Chapter 11
Auren
Stupid, arrogant males.
The largest silver dragon took a ponderous step towards me.
I took in his size, then noted the way his spittle burned holes in the stones themselves.
Was he an acid breather? They were usually green and…
that didn’t matter. My tail whipped across the courtyard as I drew myself to my full height.
I’d had to deal with idiot males insisting they had a right to my body, my potential eggs, since the moment I came into maturity.
These dragons would be dealt with the same way as the others that ‘came to visit’ my father’s cave.
With my fangs and claws.
As I surged forward, the scales around my neck rattling in a threat display, I was shocked to see I was not alone. My father coming to stand beside me was perhaps expected, but Viridian? A flash of green and he was there before me, roaring his displeasure into the muzzles of these interlopers.
For just a moment, I felt a rush of gratitude, but that was replaced by concern as the other silver dragons joined their brother.
For such massive creatures, they moved like the lightning they resembled.
They loomed over Viridian, heads hanging like one of those weapons humans use to execute criminals.
I was moving and so was Father, when the courtyard became very, very crowded.
Royal corp dragons had obviously come teeming out of their burrows in the mountain of Wyrmpeak, and they landed around us, making clear what a mistake it would be to attack.
These interlopers might be able to dispatch one, maybe two dragons, but not all of us.
Stand down, my father snarled, his muzzle pulling back to reveal his fangs.
To any other dragon, this would’ve been incredibly impressive.
Battle scarred, there was a broken canine he earned in the Battle of Two Queens hundreds of years before my birth.
To any other sensible dragon, my father was a legend, his size almost as big as his reputation, but these silver beasts seemed insensible to that.
I brought you to Wyrmpeak. Don’t make me regret that act of hospitality by insulting my daughter.
This queen belongs to us, old one, the largest silver dragon growled.
By all the gods, if they thought to court me, then they were gravely mistaken. My wings flapped out as I leapt over Viridian and my father, landing neatly on the stones between us and the interlopers.
I belong to myself. When I took a step forward, some small part of me was gratified to see the silvers do the same backwards.
Perhaps because I wasn’t entirely sure they would.
What I was doing was madness, but I could not seem to find it in me to backdown.
How dare you come here and try to stake a claim on me without even a by your leave?
Acting like wild beasts, not civilised dragons.
Who the hell do you think you three are?
Yours.
The great silver beast on the left said that, forcing my eyes to swing his way. I stared at him in complete disbelief. I’d had males come and try to bargain with my father, as if I was a horse at market a human might haggle over, but never this. A sense of entitlement to my body.
To me.
I am not enough to hold these beasts back, my queen, Viridian said, coming to stand beside me. But my brothers? More and more keep dragons landed until the silvers were forced backwards. Every single one of them will lay down their lives to protect you.
I glanced over at him, and for the first time noticed that his eyes were the colour of a well-cut peridot.
Silver mates with gold.
That growled assertion had my head whipping around, my fangs baring. I didn’t know which silver dragon said that, but in the end, it didn’t matter.
Not this gold, I shot back, and definitely not with these silvers.
Go. My father was slow to anger, but once riled, he was truly impressive. With a rush, he forced the silver dragons back. Go to Wyrmpeak and find yourself a den, and hopefully there you’ll find your manners. Either that or I will force you to quit this place entirely.
We go. I didn’t let out a full breath until the largest silver dragon turned tail. For now.
“Auren!”
My muscles remained locked down tight, even as the silver dragons took flight.
Some of the Royal Riders’ dragons went with them, herding them towards the rocky mountain that Wyrmpeak was named for.
Riddled with hand-carved burrows, every dragon of the corp was housed there and now, these beasts.
At the shout of my name, I saw my bondmate come running across the flagstones.
What had my claws moving in the same direction?
This.
Fern was too small to be anything other than a liability, and yet when her arms flung themselves as far as they could go around my neck, my eyes closed for just a second. My head lowered, and she pressed her forehead to mine, the link feeling like it snapped tighter.
Those dragons… Her feverish thoughts were a perfect articulation of my own dismay. Auren, are you well?
I let out a snort, remembering that I had said the exact same thing when she ran from her own suitors.
I think I understand why you left your family home now, I replied. Those arrogant fools…
Idiots, she agreed, and while many of my own kind would come to the same conclusion, only Fern seemed to feel the same way.
Waves of fear, of anger, of affront poured off her, yet why did her heart and mine beat so fast?
That they pulsed in time was all that mattered.
With each slower, more measured breath, our heart rates settled, and we drew apart.
What’s going on? A familiar and yet entirely unwanted masculine voice invaded my skull. Hadrian, what’s this I hear about a queen dragon being claimed?
With a huff, I turned to see yet more dragons were prompted to join us. The spaces vacated by Viridian’s brothers were filled by those I considered my nemesis. The older males of the wild dragons. Three of them landed now, their words addressed to my father, their eyes on me.
And I hated every single moment of it.
Sister!
By all the gods, all I wanted to do was get a grant of land, to retire somewhere to the wilds of Nevermere, away from all of this kerfuffle, but there was no hope of that.
Lumina, I greeted the gold dragon that landed in the courtyard beside me. I am—
Cora said that there were silver dragons? Her head whipped around as if to catch sight of them. And that they were trying to claim you before the entire keep? I was going to come to your aid, but my rider insisted I stay in my den, lest I put myself in danger. Are you in danger?
Lumina and I were not blood sisters. My mother was the great Cynane, who had died in the war with the Duke of Harlston, giving birth to me and the rest of my clutch mates.
Lumina’s mother was the former captive queen dragon, Zafira.
Forced to bear eggs for the king’s dragon like some oversized chicken, her eggs were placed with ours in the nest, so the bond of the shell was stronger than the bonds of blood.
Lumina—
Did they hurt you? Her head whipped from side to side like an enraged viper. Surely not with Father here. Father—?
Enough.
I’d intended to say the exact same thing, but Father did so in a manner so decisive everyone fell silent.
Well, almost everyone.
Silver dragons? Cyrus, one of the wild dragons, snapped. We eradicated the last of the silver dragons a millennia ago.
What?
As I turned around to face the rest of the dragons, I felt Fern’s hand on my flank. That small point of contact had a strange feeling of warmth settling in my chest. Comfort, that’s what my ancestral memories told me.
No one is mating with anyone, Father said, ignoring that last comment entirely.
The silver dragons were brought here by me as a gesture of friendship.
His eyes went to me. Something I would not have offered them if I knew how they would respond to the presence of my daughter.
Needless to say, the situation has been dealt with for now.
If the silver dragons cannot behave in a reasonable manner—
Silvers? This seemed to set the cat amongst the pigeons. The wild dragons’ heads reared back as they consulted with each other. Reasonable? What a ridiculous—
Then I will deal with them personally.
That ability to silence all dissent with one sentence, I longed for the same kind of authority my father wielded so casually. Everyone said my mother did and the ancestral memories I carried with me showed me that, but I was yet to develop that level of skill. The world didn’t listen to me at all.
But she did.
Are the dragons going to keep you safe? Fern asked. I will do my best to protect you. I couldn’t help but snort at that. But other than rapping those beasts on the nose with a book, I’m not sure how useful I will be.
A dragon protects what is hers, I said, my tail forming a circle around my bondmate. Not the other way around. Though your offer… It felt like this admission was being dragged out of the depths of me. It is a kind one.
“Lumina!” Cora, my sister’s bondmate, appeared in the courtyard. “I said to wait in your den until the threat was neutralised.”
And I did. My sister’s tone was slightly aggrieved. As soon as the silvers took flight, I left my den.
“Until I tell you it’s safe to leave, heart of mine.” Cora embraced Lumina as Fern had me, and that had me nodding. The crown princess of Nevermere was a good bondmate for my sister. Steady where Lumina was flighty. “I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you.”
Nothing is happening to anyone, Father asserted.
Not while I still draw breath, so unless you have legitimate business for being in the keep courtyard.
Some of the wild dragons shifted restively, obviously about to interject.
Can I suggest you find something better to occupy you than sitting around here and clucking like a flock of chickens?
Shaming them, that was what seemed to get through to the wild dragons. I noted that with a keen eye, filing that little tidbit of knowledge away for later.
My queen. Viridian approached from the front, maintaining a polite distance. Can I escort you to the feeding pens? You must be hungry after such a long journey.
I nodded.
You may. Fern? My bondmate looked up at me. Are you well? Do any of the human males plague you, because I can do more than rap them on their noses. My muzzle peeled back to reveal my fangs. Far more.
That had Fern grinning in response.
Not yet, though I’ll keep you posted if anyone becomes a nuisance. Go and eat and I’ll get through the intake process and find you later.
Lumina? I turned to my sister. Did you want to join us?
She did, but was it because she was hungry? I questioned that as she looked Viridian over with an evaluative air. I stepped between the two of them, forcing her to look at me.
Of course, sister, she said, then took flight in seconds.
My wings raking through the air, my body fighting gravity’s pull as it rose up, that helped me put some distance to the morning’s disturbing events as well as the courtyard.
Viridian’s green scales glinted in the sunlight, drawing me forward.
Eat, digest, sleep in the sun, I thought, then formulate a plan for the next year. Yes, that was exactly what I would do.