CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
E VISDOR RIDES HARD AS WE head to Phixmery, his sleek white scales glistening in the sun as I urge him to go faster. It’s been years since I left my home, this being the second time in recent months, but to get to her, to save her from a certain fate, I just hope I get there in time.
I told her to make sure she came to me, and she didn’t. She didn’t heed my warnings, and if the realm finds out that she’s back, it will be a mess. They’re not ready to know. She’ll be targeted because of her bloodline, because of who her mother is. My sources have told me that the Lords of the three outer provinces will be making an appearance, and if they get to her before I do, if they do anything… then I’ll raze the land, damn the consequences.
My dragon’s voice, like silk, drifts down our bond, the bond I’ve shared with him ever since I found him in the Elskan Mountain’s when he was just a hatchling. To this day we still have no idea how he got there. “ We will make it. Have faith in me, Aemon. I’m the fastest flier in Damorleia .”
I lean forward, deeper into his saddle, as he speeds, straight and true. A trip on dragonback that should have taken me four days on a regular beast, takes only a fraction of the time. Having left early this morning, hours before dawn, I should make it there in just a few more hours.
Fates fucking damn it, why does she have to be so stubborn?
Maybe the message would have been better received if I was in my human form, instead of displaying my dreamself as my dragon. But after years of trying to find her, knowing deep in my heart she wasn’t dead, that the plan her mother set forth had worked, I didn’t give up when the others did. Although they didn’t know what I knew. The Queen trusted the secret with my own mother who shared the knowledge with me after the kingdom fell; the plan to get their only daughter out alive. I suspect she was hiding from me, from us, when she was supposed to come to Vathia when it was safe, many years later. But it never happened.
So I stayed in my dragon form so she wouldn’t hide from me any longer, even if she didn’t know who I was. Or maybe she suspected.
I had hoped it meant that wherever she was, she was safe. But the past year, her dreams have been nothing but torment. I was shocked all those years ago, when I was pulled into a dream—a nightmare—with her. The gruesome dream had shaken me to my core, so I created our dreamscape of our favorite place in the mountains, a place where she could rest easily. So imagine my surprise when our dreams switched from lying there peacefully in each other’s silence, to plans of running, to her speaking with me. And when she mentioned Phixmery, I did some digging to find out where she had been all these years through my spies getting their hands on Phixmery documents. I went to Shalo, and pieced together some of what was done to her. The village has since been razed to the ground. Only the females and children were allowed to flee, but somehow, that slimy village leader escaped. And when I find him, he’s going to wish he died with all the others.
For now, I’ll just have to be content with getting her. It’s risky, something I shouldn’t even be doing. But if she goes down, I’m going with her. I swore I would keep her safe.
As I crest the mountain top of the Dreki Mountains, the glorious sight of Phixmery stands before me: a castle with a long-forgotten history of our kind.
Evisdor lands on the edge of the mountain, easily blending in with the snowy peaks. “ What’s your plan? ” he questions as I slide down off him, catching my bearings from flying so fast for so long.
Striding to the edge of the cliff, I cross my arms, wrapping my cloak around me. “Sneak in, grab her, kill anyone in my path and get out before they set off the alarms,” I state simply.
It’s always the best plan. No one should hesitate when it’s your life and the ones you care about versus theirs. Kill or be killed, and I will gut anyone who stands in my way.
The ground shakes beneath my feet, and Evisdor perks up, and through our bond I know he feels a call. A call to his kind. “ And what’s your plan for that? ” he inquires dryly.
I’m trying to puzzle together what the evasive, oversized lizard means when a purple dragon blasts through the top of the tallest peak, other dragons following in its wake as they pour out of the mountain.
My eyes widen in horror as I hear her screams from over here, the wind carrying them. I’m familiar with the sounds of her screams thanks to her nightmares, but at least these are not ones of pain, just fear from flying for the first time.
Shit, I don’t have a plan for this.
The seven newly-bonded dragons sitting around the battlement turn towards their version of a Queen and dip their heads. We need to get over there now. I run up Evisdor’s leg and hop back in the saddle, urging him forward off the cliff.
He glides down across the valley with wicked precision and we arrive, landing on the battlement with a roar, which thankfully takes eyes off of Maeven for a moment.
“Traitor to the crown!” A masculine voice yells from down below on the field, pointing towards me. My eyes narrow on the Lords. I’m surprised they left their fancy castles to slum it with their grunts. Craven is the one who shouted, pointing towards me, his face seething with malice and wicked delight as he probably sees this as his chance to take me down. Yet none of the dragons move, even though the fae are scurrying around like ants below.
“ It’s because my mate is telling them not to attack, ” Evisdor grumbles in awe.
I stare at the purple dragon on the battlement wall across from me. Mate?
More of the Phixmery military pours out from the castle doors and instantly, some of them begin hurling blasts of magick at the wall beneath us. The wall rocks hard and Evisdor barely has a moment to flap his wings to stop us from crumbling down with it. Shadow flames erupt from his mouth, aiming for the culprits who are now taking advantage of the chaos below by taking a shot at Maeve, but she dodges, scrambling for purchase on the back of her dragon.
Shit, she doesn’t even have a saddle—she’s going to fucking fall. But by the grace of the fates she manages to stay on. I need to get her out of here.
The Lords bellow in rage as newly seasoned cadets try to organize themselves to take aim. It’s a mess and it’s a bit shameful. No wonder they haven’t been able to invade Vathia.
My gaze catches on the Lords’ sons, staring at me with shocked, enraged expressions as their gazes bounce between Maeven and I, and I can see it in their expressions that they’ve figured it out. They know who she is. I grin and wave back before turning my attention on who I’m here for. If I can get close enough, I can tell her to follow me. She wanted to escape anyway, if her dream babbling was anything to go by. And if her dragon can keep all the beasts at bay, that would really help as well.
My gaze widens in shock as a rider on the back of a red dragon takes aim at Maeven. “No! Move!” I bellow, although pointless. The beast flies past, blasting her and her dragon with flames. Her dragon screams in rage, spinning to fight off the attacker who dares to harm her rider. The rider holds their hand out and takes aim with their own flame, aiming right for Maeve. I scream her name and Evisdor joins the fray without instruction, snapping at the red beast’s throat, but he narrowly misses. My gaze searches for her dragon, and I breathe in relief as I see her trying to get Maeven away from the fight.
No newly bonded rider should be fighting on dragon back, especially without protection. The shot of speared earth nearly misses her as she dodges, almost falling off her beast again but catching herself. Suddenly, a massive black dragon appears with a rider I can’t see, shielding himself. My stomach catches in my throat as I realize they’re in the perfect position to get to Maeve. Using Evisdor’s speed, I urge him to fly faster, to interject before it’s too late, cursing that there are no shadows nearby for me to wield. The black dragon rams into the side of its smaller purple kin. I bellow, and I swear I hear voices screaming as well, as I watch my Little Dream get knocked off her dragon’s back, her deep brown hair whipping around her face as her face morphs into a silent cry for help, the wind taking the voice from her lungs.
Evisdor and I dive towards her, when suddenly everything seems to still as a burst of power explodes from her, hitting me square in the chest: a burning sensation ripping through my side and upper thigh as the first mate bonds in nearly one hundred years snaps into place.