Light My Fire (Dragon Kin #7)(130)

Talaith gestured with her hand at the empty courtyard. “It’s so quiet today. No one around. Just wondering if I’d missed news of a street fair in town or something.”

“No, m’lady.”

“All right. Thank you, Jenna.”

“Of course, m’lady.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Talaith shook her head. “Living my life with these dragons and Annwyl has made me paranoid and unreasonably crazy.”

She turned to go back inside when . . . wait . . . wait . . .

Talaith spun back, her arms tightening around her body, her gaze searching.

It was like a blanket had settled over her, muting everything around her. She doubted anyone else would notice it. It was magickal and powerful. Extremely powerful.

She couldn’t touch it.

Talaith closed her eyes and called out to Rhiannon, but there was nothing.

But . . . but perhaps Rhiannon had noticed on her own.

Of course. She must have noticed. What could possibly distract her from something so dangerous?

“You are ridiculous,” Rhiannon accused her sister-by-mating as they stood by Rhiannon’s throne. “I am not after your mate. I adore dear Bram, but it’s not like that.”

“Then why are you always hugging him? Throwing your scales at him.”

“I am doing no such thing!” Rhiannon snapped back as she waved her claws at what felt like bugs or something buzzing around her face.

“That’s what it looks like to me!”

“My good ladies,” one of the Elders tried to interrupt, but he quickly stepped back when the tips of two tails slashed at him, nearly taking his snout off.

“Keep out of this,” Rhiannon ordered before focusing again on Ghleanna. “And trust me, sister, if I wanted your mate, I would have had him a long time ago.”

Ghleanna’s snout twitched before she growled, “You haughty cow.”

Celyn caught up with Stenam’s son and the boy’s friends about a mile or so outside of town.

“Hello, Robert,” Celyn called out with a wave.

“Hello, Lord Celyn!”

The boys ran over to Celyn, and he crouched in front of them, all about ten to twelve years old, and covered in a good amount of dirt from their play.

Celyn leaned in and said in a low voice, “I heard you’ve been spying a bit. On the search for evil, eh?”

“We have. We don’t like the look of these new people coming in and out of town, do we, boys?”

The boys all nodded in agreement.

“So what have you seen? Anything strange?”

“Nothing at first. Some of the new people went right to Queen Annwyl’s Tower of Death for work with the stonemason.” Celyn didn’t even bother to waste time cringing at that, and instead let the boy continue. “But then we started noticing that some of the men . . . they were handing off notes.”

“Notes?”

“Little scrolls with red ribbons on them. They’d walk by someone and it was like they’d bumped into each other. But we noticed—”

“I noticed,” said one of the boys.

“—that they were handing these scrolls off to each other.”

Celyn slowly nodded his head as he did his best to remain calm. Then he took a breath and leaned in to whisper to the boys, “You lot didn’t happen to get your hands on one of those little scrolls . . . did you?”

When the boys suddenly began staring at their booted feet, Celyn knew he’d been right.

“Lads?”

“The man read it and as he was walking he went to put it in his pouch,” Robert rambled, “but it . . . uh . . . it fell out. We didn’t steal it or anything.”

“Of course you didn’t. But I do need to see it. In the name of the queen.”

“In the name of Queen Annwyl herself?” Robert asked, his eyes wide.

Sure. Why not? “Absolutely.”

Robert jabbed another boy in the ribs. “Give it to him.”

The boy handed over the scroll.

The parchment was very high quality. The ribbon hanging from the scroll silk.

Celyn pulled open the curled corners and read it. It bore only a name and a time.

Brannie? Celyn called out. Brannie? Can you hear me? When he didn’t get an answer, Celyn tried his mother, then his father. Still nothing.

Standing, Celyn motioned the boys back.

“You won’t tell me da, will you, Lord Celyn?” Robert asked, tears beginning to fill his eyes.

“I won’t tell your da if you lot don’t tell what you’re about to see.”

“Not a word. We all promise.”

“Then we have a deal.”

Celyn motioned the boys farther back, and when they’d run a good distance away, he shifted to his natural dragon form, unleashed his wings, and lifted into the air. The sound of the young boys cheering the last thing he heard before he shot back toward Garbhán Isle.

Wearing a dress that Princess Keita had given her “because I can see you need something pretty!” Agrippina walked through a field that, in the summer, was filled with wildflowers. There were a few flowers trying to hold on in the cold, but it was mostly just frozen ground and bare stems.

By great Rhydderch Hael’s cock! Agrippina didn’t know why she needed to be here with these useless Southlanders and the Mad Queen of Garbhán Isle. She should be by her brother’s side, helping him. Not banished to this place.