“We have to go.”
When they went outside, where the wind whipped at them and Keegan, Bollocks, and the dragons waited, Breen held on tight to Marco.
“You’ll be all right?”
“I’ve got this. You be careful. I mean it, Breen. You take care of my best girl.”
“I will. Promise. Let’s go, Bollocks. Tomorrow,” she called as she hurried to Keegan. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
At Marg’s call, Bollocks scrambled up to ride with her. Marco watched Keegan lift Breen onto Cróga. And with a thunder of wings, they shot up to fly into the night.
Brian put an arm around his shoulders. “Don’t worry too much now.”
“A year ago she was too nervous to call an Uber, and now she’s riding a dragon.”
“Uber?”
Marco let out a short laugh. “It’s a car thing. I used to push her some to step out of her box, now there’s no box that can hold her.”
“Then be proud.”
“I am. Scared for her, too. Same goes for you.”
Brian turned Marco’s face to his, kissed him. “No worries now. I wear your protection. Come out of the wind and be with me. In a few hours, we ride west.”
They flew through the night, in and out of clouds, along snapping winds. Below, the world slept even while its rivers wound, its grasses fluttered. She saw the dark silhouettes of mountains rising, the wide, rolling sea, and once an owl, ghost white, its wings spread as it soared into the thick dark of a forest.
Beside her and Keegan, Marg rode, her hooded cloak swirling while Bollocks sat in front of her, his eyes closed in bliss as the wind flapped his ears.
An adventure for him, Breen thought. For her? A mission, and one too vital for her to waste time on nerves.
Instead, she scanned the land, tried to gauge where they were. But it was so different riding on a dragon at night than making the journey on horseback in the sunlight.
“How much damage can she do?” Breen pitched her voice above the roar of wind and wings. “Shana, how much damage can she do against you, against Talamh, now that she’s with Odran?”
“She knows the Capital, the castle, its grounds. She knows the business of the council, as her father discussed such things with her he surely shouldn’t have. If she paid attention, and I trust now she did, she’d know the names of scouts and spies, know their routes and routines. She would know a great deal. And she’s shown herself to be wilier and more ruthless than ever I knew.”
“You’ll fix that. You’ll change routes and routines and strategies.”
“Aye, and that’s begun, but she spent her life in the politics and plannings that brew in the Capital. I can see how she’d be valuable to Odran. And I’m sorry to say I can see clear why she chose him over her family, her friends, her world as, for betraying them, he’ll give her what she wants more.”
“Power. Standing. And the freedom to do what she wants no matter who it hurts.”
“All of that, and the hopes of your blood and mine. My family’s, and I think now all of Talamh, as they refused her.”
“She’s too narcissistic to understand if she doesn’t give him all he wants, or he thinks she’s no longer of use, he’ll kill her without a second thought. I don’t know if …”
She felt a pull, in her heart, her belly, her mind. Heartbeats, so many, deep and slow. Sleeping as the world slept. But one waking now, waking to beat as hers did.
In hers. Of hers.
Waking. Waiting.
In the dark, she saw the mountain silhouette, rising high so it pierced the clouds that floated around it.
She yearned, and that heartbeat merged with hers yearned.
“What is that?” She pointed toward the mountain. “What is that place?”
“Nead na Dragain. It’s the highest peak in Talamh. Dragon’s Nest.”
“Hugh—yes, it was Hugh—pointed it out to me on the ride to the Capital. But it didn’t seem so …It seems different now.”
“It’s night,” Keegan said simply. “It’s written the first of them became there, and waited for her mate. And when he came, there they flourished before even the first Fey walked the lands or swam the seas.”
As one, Cróga and Dilis sent out a roar.
“They speak to their brothers and sisters who bide there,” Keegan told her. “Some to rest, some to mate, some to wait. You would have seen Nead na Dragain from the valley on a clear day, looking to the northeast. And as you said, on the ride to the Capital.”
“I can’t remember seeing it before Hugh pointed it out. It looks different from up here.” As they flew on, the pull lessened, and the beat within her beat quieted. “But then everything does. I can’t make out where we are.”
“Near to the valley now, and there Harken will join us, as will Sedric and Mahon. Aisling as well, as someone will tend the children for her.”
Even as he spoke, Breen saw the dragon gliding toward them, great wings spread. Moonslight struck its scales, a glimmer of silver over the blue.
With a swish of tail, it turned to ride in tandem with Keegan and Marg, with Harken and Aisling on its back.
“You made good time,” Harken called out.
“The winds were with us.”
“Mahon’s gone ahead, and Morena with him, as she was with me and wouldn’t be denied. They’ve already been to the portal and back, and all’s quiet there. They were to take Sedric on this second trip.”
“Well then, let’s not keep them waiting.”
He veered slightly south, and before long, Breen recognized—or thought she did—the hills, the fields, the forests. And when pixies sparkled light over Finola and Seamus’s lush and expansive gardens, she knew exactly where she was.
Nerves fluttered now, but she accepted them. Some nerves, even some self-doubt was probably better than overconfidence.
Especially since she had no idea what she’d be expected to do.
She heard the waterfall before she saw it, and the dragons, nimble as hawks, threaded their way down, through the forest.
Keegan leaped off, said: “Jump.” Added, “Now!” when she hesitated.
Holding her breath, Breen swung off and into the air. He caught her, and with no fanfare set her on her feet.
“Aisling’s too pregnant to— Oh,” she managed when Mahon flew up, lifted Aisling into his arms.
Riderless now, the dragons flew up to circle in the dark sky above the trees.
A deer walked out of the woods, became a man. “All’s clear, Taoiseach.”
“Keep watch, Dak. We’ll want no interference.”
Thrilled, Bollocks raced in circles.
“How do we do this?” Breen lengthened her stride to keep up as Keegan walked ahead. “What do I do?”
“Power, light, intent, twined and merged. You know where to find the breach?”
“Yes. Under the falls, close to the far edge. I can’t see from up here, but—”
“You won’t be up here,” he began, and Morena landed lightly in front of them, folded her wings.
“All’s clear. An interesting trip you’ve had,” she said to Breen.
“I’ll say.” She saw Sedric take Marg’s hands, kiss her lightly.
“Sure I want to hear all about it, but for now, where do you want me, Keegan?”
“The other bank. You and Mahon flanking Aisling and Marg. Sedric at the falls. I’ll speak to you when there’s time, Sedric, about the child—thank you for your good work.”
“She’s a bright one, little Dilly, and the work’s not done.”
“We’ll seal this breach, and the next time Yseult tries to use it to take one of ours, may she drown in her own disappointment.” Keegan gripped Sedric’s hand. “Our light, one light.”
“One light.”
“Our gift, one gift,” he said as Mahon set Aisling, and Morena set Marg, on the opposite bank.