“Is there anything you’d like to say before we leave?” I asked.
The howling, screaming wind was my only response. Not one soldier spoke. That was good. At least they understood who they were dealing with. I would not tell them to follow me. Either they would come, or I would kill them.
There was no room for questions in my kingdom. I was the queen, and they would do as they were told. These soldiers, like all the other beings in Ithenmyr, belonged to me.
And when the amulet is in our hands, no one will stop us,the beast said.
Exactly.
Reaching within myself, I pulled on my magic and let the shift take over me. Fabric ripped. My heart surged as though I had just run a race. Bones broke and remade themselves in the space of a heartbeat. My lungs expanded and fire filled my veins as my dragon burst forth.
I roared as the feeling of freedom flooded through me. Even in my lowest points, during the days where nothing else mattered, my dragon was always there for me. It had cared for me after everyone else abandoned me.
I will never leave you, the dragon reassured me, stretching its wings.
I know you won’t,I replied.
That was why my dragon was better than anyone else. Unlike Dante, who had used flowery words and promises of pretty things to lure me in before he destroyed me, my dragon would never harm me.
We were tied together. As our power grew, so did our connection. I didn’t need anything else. The dragon was everything.
My wings flapped, and I rose high in the air. The brisk winter wind buffeted against me as I flew into the sky. When the castle resting atop Vlarone was little more than a speck in my vision, I roared.
Fire burst from my maw as wingbeats filled the air.
We were off.
* * *
Even after a hundred years,the charred remains of my village looked the same as they had on that fateful day. My brother thought I had stayed in the tree, but he was wrong. I snuck after Elyx, watching as he discovered our destroyed village.
I had seen our home. Our mother’s body. I had seen the death wielded in the name of ridding Ithenmyr from my kind for eternity. I would never forget the smell of burned flesh. It was seared into my memory, still haunting me a century later.
Even now, underneath the crisp winter air, I could have sworn the aroma of death lingered. My wings flapped, and I eyed the burned structures as I approached. Black brambles crawled over the ruined remains of my childhood village, and as I landed, the ground shook beneath my feet. Behind me, soldiers landed silently, falling into order.
I didn’t even look at them as I shifted, pulling the dragon back into me. The wind was bitter against my bare flesh, and I held out my right hand. Ranor was there a heartbeat later, the ground quaking as he landed beside me.
“Your clothes, my illustrious queen?”
Nodding, I held out my arms. Ranor moved quickly, sliding a thick, fur-lined robe over my naked form. The dress did up in the front, the wrap dress perfect for a shifter like me.
I didn’t thank the soldier. He was not deserving of thanks. His actions were simply expected. I was his queen, after all. Ranor bent, holding out a pair of slippers near my feet. Arching my toes—I wasn’t an animal, after all—I stepped into the footwear before turning around.
My Winged Soldiers stood in a row, their arms at their sides and their wings snapped against their backs as they waited. They were a black line of death, and I smiled at the sight of them.
“Search the entire village,” I commanded. “Do not leave a single stone unturned. There must be something we are missing.”
It has to be here, the beast within me said.
I nodded. That was the only explanation.
The Winged Soldiers hurried to do my bidding. I stood at the top of the hill, supervising as their black forms went through the houses. The fire running through my veins kept me warm as I waited. The sun slowly fell, but still, my soldiers came up empty-handed.
Rage bubbled within me, increasing in potency with each passing minute. When the first stars appeared in the night sky and snow began to fall, Ranor returned to my side.
“Well?” I asked sharply, not taking my eyes off the destroyed village.
The Winged Soldier shifted from one foot to the other. “It’s… not here, my queen.”