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“How many dragons are affected by the filthy smoke, Jarrod?” Blaze asked.
It’d taken all of us to take down one smoke-possessed dragon. If there were many more of them—
“I don’t know,” Jarrod said grimly. “I hope he’s the only one.”
“Your realm isn’t safe, Daisy,” Blaze said.
My mates wanted us to withdraw to the Oslan Dominion and put me in a high tower where they could bar the doors and windows to keep me safe.
I’d talked to them about their overprotectiveness, and they’d agreed to back off. But whenever danger headed my way, they returned to their former stance.
“We need to investigate this further,” I said, turning to Jarrod. “I didn’t recognize Segomo. Was he one of the royal guards while I was in the realm?”
“He was a new dragon,” Jarrod said. “He rose to the rank of Captain of the Guardlast year. When His Majesty abandoned the realm, Segomo disappeared as well. He didn’t follow the king but lurked here to waylay you.”
“What happened to my grandfather’s old captain?” I asked.
“Captain Skylark Faded,” Jarrod said, sorrow in his eyes.
Although dragons were immortals, we could Fade. Time could wear us out and make us tired of living. I hoped Jarrod didn’t follow in his captain’s footsteps. His friends had parted from him, including Adrian. My heart ached at the thought of Adrian. I prayed he wouldn’t Fade somewhere. I’d prevailed after nine centuries of misery; he should, too.
My thoughts returned to Jarrod. “What happened to your face, Jarrod?” I asked, my fists forming. “Who hurt you?”
“It’s a long story, Your Highness,” Jarrod said. “I’ll tell you some other time. Now, if you have a moment, I’d like to give you a quick overview of the realm and the court as I best can. Things have changed a lot during the centuries you were gone.”
I nodded in appreciation.
On our trip home, Rai, Blaze, and Iokul—mostly Iokul—tried to fill me in with the current state of the two dragon realms, two Fae realms, and human-dominated legions.
I had so many questions, especially when it came to my own realm.
I glanced to where Segomo’s corpse had been. My mates’ men had removed it, but the room still reeked with the stench of foul magic and a dragon’s death.
“Let’s get some fresh air,” I said, and shifted to my dragon form.
My mates gazed at me with admiration before shifting themselves. They loved my both forms. When I was a dragon, they adored the shimmering scarlet and midnight blue of my scales.
I surged toward the ceiling to see if the skylight would recognize my magical signatures after centuries of my absence.
It whooshed open as I neared, and I flew into the sky.
Some of the guards also shifted and followed my mates and me into the air, while the rest stayed to search for threats. Henry whimpered down below, andChiron, the dragon healer, grabbed him and flew up. Chiron had been taking good care of Henry, so the hellhound didn’t struggle, trusting the dragon not to drop him.
We landed at the back exit of the golden palace.
I inhaled a lungful of crisp air as I regarded a patch of greens that had escaped my grandfather’s madness.
I pondered. “It’ll take a while to rebuild.”
Jarrod smiled. “You’ll lead us to rebuild the realm, Your Highness.”
“Who else knew Princess Daisy had returned?” Iokul asked. He was the most cautious and suspicious one among my mates. “We didn’t broadcast it, and we cloaked our spaceship.”
Jarrod shook his head. “I didn’t know. I came to check the castle once a day after all the dragons left. I hadn’t expected to see Her Highness.”
“Someone obviously knew about our return,” Rai said.
Jarrod nodded gravely. “There’re enemies in the realm.”
