Light My Fire (Dragon Kin #7)(69)

Her arms tightened a bit around his shoulders. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“I’m going to Uncle Bram’s, Mum, not off to war.”

“You have a point, but—”

His mother’s words were abruptly cut off when they heard a crash outside the castle walls. Var quickly got to his feet, then grabbed his mother’s hands and helped her to her own. Together, they rushed down the aisle of books until they reached a small window. Var pulled over a chair and stood on it so he could see as well as his mother. Their heads pressed together, they watched Aunt Annwyl yell at the stonemason she’d hired to create the new structure she’d been building behind the castle. It wasn’t even connected. It stood alone and rather tall.

“Everyone has been trying to figure out what she’s building,” Var said. “Do you know?”

“No. She’s told no one. Not even your uncle Fearghus. I asked him and he just looked terrified.”

“The rumor is that she’s creating a tower. For her enemies. When she’s not ready to kill them right away. That she plans to torture them there. Do you think that’s true, Mum? Do you think this is for the Salebiris?”

“I really don’t know.”

“You’ll need Uncle Bram even more now to help keep the peace where we can. And then, one day, I’ll do it.”

“I don’t want to lose you, Var.”

Var faced his mother. “By all reason, Mum, I’m going to Uncle Bram’s, not riding into battle. He’s not even a half-hour’s flight from here if the wind is with whoever is carrying me.”

“I don’t appreciate your condescending tone, Unnvar.”

“Because I sound too much like you?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s face it, Mum. I need to learn what I can from Uncle Bram because you can’t teach me all that you know until I’m at least eighteen winters. I mean, you could start now, but that leads to a moral dilemma I’m sure neither of us wants to deal with.”

His mother glanced off. “Your grandmother did warn me not to spread my evil to her grandson, which I took rather personally considering how many times my evil has helped that She-dragon.”

“At least talk to Uncle Bram for me.”

“All right. I’ll talk to him. But I promise nothing.”

“Thank you.”

Var hugged his mother, but before either could pull away, another crash outside had them turning back to the small window, where they could see Aunt Annwyl point a finger at the stonemason.

“Don’t think for a second I won’t have you pull all this down and start again. I’m the queen!” she announced. “I can do that!”

That made Var snort, but his mother quickly admonished, “We shouldn’t laugh.”

But they did anyway.

Chapter Twenty-Two

As Celyn suggested, they “swept through” the Annaig Valley, cutting through a few of the border towns. And each one had what Elina now termed “Penis Temples,” but unlike the Southland cities and towns, there were no other temples. No other gods worshipped in the area. At least not openly.

Elina also noticed the same military presence everywhere. Their armor, shields, and capes bore the benign image of flowers—unlike Annwyl’s coat of arms, which had two dragons facing each other and two swords clashing behind them—but the soldiers were well-trained, well-armed, and extremely dangerous.

Celyn tried to ride close to the penis temples so that he could get a closer look without going inside, but Elina held him back. She’d felt right away that standing out, being noticed, would do nothing for them. In fact, before they hit the first town, Elina had changed back into her rugged Outerplains wear and told Celyn to make sure his fur cloak covered everything on him, including his face.

To her surprise, he hadn’t debated her demand, simply done as she’d bid. She could only assume that he’d sensed it too. Whatever “it” might be.

They could have gone farther into Annaig Valley and still cut through to Outerplains, but Elina didn’t want to do that. She had enough to worry about, knowing she’d be facing Glebovicha soon. She wasn’t ready to deal with whatever was going on in this seemingly benign valley with its beautiful rolling hills and explosion of flowers. Flowers that managed to bloom even as winter began to crash down on all of them.

Without any fuss, Celyn followed Elina in a shorter arc through Annaig Valley, and by late evening they’d crossed into Outerplains territory. They kept going until Elina could no longer see the valley they’d left behind. And that was when she suggested setting up camp for the evening.

“You all right?” Celyn asked her before they dismounted from their horses.

“I am better now.”

“You felt unsafe in Annaig Valley, didn’t you?”

“You did not?”

“I am a dragon, Elina.”

“So?”

“So . . . I can’t just admit that I feel unsafe. Even when I do.”

“Then you blame on me?”

“Aye. That’s exactly what I do.”

Rolling her eyes, Elina dismounted. “Such a proud race you come from, Dolt.”

The dragon grinned. “We like it.”

He dismounted and looked around. “So where do we go from here?”