Chapter Twenty-Four
Vynessa
What just happened? The forest goes in and out of focus. Black, charred trees collapse around us. Six of Shynia’s guards are on their feet, hair sticking straight up, but alive. Two of them lie on the forest floor, limp and forgotten by the others, and two more lie moaning in pain.
Pax!
My mind is screaming that one name over and over.
Shynia told us that queen is going to kill him, and then everything went white. Heat seared up my whole body. It was different than in the washroom, this was all spark, no flame. I wonder if I kept it in too long, if I did it wrong and it exploded out in this horrible way that hurt so many.
My heart leaps in panic, but when I glance behind me, True is climbing to his feet, seemingly unharmed, though his leathers are smoldering.
Shynia raises her hands. “You’re clearly happy to shoot a messenger, dear sister, but I’m not the one who arrested your lover.
I’m not forcing you to marry a prince from the Sun Kingdom.
I just came here, on the queen’s bequest, to tell you about your guard.
The queen says that you need to return home, or the halfling dies. ”
I’m sure Shynia is lying. The queen would send her soldiers to get me. She probably did. Shynia came out here to kill me, but she’s unarmed now. Not only that, but there’s also an edge of fear in her eyes where I’ve only seen disdain before.
“Well, come on,” Shynia says, impatiently snapping her fingers and sticking up her nose, clearly trying to hide her unease by acting like a snob as usual. “We have important guests, and you can’t go looking like that.”
“We can still run,” True murmurs, but the resignation in his voice betrays him.
“Don’t be ridiculous. No, you can’t.” Shynia glances around at her guards, her golden hair circling her head like a crown.
The remaining six guards have all drawn their weapons, ready to take us by force.
Even though I know True must be as strong in dragon form as human, he can’t possibly fight off all six of them.
And I feel so depleted I doubt I could even make a spark.
I wonder if I burned out my fuse, or whatever dragons have that makes fire, when my magic erupted.
I don’t have time to ask, though. My head is pounding, and the weight and horror of the task ahead presses down until I think I’ll suffocate.
Not only do I have to survive a wedding to a stranger, but that’s only the beginning.
If dragons are to continue, I have to lay nine eggs.
As a prisoner of the Sun Kingdom, I’m sure he’ll force me to lay them for him.
I can’t even remember how long it takes for all nine heat cycles—I didn’t know that part of dragon lore was relevant to me when I learned it.
After that, though… There’s no reason for the Sun King to keep me alive. He’ll have all nine heirs, and he’ll kill me, leaving the nine clans with no queen, only a king to rule.
As horrifying as that is, the more immediate dangers are the ones making me panic.
Pax will never be safe. They will use him to hurt me.
Nobody I care about will ever be safe. The best thing I can do for my human family is to pretend I’ve forgotten them as thoroughly as the dragons have so I don’t bring attention and danger to them.
And my men… I have to distance myself from them as well.
“It’ll be okay,” I whisper, reaching back toward True, grateful for his steadiness and strength beside me. “Just stay with me, True. I’ll protect you.”
“I will stay by your side always, Princess Vynessa. And more.”
I want to ask what those last words mean, but before I can, Shynia nods to her guards, and after a moment of hesitancy, they flank us.
I try to catch my breath as the guards begin to shift into dragon form. If I somehow manage to escape my sister’s plotting and save myself from death at the hands of my new father-in-law, it will be my own children on the line, used to gain my obedience.
“Well, shift,” Shynia says impatiently. “You don’t want to keep the queen waiting. Or your prince.”
My stomach aches, my eyes water, but I manage to ask the important question. “When will the queen return my guard?”
Shynia laughs and bats a hand through the air. “On your wedding night, silly.”
“That’s tonight?”
“No!” She laughs so hard I almost believe it’s genuine amusement this time. “You’re just going to meet him tonight.”
I try to swallow, but my throat has gone dry as ash. “She better follow through,” I growl. “Or I’ll destroy her.”
Shynia ignores my threat and shifts seamlessly into her dragon form, a long, pale blue shape with sparkling white scales that takes my breath away.
Her guards are circling in the air overhead, and suddenly, I feel too vulnerable in the human body I’ve always lived in.
With one blast of fire, they could turn me into a blackened crisp. There’s no escape.
I quickly shift alongside True, and together we rise into the air, our breath fogging in the cold. In the distance, the palace looms dizzyingly high, ominous and stifling even as it spires into the sky from atop the mountain.
I begin to soar after Shynia, a sense of determination hardening my heart.
I’m going to have to go through with this.
True may stay by my side for the rest of my life.
Pax might love me in a way no one else ever will.
Sinetar might be able to teach me every law and custom a queen should know.
But no matter how much support I have, I am the only queen. I am alone in this.
With grim resolve, I fly toward the palace to meet my fate.
Thank you for reading Dragon Heir: Her Royal Guard Book 1.