You have a gift for your queen,Viridian said, and I have one for mine. His claw opened, and a small shiny gem sat on the scaled pad.Now we see if we are capable of pleasing them.
Riding on my dragon’s back as he plodded into the mountain, it felt like we were facing down an enemy together. A rogue swordsman or even an evil queen I could’ve dealt with, but Fern… We came to a stop just outside Auren’s den and I peered inside.
Her hair was tangled again, which just made my fingers itch to comb every knot free. She could lay with her head in my lap… I shifted slightly, uncomfortably aware why that was a bad idea. Fern’s hands moved as she spoke, fluttering through the air like each one was a tiny dragon, then she let out a little chuckle. Viridian imitated the sound with a soft chuff, and that’s what had her looking up, realising she had an audience.
“Oh!”
“Fern.” Slipping from Viridian’s back and striding towards her felt like something from a dream. Part of me feared I’d never seen her again, the other scared if she did see me, she’d never look at me with those beautiful blue eyes, that little smile again. Seeing them in real life had my hands rising, but when they did,I remembered Lorien had done exactly that. That ugly feeling rose, but I stuffed it down as they came to a rest on her shoulders, smoothing down her arms. “Are you alright? Yesterday… Gods, what a debacle. I never should’ve taken you up for that exercise. If my old drill sergeant was still here, he wouldn’t have let you get within ten feet of the bay. Not until you’d put in hours of flight training.”
The roses rubbed against her skin, her perfume and theirs combining.
“And these are for you.” I presented the flowers with a flourish. “To say sorry for yesterday.”
“More roses?”
More. Roses? Belatedly, I saw that a bouquet of the exact same white roses was sitting on a stone shelf in the den. Someone had picked flowers before me and now I knew who.
Lorien.
Was he the one fated to be with Fern? It made sense that Dain’s visions would be about his brother, not me.
“I suspect some poor rose bush somewhere has been plucked bare,” she said with a smile before taking an appreciative sniff of the bouquet. “But you needn’t have brought me flowers. You’re hardly responsible for other peoples’ dragons and Viridian.” Fern looked past me to where my dragon was edging into the den. “He was a perfect gentleman, ensuring we were safe and warm last night.”
Auren let out a low chuff at that, barely opening her eye to peer at us, before closing it again.
“I should’ve been there,” I said. Gods, it felt good to say this. “You fell from the saddle, Fern, something I’ve been forced to revisit over and over since that morning.”
“Lance.” She grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. “You don’t need to do that. How could’ve anyone anticipated what happened?”
Auren’s eye opened again and that golden iris stared into mine. The dragon was judge, jury, and executioner, it felt, and I was ready for sentencing.
“I should’ve.” Fern went to disagree, but I forged on. “No, Fern, I should’ve. I was trained better than this. First, by my father, then by Soren. Proper preparation and planning prevents piss poor performance.” Swearing in front of a lady was hardly likely to help my case and yet she just let out a surprised little snort of laughter in response. “That’s what Dad always said, so this won’t happen again. I’ll talk to the general and get permission to start training you. I learned how to fly from the best. Hopefully I can do the same for you.”
“I should say no, monopolising your time like that,” she replied, and when she went to pull away, I wanted to drag her right back. “But I won’t. I’ve learned to ride by instinct and obviously I am just as keen to avoid a situation like what happened at the bay again. When we come back…”
Back? I blinked. What the hell did that mean?
“Auren wants to see the Tomb of Terror.” My uncomprehending stare forced Fern to explain. “The resting place of the ancient dragon, Drathnor. We’ll fly out in the morning for Blackreach.”
Blackreach I had heard of, as it was the capital of the duchy of Harlston. It was also several days’ ride from Wyrmpeak. My so-called allies were going to monopolise her time for a week as they flew from one end of the country to the other.
“Then take me with you.” My mouth was moving too fast, my responses spontaneous rather than studied. “Flying for three days? It’d be a perfect time to start work on some of your training.”
“But your duties—” she started to say, her eyes dropping down to my insignias.
“Taking a lieutenant with you will make the whole thing easier.” My hands gripped Fern’s. “Three cadets taking off with a queen dragon and her rider?” The slit of Auren’s pupil expanded. “The general will have a fit. But with me in tow…”
I saw it then, the conversation I needed to have with Rex. Auren would go anyway, no matter what he had to say about it. If I could persuade him to believe that I would represent thecorp’s interest on the trip, then it would make the entire process easier.
“I’ll talk to him, make him see how important this journey is. That way you won’t have half the corp on your tail when you fly out.”
A dull rattle from Auren made clear what she thought about that. Viridian moved forward, head down, placing the stone he had found before her, which kept the queen dragon distracted for a second.
“We could go to the general’s office together.” I thrust my arm out for her to take. “He said he’d like you to come by and have a chat.”
“Did he?”
Why was Fern’s smile fading? Her hand hovered, as if questioning whether or not to take my arm, but any fears I might have settled as it came to rest on my forearm. Whatever she was feeling, I’d work it out when we were in the air. Away from the keep, from classes and dangerous exercises and dragons who insisted on mobbing Auren. Sitting at the front of my saddle, my arms around her, I’d teach her everything she needed to stay safe.
