“Then we can go down with boat,” Kachka replied. “Good idea.”

“It is better than nothing, Kachka Shestakova!”

“If we die here,” Zoya Kolesova screamed into the wind, “we die with honor!”

“Shut up!” Kachka and Nina yelled at her.

Nina looked behind Kachka, then spun in a circle. “The dragons!”

“What of them?”

“They are gone!”

Kachka now did her own turn and Nina was right. “They left us!”

“I told you we cannot trust the dragons!”

Debating whether to slap Nina—some days she truly deserved a good slap—a gold tail dropped behind Zoya and wrapped around her waist. The tail yanked her up and out of the boat.

Angry, Nina yelled, “What about—”

A brown tail snatched up Nina, carrying her away. A few seconds later, a black tail wrapped around Kachka and she was yanked from the doomed boat.

The black tail lifted her up and over, placing her on Branwen’s back.

“Hold on!” Branwen screamed at her.

* * *

Kachka grabbed hold of Brannie’s chain mail and flattened herself against her back.

Brannie girded her loins and dove headfirst into the nightmare ahead.

She’d rather take on legions and legions of Zealots than fight nature itself. With soldiers and warriors, Brannie had a chance. She could watch their eyes and guess their next move. She could see how they ran toward her and find the weak spot that would take them down. Even a quick shoulder move would give her enough information to block a sword to the gut before cutting off a leg or ripping out a spleen.

But nature had no warnings. It had no weak spots. It had no move that told Brannie what she could do to stop it or wear it down. All she could do was dive and dodge and pray. She didn’t pray during battle but she prayed now. She had to.

Following behind Keita, Brannie and the others went up high until they were able to go over the wall of water, their claws skimming the top for what felt like a mile or so until the wall crashed down. Most likely taking out the Northlanders’ boat in the process.

But the wall of water was only part of their problem.

As the group flew, nature threw everything else it had at them. Rain came down on them in sheets of never-ending water. Thunder crashed around them, seemingly shaking the entire world. Lightning bolts came directly at them as if thrown with great aim.

The only thing that helped them? Their past battles with Lightning dragons. They’d all been trained to face Lightnings. Even Keita, who’d been forced to escape the Olgeirsson Horde a few decades back.

But again, Brannie could watch a Lightning and from the turn of a head, the slash of a tail, or even the raise of a brow, she could tell where their bolts might hit. The same didn’t apply when nature had its way. All Brannie could do now was wait until the last second and hope she moved fast enough.

* * *

It was like flying through a Mì-runach gauntlet, but instead of dodging the fists and tails of his brethren, Aidan was dodging lightning bolts and tornadoes of water.

Zoya held on to his chain mail shirt and laughed into the wind. The woman obviously didn’t fear death, but Aidan did. He had much more living to do; he didn’t want to die just because he couldn’t avoid a sudden cyclone that sent him spinning wildly up into the air and then farther out into the ocean.

By the time Aidan righted himself—Zoya miraculously still clinging to him—he’d lost sight of the others.

He pushed his way back to where he thought he’d come from, although he was only guessing. He’d spun like a top from those winds and had no idea where the battle-fuck he truly was.

Something slammed at him from the side and he saw brown scales pushing into him, attempting to lead him back.

Uther.

Aidan took his friend’s direction and forced his way through the rain and . . . and . . .

Good gods! Was that sleet? Why was he facing sleet?

Several lightning bolts flashed past him. Aidan felt like they were specifically aimed at him until he saw black scales tumbling down. Caswyn, another black dragon, was on his left, keeping as close an eye on Keita as he could.

So the black dragon freefalling?

“Hold tight, Zoya!” he yelled at his charge and dove after Branwen.

He zigged and zagged past more bolts crashing down around him, the thunder exploding over his head, nearly shaking him off course. But Aidan kept at it. He kept Brannie in his sights until he was near her.

She’d been hit by one of the lightning bolts, the scales on her back, under her right wing, smoking from the impact.

Aidan aimed down, slammed his wings against his body, pushing through the winds that were coming up—which seemed especially strange—and maneuvering himself until he was beside Brannie.

“Don’t let go!” he ordered Zoya before he reached out and grabbed Brannie’s forearms. But her body was still spinning with great force and now Aidan was spinning with her—and heading straight to the ground below.

* * *

Keita turned to one side, then the other, barely avoiding the bolts of lightning clearly aiming right for her.

She dove down and flipped to her right, missing the geyser of water that had risen up out of nowhere.

For the first time in Keita’s life, she worried that she’d never get out of something. How could she when she couldn’t use her greatest assets to protect herself? She couldn’t talk to lightning bolts or fuck tornadoes. Nature couldn’t be enticed, seduced, or destroyed. All Keita could do was dive and roll and avoid.

But when she glanced back, hoping to see her cousin flying right behind her—calling her all kinds of horrible things because Keita had gotten her into all this—she quickly figured out she was alone.

She faced forward again with every intention of turning completely around and going back for everyone, but bright light suddenly hit Keita in the face. So bright she had to close her eyes and turn her head. A powerful screeching filling the air—and then she was falling.

Keita was falling and she had no idea how to stop.

Didn’t matter, though. The ground took care of all that for her....

Chapter Twenty-Two

The armor and chain mail were made specifically for him by Sulien the Smithy.

And the queen herself helped him into that armor, not allowing any of his siblings or squires to assist. That was their way, any time he was going off to war. But this time felt different. This time, Rhiannon feared—truly feared—she’d never see him again.

So Rhiannon took her time, placing each piece onto his dragon body with care.

The two suns were rising and soon Bercelak the Great would be flying out with his war-loving siblings and cousins to face the Zealots in the Outerplains.

With his armor in place, Rhiannon cut the length off his black-and-gray hair until it reached his shoulders, then plaited several war braids, entwining her own white hair into a few of them for luck.

They didn’t speak during all of this. There was nothing to say.

When their longtime ritual was complete, they stood at the exit to their chamber, Rhiannon’s white claw clasped in Bercelak’s black one. They gazed into each other’s eyes for several long minutes until Rhiannon finally said, “Kill all of them. Leave nothing for even the crows to dine upon.”

Bercelak stepped close, his tail entwining with hers while their snouts brushed against each other.

Then he was gone. Out of their chamber and through the throne room. His siblings joined him, with Ghleanna on his right and Addolgar, his left. The rest trailing right behind.

He didn’t look back at her. She didn’t want him to.

Instead Rhiannon sat on her throne and the Mì-runach immediately surrounded her. They would not leave her side until Bercelak returned.

Not surprisingly, no others of her court approached her the entire day.

* * *

At first Annwyl thought the noise she heard was in her head. Just something else to torment her. But the more north she traveled, the louder the sound became.

After ten minutes of walking, she found it. A giant animal, not quite as big as Fearghus and his brothers in their dragon form but ten times bigger than her. It was on its side, crying out.

She started to walk away. The thing had black eyes; big horns on its head, elbows, and knees; enormous claws; and spikes running down its tail. The flesh of something once human still caught on several of the tips. It also had extremely large fangs that didn’t fit completely in its mouth. This was not something she wanted to get too close to if it suddenly decided to get up or attack her. It was a demon animal of some kind and she still intended to get out of this hell alive.