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Dark masses swarm both sides.
Somewhere down there are people I care about.
People I love.
Shouts of alarm sound and soldiers scramble to get into position. It’s pointless against Caindra. Arrows can’t penetrate these scales. Hopefully, I can convince them to hold off and not attack.
She swoops down, coasting parallel to the ground but not landing.
My mouth gapes as she tosses Jarek like a castaway trinket. The fall isn’t too far, and he rolls like a tumbleweed before coming to a stop. I can breathe again when I see him stagger to his feet.
Caindra banks left, narrowly missing the stone wall ahead. With one of her loud roars, she pivots again, plunging for the rift’s pass where two distinct groups stare up at us, arrows nocked and blades drawn. The legionaries are unmistakable. Who the soldiers in all black are, I can’t say, but I imagine they’re the Shadows Kienen mentioned.
I spot Zander on our sweep past and my heart swells. I pray he sees me and knows that I’ve come.
Caindra lands on the other side of the Ybarisans. The stone bridge shudders under her weight, and several horses rear, sending their riders dangerously close to the edge.
She sets me down in front of her with a gentleness I would never expect, giving me her talons for support as I take a few steps on wobbly legs. “We’ll have to work on the flying thing,” I mutter. A puff of air from her nostrils answers me.
Ahead, two females sit on horses, their jaws dropped.
One is an elemental caster, her telltale gold collar marking her as such.
The other is a spitting image of Princess Romeria.
Of me.
No one ever warned me how much I looked like the evil Ybarisan queen. It’s uncanny.
Behind them are the soldiers in head-to-toe black. They seem to struggle with where to focus—on the dragon or the Islorians. They’re sandwiched between two powerful forces.
“Daughter!” Queen Neilina exclaims, as her eyes flitter between me—in my winged dress—and Caindra. “You have escaped.”
Escaped? What did Zander tell her? I suppose I should play along. “With a little help.” This is all happening so fast. If I could have planned this more, if I could have asked Gesine, I’d be better prepared. I’d know how to speak to my supposed mother. Did I call her Mother? Her Highness? Did I bow?
She slides off her horse and the elemental beside her follows, keeping the shield around them. Her delicate gold and silver dress shimmers in the sunlight. Aoife’s token antlers around her neck are crude by comparison. They look more like a weapon than jewelry. “I did not think I would see you again.” She walks casually—not like a mother rushing to embrace her long-lost child.
I match her pace, moving in, drawing on my affinities, weaving them into a tight silver cord. But thoughts of the royal garden loosen my grip. I cannot unleash that here. I’ll kill everyone; I might even kill myself.
But does Neilina know what I am?
Who I am?
Does she have any clue that I’m here to kill her? My insides flip. The last time I tried to fool a family member of Princess Romeria’s, it did not end well for me.
But if Neilina suspects anything, she hasn’t hinted at it yet. She’s too focused on Caindra, awe painted across her face. “Where did you find such a beast?”
I expect the dragon to respond with a snarl, but she remains quiet. “She found me.” The truth likely serves me best here.
“How marvelous.” She stops several feet away but doesn’t reach out, doesn’t show any sign of affection. I’m thankful for it. “And she will listen to our orders?”
Our orders. She may as well say my orders. My irritation thrums. “If she feels like it.”
Neilina sniffs. “I wish I’d known we had such a force before. I would not have needed to drag all these people here. Never mind that, though, they can wait until we obliterate the enemy’s army and then cross. They will love me even more after that.”
It takes everything in me not to grimace.
Neilina regards my dress, stalling on the wings. “This is an unusual outfit. What is its purpose?” She speaks calmly, as if unfazed by the clusters of Islorians behind her, swords drawn and braced for battle.
“I was told it would mean something to Caindra.” I gesture behind me.
“By whom? Those two elemental traitors?” Her eyes narrow. “I want them brought back to Ybaris so I can hang them myself.”
My fists clench at my sides as I struggle to control the sudden flare of rage, my affinities blistering under my skin, begging to be unleashed. “They are both gone, one to the change and one to an enemy arrow.”
Behind Neilina, the caster holding the shield flinches. That news bothered her, which means she was an ally of Gesine’s.
