Chapter 51
Lorien
“Well, well…” I said in a low hiss as I crept closer.
Dain was still far too pale, but his breathing had evened out and he was sleeping peacefully now.
Better than his moans of pain from before.
“Looks like that salve of yours did the trick.” My eyes met Fern’s.
“That or the fact you’re stroking his hair has him resting easy.
” I made a show of looking over my own arms. “I might’ve copped a scrape when a rock fell on me.
” My eyelids fluttered as I grinned at my girl.
“Want to pat me until I start purring too?”
“Lorien!”
Her look of outrage had me laughing, then thinking about my life choices as she snatched her hands away from Dain.
“Don’t stop on my account. My brother will never say it, but…”
He had to be loving this soft treatment, even if he had to pass out to accept it.
Argent says that Dain is feeling very good and… bad, ‘Fang said.
Of course he was.
“We need to talk about the crystal egg,” Lance said, drawing closer. “What possessed you to go back for it, Fern?”
Her cheeks pinked prettily, but her expression made clear this wasn’t a happy response.
“Auren seemed to think the eggs were important. I saw another one rise up out of the dirt as the cave started to collapse and grabbed it.”
The gold dragon stalked closer.
It is. Her claw opened to reveal a twin to the one Fern fished out of her pocket. The woman placed hers into her dragon’s palm. A quick flick of Auren’s talons and a bright ball of blood formed on the tip of one claw. This egg showed me Drathnor, the last of the white-gold queens.
White-gold…? I stared at ‘Fang. I thought females only came in gold.
Gold now, he said. Before? The ancient ones were different.
How were they different? I wanted to ask. Usually he’d talk my head off about any given topic, but on this he was curiously close lipped. Before I could push for more, Kael stepped forward.
“Then we need to see what it contains. You use blood to activate the magic, correct?”
A nod from Fern had his belt knife out, and he’d pricked his fingertip before handing it to me. I did the same as Lance used his own knife.
“You don’t have to,” I said, as Fern looked expectantly at me. “We can tell you what we see.”
“Nonsense.” She pulled the knife from my grip and pressed the tip of her finger to its point. With a wince, she drew it away, a ball of blood now forming. “So we just…”
Her voice trailed away and so did the entire campsite, because as Auren moved closer, we all reached out and pressed our fingers to the egg. The field, the trees, even the stars above were replaced by a familiar cavern and a massive dragon.
Find my nest, she insisted, her sides heaving.
They convulsed in a way I recognised, having seen my own sisters birth children. This was the moment when ‘Fang and his brothers were born.
Yes.
Auren’s voice rang in my ears, but Drathnor continued.
It’s there you’ll find out the truth, she said.
Go, my sons and seek… She let out a hacking cough, bright red blood splattering the stones.
They succeeded. My strength is waning. I don’t have enough to…
Another cough and I knew this was bad. Seen it myself when a man got crushed by an oncoming carriage.
Heart’s blood, that was what was hacked out.
Silver mates with gold, she said finally.
Remember that, my sons. Silver mates with gold.
I stumbled backwards and so did the others as the world abruptly resolved itself around us.
“What nest?” I recognised that tone as Kael paced back and forth by the fire.
“And where?” We’d survived on the streets because he was always quick to find a plan of action, but there was hell to pay when he couldn’t work out the next step.
“And who were they?” His focus shifted to Slate. “Do you know?”
You don’t, do you? I asked ‘Fang, already knowing the answer. There was no way he’d have been able to hold back information like that.
His head thrust itself under my arm, leaving me almost hanging in the air beside him. Didn’t know his own size, the idiot.
Silver mates with gold, he said in a far quieter tone. I remember that, but… We were born in our mother’s bones, not her nest. There were memories we should’ve received, knowledge we needed to know.
Don’t worry, brother. I raked my nails along the side of his head to the sounds of his grunts of pleasure. We’ll discover it together.
And that’s when my mind started to race. Dain liked to call me an idiot most days, but sometimes it felt like my brain was a net. It spent its days scooping up all of this extraneous information, only for things to come together in ways others couldn’t replicate.
“Wyrmpeak!” I said.
“Yes.” Kael’s sigh was long suffering. “We have to return to Wyrmpeak at some point.”
“No…” My finger shook as I pointed to Fern. “Remember that book you read? There was something about three sisters and they had overlapping territories around what is now Wyrmpeak.”
“Gods, yes.” Her eyes went wide as she smiled up at me. “The book that said Drathnor could freeze oceans and raise mountains.”
“Does that sound like a credible source?” Lance frowned as his arms crossed his chest. “The ancient dragons were by all accounts terrifying, but those are the powers of a god, not a beast.”
“We’ll discover the truth if we can find this damn nest somewhere amongst all the ruins that are scattered around the city of Wyrmpeak.” Kael rubbed at his face. “What if her den was under the city itself? What if the stones were tossed aside when humans built the place?”
The answer is in the earth.
We all turned as Lance’s dragon stepped forward.
“You keep saying that,” Kael snapped, “but I’m going to need something more if we are going to narrow the search down.”
“Viridian is earth attuned,” Lance shot back. “More so than any other green dragon I’ve met. If the nest still exists, he’ll find it.”
“How?” Fern moved to place a hand on the green dragon’s muzzle and he nudged her palm, obviously wanting a scratch. “Do we fly over the entire region around the capital, searching for the nest like one might a needle in a haystack?”
Kael’s arms crossed as he stared fixedly at Lance.
“If the general will let us fly free of the keep. He let you escort us to Harlston. Think you can get him to loosen his leash on us enough to do sweeps of the region?”
“I can try.” Both Kael and I began to shift as Lance’s eyes dropped to the ground.
His frown had me stiffening. “But if he won’t allow it.
” When he met our collective gaze, I started to smile pre-emptively.
“Then I know a little something about living life outside of the keep. Me and Viridian.” He slung an arm around the green dragon’s neck.
“We were among the first riders and dragons to leave the corp. Spent some time under the protection of Marcus Lighthands.”
“The head of the Wyrmpeak underworld?” I let out a low whistle. “That’s some interesting company you keep, Lieutenant.”
“He might not go by Lighthands anymore, now he’s respectable.” Lance’s grin was an echo of my own. “As he’s the prime minister.”
“Prime minister?” Kael’s eyebrow shot up as he lost that sour expression. “Think you can get a meeting with him? If anyone can get the general off our backs, it’s got to be him.”
“I might be able to.” Everyone stared at me. “A man in his office gave us a ride back from the tavern that day. Told him we’d put our dragons at his beck and call if he’d support us against the general.”
Talk to this human, Auren said, settling down beside Fern.
But if that fails? I didn’t eat this general before when he insulted me out of respect for Hazel and Zafira.
I’ll ensure they are not present if he tries to interfere again.
The truth of what happened to Drathnor affects all of my kind, and I’m not above getting my father and the rest of the wild dragons involved if that’s what’s required.
“Sounds like we have a plan,” I said, walking over to Fern. My hands on her shoulders, rubbing the fabric there, it helped settle something deep inside me. “But what do you think, lass?”
“What do I think?” She turned then, scanning the circle before her eyes came to rest on Dain. “I think we need to get back to the keep as fast as we can. The sooner we return—”
The sooner we can find our mother’s nest.
‘Fang used to rest his head against my chest when he was just a hatchling. What was cute back then had me stumbling backwards now.
“So if we want to get back to Wyrmpeak fast, you could ride with me, Fern?” I offered as I found my feet.
“Or with me.” Lance stepped forward. “I said I’d work with you on your flying skills on the journey.”
Males. Auren’s tone was withering. We queens ride together. You others will have to try and keep up.
All the dragons rose to their feet then, but Kael shook his head.
“After a good night’s sleep. Bed now and then we leave at first light, though if you want to share a bedroll—”
“No.”
Fern started pulling her bedroll down from Auren’s back, but I was there in seconds. I had the ropes untied, then was carrying it over beside the fire. Next to Dain, because her eyes kept straying his way and that was fine. She’d look the same way at me some day if I played my cards right.
It also meant I could lay my own bed on her free side.
With a series of grumbles, everyone else bedded down for the night, but my eyes remained wide open, staring at the night sky.
The adrenaline that came from entering those caves was still coursing through my blood.
As I traced imaginary lines between different stars, creating constellations of my own, Fern turned to me.
“Do you think we will find Drathnor’s den?” she said.