Still gripping the cloth, the Empress slowly turned her head, her gaze locked on Aidan’s face.
And then she just stared at him. For what felt like hours. She stared and didn’t speak.
Aidan didn’t know if he was simply afraid to break eye contact with her or if he was unable to. Was she holding him in some sort of thrall?
He wondered if he would die right now, her gaze was so hard. So angry.
“Xing,” she finally bit out.
“My lady—”
The Empress threw back her head and screamed to the ceiling, “XINGGGGGGG!”
Aidan fell back, her offspring scattered, and Uther and Caswyn grabbed Aidan’s arms and yanked him across the room.
The Empress stood, her entire body shaking with rage, her fists balled up, her beautiful face terrifying as her lips twisted and her jaw clenched.
Gold light circled her, starting from the ground up, moving around and through her. The Empress shifted and Aidan gawked, fascinated. She had gold scales and black-and-gold fur that reached from her head, down her spine to the tip of her tail. No obvious claws, but fur-covered, striped paws. No horns, but antlers. Long whiskers that reached out from her nose. A nose. Not a snout like every other dragon Aidan had ever seen but a nose, because she had a face like a striped jungle cat.
Any other time, Aidan wouldn’t even think of being afraid of such a docile-appearing animal. He wasn’t even sure he’d consider her a dragon of any kind.
But then he looked into her eyes and they were no longer brown. They were fire.
Without wings—she had none—the Empress’s body shot up, going through the ceiling above them, leaving a gaping hole. Aidan moved forward until he stood under it and saw that the Empress had gone through the entire building until she’d reached the outside.
“What did you do?” Ju demanded.
“What you told me to do!”
Now pissed at him—because of course they were—the Empress’s offspring shifted and took off after their mother.
Uther and Caswyn stood beside him, all three of them gazing up into the sky.
“They look like big cats,” Caswyn announced.
“And?”
“Just noting.”
“Do you want to look like a big cat?” Uther asked.
“Sometimes,” Caswyn replied. “Who doesn’t want to look like a big cat?”
Disgusted by the entire conversation, Aidan walked away.
“Oh, what?” Caswyn demanded. “You’ve never wanted to look like a big cat?”
* * *
Kachka didn’t have to fight dragons. There were humans in Xing’s army that kept her and her comrades quite occupied. And they kept coming. Xing’s army of humans. But the Empress had her own army of humans as well, so the Riders didn’t fight alone.
It was strange, though. Something in the air. Something. . . off.
Using the spear she’d taken from a dead soldier, Kachka impaled one soldier and with her sword, cut another soldier nearly in half. She was about to run into a small group of soldiers moving toward Zoya when the ground rumbled and she heard an explosion come from the palace.
She spun and looked up, watching in acute surprise as gold light and flames shot into the sky.
“What the fuck is that?” Kachka asked Nina in their own language.
“That is rage, comrade. Rage and a mother’s pain.”
“The Empress.”
“Xingggggggg!” the Empress screamed out, her body turning circles in the air, leaving a trail of fire and gold light behind her. “Brother! What have you done?”
“I’m here to take what’s mine!” the insignificant male shot back.
“I would have given you all this, brother. I never wanted it. But my son—”
“You can still give it to me, sister. Give me the throne and I’ll return your precious Ren to you, alive and well.”
“You lie! He’s dead!”
“He isn’t. I have him. I will return him to you!”
“Liar!”
“We’ve seen the truth, Uncle,” one of the Empress’s offspring said, floating behind their mother. Kachka honestly couldn’t tell them apart . . . but she could only tell the Southland dragons apart by their scale color. And more than once, she’d confused her own iron-colored mate with his twin sister when they were both in their dragon form. When she’d played with his sister’s tail . . . by the horse gods, that had been awkward for a few days after. “We know our brother’s dead.”
“My perfect, amazing Ren!” the Empress cried out in pain.
Of course, it would have been a much more devastating moment if her children hadn’t rolled their eyes.
Frustrated, Lord Xing snapped, “All right, one more time, sister. He’s fine! He’s at my palace!”
“No,” the Empress insisted. “He was killed at some Zealot’s fort. He’s dead! My baby is dead!”
“We saw his head,” Kachka finally yelled up to both royals. “The Zealots walked right by our cage with it.”
Xing stared down at her. “You saw, barbarian, what my soldiers wanted you to see. Ren was taken but that head was not his. We wanted the Southlanders to believe he was dead, so they would send Keita. Her, I had every intention of killing so that you would know how serious I am.”
“You lie,” the Empress snarled. “You lie, brother, and I will never forgive you!”
“Don’t then. Don’t forgive me. It’ll make it easier to lay waste to all you hold dear. To bring it down around you and laugh while you burn. I tried to save you, sister, but now I see I cannot.”
“Comrade,” Zoya said from behind Kachka, “we may have problem.”
“You think you can defeat me?” the Empress asked Xing.
“I am no longer alone, sister. And I will not only rule here, I will rule the Southlands. I will rule everything.”
“Oh, brother,” the Empress sighed. “You truly will believe anything.”
Trying to keep her attention on the fight between siblings, Kachka still glanced behind Zoya to see what she was talking about.
“By the darkest horse gods.”
Zoya nodded. “There are many.”
And they were riding over the hills in the distance, their small but powerful horses confidently charging right into the battle.
“It’s Batu and all his horse riders,” Nina said, coming close.
Now speaking in their language, Kachka noted, “But they are not fighting with Xing’s legions . . . they’re killing them.”
* * *
As the siblings began to circle one another, Aidan and his brothers moved forward to assist the Empress. But Kang grabbed Aidan’s arm and held him back.
“You do not want to get into the middle of this,” Zhi warned.
Xing raised his sword and, screaming, charged his sister. He shot forward even without wings, as if the Eastland dragons could manipulate the very air around them. But his sister was equally quick, slapping him hard with her paw as she moved aside.
Now that she had her paw raised, Aidan could see her claws, which had been hidden behind fur until unleashed. And her claws had torn a large hole through her brother’s armor and into his flesh.
Crying out, Xing spun away from her and his sister went after him. He had armor and weapons. She had her claws and a mother’s rage.
She grabbed her brother and yanked him up with her as she lifted her body higher. She turned with him, then threw him down.
Xing couldn’t catch himself as he fell, landing hard in front of the palace.
The Empress landed next to him and circled around him, snarling.
He tried to pull himself back up, but she went up on her hind legs and, with her front paws, wrote flame-covered runes in the air.
The runes flew into her brother, sending his dragon body skittering into the Empress’s beautiful flowers.
“My son,” the Empress growled at him. “You took my son!”
She began to chant in an ancient language, one so o
ld and dark that even Aidan, with his lack of magicks, had to back away, and the Empress’s offspring and his mates moved with him.
Magicks swirled around her, through her, until they exploded out of her in a blinding light, ramming into her screaming brother.
He flipped over and over through the flowers, leaving nothing but burned ground behind.
Aidan thought the power would send Xing off the Empress’s territory completely but she clenched her paw and Xing abruptly stopped. He tried to scramble to his feet, but was held in place by her clenched paw as the Empress pulled back the other.
Xing began screaming and in horror, Aidan watched the scales on Xing’s back tear open, his spine following, slowly ripped from his body until his screams finally ended and his body stopped moving.
The fighting ground to a halt and everyone fell silent, while the Empress dropped to her knees, her rage waning.
That’s when Aidan caught sight of the Eastland Riders for the first time.
“That’s Batu,” Ju said from behind Aidan. “Batu the Iron Hearted. Leader of the Eastland Riders.”
“What’s he doing here?”
“I really don’t know.”
Batu moved away from his troops and into the garden, stopping to stare down at Xing’s body before looking at the Empress.
They watched the Empress, all of them too fascinated and terrified to move.
“Batu the Iron Hearted,” the Empress said, her gaze cutting over to the Eastland leader. “Here to fight for my brother?”
“No.” He pointed toward the palace. “I’m here to fight for her. Branwen the Awful.”
The Empress looked up at her palace.
Brannie and Keita stood on the palace roof in their dragon forms and on Brannie’s back was a human Ren.
Aidan felt relief flood his bones at the sight of Brannie and he had to fight his urge to fly to her and take her in his arms. A gesture he knew she would not appreciate.
Ren waved and smiled at his mother. “Ma . . . I’m okay!”
“Ren?” The Empress pressed her paw to her chest. “Ren . . . is that you?”
Brannie took to the air and quickly landed next to the Empress.
Ren jumped down from her back and walked toward his mother, barely glancing over at his uncle’s body.
“I see you’ve been busy, Ma.”
“I thought you were . . .”
The Empress shifted to human and threw herself into her son’s arms.
“My beautiful, handsome son!” she cheered, hugging him tight. “My baby!”
“Ma. I’m okay. I’m really okay.”
Pulling back, one arm still around her son, the Empress grabbed his jaw with the other hand, and squeezed until his lips protruded.
“Look at this face,” the Empress ordered. “Look at this beautiful, gorgeous face!”
Ren’s siblings rolled their eyes and exchanged annoyed glances. It didn’t make Aidan appreciate his kin any more, but it did make him grateful he never had to spend any time with them. Ever.
Sadly he didn’t think Ren could say the same thing.
* * *
Branwen shifted to human and turned away from the sight of Ren reuniting with his kin. She didn’t begrudge him that, knowing he’d been through much because of his uncle. But she also knew her own kin were about to go into battle with the Zealots. She wanted to be fighting by their side.
She wanted her own reunion.
“You all right?” Aidan asked, stroking his hand under her chin.
“I got poisoned, but I’m all right now.”
Aidan and his two brethren immediately looked at Keita and the red She-dragon gasped in outrage.
“I didn’t do it! It was on one of the blades of the assassins who attacked us.”
“You sure?” Uther asked.
“I’m positive. Tell him, Branwen.”
“It wasn’t her fault,” Branwen admitted. “But I understand why you’d think it was.”
“Ungrateful,” Keita hissed. “All of you are ungrateful!”
The Empress chanted a spell over the gold torc around her son’s neck and it fell off, allowing the Eastland dragon to shift to his natural form.
“Thank you so much, my dear Keita,” the Empress greeted Brannie’s now-human cousin. “I can’t tell you how much what you’ve done means to me.”
“I know he’s your favorite.”
“He absolutely is.”
“We’re right here,” Fang reminded her mother.
“I’m just glad I could help,” Keita said so demurely that Brannie had to look at Aidan to make sure she wasn’t imagining it all.
She wasn’t.
“Reuniting mother and son.” Keita pressed her hand to her chest, right over her heart and her voice hitched a bit as she spoke. “You have no idea how much it means to me, Empress.”
Good gods, was Keita the Viper crying? What was happening?
“I can never repay you, my child, for bringing my most important and best loved child back to me.”
Ren at least cringed a bit at his mother’s words, while his siblings glared at him behind her back.
“No repayment necessary. Ensuring the continued happiness of the Chosen Dynasty is enough.”
Aidan pressed his mouth against Brannie’s ear and whispered, “Wait for it.”
Keita gave a sweet smile and added, “But if I were to ask for a favor . . .”
“Boom,” he added before pulling away. Brannie’s snort causing Ren’s siblings to suddenly look at her.
“Anything, my dearest Keita. Just tell me.”
“Fight by my mother’s side against the Zealots in the Southlands.”
“And why would I do that?”
“Uh-oh,” Brannie muttered.
“Why would you do it?” Keita asked, her voice no longer demure. “Because your beautiful, gorgeous son is back—alive and well. And that, Your Majesty, is due to me.”
“And your cousin, yes?”
“Her cousin is mighty,” Batu added. “Very helpful in this. More helpful than decadent royal.”
“You and I,” Keita said, her finger swinging wildly between her and Batu. “No longer friends!”
The Empress faced Brannie. “Well, Lady Branwen—”
“It’s just Captain, Your Majesty.”
“Captain Branwen. I remember when your dear mother was a captain. I wonder how long before we call you general as we call her.”
“Oh, puleese.” Keita sneered.
“And for bringing my son back to me, dear, dear Captain Branwen, ask me for anything you may want. Jewels, gold, a fancy palace with a view here in the Eastlands. Ask and you shall receive.”
Branwen really didn’t know how to answer. Because she didn’t know what was going on.
Aidan pressed his hand against her back and she knew he was trying to tell her something but, again, she still didn’t know what was going on.
“ Uh . . . well . . .”
“Her?” Keita demanded, stepping between the Empress and Brannie. “You’re giving her what she wants?”
“Why not me?” Brannie asked. “I’m affable.”
“Oh, shut up.”
“Well, let me ask you this, my dearest Keita,” the Empress said, curling a lock of Keita’s red hair around her finger. “Did you come here to find and release my son? Or did you come here to poison my entire family because you thought Ren was dead and you wanted to make sure we didn’t attack your mother from the sea?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Ren flinched and rubbed his forehead, his siblings smirking behind him.
“That’s what I thought,” the Empress replied flatly, dropping Keita’s hair and walking around her. “Now, Branwen . . . you were saying?”
Again, the pressure from Aidan’s hand at her back.
“Uh . . . Your Majesty, I speak for the entire Cadwaladr Clan when I ask that you allow your troops to fight by our side against the Zealots and that you perso
nally assist my queen in whatever magickal endeavors she may be undertaking.”
The Empress framed her hands around Brannie’s face and Brannie was proud—because she didn’t flinch. “For what you’ve done for my precious son, I will do this”—she looked at Keita, although her hands were still around Brannie’s face—“for you, Branwen the Awful.”
“All of you are so ungrateful,” Keita accused, heading back to the palace.
“I wouldn’t go far, Keita,” the Empress warned.
“And why is that?”
“Because something is happening.” The Empress removed her hands from Brannie’s face, closed her eyes, and took in a breath. “I hear your mother on the wind. She calls to me.”
Keita walked back toward them. “My mother wouldn’t do that unless . . .”
“Unless the final battle has begun,” Branwen finished for her.
“Lord General!” the Empress called out.
An Eastland dragon came to the Empress, dropping down on one knee, head bowed. “Prepare my army. I’ll be sending us all to the Southlands. I’ll be opening a doorway within a quarter hour. Will you be ready?”
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
“Good.” The Empress looked over at the Eastland Riders. “And you, Batu the Iron Hearted? Will you fight with us?”
“We will, decadent royal. We’ll do it for Branwen the Awful.”
“Our friendship is so over,” Keita growled at the Rider.
Batu grinned. That was probably exactly what he’d wanted to hear.
And Branwen was just glad to know that she wouldn’t have to travel by sea again.
“You will need us, decadent She-dragon.” Batu glanced around at the remains of Lord Xing’s army. “But what of your brother’s men and dragons?”
“Well, I’m not wasting my magickal skills to bring riffraff with us.” She gave a wave of her hand before walking off; tossing over her shoulder, “So kill them all.”
Chapter Thirty-Four