I waited, but they didn’t come back out into the meadow.
17
VEXXION
Somethinghadhappened today, and I hadn’t shared it with Tempest when we spoke.
I’d spent the morning feeding my father power rather than letting him suck it from another group of Nullens. Lieges were bringing them in droves, loading them in carts and flitting them to the deep network of caves below the castle where they could be held until they were brought to the king’s suite. He was storing so much power, I hoped he’d explode. No one had studied how much energy we could gather. We used our power and then waited for it to replenish on its own. We didn’t force more inside our bodies.
Once he’d drained Brenna, he’d be eager to act. He hadn’t yet figured out that her power wouldn’t be enough, and I doubted Riftflame would be coerced into handing over their core before the wedding.
Once lunch was concluded and Ivenrail took Brenna to thethrone room to stand judgment on a few cases, I reached out to Drask.
Seek.
Ah, yes. Leave it to my fury to work with the dragons.
After flitting to the aerie, I paused in the entrance and stared down the hall, noting a stable hand standing outside Glim’s pen. The gate was cracked open.
If I didn’t know that my fury was inside that pen caring for my dragon, I’d think nothing of it—and if the fae male wasn’t holding a forearm-length knife in his right hand.
He wasn’t a high lord, or I’d recognize him, but many fae were arriving for the wedding.
I flitted over to stand behind him with my threads poised to strike. They coiled around my legs, eager to play.
“Are you examining the gate?” I asked pleasantly.
The dark-haired male whirled around and pressed his lean back against the wall, gaping up at me. He wore a deep brown tunic. Lighter brown pants. Shoes, not boots. He wasn’t here to ride even if Glim was available.
“I . . . I . . .” he blubbered. “I’m not doing anything, my high lord.”
“Controller.”
His breath jerked in and out of his lungs, and he croaked, “Controller. I’m working.”
“You have a dagger in your hand. Not the tool I’d choose to work with inside an aerie, but I’m not well versed in the art of such things.”
He stared down at the knife. “Oh, um, yes.”
“A woman is working inside this pen with my dragon.”
His eyes widened. “I wasn’t going to do anything to her. I was only going to—” He jerked the blade toward my belly, but I snatched it from his grip and flung it down the hall. It landed in the sand with a soft thud.
I snapped my arm out, placing it around his shoulders, hauling him away from the stall. “Walk with me.”
“Oh, I, um . . .” He stumbled beside me. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry! You startled me. I, uh, have something I need to do. I can’t take a walk with you.”
“I didn’taskyou to walk with me,” I said pleasantly. “It was a command.”
He spun away from me, his arm wrenching up toward my throat.
I deflected his blow with a snap of my forearm, twisting to latch onto his wrist. Pressing him against the wall, I lifted him with my threads and tightened my grip on his wrist until bones collapsed beneath his skin.
He spit in my face. “Let me go. They won’t be happy to hear you’re interfering.”
“Interfering with what?” My gaze slid to Glim’s pen. “That’smydragon. Were you planning to take flight?”
“You don’t know what you’re dealing with,” he snarled with false bravado. The fear in his eyes gave him away.
