I nodded. “That’s right.”
He just sighed in resignation but said nothing. We stepped into the barn; the others stayed outside to give us privacy while we shifted. I no longer turned away from him, this time taking off my clothes before him while he watched me with yellow glowing eyes.
“Are you sure it’s okay that you use your magic to shift?” I asked him.
He inclined his head. “I’ll just attempt a partial shift of my wings. We could use two fliers.”
I pulled on my magic and then was thrust forward as the shift took over my body. I was on my hands and knees as I heard Drae grunting above me, bones snapping as he completed his own shift.
A growl of frustration ripped from Drae’s throat. I looked over at him in my dragon form now that my change was complete. He was shirtless, on his knees, half of a wing protruding from his back, black scales on his face and one hand turned to a claw.
My heart plummeted into my chest. ‘What’s wrong?’ I asked, using our mental link.
His chest heaved up as he stared at me with pure shock marring his beautiful features.
“I… I can’t shift.” His words slammed into me like arrows and I stumbled backwards until my tail hit the backside of the barn.
No. No… we weren’t ready for this. Not now, not while we were under attack.
He seemed shocked into silence, and so I channeled my inner Regina and took charge. I looked him right in the eyes. ‘Get dressed. Get my saddle, and ride on my back as a bowman.’
He stood there wide-eyed, as if hoping something might change. He’d waited too long to have an heir. His parents only had one child before his mother died in labor with their second.
We were out of time.
“My men will wonder why I don’t ride in my dragon form,” he said, shame marring his deep voice.
‘Tell them your wing is injured. Or better yet, tell them not to question their king. Let’s go!’ I urged him. Every second we stood here talking, the Nightfall queen got closer to taking our Middle Bridge territory.
He got moving then, changing his one hand and wing back to human and then throwing on clothes. Within moments, he had secured my saddle and sat on my back holding a bow. As I walked out to the rows and rows of men dressed for battle, my heart was with my husband, my king. The queen was retaliating for her son, and I wasn’t going to let anything happen to Drae in his weakened state.
If he died, if they all died, I would be the only one with dragon magic left… and that thought was too terrifying, so I pushed it aside.
The men looked confused for a moment at seeing Drae riding on my back, but he started to bark orders and they quickly fell into line.
“Meet us at Middle Bridge!” he yelled, and then I took flight.
He was heavy, so my initial liftoff was wobbly, but pretty quickly I was able to balance myself and control my wing speed in order to smooth out the ride.
I flew faster than I ever had before, the drums of war beating throughout the entire kingdom. Below us, warriors rode to Middle Bridge on horseback. I squinted to try and make out anything in the distance. On the horizon ahead I saw smoke wafting up from Middle Bridge.
‘They’re burning it!’ I shouted.
Middle Bridge was our only way through the Narrow Strait and into Thorngate, where we traded with the fae. A third of the food we consumed came from trade with Thorngate. This would devastate us. Anger swirled inside of me. Metal specks glinted in the sky and I knew it wasn’t birds.
‘Take down the human fliers,’ I told him.
‘On it,’ he replied and I drew closer, watching in awe as he expertly shot arrows while standing on my back. One by one, the flying humans dropped from the sky like stones, and I focused my sights on the bridge below. The fire was small, just at the beginning of the bridge, and our warriors were trying to put it out with buckets from the river. At the end of the bridge, the entrance to the Narrow Strait, was the queen of Nightfall. I’d never seen her in person, but I could not mistake the regal woman on horseback wearing a red leather battle suit and a tall golden crown. Her arms glinted with metal from the contraptions strapped there. Her face was pulled into a grimace.
‘Arwen, no! She’s too powerful,’ Drae said, but I was already flying at her. She was right there in front of me. One stream of fire and the world would be rid of her. She was weak, a simple human. If I didn’t take her out now, she’d keep coming for me and Drae and his future children.
“Arwen!” He slapped my shoulder as if trying to steer me another way.