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Fyia's wolves slipped out of the crowd, flanking her as she walked, forcing Cal a step further away. They harbored some hostility towards him, similar to what she'd felt from Cal's bear, and Fyia wondered why. It hadn't been there before the trip to the temple … maybe it was because they could smell him all over her.
Edu and Zhura appeared from inside the town hall, harboring glowers so similar Fyia had to stifle a laugh. Zhura pulled Cal aside, saying something in low tones, and Edu did the same to Fyia.
'There's trouble in the south,' said Edu. 'They sent an eagle. The Emperor attacked the coast of Sea Serpent … attacked theTempleof the Sea Serpent …'
'What?' said Fyia. Zhura seemed to be telling Cal something important, and Fyia had to force her full attention back to Edu. 'You think he's looking for the dragons too?'
'I don't know, but he's taken land and prisoners. If you want to keep your kingdoms, we have to go. Starfall is sending the airship; it should be here by noon.'
'Okay,' said Fyia, too many thoughts racing through her mind for her to process everything at once. Cal rushed away, and Fyia almost followed, but her kingdoms were more important. Edu nodded over Fyia's shoulder, and one of her guards followed the King.
'We went to the Temple of the Dragon,' Fyia whispered. 'The Black Hoods' egg is missing too.'
'I assumed that's where you'd gone,' said Edu, everything about him chastising her.
'I didn't have time to tell you.'
'My Queen may do as she pleases.'
Fyia sent him a dirty look. 'I'll tell you everything later, but the dynamics here are going to shift.'
Edu leaned forward, all jokiness gone. 'Something's going on with the Queen Mother. Zhura and Aaron found her trying to leave with the King's uncle, and detained them both.'
Fyia nodded. It made sense. 'The Queen Mother isn't Cal's real mother. She's been blackmailing him. The Black Hoods are sitting on an incredible cache of dragon scales. They use them to buy favor with the Fae'ch, and to trade, but Cal didn't know where they were.'
'You found them?'
Fyia nodded. 'The Queen Mother must have known he would find them eventually. She must have had an escape plan ready, and bolted as soon as we found her secret passage beneath the library.'
'There's a tunnel all the way to the temple?'
'An aqueduct.'
'Did you know they ran this far north?'
Fyia shrugged. 'The map at the Temple of the Whore showed lines running up here, and to the Great Glacier, but I didn't know if they were aqueducts or something else. I guess the one here would suggest that's exactly what they are.'
'Cal,' said the Queen Mother, as he entered a dingy room under the snow line.
'You can call meYour Majesty,' Cal snapped. His hand curled around a small dragon scale in his pocket.
The Queen Mother raised an eyebrow. 'You found them, then?'
'You knew I would … it's why you tried to run, is it not?'
She shrugged.
'Because you knew I would have no choice but to kill you when I returned,' said Cal. His guts churned at the thought of killing in cold blood, but he would do what he had to for the good of his people.
'You could let me live,' said the Queen Mother, affecting an air of innocence.
He couldn't let her live. She would always be a thorn in his side. She would partner with anyone who wanted to overthrow Cal, and in return, she would promise dragon scales … the only wealth the Black Hoods could lay claim to. Or she would tell everyone the location of the scales and use the resulting chaos as a ladder.
The one thing she would not do was slink off into the wilds and quietly live out her days. And even if she wanted to, there was nowhere north of the Fae'ch mountains where she could reasonably hope to survive on her own. Not to mention, she'd tried to make off with a fortune in scales.
'So you can stick a dagger in my back the first chance you get?' he replied.
'Why would I do that?'
