Light My Fire (Dragon Kin #7)(98)

“Neither,” she quipped back, lifting her skirt to flounce off. “Uncle Gwenvael.”

Celyn stepped aside to let her get by, then tossed after her, “That’s nothing to be proud of, you know.”

With her travel pack, bow and quiver on her back, Elina followed Celyn to where he’d left the horses. As soon as she entered the chamber, the Steppes horse trotted over to greet her.

“You have made a bond, sister,” Kachka said from behind her, smiling.

“We have been through much, he and I.”

Saddling up their mounts, the trio took the long walk to the entrance.

Once outside, Elina took in a deep breath. She was already beginning to feel much better.

Brigida waited for them in her human form, a fur cape covering her from head to feet.

“Do we ride or fly?” Celyn asked her. “And I’m really hoping you say fly, because galloping will not be my friend right now.”

“Like your mother, your vision is small.”

“What does that mean?”

“I am too old and too impatient to take bloody days to travel to Garbhán Isle.”

“Which means . . . what? Exactly.”

Staring at Celyn, Brigida raised the hand holding her walking stick. The clouds overhead darkened, lightning suddenly danced across the mountains, and a mighty wind seemed to rise from the ground up.

Kachka gasped as the air in front of them darkened and began to swirl.

With her free hand, Brigida motioned to the swirling air before them. “Go,” she said calmly.

Kachka shrugged and said, “All right.” Leading her horse, she walked until she disappeared.

Elina started to follow, but Celyn held his arm out, blocking her way.

“We’re not getting in that,” he yelped, his normally low voice hitting an abrupt high.

“Always a mummy’s boy, you are,” Brigida mocked.

“I am—ahhhhhhhhhh!” Celyn screamed as Brigida grabbed the scruff of his chain-mail shirt with her free hand and tossed him into the void after Kachka.

It seemed the old hag was not nearly as weak as she liked to pretend.

“You, too, horse.”

At first, Elina thought Brigida was talking to her, but then she realized that she was talking to Celyn’s travel-cow, which was quietly trying to back away.

Disgusted, Elina grabbed the travel-cow’s reins and headed toward the void. The Steppes horse followed without hesitation . . . because that’s how it should be.

She stopped right in front of the void, took a big breath, and gripped the travel-cow’s reins. Hoping for the best, she stepped in—and then screamed her damn head off.

Chapter Thirty-One

Dagmar rushed into what had unofficially become her study. Bram would be bringing her son back this afternoon, but he’d also have Gaius Domitus. And even though the Rebel King was relatively easygoing, she wanted to be prepared. Next to the Northlanders, Gaius was their most important ally.

But Gaius Domitus really wasn’t the problem. It was his sister, Agrippina. She, not surprisingly after what she’d been through, trusted no one. And she especially didn’t trust Annwyl. Again, not surprising, considering every time she saw the Southlander queen, Annwyl was acting . . . odd.

Dagmar found the scroll that Bram had sent her. She lifted her spectacles so they rested against her forehead and quickly scanned the material. Once she’d digested it all, she tossed the scroll back onto her desk and turned toward the door.

She stopped, let out a sigh.

“I thought I told you lot not to play in here.”

Dagmar returned her spectacles to her nose and faced the back of her study. Two of her youngest daughters peeked over the chairs she had there, but the other three . . . they just sort of appeared. As if they’d been part of the bookcase that covered the entire back wall.

The first time that had happened, Dagmar had screamed as if she’d uncovered a dead body. But by now, she was used to the . . . uniqueness of her youngest daughters. It was similar to a gift their father had. He was a chameleon, a dragon able to blend into any area he was in so that it would seem he’d disappeared.

“Mum,” Seva, the eldest of The Five, asked, “will we have to leave, too? Like Var?”

“Var hasn’t left. He’s just visiting your uncle Bram for the night.”

“Do you want us to leave?”

Shocked, Dagmar stared at her daughter for a long moment. “Of course not. Why would you even ask that?”

“Arlais says—”

“First off,” Dagmar immediately cut in, “you know better than to listen to Arlais about anything. She lives to torment all of you.”

“But we scare you, don’t we?”

Dagmar let out a sigh, and walked to the back of the room. She leaned down, placing her hands on her knees so that she could look all her daughters in the eyes.

“You do not scare me. None of you scare me. I am scared for you. Times are changing and . . . well, people always fear that which they do not understand. At one time, you never would have existed as you are. The daughters of a dragon and a human. But here you are. Beautiful and healthy—”

“And different,” Seva finished for her.

“And different. And many do not like different.”

“Do you want us to change?”