“Close your eyes,” Vexxion snarled in my ear. He leaned over me, shielding me with his body and threads, and it was all I could do not to shout that I loved him, that I would forever. I wasn’t going to die. I didn’t dare.
No, I wouldn’t allow it to happen until I was old. But none of us knew what might come next.
Madrood took the lead, spiraling toward the thorny canopy enmeshing the entire island. An instant before he made impact, he lifted up to take the brunt of the blow with his chest. If anyone could batter their way through, it was this amazing dragon.
The other dragons flew feverishly behind us.
Madrood hit the thick mesh hard, and I groaned along with him.
With a yelp, I tumbled forward, slipping from Vexxion’s arms and threads.
As I shot over Madrood’s head and slammed into the network of thorns, Vexxion bellowed my name.
24
TEMPEST
Itumbled through the mesh as if it wasn’t there. Not a single thorn gouged me, and I felt no impact when I reached it. As I kept falling, the thorny shroud sealed closed behind me, locking me away from my friends and cutting off their shrill cries.
Silence echoed in the stillness that followed.
My jaw unhinged as I took in a vast stone city below made up of buildings that gleamed silver in the sunlight. Numerous statues stood in the paths weaving through town, and a pall of disarray hung over the place. The echo of people moving with joy in their hearts and on their faces thrummed through me, but I sensed that this time had long since passed.
The sight of the brilliant blue sea glistening beyond the city jerked my mind back to the present.
After quickly drawing power, I flitted, landing inside the living area I’d seen in Vera’s vision. A mirror still hung on thewall to my right, the one my aunt had peered into. She’d done it to make sure I saw and remembered her face.
A large open living area as big as two residences back at the fortress combined surrounded me, and it felt as vibrant as it had the time I’d stepped into this room’s past in my mind. The ceiling rose three stories and stencil work in golden vines glinted around the upper parts of the walls. The same homey feeling I’d experienced back then persisted, perhaps borrowed from my and Layla’s toys that lay scattered across the gleaming floor. They waited for someone to pick them back up and play.
I stepped over to the fireplace and studied the carved wooden dragons caught in mid-flight, mounted on thin supports. They soared across the thick slab-of-wood mantle dominating the area above the fireplace. I wanted to touch the dragons, but I didn’t quite dare.
The cold hearth hadn’t held a fire in such a long time that the ashes had aged. There’d been no fire here for twenty years, to be exact.
Sunlight streamed through a long row of tall, narrow windows to the left of the fireplace, sunbeams skittering across the marble floor lovingly draped with ornate and still pristine carpets. Gossamer curtains fluttered in the breeze trickling in through the open windows, carrying with it the heady scent of roses, much like the perfume Vexxion left for me to add to my bath.
Roses . . .
I rushed to the window and stared out, gasping at the garden full of them. Black with silver tips. Were these the sameroses Vexxion had plucked for me? How could he reach them if they were hidden beneath the thorns?
“Your mother adored them,” someone said behind me. “She planted them everywhere, much to the bemusement of your father. Their perfume made him sneeze.”
I whirled around to find Aunt Vera walking across the room, her long, pale peach gown swirling across her matching shoes. She’d tied her waist-length, gray-flecked hair at the nape of her neck, and if not for a few tiny wrinkles around her eyes, I wouldn’t know she was much older than me.
“They’re my mother’s roses?” I asked.
“She loved them, and now they’re yours. Welcome, High Lady of Lydel Court.” She dipped forward in a low curtsy, spreading her skirt wide and bowing her head.
“I’m still trying to get used to the idea.” I was no high lady. “I’m an orphan who grew up in a border fortress. A dragon rider and trainer. A soldier.” And the fated mate of the High Lord of Weldsbane Court who was betrothed to me when I was a small child. “Shouldn’t you be the high lady since you’re the eldest?”
Straightening, she gave me a brief smile. “My older brother, your father, inherited the court, and ashiseldest child, it’s now yours.” Her low laugh rang out. “And I’m no elder.”
“You’re older than me,” I said as delicately as I could.
Her sharp gaze met mine. “The true elders are dead, murdered by that monster on the Bledmire throne. When the time comes, I’ll give you what advice I can, but I’m afraid you’ll be alone and without guidance.”
“Without guidance in what?”
“Claiming your court’s core.”
