How to Drive a Dragon Crazy (Dragon Kin #6)(63)

“No.” He leaned in, sniffed the air. He smelled flame and power. “They’re dragons.”

“You sure?”

“I am.”

“But no one you recognize?” He shook his head and Izzy looked back at the small group of riders on horses, long brown capes and fur hoods covering their faces and bodies.

Izzy slid her foot under her sheathed sword, which was lying on the floor, and flipped it up into her hand. “I’ll take the ground, you take the air.”

He nodded. “I’ll meet you outside then.”

Izzy slipped out the side door of Bram’s castle. The previous evening, Éibhear had closed and barred the front door that led to the hall, and if she opened it, she’d give away her presence.

As Izzy eased out into the brisk morning air, she heard a soft “moof ” behind her and looked to see Macsen crawling up to her feet. Her dog had amazing instincts. Like a wolf, he knew when to keep to the shadows and when to attack. It helped when she was involved in night raids.

Body tense, he waited by her side, waiting for her signal. Izzy motioned with her hand, indicating he should stay by her side and low. With that order given, she crept forward, listening for anything that would tell her someone was coming from behind. She reached the end of the building and peeked around the corner. Now that she was a bit closer, she could see that these riders were trying their best to look like a small traveling party. The clothes under their capes were plain, not too expensive but not too poor. Yet she still saw that nearly all of them had weapons. A lot of weapons. And the way some of the riders moved . . . definitely soldiers.

At the front, two riders—leaders by their demeanor—looked around and one of them finally gestured to the others. Dismounting their horses, three other riders started to set off, but one of the leaders held up a gloved hand—a female, Izzy guessed from the slightly smaller frame under the hooded cloak—and stopped the men. Even though Izzy couldn’t see the female’s face, she could tell that she was studying the front of the building. Izzy took a small step and saw that Éibhear was . . . well . . . he was standing on the front of the building in his dragonform. She’d seen him do that sort of thing before but it still fascinated her. Considering their size, dragons didn’t seem to have too many issues with gravity.

But what concerned Izzy at the moment was that the female seemed to be able to see him. Or, at the very least, sense him. Yet Izzy had seen Morfyd, a powerful white Dragonwitch, look right past her baby brother, unaware she was practically walking on his head.

Éibhear moved the slightest bit and the head under the cloak jerked. Perhaps she heard him. Perhaps she didn’t. Izzy didn’t know. She heard the female take in a breath, a sure sign she was about to unleash her flame. Something that didn’t worry Izzy. Although fire dragons could use their flame against their own kind to shove or batter, the flames themselves could do no damage. Southland dragons were made of fire and their scales were an added protection.

But before the female unleashed her flame, the hood of her cloak slipped back and Izzy immediately recognized her. Recognized her and knew what that particular female’s flame could do to one blue dragon who had absolutely no idea of what was about to hit him.

He felt confident the dragoness couldn’t see him, but she did sense him. Could be she was a witch of some kind. His mother and sister Morfyd belonged to one of the most powerful breeds of Dragonwitches, but there were others at different levels of power. Still, it really didn’t worry him. Instead he just waited to see what she’d do, and when he heard her take in a deep breath, he became even less concerned. Because of his size, some dragon’s flame wasn’t even going to knock him off the building, much less harm him. Yet as the dragoness leaned forward in her saddle, the hood of her cloak dropping back to reveal a very pretty human face, Izzy’s scream from the far side of the building shocked them all.

“Agrippina! No!”

The She-dragon’s head snapped around and the flame she was going to unleash on Éibhear was instead directed at Izzy. The flame was so powerful, Éibhear reared back and the stones that made up that part of Bram’s castle broke apart and melted. She made stones melt.

Éibhear had never seen anything like it, but he didn’t have time to analyze any of that because Izzy had been standing there two seconds before.

Pushing off from the building, Éibhear unfurled his wings and raced around the damaged building.

“Izzy!” he bellowed. “Izzy! Answer me!”

“I’m here!” She stood, appearing from behind a large boulder. He’d forgotten how fast Izzy could move, but he was grateful for it.

He landed beside her, the land shaking.

“Are you all right?”

Tears streamed down her face and she shook her head. “Macsen.”

The dog? She was sobbing over that dog.

She pointed to the smoldering remains of melted stone and seared wood beams. “He was standing over there,” she said around sobs. “I thought he was right beside me.”

Éibhear discreetly sniffed the air and, aye. He smelled burnt dog fur. Best not to say that, though.

“I’m sorry, Izzy. I know he meant a lot to you, but we have other things to worry about—”

“Macsen!”

Éibhear blinked and watched Izzy push past him and over to a pile of still burning debris. And dragging himself out from under that debris came Izzy’s dog. With his dirty, matted fur burning in some spots, the big beast stumbled away from the debris and toward Izzy. But he suddenly stopped, dropped, and rolled around in the dirt for a bit. When Izzy reached him, the fire on his body was out and with a good shake, all that dirt went flying, making Izzy laugh. Then she dropped to her knees and hugged that disgusting, bizarre beast.