“The general is not pleased by the idea of your dragons potentially becoming Auren’s mates.” With a shake of his head, Lance forged on. “You’re right, Kael. Your dragons are formidable, which makes them dangerous.”
“Damn right–”
“Shut up, Kael.” I stared at Lance. Living on the streets, you didn’t last long without the ability to take the temperature of the room. Back when we were thieving boys, surviving by our wits, meant being aware of when people got distracted. Now? Our fortunes had changed for the better, but that meant we had more to lose. “What do you mean, Lance?”
He blinked at me using his name for once, not his title, but then leaned forward.
“The meeting was about what happened, what to do better next time, but... Nevermere stays independent from the continent due to the presence of dragons. Wild dragon queens like Auren are a problem for the general. Most of his life the only dragon queen they had access to was the human queen’s. Who she bred with, who her mates were, it was already decided before she was born.”
“And now they’re not.” I stared at the table, putting two and two together. “He’s worried about managing Auren, because right now any of the corp dragons could mate with her.” My eyes met his. “Including ours.”
“What happens when the biggest, most powerful dragons in Nevermere mate with one of the queens?” the lieutenant asked, but my mind was already skipping ahead.
“He can’t control the queen, nor our dragons or…” I swallowed hard. “Or her offspring.” The toffs of Blackreach were stupid, venal, spoiled creatures, so it was always hard for me to understand why they got to make the big decisions that affected all of us poor people. The general? He wasn’t stupid or spoiled and that made him all the more dangerous. I spat a glob of spittle into my hand and then slapped the palm against Lance’s. “You’ve got a deal, Lieutenant.”
“What?” Kael swayed backwards with a frown. “I’m not–”
“Shake the man’s hand, brother.” At my growl, his brows drew deeper as I grabbed Dain’s hand and made his commitment for him. “If you really want Fern in the saddle before you, that’s what you need to do.” I admit, I held my breath, right up until the point he did as he was told. Kael was such an obstinate prick, it’d be just like him to refuse on principal. “So why the hell would you bring that news to us, Lance? Seems to me that all you have to do is sit pretty and wait for the corp to hand deliver Fern to you.”
The lieutenant straightened up then.
“Because no one knows the limitations of the corp more than me. When I was a first year cadet, there was nothing I wouldn’t do for General Rex. I’d just bonded with a dragon, was on the road to becoming a Royal Rider. It felt like all my dreams had come true.” Kael snorted, but that didn’t seem to stop Lance. “Then the former queen decided her son needed an incentive to do what she wanted.” The man might have seemed all noble and shit before, but right now, it felt like I saw behind the mask. “She didn’t have enough on Draven to force him to do as she willed, so she directed some of her men to sneak into the keep.”
I didn’t want to hear this story, I really didn’t.
“They slipped into our rooms and slapped sweet smelling cloths over our faces before we could put up a fight. Harley, Jenkins, Billy, and me were taken not because of our families, or rather, because we didn’t have families that could make a big fuss at our disappearance. The bitch queen, Raina, she threw us in the deepest, darkest cell she could find under the palace and left us there to rot. Viridian started to fade, as did the other boys’dragons, but because we were in a hole in the ground, our dragons couldn’t tell anyone where we were. The general knew something was wrong and used some back channels to try and find us, but…”
His fingers raked across the tabletop, creating white furrows in the wood.
“He could’ve deployed the entire corp, burned and electrocuted and bathed the palace in acid to get us out. Instead… he let it happen. It wasn’t until Pippin, the Runaway Queen, found us that we were rescued, but…” That grim smile, I knew it well. It was the one you wore when the noose was slipped over your head. Nothing left to do but die, so you may as well grin your way through it. “The damage was done. Billy sleeps deep in the forest. Can’t bear to have a roof over his head now. Jenkins has a girl, but she tells me he wakes up screaming more nights than not. Harley? He’s there, doing what’s asked of him, but it feels like there’s nothing behind those eyes. That part of him is still back in that cell. So…”
His hands fanned across the table.
“The Royal Riders will never have my loyalty, no matter what rank or insignias they place upon me. I was trying to make things work back at Dragon Rest, but the moment I laid eyes on Fern…” A slow nod. “I knew she was the person I’d been looking for all this time. Whether she wants me or not. Whether her Auren turns to my dragon, we’ll be there by her side, doing whatever it takes to ensure nothing like today’s horror ever happens again.”
“So that’s what you’re like when you take that stick out of your arse.” Kael’s grin was sharp as he finally reached across and shook Lance’s hand. “Alright, Lieutenant, since we’re now allies, how the hell are we going to keep the entire dragon corp from messing with our girl?”
“I’m teaching her how to use daggers,” I said, slapping one of mine down on the table. “Noble borns, they like to keep their girls helpless, but that’s not happening, not where Fern’s concerned.”
“I could teach her the sword.” Lance frowned slightly. “It’s been a while since I taught a woman, but I’ve still got the skills.”
“You two can do that, but I’m dogging her every step.” Kael surveyed the tavern with a dark look. “No one or nothing is getting close to Fern, not while I still draw breath.”
“What about you, brother?” I nudged Dain with my elbow just as a joke, but his head jerked up off the table.
“Roses…” He sat there for just a second, staring, but not seeing a thing, right before he slumped back against the table. “Roses…”
“Can we press Dain when he’s sober?” Lance’s question, it was one that had been asked more than once. “If he can see what will happen, perhaps he can help ensure Fern’s safety?”
“Doesn’t work like that.” I took a long drink from my water, the haze of beer well and truly dissipating. “The harder you push, the worse Dain gets.” I glanced down, seeing the pool of white hair spreading across the table. “More and more visions, until he’s drowning in the lot of them. Can’t see, can’t think, can’t determine what to do as he’s pummelled by all the possibilities. Best thing to do is to watch, wait, and be ready to act the moment he shares something.”
Lance didn’t look pleased by that.
“Best way to wait is with another beer.”
Kael gestured for a barmaid to come over, but Lance stood up.
“If you get in before midnight, the gates to the keep are still open and there’s no penalty for going out drinking,” he told us.
