King Tiberon saw Serena and gave her a nod. All heads turned and everyone immediately fell to one knee.
It felt just as uncomfortable and shocking as the first time. Serena's face flushed, mercifully hidden by the dark.
Hyran and Alaric also went to one knee at that moment.
Fin and Aeron exchanged a brief glance, stunned. A king bowed to a princess. And not just any king. A military genius. Tiberon was known to be cutthroat and ruthless.
Serena's emotions washed into Fin with clarity through the matebond. She was just as surprised as they were by the bowing and she wished they would stop doing that. He shook his head, fighting the urge to grin. Everything she did made him like her more.
"You honor me. I thank you," she said, her tone gracious and steady, betraying none of the turmoil beneath.
"The honor is ours," King Tiberon responded as he rose. Everyone stood with him.
Serena moved to the front line, with the other dragon bondeds. Without Elara, it was just her and two others.
Dex wasn't on the wall or anywhere.
Serena clocked it the moment she stepped into formation. It felt wrong to stand here without him.
No.
She was not going to linger on Dex. Something she had no control over. This was not the hour for weakness and she wasn't a little bitch.
"The cuffs eliminate mindlink suppression," King Tiberon announced, his voice cold. "You are on a shared channel."
His gaze swept the Draken Forces.
"Do not use it unless necessary. No commentary. Only command, confirmation, or threat assessment."
Silence followed.
"We move as one. There will be no confusion."
Serena glanced sideways and noted Fin and Aeron wearing identical gold cufflink bracelets.
Perfect.
She wanted them protected as well. Both had stood for her at the cost of sleep and safety. Having them on their mindlink made sense, especially with them staying for the battle.
"And there they are," King Tiberon said. "Right on schedule."
Serena's eyes ignited. Instantly, every single person was wrapped in her gold protective magic, including Fin and Aeron.
Velkaris roared.
To her horror, arrows came flying. Red smoke followed. She could barely make it out. That was exactly what it had looked like in Frostborne over their ice walls. In the dead of night.
She inhaled sharply.
Everyone's gold magic flashed. A fabricated purifier formed on everyone, no bigger than a pearl.
Red Death was not going to take anyone on her watch.
"We looked into your reference on Red Sacred Oak," Hyran commented. "That enchantment surrounds our perimeter and is scaffolded in the grounds."
King Tiberon spoke, glancing behind him at Serena.
"Yes. Correct about Red Death. Correct about the countermeasure." He paused. "Good instincts. Dare I say, the instincts of a queen."
Serena blinked, completely caught off guard by that.
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
He stared a second longer, with an expression of sadness that flashed, before turning away.
It made her feel sad too, but she didn't understand why.
Outside of the obvious breakup in the worst possible way imaginable, she was missing something.
She regretted not letting Elara give her the details earlier.
Maybe he found out she was going to annul things as soon as the war summit was over.
Or maybe it was something else.
Did Dex and Agnes elope? Was that why he was not here?
Whatever. She had made peace with it.
Mostly.
Not really.
Serena focused on her breathing, refusing to let the thought spiral.
Then she felt something.
"Dragons," she said quietly. "First wave."
Tiberon looked back at her and gave a single nod. "E.T.A.?"
"Ten minutes to engagement range."
She felt most of them so clearly that she could see their outlines in her mind.
"Are you sensing their energy, Serena?" Fin asked from the side standing next to Hyran and Aeron. His brows furrowed.
Her eyes met his, surprised that he guessed that so accurately. He grinned, and it disarmed her. Just a genuine curious question. Exactly how she would be if the shoes were reversed.
Her blood oath instincts were calm, so she answered.
"I'm attempting to," she said, smiling softly, "Their energy feels blurry, because they are still far away. Right now, I can feel about 50 dragons. 30 in the first wave: 28 fire, 1 ice, and 1 that fits neither. Closer to ice than fire, yet not."
"If I were to guess, water dragon," Hyran said. "Which are thought to be extinct. But then again, so were ice dragons."
He shook his head. "Umbrael and Orosia must have been raising and breeding the last few centuries for this magnitude."
King Tiberon turned at those words, expression darkening. "If it's a water dragon, that puts all other dragons at risk. Their water is toxic to fire dragons. Temperature is boiling, and it's closer to acid than water."
"Assuming Serena's magic can counter that," Hyran added evenly to King Tiberon. "Which is not a certainty. Deploying all fifty dragons at once would be reckless until that threat is neutralized. It would drain her too quickly."
"Then I take Velkaris and remove it first," Serena said, voice calm.
King Tiberon didn't like it.
Neither did Fin, who stiffened at her words. His wolf howled in protest, every instinct snarling against the idea of her flying toward a creature that spat boiling acid.
Absolutely not.
"Or I take a small wing with me to screen the approach," Serena said. "I will shield them."
She swallowed, understanding that she had no right to be talking. She'd never attended a single Draken Forces training. She and everyone on this wall knew that.
She was hoping Velkaris would know what to do and help her follow protocol.
King Tiberon weighed his options, jaw tight. Dex's instincts and aptitude for this were greatly missed at that moment.
The two of them together would have been unstoppable. He shook his head at the thought. What a waste. Dex couldn't keep it in his pants and screwed things up royally. He was not blind to that.
He scanned the Draken Forces for a spotter to put with her. Then he remembered Serena rode standing on Velkaris's head.
Would a spotter slow her down? He had no inclination of her aptitude in battle.
Tiberon visited Dex before coming to the wall and they still didn't know what type of dark magic Agnes used. Serena was the right call here, even if she was brand new. There was no other choice.
"Four, plus Velkaris," King Tiberon said, not looking at her. "Can you cover that?"
"Yes," Serena answered, with no hesitation.
Every man was already at attention, eyes forward, listening for command.
"Arrow formation," Tiberon commanded. "Full coverage on Velkaris. Styx, left wing. Morvexis, right wing. Balazaar, high cover. Grog, low cover."
His gaze cut across the line.
"Spotters remain active at all times. Fire is defensive only and no gold magic unless absolutely necessary."
"This is coverage only. We do not advance until the water dragon is grounded. She does not get hit."
"She will not be hit on our watch, Your Majesty," Lieutenant Varflarous, Grog's rider, said firmly.
"Let's dance with this water dragon," Thor Crushturn called.
There was always one. Every unit had a Thor Crushturn. The guy who absolutely named his sword. The guy who said "let's dance" before a fight and somehow meant it. Usually the guy that was the first one killed.
His dragon Styx roared in agreement from the side field, the sound rolling like thunder as the formation prepared to move.
✦✦✦
Serena walked toward Velkaris. This was, technically, the first time she was riding him alone while fully conscious.
Velkaris roared the moment he saw her and immediately nuzzled into her.
"I missed you too," she murmured, running her hands along his scales.
Velkaris's eyes flashed gold.
She understood what he wanted. He was asking about Dex.
She swallowed down grief.
"I'm sorry, buddy," she whispered, voice cracking. It was just meant for him, but the other eight on the field heard.
He understood.
She mounted him and he vaulted into the sky. Naturally, it began to downpour. Lightning flared in uneven pulses. Thunder followed, muffled by wind.
Arrows started coming in immediately. Velkaris dodged, with one grazing past Serena's shoulder.
They stayed tight in formation.
"AHHH," Morvexis's rider screamed.
Serena turned her head to see a column of boiling acid water hit Morvexis. At the same moment, columns of boiling water slammed into Grog and Balazaar.
All three dragons were flipped sideways, riders blasted off.
Locke:Mayday! Fuck.