’s soul, growled out between clenched teeth.
“Good, good.” She clicked her fingers as she turned to the other riders. “Willis, take a few of your riders and bring out a table and some chairs. Jones, to the kitchens and ask the ladies there for a tea tray. See if they have those lovely coconut biscuits.” Her hands went to her hips. “I’m quite parched. The ride from Zafira’s den to here takes it out of me.”
What is this tea ritual?I asked Fern.
Dried leaves are steeped in hot water.My head jerked back as my muzzle wrinkled, because that sounded disgusting.We drink the water and toss away the leaves,she explained, with some milk, sugar or even lemon.
And these leaves have a narcotic effect?I suggested.They will help befuddle this… general and persuade him to keep his snout out of that which doesn’t affect him.
She smiled then, and I found the baring of her fangs somehow reassuring. That and the fact her face was no longer so very pale.
No, but humans find it relaxing. I think this dragon consul wants the general to calm down before she starts talking to him about what happened.
A haunch of lamb would make me feel a lot more relaxed, I huffed, settling my head on my tail and Fern’s hand rose to scratch at myeye ridges. My back claw raked at the stones, imitating her movement.But I will ensure you have some of this leaf water. Your heart beats far too fast for my liking.
Then I will request some lamb is brought up for you.As for me.Fern sat down abruptly on the coil of my tail and that had me shuffling closer.I think I just need to… sit down for a moment.
You will never slip from the saddle again, I promised.If I have to flame every male that dares to get close, I will do it.
That is a luxury queens who exist in the human world often are not afforded.Zafira moved closer.One your mother and I have fought hard to ensure you enjoy.
