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But then, she also had duties of her own to fulfill to her queen.
What the fuck are you thinking, Sten? Stop looking for her. Last night was… last night. Focus on finding those two idiots before they do irreparable damage.
A roar in the distance drew his attention. Tilting his wings, he turned toward the call. Moments later he joined several of the other searchers, circling over a group clustered on the ground around a rocky outcrop.
Finding a clear enough spot to land he shifted and jogged toward the gathered males. “What did you find?”
“Two sets of prints from this opening through the forest,” Randal pointed through the trees opposite to where Sten had approached.
Another male came running toward them. “The prints turn dragon. They’re long gone.”
Fuck.
“Okay, what about this tunnel?”
“It goes back some distance, but seems to be a dead end. Either they were hiding in there, or they can walk through walls.”
They can walk through walls if they’re magicked.
Sten nodded. “You two report what you’ve found so far to Eamerson. You three go back in and search for any anomalies. The rest of you, continue searching both at the ground level and the sky. We might catch up to them.”
“Why don’t we just let them go?” Randal said. “Why are you walking free and they aren’t?”
Sten spun at the challenge, walked up to Randal and looked him in the eye, tired of the same provocations. “They threatened the king’s pregnant mate, and his mother, a political representative of a foreign nation.”
“That was before he was king, Sten. Merwin and Clive were just following Kargassa’s orders.”
Sten clenched his jaw.
He’d repeated those same words to himself. He glanced at the other males around him. Many of them wore expression indicating they thought the same.
Before he could answer, a dragon roar echoed through the mountain range—and across his flesh. That wasn’t the call of a male.
Marli.
Sten was running for the nearest clearing, heart hammering in his ears.
As soon as there was enough room between the thick pines, he shifted and launched, snapping branches as he went.
The fierce snarl resounded again, urging him on.
He was dimly aware that a few of the others trailed behind him. Sten sped through the mountain range, searching until he spotted three figures in a narrow valley. He drew a deep breath to control the crimson haze that crept around his vision when he registered the scene.
Purple claws confirmed Marli’s identity.
Backed against a waterfall, two males nipped at her tail and wings, darting back when she snapped her jaws, taking chunks of flesh from their snouts or anywhere she could reach. She lashed out with a fore claw, swiping one aggressor’s face while she swung her tail to collide with the other’s.
Sten hit one of the males full force, bone and scale crunching against the jagged rock of the waterfall, then grabbed the other by the throat, whipping him against the other side of the valley.
Marli skittered backward, panting and growling.
The first male recovered, taking another snap at her.
Sten repositioned himself so that his body surrounded her. Facing her opponents, he snarled, daring them to try again.
Two of the males he’d overheard during the sparring session.
Not Clive and Merwin.
