What of Jori?
Could she trust her choice?
She’d been raised to mistrust males. They were the enemy, and were only good for procreation. Kymri never wanted to destroy him. She never wanted to mate for life and procreate either. But now she’d bonded, which meant in effect, life. And procreated, which also meant life.
Female or male child.
The sex does not matter, no matter what the current tradition is. We could leave if our youngling was not acceptable.
Kymri’s insides turn upside down. She couldn’t even think about leaving. She couldn’t abandon her queen and her people.
Our queen would understand.
Would she?
My duty is to protect her, with my life. Nothing else matters except the continuation of my queen’s life and safety, she told her dragon.
She could practically feel her dragon roll her eyes at her. I know that. The Council are the ones who decided that male children should leave. The queen had male children and had to sacrifice her relationship with them to protect her people. She can’t leave. You can if they pressure you.
You are not royalty; we are not tied to this island.
I don’t want to leave. It’s my home.
What is more important? Your home, or your child?
Kymri looked down at her flat stomach. She could still feel the hard weight inside her womb.
She couldn’t decide that so quickly.
Until she’d only just discovered the pregnancy, she had not wanted children at all. And now she was being faced with a decision to keep the child, or not, to leave her home, or not. How could she decide so quickly?
Was it like this for all dragonesses?
She wondered.
Her mother had told her she hadn’t wanted a child either.
Kymri had figured that out long ago.
She saw how other dragonesses had been so close and bonded to their young. Marli’s mother was very close to her; they were nearly inseparable.
Her throat suddenly thickened. Each time she’d witnessed Marli and her mother’s relationship, she’d always found an excuse to leave them alone and find other things to do.
Kymri strove to ignore how this made her feel.
She’d had her mother there. She was present in her way. There was just no emotional bond between them. Their relationship was a thin thread of genetics and proximity.
Resentment clawed up her chest. It was familiar, she’d felt it many times, but it didn’t serve her, so she swallowed it back down. She didn’t want to be bitter and resentful.
She just wanted to fulfill her duty to her people and her queen. This was her identity.
Emotions complicated things.
She was just the best guardian she could be.
Simple. Uncomplicated. Straightforward, that was all.
This was her life mission.
Everything else was a distraction.
And yet she was now facing the fact that she could no longer keep life as simple and straightforward as she wanted to.
Biology and instinct muddied her path.
And she wasn’t happy about it.
Her dragon growled.
Kymri understood that her control was tenuous. If the dragon decided to overrule her, she could, and she would. It was best to live in harmony, compromise. And she supposed the dragon had decided Kymri had been in the cockpit for long enough.
Just give me some time.
Dragon huffed.
Please.
Dragon groaned, and Kymri accepted that as a concession.
What do I do now?
In such a short time, her life had been turned upside down and she didn’t know what she wanted really. Well kind of. But she didn’t know what to do about it, how to reconcile what she really wanted now, that she hadn’t known she wanted, with what her society would allow.
She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, to cleanse her muddled mind and focus.
What do I want? What did I want? No, what do I want now?
I want Jori.
She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly and shakily.
She’d never ‘wanted’ a man before.
She did now.
Next?
I want to stay with my people.
That hadn’t changed.
She breathed a little easier.
And.
I want to keep a child and grow a relationship with him or her.
Wow.
Never in a million generations would she have thought she’d ever, ever admit that.
Her dragon purred.
How can I have all of these things at once? They don’t work together. I have to choose.
We shall see.
What do you know that I don’t?
Now that you are listening to me, you’ll learn so much more about yourself that you didn’t allow room for in the past.
I see.
Kymri, we are more than duty and talons and guardians and protectors.
We can also be mothers and mates.
It’s too complicated. They won’t accept what I want.
Make them.
How?
Prove to them it can work. It did at one time.
Until it didn’t anymore—that’s how we’re in this situation in the first place.
Yes, but it doesn’t have to stay this way forever.
Kymri snorted. Have you met the Council?
I was semi-dormant, not dead. I am well aware of the past and current situation on this island. Listen to me. It’s time for change. Other dragons will support this.
Are you telling me to revolt against the Council and the queen?
No. I’m telling you to talk to them and find reasons to see this alternative path.
You’re telling me to become a politician and a diplomat.
If necessary.
Kymri groaned. This is what her mother wanted.
She isn’t wrong.
I don’t want this. You just told me to figure out what I wanted, and now you’re telling me to do something I really don’t want to do.
She could feel her dragon shrug.
Kymri growled.
Her dragon chuckled. Welcome to the next phase of your life, little one.
It sucks.
Agreed.
11
Stenlen and his wingmen were out again.
“We’ll find the damned island if it kills us,” he growled.
“Not looking forward to the repercussions if we don’t,” Merwin said.
“The king expects results. And if we want to maintain our status, we have to produce results.”
His job was to find the females. That was fine by him. He liked the chase.
He didn’t like having his time wasted, so long as his efforts produced results, then it was all good.
“I can’t believe we lost that little bitch, Sten, it doesn’t make any sense, we had her,” Clive complained.
Following her original trajectory, they soared in a large arc trying to pick up a scent.
“Smell that? I think we’ve got a ripe one!” Clive’s voice oozed glee.
Not the same dragoness as before, a deliciously different scent, having passed through here not long before their arrival, just long enough she was out of sight.
Altering course, they trailed it, like they did last time, only shifting altitude, climbing so that they’d be above her when they sighted her.
She wouldn’t spot them before they got her locked in.
Their persistence was paying off.
The thrill of giddiness when another scent crossed the first.
Stenlen signaled to climb again.
Soon small shapes were visible in the distance. A snarl erupted from his throat, echoed by his wingmen.