Chapter 6 #4
“It would be better to have a team,” I begin thoughtfully. Enemy sorcerers must be treated with caution.
I think of Zenevieve, and how little she has ventured from the capital.
Now that her grief is no longer all-consuming, this could be the time for her to stretch her wings.
Grow her confidence. Keeping someone safe isn’t about always shielding them from danger.
Sooner rather than later, Zenevieve is going to become a full-fledged dragonrider.
She and her dragon should know what true peril looks and feels like, and it had better be while I’m watching over her and keeping her safe.
It’s about time her peers learned to think and act like dragonriders as well.
“Are the wingrunners willing to dispatch the sorcerer once the phylactery has been destroyed?” I ask the captain.
He nods. “Fighting mages is a wingrunner’s specialty, dragonmaster.”
I turn to the king. “Ma’len, I’ll form a team to destroy the phylactery, and I’d like the team to be the trainees.”
Queen Magritte looks up from her needlework. Prince Zabriel’s red eyes glow with excitement. Captain Harding of the wingrunners stares at me like I’m crazy.
“You wish to take the crown prince into certain danger?” the captain asks.
I keep my gaze fixed on the king. “The crown prince is not a boy, and he rides the flare’s Alpha. He should be able to handle a little danger. Prince Emmeric as well.”
“Both my heirs, dragonmaster?” the king asks me coldly.
“It is one sorcerer, Ma’len, and it is not our aim to meet him in battle. I will also take my own ward, and Onderz as well.”
“And Mirelle,” insists a soft voice. Queen Magritte rarely speaks in her husband’s presence, but now she looks at me anxiously.
“You don’t want a weak little idiot in the party, dragonmaster,” the king drawls.
Mirelle might dissolve into tears more often than most, but her dragon has teeth and talons like any other. “Every dragonrider has a responsibility to protect Maledin. I will take the princess as well.”
Zabriel races from the room, presumably to tell the others the good news.
King Aylard dismisses me with a gesture. “Do as you wish, dragonmaster, but make sure my eldest son is unharmed.”
“All your children will be safe with me, dragonmaster.”
The queen gives me an encouraging smile and nod as I leave, knowing I will watch over all three of her children.
As I cross the dragongrounds toward Zenevieve, I can tell from her glowing expression that she’s already heard the news.
“My first group mission. When will we set off?” Her eyes are bright and sparkling with enthusiasm.
I half expect her to dance around me in excitement, as she would have done when she was fourteen, but she clasps the hilt of her sword instead, her chin lifted and back straight.
I admire her newfound poise for a moment.
I open my mouth to answer, but I notice something over her shoulder. Every man on the dragongrounds is staring at her. Emmeric over by Shar. An Alpha named Dandro has stopped in his tracks. Even a Beta called Pavel has walked out from behind his dragon to keep her in his line of sight.
I glare at each of them. Pavel turns red and ducks behind his dragon, but the two Alphas hold their ground. Emmeric curls his lip at me in a manner just like his father, and Dandro lifts his chin in defiance.
Defy me, will they? I put my hand on my sword hilt and take a few steps forward. If they wish to fight, I will gladly give them as many bruises and cuts as they desire.
Dandro gives me a dirty look and resumes his walk toward the castle. Emmeric mutters under his breath as he slinks away.
“Stesha, is everything all right?”
I glance back at Zenevieve. No, everything is not all right.
Emmeric is a menace, Dandro fucks every Beta who strays too close, and Pavel is punching far above his weight if he thinks he deserves a beauty like Zenevieve.
The other day I overheard Dandro asking her to go flying with him.
Flying. That’s what lovers do. I feel myself growing angry all over again.
Who does he think he is? I called Zenevieve back to my side, and Dandro walked away muttering, Jealous bastard.
I take exception to that. Jealousy is for lesser Alphas.
I’m not jealous. I’m protecting Zenevieve from idiots who are only thinking with their knots.
Dandro looks at Zenevieve like he’s counting the days to his next rut.
Just thinking about any of these men getting their unworthy hands on Zenevieve threatens to tear through the paper-thin hold I have on my temper.
I’m dutifully fulfilling my oath to Alin to always protect her.
He wouldn’t want questionable Alphas like Dandro and Emmeric sniffing around her any more than I do.
I ignore her second question and answer the first. “The matter is urgent. We’ll go tomorrow.”
I put my hand lightly on Zenevieve’s nape and steer her behind Nilak and out of sight of those leering idiots. My thumb brushes over her soft skin.
“I can’t wait,” Zenevieve says, glowing with anticipation.
Over her shoulder, I notice Zabriel making a beeline for Zenevieve, no doubt intending to yap her ear off about tomorrow’s mission.
He’s striding as confidently as a fully mature Alpha dragonrider, which I suppose he nearly is now.
He hasn’t shown any intimate interest in my ward, but Alphas can turn to whoever’s closest when they feel a rut coming on.
I still haven’t decided what I think about the crown prince.
Zabriel doesn’t seem to have his father’s cruelty, and he’s a decent dragonrider and passable swordsman, but I’m not convinced he has a brain between his ears.
Worse, at least in regard to my ward, he’s unmated.
I doubt Zabriel could resist Zenevieve’s beauty while his dragines are aching.
I hold out my hand to Zenevieve. “Shall we fly together on Nilak?”
A smile breaks over her face. “Yes, please.”
I carry her up onto my dragon’s back before Zabriel can reach us.
Zenevieve sits sideways between my thighs with her ankles crossed and a hand on my chest. I hold her tightly for her own safety as Nilak spreads her wings and takes to the skies.
We soar through the glorious afternoon sunshine, the people and worries of Maledin dropping away beneath me.
Up here, there’s only Nilak and Zenevieve, and that’s the way I like it.
There’s plenty of time for Zenevieve to find a mate when…
My grip tightens on Zenevieve. When Nilak’s dragonfire turns to ice, that’s when.
“Stesha, are you all right? You smell angry all of a sudden.”
I take a calming breath, smooth her hair back, and cradle the back of her head. Her face, uptilted to mine, is burnished with golden sunshine. “Don’t go flying with anyone else. I don’t trust them to take care of you.”
“I have wondered why I’m being asked when I have a perfectly good dragon of my own.”
I make a disgusted sound. “It’s the most obvious dragonrider flirting there is.”
Zenevieve reaches up and touches my jaw and smiles. “Is it?”
“Of course.” Has my ward really not made the connection? I hope she hasn’t been smiling as prettily at other men as she’s smiling at me now, or someone’s going to get the wrong idea in his head. “Where shall we go on Nilak?”
Still smiling, she rests her cheek against my chest and holds me tighter. “Anywhere you want, Stesha.”
I ask Nilak to head for the meadows to the southwest, because there are wildflowers tangled in the long grasses that Zenevieve likes to pick.
We reach the meadows, and I rest with my back against Nilak, one knee bent and one leg stretched out, and watch Zenevieve moving through the grasses, making a posy. She hums to herself as she goes, and I enjoy the sweet sound.
Returning to my side, she says, “I hope I make you proud tomorrow.”
I reach up and grasp her hand. “I am already proud of you.”
“You’re so overprotective I’m surprised you even want me to go,” she teases, and tucks flowers behind my ear. I leave them there for now, but before we climb back onto Nilak, I’ll tuck them inside my riding jacket so I don’t lose them as we ride through the skies.
“Who, me? I’m just protective enough. No more, no less.”
Enemies are one thing. It’s good and necessary for Zenevieve to face enemies when she’s armed and riding Minta. She and her dragon will learn to sharpen their wits and skills against them.
But the Alphas of Maledin? I will be buried alive before one of them gets his hands on her.
We follow the wingrunner scout’s instructions, and Nilak picks up the lich’s scent high in the mountains.
With the trainees on their dragons, we circle high above the cave’s entrance, searching for any sign of danger.
I have been informed that the lich isn’t presently in its lair, but I never take what others tell me for granted.
When I’m confident it’s reasonably safe, we descend and land on the snow.
The air up here is freezing and cuts into our flesh like knives. The dragons have thick scales and skin to protect them from cold, and internal heat from their riestas, or soul cores.
Nilak detects no sounds or scents from within the cave that would indicate that there’s something or someone in there. I want to get this mission over with quickly and efficiently, and I cast my eyes over the trainees.
Who to send inside?
The cave entrance seems to narrow the farther it goes on, which means Nilak, Scourge, and Zeith will not fit, but Minta, Shar, and Dianthe could enter comfortably.
Zenevieve and Minta both have their eyes trained on the slopes, watching for danger without needing to be asked. I feel a glow of pride as I witness their good instincts. I’m not in the mood to work with huffy, unpredictable Emmeric, so it will have to be Mirelle.
“Mirelle. Take Dianthe into that cave and retrieve the vessel.”