A Court of Darkness and Dragons Chapter 1
“Back off, Solei.”
My voice cracked like ice over flame, intense enough to silence even the wind. “You don’t get to stand there and judge what you don’t understand.”
Solei raised a brow, not cowed in the slightest. Of course she wasn’t. Her posture relaxed, but her eyes didn’t soften.
“She’s new to Warriath,” she said with a shrug, like the words meant nothing. “Which means she wasn’t raised here. And if she wasn’t raised here… then she was raised by the enemy.”
“That’s true,” I said, stepping forward. Kaelith stirred behind me, her tail thudding once against the stone. “But it’s not her fault. She’s not evil.”
“No?” Solei’s eyes slid to Veyna, who hadn’t moved—stoic, but there was the tiniest flinch in her shoulders. “You think someone raised among the Blood Fae just… walked out untouched? That she didn’t see what they did? That she didn’t become one of them?”
“She was a child.” I cut her off before the next accusation could land. “She survived. That doesn’t make her dangerous.”
“She’s a liability.” Solei’s words hit hard. “And you—” her gaze swung back to me “—you’re letting your heart lead you again.”
Kaelith rumbled low in my mind. She’s not wrong to be cautious. But she’s not right either.
I ground my teeth. “This isn’t like Remy. Or Theron. Or anyone else who’s lied their way into our trust. Veyna hasn’t lied.”
“Not yet,” Solei muttered.
I bristled. “You don’t get to do this. Not after what we went through on the Blood Isle. She saved Elara. I have seen her scars.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You’ve seen?”
I nodded once. “She showed me. Told me what they did to her. How her own grandfather used her, and twisted her magic. The way they punished her for even thinking about escape.” I swallowed, throat thick. “She wasn’t raised to be loyal to them. She was raised to break.”
“And broken things are unpredictable,” Solei snapped. “They cut the wrong people when they lash out.”
“That doesn’t mean we discard them.”
We stood there in silence; the tension pulsing between us like a live wire. Around us, the others had gone still—Jax frozen with one hand on Ferrula’s arm, Cordelle watching with wide green eyes, Naia’s jaw tight with unspoken frustration.
Solei’s arms finally crossed. “I don’t trust her.”
“I didn’t ask you to,” I said quietly. “I asked you not to destroy someone who’s already barely surviving.”
Veyna’s eyes met mine then. “Thank you,” she whispered, her voice trembling slightly.
Solei saw it too. She exhaled slowly. “If she proves me wrong,” she said, “I’ll apologize.”
“And if she proves you right?” I asked.
“Then I’ll be the one to end her,” Solei answered flatly.
I didn’t argue. Because I already knew—I’d do it myself before I let her become the monster they tried to create.
The night air bit at my skin, sharper than it should’ve been. Kaelith’s shadow loomed above, circling once before settling onto the tower’s edge like a wraith of Stormlight and scale. I watched Solei vanish into the inner halls before I turned to Veyna.
“Come with me,” I said softly.
She didn’t hesitate—she never did. We slipped through the archway and down a quieter corridor, the stone humming gently beneath our feet as if it still remembered the last time blood had stained its cracks.
I stopped just before the archway to the empty garden terrace, half-shrouded in ivy and dragon-bone torches that flickered.
“I’m sorry about Solei,” I said. “She’s my chosen sister and fiercely loyal. At least she is now.”
Veyna met my gaze, calm and unwavering. “It’s alright.” Her voice was softer than usual. “I wouldn’t trust me either. Not if I were in her place.”
“But you’ve never given me a reason not to.”
She smiled meekly, that sad sort of curve that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Give her time. You’re important to her. That kind of love always comes with teeth.”
I exhaled, something loosening in my chest. “It’s not fair to you.”
“It’s not about fair,” she said. “It’s about surviving. And I know what I look like to them. A fae-born stranger from a blood kingdom. But I’m not here to prove anything. I’m here because of you.”
I looked away, throat tightening. Before I could respond, the heavy footfall of boots interrupted us.
“Sorry to intrude,” Remy’s voice drawled, a little too casual. “But… Ashe, may I have a word?”
Not now. The words lodged behind my teeth, but I forced them out, anyway. “Not now,” I said. Then paused. “But… would you walk my sister back to our barracks?”
His brows lifted in surprise, but only for a breath. “Of course.” He offered his arm to Veyna. “Milady?”
Veyna glanced at me as if unsure.
I nodded once.
She accepted the offer, and he guided her down the hall, his stride slow to match hers. I watched until their shadows disappeared around the corner.
Then I turned and walked back toward the others. Toward the tension. The politics. The broken pieces, we were still trying to keep from collapsing. My footsteps were quiet, but my mind wasn’t.
Solei may not trust her… but I’d burn the kingdom down before I let them destroy her.
My gaze moved to Zander. I knew the look in his eyes.
He stood at the edge of the grounds, arms crossed, the collar of his riding coat flaring in the wind like a banner of defiance.
Hein landed behind me with a gust of air and a low growl that vibrated through my boots, but Zander didn’t flinch.
His eyes were fixed eastward, toward the horizon where storm clouds churned in the distance.
“Solmia,” he said at last, voice clipped. “We need eyes on the encroaching army. Just a small squad. A quick in and out. No confrontation unless absolutely necessary.”
I stepped up beside him. “Who’s going?”
“Me. You. Jax, Ferrula, Naia, and Tae.” His gaze swept across the rest of Thrall Squad, each of them stiffening like drawn arrows. “If we meet resistance, we come back. We’re not there to win a war, we’re going to assess what’s coming.”
Tae gave a low whistle. “Guess I better be prepared to light some minds on fire.”
Zander’s brow lifted.
“With my power,” Tae clarified, holding up both hands. “You know, the whole Dominion of the Mind thing? If I pass out midair, maybe remind Kieren not to drop me.”
Naia snorted. “We’ll tie a rope around your waist and drag your sorry ass if we have to.”
Just then, a roar split the sky.
It was unmistakably Kieren’s. Deep, indignant, and vaguely threatening.
Tae slapped a hand over his mouth. “Sorry,” he muttered, wide-eyed. Then shrugged. “I guess you don’t joke about your dragon dropping you.”
Zander’s lip twitched, the faintest flicker of a smirk. “They’re a bit defensive about their flying abilities.”
“Noted,” Tae mumbled as Naia elbowed him in the ribs.
“Everyone grab your saddles,” Zander ordered, stepping back as the sky above darkened with the shadows of wings. “We tie in for this one. If the winds over the mountains shift, we need to be ready to land hard or hold steady.”
Ferrula cracked her neck. “Hard landings are the only kind I seem to get lately.”
Kaelith was next to touch down, her massive form gliding through the moonlight before she landed with a ground-shaking thud.
Narvea circled close behind her, green scales catching glints of gold.
One by one, our dragons descended, Koddos and Kieren, Temil and Kasstovian, like summoned gods of old answering a call only they could hear.
I stepped toward Kaelith, her gold eyes already watching me as if she’d been waiting for my next move.
We fly, I told her silently as I secured her saddle.
Her tail arched in agreement. Then let us see what awaits us in the shadows.
The night air was calm, a balm against my skin as Kaelith leaped into the sky and cut through the wind with effortless grace.
The others flew in staggered formation, Koddos just below us, Temil and Narvea to our left, and Kieren drifting a little high, keeping Tae within easy reach.
The stars spilled like molten silver across the sky.
For a moment, just a moment, I forgot why we were here.
Kaelith’s wings stretched wide, catching the current as if she were born to ride it.
Which she was. Her body thrummed beneath me, alive with quiet strength.
The wind whispered past my ears. Zander flew just ahead, his silhouette against the stars vivid and certain.
Hein’s wings beat effortlessly as they climbed higher still.
Almost beautiful, I thought.
But then we crested the ridge of the eastern mountain pass, and everything beautiful fell away.
A shadow stretched across the horizon—broad, writhing, alive.
Black dragons. Dozens. Maybe more. Their scales glistened with dark magic, wings as wide as guild banners, eyes like burning coals.
Some hovered like sentinels in the sky, others perched on jagged outcrops and half-buried siege towers.
Their growls echoed across the range—low, guttural warnings that vibrated through Kaelith’s chest.
Below them, the ground churned.
A sea of armored bodies. Line after endless line of foot soldiers, clad in crimson-trimmed black steel, their armor dull with travel but gleaming at the edges like freshly forged death.
Crimson Sigil banners snapped in the wind, alongside jagged, blood-stained standards I didn’t recognize. Varnari? Or something worse?
Siege engines groaned behind them—towers on wheels, war wagons spiked with enchanted steel, and battering rams shaped like the gaping mouths of serpents.
Lines of beasts, some scaled, some twisted by sorcery, dragged carts filled with sharpened pikes, fire barrels, and cages I didn’t want to imagine the contents of.
The army was moving slowly but with terrifying purpose.
Each step toward Warriath was deliberate. No drunken shouts. No wild chants. Just the heavy thud of boots, the grind of wheels, and the roiling smoke of their fires.
This isn’t an army, Kaelith murmured in my mind. It’s a reckoning.
My throat went dry. Zander’s dragon dipped low, wings banking hard as he circled back toward us. One look passed between us, and it was all I needed.
We had seen enough.
I tugged the tether once. Kaelith rose, turning west. We fly. Now.
No matter how fast we returned to Warriath, we were already too late.
Zander. I reached for him across the bond, my fingers clenched in Kaelith’s warm scales. My voice trembled with the force of what I’d seen. How do we fight that?
There was silence for a moment, the kind that stretched and hollowed your ribs from the inside out. Then his voice came, steady but grim.
We don’t. Not like this.
They have almost as many dragons now… I swallowed hard as Kaelith beat her wings once, rising into the thinning clouds. And five times our army of men. We’ll be swallowed whole.
Zander’s reply came low, wrapped in fury and heartbreak. Most of the Crimson Sigil’s soldiers are without magic. That was their entire creed—no magic, just steel and blood. They hated what we were.
But they’re flying with the Blood Fae now, I shot back, glancing toward the eastern sky as more dark wings wheeled in formation. How did this happen?
Because the Blood Fae tricked them, Zander said, bitterness seeping through the bond.
Promised them freedom from our rule. Promised them order.
Purpose. Revenge. He exhaled, and I felt it across the tether like a pulse.
And now? Now they march under crimson banners with sorcery in their veins. They’re not just armed—they’re bound.
I looked down again at the endless churn of soldiers below. So we’re not just fighting them…
We’re liberating them, he finished. Even if they don’t see it yet.
My chest tightened. How? How do we fight that without losing everything?
There’s only one way.