“Yeah?”
“Thank you for saving me and Mercedes. It means a lot to me.”
“That?” Kit scoffed. “That was nothing. What any honorable dragon would do for someone they call a friend. Not to mention, what any soldier should be willing to do for their queen.”
“Somehow,” I said quietly as we turned down another street, “I doubt that everyone else sees it the same way.”
Chapter Eighteen
I saw Winston round the opposite corner onto the street, and I raced toward him, not caring whether or not people stared. He was alive, he was human-shaped, and considering he’d gone to war and battled a demon raven earlier today, he looked really, really good.
I slammed into him, and he wrapped his arms around me, lifting me off my feet as he buried his face in the side of my neck and let out a shaky breath. “Allie.”
Before I could say anything he crushed his mouth against mine and squeezed me tight, knocking the air from my lungs and making my skin spark everywhere he touched.
“Thank God you’re safe,” he said and pressed our lips together again.
“Me? I was more worried about what was going to happen to you. You were the one fighting for your life up there against that overgrown canary.”
“Hardly.” He dropped his head so that our foreheads were touching. My stomach fluttered. I was holding him, we were both safe, and right now that was all that mattered. “All I was doing was distracting the bird so that it couldn’t help that wizard. I was trying to keep him busy until you could find somewhere safe to hide.”
“We went to the red dragon clan’s lodge house.” I snuggled against his shoulder, trying not to let him see how freaked out I was by everything that had happened today. “I wanted to help you but with the wizard on the ground we had to run. What if you would have—”
“I’m fine.” Winston kissed the top of my head as he cradled me against his chest, unconcerned that we were hugging in the middle of the street where anyone could see us. “Nothing but a few scratches. Little girls in tiaras playing dress-up are tougher than that bag of feathers. But what happened to you? You’ve been gone for hours.”
“Forget about me,” I said. “What happened to it? The bird?”
“Don’t.” Winston grimaced, and I felt my stomach clench because I knew. I knew that if he was safe then the bird was dead and Winston had been the one to kill it. He turned his head and refused to meet my eyes. “The raven has been handled.”
“The wizard? The one that Kitsuna fought?”
“He was seriously wounded, but somehow he managed to escape. Disappeared. One minute he was there and Kitsuna had her sword at his neck and the next second he was gone and Kitsuna was stabbing at air.” Winston turned to lead me down the street in the same direction he’d come from.
“Great, so we have a wounded wizard who knows we’re at Dramera.”
“It’s where the Fate Maker and your aunt would expect us to go anyway,” Winston said. “They’ll already have plans to attack us here, which is good for us, because Dramera is a strategic place for us to take a stand.”
I looked around us at the high cliffs that enclosed the area on two sides, surrounding the broad lake, and then over at the thick forests on the other two sides. “You want us to fight a war here? We’re boxed in.”
“Yes. Because unless your aunt and the Fate Maker decide to transport an entire army,” he said, “or fly, their only way in is right there.”
I stared pointedly at the narrow gap between the two cliffs at the far side of the lake. It looked like a shadow, a thin line down the middle of the cliff face. “There?”
“The woods are impassable. They’re surrounded by swampland to the north. Behind us are the Cliffs of Lament, and they’re a straight drop into the Sea of Sorrows. So no way in there. If the Fate Maker uses his magic to teleport their army, it will have to be in small groups and that will be too risky.”
“They could fly, though, you said?”
“Against dragons?” Winston glared at the bustling village around us. “It wouldn’t be the smartest plan.”
“So it’s the cliffs, then.”
“They’ll follow the stragglers from our army through the cliffs, and the passage is so narrow they’ll have to travel single file. It will funnel them right into our army.”
“And if they don’t do that?” I asked.
“That’s where we are going, what the Dragos Council needs to meet with you about. They have some ideas on how to fight back.”
“What kinds of ideas?” I asked as we crossed the square toward a group of large, still partially thatch-roofed buildings on the other side.
“Good ideas,” Winston said. “Ideas that we need to listen to if we’re going to keep the dragon warriors supporting us against the Fate Maker. We brought our war to their home and half of Dramera was burned to the ground today because of this. We have to let the Dragos Council have their say now or we will lose them.”
“They aren’t going to punish you and Kitsuna, are they? For the raven, and well, the wizard, too? It’s not your fault the wizard and his monster set the village on fire.”
“Nobody is going to be punished,” Winston said. “Especially not Kitsuna. After watching her fight I don’t think anyone, including the Dragos Council, is going to look at her cross-eyed while she’s wearing a sword.”
“Good,” I said as he led me up the front stairs of the largest building in the town square and opened the heavy wooden front door. “She was only trying to protect me.”
“A rather remarkable display by a wryen.” The voice belonged to Tevin, a pale blond man who was the head of the dragon clans of Nerissette. He stood just inside the doorway. “I didn’t imagine one of her kind could have such courage.”
“You don’t think much of her kind at all.” I narrowed my eyes, annoyed at how dismissively he talked about the girl who had saved my life today. “She’s just a wryen after all. To you she’s worthless.”
“She’s not worthless to you?”
“She chose to fight a wizard, alone, with nothing but a sword to protect me. Meanwhile, your full-blooded dragons cowered inside like scared little children, waiting for the scary monsters to go away. You want to take a guess on who I value more right now?”
Tevian’s lips tightened, and his jaw clenched. “Perhaps the Dragos Council should consider claiming neutrality in this fight?”
Winston stiffened beside me, and I put a hand on his arm, trying to keep him from rising to the bait.
I smiled at Tevian and tried to look fierce. “Perhaps I should remind you that the prince consort is a dragon. How many of your people would go against you and fight if he asked?”
“And how many would stay put?” Tevian asked. “We’ve fought this wizard twice for you. Why should we do it again?”
“Because once the Fate Maker’s done with me, it’s your lands he’ll come after next. How many people are you willing to let die for your pride?”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
“I am fighting to protect my people,” I said, keeping my eyes fixed on his. “And I will not fail them. Now the dragon clans can side with me, or once my armies have finished with the Fate Maker, we can turn our sights on you, our newest enemy who abandoned us in our time of need.”
“So you’re saying that I must decide who conquers my people? Which army it is better for us to kneel to?” Tevian stepped closer so that we were nose to nose, and I had to clamp my hand down on Winston’s arm to keep him from stepping between us. “Yours or the Fate Maker’s?”
“Does it matter?” I arched an eyebrow at him. “Either way, Dramera is no longer yours. If your luck holds out it will be my army that conquers you. If it doesn’t, well, the Fate Maker has threatened to hang me, behead me, and imprison me at various times. What do you think he’ll do to someone like you? To him, you’re worth less than Kitsuna.”